At my work, I get to meet a fair few gay people. They've all settled down and had families (duh, otherwise I wouldn't be looking after their kids). As a result I sometimes get asked why the "typical" Christian position is that homos*xuality is not acceptable to God, and why if God created everyone (another frequent phrase is "born that way") that it is still not okay.
My repsonse is that I was born a b***h, that doesn't make it ok in God's sight. And it doesn't mean that I can't change through the power of His spirit.
I was indeed born a b***h. People actually don't realise how nice I am to them when I could so easily rip them to shreds. But that isn't what God wants from me. And so, by His grace, I strive to do better.
We are all born sinful. Each and every one of us. That is why we need a saviour - and what a mighty one we have in Jesus!
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Friday, 3 June 2011
Do You Have Ears To Hear?
…when Jesus said to Peter, “Come,” He didn’t say, “Peter come.” He said, “Come.” All 12 of the disciples could have come, but only Peter did. The man who has ears to hear is the man who will step out. Eleven men had a story, while only one man had a testimony. Eleven men had a doctrine about the power of God, and one man had an experience with it. We must choose to step out of the boat in this hour. I believe that God is looking for a company of people to step out of the boat. Will you be that person? Will we be that people?
Adam LiVecchi in So You Want to Change the World. Pg 81.
Adam LiVecchi in So You Want to Change the World. Pg 81.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
The Healing Prosperity Gospel
I've spent most of my life being sick, getting sick, or recovering from being sick. I sometimes say that I have had seven near death experiences... and then I made it out of the birth canal. (That's true. And I have had more than a few more since.) I am one of those people who never has any sick leave, who rocks up to work looking like they need a month or two off, and who generally is not well.
I no longer go up the front when people ask for people to be prayed for for healing.
It's not that I don't believe God can heal me. It's that I don't want to hear the comments. I've heard some good ones.
From being told the story of everyone anyone's ever met who had "allergies" who was prayed for and was healed ("so I'll pray for you and then you can eat meat"... except I'm a vegetarian by choice), to being told that "God will heal the hole in your lungs when you have enough faith", to "You should be praying for your pwn healing and not getting us to do it for you", to "I read this book and we should be able to heal everybody because Jesus healed everybody," I really have heard them all.
The thing is, God does not always choose to heal. He wants what is best for us. And sometimes, what is best is not physical health. We have taken what the world has deemed to be good and just Christianised it.
Health is a blessing. No one who's been sick would deny that. But God's ways are not our ways. His ways are higher.
Anything less than that is nothing short of a prosperity gospel, which insists that because God loves us we need to be healthy, wealthy and wise, and that anything less proves we are not Christians / in sin / in the wrong church / etc. It's just not true. God's ways are different. They are higher.
And we follow Him in sickness and trial just as much as in health and prosperity. Because we love the Giver and not the gifts. Because He is our God, and nothing else matters.
I no longer go up the front when people ask for people to be prayed for for healing.
It's not that I don't believe God can heal me. It's that I don't want to hear the comments. I've heard some good ones.
From being told the story of everyone anyone's ever met who had "allergies" who was prayed for and was healed ("so I'll pray for you and then you can eat meat"... except I'm a vegetarian by choice), to being told that "God will heal the hole in your lungs when you have enough faith", to "You should be praying for your pwn healing and not getting us to do it for you", to "I read this book and we should be able to heal everybody because Jesus healed everybody," I really have heard them all.
The thing is, God does not always choose to heal. He wants what is best for us. And sometimes, what is best is not physical health. We have taken what the world has deemed to be good and just Christianised it.
Health is a blessing. No one who's been sick would deny that. But God's ways are not our ways. His ways are higher.
Anything less than that is nothing short of a prosperity gospel, which insists that because God loves us we need to be healthy, wealthy and wise, and that anything less proves we are not Christians / in sin / in the wrong church / etc. It's just not true. God's ways are different. They are higher.
And we follow Him in sickness and trial just as much as in health and prosperity. Because we love the Giver and not the gifts. Because He is our God, and nothing else matters.
