Prayer based on the armour of God
Lord,
I pray this day that your truth will hold me up and I can rely on it, because my very being
knows that I have been made right through what Jesus has
done and I can walk forward today, at peace, secure, in
your good news. I trust you to protect me, for you have
saved me. I want to run in spirit and in truth,
through my relationship with you, your word and the Holy Spirit. Help me to continue to share my life with
you through prayer and shine you
into the world.
Amen
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Annie's Song
In about 1997 I went through a period of Monday night jamming with my best Paul, I say jamming, I don't play anything, Paul use to come round with his guitar and I would sing along, sometimes we would write stuff, sometimes we would do covers. It was a really good time, a couple of beers and a singalong.
One night Paul came round and we had heard that day that John Denver had died, so that night we decided to do John Denver covers in tribute to the man. Some absolutely fantastic songs. I love Country Road, but my favourite is the incredibly soppy Annie's Song.
That was a really good night and last night I was reminded of it when Annie's Song came on the radio and I started to sing along, in fact I found my self just speaking to God through the lyrics, of worshipping God in that Song, such great words, 'come fill me again', 'you fill up my senses', it is an amazing song of desire and pursuing, devotional, maybe even obsessional love.
I love it when I see God all over the place, I think it is an important thing to do, to search out, listen out and look out for God, it is a reminder of His closeness and greatness and seeing God everywhere is a reminder of the personal relationship I have with God.
One night Paul came round and we had heard that day that John Denver had died, so that night we decided to do John Denver covers in tribute to the man. Some absolutely fantastic songs. I love Country Road, but my favourite is the incredibly soppy Annie's Song.
That was a really good night and last night I was reminded of it when Annie's Song came on the radio and I started to sing along, in fact I found my self just speaking to God through the lyrics, of worshipping God in that Song, such great words, 'come fill me again', 'you fill up my senses', it is an amazing song of desire and pursuing, devotional, maybe even obsessional love.
I love it when I see God all over the place, I think it is an important thing to do, to search out, listen out and look out for God, it is a reminder of His closeness and greatness and seeing God everywhere is a reminder of the personal relationship I have with God.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
First Impressions
It just seems so easy to judge, it is something I do loads and something I don't want to do and something I certainly don't want done done to me.
Someone told me that if you type in 'why do Christians...' on Google, the predictive search will come up with 'judge.' I tried it, its not true. But Christians are extremely well known for doing something that Jesus was very specific about saying not to do. In fact the bit that worries me, is that Jesus said that I will be judged the same way that I judge.
So many situations, just coming into contact with people, judgements are made, first impressions, based on class, marital status, dress sense, sex, age, children, looks, voice, the list can go on and on and on. Where does an impression become a judgement? How do I approach people, with the attitude of a blank canvas? Should I? I have to be open to perceive, to try and understand, to notice maybe what is going on in someones life and yet not add my own bias.
Knowing people is key, relationship. Getting rid of internal bias is so important and yet so difficult.
Don't let your mind go there, stop before the judgement begins.
I have loads to say on judging, something that plagues me and something I'm battling through.
Someone told me that if you type in 'why do Christians...' on Google, the predictive search will come up with 'judge.' I tried it, its not true. But Christians are extremely well known for doing something that Jesus was very specific about saying not to do. In fact the bit that worries me, is that Jesus said that I will be judged the same way that I judge.
So many situations, just coming into contact with people, judgements are made, first impressions, based on class, marital status, dress sense, sex, age, children, looks, voice, the list can go on and on and on. Where does an impression become a judgement? How do I approach people, with the attitude of a blank canvas? Should I? I have to be open to perceive, to try and understand, to notice maybe what is going on in someones life and yet not add my own bias.
Knowing people is key, relationship. Getting rid of internal bias is so important and yet so difficult.
Don't let your mind go there, stop before the judgement begins.
I have loads to say on judging, something that plagues me and something I'm battling through.
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Temptation
Funny thing temptation, it can sneak right up on you nad can easily be about not doing as doing.
