Bolivian Life: Day to Day

Having solved continental humanitarian emergencies, quelled a rebel uprising, built a damn across the Amazon river to provide a sustainable energy source for the next century, and eating vicious man-consuming alligators (the last of which is actually true) this week hasn’t provided us with anything too dramatic or exotic, its just been nice to settle in further and get more of a feel for the work here. So rather than giving you a snapshot of an adventure, let me tell you what happens in the day to day rhythm of our time here. The mission is a Christian mission called ‘Fundacion Totai’, it serves three main purposes, 1 - as a medical centre; 2 - as a sport’s outreach, primarily basketball and football, to the kids who live in the city; 3 - as an education provider/outreach for these same kids (community classes and also OANSA, which is a scripture-learning club). The mission is centralised in a big building on the outskirts of Trinidad. In this building there are two floors, the first consisting of three offices, a reception area, a few different clinics (which meet a wide variety of needs), an operating theatre and also a ward. This floor is also home to a wonderful cafe, which serves the most amazing grapefruit and lemon ‘refresco’ and also a wide variety of meals. Tom and I are currently choosing to eat steak for breakfast and steak again for lunch - delicious! The second floor can be found up some stair cases, and through some new and dubiously plastered corridors (we are still learning the trade). These stairs will take you to two places, the first being two church rooms, which gets a good attendance on Sunday, and gets pretty packed on Saturday for the youth club. The second of the stairs will take you to two apartments, one of which is occupied by a pastor and his family, the other of which is occupied by two couples, a niece to one of the couples, and two strapping English lads who have been able to maintain a ridiculously high standard of cleanliness in their room. There is also a separate room outside of these two apartments, which is occupied by three American girls called Haley Ann Marie… Brittany Ann Marie… and Juliana Ann Marie…, who are on a similar 2 month programme. They are very good company, and its a relief to partake in some English-spoken banter, even if our humour may sometimes cause offence or not make any sense to them.

A normal day consists of team devotions at 8, a big breakfast of steak and two eggs, maintenance work from 9:00 - 12:00, steak and rice for lunch, then basketball, football, community class or bible studies from 14:00 - 17:00, then of course dinner, which we either make ourselves or go out and buy, steak here is around the £1.50 mark. Unfortunately, Tom’s approach to food is more mechanical than most, so for the last two weeks we have been eating pasta and eggs… every day. Yesterday, I surreptitiously bought tomatoes and peppers for some variety, which was a start, but please pray that my dear mission’s partner comes to the point in his life were he recognises the need for a diet more varied than just plain pasta and plain egg, and also that different shaped pasta doesn’t necessarily mean a different flavour (my faith for this needed revelation is slowly dwindling).

The work here is such fun, but also busy, we are blessed to sleep and eat very well. The primary obstacle is our lack of Spanish which is getting in the way of our communicating, this could, however, just be down to our lack of using the cold shower… we are trusting that in both cases progress will be made. What’s great to see is that the communication barrier hasn’t prevented us from making good friends, and the pictures below should show that we have made many from both the mission and youth work. We are praying that we can use these great opportunities to engage with them in a way which points them to Jesus. Our aim here isn’t to make a huge impact or change the world, but just to simply give our all to a community of needy people who need Jesus just as much as the neighbours on your street. There’s nothing particularly glamorous or exotic about the work, but its an inspiration to see the workers giving everything to engage with a needy city, bringing people to Jesus through a wide variety of outreaches and helping people find hope in often difficult circumstances. Seeing God at work is always a wonderful thing, and our hope for the next two months is we become increasingly able to share the joy and hope there is in following Jesus.

Prayer:

1. Please pray that Tom and I make good progress with the language
2. Please pray for the continued success of the work and that it continues to make much of Jesus.

Tom stepping out in faith to try something other than pasta and egg.

Deep Fried Alligator is Delicious!

Working on the world's most rickety ladder (We are fine Mum...)

Youth Group with our fellow American volunteers, my poor attempt at an 'American Smile', and Tom highlighting just how un-photogenic we British people are.

With some of our Bolivian Friends at Youth

Tom getting comfy 'Bolivian Style' after a long day of work...

