What we really need to remember...

"He" is not us.

He doesn't exist within the famework of our selves. He is His own. A life force, independent and moving of His own accord.

Why do we frame God?

God is other. He is not us. We need sometimes to go to where God is at, rather than continually bringing Him into our own reality. His reality goes so much further.

While you slept

While you slept
The world moved on without you;
Whilst you couldn't decide
Others chose to move on.
While you waited for everyone else
They'd already changed beyond recognition;
You woke up
And things weren't the same.

Is this exactly what you wanted?
What you desire to become?
Are you now a product of destiny,
Or a by-product of other people's wrongs?

You're the one who can change
You're the one who can change it all

A mind was filled with revolution theory
But the theory remained inside.
Whilst you sat alone thinking it through,
Others got up and made the change.
It is right to live someone else's life,
If they're sleeping too?
Just wake up and take a look around,
Wake up and take a look around you.

Did you want to spectate or be in the centre?
What is your part in the game?
Are you leading the charge moving forward,
Or still in bed dreaming big dreams?

You're the one who can change
You're the one who can change it all

One more second becomes an hour too quickly,
A day soon passes by, then a year.
A spirit is waiting, how patient He waits,
How long will you stay here, how long?

Problems #4

Problems occur when we blame "the system" or an outside force for our own lack of right-choosing and morality.

Problems #3

Problems occur when our faith becomes too complicated.

Get off facebook and get a life...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090220/tuk-get-off-facebook-and-get-a-life-dba1618.html

Problems #2

Problems occur when we look to God to fulfil a role that man is capable of doing himself.

Problems #1

Problems occur when we look to people to fulfil a role only God is capable of.

You just gotta read this...

http://davidlindner.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/selfishness-the-root-of-all-bad-worship-services/

Finally

Have spent the past month or so getting a tune together which represents a vision I had of a pendulum. It's in the player on the sidebar. I'll share the vision at some point too!

Anger and Disobedience

So here's a tough post which for me sums up the walk of 2008. Since October this year, I've asked God clearly how he would wish me to see things as we approach 2009. Through at least 3 people and/or situations, He told us (Ellie and I)to look at Jonah.

Jonah?

But wasn't he the spoilt, disobedient brat with an anger problem, who was trying to second-guess God?

Yeah.

Ok, so this was always going to be a little too "honest" and close to the knuckle for me, but it will shape a future if it's God speaking.

I've spent a lot of time in 2009 feeling a dejected, angry and confused. I was really hoping for some things to move on, but apparently they didn't. What I failed to see however, was that I hadn't obeyed God on a key area of my own life, whilst I was busy telling Him how to deal with the "Ninevah's" I saw all around me.

"One day long ago, God's Word came to Jonah, Amittai's son: "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer." But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get."

But God doesn't need to me to tell Him about those other things. He needs me to respond to His calls and direction on my life.

God said, "What do you have to be angry about?"

So really, I got angry due to my own disobedience and lack of covenant-keeping with God.

But as we enter 2009, my prayer is changing. I wish to remember God. I have now decided to forget resolutions, and make a covenant of obedience in one key area of my life. I'm calling out rom the belly of the whale!

"When my life was slipping away,
I remembered God,
And my prayer got through to you,
made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
walk away from their only true love.
But I'm worshiping you, God,
calling out in thanksgiving!
And I'll do what I promised I'd do!
Salvation belongs to God!"

Ellie and I are studying this book (Jonah) at the mo, and I'll post more as it pops up. But the key question for me remains.

"When we get angry at God, is it always because of what He has done / not done? Or are we sometimes ignoring our own responsibilities?"

Intervention

This year, Christmas has struck me in a particular way. I've followed advent and the singing of traditional advent carols in a more thoughtful way this time around. A few really hit home for me. Particularly "O Come O Come Immanuel". Is it just me or is this carol a really depressing one?

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

The first verse seems to capture the mood of the carol. Israel was captive to Rome, a nation in exile, with prophetic promises unfulfilled, and an impatient waiting for the Saviour of the world to appear. There is a desperation in the words here. Mourning, captivity, "o come" - a plea to God.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Death's dark shadows, un-cheered spirits, gloomy clouds of night. Israel was not in a good state. They were a good generation away from the last prophecies, and hope must have been in short supply. But they held on to a vague belief that God incarnate was on His way to save them. Ok they had more of an idea of political and war-mongering type revolution (which wasn't quite what Jesus did, he sort of trancended all of that), but they were watching and waiting in hope.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Thinking further, one can see here that the people were in a woeful, miserable, unfulfilled sate of longing. How many of us have been in that place? Unfulfilled hopes, waiting on prophecy to be brought to completion, sitting in misery, looking to God (and sometimes everywhere else we can find..!), mourning, exile, an un-peace-able-ness-until-God-sorts-it-out.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

The carol tells the Israel of history to wait, as God is coming. But we are singing back to the Israel of the past. The tense has changed. God has come. He did not stand by and watch his people in misery, destroying themselves, and being destroyed. He intervened. He came Himself, in flesh and blood, and encountered the human race first hand. He does not let His people go.

So as I read this carol I think with hindsight that we can "rejoice". We know God incarnate came through Jesus. He rescued His people in a way that went beyond what they dreamed or hoped. His revolution continues today in our hearts.

So this Christmas, as many struggle through times of difficulty, , at times feeling exiled from God's will, we have a hope that is celebrated in Christmas.

God comes.
God intervenes.
He doesn't just "stand there".

We invite His advent this Christmas for all those who are losing hope in their circumstances. There is a hope. There is a future in Jesus. Happy Christmas.

An Honest Prayer

I'm praying for you,
But not really for you
Because the things I ask God for
Are actually going to make my life easier.

