What we need

Recently I’ve been thinking about what we need. This question can be answered in many ways- First, it can be answered in a physical way, we might need, food, clothing, a home. Or it can be answered in more of an emotional way- we might need happiness, joy, love. But I quickly came to the conclusion that this isn’t enough so I decided to see if it was answered in a spiritual way, we might need a hope, a destiny, even a God. However, to truly answer this question, we need to look more closely at what is important to us. Food is important, we all need it to live. Love is important, we all need to show some sort of affection. A destiny is important, we need something to aim for. But in my search I found there is something far more important than food, love and a destiny. There is something so important that people live for it. There is something so amazing, that people give everything to it. There is something so incredible that some die for it. The answer wasn’t found through my thinking and through my attempted intellectual analysis, it was found in the lives of my friends and family, through their examples and testimonies. It was found in the passion and power I saw in the young, it was found in the wisdom, joy and peace of the old. It was found in the Bible when it says, ’I AM THAT I AM’. Ultimately, it was found in Him- in God. That short verse showed me that God is all-powerful, absolutely completed and totally self-sufficient. He doesn’t need my worship, he doesn’t need my praise, he is God and utterly God. He doesn’t depend on my emotions and my feelings to be ‘more God’, he doesn’t rely on my thoughts and writing to be ‘more alive’ because He is absolutely all-sufficient and among the many aspects of God, this ‘all-sufficient nature’ brought me to the thoughts that are written below.

My God is more than my imagination, greater than my feelings- deeper than my thoughts. He‘s more than a cross on a church, more like a bridge from man to God- from heaven to earth. He’s different, cause he’s holy. Special, cause he’s Lord. Jehovah, cause he’s Jirah - He is who he is. Breath-taking, cause he died a death you see, on the cross –even though he never needs me. Champion, because he rose again. Infallible, cause he’s perfect and then, He’s the Saviour who saved me,- Shepherd, who  guides me. The Lamb, the perfect sacrifice. The Priest who will intercede, He’s I’ll ever need –and all I ever will, and when that day finally comes, He’ll look into my eyes and say,’ Yes you, you my child are mine.’

So to answer the question what do we need? We need God. Nothing more and nothing less. We have to have fervent passion and an unquenchable desire to need God. We need to give ourselves over to God and let him show us the life he has in store for us. He alone is sufficient, He alone will satisfy and He alone, and only him, is all you will ever need.

Scripture melee!

I took a few verses from the Bible, combined them and this is what happened, please be changed in some way.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, who being in the very form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He was pierced for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities, he was oppressed and afflicted, and He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, by oppression and judgement he was taken away. He was cut off from the land of the living and for the transgression of my people he was stricken, pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed, you see, all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned to our own way, and the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all. Why? Because Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, love is without hypocrisy; Love never fails, and guess what? God is love… and he so loved the world, that whosoever believes in him, will have eternal life. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, so if you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And when you make them, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Remember to trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return. Because one day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. So to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless before the Lamb, to him be power and glory, both now and forever amen.

The Gorge

This is a story I finished of today, Try and see any parallels in our walks in life. Enjoy.

