Riches to Rags: The Story of Joseph

I'm reading through the Old Testament at the moment and keep being astounded by seeing how God moves throughout it. The way He acted on Sarah's behalf when Abraham's lies landed her in another man's bed. The way He appeared to Jacob who was running away from home to escape the punishment he deserved. The mercy He exercised on Judah when He slept with His daughter-in-law.

Right now I'm reading about Joseph, in Genesis 39. Jacob, Joseph's father is rich. Very rich. He amassed a lot of wealth working for his father-in-law (because God was with him). So Joseph has grown up fairly cushty (comfortably). We don't read anywhere before the slave situation about Joseph doing any kind of manual labour, and in fact, when he was out in the desert in his specially made coat (Jacob, his father, had commissioned a special coat for him because he was his favourite) he was only there to check on his brothers and report back, he wasn't even out there helping them!

And then all of a sudden Joseph finds himself working as a slave. Riches to rags. Everything he has ever known is gone...except God. (The following verses I am translating from my Svensk Folkbibeln Translation into English)

Genesis 39.1-2 - 'Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, one of Pharoah's officals and the commander of the guards had bought him (Joseph) from the Ishmaelites who had brought him. The Lord was with Joseph and in everything he did he succeeded. He was in the house of his Egyptian Lord...'

And then as if Joseph hadn't been humiliated enough, going from a wealthy, luxurious lifestyle to one where he was a slave, he gets accused of attempted rape and finds himself in prison.

Genesis 39.19-20 (Summation) - 'When Joseph's master heard..he became furious and put Joseph in jail...'

Genesis 39.21 - 'But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him grace and let the prison manager respond well to him.'

Genesis 39.23 - '...because the Lord was with him and let him succeed in all he did.'

I always think Joseph's is such an amazing story. He starts off like a big shot, gets dumped in a well, sold as a slave, accused of attempted rape and thrown in jail...but he ends in triumphant fashion. He ends up saving his entire family from famine...not to mention all of Egypt.

I like his story for a number of reasons:

1. God just seems to be with him all the time. And not only that, it says continually that he succeeds irregardless of where he is physically because God is with him. That's pretty cool. To be a slave, and be a success. To be in prison, but to still be a success and have special kindness given to you.
2. His prison background didn't stand in the way of God's plan for his life. God is so much bigger than our pasts. He is in the business of shaping big futures for people whose lives at one point looked hopeless.
3. No time is wasted time with God. Later in the story when Joseph explains the dreams of the two court officials in jail and they forget him when they come out, it seems like it was a waste. But God is always true to His promises, and when He says that all things will work together for the good of those who love Him, He means it.
4. His great beginning was only a shadow of his extraordinary ending. Yes, Joseph's life started fairly comfortably, growing up in a wealthy family, nice coat and so on, but at the end of his life he is governor in a land, second only to the king. In Christ our futures are so much richer than our humble beginnings. As CS Lewis once said 'There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.'

God has such great things planned for each of our lives that go way beyond our own needs, happiness and comfort and touch the lives of others. Sometimes we can be on our way somewhere great and it doesn't quite go how we thought it would...but it goes as He knew it would...and the best thing is that in those 'hopeless', 'wasted' seasons, He is most at work in the things we can't see preparing us for the futures He sees for us.

"I AM with you"

"Om inte min fars Gud hade varit med mig-Abrahams Gud som också Isak fruktar - så hade du säkert låtit mig fara med tomma händer. Men Gud såg mitt lidande och min möda, och han fällde domen i natt." - Första Moseboken 31.42

I love what Jacob says to Laban:

"If God had not been with me....but God saw...and He judged." - Genesis 31.42

He begins with "If God had not been with me..." saying that His success was FULLY dependent on God's presence alone.

God being with us makes ALL the difference because God ALWAYS has the last word. The bible calls Jesus the 'author and finisher' of our faith (Hebrews 12.2). He started it and He decides how it finishes at the end and He assures us that we have already won with Him. He makes the difference. He fights our battles.

