I was going through some books I wrote in awhile ago, and came across a book I took to Cambodia on a Teen Missions’ Trip (www.teenmissions.com.au) in 2006/2007 (so 3 years ago).  I then started flicking through this book and came across one section of notes that I had prepared for leading at night devotions…

I still find it funny reading back on these things, because I often go “I wish I had the faith now, as I did then” but it’s in the past and you can only really look towards the future!  And I surprisingly struggle with this a lot more now than I did then… but I thought I might share it with you…

Why do we care so much on appearances?  Who says what the best appearance is, or isn’t?

God chose our specific body parts that would be perfect for us.  Like the people, who have dug and filled the trenches and posts, look for that perfect flat rock for the trench, or the suitable small wedge rock for the post hole, to securely support the post.

As in Psalms 139:13 - 16 (one of my favourite verses)

(NLT) “13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thankyou for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it.  15 You watched me as I was being in the utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  16 You saw me before I was born.  Everyday of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Again, and I need to apply this to myself, as well; why do we, especially females, care so much on what our appearances are like? Why do so many women wear foundation and makeup, etc. on our faces each day, hiding the natural beauty God individually gave us?

I have a friend, who works at my school, and if she’s running late, she says to me when I say hello to her in the morning, “that she’s sorry she hasn’t got her mask on yet.”  But who says we need a mask? 

God created us uniquely and specifically for who we are;  He doesn’t care if we got pimples, a physical or speech problem (like Moses).  He doesn’t care if we have different coloured skin, from the majority of people that reside in our community.  For He created us to be set apart from others.

He uses people who are different, to the full.  He has a plan for everyone, and the ones who aren’t seen as the “perfect” person are usually His most useful.  It is because these people haven’t closed themselves so much, that He can mould them and make them.  He can transform them into His image and help them to reach out to others, as they are happy with who they are, and are focused on Him (God) and not on their own selves.

There is no one person exactly alike, not even twins or clones.  For each person looks internally and externally different, acts differently, and has their own unique personality.

So lets all try just to be who we are, and accept who we are, what we look like, and how God created us uniquely, for a reason!  Maybe this will save some time for others in the bathroom, in the mornings as well.

So I just want to overall say, well sum up my devotions, by saying… Don’t worry what your appearance is and let’s get DIRTY for God!

Proverbs 31:31
I Peter 3:3-4
I Samuel 16:7

Ok so this is another one from my devotional book I wrote in in Cambodia…  I still am desperate to return from Cambodia… I think I left my heart there… but know God has me here for a reason!

Saturday 20th of January 2007

Dear God,

Thankyou so much for this opportunity you have given us, in coming to this orphanage and seeing how, with so little, you can have so much.

You don’t need beds, mirrors, and electricity, to be happy, and alive (as you know, and we have discovered in these past 3 weeks) Lord.

For we have seen these children, who have so little, and sleep on straw mat beds, don’t use electricity and pump all their water, live sufficiently in You.

They worship You like I have never seen anyone worship You before - praying for 1/2 to 3/4 of their church services.

God please help me just to have the heart these Cambodians have.  Help me just to have courage in my heart, and want to constantly yearn and seek for You.  You have shown us so many of your miracles Lord, and I don’t know if what I’ve heard is from You or myself?  But I want to have courage in my heart and I want to be strong in You. 

This is the closest I’ve ever felt to You, God, and I don’t want to minimise, or go away from that.  I’m scared Lord, that when I go home, I won’t feel Your presence and I don’t want to resort back to my old ways.  Lord, help me to not worry or be scared, for You are God and as You said in Matthew 6:19-34, Don’t store up treasures here on Earth, where they diminish.  Your heart will be where your treasure is.  Your eye is a LAMP for your body.  A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul.  But an evil eye plunges you into darkness.  You cannot serve both God and master (money, tv, world, popularity, etc.)

25”So I tell you, don’t worry about every day life - whether you have enough food, or drink, or clothing…  31 Why be like the pagans, who are so deeply concerned about these things?  Your Heavenly Father already KNOWS ALL YOUR NEEDS and He will give you and make you the Kingdom of God your primary concern.  So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

So God, when I get back home, please help me to remain and grow spiritually strong in You.  Keep me patient and trusting and not be selfish. For I want to remain strong in You.

In Jesus’ name

Amen

This is the best….. The Holy Alphabet… This is Beautiful



Whoever came up with this one must have had some Divine guidance!



Although things are not perfect
Because of trial or pain
Continue in thanksgiving
Do not begin to blame
Even when the times are hard
Fierce winds are bound to blow
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know
Imagine life without His love
J oy would cease to be
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts to thee
M ove out of “Camp Complaining”
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone
Quit looking at the future
Redeem the time at hand
Start every day with worship
To “thank” is a command
Until we see Him coming
Victorious in the sky
We’ll run the race with gratitude
X alting God most high
Y es, there’ll be good times and yes some will be bad, but…
Z ion waits in glory…where none are ever sad!


