Quite the Chistmas present!

"For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you.

He is a mighty saviour.

He will rejoice over you with great gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

Zeph 3



He will exult over you by singing a happy song!

Over me?

What have I done to deserve that?

Absolutely nothing!

Even so

The God of the universe

Exults over me by singing a happy song!


Have a blessed Christmas.

Fearful?

"For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you.

He is a mighty saviour.

He will rejoice over you with great gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

Zeph 3


Fear is a scary thing (you don't say?)

Fear can eat at me

Fear can paralyse me

Fear can engulf me

Fear can cripple me


"With his love, he will calm all your fears"

Not just some of my fears

All of them

"...perfect love expels all fear" 1 John 4v18

Not some fear

All fear

Jesus = Perfect Love

Fearful! I need to go to Jesus!

Me?

"He will rejoice over you with great gladness."

The Lord rejoices over me!

With great gladness!

No matter what my self image is!

No matter what other people think!

I praise You!

Messed up and no place to go

"For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you.

He is a mighty saviour.

He will rejoice over you with great gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

Zeph 3

"He is a mighty Saviour"

I need to get my life cleaned up a bit before I can go to Jesus

He wouldn't want to have anything to do with me at the moment, would He?

When I'm like this?

When I have these feelings about so and so?

When I have these feelings about myself?

No one else has the thoughts I have?

Especially no christian?

They only think good thoughts

They only think good things about people

They don't do what I do

Don't fool yourself

We're all as messed up as each other

That's why Jesus came

He's not just a Saviour

He's a mighty Saviour

Come to think

All the people He had anything to do with when He was down here were messed up

Maybe knowing I'm messed up is why Jesus wants to hangout with me?

No one else would want to if they knew what I was like

Jesus does!

God glorifying

"God

is

most

glorified

in

you

when

you

are

most

satisfied

in

Him"

Without one there can't be the other

"For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you." Zeph 3v17

If Jesus hadn't arrived to live among us

He couldn't have died for me

So now he wouldn't be living in me

This is God the creator of the universe we are talking about

"I myself no longer live but Christ lives in me" Gal 2v20

Let this sink in

Feeling down?

"For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you.

He is a mighty saviour.

He will rejoice over you with great gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

Zeph 3

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!

They are innumerable!

Psalm 139

Wow!!

http://www.juststopandthink.com/movieextras_moviemed.php

Living by revelation?

Living by revelation?

"As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, 'Go south....'

So he did...."

"The Holy Spirit said to Philip,

'Go over and walk beside the carriage'.

Philip ran over......"

"The Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away...."

"Philip found himself farther north...." (Acts 8)

That's the way I want to live

Pretty specific instructions from the Lord

He heard and followed

The result

An important government official from Ethiopia put his trust in Jesus

The Good News reached Ethiopia

I wounder how many others found Jesus through that man?

Now that's living by revelation!

Is that way of living possible for me?

Definitely

Whose doing is it?

I wonder how much of our Christian life is really about our agenda?

We feel it would be good to do this and do that for God

To help Him out, as if He needs our help

Start this because it would be the right thing to do

Or at least that is what we think is the right thing to do

That's what we as Christians should be doing, isn't it?

How often do we wait to see what our Father wants us to do?

How often do we wait?

What is accomplished by all "our" doing?

Instead do we ask "What is God doing?"

Surely His doing makes our doing look worthless

It's way more fun to be involved in His doing

Jesus only did what His Father told Him to do

I wonder what it would be like if I only did what my Father told me to do

Living by revelation

Now that's living

The sound of silence

Why's God not speaking?

If He is why can't I hear Him?

What's wrong with me?

Silence

Wait?

Is the silence actually God speaking?

In silence I can enjoy presence

In silence I can enjoy presence

In silence I am more aware of presence

God you are there

God you are speaking

God you speak in your silence

God you are there

(Thanks Debbie)

Disillusioned with the church?

This is a little long, but stick with it!!

A definition of disillusionment -

A feeling that arises from the discovery that something is not what it was anticipated to be,

commonly held to be stronger than disappointment especially when a belief central to one’s identity is shown to be false;

The act of freeing from an illusion, or the state of being freed therefrom.


Church?

"I know your looking for a place

With the right amount of space

With pews to sit and columns tall to hide behind

If you're looking for a building to ease a troubled mind

You'll never find it

You'd better leave that myth behind

Cause no amount of mortar or brick can save your soul

Only what God's grace allows can make you whole

So come to the church, the church without walls

The house of forgiveness, there's room for us all

The place where compassion lives, where you can find rest

In the church without walls

I know you've heard it all your life

Bring all your misery and strife

Just come inside and all your pain will disappear

Oh but I've got news for you

There's no magic in those pews

No consolation prize for every front row seat you choose

Just raise a hand

Support the one who's hurt inside

Take up your cross

Leave all your pride and fear behind

Just open up your heart and feel the Spirit moving

It's never too far to lift your heavy burden

Jesus came to ease your fall

Of this one thing I'm certain

He paid the price, He died for you

It's not too late, welcome to the church, the church without walls

The house of forgiveness, there's room for us all

The place where compassion lives, where you can find rest

In the church without walls."