Saturday, 28 May 2011
From Persecution Project
I love the Gospel message and the Gospel witness. It runs completely counter to everything our “old nature” tells us to do. The world says, “Live for yourself.” The Gospel says, “Die to yourself.” The world says, “Feed your self-esteem.” The Gosepl says, “Feed your soul by esteeming others.” The world says, “Make time for yourself.” The Gospel says, “Spend your time helping others.” The world says, “Look out for no. 1.” The Gospel identifies “No. 1″ as “not us.”
When people live according to Gospel precepts, the world changes. The world changes, because it doesn’t know what to do with such a crazy way of life.
By Brad Phillips, PPF President. Read the whole thing here.
When people live according to Gospel precepts, the world changes. The world changes, because it doesn’t know what to do with such a crazy way of life.
By Brad Phillips, PPF President. Read the whole thing here.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
God's Ways
Christians need to be praying for those who are as yet unsaved, including those who are our personal enemies and the enemies of Christ. After all, we were all once enemies of Christ. People were no doubt praying for our conversion, and so we need to pray for all those who are not yet part of His kingdom.
And while I mainly pray for those who are close to me, I have prayed for some of the more contensious of the enemies of the kingdom. Usually I pray that they be saved in some kind of dramatic way that completely undermines their previous atheist / Muslim / etc position.
One of the people I prayed for was Osama bin Laden. Obviously, he wasn't saved.
At first when I found out I was put out. It would have been a massive "scoop" for God if, in His povidence, He had saved bin Laden. What a wasted opportunity.
Obviously, God feels differently about wasted opportunity. And recently, reading the newspaper, I found out a small portion of the reason why.
Bin Laden had illict materials on his computer.
That's right. Bin Laden, who accused the West of being decedant etc, etc, had the same sort of materials on his computer.
God's ways are indeed better than our ways. There will no doubt be many in the Islamic world who will question the ways of Islam as a result of this. And many, no doubt, will come to God because of it.
And while I mainly pray for those who are close to me, I have prayed for some of the more contensious of the enemies of the kingdom. Usually I pray that they be saved in some kind of dramatic way that completely undermines their previous atheist / Muslim / etc position.
One of the people I prayed for was Osama bin Laden. Obviously, he wasn't saved.
At first when I found out I was put out. It would have been a massive "scoop" for God if, in His povidence, He had saved bin Laden. What a wasted opportunity.
Obviously, God feels differently about wasted opportunity. And recently, reading the newspaper, I found out a small portion of the reason why.
Bin Laden had illict materials on his computer.
That's right. Bin Laden, who accused the West of being decedant etc, etc, had the same sort of materials on his computer.
God's ways are indeed better than our ways. There will no doubt be many in the Islamic world who will question the ways of Islam as a result of this. And many, no doubt, will come to God because of it.
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Words
It's so easy to say things that are less than God's standard for speech. It's so easy to fall into the pattern of the world with our mouths.
It's one thing to not swear. Some of my non-Christian friends restrain from swearing. (Though I fail in this area.) But proper Christian speech needs to be much, much more than that.
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Ephesians 4:29
We are not to say ANYTHING that is going to effect those around us negatively. Wow. No complaining. No gossip. No passing the day. And if we take this to the fullest extent, we can only speak what will actually build others up. So no small talk, sports talk, wasted time and breath talk.
It's easy to think that it would be better to take a vow of silence so that we don't fail in this area. I mean for me, I do ALL of those bad things. As I stated above, I swear on occasion! Maybe being silent would be better.
But that is not all that we are commanded to do. Look at this verse:
"speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord," (Ephesians 5:19).
We are to keep speaking, to ourselves, to each other, to the non-Christians we meet. We are just supposed to use every word that comes out of our mouths for the glory of Him who is the Living Word.
It's one thing to not swear. Some of my non-Christian friends restrain from swearing. (Though I fail in this area.) But proper Christian speech needs to be much, much more than that.
