Healing Testimony (26/01/12)

So... it's been a while since I've updated this, however this one is a great one from a few weeks ago. So quite often I'm involved with the prayer ministry team at my church, and a few weeks ago, a girl approached me and asked me to pray for her knee. Basically, she often feels knee around her knee, and she was having a final MRI scan before deciding whether she would need an operation or not. So me and my pastor's lovely wife prayed for this knee and she went away. It was only a few days ago that I bumped into her again. I asked her about her knee and she told that since that day, her pain went away, and she had her MRI scan and no longer needed an operation! God is so incredible!

Seven Questions: Becky Rosser

1) Tell us your name and how did you become a Christian.

Hi, my name is Becky! I was brought up in a Christian family; going to church, Sunday School, hearing my dad speak in church etc. I felt that I wanted to become a part of this for myself when I was seven and I was baptised in water when I was eight.

2) How does your love for God shine through in your life?

It wasn’t until university that I joined a Christian community of people my own age and really learnt about the cost of being a follower of Jesus. There is nothing we could ever do to earn God’s approval or make Him love us more, but He does want us to share what we have i.e. His love and the news of salvation. I guess the way that I’ve learnt to let my love for God shine through my life is just to see myself how He sees me, and try to see other how He sees them – which is incredibly precious, beautiful creatures. This then changes the way I treat people. Mostly, I just try to be there for people in whatever way I can, as this is what God does.

3) What are the challenges you have or are currently facing?

Learning to say no! God doesn’t want us to burn out for Him. He has given us people to look after but this isn’t everyone! In the past I’ve been so used to wanting to take care of everyone who needs help, I’ve neglected to take care of myself. God has shown me the importance of working AND resting in Him to get refreshed and refilled.

4) How do you find it easiest to spend time to God?

Through sung worship and reading the Bible. I love singing and reading – what better way to do this than to do it for God?

5) What has been the best piece of advice that has helped you develop your relationship with God?

That there is nothing I can do to earn His approval. When I came to Him, it was with nothing and I had done nothing, yet He freely gave. This shouldn’t change now that I’m in relationship with Him! He doesn’t want me to strive to earn His approval – I already have it!

6) Who do you look up to, in terms of your faith?

Mainly my dad – He is such a strong character, so full of faith and trust in God. He is also incredibly wise and such a great teacher.

7) What is your prayer for 2012?

That God would take me to new places in terms of my faith; that He would blow my mind with things that He does this year; that He’ll show me what He wants me to do with my life!

Becky Rosser is a co-founder of the project, "Abide", which is based in Coventry. To find out more, visit their blog at loveandabide.wordpress.com. She is also currently taking a discipleship course called FORM at St John's, Westwood Church which is in Coventry too. To find out more about the course please click here.     

The story of Judah

I love the story of Joseph. The kid who was sold into slavery then innocently thrown into prison, but ultimately came the second most powerful man in Egypt and the one who saved the country from the effect of the famine. And how he forgave his brothers and provided for them too. But the story of Judah, his oldest brother, is a bit different.

Judah is well-known for being the one who wanted to kill Joseph (it was only because of Reuben that he survived). But his darkness didn't end there. In Jewish custom at the time, a widow married the brother of her dead husband. However, Judah lost two sons, and was afraid to let his daughter-in-law, Tamar, marry his third son. But Tamar wanted to carry on the family line, so she disguised herself as a prostitute and intercepted Judah while he was travelling, and he slept with her. When he found out Tamar was pregnant he was furious and ordered her to be put to death. Until, of course, the truth came out that it was his fault. So now you see a bit of what Judah was like and the mess this family had become.

Now, from this Tamar gave birth to twins. One of them was Perez, and he was in the ancestry of Jesus. In other words, God, the High King of all Kings has rooted himself in human history in this messy dysfunctional family situation! What's more, one of Jesus's titles is the "Lion of Judah". So not only does God associate with this guy, he's in His list of titles. Forever! Isn't that pretty crazy that such a good and perfect God would do that!

However, there's more. When Joseph's brothers travel to Egypt (for food), before revealing himself to them, he tricks them to test them. He puts his cup in Benjamin's sack, pretending that Benjamin had stolen it and therefore would have to stay to be his slave. At this, Judah offered himself to stay in Benjamin's place. Now his heart had changed. First, he sold his brother into slavery. Now, he was willing to lay down his life for his brother.

