Devotionals

Nudie Rudies

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lance

For those of you that have had the privilege (a dubious title) of changing the nappy of a toddler, you would likely have picked up on something… And, no, I’m not talking about the foul stench that may be gloriously presented before you. A toddler’s only objectives are to grow and burn as much energy as possible. Each day, they are gaining strength and fine-tuning their motor skills; a couple of which just happen to be the ability to physically refuse with their newly acquired strength and, in the blink of an eye, run away. It’s as if they have an instant download of heroic powers from Flash Gordon himself. This seems to be an ongoing occurrence at our place and even more so after a bath. Our youngest one loves being in the bath. Everything is free. The water is warm and relaxing, it feels cleansing and refreshing and, above all things, there are usually BUBBLES! Why in the world would you ever want to get out? Out into the cold harsh reality of ‘life beyond bath’; only to go and have someone shove something restricting on you!?

They are simply happiest when they are naked.

It may seem all cute and adorable at the time in a toddler, but I believe there is a parable here for grown-up folks as well. As Christians, there are some fundamental challenges for us nestled in what appear to be the simplest parts of life. As we mature in our faith, and unavoidably our age, there’s no hiding that each day comes with its own challenges. It’s so easy to get caught up in it all and let life become a burden. However, this is not Gods intention for us. God has placed freedom before us and He wants us to grab it with both hands.

Briefly, I’d like to place our attention on David. King David’s story about the Ark of God is a classic portrayal of freedom in Christ. David was a king, a man of power and influence, a man of many shortcomings, yet a man forever chasing the heart of God. In 2 Samuel 6, the Ark of the Covenant was brought to King David and the House of Israel. The whole place erupted with celebration. They were pumped! The presence of God was coming to town. The Israelites were celebrating with all their might: vigour, power, strength, passion, zeal, radiance and DYNAMISM. (What a great word.)

The end of the party, however, must have wrecked them. Obviously, David liked the idea of the Ark coming to town, but after a bit of an incident (read: a guy died because he touched it), David became a little scared when he saw just how powerful the Ark was. So he had the Ark sent to Obed-Edom’s house. However, during the Arks time there, David got word of how Obed’s place had become continuously blessed. Man! If my mates place had God’s presence all over it and I was missing out; I’d be like, “Ooooh, Gimme sum of dat!”

So at a guess, I’d say David got a wee bit jealous, and I don’t blame him! I wouldn’t want to miss out on it either. We need to get hungry for more; never becoming complacent or letting fear or shame take away from that. If we become too afraid, we may miss out and not get the full blessing God has intended for us. His presence brings blessing.

When the Ark finally came to him, David danced will all his might, stripping down to his linen ephod. David took off his kingly garments, essentially stripping himself of his title and humbling himself before a King greater than he. How many times do we come to worship God with our title still hanging off us? In my life there has been countless times when I have stood in the presence of God and I have just felt like ripping everything off. Not so much physically, but just start tearing off everything that has restricted me over time, just so I can know what it is like to stand fully uninhibited in Gods presence.

Yes, David looked like an idiot and was frowned upon, but he didn’t care; he knew where his security and freedom was. We may feel or look silly, but others will see your passion and passion is infectious. You may dance funnier than the person next to you, clap out of time, your singing may even be best kept for the shower! But you know what? God doesn’t care! He wants you to enter through His gates – Free.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

~

 Psalm 100.

Recently God has been teaching me about His freedom. He’s taken my ‘nappy’ off, He has put me back in the bath and I’m doing best not to be taken out and clothed by limitation’s wardrobe. I want to be less restricted, so that I can move with DYNAMISM; pressing into Him. I want to encourage us all to take a good look at ourselves in the ‘mirror’. That mirror may be your Bible or your prayer life, or even a song. However you connect and whatever you see, I pray that the reflection is an image full of promise and freedom. Become comfortable with who you are and know that with full assurance, you are a child of the Most High, created in His image. By grace, we have already entered through His gates, there is now no reason we have to stand in His courts, trying to cover who we really are, insecure and despondent. We can actually stand there NAKED! Vulnerable, safe, secure and empowered, because WE are His people and God’s love for us endures forever.

So this week, how about each day we wake up and get naked? Let’s get to church – naked. That’s right, completely starkers! Now, I’m not suggesting we start another MONA event, but imagine how it would feel to take off all the things we may have been clothed with over time, only to become known as a people that move, every day, in the freedom of God.

Peace.

Written by Lance Cooper

A Second Mile Spirit

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nic

One frustrating tendency we’ve developed as a society is the frantic pace we seem to be expecting ourselves to sustain each and every day.

Just 2 years ago I was given a second chance at life, literally; surviving an ischaemic stroke caused by a bloody clot in the base of my brain stem. At the time, I was allowing myself to work under significant pressure, trying to balance 68 balls in the air, and still keep enough in the tank to bring up my young family, spend time with my wife and live a purpose-filled life….

