mamma_sez's Revelife

Are you a thief?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:39:11 GMT

I have sat in churches where preaches preached about it.

I have heard conversations between friends where there is debate about it.

Employers write memos about it.

But what does it mean for the Christian?

I am talking about internet useage at work, where is the line for you? When do you feel you are exploiting or stealing from your boss?

My husband and I have spoken about this over the years, because often his employers have had pretty strict guidelines about it, coupled with his own personal sense of ethics on the subject. While he has no problem logging on to internet banking to pay a bill (if he has given up his lunch time to work in the office), he 'personally' would never dream of being on Facebook at work.

I am not saying he is right, and as a non-believer he isn't doing it out of any spiritual conviction, it is just his own sense of right and wrong that influences his decisions.

I would be interested in how others work through this issue. How much is too much at work? Where are your own personal boundaries, and when does it cross the border of stealing from you boss (in terms of being payed to surf the net).

I wish God would wave at me.

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:07:08 GMT

Today in church a gentleman told us a story. He said, that he had been talking to a lady one day and she told him that she was an atheist who went to church each week. Thinking this was some what unusual, he asked her why, to which she replied that she was waiting for God to wave at her and say hello.

This woman, was waiting for God to speak to her, to make it clear about who he was. The gentleman telling the story, told us that this was his reply to her; "With all due respect, you are 2000 years to late, this has already been done through Jesus."

Many people today would love to have an encounter with a living God, yet they 'box' him into to a the way that they would like that to happen. Some of us pray for a particular miracle in our life, bargaining that if 'God would just do such and such then I would believe.'

The bible tells us that the ONLY way to the Father, is through the son. If you want to get to know God the Father, then you need to get to know His son.

Our God is the creator, but you won't find him living in the trees or the water, not according to the bible. God, is spirit, but he is not just any spirit, he is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, indwells the children of God and produces holiness within their character.

Hebrews 1 says;

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself^[a] purged our^[b] sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

The lady in the story was waiting for God to speak to her, not realizing that he already has.

To Encourage the Foolish

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:02:08 GMT

The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It's written,

I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.

So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.

22-25While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness."

26-31Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Don't give up, don't give in, always give an account for the hope that is within you, in the Grace and Truth of Jesus Christ.

{v|

Hear your heart beat....

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:19:01 GMT

Last Sunday, we all set out to a local cinema to watch
High School Musical 3.

My daughter had turned 12 during the week. She had asked to go and see it, in lieu of our traditional meal out.

As we sat munching our popcorn, we were faced (again) with Troy Bolton's (and the other cast members) journey of who am I ?
Should I follow my own dreams?
What are my dreams?
And will my parents be crushed if I choose my own path?

~Riveting stuff~

Yet the lesson was a good one.

As a Christian, as a mother, as a woman, as a wife and as a home schooler, in the early days I sometimes fell into the trap of admiring somebody else and set about trying to emulate their persona. It is tiring, uninspiring and guaranteed to end in failure.

If I didn't wear myself out trying, then sooner or later the person whom I was copying, came crashing down from the pedal stool I had put them on, and all of a sudden my little world was rocked.

These days I am learning the art, of listening to my heart beat.... to the heart beat of our family.

It is ok to be different.

It is ok to be an individual.

It is ok to follow your heart.

It is ok if your 'shape' looks different from the 'shapes' around you.

As a society we like that which is similar to us, we are drawn to it.
And there is nothing wrong with that either- unless it causes us to compromise the uniqueness of who/what we were created to be.

It is important more and more in this day and age, to draw aside and listen to the heart beat, that was woven within for you, knitted together while you were still in your mother's womb by a mighty God.

And often when you do that, you will find, that you begin to walk a road less traveled.

You swim against a raging current.

And that is ok, because if you listen carefully, attune your ear, you can hear your hear beat, loud and strong above the crushing thong of the world around you, and there in that moment, you will be at peace.

Do you ever feel alone in this world, for being truly you?

Or are you comfortable in your own skin?

Fear of man.

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:17:12 GMT

I am in the middle of undoing some bad habits I let build up in my 2 year old son. Nothing terrible in the whole course of life, but things that I don't want to go on.

One of the things that I have been doing is dealing with his need for a bottle. We live in a typical English semi detached house, where we share a wall with our next door neighbors. In the room next door to my two youngest sons is a young 16 year old girl. She says she can hear the baby whenever he cries.

In fear of upsetting her, in fear of being thought of as a bad mother for allowing a baby to cry, in fear of creating problems with my neighbors, I have let bad habits set in.

Thankfully I am seeing the error of my way, and am becoming strong enough to know the habit is not worth the consequences.

