Sunday, September 28, 2008

We all have kings

I was reading the first chapter of Joshua this morning, what a chapter of great promises.

Joshua 1:3 (NLT) I promise you what I promised Moses: 'Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you—


Joshua 1:7 (NLT) Be strong and very courageous. Obey all the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them, and you will be successful in everything you do.

Joshua 1:9 (NLT) I command you—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

In everything I do and everywhere I go? That's a pretty big promise. Lets be honest if your life is like mine its littered with many unsuccessful attempts at many things. There are leases I should never had signed, relationships that I should never have developed, words that I wish I had never spoken.

But there are 2 parts to this promise that are easily overlooked

1. Don't turn away from God's word

Lets be honest most things that "grab our attention" are never good for us. That's why we need to keep our eyes fixed straight ahead. Its when we wander away in our "gazing" that we get ourselves in trouble.

2. Be strong and courageous

If He has given us the land and we are going to be successful in all we do why do we need to be strong? Its then in chapter 12 that we see listed the 31 kings that Joshua had to forcefully remove from the land.

Sure God wants us to be successful and prosperous but its conditional on us staying true to His word and using our gifts and abilities to remove the spiritual, physical and mental "kings" that want to contain the Kingdom of God progressing.

So what are your kings?

Friday, September 26, 2008

The smell of Christianity


I came in early this morning and was greeted by the overwhelming smell of bananas. Now I love bananas but the smell of hundreds of them infiltrating our church auditorium is a bit much. But it is better than onions which was last weeks smell. I don't view it as fruit or vegetables that I can smell but it represents another life, another family that today will receive boxes of groceries for an extremely low cost. Today is Storehouse 1 day. There are about 300 different families that will come through over a month to fill their box, not bad seeing its only been operating for 4 months. There is nothing else that beats the local church!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The path


At church we have been talking about the pathway principle which basically means that the pathway that we are on determines our destination in life. Not our intentions, not our dreams, not even our faith but the pathway. Your direction determines your destination!
It doesn't matter how much we jump shout and pray if we are walking on a certain path then we will end up at a certain destination. How many people do we know that come yo a place in their lives where they say, "I don't know how I got here?" Well I know, they jumped on a pathway and that's the direction it was going.

Proverbs 22:3 (NLT)
A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.


A wise person can see the danger ahead and they will make the adjustments that are needed in order to avoid tragedy but a fool they will just keep walking straight on into it. And when you say to them, "Didn't you see that coming?" "Didn't you know that she was no good for you?" "Couldn't you see this was going to happen?" They just answer, "Well yeah".
But they never changed. They never made the changes that were strategic to their future health and wholeness.
Lets be people that look ahead but don't stop there, also to make the necessary adjustments so that we can be fruitful in all we do.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

I have been meaning to update this blog since arriving back last week from Kokoda but I left Monday for Adelaide and today I'm sitting in the Qantas club waiting for a plane back home. Then tomorrow off to Armidale for a men's conference. Our adventure on the Kokoda trek feels like a life time ago. It was truly an amazing experience and one that I could easily do again. Putting aside the vomiting and gastro that I incurred (which has the ability to make a sook out of me) this trek is so full of history. One of our team Mark Langdon was very knowledgeable on what took place at each area we entered which made this time very rewarding. The stories that you hear and the people that you meet will never leave my heart, our nation of Australia has some of the most incredible heroes.
To stand on the hill that Bruce Kingsbury led a charge against all the odds to push back the swarming Japanese is sobering, to see the spot where he most likely met a snipers bullet even more so.

Psalm 37:23-24 (NLT)
The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. [24] Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.


The principle of one step after another is extremely valuable to anyone that is wanting to fulfil all God has for them. Its certainly what the Kokoda Trek taught me, sometimes in life we feel that we have nothing left to give or go on. Just keep stepping! You may not be as fast as some, you may not always feel like you are going at the pace you would like, but like Kokoda, it didn't matter if you were first on the track or last, we all came home on the same flight.