Very early, every morning, a man walked a treacherous path to the fields where he worked; the path was a gorge between two huge rocks and was only wide enough to fit one person. There was another path above, but only the most experienced climbers could dream of walking it. On the lower path many people stumbled and fell on the sharp rocks and deadly vines. Many inexperienced travellers never made it to the other side and some were lost forever winding passages. Now, there was a point in the gorge that split into four paths, three of the paths were wide, more pleasant and pleasing to look upon. The first had a stream that gently bubbled and swished to itself, the next had grapes growing of beautiful vines, and the third other bouncing moss that soaked any warmth that could be found. However, all three ended in disaster and mostly death, they were cunning traps laid by the leaders of a neighbouring villages to catch field workers make them to work as slaves in the fields of other villages. There was a fourth path, it was fair and bleak to some, to others it was pleasant and exciting but to most it was menacing and grim, often one could see shadows of dagger-like rocks caressed by the seeming smiles of evil creatures, and dark holes and pits swallowing in all the life they found, but to the few who worked the fields, it was the only way. This man knew the right path and never strayed from it, he never fell or injured himself, and sometimes he would even light candles to make the way easier for when other workers passed. The years progressed and all the paths grew more delightful and pleasing, all apart from the fourth, which stayed just as dark and grim. It wasn’t long before the man had a son, he loved his son with a love that surpasses all thinking, his son was so precious to him and he took great pride in all he did. Much time passed by and soon the season came when a man takes his son to work with him in the fields. So early in the morning while it was still dark, the man and his son walked from their village and down towards the gorge, soon the path started to get rougher and more demanding. As they approached the gorge and the father took the upper path above leaving the son alone to take the lower path. Suddenly the son turned round and realised his Father was nowhere to be seen, He called,’ Father? Where are you?’ He heard his father’s voice and looked up, his father was looking down upon him and said,’ Son, I love you, so follow me, listen to my voice, never stop looking up at me, I will give you all the direction that you need.’ The son looked a little confused but simply obeyed. He continued along the path, looking up at his father. Suddenly his father, shouted for him to stop. The son stopped in his tracks and looked around, he found his head inches away from a huge set of spikes protruding from the walls, he started to panic, fear rose in him and just as he was about to move his head away, his father calmly said,’ Look up at me’. The son looked up at his father, fear settled sank away and the son continued to walked on, what the son didn’t know was that if he had turned he would of collided with even sharper spikes, that would of caused much pain to him. The son looked up at his father, and walked on as his father spoke instruction to him, soon the son could hear rustling, much like leaves on a tree, he flashed his eyes down for one split second and saw a huge poisonous vine towering over him, he leapt to the side and found himself quickly buried in a bush of menacing thorns, as he felt the pain of the thorns sink into his skin he found himself looking down, trying to find a way of escape, while he struggled he called out to his father, ’Father! Help me!’ ‘Look up to me son’ and as the son looked up to his father, he felt the thorns release their grasp. He saw the eyes of his Father beckoning him on and he continued along the path, his father gave him directions as to where he should tread his feet and where he should rest his hands. In no time the son had reached the crossroads, the father once again called down to his son,’ Son, listen to me, hear my voice, there may be times when you cannot see me, but remember, I know the path well, so take heed to my words.’ It was just after these words were spoken that the son heard the chirping of birds and the babbling of a brook and forgot his father’s instruction to look to him and peered down to see what he had heard. Before him lay three wonderful paths, one layered with flowers and with a wide brook running down the middle, another had moss curving up the sides of the gorge to make a beautiful blanket on which to rest. Another had all kinds of fruit ripe and ready to fall from towering trees that caressed the sun onto their mighty beams. He didn’t even notice the other path, and he thought to himself, ‘These must be the ways; I wonder which one is more exciting?’ He chose go down the path with flowers and the babbling brook, as he stepped towards it he could hear his father’s voice calling out to him, ‘Son, stop and look at me.’ But the son chose not to notice,’ It’s fine father, I have found a wonderful new way to the fields where you work!’ listening only to the happy babbling brook as it swam gently down the path, for a while he even skipped, happy recalling pleasant memories from childhood. He closed his eyes and thought, ’I have made it! I have discovered a new way!’ As he was pondering to himself he barely took time to look ahead and see the disaster to come, as he began descending into the brook, he felt the cool, refreshment of the brook, it seemed good, so he continued to walk down the path. He failed to notice the widening of the brook, and soon he found himself tumbling into a vicious rapids, he called out,’ Father, help me!’ through the billowing, white waves he heard ‘Look up to me!’ the son shouted, ’Father, where are you?’ The son felt strong hand on his shoulder pulling him from the current. ’I’m here my child, right next to you,’ The Father then carried his son back up the river, battling against sharp rocks and strong currents. The son didn’t take time to notice the cuts in his father’s legs or the grazes on his elbows, he just complained about his own injuries. As time went on, they reached the crossroads, and the father put his son back down on the ground, he said,’ Child, where you go I cannot, but I will guide you, always look up to me and listen to my voice.’ So the son followed his father’s voice and went down the fourth path, but it wasn’t long before he turned his head away from his father, to his terror he saw sharp rocks and thorns with evil shadows lurking nearby, He started to run back up the path to the crossroads, when he heard his father’s voice. ’Son! Stop and listen to me. I will keep you safe.’ The son stopped and saw his Father above; he heard the comfort in his voice and followed it. The path at times was wide and easy, other times it was hard and narrow, but his father never stopped speaking words of comfort and guidance, as they were drawing near to the end of their journey when the son felt prickles against his legs, He shouted up, ’Father! What are you doing? Why have you told me to go this way, I can feel scratches all down my legs, because I followed your voice!’ What he didn’t know was that there was a deep pit beside him filled with terror and man-eating animals. The father said, ‘Child, trust me it is for your best, follow my voice,’ the son kept looking at his father, but soon he felt nettles sting his hands, ’Father!’ He shouted,’ Why are you doing this to me? You are leading me wrong!’ It was about this time that a rock stood between the son and the father, the child couldn’t see the Father, so he called, ’Father! I cannot see you, where are you?’ ‘Son, I know where you are, listen to my voice and trust me’ But it was dark and the son started to panic, he looked down to see for himself where he was, as he stepped backward, he lost his footing and fell, he screamed in a mix of fear and pain as he crumbled down the hole, he hit the bottom hard, and felt his arm cut open, he heard the growls of fierce animals and felt the bitter cold of the wind,  he cried out, ‘Father! Where are you, I have fallen and my arm is hurt. Help me!’ Then he heard his father’s soft, gentle voice, ’My child, I am here beside you.’ The son felt himself being lifted onto his Father’s shoulders, as they travelled up the steep sides he grew angry with his father, ’Why did you make me fall? Look at my arm, it is bleeding! Why did you do this to me?’ The father gently lay his son on the ground and ripped some cloth from his own robe and bandaged his son’s arm. The son failed to notice the tears in his father eyes or the deep cuts in his father’s hands from climbing up the steep, sharp side of the pit. He picked his son up again and started to carry him again, the son began to accuse his father again, ’Look my arm still hurts, my ankle is swollen! See for yourself the pain you cause me! I can’t believe I ever listened to you!’ As they reached the top of the pit, the sun was rising, taking hold of the day and streaming light onto the path. However, even in new morning light, the son still failed to notice the deep wounds dark scratches in his Father’s side, or the deep holes in his father’s hands nor the thorny stems still entwined in his blood matted hair. He didn’t notice the bites to his father’s legs or the gashes running down his arms, then, he turned his head and looked down the path from which he came, he saw the shadows of sharp rocks and evil faces had disappeared, and green grass and flowers had taken their places, he noticed the spikes in the wall and remembered his doubt he turned again and looked at the top of the gorge where his father walked, there he saw the sharp rocks and evil creature. He turned his head again and saw the path leading down into the hole where he had fallen, deep bushes of thorns and menacing spikes of rock were spread along the path. Blood was spattered among the thorns and rocks, and then he looked down at his father, he saw the blood, cuts and pain all over his body, it was then he realised what his father had done for him, he turned back to hole then saw slain wolves and bloody thorns. He felt tears stream down his face as he understood why he had to keep looking at his father, ’Daddy,’ he said ,’ I’m sorry for not listening to you, I’m sorry for disobeying, If only I had listened!’ My child, I have already forgiven you, I forgave you even before you fell, and even before you were carried away by the current. I was there to save you and it doesn’t matter what you do, because to me your life is more precious than mine, and I will always be there to help you. Some things you will never understand, but I want you to understand that I love you more than you could possible imagine.’ The son turned to look again into his father, he saw the love and peace in his eyes and embraced him. He never knew of some of the sacrifices his father made, but he knew without doubt that his father loved him more than anything else, and would be with him all the way to the fields were they worked.

