Remembering the blessings of God

God is a very good God. He has blessed our family tremendously the last year or so, especially with the birth of our little girl Esther in July 2011. At the beginning of a new year, I feel it is important to remember the blessings of the year gone, and to not to let them fade into oblivion. Remember the little joys as well as the obvious ones. My small blessing is one of joy. This morning while watching Joyce Meyer on tv, I noticed Esther smiling every time Joyce came on the screen (See photo). Our little girl is already being filled by the word of God. It just goes to show that its the small blessings that make all the difference!

Lip service and selfishness

How often do we say that we 'fear God', but in actual fact we are still serving our own selfish needs? I was reminded this morning when I read about the children of Israel who lived in the region of Samaria. There was a particular time in Israel's history where God was so fed up with His people that He decided to remove them from their land, allowing them to be captured and deported by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17). The Assyrian king then decided to repopulate the deposed land with people from another region. These new people experienced God's judgment in the form of lions killing their people. They put it down to the fact that they did not know the rituals of 'the God of the land' (as they called it). So the king of Assyria sent an Israelite priest to teach them the ways of this 'God of the land'. The people then feared 'this God', but still served their own pagan gods by carrying out their own traditions and rituals. They employed priests to sacrifice to God for them, but would not serve him themselves, nor get rid of their pagan practices.

They knew about God and feared Him, but still chose to serve their own gods.

This made me think: how many times do we do the same thing? We know who God is and what He does, yet we still choose to serve ourselves. We are in fact our own gods. We have reverential fear of God (meaning we realise the fullness of His power, and know that what He says, He also has the power to do), yet we still go our own way.

There is a great danger in this, and unfortunately most of us don't even realise we are doing it. Stop serving yourself and your own wants and needs and start serving God!

Corallie

 

Breaking the cycle of negativity in your life

Lately I have been asking God for something that has been on my heart for a long time. I have struggled for a long time to be happy for other people who have this particular blessing that I have been asking God for. But recently, God challenged me to begin to believe good things for myself as well.


I am a recovering negativity addict. I will admit it. I struggle often with negative thought patterns. They have been trained into me from birth as a product of my circumstances.


You know, those of us who have had hard backgrounds are not used to expecting good things to happen to us. So when there is something that we really truly desire with all our hearts, something that we are asking God to do for us, why is it that we automatically expect the worst? Why should I have an inferior mentality? God is still paying me back for the years the locust has eaten, so why should He stop now? Joel 2:24-26 says,


²⁴ The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
      And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
       ²⁵ “ So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
      The crawling locust,
      The consuming locust,
      And the chewing locust,
      My great army which I sent among you.
       ²⁶ You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
      And praise the name of the LORD your God,
      Who has dealt wondrously with you;
      And My people shall never be put to shame. 


God is still fulfilling this promise to me, so why would this stop now? I'm believing for good things for me. 


But to break the cycle of negativity is extremely difficult. Its like overcoming an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Negativity is a learned pattern of behaviour, just like drug or alcohol addictions, and they need to be overcome in the same way. That is persistence.


Do we believe that we don't deserve the best? I am reminded of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, grandson of King Saul. David had made a covenant with Jonathan many years prior. When his father Jonathan was killed, Mephibosheth's nurse took him and ran for their lives. In the haste, she dropped him and he became a cripple. This was when he was five years old. For the rest of his life, he lived on the edges of society (even though he was by birth a royal son).


When David finally consolidated his kingdom, he looked for someone who might be remaining in Saul's household to whom he could show kindness and honour his covenant with Jonathan. The story goes as follows:

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

9     Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

^2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

He said, “At your service!”

^3 Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?”

And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”

^4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?”

And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”

^5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.

^6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?”

And he answered, “Here is your servant!”

^7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”

^8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”

^9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. ^10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

^11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.”

“As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.” ^12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. ^13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

The New King James Version. 1982 (2 Sa 9:1-13).

Now I could imagine someone like this having an inferiority complex. Some of us do also. I was challenged both yesterday and even more so this morning that just because I had a bad life growing up, this doesn't mean I should always expect bad things to happen to me. I should be expecting good things to happen to me.


Mephibosheth's story is similar to all of our stories. We grow up with bad things, so we expect bad things. We (including me, definitely) often struggle to believe that God has good things for us because we may feel that we don't deserve anything good.


You know what I said this morning to God? Why not? Why not me? 


When those thoughts of "This good thing I'm wanting to happen in my life is not going to happen", my answer is why not?


Why can't good things happen to me to? Why not now? Why think that I am automatically just going to be one of those people who has everything go wrong for them. Why can't I expect something to go right?


Its okay to believe that God has good for you. Its not a sin to believe the best. I have found that I have made myself miserable by believing the worst. So why not get happy and just believe that maybe, just maybe, that good thing I have been waiting for could be right on my very doorstep.


Why not?

Totally didn't plan to climb a mountain: Lessons God taught me through my husband

Recently, while out with my husband on a Saturday, he saw a mountain and decided we should climb it. But I learned a few things from it.

Needless to say, I didn't have the proper shoes that day, simply some comfortable little white slip on shoes...not appropriate for mountain climbing. What really got me was the huge, steep, and looooong rock scramble I had to manouver, all while being unfit and in the wrong shoes.

I was almost tempted to take my shoes off, but then saw the sharp rocks and thought the better of it.

My husband kept gently encouraging me all the way up the mountain. Everytime I wanted to go back, he would gently tell me it was okay, and that I could do it. I could make it up the mountain, and he even pushed me from behind a few times. And it reminded me of how God often gently encourages us to keep going, and won't let us give up. And when we can't make it by ourselves (which is pretty much 100% of the time), he gives us a gentle push from behind to help us get moving.

Remember the awesomeness of creation, in both the big and the small. I was reminded of the beauty of God's creation, not only the large expanse of it, but the small and seemingly insignificant things like these ants here. God is the God of the big, but also of the small. Without God, not even these ants would be able to survive. If you think you are too small to serve God, its okay. Even these ants are serving God by just being who they are.

Always remember to have a laugh at life. I am always being reminded that I need to take things less seriously, and just have some fun.

Always remember to take time out just to be with God. You will not be able to function as a victorious Christian if you don't. How can you remain peaceful and joyful when everything and everyone else around you is falling apart? Have your grounding in God. 

Keep your peace. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to be at peace when your world is in turmoil...I have still yet to learn this well, but I'm getting better. (It helps when you have a good husband who knows how to be peaceful) Realise that no matter what happens, God has everything in control. Remember the ants? They couldn't even live without God's help.


Just by climbing a mountain, God taught me heaps of things. Look for God in the ordinary everyday life events. You don't have to go to a conference or read a famous book to hear from God. God can teach you anywhere, any time.