Hope by Suzaan Maree

It is that miraculously intangible thing that motivates the human spirit to believe that a beautiful thing awaits beyond the next horizon.

I once heard a lady tell the story of driving home and drawing a beautiful analogy from it. It was a journey of a few hours, just enough time to reflect on everything that was not going her way in her life.

It was winter and the usually lush landscape was barren, to suit her outlook.  As she watched the empty trees wizz by she noticed something that seemed entirely out of place.  There were blossoms on the bare branches, some of them were even budding.  It seemed entirely strange, it hadn’t rained yet, it was still winter!  God encouraged her with a sentiment she shared with us.

Blossoms herald the coming spring, they signalled for her that our Father brings reprieve before winters end.  He gives us hope before any of our circumstances signal that we have any right to hope for something different or better.

That is just the nature of His character, while we are still immersed by the seemingly insurmountable He reminds us that His promises are true.  For those who seek Him with all their hearts, He has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11-NIV).

When you are experiencing winter and the blossoms of hope appear, please ensure that you surround yourself with people who encourage that hope.  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13-NIV).

“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And HOPE does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Rom 5:3-5-NIV).

Disappointment – The Christian Killer by Anthony Ricco

I had a question this morning that was bothering me: why do people who have seen so much of God’s power and majesty fall back into the World?

I was thinking of Israel – they saw God’s mighty hand so many times, when Moses was up on Mt Sinai they could even see Him on there, but when Moses was up there for a while they built the 2 golden calves and started to worship them.

Or Judas. He walked with Jesus for 3 years. He saw Jesus heal the blind and the deaf, he saw the dead raised and nature obey Jesus’ words – he probably performed miracles himself. What would make him turn his back and betray his Rabbi?

And then God hit me with it – you ready – disappointment and a refusal to be discipled. That’s the cause.

You see the Israelites thought they would go out of Egypt and straight away into a conquered promised land and all would be great, but they couldn’t. If that had happened they would have very soon forgotten about God and started worshipping Egypt’s Gods. They had to go through a Discipleship phase. This is never a fun phase, it usually breaks us and brings us to surrender to God, a place that is best for us but hard to get to because we have to constantly put our flesh under.

So this phase led to the Israelite’s disappointment, because a lot of them didn’t count the cost of following God. We think we say a prayer giving our lives to God and all the riches and blessings in the world drop into our laps. We forget immediately the words we prayed; “We give our lives…” We don’t own them anymore – it now becomes God’s life to do as He wills with it, sometimes that entails persecution, loss of property etc. Don’t be discouraged and turn back to what you used to follow – this is part of discipleship – it is opening doors for God to fulfil His plan in our lives.

See, Judas betrayed Jesus because in his mind he had an idea of what the Messiah would be and what the Messiah would do. He thought the Messiah had come to destroy the Roman oppression and make Israel rulers over the world. But this Jesus was telling him that he was to be a servant to all mankind. He became disappointed because the Messiah was not the Messiah he had pictured in his mind. He betrayed Jesus because He wasn’t whom Judas had dreamed about.

Be careful how much value we put on the dreams in our lives and how we picture what God will do through us. Be willing to surrender your dreams to God and to let God have His way to further the kingdom, or we could end up betraying God because He isn’t doing what we pictured Him doing.

So what I’m saying is don’t put God into our plans, live in His. Don’t be disappointed if He doesn’t do what you pictured Him doing.

Remember who God is and who is the teeny tiny little creation He made. Remember next time you get disappointed, just who God is and remember how easily Judas and the Israelites turned their backs. Remember it can happen to any of us. Guard you hearts, don’t let disappointment in and be open to discipleship. Don’t make your plans and dreams God’s – rather make His plans and dreams yours.

Majestic Grace by Janine Rei

An adventure awaits, unknown territory yet to be explored, a cold crisp sensation, invading and numbing one’s being, from head to toe. An icy breeze easing through, uninvited to the core of your very flesh, turning lips ice cold purple, and comfort into a stranger.

Luscious green encamps around you, bringing an invigorating breath of life and hope. Taking a deep breath with my eyes closed for the slightest moment, I drift away captured by this scent that transforms life in living. Sounds of people in contrast to this tranquil jungle fade away, as I simply indulge in creation and ponder on the immaculate concept of the Creator, who so majestically and with much detail and thought, designed such substance – a secret place, astonishing and indescribable beauty that the one who created all, is the majestic hand who made all.