So here, in Judah, we have a picture of Jesus - God's redemption. Despite the messiness of Judah's past, Judah's heart is changed and his relationship with his brother Joseph is restored. God's grace on and through Joseph has reached out to Judah. Not only that, he offered himself to save His brother. Sound familiar?

Prayer and Faith

Every single day, I know somebody is out there praying. It doesn't matter what the time is, or the language. It could be about world politics, a family member with cancer, a couple wanting a baby or even just a guy praying for right questions in his exams, even if he doesn't believe in God. But how much faith do we actually have that these prayers will be answered?

I know sometimes I don't. It's always frustrating when you know somebody, probably that girl who goes to church, who always has amazing stories about how God answers her prayers. She isn't there to brag or boast, but it feels like it. So we start to feel jealousy, maybe even resentment. Why does God favour her, but not me?

Well my reply to you is this: When was the last time that you honestly trusted that God would hear and answer you? Somebody once told me, "Expectancy is the catalyst for prayers." When we pray and act as though what we're praying will/has happened, we are stepping out in faith that God will answer.

It doesn't have to be a big thing. What you pray doesn't have to change. But your attitude to what your pray does matter. Only you can make that active choice to believe in the words that you pray.

I know it can be a struggle sometimes. I know having faith in the impossible to happen is difficult. And I know how exposed a person can feel. And I know how much it hurts when things don't happen the way you prayed for them to happen. But in the end, I know it was worth it.

Late night posting...

So this one is just a short one to check if blogger app on android works... If it does work fine, expect more regular blogs! (I normally have my best thoughts at night...)

Healing Testimonies (30/10/11)

So this has been a very exciting month for all of us. This actually happened a few weeks but I just haven't had time to write this up! I was at my local church, and doing the usual stuff, and I just suddenly get the feeling that we should pray for people with sore right shoulders and bad ankles. I decided to tell my friend, who told my awesome pastor Neil at the end, and he asked people to come forward. Three people came forward!


The first woman had crutches and bad ankles, but also had a sore right shoulder! So we prayed with her and her pain mostly went away, which was amazing! Another woman had a sore ankles and I think she got partially healed too! A third woman had a tight shoulder, and after praying, her shoulder immediately loosened up! How incredible!


So I guess this is the start of something new that we're all excited about! I'm just so honoured to see some of the healings! If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below!

It's been a while...

Hey guys,

It's been a long while since anyone has posted, but that's mainly because we've all been busy with our different things... But we will be posting many things soon! Just a few things that have been going on in the background include Ed getting married (WOO!) & me and PJ's collective album being released on itunes: (Click here to see more)

So much more to come soon!

PS. If you've been following, and you want to get involved, contact one of us please or leave a comment!

Glory and Joy

"I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh will also dwell securely...You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever."
(Psalm 16:8-9, 11)
"When the Lord is before him (David) and at his right hand, his "glory rejoices." The word translated as "rejoice" also means "tremble." This makes me think of a tuning fork that vibrates when its note is sounded. When God is before us, when we are close to Him, we resonate with the same sound that is God. We rejoice in His presence, for in His "presence is fullness of joy." Our glory rejoices - the substance that we share with God is expressed in the intimacy and exchange of being with Him as Father and children, and that expression is joy."
Paul Manwaring, What on Earth is Glory? (P.62)


I started reading What on Earth is Glory? a couple of days ago and then this morning I came to this passage and I was just so overwhelmed and amazed by it that I just wanted to share it. The idea that in the presence of our Daddygod we just can't help but rejoice and tremble in His presence is just incredible. 


When you think about all the brokenness, hurt and betrayal in this world that we are exposed to on a daily basis and then you contrast that with this Father that when you're with Him just envelops you in Love and Joy it just takes my breath away. 


David writes that he has "set the Lord continually before me," from that he is able to say with complete confidence that "he will not be shaken," when we have God set right before us we have no reason to ever doubt, worry, or fear again, whatever the world can throw us our God is Bigger, Stronger and He will never, ever, ever leave us. His overwhelming, all-consuming love for us means that He will always be there. When we have this mindset we are then free from the constraints of this world, we are free to rejoice in our Father, to rest in His presence and be daily overwhelmed by His joy. 


I love the image that Paul Manwaring gives of us, as tuning forks, so that when we can feel the presence of God we can't help but be filled with His joy. This makes me ask the question, how can I be more tuned into His presence? How can I fine-tune myself so that I can have more of this joy and feel more of His presence? 

