answered prayer

I was going to look for something profound as an image for this post, but the above made me laugh, a lot.

The youth cafe on Friday nights, I have decided to change the name to 'the YC' , an experiment in whether I am still cool. ( No I know I'm not, but I got bored with calling it the youth cafe, YC is shorter and like the american program, 'the OC' )

I had a really good night on Friday, plenty of support and workers, I was able to just to spend some time with people. Without going into too much detail, these young people have all of societies ills, all I read or see in the media, I am now seeing and hearing about, its upsetting, I was really glad I could be there for some young people on Friday night.

One young girl, who was in a very bad way, I asked if I could pray for her, she said she prays, but God is ignoring her. I said, I am here now, listening, talking, being here for you, so God does answer prayer.

I really feel that being obedient to God, doing what He asks you to do, give a word, pray for someone, listen to someone, reach out to people, be there, give people time, by doing these things, God is using you, as an answer to prayer.

We are His hands and feet, when someone is crying out to God for help, God may want to use us as His answer, we must have the guts to be that answer, it can be something so simple and yet, it can make a huge difference, to someones faith, to someones life, to our own lives.

Youth Cafe

Something very rare is happening tonight, The youth cafe is on and I have loads of workers.

Last week it ended up, me and one of the older youth, and Im not being funny, but the young people we get, are the type of young people Jesus would want to be talking to. In other words, they are a handful, they are not wanted by anyone, so its great to want them at church, you really have to keep your eyes open.

We are building some great relationships, it can be hard to get help. Well I have been reading Luke this week, and Jesus says the workers are few, ask the lord to send out workers. This week the Lord is sending out workers, I have a feeling we are going to need it, we have been building steadily over the weeks, to around 50 to 60 young people, hopefully word is spreading, workers and harvest, what a good combination.

Blurred

I am aware myself that I can easily get distracted, in fact, I have been thinking for a while, that I am trying to run around doing a lot, and hoping I am not losing focus, I was even thinking myself that I am being quite like Martha in the bible, running around getting things ready, while not stopping and getting what is going on.

Today I read in Luke about Mary and Martha, I knew it was coming. Got to slow down and focus, actually I'm not actually that sure on the slow down bit. I do have to focus, make time, put God first in all things, take time for prayer and His word.

I can say that it is hard, with work and a young family and the youth at the church and this and that............ if God is not first, what is the point of all that.

The fact is, it easy to sit down at the end of the day and put my feet up in front of the telly, or go and write a blog or browse the internet, or read a book and there is nothing wrong with any of them, how about giving God the time first.

Sit down at the end of the day and talk things through with God, get to know Him more, know His word. Him first. then enjoy the other stuff, Him first.

Pride

I nearly changed my videos for the title of this post, to another U2 song.

The young man above, moodily posing with my wife, is our oldest son Morgan Victor Alexander Heasley. He is now bigger than his mum, he is 12 and like his name, he is going to be a big guy.

Morgan has had a rough time lately, with school and friends, he is a good lad with a big imagination, that sometimes overflows into real life and then people don't get him, and want him to grow up. He is only just 11. Why are we always in such a rush for our children to grow. People are all different, like God, they don't fit in boxes, why do we expect our children to all be the same, to learn the same, to grow the same. We don't, why should they.

The other day, Morgan went into town, to go to the library, get a hot chocolate ( which he loves) and a dvd. He came back with nothing. I asked him for my change, he told me he had had his hot chocolate, and was then talking to Matthew, the big issue seller. ( if you are not from the uk, these guys are usually homeless and jobless, instead of begging, they sell a magazine, called the big issue, they keep profits made), he has talked to Matthew before, usually with me, we know his situation. Morgan decided that this guy needed the money more then he did, so he gave it to him.

You may say, it was my money, it was, but he decided to try and help someone, with what was in his pocket right then. I am proud, as long as he has that heart for people, the other stuff, just is not important. As long as he cares and wants to reach out that hand, thats important.

Its more important to know God's ways than the world's ways.

Killing Me Softly

I grew up knowing God, but in my late teens, I decided to go my own way. I have come back to Him, only in the last 2 years and He has blessed me.

Right now I believe God is pruning me, cutting me back, changing and forming me, getting rid of views and ways He does not want me to have, making me ready to march forward in Him.