There's a song I love called 'Defender' by Chris McClarney, the lyrics to the chorus are;

"You're my defender,

I put my trust in you,

You are the open arms

My broken heart can run to.

And I remember,

That there is nothing you can't do,

'Cause you are God

And you are good

So I surrender,

You're my defender".

There is no need to fight a battle He has already won for us.

Bethel

"Han kom till en plats där han måste stanna över natten, ty solen hade gått ner." - Förste Moseboken 28.11/Genesis 28.11

"Och se, jag är med dig och skall bevara dig vart du än går, och jag skall föra dig tillbaka till detta land. Jag skall inte överge dig intill dess att jag har gjort vad jag har lovat dig. När Jakob vaknade upp ur sömnen, sade han: "Herren är verkligen på denna plats och jag visste det inte." Han greps av fruktan och sade: "Hur helig är inte denna plats..."" -  Förste Moseboken 28.15-17/Genesis 28.15-17

Sorry for the Swedish, I'm reading in Swedish and in a hurry so don't have time to transalate everything, but feel free to look the verses up in English!

Verse 11 says that Jacob came to a place where he HAD to stay overnight. Sometimes we come to places in our lives where we have no choice but to stay and wait. It might not be where we want to be but it's where we are for a moment in time.

If you're like me, in those places you itch to move on and out, and the hardest thing is to just stay and do nothing. When Jacob was placed in this situation, he slept and had a dream in which God spoke to him, and promised to take care of him. Verse 16 says that when he woke up he exclaimed "The Lord really is here, and I didn't know!" He then declared the place holy on account of God being there, and named it 'Bethel', which means 'God's house'.

In our chaos, especially in our moments of darkness, it's easy to miss God's presence. Wake up to the fact that even in your desert, whilst you're in that place of transition, God is present, and still taking care of you. It isn't a halfway house, it's God's house, 'Bethel'.

I'm in a place in my life right now that I'd rather not be in. NOTHING is going according to my plan. But I've no doubt God is here. So I'm going to do what Jacob did and name the place 'Bethel'; 'God's house', because He is with me and has promised to be with me, everyday, wherever I am.

Don't lose sight of God in your darkness, because I promise, despite what you are going through, He hasn't lost sight of you.

Esau and The Lentil Soup

"And Jacob gave him bread and lentil soup. Esau ate and drank, then got up and went on his way. So little did Esau value his birthright."

Genesis 25.34//Första Moseboken 25.34

Crazy to think Esau exchanged his birthright for a bowl of soup because he was hungry! How many times do we exchange our right to a blessing for something of as little value and long term satisfaction as 'bread and lentil soup' because we are 'hungry'?

We need to be careful not to give up our right to our blessing because our short-term desires and 'needs' take over. The blessing in the long run is worth more than the soup in the short run!

Why there is power in the name of Jesus

If you are a Christian, you have probably heard the phrase 'there is power in the name of Jesus' many times. As a non-christian, this probably makes no sense. I think I finally understood it a bit more today, and I wanted to try to explain to you why Christians say there is power in the name of Jesus.

In the old testament of the bible (the first half of the bible if you will, before Jesus coming to earth as a man), we read in Genesis (or 1 Moseböken, if you're Swedish) that God created the heavens and the earth. If you read the first chapter, you'll see that God created through His word. He spoke things into being and they happened. The power of His word brought things into being.

In the Old Testament you see many times that God spoke to people, sometimes directly, other times through prophets, or happenings, such as the burning bush.

In the New Testament, the phrase 'God said' appears only once, in a parable Jesus uses to simplify a lesson He is teaching. Aside from that, the phrase never appears, quite strange compared to the forty-five times it appears in the Old Testament.

You have to wonder why after speaking so much to people in the time before Jesus came to earth, God suddenly seems to stop communicating with them. Or does He stop?

In John 1 (New Testament) verses 1-14 we have an another, slightly brief note on creation. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of all men.'

The Word being spoken about is the powerful word that God used to create the world in the beginning. The word God used brought the earth into existence and created life simply by saying so.

