My Stories - Page 1
Cold house, warm house
A house stands in silence, there is not heating, no food, no light, no comfort. A Lone woman lives there in despair; cold, hungry and uncomfortable. She weeps, she’s lonely, no one to hear her, no one to talk to. She cries out in desperation; there’s a knock at the door but, she ignores it and continues to live in her dark cold house alone.
A house stands in silence, there is no heating, no food, no light, no comfort. A Lone woman lives there in despair; cold, hungry and uncomfortable. She weeps, she’s lonely, no one to hear her, no one to talk to. She cries out in desperation; there’s a knock at the door, she opens the door, Jesus is standing there. She lets Him in, He brings light, He brings warmth, He brings water and bread, He brings comfort. Her life is transformed, she now has everything she needs because she is no longer alone.
Revelation 3:20, which says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me".
You might be crying out for help but crying so loudly you cannot hear the knock at the door You might be asking to know your place in this world but, rather than opening the door when you get the knock, you go into the attic and look through a chest full of memories. You might be looking for answers to questions you’ve had for years and using magnifying glasses or binoculars to look when, the answer is standing outside your door. I’ve known people who have had financial difficulties and prayed for help. Then a friend turns up with an envelope full of money and they turn them away saying, “it’s ok, I’m waiting for God to answer my prayer.” God HAS answered their prayer by sending that friend. Sometimes human beings have a tendency to be comfortable in their discomfort. I have worked in a pastoral capacity for three decades with people of all ages and have come to understand that when someone loses control and live in a state of despair, when they live in that state for so long, it becomes a familiar place to be, it’s a consistent state and so they become used to living that way to the point where they feel it’s the only thing in their life that they have control over. This, obviously, is a false mindset but, it’s a mind set that sets up barriers to the truth, especially the truth of the word that says in John 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Previous to this in verse 31 and 32 Jesus tells us: "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." and as we are told in Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord."
Many of us believe that when we are praying for a miracle for our finances to be sorted that the miracle will be so amazing that all our debts will by wiped clean overnight by God yet, God has never promised that in His word. When the miracle of a friend turning up at our door with an envelope of money comes, we do not recognise it as the miracle that it is. The enemy comes to steal kill and destroy, he will steal our hope, he will kill our faith and destroy our enthusiasm if we let him. What we need to understand is that knock on the door, that ever faithful friend waiting outside, patiently hoping you will open the door, is the real miracle in our story of life. Jesus is the answer to our life’s worries and fears, he tells us in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
You may not get an instant miracle but, you will become the miracle through Him. You will overcome your worries and fears in His strength 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
At the very beginning of time when Yahweh created the earth, He created man and woman and they were blessed but, along came the snake, that deceitful devil and lied to the woman a convinced her to disobey Yahweh and then Adam allowed himself to be deceived, from that point on, hardship and difficulties entered the world, sickness entered, selfishness came in and sin, through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. The world has become so dark because of sin and so we have become numb to the truth, that sin has caused destruction from generation to generation yet, Yahweh has given us a way out but we have become blind to that way, we have turned it away when it knocks on our door.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life."
We need to open the door and let Yeshua come in and change us, feed us, water us, strengthen us and warm our lives with his love
God loves a restoration project
Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He RESTORES my soul and leads me in paths of righteousness for His names sake.
To restore means to repair, to fix what is broken, to reconstruct, to rehabilitate, to re-establish.
There is a wonderful programme that I love to watch called "the repair shop" its basically a large converted barn that houses many talented and gifted people that are experts in various restoration fields. People bring their much treasured damaged items in the hope of somehow having their items restored to some sort of assemblance of their former glory.
Toys from the 1920's, furniture, clothing or shoes, instruments, etc. What I find incredible is that these experts are able to perform "miracles"; they repair the items to an almost brand new state, they look like they were never damaged but, we know, only one person can perform miracles.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were ejected from Eden, sin entered the world. We know this, it is spoken about many times in God's word. This means that the world became a broken place. Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, all people from that point on carried that sin;
Because sin entered the world people became selfish, self righteous, self important, greedy, impatient, angry, jealous, envious, uncaring and so on. The world began to stray from God's original design and individuals turned away from Him; we became broken. Isaiah 59:1-2 says: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear."
Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened; if anything, the Lord's hand is reaching out to a broken world, a world that has seperated itself from His presence His love. Can you imagine how He felt when He banished His beloved Adam and eve from the garden of Eden? I can imagine His heart breaking at that point however, He had a plan in mind already to restore ou relationship with Him.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..."
This scripture is one of the most famous scriptures that the world has ever known, but there is more to it. Yes Jesus was Gods ultimate plan for reconciliation and Jesus brought about the Love of God and with His love comes protection, guidance, the ultimate Fatherhood, reparation, reconciliation. Jesus came, not only to "Seek and save that which was lost" Luke 19:10 or, as Matthew 20:28 says: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." He came to take our burdens upon Himself.
You see, when He gave His life on the cross at Calvary, He not only took our sins, He took our shame, our guilt, our anxiety, our illnesses, our hurt upon Himself. We are told in 1 Peter 5:6-8 "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." God want to restore you, He wants to heal the hurts, heal the scars, restore you to Himself but also restore you to be who He intended you to be.