Peeling an unbelievable amount of grapefruits, for some amazing 'Refresco'!

Community class with a few of the local kids

Fishing for a Predator

Four of us squished into the back, three in the front, and the boot was loaded with fishing gear and coca cola. We drove for an hour and a half down roads for whom tarmac was a fantasy. Before this were a range of worn-out, bumpy roads, travel for a while down these and you will soon find the humble, yet fascinating city of Trinidad. I won’t dare go into all the differences between this city and Swindon - they are innumerable. Every street is full of motorbikes, dogs and has a dusty road. Often the three are combined in one sudden moment, the biker’s accelerating wheels kicking up dust into the sky while being frantically chased down by a barking dog - an amusing sight… unless its you, but that’s another story.

The city soon dissolves into countryside, houses turn to trees, people disappear leaving us a curious variety of birds and animals to watch, and the clouds roll back to reveal the blazing sun. The place isn’t dense jungle, but it is certainly exotic. Thinking about it, its a strange thought to think we are finally in the Amazon Basin, having pointed to maps, read books, listened to missionaries, we are actually here, driving down earth’s bumpiest road, crammed into a 4x4, the tires sending dust flying high and the speakers blaring out One Direction. There is wildlife everywhere to see, the track is lined with a variety of small lakes and muddy swamps, the lakes - full of alligators, the swamps - full of pigs. Scraggly cows munch on the sparse green grass, huge cranes tower over head, and there is even a mockingbird gently hovering over an assortment of flowers. This landscape is by all accounts humble, yet magnificent.

Bumped and bruised, we finally arrive at our destination, a mud-stained river, rushing away out of sight into the vast jungle. In these waters live creatures which are small but vicious, a missionary tells us of how they bite so cleanly that first, you see the blood, then feel the pain. So with warnings in mind, we take a deep breath, don our strongest Australian accents, and start searching for the ‘critters’. We pull pieces of meat onto barbed hooks, throw out our lines, and wait for bait to be snatched, uncertain of what exactly what will come out of the water. 

We know one thing for sure, we are here to fish for a predator - the Piranha.

The Beginnings of the Jungle

The Mud-Stained River

The First of the Catch

Descaling the Critters, Tom Getting his Hands Dirty

Gutting the Piranhas ready for Sunday Lunch

First Impressions

We find ourselves landing in an airport as dusk is breaking, a luminous display of orange and yellow greets us, sweeping across the darkened landscape - we have landed in the heart of a La Paz. We sit for a while, waiting an hour in our little plane, the second of four stopovers. As the sun breaks the horizon, sunbeams begin to stream through the windows and we are gifted a view of the scenery around. It is beautiful, the red-brick city ends more promptly than expected (night time lights can be deceiving), and from this city scene migrates the edges of high plateau plains suddenly dropping to reveal a background of snow-topped mountains gently poking their faces over the edges and towards the sky. These mountains seem to be tender giants, but as we take-off we begin see the true enormity of them. They are so high that even at the plane's cruising height it seems as if we could reach out our hands and join the clouds in brushing the tops of the mountains. Soon, these very clouds envelope us, the turbulence takes over and we pray. Eventually, we sweep out from under the clouds to reveal jungle of some description, not a thick mass of trees and foliage, but rather what remains after Bolivian civilisation has carved out its home. Here lies another city, Santa Cruz, our home for the night.

One can’t help but imagine the feelings of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot as they flew into Quito, Ecuador for the very first time. They too would have seen very similar scenery and no doubt felt inadequate in comparison to the landscape - so many people, so much to see, and so much work to be done. I can’t help but admire their faith and bravery, stepping out into an unknown land and facing an uncertain future with the certain hope that their God would provide all their needs. Tom and I have much less uncertainty involved in our trip, yet with such a landscape and all these thoughts in view its hard not to feel humbled and inadequate. Though not pioneers, we are taking little steps of faith, ready to see God at work, raring to go and excited about the next two months.

Am I foolish enough?

