Saturday 30 March 2013

The Greatest Love

Cadbury eggs, the Easter bunny, a 4-day long weekend, and an excuse to wear pastel-coloured outfits... to some of us, that's all that Easter is. But it's so much more than that. It's a time to remember the greatest heartbreak, the greatest happiness, the greatest redemption, the greatest sacrifice and, most of all, the greatest love that ever took place.

Thank you for the cross, Lord
Thank you for the price you paid
Bearing all my sin and shame, in love you came
And gave amazing grace

Thank you for the scars, Lord
Thank you for the nail-pierced hands
Wash me in Your cleansing flow, now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb
Seated on the throne
We crown You now with many crowns
You reign victorious!
High and lifted up
Jesus, Son of God
The darling of Heaven, crucified
Worthy is the Lamb

Tuesday 19 March 2013

God's greater plan

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind? Jokes. I've never felt like a plastic bag, but I have felt like I'm just walking around and around in circles, asking the same question "God, where am I supposed to go?"

Sometime it feels like I've worked so hard to get somewhere and God has opened doors along the way, only to close them again. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the path that I'm supposed to be on, only to be de-routed (is that even a word?).

I still don't know where I'm going, or where I'm supposed to be, but I do know that God has plans FAR GREATER than anything I could ever imagine for myself.

For those of you who are at a crossroads in your life, or feel like you don't know where to go either, don't be discouraged. God is SO GOOD and He will never leave you. Even though something might not seem 'good' or 'right' to you right now, just trust that He has everything under control.

"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 hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." <Jer 29:11-13>

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." <Prov 3:5-6>

Friday 8 March 2013

Sovereign - Chris Tomlin

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." <Prov 3:5-6>



Sovereign in the mountain air
Sovereign on the ocean floor
With me in the calm, with me in the storm

Sovereign in my greatest joy
Sovereign in my deepest cry
With me in the dark, with me at the dawn

In Your everlasting arms
All the pieces of my life
From beginning to the end I can trust You
In Your never failing love
You work everything for good
God whatever comes my way I will trust You

All my hopes, all I need
Held in Your hands
All my life, all of me
Held in Your hands
All my fears, all my dreams
Held in Your hands

Sunday 3 March 2013

Unashamed. Unabandoned. Undignified.


And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

All of my life
You are still God 
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

----

Today I was reminded of what my worship to the almighty king should be like. I worship the one who created me and knew me even before I was born, the same one who has plans for me that are far more than anything I can imagine, and the same one, out of love and mercy and grace, gave up His perfect son for me. Why should I not put everything on the line when I sing of how great He is? Why should I worry about what the person next to me thinks when I lift my hands? Why should I not give all that I am to Him who deserves far more than anything I could ever give?

Unashamed. Unabandoned. Undignified. That's what my worship should be.

"Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and forever" <Psalm 145:2>




Thursday 21 February 2013

What does it mean to be "In Passionate Pursuit"?

You know that feeling when you're interested in someone and you'll do almost anything to get their attention, or to get to know them better, or to get them to like you back? That's the kind of passionate pursuit Jesus invites us to.

Jesus said "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." <Luke 9:23>

"Come after me..."

He will settle for nothing less than to be the great love and pursuit of your life. That's what he wants.
He doesn't need our time, He doesn't need our money, He doesn't need our worship. He doesn't need anything from us. But He wants us. All these things (our time, our money, our worship) are just outer signs that point to an inner reality that we love Jesus more than anything else. <Not a fan. - Kyle Idleman>

"Deny yourself..."

You can't "come after" Jesus without denying yourself. A total surrender - that's what He's asking for.

We live in a culture where it's about me, me me. We're selfish, self-serving, self-centered, self-loving, self-indulgent, self-seeking, self-absorbed, self-admiring.

In Matthew 19, a rich young man asks Jesus what he has to do to get eternal life. Jesus tells the rich young man, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." <Matt 19:21>
"Many people want to make this story about money, but it's not as much about money as it is following Jesus. Jesus puts this man at a crossroads  He can follow the path that leads to money, or he can follow Jesus; but he can't follow both...You won't be able to take the path of following Jesus without walking away from a different path. He wanted to follow Jesus, but when forced to choose between Jesus and his stuff, he chose his stuff. He wouldn't deny himself." <Not a fan. - Kyle Idleman>

"Take up your cross daily..." 

Don't you find that after a teens camp, or a weekend retreat, or a good sermon, or a worship conference, or even just something really good that's happened in your life, you have a 'spiritual burst'? If your life is like mine, then you have spiritual highs here and there, sometimes you reach a certain point and just plateau, and sometimes you have spiritual lows. Jesus calls us to take up our cross daily - to die daily. Why would Jesus invite us to take up our cross daily if the cross was meant for torture and death?

It's symbolic of public humiliation. Humiliation is defined as 'a painful loss of pride, dignity, and self-respect.' It's the opposite of being honoured or exalted. The root of the word is 'humble.' Humble is defined as 'not proud or arrogant; having a feeling of insignificance; to lower in importance; to make meek.' We are to make ourselves nothing, and make Him everything.

The cross also means suffering. You can't carry a cross without suffering.

"Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." <2 Tim 3:12>
"Christ says, "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work; I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out." <Mere Christianity - CS Lewis>
How can taking up your cross daily be a good thing?

When we choose to die, that's when we really find life.
The cross that represented defeat - for a follower it is an image of victory.
The cross that represented guilt - for a follower it is an image of grace.
The cross that represented condemnation - for a follower it is an image of freedom.
The cross that represented pain and suffering - for a follower it is an image of healing and hope.
The cross that represented death - for a follower it is an image of life.  <Not a fan. - Kyle Idleman>

"Follow me..."

So I've been meaning to go running for a long time now. It was my new year's resolution to go for a run three times a week. So far that hasn't happened. I haven't made it a priority and I keep putting it off and making excuses (I don't have time, there's a game on, I'm in game, it's raining etc). Sometimes I find that this is what my relationship with God is like. I don't make it a priority and I keep putting it off and making excuses.

But Jesus says..

"Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. <Matt 4:19>

"Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." <Heb 3:15>

It's an immediate call to action to follow Jesus today, not tomorrow. Today.

"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." <2 Chron 16:9>

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Find rest in Him

It's that time of the year again - cram time. It dawned on me yesterday that midterms are in less than a week. I never used to get stressed about exams - I was one of those kids that didn't study at all in high school and still got As - but now, I guess reality is finally catching up. Gone are the days of not studying. Hello one-week-before-exams-and-i'm-stressing-like-crazy.

Jesus reminds us to find rest in him.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." <Matt 11:28-30>

I read this recently..

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.
Basically these two behaviours communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won't be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small indeed." <Crazy Love - Francis Chan>

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." <Matt 6:34>

"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" <Matt 6:25-27>