Garden - Misty Edwards

This is a link to a video with this song. The video contains footage from the film, The Secret Garden; it is powerfully relevant to the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUW5dkoCjnU

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Lyrics:

It's You and me alone God You and me alone
Here it's You and me alone God You and me alone

You've hedged me in with skin all around me
I'm a garden enclosed a locked garden
Life takes place behind the face

So come into Your garden
Come into Your garden

Here O Lord! Have I prepared a place for You!

I'm no longer my own I'm Your garden

I don't want to wasted my time living on the outside
I'm going to live from the inside out
I don't want to waste my life living on the outside
I'm going to live from the inside out

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They say there are 1000 words in a picture and 1000 pictures in a word. This is definitely true of this song - each phrase with enormous depth and significance - almost as if there are worlds to be explored and gifts to be opened in every line. It is a wonderful picture of intimacy with God, inspired by Song Of Songs; our relationship is described as a garden, even that we are the garden, His garden. The song starts with lines of poetry. The whole song is infused with life, and the video attached to this is perfectly suited to the song, as if it is the song in visual form!

The music is atmospheric and enchanting, with beautiful electric guitar work, vocal meoldies and atmospherics with a clean, liquid feel. What I love is the sense of treasure that we are as God's possession and masterpiece, made in His image. We are gifts unwrapped and we can give ourselves to Him to unwrap us.

Above everything else - Rend Collective Experiment

Here is a link to this song. Scroll down through the others to find it.

http://www.myspace.com/rendcollectiveexperiment/music/albums/organic-family-hymnal-14948595

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Lyrics:

You rule over distant seas over every part of me
You raise the day from night and the song inside of me
You watch all the planets spin and my eyelids flickering

Beyond everything else You are, You are
Above everything else You are

Greater than life itself
More precious than perfect health
Finer than friendship or romance
More needed than oxygen
More pleasing than thrill or fame
Stronger than death or gravity

You speak and the waves obey, but You whisper peace to me
You hold the skies in their place and my past and destiny
You reign over war-torn lands, over famine, fear and kings

King Jesus You are victorious, You are
King Jesus You are victorious

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The whole song is packed with gems. While some of the lyrics sound strange on execution, the themes echoed out resonate deeply with the heart of a worshipper. In this song, the supremacy of God is not just an abstract idea but brought right home to every aspect of our lives and who we are. Complemented by driving yet contemplative music (you have to hear it) this song is bursting with passion and delight in the infinite.

However, what really does it for me is the last section, 4 minutes into the song, when the music drops down and builds powerfully with the lyrics, "King Jesus You are victorious, You are King Jesus You are victorious". Sung by a choir of children. The power and anointing in this final 2 minutes of the song bursts through. There is nothing quite so beautiful and pure as children singing of the power of their creator.

Your victories are my victories

At some point, most of us will feel jealous of someone, spiritually. It is easier, more subtle, and perhaps doesn't seem so bad to be jealous of someone's faith, their gifts, victories or even love for God. Or perhaps you just want to be more like someone.

Now, just to clarify - it is very good to have role models. It is good to learn from each other, to desire to grow more, and to be challenged by others too. But what I'm talking about here is different. And it is dangerous.

This is something I'm dealing with and have struggled with in the past too. I found that jealousy can show up in frustration, but underneath jealousy is a feeling of being short-changed. This often seems to be the root of the problem, and spiritually we feel like God is short changing us. I found that to be the case of a friend of mine. After a lot of spiritual growth in him I felt that I'd been short-changed.

The truth is that God has made us all unique and characterised us differently. We therefore have unique relationships with Him. Also we are all on different journeys and in different seasons of life. Sometimes we are growing we just don't even realise. And sometimes we have an impact without knowing.

But even after all this, it wasn't enough. So God led me to this awesome passage - 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20. Here, Paul is writing to the Thessalonians and he's basically saying how awesome they are! "After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when He returns? It is you! Yes, you are our pride and joy" (NLT).

In this letter, Paul goes on and on about how much their faith as encouraged other churches and how much he thanks God for them. Through this, God showed me that in His family, we share victories. Jealousy falls. Your faith is my joy. Your victories are my victories.

Conflict in church (five-fold bashing)

"I think the worship should be more like this!" "All we do is Bible study!" "We don't do enough Bible study!" "Why aren't we reaching the lost?" "No-one cares for the poor!" "All we're doing is following some human agenda!"