A life event such as this has the tendency to make you sit up and consider things in quite a different way, and for me, this one was transformational.

It was only later on that I realised this was God’s will and grand plan.

Indulge me for a moment; think of a time in your life when you feel like you’ve lost control: a moment of high stress, conflict with a co-worker, a bitterly angry partner, relationship breakdown or maybe your own health scare… During these times, our mind has a cruel habit of misplacing its wisdom (when it’s most needed), and the outcome does not fulfill any purpose. This is when God does his best work… often through us, his divine grace and love impact a much wider group of people we’re blissfully unaware are being affected by our experience.

God presents us with challenges, opportunities and ‘moments’ every day – our challenge is to listen with the intent to understand his whispers and encouragement.

Pastor Greg Jones spoke about developing a different spirit on Sunday and, importantly, demonstrated to us all exactly what it looks like to live on the ‘second mile’.

Caleb (Numbers 14:24) demonstrated a different attitude than the others; he remained planted in God’s great vision. He had a different approach because he had a different heart; he didn’t whinge and moan about what he didn’t have; he didn’t focus on what was wrong with the situation. Rather, he made a choice. Caleb used the power we all have every day, the power to choose what we feel like on the inside.

Regardless of what’s going on around you, you always have a choice. Since nearly losing everything, my perspective on life’s choices is very different. I take the opportunity every day to ‘jump out of the box’, and live life with passion, purpose and not to just fall back into the landscape.

God is saying “let me out” Live on the second mile, let his light shine through you, and live every day like it’s a gift – which is exactly what it is!

Written by Nic Stephen

All You Need is Love, but Eggs are Good Too!

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It comes in many forms. A number of customs have shaped it, but it’s true meaning has been largely lost among the chicks and eggs we have come to expect. I’m talking about Easter, of course. The hard working bakers are busy ensuring the counter is jam packed full of hot cross buns. The fisherman are ensuring the punt is squirming with seafood ready for another year of record sales. The supermarket staff perfectly line up merchandise in an aisle devoted to hundreds of eggs. However, this time to take it easy, rejoice in chocolate and spend time with family has more than the superficial, commercial meaning which society at large has given it.

So many of us are missing a spiritual link to Easter. Our Easter narrative is sometimes devoid of even a mention of Jesus on a cross. What do the people telling me, “have a happy Easter” mean? Do Those we rub shoulders with in our every day lives have a good sense of this exciting holiday that means so much to us Christians? It makes me ponder whether our society has any connection to the festival other than appreciation of a long weekend, a BBQ and, of course, eggs. As a support worker for some of those vulnerable in our community, it’s interesting to get a glimpse into their stories about the Easter bunny and of course the upcoming zombie apocalypse where Batman saves the day. They seem to know more about the Easter bunny and bilby than I thought possible. They know all the great hiding spots for their egg hunt and can’t wait to make craft baskets stuffed with fake grass, little yellow chicks and of course filled to the brim with Angry Birds popping candy eggs!

Their joy and enthusiasm is fantastic to witness, but it does make it obvious that in some ways the commercialisation and Easter bunny have stolen the thunder of the true meaning.

The concept of Easter is so simple! Easter is a time when we remember what Jesus’ sacrifice means for humanity. It’s something I couldn’t consider doing, but I’m glad Jesus did. “The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.”, John 15:13, CEV. Life is such a precious thing, and despite the terror we see more frequently in the news, we have the opportunity to live without fear, because the greatest act of love ever on earth happened at this time, Easter. In John 1:29 “The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’” (John 1:29-30, MSG.) Instead of being separated from God through our imperfections and rebellion, we have a new, everlasting covenant where Jesus, our sacrificial lamb, laid down his life to pay for our sins. When He rose from the dead three days later, Jesus gave victory over eternal separation from God death to all who believe in Him. In a nutshell, the new covenant enables us an everlasting life spent with God through our faith in all that Jesus has done.

Easter is a burst of new life! The great thing about the humble Easter egg is that it symbolises the empty tomb, a bird hatches to life from it and Jesus rose from the grave so that those who believe in Him will have life for-everlasting. Church is still a place many flock to over the Easter period. As active believers, we can connect to new people and inspire them to consider a journey with the living Jesus, showing them the love we know, and who it’s from. We all desire to be loved. The Beatles summed it up pretty well – “Love is all you need.” A baby can’t survive without love, their emotional and neurological pathways require love to function. Love keeps us adults healthy too. We’ve heard it plenty of times; love is kind, love is patient, never jealous boastful or proud. Love is always supportive, loyal and trusting. Love never fails! (See 1 Cor 13:4-8) Easter is about love, ultimate love for humanity when there was no other way. The only, hard and painful way was walked for us by Jesus, with the utmost highest supernatural love possible.

