I was very blessed today to share a lovely lunch out with my boss who is also my pastor and his wife and the rest of my work mates. We had an awesome time together chatting over yummy Thai and it was just like having lunch with the family. We all get along so well together and God has built such an awesome unity between us all.
Spending time with family and friends is sometimes something that we can take for granted because we may do it so often but it is the little things that we frequently overlook that we need to take time to cherish because we never know where our lives may lead us. Life is full of change and I am one of those people who actually like change. Change really does feel like a holiday and I love it (and holidays of course)! It can be slightly overwhelming and maybe even a little bit scary at first but as you begin to let go and go with the flow it can get quite exciting. Just like a caterpillar after being couped up in a cocoon while it changes from a multi-legged crawling insect into a beautiful butterfly.
God is continually wanting us to change, to grow in our relationships with Him, to become more mature in Him, to become like Jesus. He also loves to see us succeed in life, to achieve our goals and our dreams but to do all of these things, takes lots of little steps and lots of changing.
But there is one thing that never changes and that is God... He is the same yesterday, today and forever. No matter what we do in life, where we go, how we live, where we may travel on this earth... Jesus is always there, constant and steadfast, never changing, always by our side and in control if we allow Him to be.
It is comforting to know that through all of the changes that life may bring my way... and I know there will be many... that Jesus will always be the one and only unchanging detail...
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
Just over the last few days I have been feeling like I have been going through a bit of a dry patch and as I was getting ready to go to bed tonight I was reminded of a scripture that we were studying during our first few weeks of Bible College.
The story talks about a woman at a well and Jesus comes over and asks her for a drink of water…she gets him a drink and then Jesus starts talking to her and telling her everything that was happening in her life and that if she drinks of the ‘living water’ she will never thirst again.
It was that little bit that was bought to my remembrance…if we drink of the ‘living water’ we will ‘never thirst again’. As we go through life and our walk with Jesus sometimes we can feel a little empty or dry in certain areas but it doesn’t have to be that way because we have Jesus…the living water…the well that will never run dry. We have Jesus on tap 24/7!
We can sometimes seek after many other things in life to try and fill the hole or the emptiness that we are feeling or to satisfy that dry feeling but they will never bring the fulfilment that only God can bring.
I think it is awesome that Jesus can supply our every need in life, any area that is lacking…we can call on him at anytime and know that there is an unlimited supply of ‘satisfaction’.
You know how it is on an extremely hot summers day and you’ve been working or playing hard and all of a sudden you just feel so overwhelmingly thirsty and in need of big, long drink…right now! You go to the frig and pull out that icy cold filtered water, pour yourself a tall glass and take a big, long drink…. That water is so unbelievably satisfying and your thirst has been quenched just like that.
That is what Jesus can do when we look to Him to fill the dryness in our heart or for the answer to our problems and He gives us peace, or if we are a feeling a bit depressed, He can bring something or someone along to make us smile and it’s exactly like the refreshing ‘ahhhhh…’ as you take a swig of that nice cold drink.
I have come to the realisation today that sometimes life can be going great, everything seems to be falling into place, your future looks secure and happy, your dreams seem to be coming to pass and then all of a sudden there is a curve ball thrown in!
But this is exactly where God wants us to be… all dishevelled and wondering what happened. He wants to get our attention so that we have to reach out to Him for the answers, so that we have to have faith instead of relying on ourselves, so that we can see miracles happen.
Come on Jesus… show us your power, show us your strength!
When things don’t go exactly the way that we think they should, it is only through Jesus that our future looks bright and happy. He is the rock on which we can stand in what seem like turbulent times, He knows exactly where we are going and what our future is.
Deuteronomy 32:4 ‘He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.’
I recently had the great pleasure of reconnecting with a friend whom I went to school with in New South Wales about 20 years ago. We used to hang out together at each other’s houses on the weekend, spent countless hours talking about boys and make-up and doing those silly things that teenagers do.
I remember one afternoon we had been out somewhere and had to walk back to her house and we decided that we were too tired, even though it was only about a 10 minute walk, so we stuck our thumbs out to get a lift from a stranger, which was very naughty! We ended up getting a lift by a very nice man and got home safely only to discover about a half an hour later that someone had seen us who knew my friends Mum and had dobbed us in... we were roasted!! The things we do!!
Anyway, we had lost contact with each other until the beginning of this year, we found out that we now live in the same city and tonight I had the opportunity of seeing my friend give her life to Jesus. There is nothing more exciting in the world than knowing that through all the events and changes that have taken place over those past 20 years, the number of places in Queensland that I have lived, the different places that she has been and events that have taken place in her life, somehow God has caused our paths to cross again at a time in my friends life where she needed to find Jesus. That is just so absolutely AMAZING!! And the other totally amazing thing is that God would use me to be the one who would be an influence in her making the most important decision in her life... that is just so AWESOME!!
I am so very thankful that God has His hand on all of our lives. Sometimes we may think that it ‘just happened’ but God is not of a God of ‘just happened’, He has a purpose and a plan for each of our lives even when we least expect it.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
Early this week I heard a message from a well-known International preacher. One of the points he was making during his message was that we as Christians shouldn’t feel condemned or worried if we have only 4.5 ‘quiet times’ per week because that actually meant that we were like everyone else and we were ‘normal’.
I must admit that I was quite shocked that he was actually saying that it was ok not to spend time with God everyday! What happened to what the Bible says about ‘praying continuously’ and having a relationship with God? The soul purpose we were created for was to have fellowship with God and to have relationship with Him… how can you build a relationship with someone on only 4.5 ‘quiet times’ per week… and how long are those quiet times?
Imagine if your husband or wife came home and said ‘Sorry honey, I have too many other things going on in my life at the moment, I’m going to have to restrict the time I see you this week to only 4.5 times and only 15 minutes at the most. I won’t be able to phone you just to say that I love you or to ask you for help with any problems that I might be going through and I won’t be able to stop and think about you at all and wonder what you might think about my ideas… I’m just too busy’.
If that is what being a normal Christian is about then I don’t want anything to do with normal… I want to be totally abnormal! I want to be one hundred percent sold out for Jesus and focussed on Him all of the time. God should be part of our lives and thoughts all throughout every single day… we need to get rid of the spirit of humanism that is slowing creeping its way into the lives of Christians and the church and become like Jesus. I want the Holy Ghost to speak to me continuously and if that is going to happen, I have to be the one who takes the first step.
James 4:8 ‘Come near to God and he will come near to you’.