Conflict in church. We see it all the time. Anyone with sense would say the obvious: that getting a whole load of people together with different personalities, tastes and cultures will inevitably lead to disagreements. However, we can say more than this.

Beyond the superficial disagreements ("I've had enough of tea and quiche!"), I believe much disagreement comes from the perspectives that come from the five-fold gifts of leadership. To find out about these, read the pentagon blog. And these disagreements can be more serious and more legitimate.

For example, the apostle might say to the teacher, "all you care about is reading the book! You've missed what God is doing in our city!" The prophet might say to the pastor, "perhaps you should try listening to God more than other people!" And the evangelist may say, "all you care about is the people inside the church! What about those on the outside!"

The truth about balance: many try and resolve the conflict by trying to strike a balance. "We don't want too much of this or too much of that" - when actually we need more of everything. But more importantly, things need to come in the right order and with the right basis and purpose.

As mentioned in the pentagon blog, the church must be lead with an apostolic leadership at the helm, along with the prophetic. This maintains the focus that Jesus prayed: "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven". Heaven on earth. This doesn't mean we want less of the rest of the five-fold. What it means is the nature of the other giftings must be such that they fit around this prayer and all visions that come from this prayer.

This means we will absolutely pursue good teaching, evangelism and pastoring and an apostle will encourage that, but always in the vain of "what is God doing here?" or "how is God's kingdom being established here?" Without being rooted in an apostolic ministry, teaching can turn into nothing more than an intellectual transaction rather than the life-giving spring it was designed to be. Prophecy can become a purposeless obsession with dreams and visions. Pastoring can become trying to please people and evangelism can become simply a way of filling up empty seats. As such all endeavours by any part must come around the pursuit of the Kingdom - heaven on earth. To do an activity for its own sake is very short sighted.

Of course, this is where the conflicts are most likely to arise - where each part is not in its rightful place and when the apostolic is not at the base. Where there are distortions, people don't see the other groups as in conflict or tension - remember what they are against is the distortions of them. Of course, what is also essential is that people have humility to be led. The apostle must lead and the others must accept his or her leadership (not in a dominating way), and not expect their ministries to be the "main thing". (The ministry of the apostle is not the "main thing" by the way - the "main thing" is the Kingdom of God).

As such, many conflicts can be resolved. There will still be some inevitable tensions as each five giftings (and therefore perspectives) seek to model a church which works best. However we do not avoid these conflicts, but seek to resolve them with the aid of love, humility, patience....basically good character (or the fruits of the Spirit, if you like).

Life Shapes: Pentagon part 2

(3) The evangelist. The meaning of evangelist is literally "bringer of good news". We take this to mean "preacher of the gospel", but let us not forget that ultimately the evangelist is a story teller - who is telling the story (true story) of what God has done. This includes testimonies but ultimately all testimony points to (and comes from) what Jesus has done by dying and rising again. When considering the church being built on the apostle's ministry, the need for the evangelist to join him in his vision is obvious. In order to bring the Kingdom to this world, God's story must be told to those who don't yet know it.

(4) The pastor. We usually use "pastor" when describing a generic church leader or "minister". The truth is a pastor is someone with a pastoral anointing. One who cares for the flock and enables them to reach their potential. This may not be someone with organisational skills or someone who can preach (as most "pastors" do). Someone who is not officially in leadership can be a pastor (as with any of the five-fold). They simply need a pastor's heart. This is also an essential part of an apostolic ministry. What does heaven look like? The sick are cared for. People help each other. People grow and help each other grow.

(5) The teacher. The teacher is one who helps us understand the word of God. He or she is a guide (not in the same way as a prophet), based on the truth found in scripture. A teacher is vital in the ministry to unpack the Bible for us to see God as revealed there. They also teach us how to live according to the Bible, show us who we are according the Bible and show us insights from it. It is of course vital that the church has understanding of God and His world. Finally, they stop the church ending up in dangerous theological ground.

Although many may be given just one of these gifts, some can have more than one. It is helpful for an apostle to be sufficient in the other four, in order to have some insight into the vision of the Kingdom of God. It is not clear from the Bible whether or not every person has one of these or whether they are specifically for leaders. I believe that all who know Him have at least one (even if they don't use it yet), as I believe in some sense God calls all His people to be leaders, leading by being salt and light in a dark world.