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Ephesians 4:29
We are not to say ANYTHING that is going to effect those around us negatively. Wow. No complaining. No gossip. No passing the day. And if we take this to the fullest extent, we can only speak what will actually build others up. So no small talk, sports talk, wasted time and breath talk.
It's easy to think that it would be better to take a vow of silence so that we don't fail in this area. I mean for me, I do ALL of those bad things. As I stated above, I swear on occasion! Maybe being silent would be better.
But that is not all that we are commanded to do. Look at this verse:
"speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord," (Ephesians 5:19).
We are to keep speaking, to ourselves, to each other, to the non-Christians we meet. We are just supposed to use every word that comes out of our mouths for the glory of Him who is the Living Word.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Day by Day
Day by day
Day by day
Oh Dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day
From the musical Godspell
Day by day
Oh Dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day
From the musical Godspell
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Trusting For Food
If there's one thing about me that everyone knows, it's that I want 20 children. Once I introduced myself to someone at my church with the statement "I'm the crazy white girl who wants 20 kids," and they told me that they had heard of me.
What interests me is that everyone has the same response when they hear I want 20 kids. Whether the hearer is Christian or secular, they all respond with the question, "How will you afford it?" (or they tell me I need to marry a very rich man.)
I usually point out that I lived for a year on $5 a week for all of my groceries. $5 times by 22 (my and the husband'd have to eat too) only equals $110.
They usually want to know how I managed this. I point out how you can get plenty of free bread, fruit, vegetables, eggs, and honey if you know how to. Really, I spent most of the $5 on things like toilet paper.
The thing is, BOTH of these attitudes are the wrong attitudes to have.
Most people think that children are a burden. That they cost a lot of money, so you'd better not have too many.
And while I wasn't falling into that trap, I was thinking that I can provide for any amount of children. The key word there is the I could provide.
I cannot provide for 20 children. Heck, in my own strength, I cannot provide for 1! But God CAN provide for all the children He gives me, and it is no harder for Him to provide for 20 than for one.
God is sovereign, and He gives all that He needs for all of His people.
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
Psalm 37:25
What interests me is that everyone has the same response when they hear I want 20 kids. Whether the hearer is Christian or secular, they all respond with the question, "How will you afford it?" (or they tell me I need to marry a very rich man.)
I usually point out that I lived for a year on $5 a week for all of my groceries. $5 times by 22 (my and the husband'd have to eat too) only equals $110.
They usually want to know how I managed this. I point out how you can get plenty of free bread, fruit, vegetables, eggs, and honey if you know how to. Really, I spent most of the $5 on things like toilet paper.
The thing is, BOTH of these attitudes are the wrong attitudes to have.
Most people think that children are a burden. That they cost a lot of money, so you'd better not have too many.
And while I wasn't falling into that trap, I was thinking that I can provide for any amount of children. The key word there is the I could provide.
I cannot provide for 20 children. Heck, in my own strength, I cannot provide for 1! But God CAN provide for all the children He gives me, and it is no harder for Him to provide for 20 than for one.
God is sovereign, and He gives all that He needs for all of His people.
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
Psalm 37:25
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Witnessing Failures
I love apologetics. I think it’s so fascinating, and I love to share with my friends why I believe in Jesus and how I try to live out my life as a result.
In fact, I like this so much that my friend Stephen apparently thinks my hidden spiritual gift is evangelism. Which made his girl-friend, my housemate Kallie laugh. It made me laugh to. I so don’t think so.
I have written before how the thing is to be obedient. Don’t worry about what your spiritual gifting is. Sure, you will be better at some things than others. We all are. But the thing is to do what you can in the situation that you are currently in – whether the situation calls for “spiritual” ministry or material ministry or anything else.
And boy, do I struggle with this. I am actually really bad at starting a conversation. Sure, once the conversation gets going, I’m usually all right. But starting one is another matter. I mean, I plan often out my phone calls on paper because otherwise I find it too difficult to dial the number. (Seriously. I have issues.)
But even when I am in a conversation, I am often SO tempted to do less than my best. I am so often tempted to let a few things slide because it’s easier, because then others will think better than me. (Fear of man = sin. I’m working on it.)