Things I want to be doing all involve making an effort, being organised, getting active. It is so much easier not to do, like not writing a blog, sitting here and having to think about what I am actually writing instead of just getting lost in another book or randomly browsing the internet. The reason I wanted to write a blog, involved having loads of thoughts and wanting to put them down somewhere, I still have the thoughts, but they just run around in my head and then end up getting lost.
I am not writing this blog to say I will now be writing more blogs, I just had something in my head I wanted to put down.
The other thing I find with temptation though is what is going round my head, is that God always provides a way out, an exit strategy, sometimes we don't see it, but it is definitly there. A good example is the internet, how many clicks does it take to go somewhere you don't want to be, it still involves clicking, there is the exit, don't click. Sometimes easier said than done, or how about the tv, something on which you really know is not doing you any good and there is a remote control, we don't even have to get up to change the channel, but the channel stays on, the way out is there. I know the places that if I went to it would be easy for me to get dragged down or into something I shouldn't, so it is best for me not to go there.
Always look for the way out, it is there, it just involves making making a choice and actually doing. I know there is more to that, more about breaking cycles and making hard decisions, but I just wanted to get that out of my head.
Things I want to be doing all involve making an effort, being organised, getting active. It is so much easier not to do, like not writing a blog, sitting here and having to think about what I am actually writing instead of just getting lost in another book or randomly browsing the internet. The reason I wanted to write a blog, involved having loads of thoughts and wanting to put them down somewhere, I still have the thoughts, but they just run around in my head and then end up getting lost.
I am not writing this blog to say I will now be writing more blogs, I just had something in my head I wanted to put down.
The other thing I find with temptation though is what is going round my head, is that God always provides a way out, an exit strategy, sometimes we don't see it, but it is definitly there. A good example is the internet, how many clicks does it take to go somewhere you don't want to be, it still involves clicking, there is the exit, don't click. Sometimes easier said than done, or how about the tv, something on which you really know is not doing you any good and there is a remote control, we don't even have to get up to change the channel, but the channel stays on, the way out is there. I know the places that if I went to it would be easy for me to get dragged down or into something I shouldn't, so it is best for me not to go there.
Always look for the way out, it is there, it just involves making making a choice and actually doing. I know there is more to that, more about breaking cycles and making hard decisions, but I just wanted to get that out of my head.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Reaction Time
I will be driving along sometimes and there will be someone waiting to pull out and I don't notice them in time to stop and let them through, or somebody is speaking and afterwards I think, I should have been concentrating more, I could have said...., the other week, driving to work, in my rush, I pulled out to overtake and then noticed a hitchhiker in a layby, that because of my rush, I missed being able to stop for.
It seems to me my reaction time is a bit slow, or maybe my eyes are not open enough, or even, I am not looking because, it is not natural for me to have my eyes open, ready to respond, I am looking internally, responding to what is in front of me and missing need on the periphary.
How do I get naturally wide eyed?
It says at the beginning of Ephesians 5 that I should be an imitator of God, how do I do that? Spend time with Him. His word, in prayer, in time. The more I know of Him, the more natural it is to respond because I am more aware of His heart, of His ways, of His view of things, He has a very wide aspect.
I want to be wide eyed and able to respond as naturally as breathing.
It seems to me my reaction time is a bit slow, or maybe my eyes are not open enough, or even, I am not looking because, it is not natural for me to have my eyes open, ready to respond, I am looking internally, responding to what is in front of me and missing need on the periphary.
How do I get naturally wide eyed?
It says at the beginning of Ephesians 5 that I should be an imitator of God, how do I do that? Spend time with Him. His word, in prayer, in time. The more I know of Him, the more natural it is to respond because I am more aware of His heart, of His ways, of His view of things, He has a very wide aspect.
I want to be wide eyed and able to respond as naturally as breathing.
