LOVE KNOTS

I was paging through a book the other day and this sentence caught my attention “God is closer to sinners than saints”.  The thought crossed my mind that it was a good thing as I doubt very much whether I will ever achieve the status of sainthood in this life time!

It carried on to say:

“God, up there, in heaven,

Is holding onto each person with a string.

Every time you sin, you cut the string;

But God fixes the string again, with a love knot.

Since this knot makes the string shorter,

You are also a bit closer to God.

Thus each sin cuts it,

And each cut means a knot,

And each knot draws you closer to God”.¹

Imagine yourself standing on the outstretched palm of God’s right hand here on earth, around your waist is tied a rope which is attached to God’s left hand in Heaven.  Every time you sin it is like you have taken a scissor and cut that rope but instead of plunging to your death you are supported by the hand underneath you. 

 

As you confess your sin to God “He is faithful and just and will forgive your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness”².  God then reaches down with His left hand, to which our rope was attached, picks up our dangling piece of rope and ties the two pieces together with a love knot. He actually says in His word that He leads us “with ties of love”³. As His left hand goes back up to Heaven, the string tightens and He lifts His right hand a little higher so our feet are still firmly supported on His hand and we are drawn closer to Him.

Ephesians 5 states “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love.”⁴

If we follow this command we will find that as time goes by we will sin less and less and therefore God won’t have to make as many love knots in the rope which is a very good thing because the shorter that rope gets the closer we get to heaven and the nearer we are to meeting God face to face which will mean we are dead!  God says to us “I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you”⁵

¹Praying Body and Soul, Methods and Practices of Anthony de Mello

²1 John 1:9, Paraphrased, Holy Bible, NIV

³Hosea 11:4, Holy Bible, NIV

⁴Ephesians 5:1, Holy Bible, NIV

⁵Deuteronomy 30:15 & 16, Holy Bible, NIV

 

 

A WORK IN PROGRESS!

 

Every person on this earth started their lives as a blessing!

In the Bible we read that “children are a gift from the Lord – they are a blessing”¹
Therefore we are all blessings.
We are children of an Almighty God and we need to start believing that and acting accordingly.
God says in His word that “where there is no vision, the people perish.”²
We need to ask God to share His vision for our lives with us and to find out what His original plan was for our lives before the world got in the way and some of us fell so far short of what God had planned for us.

Before any of us are born God has already spoken a prophetic word over our lives.  He says in Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

We serve a God who has so much compassion for us He sent His Son to die on the Cross in our place.  Jesus suffered horrific humiliation, He was mocked and those He loved and cared for turned their backs on Him when He needed them most.

God knows exactly how sinful we are, how petty and nasty we can be and yet He still chose to send His son to die on that Cross.  It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we can enter into a relationship with God.  He says “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.³

My husband married a broken and damaged woman.  I had no sense of self worth,  I struggled with feelings of total inadequacy and had built so many barriers around myself for fear of being hurt I am utterly amazed that he even took the time to get to know me never mind marry me!

We have been married for 21 years now and a few years ago I asked him what he had seen in me that made him want to marry me.  His answer shocked me.  He said he had seen a wholeness in me.  I was a broken person and yet God gave him this image, this vision of wholeness and through the years because of his love and the fact that he has always treated me as a whole person I have been able to grow into wholeness.  I am still a work in progress!

From the time we are born God sees us as whole people.  If we have accepted Jesus Christ into our lives, if we are committed to living for Him God looks at us through the image of Jesus Christ.  “God created man in His own image, in the image of God”⁴

We need to ask God what His vision is for our lives and then through His love we need to start living that vision.

 

¹Psalm 127, Holy Bible, NIV
²Proverbs 29:18, Holy Bible, KJV
³1 John 1:9, Holy Bible, NIV
⁴Genesis 1:27, Holy Bible, NIV

THOSE PESKY FLIES!

Today I came across a letter that Oswald Chambers wrote to a friend of his in the year 1909.

I had to laugh at the way he describes the attacks we come under and the phrase he uses for the things that irritate us.

