Today is 31st December 2011
Today is cleaning off the old chalk,
Today is the wrap up of all that was old,
Today is the final sweeping out of the barn of last harvest,
Today is the tightening of the knots of the net for the new harvest,
Today is the lengthening of the ropes,
Today is digging new holes for stretched out curtains
Today is hammering in deeper pegs,
Today is wiping off the disappointment,
Today is the ticking out of the seconds of the old season,
Today is the ground cracking just before the sprout shows,
Today is the bud about to bloom,
Today is the painter’s brush microns above the canvas,
Today is tomorrow’s sunlight just before the dawn.

Today, my friend, is the curtain down, ready to swing open on that
Promised New Season,
a new, clean, slate,
a new beginning,
a year in which different makes the difference!

Today is the conscious release of all that holds you back,
Today we decide what cargo gets thrown overboard
Today we get ready to give the wheel to The Captain, certain He knows the seas
Today we turn our hearts toward Him
Today we hand over the keys of the box holding your worn down, faded, abused past,
Today we look expectantly for His hand, ready to embrace whatever it is that the new day brings
Today we decide, once & for all,  that we’re prepared to allow the past be past,
Today we decide, once & for all,  that we’ll allow our hands to be strong for the coming day
Today we’ll believe
Today we’ll set our eyes on the Risen Son,
knowing,
believing,
confident,
certain,
adamant in our belief
that our heart is rooted in the Rock that can never be shaken,
that He who has overcome everything that ever held you back, is waiting in the wings to walk out with you onto the stage called
The Beginning
if only you will let Him.

Today is the setting of the sun on 2011
The best is yet to come!

(dennis bartlett, in Perth, WA)

In any situation you can choose to see it in light of natural human cause/effect, ie you given this because someone complained,

OR in light of a Father who cares, ie you given this because He has arranged a blessing.

The key here is “because” – cause/effect.

The end result of these two views is entirely opposite.

In the human cause/effect you are left discouraged because someone did something to cause you to not be there.

In the God cause/effect, you are left encouraged because someone did something to cause you not to be there.

Which do you choose to believe, realising that in this choice, you are determining your future.

Will you choose to be encouraged or discouraged?

It’s your choice.

This weekend God showed me the most amazing thing, something that has the power to impact my life/your life dramatically. If you let it.

It started in a most innocent way. I was riding there, thru a mountain pass, with sweeping corners & majestic views, and none of it was doing anything for me. Life still felt flat. Normally those circumstances would have me grinning from ear to ear, with no space for a nose in between.

I let this happen for awhile, and then it occurred to me that it was a waste of a weekend, once in a lifetime ride, to the flowers if I couldn’t see the colours. It didn’t have to be like that.

So I prayed and asked that He restore it to like it used to be, that mountains would have the power to rejuvenate me. Within minutes I noticed how the sun was reflecting off the mountain’s peaks, & how the shadows contrasted. I’m into colours.

All of this is happening in an area where there are pockets of colourful wildflowers.

As a result of the life I could feel was streaming back into my grey world I began singing a praise song, all the while seeing pockets of orange flowers.

I had been seeing them for the last 30km so I was pretty used to the colour, but as I began to praise God it was as if the colours became brighter, as if the contrast became clearer, as if the air was just like it is after a rain shower.

Being ever the analyst I decided to experiment with this. The experience fades very quickly when you stop praising, so one can start & stop separate experiments & note the differences. Moral here of course is to keep praising, but we live in a real world where many things distract us.

I found that it worked every time. Looking at pretty fields of flowers was impressive, but nothing like seeing the purples offset the yellow & white, & the really tiny red florets leap out at you almost shouting “pick me, pick me”.

Bikes have a way of forcing you to think, there really is nothing else to do for all the miles getting home.

I wonder if this way of lifting the mediocre up to marvellous could apply to all of life. If we could see things that might not be giving us life, & praise that life into not only being with living, but being so clear & beautiful.

I had a resurrected life, I came back recharged & rejuvenated, but most of all I saw God the Creator able to make the same flower, in the same light, at the same time of day go from one in a field of many to a unique, vibrant, awesomeness.

Try it. Look at any colour, & start praising God. Don’t take your eyes off it & you’ll see the difference seeping in, sparkles, deeper, richer colours. Begin to expect it.

Works with traffic lights too. Only don’t stare at them too long, the folk behind get a little too friendly with all their waving.

I wonder if this is what Jesus meant when He said “Life more abundantly”. Same life, same circumstances, same drive thru the same traffic, but with eyes that pick up the beautiful things. Life seen thru His eyes.