The writer continues in verse 14, 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...' This verse says that the powerful word God used that created life itself in the beginning, became human just as we are, and lived humanly like the rest of us.

The Word is Jesus. And when Jesus came to earth, He said all that God had been saying in the Old Testament simply by living and dying and rising again as He did.

Jesus is all God has ever said and will ever say. He is the the final word. The curtain closer if you will. So that, where in the Old Testament God spoke, as it says in Hebrews chapter 1 (New Testament) 'by the prophets' (verse 1), He has 'spoken to us by His son...through whom also He made all the worlds.' (Verse 2).

Now try to understand all of this. The power that God used to create the world was harnessed if you will, in Jesus, who was sent to the earth, being life itself, and that life being a light which was so powerful that darkness could not overcome it (John 1.5), which is why when life (=Light=Jesus) was crucified on the cross and put to death (=darkness), death couldn't overcome it.

You see the life and light that Jesus is, is so powerful that no death, no darkness, no sin, no curse, no emotion or situation of any kind, is any match for it.

When we say Jesus name, we aren't just saying a name, we're declaring power over all things. There is power in the name of Jesus because Jesus is power itself. He is the very Word by which all things came into being.

A beautiful an amazing force to be reckoned with.

Psalm 22.24

For those of you struggling to read your bibles I would definitely encourage you to read Psalms amongst the easier books (the ones that tell the stories of people in detail - like Ruth, or Esther, or 1&2 Samuel - it's really easy to see God's hand in such books and see how He arranged the details of people's lives and answered them etc) because it is such a goldmine. There are so many verses in Psalms that show evidence of God's forward planning and setting of the stage for Jesus coming later in the New Testament, as well as whole chapters of poems written to God that will tug personally at your heart strings when you identify with how the authors are feeling. Anyway, it's an amazing book, and a good place to start when you are looking at the bible, but I just wanted to share one particular verse with you that I read recently and think can massively bless you.

"For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard."

- Psalm 22.24

The verse talks about the fact that God hears us when we cry out to Him. With God there is no hierarchy; He doesn't hear the prayers or cries of the rich before He hears the cries of the poor. He doesn't only hear us if we have an important job. He hears everyone.

Don't believe me?

Read the story of Hagar the servant girl in the Old Testament (Genesis 21.1-21). She was thrown out by Abraham's wife Sarah into the desert with her son Ishmael. God heard the cries of the son of a servant girl, and not only did He hear the boy's cries, but He blessed him too.

It doesn't matter who you are, if you cry out to God, He will hear you. And even if the answer you get is not what you would have wanted or chosen for yourself, trust and remember that God's ways are higher than ours, and He never lets anything happen without having a reason for it in His ultimate plan.

Let Him know what's up, and listen when He responds. He loves you.

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed..." - Romans 3.21

When Jesus Christ came to earth, it was the culmination of years of planning and hard work. The Jewish people up until then had been governed by law (See Exodus 20). Law that told them not to take God's name in vain, not to covet, to rest on the Sabbath, to honour their parents and so on. The ultimate purpose of the law was to show the Jews what was right in the eyes of God, and how to live in a way pleasing to Him.

The problem with the law was that it made it impossible for the Jews to live in a way pleasing to God. No matter how carefully they watched themselves and tried to do no wrong. All it took was one sin...and they'd stepped out of God's will and into judgement.

To escape the judgement that resulted from sin, sin offerings were given to God to make atonement. God would look at the offering and not make them pay the penalty for the sin, but it still didn't really deal with the problem. The offerings didn't deal with the sin, they covered it. On the outside, it looked as if there had been a change, but the real root of the sin, originating in mankind's heart remained.


Paul talked about the strange condition of the human heart in Romans 7.15, saying 'that I will to do, that I do not practise; but what I hate, that I do.'


So there were two problems that needed to be resolved;

1. No matter how hard everyone tried to do the right thing, they couldn't.
2. Even though God forgave the sins, the root of the problem remained; the sinful nature of man's heart.