This is painful, like my title, being killed softly by love, being loved into submission, to His ways, necessary, but hard. At the end of the day, it is about His vision, His life, His word and being focused on that. Being focused on trusting Him completely, leaning on Him, viewing life His way, not the worlds way. It is about forgetting all I know, and looking at things differently. Hard but true.

Pruning is necessary, then I can grow better.

Noise

Have you ever seen the movie, Me, Myself and Irene? There is a bit in the film, just before the main charachter loses the plot. He is in a supermarket checkout, and in his head, all he hears is a load of drums and cymbols ( is that the right spelling) . I feel like that quite often.

Trying to discern the right way to go, or how am I going to get out of this, or generally, what is going on??????????????? and all I hear is noise.

I really want to be able to listen through the noise, I think it is something that is learnt, and I start to understand why in the bible, discernment is seen as a gift. Its a great gift, I pray for more of it.

boxes in boxes

This will be a quick post, (children snapping at my heels) big point. A lot of people talk about not putting God in a box, which is so true, God will not fit.

I have just noticed a tendency in some, in words written or spoken, to try to take God out of the box, to try to make God more relevant, or more realistic, more believable, the idea is to get more of the message across to people without worrying about details, that might confuse people or might scare them away.

The desperate want obviously of some people taking 'God out of the box' is to save people, it is to relevantly reach people, get them into a personal relationship with Jesus. I actually think though that what is happening, is God is being put from one box to another.

What is being said, is that God is bigger than church, bigger than sunday morning, bigger than the small minds that we have and use to judge and look down our noses at others with. God is about the dark places, and His light shining in these places, He is about being out there, a reality in real people lives, in real problems, in reality.

God is also the God of the bible, He created the world in seven days, but........... But nothing, He said it, He did it. If you believe in God and have accepted Jesus as your saviour. You know God created the World and Jesus died and rose again. Why do some people have a problem with the seven days bit, for example. Because science tells us otherwise, because it does not seem possible, well He created the world, but not in seven days. Talk about put God in a box. Creator of everything and all things, but 'can't'. What a ridiculous argument, and talk about setting others up for a fall, I believe in God, I believe in His truth, the same way I want to live my life, because Jesus said it and did it. I will believe His word, because I do not want to put God in a box. I don't want to excuse His word, to make it more relevant or believable. I want people to know Jesus, trust Him and His word.

I think sometimes people don't have all the answers, I know so, it does not give us an excuse to explain things away. We do not know it all for a reason. I have faith in God.

I think it was Mark Twain who said ' He who claims to know everything, obviously knows nothing'

New song

I wanted a new video for my video bar, so yesterday, on a whim, I changed it to 40 by U2, have a listen, very good. For all those of you who don't know, the song is based on psalm 40.

Later yesterday Tanya came home from one of her groups, talking about how it had gone, she then started speaking about this psalm they had been reading. I knew straight away (and I was right), they had been reading psalm 40. I thought I should probably look at this more closely.

Generally it is very simple, trust in Him, wait on God and He will lift you up, put you straight and fill your life anew, so you will sing a new song. You are not worthy, put Him first and He will be faithful to you.

Enjoy the song and the psalm.

Choices

I am having to make some choices in my life right now. Where to live, where to work, how to live. I was going to write something about choosing between the flesh and the spirit, but I am just feeling now, like going down a different line.

We, in the western world have so many choices, we have the luxury of choice. What to watch on tv, maybe watch a dvd, listen to a cd, go to the supermarket and fill up on stuff on special offer, then not eat it anyway, what to wear, what not to wear, look it up on the internet, then get drunk on wine or beer or strawberry flavoured vodka. Accumulate more, make bigger choices, what car, what house, what holiday, what job.

We have too many choices. We convince ourselves its a good thing, it is, isn't it? Or have we listened to another lie, choice is good.

God gives us a choice, accept Him, His love, what He has done for us, and live. Or don't and die.

The problem I have with our luxury of choice, is we have so many chances to make the wrong one. So many ways to lose our way. So many objects and things that get between us and God and how He wants us to live. We also start to rely on our luxury, on our choices, rather than rely on God. How many different types of insurance, how many do you have?

Somebody asked me the other day, should christians have home contents insurance, well..........