Chris Willis

Salesman or Sailsman

A neat thought given to my wife Aurelie

God does not call me to be a salesman

I am called to be a sailsman

Think about that?

The perfect equation

" For the law was given through Moses

God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ"

Unfailing love?

Unfailing love = Jesus

Jesus = Unfailing love

Never fails

Never isn't there for me

Is never gone missing in action

Is there for me 100% of the time

John 1v17

When I'm not deaf

One of the coolest things?

When God is talking to me

And I can hear what He is saying

An innocent man

"I find nothing wrong with this man!" says Governor

"I ......find Him innocent" says Governor

"Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty" says government official

"I have found no reason to sentence Him to death" says Governor

".....this man hasn't done anything wrong" says fellow prisoner

"Surely this man was innocent" says captain in charge of His execution

A travesty of justice?

What is his name?

Jesus

Why?

Because He took my place

Thank you just doesn't cut it

Luke 23

I can only imagine

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

Lyrics Mercy Me

Who get's the credit?

"If we can accomplish tasks without God,

then He will not get the glory.

People will look at what we have done

and give us the credit.

But is we do something that is completely impossible apart from God's supernatural intervention,

people have no choice but to give glory to God."

Brother Yunn

"The look of love is in your eyes..."

Peter denied knowing Jesus three times (Luke 22)

The cock crowed!

Jesus looked at Peter

A look of disgust?

A look of disappointment?

A look of hurt?

A look of condemnation?

No, no no

A look of what?

A look of love!

A look of compassion!

A look of forgiveness!



How does Jesus looks at me?

A look of disgust?

A look of disappointment?

A look of hurt?

A look of condemnation?

No, no no

A look of what?

A look of love!

A look of compassion!

A look of forgiveness!

Yes, yes yes!!

Wakey, wakey

Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1v27)

Christ in me!!

Christ in me!!

God in me!!

Lord help me to wake up every morning excited about this fact

Make that my alarm clock

Christ lives in me?

Father I sometimes struggle with courses You lead me to take

I question You

You're OK with that

Jesus You had questions too

You struggled with the course you had to take

"For I, the Son of Man, must die since it is part of God's plan"

"Father if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want Your will not mine" (Luke 22)

You know

You understand

And me?

What about me in my situation?

"I have been crucified with Christ.

I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

So I live my life in this earthly body

by trusting in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2)


I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me!!!

A question?

Here's a question for you.

I was listening to a podcast today and the guy asked,

"If Jesus lived today would He go to church?"

I'm not sure I know the answer!!

Real Contentment

A friend of mine used to say that when he went to church he always felt as though he got a hug from the Lord.

To be honest I don't always feel that, when I go to church.

Sometimes, but not always.

I was holding my eight week old granddaughter tonight.

She was fast asleep in my arms.

Not a worry

Surely that's how we are in the arms of our heavenly Father.

Content.

Not a worry.

We don't need to go to church to experience that.

We can climb up into His lap anytime we want.

He loves to have us climb up into His lap......all the time.

Lessons from a beagle

My daughter's beagle, Barkley, is living with us at the moment.

We came home on Saturday evening and I decided to let him out, expecting he would come home when it got dark.

Unfortunately Barkley did what beagles do, put his nose to the ground, got the scent of a rabbit and preceded to spend the next 14 hours howling around us and the neighbours in pursuit of one or more rabbits.

It was a very still evening so Barkley's howls echoed around West Lake Ainslie. I went out every hour or so to try and catch him. He would run close to me, but was oblivious to my presence as his basic instincts took over. Once a beagle gets a scent nothing will distract him from that.

Eventually exhaustion kicked in and Barkley dragged himself home on Sunday morning.

I am a bit like Barkley; God is trying to get my attention and He knows what is best for me, but I am so distracted by whatever that I do not even notice His presence. It is only after I have exhausted all other avenues that I crawl exhausted back to Him.

His arms are always open wide to welcome me home.

I'm a prodigal Barkley.

"Just do it"

Haven't been out for a jog for about three weeks.

Been so hot and humid.

The longer it is , the harder it is to get back to it.

Thinking about prayer again. Talking to God.

It's a bit the same.

The longer it is, the harder it is to get back to it.

I wonder why that is?

With jogging, the first step outside the door is the hardest.

With talking to God, the first word is the hardest.

Often don't feel good enough to speak to Him.

Let's get real we never will be good enough.

Only able to do it because of Jesus.

Time to take the first step out the door.