The sugar loaf hills reveal just a snip of His creativity …so sweet, remind us of the bread of presence and life. The raging sea screams His command, showing His instant Glory, obvious, who can ignore? His ever-loving, ever-gentle heart that beats in grace, mercy and sacrifice, that radiates His character, personality and the Father heart of God.

So I suppose the question is; why would God, put so much detail into daily masterpieces of splendour and beauty, painting a new picture each day on the canvas of life for us, human beings? Could it be perhaps to express the love He has for us, His children? The overwhelming heart beat that anticipates the excitement of presenting us with a new gift and blessing, day after day, year after year and lifetime after lifetime.

The Star Breather, who knows the stars by name. The Star Breather, who splashed a wonder display, a billboard of beauty gift-wrapped for us; reminding man how awesome and how big is the God we serve. Indescribable yet Humble, majestic yet merciful, exceptional wisdom and knowledge yet surprisingly preached in the simplest form, no big words, and no superior attitude but simply in stories, in parables. So simple but yet so complex, we never stop learning of His loving character that unravels more and more as we being to pursue a deeper, more intimate relationship with our Father and devour every word of His scriptures.

The Important Answers by Suzaan Maree

In this world there are truly so many things and happenings that compete for our attention. There is always something to distract us from God and our relationship with Him. Of course this is all attributable to what we often accept as the hectic pace of modern life. In the midst of all of these things we try to work out our salvation, and the character and questions that go with it.

There is something that God showed me. The questions that I have and ask about everything, ranging from His purpose to my perspective and self-esteem, are a potential source of healing or destruction.

The difference is who are you asking for the answers of the truly important questions of your life from?

If you ask people, even people that really love you, then their answer will only edify you to the extent that your relationship with them is intact. If your parents or friends, for instance, support a personal or career decision you have made, you might feel comforted. If you have a disagreement with any of them, you will likely also doubt their opinion and possibly your decision.

What I am trying to say is that people, as fantastic as they can be are not constant, but God is.

In His word God is described as the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and Omega, who was and is and is to come. He is constant and unchanging (James 1:17). Precisely this wonderful fact enables us to believe all of His promises and boldly trust His grace. He won’t change His mind. What I’m getting at is that God’s answers to the questions of your heart are as true and trustworthy as His character.

The primary source of these answers is of course His word and anything He tells you personally won’t find a contradiction in His word, it’s the test and your confirmation.

Of course, God also answers your personal prayers because He hears your requests and knows your concerns. I’ve found that God often answers my prayers by changing my perspective on my circumstances, because His ways are above ours (Proverbs 3:5).

The absolute advantage of seeking out God and His answers above mans, even your own, is the peace and certainty that accompanies conviction about the truth. If you wonder how God sees you or what you are called to I encourage you to seek out His answers. He truly knows you and your hearts desires, and His response has no agenda or falsehood. How wonderful it must be to know like Jeremiah and Joshua, with certainty, how God sees you and what He calls you to (Jeremiah 1 & Joshua 1).

Amazed + Confused   by maTT vZ

On any given day, my head is like a lost & found bin in the middle of Times Square after New Years. On any other given day, sometimes, so is yours. It’s not really working for me.

While trying to order my horribly, virulently mad thoughts and write this thingy, I’ve been looking through my ‘random’ folder in my ‘pictures’ directory on the laptop, trying to slow my head down.

Wafting cheerily across my screen therein were: a Fight Club soap bar, donkeys in the wind, midnight lightning in a hayfield, a massive Darth Vader hot-air balloon, blue-halo’d subway angels and aliens in acrylic, 70’s signage, 40-foot turquoise breakers and 30’s Chicago, an apocalyptic city, a sunset-silhouetted ocean cliff rock climber, Major Kusinagi and a creepy human-toothed manically smiling cat.

I named the folder well.

It’s where I keep all the trinkets and curios from my exotic Internet wanderings. Souvenirs, if you will. But perusing through it, I found it banged happily on the windows of my train of thought, demanding to come in and join the chaotic subject that was on my mind, that being in fact, my mind itself. Confused? Excellent, then we’re on the same page… whichever page… that may… be.