Life Shapes: Pentagon part 1

The pentagon, being 5 sides, represents the five-fold gifts of leadership in the ministry of the church. That's not to say all gifts, talents and anointings are limited to these, but simply that these are a complete framework of leadership gifts (which others will be based around).

The five-fold gifts come from Ephesians 4:11 "It was he who gave some to be (1) apostles, some to be (2) prophets, some to be (3) evangelists, and some to be (4) pastors and (5) teachers." Ephesians 4 talks about the growth and maturity of the body of Christ (the church) and tells us God gave us these five in order for growth to happen.

So what do these five areas of ministry mean?

(1) The apostle. The original meaning from the Greek word (apostolos) means "sent one", and carries the meaning of one who is "sent on a mission". Looking at the ministry of Jesus, it is no surprise then that the apostle is the one who comes first. Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing (John 5:19) and as such was a man on a mission in this world. Of course, His ultimate mission was to save the world by His death and resurrection, however His life's mission was seen in the second line of the Lord's prayer - "Your Kingdom come". His frequent talk and parables about the Kingdom of God emphasises this. And it seems this is the call of the apostle - he or she is sent out into the world, to bring the Kingdom.

(2) The prophet. This we can see throughout the Old Testament as God gave us the "prophets" - those who God spoke directly to, with a message for the people. In Jesus (who, by the way, perfectly embodies all of the five-fold), we see the prophetic not only as God the Father speaks through Him, but also as He speaks with authority to change situations (the commands to heal or the cursing of the fig tree). Prophecy (since Jesus) has been discussed by Paul in Corinthians as a spiritual gift. Books have been written on the prophetic, but for our purposes, all we will say is that despite the fact that God wants to speak to all of us, some He has called as prophets in order to hear from God concerning the leading of His people.

The New Testament says that the church is built on the ministry of the apostles and prophets - ie, it is the cornerstone. One way I have heard the two described is that the apostles are concerned with stepping out and bringing heaven (God's Kingdom) to earth, and prophets are concerned with "seeing" what's in heaven, and speaking it out on the earth. It is clear why the two are important, and why they should be at the helm. The next three follow.

Breaking the Chains

I was listening a live version of "Break Every Chain" by United Pursuit Band, and I was just moved by the presence of God in this song. But what blew me away at the end was this short prayer right at the end of the song. I decided to transcribe it because I thought it was just an incredible prayer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mohyR5xowFw

"Lord... I just praise you tonight because, Father, it's... it's like a yes or no. Whether that we can see our lives, whether we can see a freedom, Lord. A lightness, a brightness. And Lord, for any here that just don't recognise that there is light, and there is dark. And there is pain and there is suffering, there is depression and there is fear and there is... hopelessness, but there is goodness, there is truth, and there is life and there is joy: abundant and free. God, help us see that's you, that the light is you... that you're interested... you're interested in breaking us free... that you're interested in seeing your light come, right here and right now. That's what you're about Jesus, and help us be about the same thing. Help us be about the same thing. We wanna rise up with you God, we wanna be about the things you're about. We wanna be about life."

There were many things that challenged me in this prayer. The first big thing being whether I myself can see freedom in my life. What is freedom? Freedom in Christ used to always seem like a big paradox to me, as when I was younger, I believed we were never really free with so many rules to follow. I was wrong. Freedom in Christ, means we are free from that guilt and condemnation, that sometimes we may feel when we sin. I'm not saying that its okay to not care whether you sin or not, rather to let it go completely to God so He can restore you to your identity in Christ. When Jesus died, He took all of our sin, and covered us with grace.

The second thing that challenged me was the contrast of light and dark. So often we can wind up thinking about all the bad things in life like pain, suffering, depression, fear and hopelessness. I know I've experienced many of these things within my life, and I ended up in a cycle focusing on negative without any positive. I can tell you now, that isn't a healthy place to be, regardless whether you have faith or not. Fortunately, I had a few good friends help me pull through, and they helped by reminding about the goodness in life. And if you're in that vicious cycle now, send me a message and I'll be open to chat and to pray for you, because I know there is so much good out there.

The last thing got me is that God is interested in us. Just WOW. It blows my mind every time I think about it. God, who created EVERYTHING, is interested in me. And it's the same for you too. Whether you want to believe it or not, God is interested in you and how you feel! That's just incredible, right?

I want to end with Will Reagan's final line. "We wanna be about life." I want to be about that freedom, that joy, and about that goodness, and to spread it everywhere. What do you want to be about?