“I AM Too blessed to be stressed!” The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.

The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything. Love and peace be with you forever, Amen.


PS: GOD LOVES YOU…PASS THE WORD ON TO MORE FRIENDS AND ASK THEM TO CONTINUE TELLING OTHERS THAT GOD LOVES THEM TOO. JUST THINK OF HOW MANY PEOPLE THAT COULD BE REACHED OUT TO AND BLESSED WITH THESE WORDS.

ASK 

⁷”
Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.”

I’ve only just noticed that Matthew has 7 letters, ASK is in the 7th chapter, in the 7th verse.

Equalling 777.

There’s also a Bible verse saying God’s number is 777, and the devil’s is 666… I think it’s in Revelations…

Notice how there’s also 7 days?

Matthew 18:21-22
²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Other verses regarding 7…
Genesis: 2:2, 2:3, 4:15, 4:24, 7:2

Genesis 7:2 -3
Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

Genesis: 7:4, 7:10, 7:11, 8:4,

Genesis 8:4
and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

Genesis 29:18
Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Read More

From Our Journey - Sunday December 20, 2009

“Recently, I read the story of a husband and wife who walked out of a movie theater partway through the film Milk.  Both were disgusted after seeing actor Sean Penn, portraying former homosexual politician Harvey Milk, kiss another man.  So they approached the box office attendant and demanded a refund.  The attendant suggested they swap their tickets for a film that was about to start - The Changeling.  He warned them, though, that it featured scenes of a serial killer axing children to death.  The wife thought for a moment, then turned to her husband and said, “That sounds OK.” 

I don’t know if the couple were christians who felt that a public stand against homosexuality was required, or simply conservative folks who found the storyline of Milk to be distasteful.  Either way, their actions reflect the hypocrisy that too many of us live out.  Enraged by some sins, we turn a blind eye to others - a homosexual kiss onscreen is an outrage; a film enacting violence against children is “OK”. 

Unknowingly, many believers in Jesus have adopted a list of “acceptable” and “unacceptable’ sins.  We are quick to declare that homosexuals, adulterers, and idolaters will not enter the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9), but fail to see that neither will the greedy (v.10) - which probably describles many of us.  We may be prone to complaining and arguing, while not acknowledging that it’s wrong to do so (Philippians 2:14).  Few of us will talk about the sin of gluttony as we line up at the restaurant buffet bar (Provers 23:20).  And when we worry, we fail to see it as a lack of trust in God (Matthew 6:25-34).

The apostle Peter encouraged his flock to get rid of all evil behaviour, including hypocrisy (2 Peter 2:1).  May Jesus open our eyes to see the “acceptable” sins that we’re failing to see, even as we rage against the “unacceptable” sins of others. - Sheridan Voysey

This is something that I was discussing with a friend, and she had recently gone to a conference where she’d heard the following.  It made me think, how thirsty are we?  Are we going to give up on God, just because it feels like we’re not being rehydrated enough or are we going to keep striving.  I’m really strugging to open my Bible to read, and haven’t done it for a few weeks, but maybe it’s just another plot of the devil.  I know I’m praying for revitalising refreshing intake of the Bible… 

“Grant was talking about a time in his life when he was feeling really dry in his spiritual life and how that went on for 2 years and he was constantly telling his friends on how dry he was feeling and that he was considering leaving ministry. he was talking to one of his really good friends one day and his friend said to him that he was feeling God telling him to tell grant that he wasn’t feeling dry but he was feeling really hungry and that the devil was telling him that he was feeling dry to stop him having a better relationship with God.

grant then went on talking about an illustration that his friend shared about your walk with God is like a journey up a mountain with a stream running right from the top down to the bottom and how the stream is God, that as we climb up this mountain we stay by the stream but as time goes by we start to wonder away from the stream and we begin to feel tired and thirsty and we need to go back to the stream and fully emers ourselves, and we do that by reading Gods word and spending quality time with him”

Have you ever watched a movie, or a tv series, and can relate aspects of it to the Bible?

I seem to notice this a lot… not so much in the last few years, as I did when I just came back from Cambodia, but yeah…

Prison Break is one of the shows that I notice a lot of Christian connotations, and Bible references in.

(via flowersfordelilah)

larabelle:

heisjealousforme:

savemefromyself:

Malachi 3:3 says; ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ 

This verse puzzled some women in a bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character andnature of God. 

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. 

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’

He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Love this.

 Need this!

I haven’t had a good solid regular one since probably around May last year.

And I’ve been too exhausted and too frustrated with God to try this year.

I’ve been so selfish and stubborn.