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Regeneration
I have a great book by a guy called Andrew Wilson called 'God Stories.' I hope it does not sound rude if I say it is a great toilet read, the chapters are really short and yet gets so much across, it is the perfect book for toilet concentration.
I was reading a chapter the other day on regeneration and what God does in and to our lives and it inspired this wee post.
It really made me think of Doctor Who, because he gets regenerated, when he gets mortally wounded or you think that is the end, or some actor does not want to be typecast, (even though they now already are), anyway, then Doctor Who gets regenerated.
New body, new voice, new habits, new characters in his life, new tastes and always a new dress sense. He becomes somebody completely new, yet, he has the same memories, the same knowledge, he is still the doctor.
Of course, easy analogy time.
New Christian, new body in spirit, new voice, new tastes, new habits, probably some new characters, maybe not the new dress sense, new life. Still you, memories and knowledge and such like and yet made brand new, a new creation, regenerated.
I was reading a chapter the other day on regeneration and what God does in and to our lives and it inspired this wee post.
It really made me think of Doctor Who, because he gets regenerated, when he gets mortally wounded or you think that is the end, or some actor does not want to be typecast, (even though they now already are), anyway, then Doctor Who gets regenerated.
New body, new voice, new habits, new characters in his life, new tastes and always a new dress sense. He becomes somebody completely new, yet, he has the same memories, the same knowledge, he is still the doctor.
Of course, easy analogy time.
New Christian, new body in spirit, new voice, new tastes, new habits, probably some new characters, maybe not the new dress sense, new life. Still you, memories and knowledge and such like and yet made brand new, a new creation, regenerated.
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Little Thoughts
I have lots of these little thoughts, little moments of clarity, or acknowledgement, or moments when I just notice God staring out at me in the most seemingly mundane or even worldly things, moments when God is apparent or makes himself known through the T.V. or driving or nature. Most of these thoughts disappear into the ether minutes after I have them, I am now attempting to make notes when I am inspired and hopefully just share something short and hopefully noteworthy which has caught my eye, or just started me thinking.
I was watching Film 2011 the other night, when I had a moment like this, they were talking about remakes, asking why people cannot be original, have to copy, or take something great and try and redo it when it does not need redoing or updating, or translating, it was fine the way it was, that is what made it a classic in the first place. Remaking stifles originality, yet of course in the film making world, it is all about the money, tried and tested may mean profit, rather than the risk of originality which can be hit and miss.
The church can sometimes act like this, somebody once referred to McChurch, the way services, ministries,etc.. are replicated in so many churches up and down the country, exactly the same service, same format, same ministries.
This can work.
If that is what God is saying to you.
But what if He is saying do something new? How easy is it to break the mould?
From Enoch to today, God has asked us to walk in new ways with Him, I bet Noah just wanted to be like Enoch and walk with God, but God wanted him to build an ark, I bet Abram did not want to go walkabout but would have preferred to build an ark, God had already asked someone to do that. How about Martin Luther? Or Wesley? Or countless others, who responded to God's originality, rather than just trying to make a dull remake.
I was watching Film 2011 the other night, when I had a moment like this, they were talking about remakes, asking why people cannot be original, have to copy, or take something great and try and redo it when it does not need redoing or updating, or translating, it was fine the way it was, that is what made it a classic in the first place. Remaking stifles originality, yet of course in the film making world, it is all about the money, tried and tested may mean profit, rather than the risk of originality which can be hit and miss.
The church can sometimes act like this, somebody once referred to McChurch, the way services, ministries,etc.. are replicated in so many churches up and down the country, exactly the same service, same format, same ministries.
This can work.
If that is what God is saying to you.
But what if He is saying do something new? How easy is it to break the mould?
From Enoch to today, God has asked us to walk in new ways with Him, I bet Noah just wanted to be like Enoch and walk with God, but God wanted him to build an ark, I bet Abram did not want to go walkabout but would have preferred to build an ark, God had already asked someone to do that. How about Martin Luther? Or Wesley? Or countless others, who responded to God's originality, rather than just trying to make a dull remake.
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