So God created Jesus; fully God and fully man.When God created Jesus, He created Him to be the final sin offering. This meant that after Him, no-one, ever, would have to offer a sin offering. Jesus came to earth, blameless and sinless; perfect.


You see Jesus role as the final sin offering was to personally take on all the sins ever committed and ever to be committed and call them His own (2 Corinthians 5.21). Taking them on, Jesus would have to pay the penalty for sin that was not his own. Romans 6.23 tells us what the penalty for sin is; it's death.


Death in the physical sense, (if you look at Genesis and the record of the fall, it tells us that as a result of the fall sin and thus death entered the world), but not only that, death to God, and separation from all that pertains from Him, all that is good, all that is love, all that is hope, all that is faith; Hell, in short.


So when Jesus cried out on the cross ' elohi elohi, lama shavakhtani?' (Mark 15.34 - HNIV) He was experiencing Hell.


On our behalf.


But it was not the end. Jesus had been a willing sacrifice, fully God and fully man. He had descended into the very depths of Hell to account for all our sins, committed and to be committed, and then He rose again to overcome death, and show that the power that was in Him was stronger than sin, and stronger than death.


He did it so that every time we sin, we are rescued from our rightful punishment; eternal separation from God. So when God looks at us, where he should see sin, darkness, and evil, He sees the face of His son, who took all our punishment on His own back so that we would no longer have to be enslaved by sin, always doing the wrong thing and constantly falling short of God's standard, but instead could be righteous, relying on a power greater than our own.


God sent Jesus so that we would be free to achieve our full potential.

This was problem one dealt with, but God was still not finished.

Romans 10.9 tells us that everyone who believes God loves them and as a result sent His son to die for them is saved. When Jesus was on earth He spent time talking to people, He spent time showing them His character; what was important to Him and good in His sight. He spent time with all kinds of people, tax collectors, women that were having affairs...nobody was too low for Him. You see in doing this, Jesus was tapping in to people's hearts.

By nature, God is relational. He loves us, He talks to us. When Jesus was on earth He wanted us to get to know Him, so that we would in turn tell others about Him. He wanted us to get to know Him so that the more we got to know Him, the more we wanted to be like Him. He wanted to instigate a change of heart, so that instead of our inclination being to do things our way, and therefore sin against Him, our most earnest desire would be to behave in a way that would please Him.


And of course, even if our desire was to please Him, He knew, as I mentioned earlier, how hard it was for us to do the right thing without help from someone outside of us and more powerful than us to do so. So when Jesus left earth for heaven, He left us the Spirit of God (sometimes called the Holy Spirit), the third member of the trinity, so that we would be able to call out to God and receive help in time of need (Hebrews 4.16) and be able to do God's will.

'For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.' - Romans 8.14

Allow yourself to get to know Jesus, fall in love with Him and He will transform your life. It won't happen overnight, but you'll notice it. You'll no longer measure yourself by what you have done, can do, or what others tell you that you are, but instead will see yourself as God sees you; perfect and blameless in His sight. Your outlook on the world will change; you'll understand more clearly God's grace and what it means to be forgiven and forgive others. You'll be able to discern between what is good (of God) and evil (not of God), and you'll be able to love others as Christ has loved you.

God bless x

1 Corinthians 1.25

"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Wiser, higher, stronger, greater, better.

But even more than that;

Wisest, highest, strongest, greatest, best.

There's a verse I love in the bible (one of many!). In the verse, God (speaking through Isaiah) says this; "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55.9)

On a personal level, I'm in a kind of wilderness at the moment. I'm in London, when I was hoping to be making tracks to Stockholm. I'm a little lost because I'm not a one hundred percent sure what I'm doing here right now. I'm in an Internship, which I am thoroughly enjoying, but it's in London, not Stockholm.

I'd be lying if I said that I was sure about what I'm doing or where I think I'll be in the next year. God has a way of surprising us and taking our plans and turning them on their heads. So I don't know.