On Monday, Elizabeth Elliot was called Home. For those unaware, Elizabeth was a lady with a unique story, who served God whole-heartedly and inspired many to missions. I first heard about her as an inquisitive eleven year-old while reading a short biography about her husband, Jim Elliot. In brief, Elizabeth met Jim at Wheaton College and there they began to seek God about a future together, however, they both believed God was calling them to different mission fields and so, with God at the centre, they parted company. It wasn’t long though, before Lord brought them together again to serve the Quichua Indians in Ecuador. Their work there was short and in the grand scheme of things it seemed relatively unimportant, however, the reality is that the story of their sacrifice and total surrender to a sovereign God still resounds around the globe as an inspiration for many to take up their crosses and follow Jesus. Elisabeth put their story very simply, she said,  

“A year after I went to Ecuador, Jim Elliot, whom I had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. In nineteen-fifty-three we were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. The Aucas were in that category—a fierce group whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. After a friendly contact with three of the tribe, they were speared to death.”

It was tragic, but our God always has a plan, and he used the weakness of the situation to bring about His glory to make a human disaster become a Heavenly Triumph. As a result of their sacrifice, many hearts and lives have been pointed to Jesus. For me, hearing about this sacrifice gave me a heart for missions, and for many years after, I too wanted to go to Ecuador and follow in Jim and Elizabeth’s footsteps. The heart for missions is unquenchable.

Jim is well known for a famous statement, he once wrote, ’He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.’ As an eleven year old, I really struggled with this. I knew it was an important statement, but I didn’t know what it meant. In fact, it took several more read-throughs and a good deal of thinking before I finally understood. Jim was talking about giving his life, and more than that, he was talking about giving and losing everything he had, to gain life with Jesus. His eyes were fixed on greater things than just the fading joys of earth, but rather on the eternal, life-giving hope that only a totally surrendered walk with Jesus can bring.

But what does this mean? ‘What does walking with Jesus look like?’ and is it really worth it?

Jesus is probably the best person to give an answer as he’s the one who does the walking with us. Mark 8: 24 - 26 speaks of a time when Jesus gave a very direct answer to that question, ‘Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Reading that, it’s clear to see that our calling is a ‘strange one’, or so I’m told. Instead of being successful, trying to get to the top, or even trying to just be plain old comfortable, we are told to give all, sell all, and follow Jesus. It’s foolish, stupid even. Who gives up that much to follow someone who lived 2,000 years ago? No one does, no one but a fool. Yet it seems my problem is that I’m not foolish enough, while I write, there are brothers and sisters dying, suffering, losing all for the sake of Jesus, giving all they have, and holding nothing back. They undergo persecution, segregation, removal of human rights, and yet their faith in Jesus is firm. They know that this world holds nothing for them, and they literally give their lives because they have a Heavenly perspective which shows them that there is a God who is worth infinitely more than anything this world has to offer. This heavenly perspective was shared by Paul as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 vs 18, ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’ He got straight to the point, you see, he didn’t care if people thought he was a fool - all he cared about was the seeming foolishness of the cross! Later on in the book he writes, ’I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and… I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.’

So my encouragement is this - It’s a foolish choice, so do it! Jim and Elizabeth were totally right, they were looking at the culture and ways of the world square on and calling them out with their Jesus-centred words and actions. Why? Because according to them, only a fool would be completely sold for God, only a fool would give everything in surrender, only a fool would bypass comforts and security for a walk with Jesus. It just doesn’t make sense to the world. 

In reality, it’s hard to give up everything, it’s hard to surrender, and it hurts! Bearing a cross hurts. Jesus didn’t die to end our suffering, he died to break the chains of death and make a way so that we could take up our crosses and follow him. His death and resurrection gave us a means for establishing his kingdom on earth, for uniting us in the hope of his return, for restoring broken relationships, healing the broken-hearted and for redeeming people from the very grip of hell. It is the fundamental event of history, yet we so often over-look its true significance. When Jesus cried, ’It is finished’, he didn’t just build the bridge from man to God, but he crossed it and gave us his life and his calling. Please remember, we are not alone in this, this is a walk with a wonderful Saviour who knows the depths of our sinful heart. Therefore, our radical lifestyle will be not be out of duty, but rather it will come from the overflow of our heart’s worship, as we begin to understand that Jesus gave his everything for us, and we have no greater calling than to do the same. How often I forget it, yet how faithful our God is. The ebbing tide of His sweet-scented love swells to cover for our foul, sinful hearts. It is Him alone who is able ‘to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.’ It’s all about him, it’s all about Jesus, so to Him be our everything, to him be all glory and majesty and power, to him be my life, my university, my family. To him alone I owe, and to Him alone I will give my all.