By Rob Wise

Prayer Like A Mosquito

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Farewelling summer is met with a touch of sadness in our house. My husband, myself and our two boys adore the warm, summery and luxuriously long days. We enjoy daily swimming or surfing, even if its just for 5 minutes after dinner. We love coffee on our back deck with the dog passed out in the sun. There is often a paddling pool up in the back yard for the boys and the sprinkler is on. We go to bed absolutely spent and happy. We love everything about summer days. Well, almost everything…

There is one thing we will be quite happy to send on its sweet way at the change of seasons. You see, with the beach on one side of our house and marsh land on the other, we get many mosquitos. I don’t just mean the occasional mozzie. I mean plagues of the little tyrants. They quite literally suck! We hate them and yes, hate is a strong word. They wait in the dark places during the day. They are waiting for our heads to hit the pillow so they can circle in waves. Occasionally they stop, but without fail, just before we slip into slumberland they are back. Touching down on our foreheads and making us swipe at ourselves like crazed lunatics. Every so often it get so dire that my husband gets up out of bed (shock horror) and initiates the blood bath on our bedroom ceiling armed only with his underpants and a flexible yet firm book.

A mosquito is such a tiny creature but nonetheless, its perseverance and persistence get results: our blood! In 1 Thessalonians 5 v 17 it tells us to be persevering in prayer. I can’t think of anything much that is more persistent than a mozzie. You can even threaten to kill them, but they just keep coming back.

Again, in Luke 18 v 1-8, Jesus tells us to be like the persistent widow who drove the judge crazy for her cause so that eventually, through her persistence, not because he even cared, he granted her request. Furthermore, God tells us to be like Jacob, who wrestled with God. “I will not let go unless you bless me” he said. To be honest, I sometimes find it a bit strange that our all loving, all powerful God would want us to be this persist and this desperate in prayer, but when Romans 12 v 12 says “be faithful in prayer,” Colossians 4 v2 says “devote yourself to prayer” and Ephesians 6 v 18 says “pray in the spirit on all occasions”, you know it is something God wants from us.

A quote that my friend recently put on social media today caught my eye. It said, “Are you praying about it as much as you are talking about it?”.

Over the last little while my prayers have been pretty desperate. At times, I have thought that maybe it’s just not the will of God and wondered about giving up. Although, when you want something enough, you’ll keep at it. Like the mosquitos drive for blood, I have a need in my life which until it is granted, I will not stop. I know God is teaching me lessons along the way. Lessons of patience, lessons of trust, lessons of grace. I have prayed persistently, although I haven’t yet prayed about my need more than what I have thought about it. So I’m keeping at it because I believe that the word of God is the truth and is power and the blood of Christ means that I can pray directly to the creator of the universe. How incredible is that?! Yes, I am going to keep praying persistently because I don’t think I’ve reached the annoyance level of a Lauderdale mosquito yet! After all, in comparison to an infuriating mosquito, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

By Rachel Cooper

Naming Your Animals

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The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. Genesis 2:18-20

I think everyone has a teacher throughout their schooling at some point with whom they just don’t click. For me, that teacher came quite early on, in the form of Mrs. Gerke, my grade 3 teacher. I don’t have a single positive memory of my year inside her classroom but some of the negatives still stick out to me. One particular comment that I remember receiving was “you don’t have a single creative bone in your entire body, do you?” I thought of her the day I had my first piece of writing published, and again on the day I sold my first painting. I regularly think of her as I teach creative writing and try to bring out my student’s creative natures. Sadly, this is a sentiment I hear echoed constantly among students and adults alike. There seems to be some sort of perception that some of us are creative and the rest of us are not and there is nothing we can do about it. Not true, my friends!

Reading this scripture, I am reminded that our creativity is not just a gift or rare or special talent, it is part of our nature, that’s HUMAN nature. That means everyone, which means you. Even Mrs. Gerke. How do we know we are all creative in nature? Because we are made in the image of God and none can deny His creativity.

In fact, as Pastor Lucas preached so compellingly on Sunday, the very first time we hear Adam use his voice, the first words spoken by humanity, it is to step into the creative nature of God. Do you think God didn’t have ideas about what the animals should be called? Of course, but he called upon Adam to name them. Adam’s creative nature was activated in that moment as he took decisive action. The whole purpose behind Adam naming the animals was for him to figure out what it was he needed. He was looking for a companion, but it was only as he looked at the situation before him and named it, he figured out that what he needed wasn’t there. He needed a creative solution, one that hadn’t been seen before; he needed Eve!

So I’m wondering, what animals do we need to name this week? What parts of your life do you need to evaluate to figure out whether or not it is truly what you need? Where can God bring a creative solution to your problem?

Your creative nature isn’t just the ability to draw a picture or write a song, although if you can do those things to glorify God and bless others, then great, do them! Your creative nature is the ability to think in ways that haven’t been thought of before, to reject the obvious and see beyond the natural. Your creative nature is to speak new life and fresh ideas into being.

 

By Jen Grubb