The letter is in reply to one sent to him by a friend.  The friend had written to Oswald to tell him of the struggles he was going through at the time.  This was Oswald’s response:

“Praise God for your report that the Devil is paying attention to you – so long as he keeps firing at us you may depend he thinks that we are worth watching.  The ‘plague of flies’ was not peculiar to Egypt – you will find them in the shape of busy little people that try to get over the window of your soul and irritate your outlook.”¹

Isn’t that a wonderful way of looking at those taxi drivers who cut in front of us in the traffic or shop assistants who are rude and unfriendly?
A ‘plague of flies’ that disturb our souls and irritate us!  It reminds me of a song my children sang when they were younger.  “Shoo fly, don’t bother me.  I belong to somebody”.²
Every time we start to feel irritated or angry we could just wave our hand in front of our faces and sing “shoo fly, don’t bother me.  I belong to somebody”!
If we have accepted the Lord as our savior God says that we belong to Him.³
A synonym for belong is ‘to have a home, to have a rightful place” and the origin of the word belong comes from ‘to reach’.  God reaches out to us and Jesus says “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”⁴
It is God and the person who lives in a house that makes it a home and I love the way CS Lewis describes the way God changes our house because He wants to make it a fit place for Him to call home!

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

When we feel that Satan is paying too much attention to us we need to remember the verse that says “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”.⁶   In other words we can shoo him away as well!

 

 

 ¹Oswald Chambers Abandoned to God, David McCasland

²http://specialneedsinmusic.com/folk_song_pages/shoo_fly_new_09_1216.html

³Romans 1:6, Holy Bible, NIV

⁴John 14:23, Holy Bible, NIV

⁵Mere Christianity, CS Lewis

⁶James 4:7, Holy Bible, NIV

 

 

RELEASING OUR BURDENS WITH JOY

One weekend, our family attended a church camp.  During one of the morning sessions the speaker handed out a sheet of paper to everyone on which we were to write down our burdens.  In the last session of the day, we were to take these sheets of paper and put them into a bowl.  These sheets were later burned in a fire, symbolic of releasing our burdens to Jesus.  In Matthew 11:28 Jesus urges us to : "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  I wrote down my burdens, folded the paper and put it in my notebook, which I then left on a table.  At the end of the last session, people started placing their papers into the bowl.  My notebook was not where I had left it and I frantically searched for 'my burdens'.

"What are you looking for?" a friend whispered.
"My burdens!"
"I'll help you look", she offered.

We scrambled around looking for my lost burdens.  All of a sudden, we started to giggle uncontrollably.  Our laughter was magnified because everyone around us was so solemn and quiet. Here we were, desperately trying to find my lost burdens so I could take them up again only to lay them down again before God.  As our laughter continued, it struck me how gracious our God is.  As I had written my burdens, He had, in that very moment, taken them and they were effectively lost forever.

Also, the laying down of our burdens need not always be serious and solemn.  It can also be joyous and freeing.  Galatians 5:1 explains: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again."

It also saddened me to realise how often we, as God's children needlessly scramble around looking for the burdens God is already carrying for us.  As I lay in bed that night, reflecting on the day, I felt the laughter rise up again inside of me and Nehemiah 8:10 took on a whole new meaning:  "For the joy of the lord is your strength".  Additionally, Proverbs 17:22 says, "A happy heart is like good medicine".


(From God's Promise for Families by Noelene Curry)

WHEN WE BLOW IT!!

“If you have failed and you are filled with despair, with no idea where to turn for inspiration and strength, remember then the compassion of Jesus.  In the power of His love He encourages you to persevere and to rebuild your life”.¹

One of the most comforting verses God put into the Bible is the one that says “…though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand”.² If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour and truly desire to serve the Lord and live our lives as His children the following verse will apply to us “If the Lord delights in a man’s way he makes his steps firm”³. It doesn’t matter how many times we may fail or feel we have blown it - if we are prepared to go before Him and confess our sins He says  “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”⁴

Jesus knows exactly what we are like.  In fact He made allowances for our bad behavior when He answered Peter’s question “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times”.⁵
He knew that we would need to come before Him time and time again to ask forgiveness for the same sin. 

I often feel that nothing in my life changes. That I am still the same person I was before I accepted Christ as my Saviour.  That I will never gain victory over certain sins/wrong behavior/bad habits in my life.  I go before God and ask for forgiveness time and time again for exactly the same ‘sin’. It is then, in that moment of despair, that I cry out to God to give me the faith and the assurance that I am forgiven and I hear Him say “I am the One who began the good work within you and I will keep right on helping you grow in My grace until My task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns”.⁶

To back that up He put this in the Bible as well for whenever our hearts condemn us

 “ For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”⁷

1.  Ozrovech, Solly.  More than Life Itself: A Daily Devotional
2.  Psalm 37:24, Holy Bible, NIV
3.  Psalm37:23, Holy Bible, NIV
4.  Isaiah 43:25, Holy Bible, NIV
5.  Matthew 18:21 & 22, Holy Bible, NIV
6.  Philippians 1:6 paraphrased, LAB
7.  1 John 3:20, Holy Bible, NIV

 

 

DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God taught me a major lesson last week about how easily we judge things and people by their outside appearances.  I had just climbed off a plane in Birmingham, England and was waiting, along with a 100 other people, for my luggage to appear on the carousel belt.  I was on the opposite side of the carousel from where the luggage first appeared.  The 4^th item of luggage to appear was a big black suitcase that was ripped at the sides and held together by ugly brown sticky masking tape.  As I watched its progress along the carousel the following thoughts were going through my mind:

“I wonder how someone who can’t even afford a decent suitcase can afford to fly?”