However, one thing that has always comforted me, is the knowledge that all the stuff I don't know, God knows. And I trust God. I believe that His wisdom, planning, foresight and provision are far better than mine will or could ever be. And I believe that He has a plan for my life and that it's a good one (Jeremiah 26.11).

I can't remember if I've ever shared this here, but something that struck me when I read the story of Noah in the Old Testament was the fact that there was only one window in that ark, which in a boat of such size, filled with that many animals, would have made it difficult to see what was going on outside.

Now, whilst Noah knew how long it would rain for, he didn't know how long he'd be on the waves for, and he didn't really have that much of an insight into what was going on around him. But he did know that God was with him, and had put him in the ark in a place of safety, to preserve him despite what was taking place around Him.

God's done the same for me. He's got a plan for me, and even amidst the change going on around me, I know I'm where I am now for divine purpose (because God has organised it for a reason of eternal (everlasting) significance) and that He's with me and will never leave me (Matthew 28.20b)

It might not make sense to me, but it makes sense to God, and with wisdom like His, what more do I need?

Romans 4.18

"When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said He would do."

- Romans 4.18 (The Message)

I love this verse SO much. Our circumstances always seem so hopeless. Let me share something with you for a second.

I believe with ALL my heart, that God wants me to go to Sweden and live there and help start a church, so that those that don't know Him yet can do. We hope to start churching from this summer, and considering the fact that Swedish summertime pretty much begins in early June, that's fairly soon.

As yet, I have no job over there, I haven't got a place of my own to live in, and I don't know the language as fluently as I wish I did (although I am making massive headway - praise God for that!).

The situation looks pretty grim. How can I still plan to move this summer with no job and nowhere to live, especially when I don't speak the language?

YET, what does the verse say? "When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway." Why was Abraham's faith so big? How could he have confidence in a situation that in all human terms, was practically hopeless?

In order to have faith and hope in a hopeless situation, Abraham had to look beyond himself, and beyond his capabilities and the capabilities of his wife. Abraham looked beyond the situation, toward God.

God had made a promise to him, therefore God would make it happen.

In the same way, I know God has told me to be a part of this church in Sweden this summer. God will make it happen, despite the current circumstances. So I am going to look beyond what I see, and look to God, and all He has said and done so far in my life and in the lives of those around me, and trust Him, that even though as of right now I have no clue where I'll be working or who I'll be living with, He's got it covered. He will make it happen.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

- Hebrews 11.1 (NKJV)

Luke 24.26-27 and The Gospel of Jesus Christ

'He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem..."'

The gospel of Jesus Christ is repentance and forgiveness:

Not condemnation, but hope.

Not death, but life.

Not lawfulness, but relationship.

One of the things the scribes took issue with was Jesus forgiving sins (Matthew 9.1-6), because they believed only God had power to forgive sins, but if Jesus was who He claimed to be, the son of God (Luke 22.70) and the Christ (Matthew 16.16-17), then He had full right to forgive sins.

And that's what He came to earth to do. He came to bridge the gap between the sinful and the sinless. So He came to Earth, still God, in the form of a man, so that He could walk among us and make God real to us, make God personal. He came to Earth to save us.

Do you know where something similar happened? Joseph.

Joseph was fully human (you can tell by his behaviour), and when he dreamt of his future and all that was to come, instead of keeping it hush-hush as Jesus did (Matthew 16.20, Mark 8.30, Luke 9.21), he went around boasting about it.

He wasn't lying though. His brothers were going to bow down to him (Genesis 37.7-11). So after he told them all that he had dreamt they 'disposed of him', rather like what happened to Jesus with his crucifixion. And they thought that was the end of it.

"But what they didn't know was that what they had meant for evil, God had meant to be their own salvation (Genesis 50.20)."

You see without Joseph being thrown in a well, he wouldn't have been sold to Ishmaelites, which would have meant he wouldn't have been a slave in Potiphar's house in Egypt, which in turn would mean that he wouldn't have been accused of rape, which would mean he wouldn't have ended up in jail, which would have meant that he wouldn't have been there to decipher the meanings of the dreams of the baker and cupbearer, which would have meant that he wouldn't have been able to decipher the King's dream, which would mean that he wouldn't have been able to save Egypt and the surrounding lands (including the land of Canaan where all his brother's lived), which would have meant that his whole family would have died.