All have sinned...

‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Romans 3:23

What? Really? Mmm… I bet! As if! Cool. And…? Recognise these responses? Yup! They were most likely your last response when you heard this verse or something similar. So before you leave, read this!  I’m going to be quick because I know you don’t have much time and to make this easier to understand I have taken liberty to divide this verse up into four segments.

1.        ‘For all’. Who exactly does this apply to? For starters it applies to you, therefore it must apply to me and every other human (Except Jesus) who is and will be on this planet or universe! This is absolutely you and you can never get away from this ‘all’ meaning you.

2.        ‘have sinned’. Sin. It’s a nasty topic and unfortunately some make it seem like a good thing, but God meant sin to mean any and every bad thing we do “Every act of wrongdoing is sin” 1 John 5:17 (Phillips Modern English) Think about the worst thing you’ve done. Jesus has the power to take it away, but more of that later! It is sin that cause things like pain and suffering, this is a result of disobedience that occurred just after we were created by God, involving Adam and Eve. In summary ‘All have sinned’- We have all sinned, all committed something bad, hurt somebody or said a wrong thing. This is what sin is, and what it does I shall explain later.

3.        ‘and fall short’. The dictionary definition of ‘fall short’ is to not reach an amount or standard. People always set goals for themselves and God has set a standard for us- absolute perfection. We obviously can never reach this standard and that is why God has provided us a way of escape from the punishment that occurs because of this inability to reach the standard.

4.       ‘of the glory of God ’. The glory of God is so amazing and so spectacular, when Moses (a man in the Bible) saw part of this, his face was shining so brightly that he had to cover his face so that people could look at him. ‘And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his face.’ Exodus 34:35. I saw a useful quote on a website (who’s name escapes my memory but not my heart) it said, “The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is.”

5.        So in conclusion, You have sinned (done bad things), you have fallen short of the glory of God (you cannot because of your sin ever reach perfection). What then are the consequences of sin? The simple answer is, eternal separation from God. Otherwise known as hell. When you realise the how God holds together the universe and how he protects you and keeps you living, you will realise what this is like. Hell is the worst possible place to be and it lasts for eternity. But how do we get saved from such a place? One word- Jesus. He came down from Heaven as God and became like us, who he created. He subjected himself to human authority, lived a perfect life (totally sinless) and died an agonising death on the cross to crush the power of sin and then rose again to make a way for us to spend eternity in Heaven with God. Seem a little weird, made up story? All you have to do is admit your sin, believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection and understand that you cannot possibly live this life to the full without God. When you do this, Jesus stands in your place as a sinner and gives you a new life, hope and meaning.

So, was it worth your time? I hope so.

Dad = Superhero

I haven’t blogged for a while, but I decided that today I would continue my hobby. I have decided to take this step so I could write how much I appreciate my father. So here goes…

Most people go through their childhood years thinking their fathers are invincible and inevitably can do nothing wrong. They look at superman comics and think,’ Pffft, how pathetic! My Dad beats up villains for fun!’ I’m sure you can relate to this, I mean who needs heroes when you have Dad? This however was very different from my father, he didn’t grow up with a dad, his died when he was still in my grandma’s womb. I am still amazed to find that my father has turned out the way he has. In no way am I suggesting that those who have no fathers are automatically doomed, I am saying how he has managed to become such a good father. I guess him having no father, made him really have to think hard about how to be a Daddy to me and my three brothers- in a way he had to start from scratch. The truly amazing thing about my Dad, is how gifted he is at understanding and communicated Christian principles to me. Many hours after a church Bible study have been filled with discussing predestination, election and so on. He has been a huge inspiration to me and I know that without him, I would be in a very different place. The love he has shown me has helped me understand how to love God and others more. My relationship with him has helped me understand how God can be both a friend and father. I look to my Dad for guidance and counsel. I know that I am safe when I’m with him; he is a friend, an example, a companion and a true father. I am writing this to tell you all what he means to me. He is a true hero, and an absolute superhero.

So Dad- Much love and thanks,                                    

From your Son.

Love?

Love?

