Life

life is a journey..
.... its better doing it together.

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Stimulate

Reading Proverbs Chp 22+23

::S

Act 14:11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, "The gods have come down! These men are gods!"

::O

How skewed the ideology and understanding of the world has become. How shallow, hollow, lacking substance. It has evolved into a human kind that gawks at signs and miracles. The next healing, the next magic trick. Is this what its all about? No this is not what the world should be, this is not what it was intended to be, where human beings live begging another adrenaline rush. Rotting into a society that seeks for the next amazing feat, the next wonder; almost as a thrill, almost as another TV show.

::A

The Christian living should not find itself longing, yearning for the next indication of God's involvement in our world. It should not reside in being stimulated by miracles and heavenly signs- thats what the world wants. Lest we fall into the trap of using God and His power to prove, using Him to fit our needs and desires. May our very lives and living carry such power that the world catches a glimpse of life itself. May we live each waking moment knowing that there is such a strong presence of the divine at work in us.

::P

Father, you are awesome. Indeed you do miracles so great. Indeed nothing, no one compares, even comes close to You. Father let us not be pathectic cowards, hiding behind the miracles that You choose to carry out. But Father let our very lives carry out good news, let it be a miracle in itslef, that the God of the universe resides in us. Father let powerful living be found. Amen.

Burn

Reading Luke Chp 3

:: S

Luke Chp 3:17 He's going to clean house--make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned."

:: O

God is Holy. No compromise, big enough, coming through, filling us with the Spirit, making a clean sweep- everything, throwing the out the trash. Its funny how I’ve learnt to stereotype the obstacles, identifying it with the huge overwhelming problems, ungodly lifestyles, acts of sin. Forgetting that it is each word spoken, the very living of life, the very act of a being human that falls short, that cripple me on my journey towards the fullness of life.


:: A

Need to get in line- a straight line. The very life live needs to be free of baggages that stops the full potential of the workings of His in my life. Holding on to too much self, comforts zones. Time for a letting go.

:: P

Father, it is not easy. Father You are Holy. Let me not compromise Your power in my life with the ideas I conjure up but let the Spirit prompt an excitement, a surge of power in my life.

Listening Point

I brought down to earth. Reminded of how human I can be. Forced to cry out for life. Things are not what they should be or could be.

Ask

Father I ask for joy. I ask for an awakening of Your Spirit in my heart. Let it blaze into my physical realm- love inspired, hope filled, faith empowered. Let me be a carrier of this.

To Karen

This letter is long due. I'm writing with a half drank coffee, had better. Reeling from the way the week has started. I Can begin with a sorry.

There's so much to be sorry about. A humble dealing with the very weakness of myself, finding strenght in the structures and comfort zones that I've placed in my life, learning to be stubborn, rebutting, defending the at time silly diagrams I have of how life should be. Its about me. Its about how I feel, or how I struggle, or how I deal, or How I give, or how I want to receive. Have I made too much of I? Have I rebuked, retreated into the act of putting on the artillery, building my fort, not allowing for a compromising of my values, shooting down the enemy? What are my values? What are the very things I hold on to?

Father, have I become so numb to the workings of yours in my life that life is defended ever so bitterly? Have my paradigms become so skewed that I try to box you to fit into the nook and crannies that I have left over in my life. Have I boxed the people around me in tubs that can fit my busy schedules? Are you in the left over room of my life, are you merely fitting my picture, or am I trying so hard to fit into yours, or is then my very life Your picture, or at least part of it. At least part of it?

Karen, you are beautiful. Have I boxed you into a pretty package, a product that fits the very image of what I need. Have I not complimented but rather limited? Have been harsh? Have I broken? HAve I selfishly taken? Or have I really said, despite of? Such a dealing in my heart. Such a heavy dealing. I'm humbled and scared at how I hold in my hand the very keys to your heart, the very hammer that breaks it.

I look at you and go wow. I have perhaps made light of the very plans and purposes that God has in stored for you. No you are very special. You are special. YOu. Not the calling, not what you're good at, not your muffins, not your smile. You.

I know its public but.....I love YOU.

Yours,

Nick

Believe or Shut Up!

Reading Luke Chp 1

S-

Luke 1:9 it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense.

