I'm writing this post on my home computer, proud that for once it is actually working...
Today is shaping up to be a good day. I was planning on spending my morning writing assignments for the Bible College course I do, but by 9 am I was finished! I was planning on working on the church newsletter, but there has been no articles received for it so far (which may or may not be a good thing...) so I am absolutely free! Its incredible.
I think that this is all still to do with my Renaissance. It says quite clearly in the Bible that God wants only the best for us, and that when we are walking in his will, He is able to get those results more.
Not that I'm perfect. Far from it! But, I feel like I'm making a better attempt at it than I have for a long time.
Its amazing that God can shape and control me, if I only choose to let Him.
I've always had issues with that before. Why would I want to give up what I want, and do what someone else wants, even if they are God? What if He wants something different to what I want?
But now, actually trying to do it, I have realised the truth. If you truly want to do right, and truly seek after God, then what He wants is what you want. There is no difference between the two.
Sure, He might change some of the things you thought you wanted, but you don't mind, because God only wants good for us, and all His changes will help us.
It reminds me of two very well known verses:
Romans 8:28 - For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.
Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
Walking in God's will is not only rewarding, but it feels amazing. :-) Give it a go.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Renaissance & Room Renovations....
Aaah, the Renaissance! Statues, Chapel ceilings, Michaelangelo…..
The idea of the Renaissance was to get back to the basics, back to the culture that had come before (in their case, back to Roman/Greek culture) and try and rebirth it.
Over the last few days, I have had a kind of Renaissance of my own. I have worked hard at rebirthing the relationship I had with God some time ago. As a result, I am feeling amazingly clean, and fresh in my life. I have tried (still working on this) to pray more – not dead prayers “O bless thy humble servant, O thou gracious Father” – but simply taking time to talk to my Father, and my Best Friend. I heard a preacher once talk about ‘Prayer-walking’, and I’ve been attempting to do that as well. Its certainly different to just walking, it adds a whole new dimension.
Third Day wrote a song once, which has been going around in my head for quite some time, and it seems to sum up my feelings:
Please take from me my life,
When I don’t have the strength to give it away to you, Jesus
Those words have been playing over and over continuously since some time yesterday. When God wants you to get a hold of something, he doesn’t let up until you do.
Slowly, I have been reshaping my life since returning from Fiji, and changing the way I relate to everything around me, and to God. Even my room has been rearranged, and the feel of it is changing, as I remove the things that are not longer important to me, and, somehow this is making it easier to think about God, not that its ‘Feng Shui’ or anything, but without a whole lot of junk around, its easier to focus on the simple things that otherwise you take for granted.
God has been speaking to me about reaching out more, in person not just online, and that is a big step for me. Working on recommitting my life more to God is the first step of preparing for this.
Have you thought about a Renaissance lately?
The idea of the Renaissance was to get back to the basics, back to the culture that had come before (in their case, back to Roman/Greek culture) and try and rebirth it.
Over the last few days, I have had a kind of Renaissance of my own. I have worked hard at rebirthing the relationship I had with God some time ago. As a result, I am feeling amazingly clean, and fresh in my life. I have tried (still working on this) to pray more – not dead prayers “O bless thy humble servant, O thou gracious Father” – but simply taking time to talk to my Father, and my Best Friend. I heard a preacher once talk about ‘Prayer-walking’, and I’ve been attempting to do that as well. Its certainly different to just walking, it adds a whole new dimension.
Third Day wrote a song once, which has been going around in my head for quite some time, and it seems to sum up my feelings:
Please take from me my life,
When I don’t have the strength to give it away to you, Jesus
Those words have been playing over and over continuously since some time yesterday. When God wants you to get a hold of something, he doesn’t let up until you do.
Slowly, I have been reshaping my life since returning from Fiji, and changing the way I relate to everything around me, and to God. Even my room has been rearranged, and the feel of it is changing, as I remove the things that are not longer important to me, and, somehow this is making it easier to think about God, not that its ‘Feng Shui’ or anything, but without a whole lot of junk around, its easier to focus on the simple things that otherwise you take for granted.