I got to thinking about how many other times in my life, do I make choices out of fear of man? How many times have I allowed spiritual bad habits to set in, because I am scared of those around me and what they might think of me? And what about the other angle, how many times while in 'church' have I done things/believed things, because it was important to somebody else, and later found that they had completely missed the mark?

If I am honest with myself, it happens more than I would like to own up too.

I am reminded of some verses in Psalms 3 4, but specifically this one;

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

In hindsight, I wished I had sought the Lord and His wisdom, amidst my fears of a crying baby and up set neighbors. Because I am sure as my fear grew and grew it became more irrational with each passing day. The hold it had over me became greater and greater. Such a little thing, grew into a mammoth irrational strong hold that was not built on truth nor wisdom. In reality, my neighbors are lovely, understanding people who have children of their own and 'get' that sometimes babies cry.

So many times I have gone to God with the littlest of 'child' problems and have been given solutions for things, I would have never thought of. That Psalm has been a truth in my life.

What about you?
Are there times in your life that your fear of man, has lead to the forming of bad spiritual habits- maybe in your church, peer group or even work?

Correct Doctrine, Correct Living.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:43:40 GMT

This morning for my quiet time, I was reading through 2 Peter 1 & 2. It has been on my heart, for whatever reason to read these passages (and beyond) for the last couple of days. As I was going through it today I read these words;

This passage is titled False Teachers

2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

When I was later reading through the commentary section of my bible in relation to the passages I was reading, when it came to verse 2 the commentary said; the Christian life is not just about correct doctrine. but it is also about correct living.

I sometimes feel that both of these concepts are becoming redundant qualities in 'Christians' as absolutes become a thing of the past and own interpretations and a pick and choose theology seems to have reached it's hey day.

What do you think about the commentaries statement?
If you agree with the statement how do you outwork this in your own life?

National Pride and Linen Belts

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:26:44 GMT

As an Australian, I can honestly say that as soon as somebody chants the words, "Aussie, Aussie Aussie," I have an involuntary urge to shout out at the top of my lungs "Oi, Oi, Oi.".

I don't personally like Vegemite (don't tell the Aussie government), but I will sing it's praises and defend it's cause, over Marmite (UK) and Promite (NZ) any day of the week.

And while I don't always like the way Australian's are personified by the Aussie movie industry, many of those same movies would be amongst my all time favorites. There is something freeing about being able to laugh at the idiosyncrasies that makes your nation what/who it is, even if it does mean the rest of the world is laughing at you as well.

Before this week, I would have called myself a proud Australian.

This week, I have been thinking a lot about what God might think of our national pride.

And I can't help wonder if it is offensive to Him.

I am reminded of Jeremiah 13.

1 This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water." 2 So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.

3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: 4 "Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath ^[a] and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks." 5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me.

6 Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there." 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 "This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! 11 For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'

God obviously felt angry at the pride of his chosen people, who instead of bringing glory to the Lord, being a people of renown, praise and honor a living testimony to God, he calls them wicked, stubborn and idolators.

Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to read anything into this passage that isn't there. I am not likening this story to any other nation on earth, but I am looking at it wondering if we too often suffer from the same pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem in how we feel about our own nations and the pride we place in them?

How about you?

How do you think God views national pride?

{v)

What does this mean to you?

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:44:10 GMT

I have been reading through the last couple of chapters of Romans the past few days. There is no reason for this, I just felt lead to read these chapters over again a few days in succession.

Today as I was reading Chapter 13 and was struck again by these verses in light of the recent American elections.

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

How do verses like this affect your Christian walk when governments are in power that you personally did not elect?

Psalm 69

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:51:45 GMT

Psalm 69

For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of David.

1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.

2 I sink in the miry depths,
       where there is no foothold.
       I have come into the deep waters;
       the floods engulf me.

3 I am worn out calling for help;
       my throat is parched.
       My eyes fail,
       looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me without reason
       outnumber the hairs of my head;
       many are my enemies without cause,
       those who seek to destroy me.
       I am forced to restore
       what I did not steal.

5 You know my folly, O God;
my guilt is not hidden from you.

6 May those who hope in you
       not be disgraced because of me,
       O Lord, the LORD Almighty;
       may those who seek you
       not be put to shame because of me,
       O God of Israel.

7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
and shame covers my face.

8 I am a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother's sons;

9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

10 When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;

11 when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.

12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But I pray to you, O LORD,
       in the time of your favor;
       in your great love, O God,
       answer me with your sure salvation.

14 Rescue me from the mire,
       do not let me sink;
       deliver me from those who hate me,
       from the deep waters.

15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.

17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.

