Baby Food

I have been feeling a real call in my life to grow up, like in 1 Corinthians;

1 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people.[b] I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.[c] 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?

I don't want to be lagging behind, I want to be running forward in the race, I want to be honest about where I am and run forward from there, like it says in Romans 12;

3 Because of the privilege and authority[c] God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.[d

I have been looking at myself and trying to be honest, not in a guilty, shameful way, in an honest, liberating way, and it is liberating, I want to run in freedom and maturity, like in Philippians 3;

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[d] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.

So yes, this may seem a bit random and I have enjoyed using the bible more than me, but I suppose I am just sharing where I am right now.

Spiritually Dismissive

I can be spiritually dismissive, it is easy to talk about and do the practical things in my life following Jesus, actually a lot of the time they can be hard, but they are certainly easier to talk about, I have also said before that I find I am very comfortable in prayer, in fact I am ok with worship and prayer and God being spiritual but I can be a bit dismissive if talk turns to being under attack by the enemy or spiritual battles or many other supernatural phenomena. I even found it quite hard to write the post the other day about spiritual battles.

The fact is, if I am who I say I am, and I follow who I say I follow, then the spiritual has to be at the forefront. Personally I have started to think that I am a bit proud when it comes to certain spiritual areas of my life, and I am right now searching through myself and asking questions of myself, allowing God to continue His work in me and leaving no stone unturned, no dark shadows in me, attempting to be truly free. I feel part of this is facing up to the many spiritual ways God works and Satan works.

I am reading a book called Freedom in Christ, a book I have slagged off rotten in the past, for having lists, for talking about stuff that, in my mind, I don't think could hurt anyone, for getting people to look at their life and bring up stuff from the past, which could be hurtful and cause more damage than good.

This week I have been really trying to pull close to God more and more and I thought it would cause no harm and would challenge my pride to have a look at this book. I do feel now that it allows you to bring things to Christ and leave them their, things that I am still carrying around, I think it has drawn attention to things in my life which are obviously damaging and things in the past that I can put to rest. It has challenged me to forgive in every area of my life, including myself. I have sometimes found it really hard to get through and I have continued to be dismissive in my mind. But I now ask what is the problem with having a spiiritual MOT and leaving anything I may be carrying around at Jesus' feet? I suppose I am just getting it a bit more , as I have said here before, I am continuing to learn.

I had a dream last night that I was walking about in my boxer shorts, Tanya reckoned it is because I am more transparent.

The whole Israel/Gaza thing

People have to stop killing each other. People have to learn to forgive, people have to learn to let go of the past. I could finish my post there, but I won't.


'Anyone who claims to understand Irish politics, obviously does not understand Irish politics.'


A famous Irish political quote, that can be used very obviously here, in todays circumstances in Israel/Gaza. So many people jumping on bandwagons, so many people ready to call Israel murderers, so many ready to defend Israel to the hilt no matter what it does, and so many times God brought into the argument as well. In Ireland, all this has happened before, famous idiots jumping on bandwagons without looking at the full picture, people defending one side over the other without looking at the consequences and then using wielding God around as a justification.


Whose side would God be on? His side. The side of love, forgiveness, the side of righteousness. Northern Ireland is slowly getting over itself, with hiccups along the way. Can the Israelis, can the Palestinians, can all the one sided, blameful, self righteous campaigners.


As is the same in Ireland, it will be those on the outside who will keep things going, those who believe in the 'struggle,' against those who just want to sleep easy in their beds, go to school, eat, live.

Battle

Any military leader or anybody who knows anything about war, nowadays, knows that if you rule the skies, you will win the battle. I believe it is the same in the lives of a Christian.

As a Christian, there is an enemy, there can be no doubt about it, an enemy who does not like it when we stick our heads above the parapet, actually an enemy who does not like it when we pick sides. When we do pick sides, a declaration of war is made against us.

