Angelic Hospitality

On the weekend, my amazing wife & I went to a conference, and on the final day the asked if anyone in the audience would be willing to take a lady back to London - we were able, so offered. What we did not expect was to have somebody with us who would encourage us as much as she did. We are absolutely blessed by a lady with a huge heart and a fun and enjoyable personality. It made my mind think about the verses in Hebrews 13 where it says "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

Undivided Devotion

Reading from 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul speaks into issue of love and marriage and the pursuit of one another. In verse 29 he makes a challenging statement about men with wives living if they have none, those whose mourn as if they did not, those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep... "for this world in its present form is passing away". I felt challenged about my approach to life, my perspective on things of this world. Not that I should live my life foolishly as though I was not married, and not that I can detach from my wife and not serve her and love her and lay my life down for her, but that ultimately in the context of God, he needs to be the primary focus as the physical things of this world are only momentary and then gone, but He is eternal. What is my focus, what has my heart, where does my treasure lie? Am I building up treasures on earth or in heaven?

Strip it out, cut it off!

So building on the less is more, surrendering theme. I was listening to a sermon this weekend by Stef Liston, and he spoke about the Flesh, the World and the Devil... below is a bit of the sermon and my thoughts around that.

One of Stef's key points was that we need to crucify the flesh, not to give any space to it (giving it an inch - it will take a mile). The flesh is ultimately anything which stops us from loving Jesus (which ultimately is rooted in the demonic).

In Hebrews 12 the writer tells the people to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles"... EVERYTHING which hinders... Likewise elsewhere in the bible (not sure of the reference) it says if our right hand causes us to sin, we should cut it off! There is a massively radically teaching about what to do from anything which detracts from Jesus.

Wow! That challenged me, how do I operate in my life, what thoughts do I allow to enter my mind? How do I guard my mind & my heart? I close below with a challenging letter to the Galatians...

Galatians 5: Life by the Spirit
¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. ¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Blind Courage

So 2 weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting one of God’s treasures. I sat next to her during a Sunday morning service. We used the standard prompt from the preacher “to get to know your neighbour”, and we chatted for a little while, after which I felt like a had met a genuine, honest, kind person. We then continued in worship, and a visiting speaker delivered a sermon. Right at the end of the meeting, she said to me that she had a simple prophetic picture.

Essentially it was of a small potted plant, and God was simply saying that what I had planted, he would grow… at first I did not get the context, but then after thinking about it I realised it was totally what I needed, in terms of as we plan to move away from this family & community I have been building with for the past few years, God was encouraging me that those people or ministries I had been investing in would grow because he would water them. Thank you God that you are in absolute control, and you will all things for good and your Glory!

Now the point of this blog was not about the simple but hugely encouraging prophecy, but about this girl, who was blind, yet completely confident in bringing a prophetic picture to somebody she just met, and somebody she could not see (or even see how they were reacting). Oh how sometimes I am fearful of steps of faith, even with physical eyes, and her was my friend without sight but completely confident in what God had said to her. What a blessing.

Discipline and Desire

This blog jumps around a bit... apologies if it is a confusing!

So I was listening to a sermon by Bill Johnson, and he was speaking about how God's disciplining is never out of anger... God's never gets unhinged and has to vent on his - his wrath was fully satisfied in Jesus on the cross, and when we step into that covering, it is complete & total. God's disciplining is good for us, as he looks to prune things our life so that we become fruitful - you never prune out of anger, but out of the desire to make something more fruitful. Bill connected that to the verse about the vine & the branches, quoted below.

John 15:
⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

I love that line where it says if we are within him, then whatever we ask it will be done. It is similar to a passage in 1 John 5 v14-15, where it says if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. God has been challenging me about the state of my heart... as my heart starts to align to the beat of his heart, my desires and passions align to his. Therefore whatever I ask of him should be for good and His glory, therefore why would he not grant it. Even in the Psalm 37, David speaks about if delighting in the Lord, and He will give us the desire of our hearts.

Oh God, forgive me when I delight in things of this world. May I grow in my desire to meet with you in your sanctuary, marinading in your goodness, in your glory, in your majesty. Oh God, take me deeper.

Less is More

So the 1st official post, of my personal thoughts... Recently we have started to cleanup our house to get rid of unneeded items which we have just been holding onto - this has been prompted by various reasons, but the thing I have been struck by now (and every time in the past) is the massive release and joy it is to give things away. At business we are often challenge about the fact that we have so much to do, and that the management often challenge us saying less is more - I feel this is so true on a physical, emotional and even spiritual level. Getting rid of things physically just simply cleans up your life (your house, room, whatever), whilst getting rid of emotional baggage is huge... but even more so on a spiritual level. I often find clinging onto things (on any level), unless absolutely divine, damages my mind and my heart. I feel like in many ways we have been created to steward, stewarding the natural world around us, stewarding our kids as they grow, stewarding any blessing given too us. Therefore holding on tightly to those things we are meant to steward drops our focus, and heck we miss out on more blessing! We were created to give, so why not give more? I think that is where I will leave it, so I can dwell on that whilst I sleep...

The Start

So it is the new year... and whilst not doing "new year resolutions", I do sometimes try to do some life planning for the year ahead. Something I have felt led to do (and now compelled too) is to start doing some writing - for various reasons, some being about me and I would benefit from writing and also simply getting my thoughts down, and somewhat because I hope the things I am working through mentally and spiritually (and blogging about) will help others in a similar place. So I hope this a blessing, an encouragement, or simply an interesting read - either way I hope you are blessed. So, to you dear reader, may the year ahead be an exciting one, one which you have great hope for!