I’ve made the point already I hope, but I’ll reiterate it with a lesson learnt from the book of Acts. Here we have Peter and Paul, who had given up everything to follow Jesus. They had nothing in this life, and yet somehow had an absolutely certain and radical faith that this life wasn’t the be all and end all. Why? Because they had Jesus. Peter had been there when Jesus said to ‘Take up your cross and follow me,’ and these two, they totally got it. The concept of taking up their cross meant the abandonment of all they had and instead the attainment of a walk with Jesus. They, along with Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, understood that when they got to Heaven they would have nothing but Jesus, and more than that, they wouldn’t want anything but Jesus, and so to take up their crosses was no duty, but rather a divine calling to have the same perspective on life that Jesus had. Oh to live like that! To live as if I had just seen Jesus, as if nothing else mattered anymore, as if all that the world could throw at me was nothing compared to being with Jesus, as if no circumstance I faced could hinder my view of a beautiful Saviour, as if my past could never overtake the wonder of walking with Him, as if any and everything fell into utter insignificance in view of a loving God who calls me by name. But hey, it a foolish choice, or at least you’ll be told it is. So are you foolish enough to take up your cross and follow Him?  

I am learning, through much failure and an abundance of grace, that no matter how foolish I appear, there is nothing worth more than walking with Jesus.

None, nothing, nobody, but Jesus.

Revelling in Weakness

 2 Corinthians 12: 

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

These verses speak of something immensely important, we see God respond to Paul’s plea and as we read on, we will see God proclaiming his sufficiency to human weakness. But let’s start from the beginning and work our way to this. Here, Paul has a ‘thorn in the flesh’, whether it be physical or spiritual, he has something that is causing him to see and feel weakness in tangible way. Its something he doesn’t want, and so three times he pleads with the Lord to take it away. Yet in Paul’s weakness, in his lack of self-sufficiency, God proclaims, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Paul's response shows us the ground-breaking reality of these words. ‘For when I am weak, then I am strong.’ This is a process, its an equation, weakness then strength. The ‘shy, rarely showing his face’ mathematician inside of me is struggling here, weakness does not equal strength, its opposite, it doesn’t match up, but thats exactly the point, because when you take Paul out of the equation we see who’s really behind it all - God,  ‘My power is made perfect in weakness.’  Our God, who uses the illiterate shepherds to proclaim the good news, faithless fisherman to be his disciples, a law-bound, christian-killer to write doctrine, and the one who first denied him to bring the first revival, is enough. Something happened in the case of all these people, something great and mysterious occurred - the love of God was given to them, and in their weaknesses they were strong, in their failures they were victorious? Why? Because his grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in weaknesses.

What is weakness?

The subject of the weakness in this passage is Paul, he has ‘a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited’. See, firstly, weakness in this passage is not talking about sin. Sin is not causing Paul to be weak, but rather it is a difficult, painful situation, circumstance or experience, that he does not have the power or capacity to get rid of. He is stuck with it. The passage answers the question simply as ‘weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities’. From my perspective, I may not have felt those things as intensely as some have, but I certainly have experienced and seen such moments. 

Understanding and confessing weakness is a humbling process. Human pride and the culture of the world are opposite to this, they say there is no place for weakness, ‘Be strong, overcome your circumstances’, but the reality is that God uses these situations for his glory. And only when we are humble, can we truly see this. Let me be clear though, God is not delighting in your sorrow or rejoicing in your troubling situation, but he is working all things for His good, he is letting us see more of Him through our situations. To perhaps understand this more, we ought to look at what the purpose of weakness is.

What is the purpose of weakness?

