FAST OR FEAST

Its been 6 months since we first submitted our change of use application into the local council and still we have no answer. There are concerns over our car parking which we believe we have resolved but the authorities feel needs more dialogue. I think these moments are the hardest in our faith walk with God. Its those times when you have launched out on a firm belief in your heart that God will come through, but what He is doing hasn't shown itself as yet, so you find yourself like a trapeze artist who has left one trapeze and is waiting mid air for the next to come.
Its a bit like Linus while his blanket is in the dryer! I dislike these times, they make me feel unsettled and yet our life is full of them and they are our highest points of personal growth. In moments like these our faith can react in two ways. Firstly we can start fasting, call prayer meetings, push harder, pull a few favours do all that we possibly can to get something happening. Or we can feast, laugh and live with an inner confidence that God is at work.
Which is best?
Probably the wrong question to ask. What we need to do is to look into our hearts and discover what our faith is reflecting at that time. Because I know a lot of people who turn to prayer meetings and fasting but they do it out of fear and unbelief hoping to convince God to move. But I also know people that become extremely laid back in pressure times and hide behind the "its all up to God" philosophy. For me I like to do both. There is a time to fast and pray with a new intensity but there must come a time where our faith is strong enough to feast upon the promises in the presence of our enemies. Just a thought

FLAVA WRAPS

Today marks day 5 in my fast and my head is thumping. I think the last of my coffee attachment is being purged from my system. People often ask me why I fast and how do I know when its a God fast. I think any fast, even if you arent sure whether its a God one, is good for you. Its good for your discipline as well as your body. But I always know when Gods all over it because my desperation level is greater than my temptation to eat level. Although that doesnt help when your work mates are walking by with Red Rooster Flava Wraps. Hmmmm chicken!
Thats where you have to come back to what it is that you are wanting God to step into with you that stops you from giving in. Is it your marriage that you need God to step into? Your business, your church, your children? Fasting is also all about emptying you of you. Where ever you look through the bible God always leant His ear to humility. Our staff just finished reading Good to great and every CEO or leader that transitioned a company from the good to the great, humility was a part of their character. We all need more of that.

SOLITUDE

Every now and then God does some things to remind us just how much He loves us. A group of people at Elevation Church just shouted Kathy and me 3 nights up at O’Reilly’s guest house in the mountains (Picture is our view). What a blessing!! I love the church when it all works properly. As Pastors normally we are the ones looking out for others well being but this has been a real blast for us.
These rooms over look an amazing view. This morning we went on a 2 hour hike followed by a quick swim in freezing water and some lunch, then its rest, reading and relaxation. How quickly you begin to sense God in a fresh way when you are out of the continual pressure of a growing church.
The best thing you can do in any part of life is to “get out of it so you can work on it”. Get out of pressure, phone calls, and decisions so you can evaluate your marriage, family and relationship with God.

Matthew 14:23 (NLT)
Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

Solitude shouldn’t be something we fear, it’s actually our friend. Being alone away from all the distractions (no phone or TV here…I am missing the football) just the 2 of us and an opportunity to tune our relationship and our hearts back into the right station. Thank you

WHAT A WEEKEND

We have had Pastor Dave Gilpin from Hope City Church in the U.K for our weekend services and it was a blast. His message on "Be an original" was absolutely phenomenal. Elevation Church lapped up his resources and his preaching as we cheered, laughed and felt deeply challenge to go back to the cross and pick up all the things that God never wanted us to leave there. Its true though when you think about it that many people become boring after they have come to Christ and yet before that time they are living life to the full. As Christ followers we need to be painting the world with the fluorescent colours of heaven, people should be better off because we are in their world. Our words our actions our lives must reveal the life that Christ has made available for all to share in.

GOING THE DISTANCE

The other day I was sitting at my second office at Mermaids (a beach side cafe) watching my son surf and I was thinking to myself why is it that some people can go the distance in their Christian walk, they finish their race strong, they receive their crown.
Where for some others they give up half way through, they walk the final miles, they change races, or worse still they forfeit the race by not even turning up.

Is it their prayer life?
Is it their knowledge of the bible?
Is it the church that they attend?
Is it just easier for some?
Is it their upbringing?
Is it their DNA?

Luke 2: 36 - 38
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.

What a champion Anna was, now that's going the distance.

The more and more that I live in this life the more and more I realize that its a little to do with those things but more to do with a word called RESILIENCE.

Resilience means: The power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity

There are many common threads in resilient people, one would definitely be that they don't make excuses.

EXCUSES ARE THE MORPHINE OF OUR DAY.

Luke 14: 16-20
16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’

I can not come to the banquet don’t bother me now I have married a wife I have bought me a cow! How many young people do I see that are on fire for God and suddenly when they realise that the opposite sex is different they drop their commitments and start making excuses.
The church isnt growing because……
I can’t leave her alone because……
I can’t be involved because….
I can’t stay married because….
I can’t handle that person because……
Well I can’t change the way I am because….
“The reason people blame things on the previous generations is that there is only one other choice”
Some things excuses say about you:

1. THEY ARE ME FOCUSED.

All of the excuses given started of by each person saying I. I have to do this, and be here, me myself.

2. THEY JUSTIFY WHERE YOU ARE AT.


3. EXCUSES REFLECT A DEFEATED SOUL.

Excuses end up covering our own feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.

OVER THE FENCE

After some changes in my routine of late the ripple effect became evident in my commitment to the gym, so this week the attempt has been made to get back on track, I am sure feeling it now. When that alarm goes off at 4.50am and like today it was raining everything screams at you to pull up the blankets because you deserve a reprieve.
So how do we do it? How do you get out of a rut of anykind and get back into your groove?

Norman Vincent Peale the great Pastor and motivational speaker once said, "Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow".

What a great statement.
How do I make my marriage work?
How do I get closer to God?
How do I face my future?
How can I trust the church?

Throw your heart over "your" fence and the rest will follow!

DOORS

Rev. 3:20 (NLT)
"Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.

When I was a kid my mother would always avoid the JW’s or Mormons when they came knocking on the neighbourhood doors. One time she was in such a hurry to get the front door shut that she slammed it on my fingers.

When Jesus wants to come into the door of our heart do you think wants to:

· Come in and smash you – especially if He's been waiting outside long time.
· Re arrange your life
· Make it harder for you
· Condemn you

Jesus said that he wants to eat with you, share a meal together.
In this N.T time sharing a meal was one of the most intimate things that someone could do.

• Intimacy is what every person in life really wants
• Its when you can be with someone who you really are
• Its what we want in marriage
• Its what we want with God
• Its here I am take me as I am take me as I am

Our problem is that we can get so busy doing Gods work and miss the very essence of what God desires from us.
Most of us cant even sit down at home to eat, or take a lunch break and eat.
So if God wants to sit down and eat then it better be a good reason.

To be fully known and to be fully accepted without any fear of rejection.
A place where we can know everything about each other.

Take time today to get intimate with a God who wants to share a meal at your place.