State of the nation

Well well well! What chaos and as South Africans we laugh but in truth how sad. Our Presidents state of the nation address in shambles as one party protests and are then forcibly removed by police and another party walks out. I could spend the next hour writing about all that is wrong with that.

As Christians though we should be asking a more important question? What is the spiritual state of our nation? May I venture to say, not much better! Are those of faith not sometimes the laughing stock of others? May I propose it is because our message has become irrelevant. We preach one thing and do another.

On a personal level I have been challenged this week to ask myself constantly, am I really living by the Spirit? That question has forced me to dig deep and check my responses. Being bold and speaking out against injustice is one thing, but if we aren't careful it can lead to being cynical about all aspects of life.

I want to challenge us today to check the state of our hearts and see where God needs to be most actively at work in us and then ask God to teach us gently by His Spirit how to live more effective lives for Him.

We have lift off!

December 17, 1903 - I can only imagine the thoughts that must have gone through the minds of  Orville and Wilbur Wright, as they set out and tried once again to get an airplane into sustained flight.  On that great day they did it!  There had been others but theirs was the first fixed winged powered flight.  How much trial and error did that take? 

A mere 66 years later man walked on the moon!  What an incredible 66 years that must have been.  Every day and every year, exciting new developments were taking place.  Every aeronautical engineer, ever pilot, every mechanic and who knows who else, played their part in an age of discovery that must have taken courage, tenacity and a boldness to go where no man had gone before! 

The one thing that was constant throughout those 66 years.......change!  Countless changes taking place every day to get 1kg more, 1 meter more, 1 more of anything into those designs to make them bigger, stronger, faster and tougher to reach the goals that they had set out to achieve.

 Life is all about change and the more we learn to embrace that, the easier the ride becomes.  Going with the flow in a positive way can bring about very exciting results.  How do you feel about change?  Afraid?....Don't be.  Jump right in and let God guide you to the destiny He has planned for you! 

At 100%

A few movies have been made asking the question, "What would happen if we could access and use 100% of our available brain power?"  The Sci-Fi answers to that question are quite entertaining.  A thought occurred to me, what if we were truly able to live life being so fully immersed in God that we walked fully in the fruit of the spirit all the time?  Once we are born again we are new spirit beings, so why would this not be possible or what do we need to do to make it possible? 

Well I think the issue for me in living everyday life is that we can get so caught up in our daily affairs that we loose sight of God.  How do we bring God back to our consciousness then and allow ourselves to be lead by the Spirit so that we can live in the Spirit?  

Firstly I think it requires constant reminder.  The Jews used to have a small scroll that was bound around their forehead to remind them that they should keep God's word foremost in their thoughts.  We can do that today by using aids such as audio bibles and audio books, christian music and many other means to keep God within our conscious space.  

 The next part to that process would be repentance.  When we know that we have sinned we should make a conscious decision to repent immediately and if possible verbally, not loud, but out enough for us to hear ourselves.  The reason for this is that repentance sharpens our conscience and makes us more in tuned to God's will for us to live Holy lives.  Practically speaking though you just get plain tired of saying sorry all the time and stop doing the bad behaviour. 

I don't know about you but I am keen to work on this aspect of my life.....and be warned, the devil will be watching!

Much to complain about

As South African's we may feel that we have much to complain about and frankly, yes we do.  I am however going to look at the bright side (excuse the pun).  I saw a post from a friend who said that the power outages gave her time to connect with her children.  I saw that tonight too.  I could actually hear children playing and people talking.

My favourite part, besides enjoying the candle light, is being able to see the stars.  With the city lights down you really can see so many more.  Tonight we are especially blessed to have a full moon and you can even see the the shadow's on the moons surface, it is truly spectacular. 

Again, as I said yesterday it is about our focus, what are you looking at?  Instead of grumbling let us lift up and encourage each other whenever and wherever we can. 