In much the same way, if God was not merciful, then He would not have sent His son Jesus (who was both God and man) to be crucified, which would mean He (Jesus) wouldn't have taken the cost of all our sins, and if He hadn't taken the penalty for all our sins which is death (Romans 6.23a), we would all be facing eternity without God, Hell, rather than having what we now have (should we want it), the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6.23b).

Hey guys, use this website http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.cfm to look up all the verses that I have mentioned. Just type each of them into the search bar at the top and choose a version you think you will find easiest to understand. The version I have used for my quotes here is the NIV.

Creating Space for God

I just listened to a talk by Stovall Weems on the Hillsong website, thought I'd leave you guys my notes. They aren't organised in any particular way, but I hope you are blessed by them :)


Creating Space for God – Stovall Weems
Moving forward in the purposes of God

Genesis 8
The raven went back and forth over the earth; it represents the flesh trying to get fulfilment that only God can bring. The temporal things can never bring you the satisfaction that God can bring. So Noah realises that the raven is unreliable and sends out the dove, which represents the Holy Spirit.

Noah reached out his hand for the dove, because he knew it would not force its way back into his life, but that he would have to get out there and make room for the dove to land. In the same way if we want God to ‘land’ in our lives, we have to make room for Him.

If you want God to bless a certain area of your life, you need to create space for Him to come into that aspect of your life, and He will do the work.

God is a filler by nature: ‘The earth was formless and empty…’ God filled it with GOOD things.

We are temples of the Holy Spirit, so that God can fill us. He won’t force His way in, but if we create space for Him, He will fill us.

Whatever God fills, He multiplies.

When God shows up the miraculous happens.

What Noah does:
1/ He lifts his hands out for the dove –SURRENDER>a daily practice
2/ He drew the dove into himself – BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT>the fruits of the spirit fill the void and eliminate the need for prayer
3/ He only sends out the dove – GET RID OF THE THINGS OF THE FLESH>only send out the dove, the Holy Spirit doesn’t need any help, leave room for Him.

The dove returns with an olive branch in its beak. Jesus is God’s olive branch. A fresh revelation of who Jesus is. It is all about Christ. He is ALL we need to move our lives forward.

“Come to a land that I will show you…” – The Story of Genesis 12.1

Put yourself in Abraham’s position. You are happily married, comfortable, surrounded by much loved family and friends, in a land full of all that you could ever need. And then God tells you to take your wife, and your brother’s son, and move away. But He doesn't tell you where to.

Would you move?

So many times I’ve read that story in the Old Testament without batting an eyelid or giving a second’s thought to how Abraham must have felt.

I wonder how long he thought about it before he went. If it was me, I’d take a pretty long time to decide. How could I uproot my life and family without being one hundred percent sure that where God was taking me would be better than where I was already?

The simple answer is that there was no way I could be one hundred percent sure.

And Abraham couldn’t have been either.

Sure, God made him rich and took care of him, but all of that came after he had taken up the invitation.

Later on in the Old Testament, when Moses had the tiresome task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promise land, there was an interval of time when the Israelites were stuck in the wilderness, living off whatever God gave each day.

And only after that did they get into the promise land.

In both cases, the parties involved had no choice but to put their trust and faith in God, and it is this idea that incites the fear of God in me.

Why? Because I realise that what was required of the characters in those Old Testament stories is exactly what God requires of us.

When God took Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, He wasn’t just moving him geographically; He was moving Him spiritually too. Abraham had to be taken away from the earthly way of life and into a spiritual one, and on the way He had to learn to trust God.

When God took the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promise land, He wasn’t just moving them geographically either, He was moving them spiritually too. He was taking them out of Egypt and the slave lifestyle they had become accustomed to, and into a new way of life: His way. And on the way, they too like Abraham had to learn to trust Him.

