Our challenge

In 1 Kings 13 there's this mental story about a man of God (moG) who prophecies about an altar in Bethel (King Jeroboam has been offering sacrifices to other gods). Jeroboam orders the man to be arrested but his hand shrivels up. He is then healed by the moG so he realizes that the moG is onto something powerful and invites him to dinner.

However the moG declines saying that God told him not to eat or drink anything in Bethel. Then another old prophet from Bethel follows him and tells him "an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: 'bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' (but he was lying to him)". So the moG returns to eat and drink with the old prophet.

At this point, I thought it was pretty clear that the moG had been tricked and up until that moment, he had displayed a relatively righteous, Godly life so he wouldn't get hit too harshly by the consequencces, at least compared to the other two. However, the story ends up with our moG being killed by a lion while Jeroboam (the idolator) and the other prophet (the liar who makes God seem inconsistent) remain unharmed and unpunished for their seemingly worse sins.

I thought this was pretty unjust. However, David Guzik puts it like this:

"This is an example of an important principle of the way God works. We think that strict judgment should begin among the most ungodly, but often God begins strict judgment among His own people. Usually this is because God knows that the world will not be reached when His people are compromising and disobedient."

1 Peter 4v17 says this: 17 For it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God: and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

David Guzik continues by commenting that Jeroboam, though unpunished, ends up missing out on the blessing that it could be to live to God's full potential for him as king.

The same principle works in servants of God today. We are not called because of obedience, or used out of merit; but our disobedience hinders our potential for full use. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy 2:21: Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter [works of dishonor], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. God uses vessels of honor, separation, usefulness, and preparation to their fullest potential.

Interesting no? I was really challenged by this to push myself to live in God's righteousness and his potential for me, even if I may feel like he's giving me harsher discipline sometimes, it makes a lot of sense seeing as we are his body and our sin is like an illness that can seriously harm that body.

So go, live to your full potential! Put God at the centre of every decision and watch your life take off!

God already knows

I've always been a bit confused as to why we pray, especially for other people who are in need, because surely God doesn't need reminding to show them love etc. He knows their situation, so why should we petition him to help as if it's something he would do reluctantly. Anyway, I read this today:

"Crudely put, I once envisioned intercession as bringing requests to God that God may not have thought of, then talking God into granting them. Now I see intercession as an increase in my awareness. When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person." - Philip Yancey, Prayer

Good way of putting it.

Psalm 57

This verse seems to have been resonating within me for a while now (Probably thanks to Mumford & Sons). My first 2 months or so here I was constantly happy and alive and passionate to be here and serve. However once this initial honeymoon period was over, I would cry out to God to "Awake my soul", to remind me of that first love we shared and bring me back to life.

⁷ My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
⁸ Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.

⁹ I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
¹⁰ For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.

Something New

Today I was on the metro on the way to distributing food with the Salvation Army and I prayed that God would show me something new.

Everything was pretty normal. I got busy giving out hot chocolate as usual. Then some of the other volunteers invited me to join them in a small group to minister to the girls. I agreed readily, of course. However, I was confused as to why the girls received their food elsewhere. Turns out we were going to Madrid's red light district. Definately saw something new.

One woman in our volunteer group had this amazing maternal spirit towards every single girl we came across. And that's really what they all were, they are just girls. Most of them 25 or younger. It broke my heart. Any of those girls could have been my school friends, could have been me.

Why wasn't it me though? Why did God choose for me to have this amazing life where I get to have this relationship with him, and these girls don't? Do they know that God loves them? Do they know that anyone loves them? Where do they call home? Who gives them hugs and asks how their day has been?

I just don't know. I guess it wasn't me so I could be one of the people who helps them. I guess they'll only know that they are loved if we show them. And I'm priveledged to think that I could be the one to ask how their day has been.

Psalm 63

I've been reading some Psalms recently. There really is a psalm for every situation; for every single human emotion, there is a Psalm that displays, decribes or speaks of it.

I really like David. He is such a mint guy. In his psalms he just seems so genuine with God, he literally has nothing to hide. Whether he is crying out for a seemingly inactive God to help him or if he is running through the fields shouting praises to his heavenly father, he doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is.

Here's today's Psalm:

¹ You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

² I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
³ Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
⁵ I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

⁶ On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
⁷ Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.

⁹ Those who want to kill me will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
¹⁰ They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.

¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise in him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

I'm tired and feeling a bit dull. David understands...

After The Storm

After the storm, I run and run as the rains come and I look up. I look up, on my knees and out of luck, I look up.

Coincidence?

At Fusión on Tuesday we were praying for more people to come so our group would grow. On Wednesday morning I received a message from a girl who I met on the plane on the way here (4 months ago), we haven't really spoken since then despite being friends on facebook.

Anyway, she had messaged me to say that she wanted to get more connected, and did I know of any church groups in the city. Haha, of course I do.

Closer than my skin.

Through The Valley - Lex Buckley

Your heart is for the broken
Your ears are turned to those in pain
You comfort all in mourning
You rescue those in need

So though I walk through the valley
I won't be afraid
For Jesus You are with me holding me close
And You can give a peace that passes understanding
Lord You will protect and comfort this heart

Lord I know You are faithful
Lord I know You are good and true
I trust in You my Saviour
You are my all in all

All of my hope is in You
All of my hope is in You
All of my hope is in You
It's in You

Recently God has felt scarily distant and invisible to me. Singing this song the other day, I remembered that he IS always with me, holding me close. And there ain't nothing I can do about it.

:)

Dance Mat

The other day we were playing dance mat. Claudi is terrible at it so one round when she got up to have her go, Sam (her husband) got onto the laptop and used the alternative keys so that she would get more points. Claudi had no idea and continued prancing around, stamping on the wrong buttons completely out of time.

When she finished, she passed the level with a B. She then jumped joyfully onto the sofa next to Sam who showered her with praise and they celebrated her victory together.

This reminded me that in life we often try to do work for God, we may be awful at it, we may sometimes hit the right buttons and do it well. However, whether we perform well or not will never effect the fact that God is still working and waiting to share the joy of his victory with us.

Church

Whilst reading my church planting manual, I found this case study which I thought was really interesting...

Juan trusted Christ at a Billy Graham crusade meeting in New York City at the age of 18. Counseled for ten minutes about his new-found faith, he was encouraged to find a Bible-believing church. He visited several and settled into an independant Baptist congregation in the Bronx. Juan observed a number of things that were important to this group of Christians:

- Churches own buildings, even though just store fronts; people sit on benches in rows; they come nicely dressed; they are greeted by ushers who hand them bulletins to read.

- Churches have hymnals available for everyone; there books have both words and music, whether the people can read music or not; there's an organ (seldom played), a piano and a small choir

- Churches have two gatherings called "Services" on Sunday, the morning one being preceded by a Sunday school. There's a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights. The Sunday services begin with singing led by a song leader and then include announcements, pastoral prayer and a sermon by the pastor.

- The pastor is a seminary graduate who did not belong to this congregation before going to school. He was called by the congregation mainly to preach to them. He also visits the sick and calls on church members.

- Members are asked to attend all the meetings faithfully. After they have done this for some time, they are given Sunday school classes to teach if they have been baptized.

Juan grew spiritually, developed friends and became involved in the whole program of the church. Since he had speaking abilities, Juan was often used as a supply preacher. Five years later he felt called to start a church himself. Though he was a teacher in the public school system, Juan left his job and did some graduate work in a seminary. After a few more years as a co-pastor in his home church, Juan started his own church.

While I read that I just kept asking myself "I wonder if this is how Jesus imagined his church..."

What do you think?