The art of distraction

With all the bad news flying around one really has to work hard sometimes to find something funny or cute to laugh about or just something that make you forget all your troubles for a little while.  Tonight's distraction a hand held mini espresso maker.  Wow! Now for a coffee lover like me.....I mean looooooooover, this is just the biz!  Mmmpf, it's just the $39 price tag that's a bit of an issue, Lol!

Paul gives us some guidelines about the art distraction, that is to focus on something better.  Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

In other words, when we are feeling down and as if life is totally hopeless, we need to remind ourselves about the good things that life does bring across our path.  I can think of nothing better than God's infinite love for us.  I'll be honest, infinite love is a concept I often fail to grasp simply because of the very limited nature of the love shown to us by the world in general.  

We truly have to stretch our minds to conceive that our great and mighty God, made all of the heavens and the earth, simply to display to us how much He loves us!  Yes, that is true, noble, just, pure and lovely and I will meditate on that!  

The unfair box

I am currently reading a book by Joni Earickson Tada called 'A place of healing'.  In case you don't know Joni's story I'll give you the cliff notes.  Joni was in her late teens when she hit her head against a rock in a diving accident and has been a paraplegic ever since.  In 'A place of healing' Joni shares her amazing insights as to her understanding of divine healing and why many people do not get healed through the gifts of miracles.  It has been an amazing eye opener for me as an occassional migraine sufferer but more than just that, it has opened my eyes to so many aspects of our emotional lives. 

Joni certainly did not deserve paraplegia nor the constant pain she feels now from the continuing collapse of her spinal column and she certainly did not commit any sin for which she was being punished, it was simply an accident, a very unfair accident!  She could choose to live with bitterness but has rather chosen the path of destiny and allowing God to use her to minister to other disabled people. 

That is just it though, in life some things are simply unfair.  It does not mean that God caused the incident but rather that He can redeem any situation and use it for His glory if we will allow Him to work in our hearts. 

But what if it is not an accident and someone has deliberately done something to hurt you?  It may be relationally, legally, physically and whatever it was it has caused you a tremendous amount of pain.  Do we have to forgive?  Absolutely, otherwise Christ's unfair death on the cross for our salvation would mean nothing, but we do NOT need to let that situation dominate our lives.  We have the right to draw boundaries. 

I know that I have struggled in certain areas to 'Let go and let God' take care of things but I have realized now it is because I feel in some way that if I let go then the other person has won.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In letting go it does NOT mean that the other person has won and you have lost, it does NOT mean that the other person is right and you are wrong, it simply means that they are too selfish, mean spirited or down right evil to see how much they have hurt you. 

There are times when we will be able to 'make things right' by legal means, intervention or mediation but sometimes there is just nothing that you can do in your power to fix things.  In those cases we need to learn to put those matters in the 'unfair' box, lock it tight and leave it at the feet of Jesus. 

Old world charm

While on holiday in Kimberly we went to the Kimberly club for dinner to celebrate my Step dad's birthday.  This establishment was built and opened in the late 1800's.  Formerly an elite gentleman's club controlled by the likes of the Rhodes and Oppenheimer families, it is rich in history and nostalgia and it was such a privilege to be able to dine in such esteemed location.  The food naturally was to DINE for.....tee hee!

We had positioned ourselves on the outside patio, hoping it would be cooler but alas, the interior dining halls were air conditioned so we would have done better indoors.  What I adored was the period music playing in the background and if you closed your eyes you could almost imagine couples dancing to the Victorian tunes and gentlemen smoking their pipes and cigars in the billiard rooms and lounge (not that I'm a smoking fan). 

Nostalgia is a funny thing, it can take you back to times when life seemed happier, but it can also lock you in to memories of a painful past.  It is hard to accept but both in the good and the bad we have to stop looking back in the rear view mirror and look forward to the road that God has ordained us to walk.  Letting go is hard, but if we don't we will never see the destiny that God has created for us. 

You may be feeling that it is so early in the year and yet already you were wishing we could turn back the clock, but this is the appointed time for you to proceed forward.  Cherish and hold dear what has come and gone and gaze eagerly today upon God's face and let His light of wisdom shine on your path as you forge ahead.