Time to say the first word.

As Nike says, "Just do it"

Impossible

Watched the movie "Doubt" at the weekend.

Don't worry I won't let you in on what happened.

It was interesting though.

Brought up gossip and it's effects.

Like taking a feather pillow up on the roof and sticking a knife into it and ripping it apart.

Going back later and trying to collect all the feathers and put them back in the pillow.

Impossible

Made me think!

Who needs to water ski?

I was looking at Lake Ainslie yesterday.

I wonder what it would be like to walk on the water?

It was a beautiful day. The water was reflection calm.

When Jesus walked on the water, as told in Matthew 14, it was quite different; it was in the middle of a huge storm.

His disciples were having trouble keeping their boat afloat, eventhough there were experienced fisherman among them.

When Jesus comes to them walking on the water, Peter calls out that he too wants to walk on the water over to Jesus.

A fun thing to do. Let's do it.

Jesus says OK come. Peter jumps out and walks toward Jesus.

Two of them walking on the water in the middle of a storm.

Jesus and Peter, the only two men that I know of who have walked on water.

Amazing!

Suddenly Peter notices the storm and is terrified and begins to sink and calls out to Jesus, "Save me".

Instantly Jesus grabs him and pulls him up.

You may not have noticed but Jesus didn't calm the storm until they were back in the boat.

Many times the storms don't stop immediately.

But Jesus is with us.

And maybe we will walk on water

"S--t Happens!" A bumper sticker.

Got your attention!


Is that one of the reasons stuff happens to me?

Hard to know

But God, You want my attention.

You want to talk to me.

You are talking to me.

You want me to talk to You.

You want a vibrant relationship with me

(Possibly for the first time.)

Even if I am angry with You.

Do I talk to You when everything is going well?

I know the answer to that.

When do I talk to You at all?

Can I praise You when "S--t Happens"?

Which it will

Maybe it's hard when it happens.

But You certainly get my attention.

You talk to me.

I talk to You.

You get me through it.

Thank you Lord.

I'm close to You.

You love me.


http://www.juststopandthink.com/movieextras_moviemed.php

It's not Math

"Let the children come to me.

Don't stop them!

For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith

will never get into the Kingdom of God."

Why do we make everything so complicated?

Jesus plus this

Jesus plus that

Jesus plus the other

Anything but just Jesus

Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so!!!

The Relationship

The Church?

A building, with a steeple, with an organ, with stain glass windows, with a pulpit, with pews?

No!!!

All believers in the Lord Jesus.

A living, loving body.

Known as "the Bride of Christ".

A bride that Jesus died for.

A relationship.

The relationship.

Under Attack? Where do I go?

Woke up this morning with something bothering me. Not sure what, but felt under attack.

Whether it was a dream I had or what, I'm not sure.

Thankfully Jesus has won the war and I can talk to You, God, about it. (that's prayer, I guess?)

You are always there.

"Don't worry about anything;

instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need,

and thank Him for all He has done.

If you do this, you will experience God's peace,

which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds

as you live in Christ Jesus"

Phil 4v6-7

Wow, these verses are for me!!!



Lord I don't need to worry about anything;

I can talk to You about everything.

You know what I am feeling and You have dealt with it.

You have given me peace which is way out there.

Thank you God that Your peace guards my heart and mind as I live in Christ Jesus

In Christ Jesus.

No better place to be!!!

Religion or relationship?

My wife loves me and I love her and we love spending time together.

Funny, we don't think of that as being a religion.

It's a loving relationship!!


God loves me and I love Him and we love spending time together.

Funny, we think of that as being a religion.

Dah?? It's a loving relationship!!


God loves me!!!

What Jesus did for me on the cross proves that!!!

http://www.juststopandthink.com/movieextras_moviemed.php

Confessions of a Non-prayer-oholic!!!

How does God talk to us? How do we talk to God?

Prayer!!

That can be a scary thing.

I need to pray!!!

Better do it in the morning, first thing. Oh, shoot, I slept in.

Missed the morning, have a few minutes at break time - got chatting to a friend, lunch should be OK.

Slept in this morning, didn't have time to make lunch this morning (blame that alarm again) so have to go out and buy it. I'll get to prayer after work.

Finished work, it's a beautiful day - had to get out in the sun. It's Cape Breton , you never know we might not see the sun again this year. Still time when I get home.

Have to make supper. and it's the last episode of "The Bachelorette" . (Need to keep in touch with my feminine side.) I'll have time before bed.

I'm dog tired!!!!

I need to pray.

6.00am tomorrow morning sounds good!!!

Sound familiar?

What is prayer? Talking to God who loves us with an unconditional love.

He loves me and I love Him.

My wife loves me and I love her.

I just talk to her.

I just talk to God.

That's prayer???

My Schindler's List.