If I really asked God what you need,
Would I say the same prayer?
If I really asked God what He wants,
Would the words trip so quickly from my mouth?

When you're so close that things affect me,
It's hard to know when care turns to self.
To know when I've stopped praying for you
And started praying for me.

So I'll try to be honest with you God,
And let my prayers be true.
I'll admit that I'm praying for myself,
Instead of praying for you.

Blatently linking to someone else's blog...

I've been posting on David Gate's blog recently, and found lots of really good thoughts and critique on the worship "industry" and environment in which we find ourselves. His recent posts on Worship Cliches really hit the spot. Check them out.

Worship is a lifestyle

Theology from songs

Worship music in the charts

Why are some people so darned insightful

I used to listen loads to a guy called Henry Rollins. He never minced his words. One of his old tracks - Low Self Opinion, really struck me afresh recently, as an epidemic in our society, church, workplaces and families.

A great refrain of encouragement at the end.



I think you got a low self opinion man
I see you standing all by yourself
Unable to express the pain of your distress
You withdraw deeper inside
You alienate yourself
And everybody else
They wonder what`s on your mind
They got so tired of you
And your self ridicule
They wrote you off and left you behind



You sleep alone at night
You never wonder why
All this bitterness wells up inside you
You always victimize
So you can criticize yourself and all those around you


The hatred you project
Does nothing to protect you
You leave yourself so exposed
You want to open up
When someone says "Lighten up"
You find all your doors closed
Get yourself a break from self rejection
Try some introspection and you just might find
It`s not so bad and anyway at the end of the day
All you have is yourself and your mind


The self hatred that blinds you
Binds you
grinds you
keeps you down
The world falls down around you
You build up walls around you
You wear disgust like a crown



If you could see the you that I see
When I see you seeing me
You`d see yourself so differently
Believe me
I know the self doubt that runs inside your mind
I know the self that treats you so unkind

If you could see the you that I see
When I see you
You would see things differently
I assure you

The Have and Havant's

So I'm sure loads of people will draw Christian references to the obvious rise of the underdogs that saw Havant and Waterlooville take on Liverpool in the FA cup on Saturday afternoon.

I'm sure they will, but I'm also sure there is good reason. Who could fail to be moved by the rise of this non-league side? Who could not feel their gut wrench with that young fan who burst into tears as his team scored the first goal of the encounter?

But the bit that really got me was this quote on the commentary (don't quote me exactly on this though):

"And the van driver exits the pitch to make way for the bin-man".

Such ordinary people. With ordinary jobs. Holding down an ordinary income to pay the ordinary mortgage and keep their wives/girlfriends (not wags) and kids fed and housed (in an ordinary house). Yet called, just this once, to something completely extraordinary. Called against an adversary of such higher ranking and strength. Yet they held the nation's heart for that fleeting moment. They moved forward without fear, and left with their heads held high. In their moment of truth, they gave all that they had. They also put fear in the heart of the Liverpool players, who thought they were out for a walk in the park against this ordinary non-league team. But what the nation saw wasn't ordinary, it was amazing.

Living the lives we live, it's easy to feel the drain of the ordinary drawing passion out of our lives. So many of us do the normal jobs, have a mortgage to pay, marriages to prosper, lives to maintain. But there is a calling to the extraordinary. I wonder how I would react if I was called to come face to a face with an enemy of such apparent higher strength, to play in a league way above the one my self-belief says I should be playing in. Would I move without fear? Would I attack with every ounce of strength? Would I launch into the challenges? The truth is that my calling is daily, my challenge ongoing, the opposition strong, and the prize beyond any trophies this world has to offer. How can I respond to that?

Monuments

At the moment, I work in London two days a week, and have the pleasure of taking a walk from Charing Cross station across Trafalgar Square, St James' Park, past Buckingham Palace, to Victoria (ok a bit of a let-down at the end).

Trafalgar square - great, love N's column.

St James' Park - beautiful, how do they keep all that wildfowl from dying of smog inhalation?

But it's Buckingham Palace that always stops me in my tracks. It's massive. And what really gets me is that it was built for one person. The Queen. Quite a normal, little old lady, the sort I would normally help to cross the road. But this massive structure of rooms, statues, gardens, gold, and massive gates keeping everyone out speaks of someone greater. It's this person that effectively has the rule over our country. This monument speaks of HRM's greatness, her authority and her power over us little underlings. Fortunately we live in a relative (?) democracy right now.

We recently visited Egypt as well. Whoa, those temples all built by Pharoh's to show off their greatness and power. Especially Rameses II (check his story out), I think we can deduce that he sort of loved himself, by the size of the monuments and temples that he built.

So I thought about this. These massive monuments and palaces speak of the power and authority assumed by certain people. But we have God. His power and His authority is greater than any of these. But we don't see massive buildings (well the churches, but in comparison to the palaces and temples...?) statues, things which the tourists make a bee-line for.

But as I think about this, I wonder whether it is something much more subtle than bricks and mortar? God's monument is his creation. It is by looking at everything, opening our eyes, that we see His glory on display. But the unseen, the incomprehensible has even more to offer. The galaxy in which our tiny world is just a speck. The universe holding billions of galaxies, which we haven't even sized-up yet. We then must be part of that monument (we are created by Him, check out Psalm 139), so our very lives can give glory to him. Bricks and mortar are one thing, they can look grand and royal and regal, but without God they wouldn't exist. Living and breathing creatures? That's another thing altogether, a created living mass, all with a built-in need to worship their creator. That's bigger than any palace. That's God at work.

And even more than that. God built his own creation, and he let us in. No-one left outside just taking pictures, wondering what it's like to live in the Palace of the King. All invited. We are dwelling in the glory of God. How crazy is that? Think on...