*cough*

.

..

…

Sorry, got up there for a minute. Wandered around aimlessly a bit. Been very distracted lately. There’s so much I wanna do, wanna be, but I just can’t seem to get around to it, and when I do… dammit I just can’t keep focused. My head flits around like one of those fat lazy flies, annoying me with its fart-like buzz yet never keeping still enough for me to cover-drive it into the window. All I really, REALLY want is – although I am forgiven and accepted and will live eternally in the utter awesomeness of God’s presence – to live NOW in the fullness of His will and truth, but I simply don’t seem to be getting anywhere.

How many of you have this kind of problem? That you just can’t seem to just sit yer butt down and just… get on with it?

I’m hoping a whole pile of you, ‘cos then I won’t feel so bad. And I do feel baaaad. It seems to have invaded almost every aspect of my life, from fun stuff to work stuff to love stuff… pretty much all stuff, with the exception of stuffing my face. That I do just fine.

And it has gotten chronic. I mean take this very paragraph, for example. I’m writing about… a month after the previous one. A month. For four lines.

So for you it might be something else, but whatever it is, I bet it leaves this… churning feeling in your gut, like you’re letting life disappear down a daily-wasted-day plughole that makes a particularly yousuck-ing noise on the way down. You get to a point where you don’t even know if you’re doing the right thing, or thinking the right way, or losing the plot completely. You just don’t know if you are ever gonna change, gonna kick that thing that you wish you had victory over, especially when you are always hearing that you have the victory, that all things are possible. Haha… man sometimes it makes you feel worse.

And where does that leave me, and perhaps you? Well there’s lots that can be said, and that has been said. By family, friends, loves and leaders. Some helps, some hurts. Maybe some keep encouraging, or some withdraw, or some get impatient, or variations and combinations of all the above. Even I perform several of these, sometimes all at once. And that’s ok. People are people. That’s why God loves ‘em.

It gets to a stage where you just end up broken, perhaps all snotty with tears, mayhap throwing a tantrum or two… or three (guilty) or simply… numb.

So. At this point you’re thinking: ‘gee, this is cheery stuff.’

And in a way, it is.

Earlier I mentioned how I can never keep focused. I was wrong. I was EXTREMELY focused. On every failure, hurt, disappointment, rejection, ignorance and dismissal – from within myself and from others, of myself and of others. To the point where it was ALL I saw. Doesn’t mean that these things weren’t happening or there, but it did mean I, in wanting so desperately to have these things resolved, saw ONLY them, and nothing else. None of the beauty, wonder, simple utter joys, hope and staggering love that God has gifted us – from natural jaw-droppers like the gajillion-starred splendor-fest of the skies and those tiny veins in your fingertips and the millions of little hemoglobin happily carting oxygen under your skin, to the supernatural power of Jesus’ blood and the sheer mind-popper of the Holy Spirit – the most powerful anything anywhere ever – being within you. YOU.

We often do this, because we want things to be all wonderful and lovely. We want all the problems to go away, to be solved. It’s natural, right? Right. Absolutely. It’s natural. But we are not. Not anymore. Through Jesus, through His incredible blood, we are supernatural – if we choose to be. If we can keep pushing in, keep control of our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit in us, seek God with all of ourselves, everything will be wonderful and lovely, even when naturally it seems a mess, a disaster or failure. Freaky, huh?

Take Paul, when he writes Philippians. This is probably one of the most joyous books in the Word. And he writes it while sitting at the bottom of a pit in Rome as a prisoner, waiting for Nero to fit him into his busy schedule. In chapter 4 sits some serious fizzbombs.

Phil 4: 5 – 7

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’

Now remember this guy is in a pit with pretty much nothing but a hole in the ceiling that is the only entry. And this is his advice. We think it’s hard in our sitchiation, which it is, within context of our experience. This stuff is hard. So how did Paul do it?

Phil 4: 8

‘Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.’

Well, makes sense, doesn’t it? In a way it’s kinda frustrating, cos most of what we hear from the Word makes sense. But somehow it takes a while or a couple tries before we start really, really understanding, living what we hear. If it helps, Paul distills it down to these pure, simple instructions in Thessalonians.