So God speaks to us, but who else is trying to get our attention?

I was reading from the Bible in Luke 16 about the rich man who died and was in torment. He was so concerned that his brothers wouldn't end up where he was that he pleaded that if someone was sent from the dead, then they would turn from their sins and not end up in his situation.

Many of us think that we will all go to heaven eventhough we have nothing to do with God or His Son Jesus. I guess we hope in "the power of positive thinking" or hope our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds.

I was really challenged that there are so many people who have died and are in the same place as that rich man and are screaming to get my attention to tell others about Jesus, but I can't hear them.

It reminded me of Liam Neeson's character in "Schindler's List", where he was inconsolable when he thought of the many more Jews he could have saved.

I maybe can't hear the voices of all those people in torment, but I am sure this is God speaking.

Checkout this video that I mentioned a while back.

http://www.juststopandthink.com/movieextras_moviemed.php

Coincidence or God?.................God!!!!

Been praying for the Lord to do His thing in Cape Breton.

Last Monday night someone brought my attention to a verse in the Bible in Habakkuk (if I had another son that would be his name!) 1v5

"The Lord replied, 'Look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you will not believe even if someone told you about it.'"

Last night someone else read 2Chronicles 20v12. Praying to God a man called Jehoshaphat (if I had another son after Habakkuk, that would be his name!) he said

"We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to You" the answer in v17, "But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord's victory"

Cool verses!

"I've come across that passage recently". What blew me away was that on April 27th the Lord led me to these two seemingly unconnected passages and I had them written together in my journal.

Coincidence or what? It's a God thing!!

Talk about shivers down the spine!!

We might not always hear God speak verbally, but that doesn't mean He's not speaking.

Speechless in ....................

Lost for words!

That's probably a good space to be in when we are in the presence of Almighty God when He speaks, whatever way that might be.

How often I have been in situations where I feel I have to say something.

When I feel I have to say something, then the something I have to say is probably "nothing".

Lost for words in the presence of God!

Is there a better place to be?

"Ken, Ken"

God talks to us!!!! How?

Come to think of it, I've never heard God talk to me verbally, although I know some folk who have.

That would be neat, scary, weird, comforting, challenging, mind blowing, confusing, loud, quiet, overwhelming, ...................!!!!!!!

Although I've never heard Him speak verbally, I don't want to put Him in a box because He's a box shattering God!

'Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare and visions were quite uncommon...........And the Lord came and called as before, "Samuel, Samuel". And Samuel replied, "Yes Lord, your servant is listening"'.

"Ken, Ken"

I think I'd be lost for words!

A Word from Disney?

Is God Talking, but we're never listening?

I was chatting with friends last night about hearing or not hearing from God and I was reminded of a talk my wife, Aurelie, attended years ago. The speaker suggested we all needed "Mickey Mouse ears", as God is talking be we aren't listening.

We'd look kind of stupid, but maybe the look would be worth it!!!!

Check this out http://www.juststopandthink.com/movieextras_moviemed.php

Hello there!!!!! Anyone home????

Do you hear from God?

Is He always talking to us but we're never listening?

How does He talk to us?

Why would He want to talk to us?

When does He talk to us?

Where does He talk to us?

Do we expect God to talk to us?

Are all these questions, answers to the questions?

God is that You talking????

Lord help me to hear You!!!!!

Revival!!

Revival - an infectious eruption of Grace!!!

Screwed up but loved

Why is it Christian's feel they have to look as though they have it all together even though they haven't?

Let's be real. We all screwed up in the past, we screw up in the present and we will screw up in the future. Once we admit that, it is so freeing.

God tells us we are a work in progress , so why should it surprise us when we mess up? Paul in Romans 7 admits that, so shouldn't we. Maybe that is one reason why people are put off by Christians and by church. No wonder we appear hypocritical. I have screwed up more than most, but thankfully God loves me unconditionally. What Jesus did at the cross proves that!!!!

If we want to hear we have to listen

"Anyone who ever risks listening to God and following His voice knows that to everyone who is deaf to His voice, your actions seem as if you've gone crazy." Erwin McManus

I Could be talking to myself, but that's OK. I guess????

I'm not sure why I've started a blog.
Why would anyone want to read my musings?

Hopefully you won't think I'm big headed.

I'm on a spiritual journey like everyone else. Our journey may be towards God or away from Him, only we know. Our journey is a fluid thing, always moving never static.

Deep down I think everyone wants to talk about where they are at in their journey, but deep down they are scared that no one wants to talk about where they are at in their journey.

We talk about everything under the sun and yet seldom open up about what really matters to us. Hopefully this blog will encourage you to talk about things that matter, things that God is saying to you, even though you are not sure if it is God. God does talk. He talks to us about things that matter to us, even though we often don't know it is Him who is doing the talking.

Matters that lead to freedom!!!