When you really look closely at this passage, the magnitude of these verses will change you. If we understand what weakness is, then we will be able to understand what the purpose of weakness is. However, this depends on where the weakness comes from. So the first question to really ask is ‘Who is the weakness from?’ The answer is two fold, firstly, ‘a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me‘  Here we see, clearly marked out, the weakness was from Satan, who’s intentions are ultimately to destroy man, to cause us to be proud, to cause us to fall and lose sight of Jesus; but when we read further on, we see the sovereignty of God,’a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.’  Its important to understand that this isn’t Paul trying to unearth a positive consequence from the work of Satan, its him recognising the sovereign hand of God working in every area of his life, even through weakness. 

Paul is presented with a very real weakness, and so he pleads with the Lord to take it away because he sees who is really in control. As we looked at earlier, when we experience and recognise weakness we are faced with this worldly mindset that it is something to be ‘got rid of’, but it is so important to remember ‘the source of our weaknesses may sometimes be Satan and his destructive designs for us; but always our weaknesses are designed by God for our good. This is why the truth of God's sovereign grace is so precious in the midst of hardship and calamity. God is in control of Satan. Satan does nothing to God's children that God does not design with infinite skill and love for our good.’ (Good ol’ Piper!)

The Purpose? To Glorify Jesus!

We are never promised that weakness is something light, or that it will leave us at a whim. Weakness is real, painful and experienced and wrestled with by every person. So the most precious and important ‘need’ we have during weakness is to recognise the ultimate work of God through us. We are promised weakness, we are told to expect persecution, suffering, trials and sickness. But most of all we are promised that ‘All things work together for good’, we are promised that ‘I will never leave you or forsake’, we are promised that God is in control and he has triumphed! Look at the “Hall of Fame” (Hebrews 11) to see God triumphing through weakness. The reality of the Bible and testimonies of faith we hear and see is that weakness is used by God to bring about his eternal plan of salvation on earth. How wonderful and how awesome that we have a God who uses our weakness to bring about His goodness. See him at work in the weakness of Daniel and the three in the fiery furnace, in the weakness of Job, the weakness of the apostles, the weakness of Paul. Every passage of scripture and history is full of human weakness, and yet brimming with the sovereign work of God.

God’s power here, is the power of his grace. Satan gives Paul a thorn in the flesh, God gives grace, and so the evil working of the messenger of Satan is turned into the fruit of God-reliance in the life of Paul. The enemy strikes, and the power of God turns it around. God has used persecution in China for revival, he uses physical, chronic pain to draw people closer to Himself, He uses domestic messes to bring about purposes that no human could ever imagine, He uses breakups and breakdowns in relationships to bring people to see His love, He uses job loss, church splits, and broken homes and cities, God is a God of the impossible - He is able! His grace works as a reversal of the Satan-inflicted situation, and turns it into God-glorifying goodness. The emptiness of our weakness is filled by His grace and sufficiency and we bear fruit.

Let this encourage you, for when our weaknesses feel overwhelming, when our situations get too much - his grace is sufficient, when all around us seems dark, he has a purpose, he has a plan. Paul’s experience of God is so, that he says, ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’ His thirst and desire is for the power of Christ to fulfil his weakness, and this makes him actively boast and say, ‘Here is my weakness, look how Christ is totally sufficient.’ Suddenly, the weakness is not about him or me, but rather about God and his power in our lives. See, God doesn’t need us to be perfect and he doesn’t offer us present perfection, he sees our imperfections and fills them with his sufficiency, 'for when I am weak, then I am strong’. 

There is so much value in recognising what the bigger picture holds, and seeing that the ultimate purpose of God in our weakness is to let us taste and see and experience the same power which created Heaven and Earth, the same power which brought Jesus to us and conquered death, the same power that caused the church to explode, and the Gospel to spread. In reality, we are not called to try and rid ourselves of weakness, but rather, see and understand that our weaknesses are all part of a greater purpose, they are all part of letting us grasp the grace and sufficiency of Jesus, that he might be glorified in and through us! Pray that our weaknesses might help us see and revel in the wonder of His love and goodness towards us, for this is what we are called to experience. We are able to proclaim that because of Jesus, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong!

Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness

Jesus was a revolutionary teacher, not just for his day, but for all time. 2,000 years ago in Israel, Jesus preached the famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matt 5), this sermon, along with many other teachings, enraged the religious leaders of his day. Even today this message is still relevant , the words in this sermon are in direct contrast to the various ways of life our world promotes. Further to that, this message is totally opposite to the selfish, prideful, sinful heart of man that has been present since the Fall. I could spend much time writing and talking about how the various beatitudes individually stand in stark contrast to the way of the world, however, I will share the one that is particularly on my heart.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    For they shall be filled.”

My previous post laid out the idea that we are hungry and thirsty people, and here in Matthew 5:6 we see the very thing we ought to be hungering and thirsting for. I thought it would be helpful to understand what it means to ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’, and also, why this is so relevant and important for us today.

What is righteousness?

When I really thought about it, I wasn't sure what ‘righteousness’ exactly was. I knew in essence what it was, but it wasn’t something I could precisely sum up in a few words. So I spoke to some wonderful people about what they thought righteousness was. “Righteousness is right standing with God, Always.” “It’s something given by Him.” “It’s being in the right relationship with God.”  These are certainly helpful pointers in the right direction. The Bible makes it clear righteousness is something we can never obtain on our own, why? Because it was something Christ gave us when he died as a sacrifice for our sins, 2 Corinthians 5:21 - “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And also, righteousness is also something to do with having a living relationship with God, Romans 1:17 - “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ ” See, on the cross, Jesus took on every wrong thing we have done and will do, and by taking on our human nature he gave us the opportunity to be clothed in his perfect righteousness, so that when we come before God on this earth and on Judgement Day, he sees us as he would see Jesus - ready and able to partake in a living, breathing, tangible relationship. Jesus has paid the debt, He is our ‘righteousness’.

How do I pursue something I have been given?

There are two ways to look at righteousness, one is the part of righteousness that justifies us before the throne of God, this can’t be pursued, because it is a gift. However, while I live on earth, among sin and temptation, I find myself not living as I should - the fact I am eternally justified through Christ’s righteousness doesn't mean that I live a perfect life. So still, we have to strive to be made more like Jesus, we have to chase after righteousness. In reality, this is really just chasing after the ways of Jesus, i.e. living like him. Our lives are not our own, but rather opportunities to reflect and show the glory and ways of God as realities to those around us, so we will find no greater joy or satisfaction than in walking with God and pursuing His righteousness.

In this festive season, when the fact that the living God came to restore our broken relationship with Himself is covered over with tinsel, presents and christmas turkeys, I’m taking a moment to remember where true satisfaction is from. For me, hungering and thirsting after righteousness strikes a chord, and so with all the gifts around me, I will seek God to fill me up with true joy and satisfaction rather than counting on the ‘Christmas Spirit’ to bring me a sense of fulfilment. 

This holiday, lets do as Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” If we want to see the reality of God in our lives, changing us and motivating us towards Godliness, let us seek his heart and his righteousness, let him work through us and fill us daily with his grace and mercy, bringing us closer to his heart. Seeking God will bring far more satisfaction to our hunger and thirst than any gift this Christmas, I know this, yet so often I don’t act like I do. Today, let us fall at the foot of the cross, looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who is the only one who can bring us fullness of joy both in this Christmas and forever in our walk with God. Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Matthew 5

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

    For they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

    For they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    For they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

    For they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

    For they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

    For they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Why am I complacent towards God?

I've been thinking about adding to these poems and scribblings for a while, and I have been writing a really nerdy theology essay on the early Church realising its identity, however my dad suggested that I write the things that were on my heart rather than on my mind, so below are some thoughts on something that been a real challenge for me - Why am I complacent towards my great God? Why are we complacent towards my great God? I'd like to know your thoughts too.

Getting our priorities right.

A large part of this comes down to our personal relationship with God. In a way, I’m not talking about prayer or even reading the Bible (calm down brethren - there is good reason!), Im talking about our motivation to first see God glorified and made big in both our current and future lives. After all, isn’t this why we are here - to make much of God? If God meant all that he should mean to us then our life plans will revolve around him, rather than careers, potential spouses, university, etc… Our goals, attitudes and actions will be guided by the knowledge that He is Lord and all we have is rightfully His. Of course these things are important to think about, some of them are even necessary for life, however, if God isn’t the reason for them, they lack any satisfactory significance or importance - “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” If this happens, then everything will follow, whether that be personal devotion, prayer, or plans for life, you will find that they come far more easily than ever before. I was talking about this topic with a friend, and what he said to me particularly struck a chord, “From my perspective unless one has a relationship (by that I mean one whereby God is an ever present presence due to your fervency, so much so that the Holy Spirit becomes tangible in your daily living) with God, how can we be expected to prioritise Him and give credence to the things of God? But it follows naturally, that someone can only get to that place after prioritising Him.”