O-

Zachariah had His one chance, one shot at physically getting closer to the Holiness of God, entering into the physical throne room, the Holy of Holies. Where was the anticipation? Where was the ready heart? Where was the boldness? Yes its true that the old set of the Law presents God as Holy, and very much so, He still is as Holy, but the plan through Christ allows a boldness, a boldness of how Mary embraced the 'idea', empowered she believed, and took action, travelling to meet Elizabeth. Poor Zachy, missed His chance mate; Here was God presenting an outpouring of His and there wasn't enough room to find faith to accept and because of unbelief was made to shut up.

A-

A simple story, a powerful outcome. I find myself standing guilty, unable to speak. God's outpouring is here, but is there enough room in my heart for it? Is there enough room to be excited, leaping? Is there enough room to believe, to receive theis gift. CAn I be a Mary, that said, well I'm unworthy now made worthy, chosen, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. It isnt even about the capacity for my mind to comprehend, or even the heart to comprehend, but rather a space to be able to be impregnated with whats in stored, and then action to manifest whats instored through the infilling of the Spirit.

P-

Father, let me find space. Its all a knowledge, and even a want, but if there isnt room to receive, nothing happens. Let me make room, throwing out the baggabges that have weighed me down for so long. Father its not about finding time to pray, or to worship or to journal, but its very much knowing the vessel is ready for something more, something bigger than life is already is. Amen

Open the eyes of my heart

I see?

Reading Romans Chp 7

::S

Act 2:25 David said it all: I saw God before me for all time. Nothing can shake me; he's right by my side.

::O

'I see God before me..."Nothing shakes me, nothing moves the under-standing, the sub-ground on which i stand. Seeing the image, keeping in sight, within the frame of the picture, the very image of power, of surging supernatural force? It must have been an awesome overwhelming experience being able to see the God of the universe powering on before us, setting paths straight, capture by the workings of His rather than the mundane rituals of life.

::A

The vision is somewhat blurred at times as I fall into the adrenaline rush. God help us me. where is the life that i am suppose to live? Is this all? Is this simply a showcase of noble heroism, threading through the pitfalls of life trying to make believe that everything is in its place? Time to see God.

::P

Father, when has the picture of life grown so large that life itself is forgotten? When has the fight to live life overwhelmed the source of it all? Father, the prayer is for an opening of the eyes of my heart, not the mind's, not the physical, but let the Spirit fill the eyes of the heart and the heart itself. Amen.

Melbourne Storms

:: My refections 3 days in.

Reading: Romans Chp 7


S-
Rom 7:25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

O-
Paul speaks of struggling, battling with the human. Speaks of coming to terms with the realness of being a Christian. Gone are the paradigms of an airy-fairy journey of beautiful, clear skies. It is a very real, gruesome at times, experience of a constant fight with the human side of me. In all this the the strength of God is made perfect and the overcoming of death on the cross by Christ is amplified. Yes sin is presnt, and yes the fight exists, but I find the answer in the last verse..'He acted to set things right..'

A-
Man, the the whoosh of Melbourne has caught me face-on. The to-do list fills up. Its all lined with sticky tape that takes a chunk of me as I pass by. I feel a bit out of breath already. The realness of Christian living knock at all facets. I feel a bit lost. Really needing to seek the centre of my universe. To find the source of life. The temptation of sin to just fall away into the comforts of cynicism, retreating into the cave of isolation, in cowering defeat. I need to fight. I need to call and ask again.

P-
Father, thank you for being able to always fall back on the power of Your example. Thank you for being able to just surrender the power of human living and reach forward to something bigger than myself. Its getting a little rough in all the buzz of things to do, losing the time to even refocus, to reconnect with the God of the universe. Father let me see and feel Your presence in the very things around me. Amen.

A Prayer of Thanks

:: joel on my nokia ::

Thank you for 2005, a year, a new year
Thank you for life, that it can be lived.
Thank you for friends, the carriers of our hope.
Thank you for community, a support, a bunch of life* buddies.
Thank you for being able to share in the journey, finding our way together.
Thank you for hope, that we might learn to anticipate, and have tomorrow to fight for.
Thank you for love, that today is a little brighter than yesterday
Thank you for faith, that a powerful life may be lived.
Thank you for family, all the history, the shaping of who we are.
Thank you for parents, the cane and the candy.
Thank you for discipline, that we march in line.
Thank you for passion, that keeps the heart beating.
Thank you for burden, that it can be carried and shared.
Thank you for dreams, that they can come through,
Thank you for inspiration, that life can be more than boring.
Thank you for grace, that it can be found given.
Thank you for leadership, that we might learn to follow.
Thank you for vision, that the future may be shaped.
Thank you for mission, that roads are paved.
Thank you for songs, that heart is put into words.
Thank you for talents, that others are blessed.
Thank you for Your promises, that they can be received.
Thank you for example, that it might be followed.
Thank you for Your Word, a light unto our feet.
Thank you for Your Spirit, that stirs, provokes and inspires.
Thank you for work on the cross, that life is found.