“I would be so embarrassed to acknowledge that as my suitcase!”
“I wonder how the person who owns that suitcase is dressed?”

 As it drew closer to me I saw that it had exactly the same stickers that I had on my suitcase and then I saw my name on the identity tag and purely out of instinct I reached out and lifted it off the carousel belt.  To compound my embarrassment I didn’t even have a trolley so I couldn’t put the suitcase on a trolley and cover it with my hand luggage!  I had to pull this broken, wonky suitcase that was held together by ugly brown tape all the way through the airport.

In Matthew there are two very challenging verses “Do not judge or you too will be judged.  For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”¹

John 7:24 says “Stop judging by outside appearances…”²
My suitcase was filled with beautifully wrapped presents, decent clothes and chocolates.
Judging by the appearance of my suitcase you would have thought it was filled with rags.

Often things happen that are beyond our control – I had put a big, black suitcase in good condition onto the airplane in South Africa and had received a damaged and torn suitcase, covered in tape in England.  Somewhere in transit the suitcase was badly damaged and yet the contents were unharmed and, thank God, nothing was stolen.

The friends I was visiting have a son whose body is covered in tattoos and he has various piercings on his face and body.  Judging by his appearance you would think he was a delinquent who took drugs and was on the dole because he had never completed his education.  In fact the truth is that he has never taken drugs, has a steady job and earns a good income and is one of the kindest, politest and honest people that I have ever met.  I love him dearly and yet if I didn’t know him and saw him walking towards me on the street I would cross over to the other side…………..!  Thanks Matt for allowing me to use you as a good example of the old adage 'Don't judge a book by its cover'.

 

¹ Matthew 7:1 & 2, NIV Bible

² NIV Bible

OPEN DOORS

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from a lady whose husband had read God’s Promise for Families.  She asked me whether I would be willing to come and give my testimony to a group of 8 or 10 ladies one morning.  She was having a birthday tea and wanted to do something that would include God so thought she would invite me to share my testimony.  I immediately responded ‘of course I will’ and as I put the phone down I thought ‘God help!’
I had never been asked to give my testimony before.  When I speak before an audience I refer to parts of my testimony but only as it pertains to a certain subject e.g. unanswered prayer, prophetic words God speaks into our lives etc.
I always stood behind a lectern separated from the audience and now I was being asked to address a small group of strangers in a very personal way!

Our hostess embodied the verse “Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practise hospitality.”¹  We are all in need of hearing more about God and here was this amazing woman setting aside a morning so we could all hear more about God and I marveled at her kindness and genuiness as she invited each guest into her home and made them feel totally at ease.

I gave my testimony and in parts I stuttered and stumbled and yet each woman there was graceful and attentive.

At the end of my talk one of the ladies asked me if she could anoint my head with oil. As she anointed my head with oil she said that God was closing the door to my past – that door had to remain shut and He was opening other doors that I needed to start walking through.  She then anointed my lips with oil and said that God would be the One who released in me the ability to speak and bear witness of the power of His love and healing in our lives.  As she was anointing my lips with oil the following verses went through my mind “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips;  your guilt is taken away and sin atoned for”.  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?”  And I said, “Here am I.  Send me!”²

There is a section in God’s promise for Families where I refer to exactly that.

“God asks, “Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord?”³ My heart leaped in response to the question posed and I exclaimed, “I am ready!””⁴

If we are serious about serving God we need to spend some time thinking about what our answers will be to the questions God asks us:  “Whom shall I send?”  “Who will go for us?”  “Who is willing to consecrate himself to the Lord”.

If we are willing to volunteer we need to realize that once we have dealt with the past God will shut that door and will open new doors for us to walk through.
That very afternoon a friend wrote “I know God is opening doors for me.  I just need to find a new way of walking through them”.  That resonated with me. I too, need to find a new way of walking through the doors God is opening – a new attitude, a new faith, a new hope and a new trust in our Lord Jesus.

¹ Romans 12:13, NIV Bible

² Isaiah 6:6-8, NIV Bible

³ 1 Chronicles 29:5, NIV Bible

⁴ God’s Promise for Families, page 16