We are thirsty people.

How many times have our hands tapped, our eyes flicked and our knuckles cracked as we wait for the prayer time to end? When was the last time we really enjoyed praying? When was the last time we felt God speaking to us? When was the last time we felt God’s tangible presence in our prayer times? (That escalated quickly) The great thing about us humans is that we are thirsty people. We have a natural urge within ourselves to be fulfilled, to be satisfied. This thirst should make me want to chase after the living water of Jesus, but instead I try to find different things that may take the edge off my thirst, things such as social media, competitive sport, even something mundane like going to the gym. We see it all around us; advertisements promoting various products that will fill our time and bring us happiness, gadgets that will tire us out, then pills that will heal us and give us the rest needed to start the process all over again. When we compare the attitudes of our secular driven society, to that of the Word of God, we see a huge difference. Jesus says in Matthew 11, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” In our world, which loads our bodies and minds with media, solutions and temporary satisfaction, lets make the conscious choice to lay that at the foot of the cross, and give ourselves over to the freedom and satisfaction of Jesus, that will forever quench our thirst. 

We are hungry people.

I am a pendulum, I literally swing between praying intensely and praying lightly. One day I'm striving for revival, and then the next day, I'm waiting for the prayer meeting to end so I can check my whatsapp. But how, in any way, shape or form, is this consistent with the life of a spirit-filled believer? The answer is simply that its not. My lack lustre sense of devotion, my inability to close my eyes and pray alone, my ineptitude at seeking first the kingdom of God rather than checking my news feed is all part of this inconsistency. Devotion demands consistency. Now I’m sure you can just read the biography of a Christian to know that walking with Jesus isn’t an easy feat, that it is full of of distractions, but I’m also sure, that all these people would say with confidence that the joy of walking with Jesus, far outweighs the pain of not seeking him. See, week after week, we can feel justified by attending church and even a mid-week meeting, yet our hearts and minds are still on our computer screens or Facebook profiles. We might even consider personal devotions once in a while - yet still we find a distinct lack of satisfaction hangs over us. There is no better advice I can give that to get on and change it. Both a friend and my Dad recommended this idea to me: ‘The solution to hunger is to keep an energy bar with you at all times - so keep the word of God flowing through you at all times. Instead of checking your Facebook feed every ten minutes to see what friends are saying, lets check the word regularly to see what our God is saying.’

Is there a solution?

David is the prime example of a man who saw both ends of this process, and who in my mind found ‘balance’ to the pendulum, in the Psalms he provides us with a solution for when feel spiritually dry and unable to seek God.

“O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.”

Here, David lays out his desire to seek God. In a world where sin runs rampant, in a spiritually dry and empty land, he seeks for God to satisfy his thirst and saturate his heart. David’s search for God begins ASAP, early in the morning, as soon as he gets up - “Early will I seek you”. Why? Because he has thirst which he knows only God can quench. His very body longs for God, and he wants to spend every moment filling himself with God. Joshua also proclaims a process of passionate living, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!”

Just reread this verse, notice the elements mentioned: fear of the Lord, service, sincerity, truth and commitment. Look at your heart, at society, look at social media, look at sport, at romance, at anything in which we are able to participate in - even church. How many of these things are full of this list? Its up to us to ask God to let his Spirit flow through us and make the changes needed in the world. Just look at the lives of Joshua and David, they are prime examples of walking with God. They were men after God’s own heart - and I don’t see why we can’t be sons and daughter after the Father’s heart either? I want to be a man after God’s own heart, but in all honesty, I’m a disgraceful failure; however, God in his great love for us died to give us life and relationship, to give us an opportunity to ‘start again’, to give us the opportunity to chase him. Today is a great time to start.