Ephesians 2:10 states that "We are His workmanship, created for good works in Christ that He prepared beforehand that you should walk in them." Gods plan for us is to prosper and succeed as Jeremiah stated but we can only do this if we allow God to restore us, to accept Jesus as our saviour and give our lives to Him, then He can rescue, repair and restore us to a new life, full of joy, peace and assurance that He will never leave nor forsake us.
Hoarding
Romans 12 verse 2 "Do not be conformed to this world by be transformed by the renewing of your mind"
How many times have you watched programmes on hoarders? Do you have a family member who is a serial hoarder? Are you a hoarder?
We all know that some people hoard, and hoard to the point that they have to climb over things to get from room to room or even through the front door, these people have got some serious issues that they haven't addressed, for whatever reason that may be.
We also know that for someone that owns a lot of things, when you are trying to find something you want or need, you can never find it and how frustrating can that be?
Imagine; you're trying to find the remote for the TV but it's under a pile of stuff that will take all day to sort through, some people can't even find their tv never mind the remote.
To some extent, we can all be hoarders. How many times have you been to a car boot sale or market, seen something you like the look of, then buy it on a whim and, when you get home it ends up on a shelf in the spare room or in a drawer never to be seen for weeks, months and even years?
Some people are brave enough to take the plunge and get rid of stuff, either to the tip or to a charity shop but, how many of us while packing have changed our minds about certain items, or almost made it to the charity shop but turned around before getting to the door? How many of us have gotten as far as taking them, only to go back the next day and buy them back or replaced them with something else?
Imagine a house filled to the brim with clutter in every room and you're having to climb over stuff, through stuff, around stuff and even under stuff and, believe me, I've seen it on a documentary. And you see professionals clambering over all kinds of objects to get from the front door to the lounge to find somewhere to sit and talk.
What kind of life is that for anybody?
We can all say that we hoard material things at times but, what about things that affect us much deeper?
Are we holding onto things that don't do us any good? Things that are useless, pointless, damaging to our mental environment, things that get in the way of life or ministry.
People that hold onto and collect emotions are trapped in a world where they can't move for fear of tripping, falling, bumping into things and even losing things that they hold dear.
Life can be a huge stumbling block that trips us up on a daily basis with its complications, its relentless onslaught of upset, disappointment, frustrations and situations that cause turmoil in our lives that turn our world upside down.
How can you feel happiness, joy or contentment if there is no room in you because of holding on to all those feelings.
How can you be a glass half full person if it's already filled with bitter wine?
Are you still wearing an old wine skin that is becoming worn down by overused and strained emotions? It is unstitched by the constant pressure of trying hold in too much until it burst open under that pressure?
One of the biggest things that people hoard, refuse to get rid of, is unforgiveness.
The McGregor ministries Church in Norfolk, America states: "Unforgiveness is to the soul what cancer is to the physical body."
Unforgiveness gives the enemy a foothold ìn our life to instill lies and deceit that cause separation.
John 10v10 says: "The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy."
His aim is to kill our self esteem, our confidence; to steal our joy, peace and contentment. He wants to destroy our relationships, especially with our Heavenly Father; he wants to destroy our hope, the vision for our lives. He wants to bring us to our knees where we are at the point when we are no longer a threat to him.
Unforgiveness and bitterness is the one thing that takes up most of the space in our lives, it's one of the main things that stops us getting out the front door, the hazard that causes us to fall.
As part of my job, I have to do regular risk assessments to check for possible hazards that can cause a risk of harm to my physical self. I think it's really important that we do regular risk assessments on our thoughts and feelings because if we don't, we run the risk of falling into unforgiveness, low confidence, low self esteem and depression.
Other things can take up residence in our minds, such as work load, thoughts of future goals can become our main thought, identity, belongings, relationships, our need to be like someone famous, the gain of money, the need for constant affirmation, the need to be desirable, to be friends with everyone in the entire world.
Are we aware that, whatever we focus on the most, becomes an idol?
Louise Giglio, in his book : "The Air I Breathe", states "What we worship, we imitate, what we imitate, we become."
Things overtake our minds, our infatuation with individuals, our desires, our worries, our fears, can all become idols because they are all we are focused on.
In Exodus 20 verses 3-5 God tells us clearly: "You must not have any other God but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods...."
God wants our complete focus, our complete attention on Him at all times, not on other things;
Paul tells us in Colossians 2v2: "Set your minds on things above and not on things below."
most of us hold on to thoughts of a better life brought about by having lots of money enabling us to purchase all the things we think would make us happy. This becomes a false idol to us, we worship that idea, its all we think about yet we fail to realise this.
There is something to be said for being a glass half full kind of person but, if we want to be filled with the things of God; with His wisdom, His grace, His love and mercy, His anointing, we need to empty our glass completely of everything that would stop that happening. If your glass is full already with things of the world; worry, fear, longing, loneliness, bitterness, unforgiveness, how can He fill your cup?
It is important in these times of uncertainty, with war and famine and disease, that we start to look beyond what we can see and hear but to the one who cares for us. get rid of those idols that are causing you difficulty and give everything to God. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
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