18 Come near and rescue me;
redeem me because of my foes.

19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.

20 Scorn has broken my heart
       and has left me helpless;
       I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
       for comforters, but I found none.

21 They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

22 May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and ^[a] a trap.

23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.

24 Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.

25 May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.

27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.

28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.

29 I am in pain and distress;
may your salvation, O God, protect me.

30 I will praise God's name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.

31 This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

32 The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!

33 The LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,

35 for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;

36 the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.

Love Is A Verb?

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:27:03 GMT

I haven't had many in depth conversations with my brother in law over the 18 years I have known him, but probably the most memorable I had was on my wedding night. I can't remember why or how the conversation started, but we were having a debate at the wedding table about what love is.   Maybe it was the fact that I was 4 months pregnant, and like most of the choices I have made for my life, they have been the complete opposite of how he would and has done things. Maybe it was because at that point in his life, he had a list of things his future wife should be- I think he probably got them all too.

However it came about, I remember very distinctly telling him that I believe that love was sometimes a choice- action in the absence of feeling.   At the tender age of 21 I had begun to experience the full spectrum of love. Love was not just the butterfly feelings in the belly when he looks at you, or the swelling you feel in your heart when he says something sweet, it wasn't even always the physical relationship. Sex does not always equal love any more than emotion equals commitment.

For me at that point in my life, I had began to understand a little of what it meant to love unconditionally. I don't know if he agreed with me, I expect he didn't given how different our 'think' usually is about life, but I would imagine now having been married himself for almost 8 years he has probably experienced a little of what I was talking about.

Over the 15 years of married life, there have been many, many times I have had to make faith based choices in regards to love/marriage rather than basing choices on feeling or logic. Many times I have stayed with my husband, in the absence of love simply because of my trust in God, and what the bible teaches me about love.

Please understand what I am saying here, I am not talking about women choosing to stay in abusive relationships or putting themselves or their children at risk or in danger out of faith. I think sometimes very hard choices need to be made in these kind of circumstances.

I didn't marry that kind of man anyway. Essentially I married a decent guy, who has has some hiccups over the years but generally has always been a good provider and daddy to his kids.   But we are as different as chalk and cheese on EVERY level and always have been.

I guess what I am really referring to here, is when life doesn't seem to make sense, and your feelings start to dictate your reality, and at this point choosing instead to trust God rather than your emotions and feelings. When you begin to fall out of love and wonder why you would remain in a loveless marriage, when you no longer feel fulfilled, appreciated, treasured, cherished, cared for, respected and certainly not happy.

I have felt all of those things and many more. Many many times I cried myself to sleep at night, tears that flowed out of what felt like a gorge flowing out from the rawest places in my soul, that was shrouded in a thick fog of loneliness and desperation. There have been times in my darkest hour where death tempted me and the depth and hurt of what I felt almost led me to take my own life. All hope gone in man kind, emotionally I felt like I was sinking in to the murky depths more than once.

And usually somewhere before the dawn, there would be some glimmer of hope. Not in seen in my husband, nor in my own ability, for most times I was as much to blame (if not more so), for my misery. But in the faithfulness of a God who had promised to never leave me nor forsake me. It would be then, when I had caught the most minuscule glimmer of that hope that the Holy Spirit would begin it's work. Bit by bit, reawakening my soul to the promises of God, the faithfulness of His word and the reality of His redemption. Not just for my salvation or eternity, but for the every dayness of my life, for right now, this very second not matter how I think and feel.

I would read scriptures about God knowing the very number of hairs on my head, and I would reconcile myself with knowing that He then would be fully aware of every tear that I had shed.   I would remember that if God knew of each tiny sparrow that fell to the ground, that God would know about the huge gaping hole that I had within my heart, because it was more Milky Way size than sparrow.

And I would read passages like 1 Corinthians 13 and make the conscious choice to try and live that love whether I felt that love or not. I began to DO love, rather than FEEL love. And eventually the times spent in darkness and despair have shortened as I have seen miracles start to happen in my relationship. As I began to make those choices, regardless of my husbands choices, over time I realized that he was slowly starting to change as well, and today I have what I believe to be a redeemed marriage.

In the disposable, take away, drive through age that we live in, most people would consider us stark raving mad, and should have ended it a long time ago.

I have watched marriages fail around me, that started under healthier more loving circumstances than ours did. I have seen Christians marry for 'love' as we perceive it to be, only to fail after a few short years, yet here we are 15 years later, much more deeply in love than we ever knew we would be or could be when we first made that commitment to each other in our youth. A testimony to the work of a loving God who cares intimately about us in every way.

Have there been times in your life where love has been a verb?