1 Thes 5: 16 – 19

‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the Spirit.’

Do not quench the Spirit. It’s almost a plea, a cry for us to do everything we possibly can to allow God’s Spirit to keep flowing within and through us. THAT is our source. THAT is how we can do this: by His Holy Spirit. I know it’s simple, but that doesn’t make it easy. Trust me, I know. But I’m finding if I really stick to these words – not just in routine, but in heart – it gets easier, even when the situation doesn’t. Let God help you. Let Him guide you. Let Him LOVE you. And you’ll find you can do and be and show all that He desires in your life, trust in His Word that you can!

I have been blessed with something that I want to share with you. Something that flared my confusion away with amazement. So see this in that big beautiful imagination He gave you, feel it, remember it when everything starts to feel… cold.

K, you can’t really close your eyes ‘cos that will be, well… dof. But here goes.

There is a roar. A roar of heat and speed. All you can see is the rush of a superheated Blazing. It has an odd colour; not red, not pink, nor orange, but somewhere in-between all of them. It fills your vision. If you had eyes behind you it would see the same as before you, as far as the eye can see. You realize it fills a space beyond what you can comprehend. It has a thickness to it, so you can feel the weight of it as an ocean of speed and heat, and although you know this Blazing is furiously hot and fast, it somehow feels warm, and gentle in pace.

Suddenly you are pulled deeper, deeper, deeper into this Blazing, to the centre of it, like the gravity of forever is hauling you in. It seems as if you move at crazy speed for an eternity. The Blazing around you is endless and constant. Finally, after an eon, you notice a speck in front of you, far, far off. It takes a while before this speck appears to get infinitesimally bigger. Gradually, it gets closer, gets larger. Eventually, when it fills about half your vision you have a brief moment to observe that it is a deep space so blue it makes black look white, filled with endless coloured points of light. You realize with a shock at what an enormous speed you have been traveling at as, before you can blink, the space swallows you completely. This space itself is so huge you feel giddy. You can still hear the Blazing roar of heat and speed, and when you close your eyes (the you in this description, not the you reading this now, silly) you can still see it. More so, you can feel it, warming your bones like a swiftly drunk cup of hot chocolate, in this cold, beautiful place.

Two things are now confirmed to you.

This tiny, tiny speck within the endless, hot, fast Blazing… is the entire universe.

And that gloriously warm and powerful Blazing, within which this universe is an unseen speck… is God’s love.

You try and scale all this to size – while sitting staring at tiny galaxies scattered like glitter and endless, endless black space.

Everything shifts! You hover between two galaxies that are swirling into each other – the crash of their stars thunder through the emptiness, but still sounds muted by the Blazing in your ears.

Everything shifts! A star explodes light-years away and its nova engulfs you with glorious shockwaves of colour and energy, but still it feels cold compared to the Blazing within you bones.

Everything shifts! You are you, right where you are, right now. Whatever is going on with you right now, whatever you’re feeling, whatever you’re thinking, whatever is going on inside your heart and head, I want you to close your eyes after the last line.

I want you to see the Blazing of God’s love burning fiercer and thicker and faster than ever. It’s so bright and hot you imagine you are at the centre of a star. And you are at the centre. Of all of it. From the very outside, through the tiny speck of the universe, it’s galaxy clusters and star hordes all the way in, in, IN… to the centre of His love. All the flows of this Blazing are pouring directly into you. Now open your arms wide, be lifted in this Blaze of love. Feel the warmth and the sting as these roaring flows fill you as heat does when you slide into a steaming hot bath. Feel all the hard bits in your head and heart slowly ablate and burn and be carried away in the Blazing as burning dust. Feel the worries and the works and the angers and the hurts sear clean and the wounds filled with molten beauty. Feel it wrap you in a new skin like a hot towel, feel it pour down the inside of your spine into your heart and soul and mind like heated honey. You are completely filled and covered, saturated. And with no space between you and the Blazing, you feel it. You hear it, rushing in from a great distance, and it is upon you. A single, all-encompassing BEAT. The Blazing flares within you. Another BEAT. So much heat and speed and weight leaves you weak. And another BEAT.

