Meditation Monday: Thoughts to ponder from this year’s ‘Global Leaders Summit’.

* Bill Hybels opened the conference with his usual setting the tone, inspiring message.
Within this message was much for leaders of all levels.
Bill recognises that the church can’t simply stay where it is, there has to be a desire to move to the next point of the journey that God is calling His church too.
Some, within the church may feel that things are going well, God is being glorified, and not what to move on.

• A thought for the church to ponder, “What is the cost of staying where we are”?

* Adam Hamilton spoke about “leaders falling”! A very difficult subject to cover and one that Adam did very well in his message.

I want to share the • 5 Steps to “Resisting Temptation” that Adam spoke of:

1. Remember who you are: A father, a husband, a child of God.

2. Recognize the consequences of your actions:
“Will I feel better or worse after this?”
“Will it make you feel more of a sense of freedom or more one of shame?”
“Who will be hurt by my actions?”
Think about the worst possible outcome….

3. Rededicate yourself to God:
Stop, Drop to your knees, and pray whenever you feel temptation – doing so is like taking a cold shower.

4. Review struggle to a trusted friend: By telling the secret to another, it lessens its hold/power over you.

5. Remove yourself from the situation.

The above steps need to be applied by all; I’m sure you would agree!

* Bishop T D Jakes closed the conference and was a surprise gem for me. I’ve never heard him speak before.

I’ll close with this last thought From the Bishop, specifically for leaders:

“As leaders we need to gain out direction from God and then feed that through to the church; in doing so we MUST guard against diluting or polluting Gods direction”!

A Thought for Thursday - No Condemnation!

Do you ever get to a time in your life when you feel like you need to turn over a new forest, let alone a new leaf?

Then you decide that tomorrow is the day. You're fired up, motivated and ready to rumble. But when tomorrow gently wakes you, you turn over and hit the snooze button. Know that feeling?

Paul felt the same. He talks about it in the book that he wrote when God's Holy Spirit inspired him.

Read what he says:

^21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

²⁴I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

²⁵The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. ^1-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

^3-4God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

^5-8Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored. (Romans 7:21-8:8, The Message)

Another translation puts it like this:

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Do you feel condemned? Does something keep telling you that you'll never be good enough? That you'll always hit the snooze button and never get those leaves turned over? I have news for you. If you belong to Jesus Christ:

Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. !

Nuff said.

Meditation Monday: God has green fingers!!

Growth, have you ever sat and wondered about it?

God loves growth!

Look with me at some examples from scripture:

In the book of Genesis we are introduced to Adam and Eve; one young couple with a mighty big task before them.
God created Adam and Eve then called them to fill the earth with mankind; in other words, God wanted them to make babies!

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:27–28, NIV)

Today there are approximately 7 billion people on the earth.

God loves to grow things!

Okay, think now about the nation of Israel.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the Old Testament character by the name of Abraham (You can read his story in the book of Genesis). Abraham had some sons, one was called Isaac who also had some sons, and one was called Jacob.
Jacob had a bit of an issue with his brother Esau.
The dispute led to Jacob living away from the land of his birth for a long time!
One day, after deciding to return to the land of his birth Jacob had an amazing encounter:

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:24–28, NIV)

The name Israel means ‘he struggles with God’.

So God gave Jacob a new name and the nation of Israel was born.

Today there are between 7 & 8 million people living in Israel.

God loves to grow things!

One last example from scripture:

The church

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:13–18, NIV)

The Apostle Peter probably had no idea what he was letting himself in for. God was going to grow His church on and through him!
You can learn how the Words of Jesus were fulfilled by reading the book of Acts and seeing how God’s church grow; we today, as the people of God, are a part of that growing church.

Today there are approximately 3.7 million Christian churches meeting around the world.

There are close to 50,000 new congregations being added to the church each year.

God loves to grow things!

So what’s the secret to God’s success?

One word: NURTURING

God as the Master Grower does the nurturing; He feeds, He waters and He protects those things He seeks to grow.

He feeds and waters us today as He meets our physical and spiritual needs!

He protects us from the attacks of the enemy!

God loves to grow things, and guess what - He is good at it!

So today let me ask you this, ‘what growth is God looking for in your life’?

Are you a new Christian just starting out in your relationship with God? Then He will want to grow the relationship He has with you.

Are you someone whose been walking with the LORD for a long time? Well, God is still looking to grow you!
He wants to challenge you today to step out into something new, to try something new as an act of service and worship to Him.