Being Made Right

You know what’s great? Realising that not only do you have the thing you’ve always hoped for, but that actually, what you have received is so much more amazing than anything you thought of in the first place.

One of the things I had to do as part of the first few weeks of FORM, the discipleship and leadership course I've just started, was to tell the others in the group about the story of my life. This has got me thinking a lot about the journey I’ve been on over the last few years, and some of the changes I’ve seen in myself, especially in the ways I think about God.

This is one of the biggest changes I could think of: I used to think that if I was sorry enough for every single thing I ever did wrong, then God would see my sorry-ness and decide that he would forgive me for them. Obviously, having my sins forgiven was great, but there was still lots to worry about: what if I forgot about some particular sin and forgot to apologise for it? Or even worse, what if I sinned without realising? Then I’d have no chance of being forgiven! Or even if I did remember, I might not be quite sorry enough to please God… As you can imagine, this wasn’t a particularly nice way to be feeling, with a general sense of worry and uneasiness about what I may or may not have done wrong, and a slightly panicked and frantic check of my conscience every time we got to confession in church services.

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago

Romans 3.21

I think this verse gets at what was wrong with my old ideas, and the overwhelming better-ness of God’s plan than I had imagined. God didn’t just want to blot out my sins one by one, as they came along, and he definitely didn’t want me to have to grovel to his to do even that! Jesus paid for all all the darkness in the world to be taken away through his one act of sacrifice, and that includes every time I’m ever going to mess up. Completely covered over, and not to be worried about again.

But much more than that, God wants me to be right with him. It’s like the difference in court between being found guilty but then let off with a pardon, and being declared to be not guilty - in the right – in the first place. But this is not just a verdict that means I don’t have to be punished. It means I can be counted as an adopted son of God himself, and the recipient of everything in his Kingdom that he has to give me. Which is just about the most exciting thing ever…

Life Shapes: Triangle

"Jesus went to pray. When morning came he called his disciples to him...a great number of people came to hear him and to be healed."

Luke 6:12-17

The triangle life shape is all about the importance of living balanced lives. In this short passage from Luke Jesus demonstrates to us the three different types of relationship and the necessity of each one. We refer to them as "Up" (our relationship with God), "In" (our relationships with each other) and "Out" (our relationships with people that don't know Jesus yet).

First of all, Jesus prays to Our Heavenly Father, this relationship is so important to cultivate, by worship, prayer and just chatting to God.

Secondly, Jesus gathers his disciples to him, relationships with other followers of Jesus are equally vital. Gathering together to support and love one another should never be underrated, without the encouragement and prayers of others we would struggle. Ephesians 4:16 (NLT) expresses this far better than I can:

"He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."

Thirdly, the people gathered to Jesus, he taught and healed them, these people did not yet know the love of God. It is our God-given mission to show them that love, if we seclude ourselves from society then how can people meet with Jesus? Relationships with people that don't currently have God in their lives are so important.

Put simply, our relationship with God should feed our relationship with each other, which in turn should help us go out and talk about Jesus to people who don't know him yet.

Without one of these types of relationships the other two would suffer, we need to have all three. For example, if we neglect "Up" then we won't be able to support other followers of Jesus because we'll be missing that supernatural input, our "Out" will also suffer, without fuel our fire for God could die right down and not be visible to others.

Does your life include all of these relationships? Do you give enough time into each of these 3 areas? Just take a moment now to reflect on this and ask God how you can better balance these important aspects of your life.

The "Called" and the "Chosen"

"For many are called, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:14 (KJV)

What does it mean to be called, and what does it mean to be chosen? And if many are called, why are only a few chosen? And if I am called, how do I become chosen? These were just a few of the questions running through my mind when I first encountered this passage, during my high school years. Similarly to many people I knew, I didn't really understand it too well...

Recently, I went to a Jesus Culture conference in London with a few friends, and God's presence was really tangelable. The air was so thick. The guy speaking at the conference was called Banning, and he unpacked it really well.

"Many are called, but few are chosen." What was it about certain people that God not only called them, but also chose them? And surely everyone that is called should be chosen? To understand this, we should read it again, in the context of the passage.

The rest of passage is about a king, who sends out many invitations to friends to a wedding, however all of them reply that they are busy. After receiving the replies, the king then sends out another batch of invitations to others. Most of them say no, but a few say yes. And in effect, that's the king saying I choose you. So can it really be as simple as saying "yes"?