In my weaker moments; when I’m tired, lonely, hungry and irritated, and feeling tempted to do things the way that the world does them, I’m reminded of God and Abraham. God’s way is better. His way is truth and life (John 14.6). The way of the ungodly is darkness (Proverbs 4.19). And whilst the way of the world may seem easier when I’m in those weaker moments, I need to be like Abraham, who, though unsure of where he was going, knew that he was with God and as a result went willingly.

May God give me the strength and grace to be like Abraham.

From the very first day that we become Christians God begins to pull us further and further away from what we know, i.e. the worldly way of doing things. It can be a struggle, especially in those moments when falling back into the ‘natural’ way of doing things seems so much neater. What we really need to do is trust God that His way of doing things is better. As He takes us away from the earthly way of doing things into the Godly way of doing things it can feel a little bit confusing; after all, why leave what you know for what you don’t?

GOD. Whilst He is so far from anything ‘normal’ to us, we can rest in the knowledge that;

He is all powerful. He is Good. He is Love. (Genesis 17.1/Job 36.22, Luke 18.19/Mark 10.18, 1 John 4.8/1 John 4.16)

These three statements are enough to persuade me. I’d rather have my life in the hands of someone who can do something about it than my own. So maybe right now I can’t see all that God has lined up for the future, or certain areas of my life, but knowing that He is God, I know that whatever He has planned, it’s the best thing for me. So I’m not going to worry or fret, but I’m going to trust God and do things His way.

So now when I am unsure of what’s coming next or how to cope with situations, I pray like this;

Lord, I choose to trust in You. You are all powerful. You are Good. You are Love. Yours are the hands I put my life in. I trust that in all things You are sovereign. I trust that You have the best plan for my life. Help me not to fret or worry, but to believe that You have everything under control. Amen.

A Right Spirit; the prayer of Psalm 51.10

Reading another chapter in Matthew today, I was struck by the attention Jesus pays to talking about good trees yielding good fruit and bad trees only yielding bad fruit. One thing I love about Jesus, is that He talks in absolutes. Something is either light or dark. We are either with Him or against Him. We either tell the truth or lie. And we can only be good (in the sense that God alone is the standard of goodness), or bad, (in that if we aren't being like God we are being bad).

At least four times in the Gospels He is recorded as having spoken about how a good tree can only produce good fruit, and a bad tree can only produce bad fruit. He likens it to a good man only doing good things, and a bad man only doing bad things.

""... For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ""

- Matthew 12.34

The mouth-heart/ tree-fruit thread is one that runs throughout the bible. What we are constantly reminded of is the fact that what is in our hearts is what is going to come out of our mouths.

"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life"

- Proverbs 4.23

"...If any man does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body."

- James 3.2

What is being said then, is that, until our hearts are in the right place, we won't be able to control what comes out of our mouths. This isn't something that is only relevant to a few of us, it's relevant to all of us, because all of us are human, with human hearts which host thoughts that God says are 'continually evil' (Genesis 6.5).

And so we get to the prayer of Psalm 51.10, where David, pleading with God, asks for a 'clean heart' and 'right spirit'. And that's where Jesus comes in. With Him came the Holy Spirit, the only spirit that is of God, and therefore wholly good. When we embrace God in all His fullness and allow the Holy Spirit to take root in our lives, how we live our lives becomes a result of being in and of God's Spirit; Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; all these being things that can be seen in all our daily actions, including our speech, so that instead of our behaviour dishonouring God, we praise Him with our whole heart (Psalm 9.1).

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me"

- Psalm 51.10

All I Need Is You - Jesus Culture, We Cry Out

"For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?"

- Psalm 18.31

The act of pressing into God produces a dependency on Him that is vital for healthy Christian life [John 15.5]. Living life independent of God is essentially saying that we all alright on our own, doing our own thing [Isaiah 53.6]; when actually the act of wrestling with Him in our darker moments produces a blessing that we could never receive otherwise [Genesis 32.22-28].