Like most people, I’m going to start with a question. So here goes… What is love? Is this not the same question many a teary teenage girl has inquired of her mother or many a discerning philosopher has contemplated with his peers? I would venture to say no. See, to ask the question we have to find out what love we are talking about. Am I talking about the sappy, Hollywood type of ‘love’? – No, or maybe, ‘Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee, and when I love thee not, chaos is come again’- that idealistic Shakespeare love. - Again I must say no. The love I’m talking about is true love, the absolute type- pure and refined. To dig deeper we have to go straight to scripture. So deep breath and here goes, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ ‘Love your enemies’ ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The list goes on…  All these scriptures tell us what to love, not necessarily what love is, these are evidences of love much like helping your mother in the kitchen or giving someone a hug, these are not love but the fruit of love, and then we find it! The scripture verse that tells us what love truly is- 1 Corinthians 13: Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. This is what love is. But to truly understand love, we have to know where love is from. It can only be from Love itself, that’s Love with a capital ‘L’. God is love. This phrase may only be three words, but three words that are fundamental to the enormity of what love is. You see, for something to exist, something has to first be it. To have love, God first had to be love.

 ‘We love him, because he first loved us.’ You see, we can only love because God first loved us first. Love only exists because God is Love. Amen? The amazing thing about this is he is, was and always will be love. Faith, trust, hope and other virtues will not exist in Heaven, Why?  Because they will be fulfilled at the coming of Jesus! Think about it, why would we need to hope or faith in Heaven. They just won’t be necessary, but love will be. God isn’t faith, He isn’t hope, but He is love and because God is love, if we want to be with him we have to have love both on Heaven and Earth. Love is a divine virtue; this means we are going spend all of eternity in true love. No more disappointments, no more envy, pride, selfishness or things that get in the way of us and God, an eternity completely fulfilling God’s purpose for life- to glorify Him. Someone recently said Heaven was like strawberry cake but a thousand times better! If that’s the case, we certainly have something to look forward to!

There are many examples of love in the Bible, but to find the deepest kind of love we have to go straight to the crucifixion.  What type of love was this? This love is sweat turns to blood, friends fleeing, healing enemies, ridicule, mocking soldiers, unjust circumstances, unbearable pain sweeping through body. Cruel, cold nails. Glass, metal, rope whipping through skin piercing even the deepest nerve, false accusations, crown of thorns, psychological torment, spiritual pounding, physical torture. Calvary’s cruel glare, condemning cross, confessing criminals, utter forgiveness, obedience to death, undeniable courage, unforgettable peace, liberating life, denying death, releasing captivity and pursuing freedom, bleeding body, suffering saviour, Head raised with a death-defying shout of ,’IT IS FINISHED.’ Death overcome, curtain split in two and victory is won. All for us, laid out for you. Jesus, our living sacrifice. My friends, this is love.

My day in the office...

...Today I’ve been completing work experience in an office. It’s interesting to see how different people work with altering working styles together. Some are busily typing away; Others are more relaxed– having a more social-work experience. So you’ve got the general atmosphere, but let us go into more detail.
Morning: Busy traffic so left early, dead on time. Introductions take place and then real work starts. Latecomers slowly slink in avoiding the managers eyes- “Traffic...” the perfect excuse and is therefore used. Smokers occasionally leave to have a quick ciggy. Lunch is an hour away now. The workers barely notice, work is now intense.
Lunch: Lunchtime comes and those who never seem to leave the office stay. Now off to Nandos, apparently it’s Nandos every day and every week. Half a chicken fills me up; one guy however has a chicken a day. Everyone finishes and heads back to the office.
Afternoon: A brief discussion on how the trial Breivik affects peoples view on religion leads onto a longer conversation on capital punishment. Then lunch break officially ends, maybe a few minutes late. So I move of to the admin area and do some minor work, giggles and laughter ensues (not from me!) as the people there find out who I am and why I'm there. The manager tells them to get on, giggles stop and a quick smoke break is undertaken (outside of course). I stay mostly because I’m not a smoker and continue doing some work. They return and more giggles are heard. The manager gives up comepletely and goes for a coffee.
Early Evening: Eventually work finishes and I head upstairs to where a conference call is occurring, frantic shifting of money around to fit the budget is happening. Sweating faces and hurried voices eventually solve the problem (at 2.am that morning). I go home at around 7pm with a headache, sore throat and shivering body. Now off to have a bath and crawl myself into bed. Sleeping ensues…. Hopefully!