Well actually, yes! As illustrated in the story, many were called, but none were chosen as they had said no. In reality, I believe God has called each and every single one of you, to do a job that nobody else can ever do. The question is, are you willing to saying yes? I'm not talking about "yes, but..." or "yes, if only..." but a yes without a get out clause. Living in your real identity, that God has called you to be.

So do you want to be chosen, or just called? I'll let you decide.

How do you hear God's voice? - part 3

Sixth point, don't be disappointed. You've been trying to listen to God for ages now. All your friends constantly get words from Ezekiel, dreams about Zion, visions of angels in their bedroom, and you get...nothing. The most important thing is not to be jealous. A while ago, a major shift in my life took place as I let go of things that had held me captive. It was like shedding an old skin. At the heart of it was disappointment with feeling outside of God's loop. This became jealousy when others were blessed and came out in frustration, scepticism, and even attempting to change my theology. The point is, sometimes the grass does seem greener on the other side. We need to remember that our own relationship with God is unique. God sees you differently to how he sees everyone else - uniquely. And you respond uniquely too. Different things make you tick. Trust is the key. If we believe God works everything for the good for those who love Him (it's in the Bible), then we don't need to think that our relationship is of a lower status. Also, remember that we are all insiders in His family. Jesus has taken care of that on the cross. His death and resurrection has put us in the loop! No matter what we feel.

Seventh, having said all that, it is important to remember there is always more. Yes, don't be jealous of other people's relationship with God. But don't shut yourself off from growth. Allow others to challenge you to pursue God more fervently. Encourage those feelings within you that desire more of God, as this is perfectly natural. On the one hand, God is a God of peace and fulfilment. On the other, He is a God of adventure and sacrifice. If we do not desire more of God, I suggest we have become distracted or set our sights too low. The point is that we want more of Him and His voice not because we're disappointed that He's not doing enough for us, but that we are so overwhelmed by a glimpse of Him that we are desperate for more. When faced with infinite and pure love, it is natural to be so satisfied. Yet it is also natural to want to go deeper.

I believe all these key things about relationship are intertwined with hearing God's voice. We're not talking here about casually asking God for His input in a decision. Nor are we suggesting having a nervous breakdown over trying to hear His voice. Nor anything in between these two extremes.

How do you hear God's voice? - part 2

My third point: when we look in the Bible, we often see God affirms people's identity before sending them out on a mission. This is most clearly seen in Jesus. Before He started His ministry, He was baptised and the Father affirmed His identity - "This is my Son who I dearly love. In Him I am well pleased". And then Jesus started all the cool stuff! (after going to the desert). The point I am trying to make here, is that too often we try and 'cut to the chase' with God - "okay God, what do you want me to do?" "show me the way and I'll go", "what is Your will, God?". Not that these are bad questions at all. But I think we first need to ask God "who am I?" "who have you created me to be?" "what is my identity?". I believe God is more interested in showing us who we are really (how He sees us), than simply giving us endless tasks. I believe what we do must flow out of who we are. Not that God won't ask us to do something that feels unnatural or doesn't seem to fit with our talents. He might well do that. But I believe God is eager for us to know who we are in Him.

Fourth, I believe that we need to look for God's voice. It is true that we shouldn't try to muster up God's voice - He speaks to us. But often He speaks in such a way that requires us to open our "eyes" wider to find His voice, and to give Him the benefit of the doubt. It can sometimes feel embarrassing to say "God told me this", or "God spoke to me", thinking that we'd prefer to believe exclusively in a natural explanation for everything, unless it's miraculous. But I think we should expect Him to be speaking to us, and desire to hear His voice (not out of duty or jealousy of others), but simply because we want to hear Him speak.

Fifth, don't wait around. Use what's in front of you. If you've been asking God what steps to take, and He doesn't seem to be responding, that could mean simply carry on what you're doing. Sometimes we need to see our lives with fresh perspective - to see what's around us and the possibilities and opportunities. And ask questions. Of course, I'm not advocating a purely strategic approach here. Remember that the Proverb compels us not to "depend on your own understanding". However, there are other parts of the Bible which encourage us to use wisdom (especially throughout Proverbs). Just don't depend on human strategy. Be prepared to take risks. Give yourself. The Christian life requires that you give all and don't hold back. Be prepared to do things that don't seem logical. But at the same time don't be afraid to follow your instincts. There's no formula for this one. Sorry.