Now, I can go out and do good works, as I have said before, the things I do have to be rooted in God, and if He is not at the centre of things, then I am a like the clanging cymbal the bible talks about, a big look at me, instead of serving out of love and reflecting God.

If I was just doing good, I don't think the enemy would be too bothered, but if what I do, has God behind it all, then the devil is bothered.

This is why everything that is done in the name of God has to be soaked in prayer, has to be given to God, He has to be called out to. The air battle has to be won before the ground assault is started. The spiritual battle engaged before the physical battle is taken up.

This post has been inspired by a devotional given at street pastors training the other day, what made it even more relevant, was that I was out that night, as a street pastor and some of the instances occuring, seemed more spiritual than physical. It was a very strange night. Don't be fooled into thinking that there is not a spiritual battle going on, just remember you have picked the winning side.

Excuses versus Responsibility

Following on from yesterday really, I have a real problem for excuses, not reasons or facts, but excuses. Excuses for me, are us trying not to take responsibility for something that has happened. I don't really know where I am going with this post, so bear with me.

I remember, when I started work in the oil industry over 10 years a go, I had to pulled aside and told that people were getting peeved with the fact that nothing was my fault, I always had a good excuse, there were always mitigating circumstances, there was always someone else or something else to blame. This use to get me into trouble and arguments. I was told to put my hands up and start to take responsibility for my actions. I don't think anything else affected me so much at work than learning to take responsibility, it helped me grow.

I still do it though, I still make excuses, rather than taking on responsibility, I do it most at home, when I am in a bad mood, or when I have lost 'my' temper, or when I don't want to admit that Tanya is right, or when one of my family is in the wrong place but so am I, I can say why I am here, why I am angry, of course at this point, their excuses don't count, my 'reasons' do.

One of the fundamentals of the Christian faith is putting your hands up and saying, it was me, I was wrong, I have sinned. There are no excuses at the cross, we have to face up to our responsibility, the fact that we sinned but Jesus took the punishment, now I have to follow Him.

Reminder to Self

Every now and then I get caught up in thinking quite selfishly and can quite easily justify it in my own head, even more dangerous is I start to justify myself through God, in other words I think things like 'God would want me to do, say or act like that' or ' Well it does say in bible...'

I don't always pause to look at the bigger picture, it is not actually always a selfish thing, it can actually just be a fuelled thing, in other words, I might mention a problem I have, someone else might say it is because of, I jump on the bandwagon and before you know it, I am big and justified and everything is someone elses thought.

I know I seem to be talking in riddles, but I suppose I am trying to say, it is easy to slag others off, it is easy to get distracted, it is easy to jump on bandwagons and it is so easy to justify it all biblically or through what God would have you or I do, but to be perfectly honest that is all a load of tosh.

The questions I need to ask myself are:

Am I acting selfishly, am I acting after what I want, to justify myself?

Do I know the whole picture?

Is anyone around me fueling a fire that does not exist?

Am I using the word of God or His ways wrongly?

This is a post I hope I return to and remind myself, I am not the big I AM, He is.

Thinking alike

I had said last week that I would be busy, I continue to be so, which is great, all sorts of things happening. Yesterday went really well, I am so pleased to say, we went to a Japanese restaurant in the evening, as Morgan is obsessed with all things Japanese, I am quite contented that he had a nice day, Thank God, a real blessing.

I have had some great chats with people over the last few days and I am always astounded at how many people are thinking the same thing, actually what amazes me is how many Christians are thinking the same thing at the same time, it has to be the Holy Spirit, it is really encouraging and when you have these conversations, you feel built up and ready to run. I suppose you should feel that way anyway, we shouldn't be waiting for confirmation from others, but what I am saying, is, that when God is up to something, it is good to watch and see His people responding and of course it is encouraging and faith growing.

Anyway, what are 'people' saying,

Strengthening and encouraging those close to us.

Consistency and self control.

Discipline and what is in the way of us following.

I am not going to go into these things right now, I suppose it may be nice to read those statements and see what you think?