This is His heart beating for you. This is what you mean to Him. This is where you are in His heart.

This is God’s love for YOU. Just imagine when you meet Him, face to face.

Jesus at the traffic light

by Shannon Schmidt

The other day I was reading my Bible and I came across a story in Acts 3:1-10, where Peter and his buddy John are walking to church to go pray, and as they approach the temple gate there is a crippled dude there begging for money.

Now just as the get to the temple gate the crippled guy asks for some money and it says in vs 4 “Peter and John look him straight in the eye ”.

Now how often does something like this happen to us, we are driving to wherever and we pull up to a traffic light and there is a homeless dude there and he comes up to your window and all of a sudden we start to look for that non existent five bucks w dropped 2 years ago, or we act as if we got a super important call from the doctor telling us that its not cancer its just a mole.

We tend to ignore the struggle and the people who don’t seem to fit in with our culture of so-called beauty and in doing so dehumanize the person.

And I’m as guilty as the next guy is when it comes to acting this way.

But not Peter and John. They look the guy in the eye as if to acknowledge the guy as a human being and even to communicate without words that they care.

And then Peter says some profound words in vs 6 “Silver or Gold I do not have but what I do have I give to you freely”.

And then heals the guy.

Now for me healing is not the main issue here, but the fact that we need to have the same attitude as Peter, we need to acknowledge the people that live in the margins of our society and let them know that we care.

After all, where was Jesus found most of the time? For me, I see Jesus living and interacting with beggars, prostitutes and tax collectors the lowest of the low in His society.

And by choice and association Jesus himself was one of the marginalized, and I wondered why this was.

I think in struggle and amongst the margins is where Jesus found real life and truth, He found where He was needed and where He wanted to be.

Psalm 9:18

“But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish”

So as a final thought for all of us remember the words of Jesus Himself in

Matthew 25:45

‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

So next time you see Jesus at the traffic lights maybe take some time to show him u care.

Faith on Wheels by Lauren Quin

This is my testimony of one of the many times I’ve had to ‘re-learn’ that God is always faithful and to stand on the promises our Father has made to His children.  With each time that I revisit this lesson I always learn the same age-old lesson:  To know our Father is to know that He will never ever fail us.

It all began 4 days before payday when all seemed to be going wrong with my finances after receiving some unexpected bills.  This left me with no money to see the week through, not to mention getting to work and back…

But this time I decided I was not going to do the logical thing.  Although my bank balance was close to zero I knew that our Father, the source of all provision, was going to take care of this one.

I however forgot very quickly what that actually meant and proceeded to spent my entire Sunday evening bargaining with God and requesting that He supply me with a lump sum before Monday morning.

God, however, had a different take on this…

Nonetheless on Monday morning I left home with just enough petrol in my car to get me to work.  I spent much of Monday morning worrying about how I was going to get home.  But true to His Word, someone handed me R20 ($2.50), which according to my calculations would (with much freewheeling) get me home and back in the morning.  With a smile on my face I put R20 ($2.50) into my car and yet almost simultaneously began to think, “Lord, what about tomorrow?”  And from the depths of my spirit began to hear ”Do you have enough for today, my love?” I answered: “Yes Lord.”

I gnawed at my steering wheel and warred with my flesh all the way to work on Tuesday.  I arrived, however, on time as promised.

Once again, between answering a string of emails and attending 2 meetings I began to doubt…”Maybe I should just put my pride in my pocket and phone the bank”, I thought.  But deep down I knew, this time it was just God and I.

With clenched teeth I watched the ticking of my silver clock, which very ‘ironically’ had the words “Time to Shine” sandblasted into its glass face.

Two hours before it was time to leave, the company accountant handed me R30 ($3.75) as a reimbursement for printing I had long forgotten about.  For the second time in 2 days I had to get on my knees and apologise to my Father (who by the way just adores me) for thinking that He would leave me in the lurch.  Who did I think my Father was?

Lying in bed that night I realised it was only Tuesday and I had two more days to go before the long weekend.  Once again, from the depths of my spirit came the gentle voice: “Do you have enough for today my love?”.   “Yes Lord”, I answered.

For the first time that week freewheeling to work became exciting and the curiosity surrounding the mystery of where my next R30 ($3.75) would come from became more and more appealing.