He has sent you to that place to smile & give life to the person next to you, who needs to know God thinks about her, & there is hope, despite the circumstances

for the LORD is going with you
for the LORD will fight for you
For the LORD will give you victory

Psalm 89:17 it pleases Him to make us strong

When you feel afraid, whether or not you can see a valid reason that there could be fear in your world, ask God to show you who to encourage, then send that person a message, or a mail, or a call to say “I feel your fear, I’m sorry you’re feeling that way, but know that God loves you so much that He gave me that feeling!, He is with you in person, and I am with you in spirit.”

One family, one vine, one God, one Spirit. Remember that the one who encouraged you last week may be having giants of their own this week, and may need your words of faith to pull them thru. We all share the vine, let’s share the hope.

If I teach you nothing else, this will be  worth it – when you open your heart to the hope that is in Him, your ears are opened to hear the spirit world. On good days it’s the Spirit of God you hear most, but in those other moments you hear the spirits whispering their lies.

At first, because your focus is inward, you only hear the voices accusing you, but  if you really listen carefully and you ask the Spirit to help you, you’ll hear the whispers to your brothers and sisters, and if you know them really well, which you will learn to do as you care more, you will be able to reach out & lift them, & in lifting them, you will be lifted.

We are family. One river of sap running thru our branches, life giving water mixed with feelings of uncertainty, fear, panic – whatever came down the line from the branch next door. Pick up those muddy waters & filter them thru your love, & your hope, & your faith, & feed it back into the vine.

Yes, I wrote this specifically with you in mind. You have so much to give, so much faith to share, so much hope, and yet you don’t realise that He is giving you ears to hear the cries of others in the fears you feel. You are not a lesser person because you fear, you feel because you’ve been given the gift of filtering the vine.

We are all fed from the True Source, Jesus, but we all share the common human experience of blowing it. What the enemy means for shame & for evil, we, in sharing, can turn to good.

How do you think I know when things are hard for you? Yes, there are fears. Yes, there are lusts, there is greed, there is every experience of the human spirit, because that’s what we are, and yes they are the voices that seek to pull down, pull apart, but if we realise we share the same Spirit, we can sit alongside the one who suffers, and be the hands, and voice of “God with them”.

You too have this gift, use it. He who encouraged you last week may need encouragement this week. Any grand statement of faith on a Sunday is going to get hammered on Monday. We are one in spirit, we are one in His body.

“faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is caring enough as if it was your pain, prepared to spend the time to commit to lifting other peoples lives, realising that hurt people often hurt back, but being prepared to love them anyway. We are the branches, joined in Him, committed to one another. Like someone said, we all have stuff.”

The concept of tithing is that one gives to God materially so that God can distribute materially. The onus is on the believer to give. Giving is a sure way to break the hold that greed has over you, and in so doing, make you reliant on his promise of provision.

All this is verbosity. The reality of tithing is that you give, and once it has left your hands, what happens to the cash itself is not your problem. Maintaining this viewpoint is all that will keep you sane in the present day as the cynicism of the world does its utmost to prove you’ve been ripped off.  Indeed, if the God you serve is in control, then surely what he is doing is to give over the persons perpetrating fraud to the lusts of their own desires, giving out as much rope as required for said parties to hang themselves.

I tithe because I honor God’s word. What happens to the cash is of no concern to me because I have fulfilled my portion by giving, and that giving was to God. It is my belief that whatever you are afraid to give is what owns you. A cynical world will point out the uses and abuses of that money and marvel at the stupidities of a misguided congregation handing over vast amounts of money to what it sees as the unscrupulous. The fact is, my tithe goes to my God. In my eyes He is able to look after it in whatever way He chooses, including facing the fiscally tempted with the desires of their heart, and watching their downfall.

The hope remains that the experience will jolt them back to their former allegiance to God, but even should that not occur, the money has been given, I am not held captive by the allure of gold, and the ownership of that money is held by God for him to do with as he pleases. Were I to buy a chocolate at the corner store, the very second the cash leaves my hand, I no longer have any say or even care what happens to those pennies. Why then should it be any different with money given to God? The money is mine, I choose to give it to Him, He does whatever He wishes.

So, no matter what the world thinks or says, my hope remains in my God, and my conscience is clear because I have honored my God by obeying His command to give.

Let them, the cynics, point out how much this or that church is pulling in tax-free.  Perhaps there is truth in their view of the people handling this cash wherever they are. The point is, it’s not my cash, so it’s got nothing to do with me. I can think of no-one better equipped to deal with the problem though.

Go God!!!

Yes, I know there are times when the solution only comes through sometime after the problem, as if God only started thinking about how to get you out once you had fallen in, but there are many times recorded in Scripture where the solution was already in place when the issue occurred. I mean, how long do you think it took from when the sailors woke Jonah up to when they threw him overboard?

Or how much room for error there was for Jonah as he sank until the “weeds covered his head”? A minute? God’s solution had already been prepared.