Are you going to let God use His green fingers in your life?

When preaching yesterday at ‘The Vine’, I closed my message with the statement below; let me close this meditation with it today.
I would ask you to ponder it as you seek more of God and His will in your life:

“Growth from God will only come as we surrender to Him. We need to stop trying to bring about growth in our lives by ourselves, and let God work his miracle of growth in us”.

Will You?

A Thought for Thursday: 'Dare to go for it'!

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan-

Some grow through childhood in to adulthood being told that they are ‘useless’ because they’d failed somewhere along the line in something they sought to achieve.

But shouldn’t our failures become our life lessons?

It is rare for a person to ‘always get it right’, but if they give up because they’ve listened to the voices of criticism around them - the world in which they live will lose out!

Mistakes made today are ammunition for your future!

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

(Philippians 4:13, WEB)

w.h.a.t.e.v.e.r wednesday: Mothering the Poor

For today's w.h.a.t.e.v.e.r I've listed two links that you can use to find out more about the heroine who inspired us on The Vine yesterday:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html

Bill Hybels has done extensive research on Mother Teresa and highly recommended her biography. The biographies of great people of faith, and also books of their letters can be deeply inspiration, challenging and even life changing. Consider finding one at your local library or picking one up online.

Testimony Tuesday - A thought from a heroine

At a conference two years ago, this quote from Mother Teresa blew me away:

"A child is a gift of God. If you do not want him, give him to me."

It still does. Despite this quotation being specifically in the context of abortion, there is a broader challenge in there is for all of us, as sons and daughters of God. Do we treat people with the love and respect due to them because they were created by and are loved by God? Do we 'throw people away'? Do we dismiss them?

Or do we have those loving arms...'give him to me'?

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.” Jesus - speaking about himself and fulfilling prophecy from Scripture about the Messiah - Luke 4:18-19

That same Spirit lives within us because Jesus died for us and we believe. So are we?

Are we:

Proclaiming that captives will be released?
Proclaiming that the blind will see?
Proclaiming that the oppressed will be set free?
Proclaiming that the time of the Lord's favour has come?

Mother Teresa said 'If you don't want him, give him to me'. Jesus says 'Come to Me, captive, blind one, oppressed one.' 'Come to Me, hungry one, naked one, homeless one, crippled one, outcast, unwanted, unloved, uncared-for, burden-to-society, shunned one. Come.'

Mother Teresa, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 said:

I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive [the Nobel] in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.

This morning I leave the following song phrases for you to ponder along with Mother Teresa's quoted words and Jesus purpose as He said it in Luke 4. Click through to the link to hear the songs and ask God what your
purpose is within His plan. Who should you be opening your arms to...'If you don't want him, give him to me.'

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

~ Tim Hughes - God of Justice from album Holding Nothing Back

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

~ Casting Crowns - If We are the Body from album Casting Crowns

Meditation Monday: Women's Day. For Men.

Today we celebrate Women's Day in South Africa.

This day commemorates 9 August 1956 when women participated in a national march to petition against pass laws (legislation that required African persons to carry a document on them to ‘prove’ that they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’).

It's a tribute to the fact that women are capable of far more alone and certainly a great deal more together than they are often given credit for. I'm all for honouring women.

But today's meditation involves men.

Today I want to honour men who choose to hold their leadership within their homes and in business with gentle, thoughtful and considerate hands. I want to honour men who choose to bend their ears to their wives, honouring these with their full attention, insight and understanding. I want to honour men who consider their wives and female colleagues as equal and different to themselves and who celebrate both whether among those who do the same or among those who would scoff.

I want to honour men who strive for integrity at home and within their business worlds. These men want to be the people that they say they are, even when no-one is watching. Men who do the right thing, no matter the sacrifice to themselves or their comforts. Men whose word is still their bond - whose 'no' is no and whose 'yes' is yes.

These are men who make time to mentor those coming behind them. Who lift those young than themselves up to their shoulders and allow them to build where they have laid the foundations, regardless of where man's glory falls. These are men who, in every way they can try to create a frame within which their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters can be beautiful and free.

I want to cheer for men who are equal to the kind of women that marched that day. Women and children are watching you. Because when you stand tall and strong, full of godly character, all our hearts swell with pride and we are inspired to be better people than we think we are.

But you, ..., are a man of God; so run from ... evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the true faith. ~ 1 Timonthy 6: 11-12a