Two examples from recent times, both in relation to speaking to others (who started the conversation, no less) demonstrate this. Just before Easter I was going to the library and I bumped into two Mormons. They asked for some directions, then turned the conversation to matters of God etc. They were kind of amazed that I even know any part of Mormon theology (they don’t believe in the Trinity, etc) so we had an interesting five minute conversation. In the course of it, they mentioned how they believe in the Bible but believe that it is full of errors and that textual criticism has proved that.
The thing is, I actually know a small amount of textual criticism, and it supports the opposite – that the Bible is reliable in pretty much every aspect. And I can give enough information on this to demonstrate my point.
But I didn’t. And afterwards I felt terrible. And even when I ran into them for a second time (with my friend Kallie, just after Easter) I didn’t bring it up. Whatever happened to being always ready to give an answer?
The second one is happening now. (Well, not literally now, but I’m stressing about it now.) One of my bus drivers has passed me a few DVDs he burnt, because we then talk about history and philosophy etc. One of the DVDs he gave me was Rome, series 1 and 2. And so, when I was at home sick, I started watching them.
Oh my goodness, they were beyond inappropriate. There was way more scenes of people having s*x than some adult films. I made it through 3 episodes (the history is actually interesting; I’d go make tea while people were being inappropriate) before giving up.
The thing is, the bus driver is going to ask me all about the show next time I catch his bus. And I need to tell him that I thought it was inappropriate, and why.
I know that it is a GREAT witnessing opportunity, but I’m quite frankly, terrified.
So please pray for me.
In fact, I like this so much that my friend Stephen apparently thinks my hidden spiritual gift is evangelism. Which made his girl-friend, my housemate Kallie laugh. It made me laugh to. I so don’t think so.
I have written before how the thing is to be obedient. Don’t worry about what your spiritual gifting is. Sure, you will be better at some things than others. We all are. But the thing is to do what you can in the situation that you are currently in – whether the situation calls for “spiritual” ministry or material ministry or anything else.
And boy, do I struggle with this. I am actually really bad at starting a conversation. Sure, once the conversation gets going, I’m usually all right. But starting one is another matter. I mean, I plan often out my phone calls on paper because otherwise I find it too difficult to dial the number. (Seriously. I have issues.)
But even when I am in a conversation, I am often SO tempted to do less than my best. I am so often tempted to let a few things slide because it’s easier, because then others will think better than me. (Fear of man = sin. I’m working on it.)
Two examples from recent times, both in relation to speaking to others (who started the conversation, no less) demonstrate this. Just before Easter I was going to the library and I bumped into two Mormons. They asked for some directions, then turned the conversation to matters of God etc. They were kind of amazed that I even know any part of Mormon theology (they don’t believe in the Trinity, etc) so we had an interesting five minute conversation. In the course of it, they mentioned how they believe in the Bible but believe that it is full of errors and that textual criticism has proved that.
The thing is, I actually know a small amount of textual criticism, and it supports the opposite – that the Bible is reliable in pretty much every aspect. And I can give enough information on this to demonstrate my point.
But I didn’t. And afterwards I felt terrible. And even when I ran into them for a second time (with my friend Kallie, just after Easter) I didn’t bring it up. Whatever happened to being always ready to give an answer?
The second one is happening now. (Well, not literally now, but I’m stressing about it now.) One of my bus drivers has passed me a few DVDs he burnt, because we then talk about history and philosophy etc. One of the DVDs he gave me was Rome, series 1 and 2. And so, when I was at home sick, I started watching them.
Oh my goodness, they were beyond inappropriate. There was way more scenes of people having s*x than some adult films. I made it through 3 episodes (the history is actually interesting; I’d go make tea while people were being inappropriate) before giving up.
The thing is, the bus driver is going to ask me all about the show next time I catch his bus. And I need to tell him that I thought it was inappropriate, and why.
I know that it is a GREAT witnessing opportunity, but I’m quite frankly, terrified.
So please pray for me.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
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