Interesting thing here: God’s solution had to kick in immediately Jonah hit the water, with 60 seconds in which Jonah was able to have ‘a near-drowning experience’ and be rescued. The solution provided resulted in his life being saved, but what a solution!

As an issue-resolver, it worked 100%. As a desirable alternative? I dont know that I’d have chosen that one! 

I pray for solutions and then grumble when the next ‘ERRRK!’ thing occurs, as if I think God had not heard my first prayer. Yet in Jeremiah 33:3 we hear that when we call He will answer, and (in Jonah 2:2) Jonah cried out and God answered. So we call, God answers, and we find ourselves in the belly of a fish. Oughtn’t we  give thanks for the solution, for the hard times, instead of grumbling about how tough it is?

Imagine what Jonah had been through in life that he knew that a serious meteorological event was happening just because of him? In the story of Goliath we learnt that David had trained with the Lion King’s Simba & Yogi the bear, and in both cases had seen God wipe them out when he expressed faith in God.

Throw me over.

What terrifying words to have to say, and yet he must have had some previous experience of God-at-work to know the possibilities. What a lunatic! Yet he said those words, and God for whom all things are possible, (the God who said ‘Is there anything too difficult for Me?’) had already provided a solution.

How many whales do you find in the Mediterranean? Zero. Yet God had provided a solution. When exactly do you think that “big fish” had taken a wrong turn and ended up at the eastern end of a warm sea?

Has it ever occurred to you that your solution might be already going through its own calamity so that it can be ready within sixty seconds of your hitting the water to rescue you? And that your calamity might already in progress so that your words of faith will be ready at the perfect timing and perfect placing to rescue someone else?

Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Jonah 2:3-5 into the seas, raging winds, crashing waves passed over me, waters surrounded me, the deep sucked me in and weeds were wrapped around my head

Jonah 2:6 yet You have brought my life out of the pit, O LORD, my God.

Jeremiah 39:17 but I will deliver you in that day, says the LORD and you shall not be given into the hand of the men you fear! I will certainly deliver you … {because I have someone /something / some fish having what they think is a calamity right now so that their faith can provide your solution for you when you need it, on that day, at that time, with a sixty second margin for error, sometime in the future}.

God’s solution may not be what you would have chosen but it will surely get you to the promise in the quickest way possible.

No ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who are prepared to trust him no matter what happens and wait for His solution. (2 Corinthians 2:9 quoting Isaiah 64:4)

Is this about muscular strength?
Is this about mind over matter?
Is this about being strong in faith?
Is this about failing because we are not strong in faith?

No!

Hands  perform physical ACTIONS

Do not LET = a matter of MIND not allowing

Be strong and do not let your mind allow your hands to be weak.

          OR
     

Do not let your mind to be weak lest it allow the hands to be weak.

          OR
     
Do not let your mind convince your hands that YOU are weak and therefore no part of you is able to be strong.

So how do we get here?

Ephesians 4:
22 You took off your former way of life, the old self [snip]

23 you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; (HSCB)

Be renewed in the SPIRIT of your mind.

Only an action outside of the mind can effect a change in the mind in order to change the manner (or spirit) in which the mind performs. It is in the action of the Holy Spirit that this change can occur.

When the Holy Spirit works on our minds, there is a given result: our attitude changes, and we find we are no longer trapped by a mind caught in the habitual responses of the past.

Scripture refers to these changes of attitude as the fruits of His labour.

= fruits of the Spirit

We have the power to change the actions of the mind in order to affect the actions of the hands!

= we now have the choice to be
           loving,
           joyful,
           peaceful,
           patient,
           kind,
           good,
           full of faith, 
           gentle,
           self-controlled

We will only change the world by what we DO
We will only change ourselves by how we THINK

If you stand ON a ROCK
Stand like a ROCK!

To stand like a ROCK
Choose to act like He is the ROCK!

Act = Action = physical
= action of the hands.

You are not the ROCK!
You stand on the ROCK!
You stand on the strength of the ROCK!

Always remember, though, that although there is strength to be found
in the ROCK, it remains a
choice for the weak to SAY “I am strong!”.

Be strong BY not letting your hands be weak

2Chronicles 15:7 says “be strong & do not let your hands be weak & your work will be rewarded. “

Ephesians 4:22 You took off your former way of life, the old self [snip], 23 you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; (hcsb)

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,  5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.   (HCSB – sent from CadreBible)

WHAT
–to protect you from stumbling
–to make you stand

WHERE
–in the presence of His glory,

HOW
–blameless
–with great joy,

WHO
–TO–
»the only God«
{who is} our Savior

–THRU–
» the only Christ«
{who is} JESUS,
{who is} our Lord,

WHAT
–be glory,
–be majesty,
–be power,
–be authority

WHEN
–before all time,
–now and
–forever.

•Amen.
(HCSB – sent from CadreBible)u