Father, the list would fill a thousand pages and it would still go on.

I could find reason to thank you for the birds and the bees, the stars

and the moon, the reason why the sun rises and the clouds mean rain, or

snow and why it leaves us cold. Father, its good to thank you.

Its good to be thank-full. Remind us Lord, what it took. Amen.

Proof of Life

+ SOAP Reading 28th Jan 2005

Reading: Romans Chp 5

:: S

Rom 5:10 If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life!


:: O

Life. No excuse my friends to live it anyway below the benchmark of an assurance found in the birth rights of us as the redeemed. We have all reason to live powerfully, grapping hold to the surge of life that has been given, God-breath through the act of sacrifice on the cross. Paul speaks of the act of, the turning point in the history of mankind, where the is no longer an excuse to live under the condemning rule of sin and death but now given a 'life sentence'. Sentenced to live!

:: A

It feels like everything is coming together for the new year. All seems to be good. All seems to be under control. Brilliant. I catch my self though, at times, knowing, believing, yet stopping short of fully taking hold of this fullness of living in this new sentence of life. Its overwhelming, but yes its here, and its always been here. Time to jump headlong into the abyss of hope, love and faith. Time to risk everything, throwing myself, inspired, set free with a heart knowledge and understanding of the significance of death and the overcoming of it. As Paul writes, if with Adam, a mere man, came death; than what more life can come out of the Son of God and His work on the cross! That's a lot of life to be lived!

:: P

Father, thank you for life. You initiated life. Life exists in the absence of death, so Father with that in mind I ask for a full living experience. Let me not be half dead, half alive. Let the heart, the soul, the spirit, the mind, the body brim with a rosy richness of healthy living. Father You are life! I ask for a deeper comprehension of this life. Let it be replicated, let the blood stream through the veins, infusing the cells, bringing colour to the skin, an indication, a proof of life. Father, revive what is found not breathing, massage the heart into its soft state, remove the cancer of doubt, of condemnation and of falling short. Give a medical check-up, a searching of my soul and may may a restoration and a building up take place, that I can be given a clean bill of health. Father, help me to want to be living, help me to want to pull together, strip away, call into discipline, and let my heart be soft enough for your working. 2005- 365 days of living, let death not be found among them. Amen.

Solution No. 1

+ SOAP

Reading: Romans Chapter 4

S ::
Rom 4:14 For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law, then faith means nothing and God's promise is worthless.

O ::
Paul speaks of an obeying of the Law, a set of rules, set in place to govern. He makes it clear that behaving well does nothing more than keeping us in check. It is by an act of faith that the promise of life is received. Human beings spend their life working towards a deserved salvation which sadly amounts to no better than death itself. It is through the act of believing and receiving by faith that we are saved. Yes we do not comprehend or deserve but by grace, this gift of life is bestowed. All we have to do is receive!

A ::
We Christians have begun on this journey of faith, of believing, by the very act of confessing that Christ is Lord and receiving His salvation through his death on the cross.

" Rom 10:9 If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved. "

Yet I find ever so often that we lose ourselves on this journey, not receiving because we do not dare to believe. Not satisfied because we do not dare to receive. I need to experience the fullness of the faith-filled living, to not only know but to get a heart-grip on the realness of being able to rest in the assurance of something bigger than myself.

P ::
Father I live in the shadow of the bigness of life, failing to see beyond the realities into the realm of the supernatural. The mind comprehends but the heart at times stops short of understanding the birth-rights I have as a child of the Almighty God. Father I ask for faith, I ask for a something bigger than my realities, I ask for a confidence that is founded on the ever-present knowledge of being able to communicated with my God. Let me not downplay the awesomeness, but let my living be a living example of an Abraham who dare to look into the heavens, be a Joshua that dare to march around the city, be a moses that dared to strecth forth his hand over the Red Sea, be a Elijah that dared to predict rain. Father, let the bleakness of my world not stop the wonders of Your hand. Amen.