Maybe I still won’t go to church… but maybe just maybe I should take my Bible to work with me tomorrow and on the way back sit in my God spot in the Japanese Gardens and relish in His beauty and His presence…

We shall have to see.

It could be a very good date indeed. :)

Video and pictures have emerged of a wooden structure a group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers claim is Noah’s Ark.

The team say they recovered wooden specimens 4000m up Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.

PHOTOS: Mountain ‘ark’ discovery

“It’s not 100 percent that it is Noah’s Ark but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it,” Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary filmmaker and member of the 15-strong team from Noah’s Ark Ministries International told AFP.

The structure had several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals, he said.

The group of evangelical archaeologists ruled out an established human settlement on the grounds that one had never been found above 3500 metres in the vicinity, Yeung said.

Local Turkish officials will ask the central government in Ankara to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status so the site can be protected while a major archaeological dig is conducted, Yeung added.

The biblical story says God decided to flood the earth after seeing how corrupt it had become, and told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species.

After the flood waters receded, the Bible says, the ark came to rest on a mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and her inhabitants came aground.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/1045033/noahs-ark-discovery-99-9-percent-sure

Today’s Bible Verse:

John 14:27 I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. (The Message)

Land of Opposites: Victory Series, Part 16 (Our Armour)

Here we were, in New Zealand. Finally. It had been a really long trip, and we found it strange to be in a country that is not only on the opposite side of the world, but also where everything else seems opposite to everything we had ever known!

Try driving on the opposite side of the road from what you’re used to, for starters. Everything coming at us from the right startled us beyond belief! We were constantly reminding ourselves: “Left! Drive on the left”. Easier said than done, especially when you have to make a turn! When you try to use your turn signals, for some mysterious reason the windshield wipers come on. And the opposite happens when you try to wipe the rain off of the windshield! Your turn signals come on! Who designed these rental cars, anyway? Are they trying to scare off their tourists?

For us here in the Northern hemisphere, the farther south you go, the warmer the climate becomes. But not in New Zealand! The farther south you go there, the cooler it gets! In fact, they were experiencing a draught in the northern part of New Zealand’s north island that summer - which was really our winter! Even the seasons are reversed!

It was Christmastime when we visited the Kiwis (They like to be called that for some reason!), so for the first time in our lives, we celebrated Christmas in the summer. Hardly any Christmas lights decorated the local homes and Christmas trees. This puzzled us at first, until we realized that it didn’t get dark until nearly 10 p.m. Somehow it just seemed wrong to look at a lightless Christmas tree through the heat of the blazing sun!

Food and gas was also different for us. The cost was double, for one thing. Canadians love complaining about high gas prices. I wonder how they would survive in Oceania!

How different my reaction to this land of opposites was to what it might have been had I gone twenty years earlier. I would have been a nut cake: “Look out! Watch where you’re going! Get on the right side of the road!” “Gas is way too high! Let’s walk!” Anxiety would have filled my day, and I would have missed the opportunity of a lifetime!

As it was, I faced all of these opposites with a smile, and I actually enjoyed the fact that everything was different from what I was used to. Why? Because Jesus lives in my heart, and His peace is a constant. In fact, I even wondered if New Zealand wouldn’t be a good place to retire. Would you like to join us?

This is the lasting gift Jesus gave us when He returned to Heaven: “I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace.” (John 14:27 The Message)

This is also one of the important parts of the armour provided by God: “…with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” (Eph 6:15 NIV)

Experts say that PAX Romana (Roman peace in the Roman Empire) was partially due to the thick-soled shoes that the Roman soldiers wore. These enabled them to walk over any kind of terrain in a fast and enduring way. Their boots even contained metal that permitted them to be able to keep their footing on slippery hills and uneven surfaces. I guess there is a big difference between this kind of footwear and sandals, or even worse, bare feet!

The good news that Jesus provided us with is automatically accompanied by inner peace. If we let Jesus be our peace, that peace will be ours at all times! In addition, that realization of inner peace guarantees us victory as well as fills us with adrenaline!

“I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” (John 16:33 The Message)

“The God of peace will come down on Satan with both feet, stomping him into the dirt. Enjoy the best of Jesus!” (John 16:33 The Message)

Just like all of God’s promises, peace is given to us in seed form, for the process is more important than the outcome. It can only be fully developed if we walk in that peace provided by Jesus.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.” (Matt 11:28 The Message)

Just like righteousness and truth, peace is also a person, and that person is Jesus, Christ!

The three pieces of armour that we have just covered: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of inner peace are the essentials, the constants in our life. The Roman soldiers never took these pieces of armour off, even while resting. Why should we do differently?

Driving on the left side of the road is actually quite fun. I wonder what would happen if I tried it here in Canada?

Rob Chaffart