God has been speaking to me about reaching out more, in person not just online, and that is a big step for me. Working on recommitting my life more to God is the first step of preparing for this.
Have you thought about a Renaissance lately?
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The Spookygirl Saga: Resolution
Well, its seems that my time with Spookygirl is over for good.
She has only called me once since Fiji, on the first day I arrived back, and in that call she told me she has moved.
I'm actually quite glad... :-)
She has only called me once since Fiji, on the first day I arrived back, and in that call she told me she has moved.
I'm actually quite glad... :-)
Fiji (what more can I say?)
I got back from Fiji just over a week ago (you may have noticed I wasn’t blogging – its because I wasn’t in reach of a computer…), and am still in awe of the experience.
We took a group of 20, including 13 youth, into Suva to do Children’s programmes and Christian outreach to the surrounding communities. We were planning on visiting maybe two schools, and performing an afternoon programme a day, but God had bigger plans than that!
In the end, our team performed at 6 schools, 3 prisons, and 3 church services, ran 8 puppet shows, 1 home group, 2 youth groups (an after school & an evening one), and were broadcast on Christian Radio 3 times (Harvest FM97). Our Dance team danced 12 times (and got sick of the dance by the end of it all), we sang our trademark Maori song (Kia Kaha) 11 times, handed out over 200 tracts, saw at least 3 salvations, and reached an audience of possibly 85,000 people!!! All this during the 7 days of mission work…. God is good!!
During that time, God challenged me again and again about reaching out to people, not only overseas, but in my home country. If Christians are called to be the light, we shouldn’t switch ourselves off. We should run all the time, and be visible to those around us. As a friend of mine said as well: the light can’t be seen as much if its surrounded by other lights all the time. The point of this is, that a Christian who only associates with other Christians isn’t being a very effective light at all.
It can be terrifying trying to reach out into the darkness, as we can’t see what is happening or what peoples response will be, but it is important to remember where the light that shines out of you comes from – Jesus, the light of the world.
To those of you reading who are Christians, I challenge you: stop living just as a light in the light, live as a light in the darkness as well.
To those of you reading who are not Christians: If you feel like you are lost, without hope in life, or if you are feeling like you are missing something in life, it could be Jesus. He can give you life, and produce light within you. Trust Him!
We took a group of 20, including 13 youth, into Suva to do Children’s programmes and Christian outreach to the surrounding communities. We were planning on visiting maybe two schools, and performing an afternoon programme a day, but God had bigger plans than that!
In the end, our team performed at 6 schools, 3 prisons, and 3 church services, ran 8 puppet shows, 1 home group, 2 youth groups (an after school & an evening one), and were broadcast on Christian Radio 3 times (Harvest FM97). Our Dance team danced 12 times (and got sick of the dance by the end of it all), we sang our trademark Maori song (Kia Kaha) 11 times, handed out over 200 tracts, saw at least 3 salvations, and reached an audience of possibly 85,000 people!!! All this during the 7 days of mission work…. God is good!!
During that time, God challenged me again and again about reaching out to people, not only overseas, but in my home country. If Christians are called to be the light, we shouldn’t switch ourselves off. We should run all the time, and be visible to those around us. As a friend of mine said as well: the light can’t be seen as much if its surrounded by other lights all the time. The point of this is, that a Christian who only associates with other Christians isn’t being a very effective light at all.
It can be terrifying trying to reach out into the darkness, as we can’t see what is happening or what peoples response will be, but it is important to remember where the light that shines out of you comes from – Jesus, the light of the world.
To those of you reading who are Christians, I challenge you: stop living just as a light in the light, live as a light in the darkness as well.
To those of you reading who are not Christians: If you feel like you are lost, without hope in life, or if you are feeling like you are missing something in life, it could be Jesus. He can give you life, and produce light within you. Trust Him!
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