By the end of Wednesday I thought I was making progress.  But by the time I walked out the office with 2 passengers in tow (who needed a lift to the taxi rank) – I was not doing too well…

While the 2 of us piled into my little car I remembered closing my eyes for a fraction of a second and felt like I had been taken all the way back to Monday again.  It also began raining, which sent my mind racing with pictures of how my evening might pan out.  Regardless, I reminded myself that God’s promises are bigger than what my petrol gauge was telling me, and proceeded to turn the key, only to be followed by a dead “click”.  I had forgotten to switch my lights off and my battery was now dead.

After an hour of attempts of push starting the car in the parking lot, Portia, one of my passengers couldn’t wait any longer and left to catch the 6 o’ clock bus.  This left Ningi, my second passenger, alone in the pouring rain, with a damsel in distress.

By the time another hour had passed it was dark and Ningi was still single-handedly pushing me up and down the parking lot. (He saw this as an opportune time to have an hour long debate with his ex over the phone, which he held in his other hand – and I thought guys couldn’t multi – task!)

By this time I just had to giggle to myself as I had a sneaky suspicion that my car was not going to start and that God’s hand was somewhere in the middle of it all.

Fifteen minutes later my boss arrived with Jumper leads in hand and proceeded to ‘charge’ my car.  After 20 minutes there were no signs of life and amid the revving of the 2 vehicles could hear the hearty laughter of my Father and His words: “Lauren, what are you doing?  You’ve got a free ride home!”

At this point in time the situation became hilarious as I burst out laughing in surrender at how ridiculous I had been in trying to do things my way.  My colleagues just frowned and shook their heads, probably thinking that I was a basket case.

And indeed, I not only got 1 but 2 free rides after abandoning my car in the lot that night.

Lying in bed later that night I knew that although my boss would collect me for work in the morning I still had one last trip home the following afternoon, and again, from the depths of my spirit came the same gentle voice, “Do you have enough for today my love?”  And for the last time (In this lesson) I answered: “Yes Lord”.

On Thursday Ningi Jump started my car and someone who owed me lunch money gave me R30 ($3.75) to get home for the long weekend.

I serve the greatest God.

“Smooth stones, let ‘em fly” by Brian O’Rourke

Watch how God gets the Glory, when Team Faith and their premier motocross Rider Kevin Johnson take on some of the biggest names in the game, in the “Speed and Style” competition staged at one of the top FMX events in the World, the X-Games in Los Angeles. Hang-on for the ride, this message is wild!

Team Faith a non-profit multi-faceted Outreach Ministry that impacts people who are enthusiastic about Action Sports.Started in 1994 in the Pro Personal Watercraft Racing Industry and have migrated to the Pro Motocross Racing and Freestyle Motocross Industries respectively. Team Faith’s vision is to establish evangelism teams of action sports athletes led by Pit Pastors (Chaplains), to infiltrate professional racing circuits and other action sports events. Through onsite ministering such as providing Devotionals or onsite Chapel Services, prayer, meeting physical needs and providing Spiritual leadership, we hope to influence the influencers in the culture of “action sports”.

Smooth Stones

Recently the Team and I had the privilege of attending the X Games in Los Angeles. We went there to be the Chaplains of the event, but also to bring our Premier rider Kevin Johnson to compete in the “Speed and Style” competition.

Well the week started out pretty dismally, and by the time we were up to compete, our team morale was very low. But God spoke to KJ’s heart through our road pastor Lary Dean…and he said “5 smooth stones…”

If you have your bibles, turn to 1 Samuel 17:1-7. I’m reading out of the New King James Version, but I might use a translation called “The Message” to paraphrase what we read to make it a little easier to understand.

1 Samuel 17:

(1) Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim.
(2) And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.
(3) The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
(4) And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
(5) He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
(6) And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
(7) Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

Let’s stop there for a minute -

A formidable foe, wouldn’t you say?

As Saul faced his enemies the Philistines, God’s word says there was a valley between them. When you are facing a monumental obstacle in your life doesn’t it seems like there is a valley between you and a positive outcome?

Goliath is referred to here as a champion. The literal meaning of this word is “the man between two”.

So here you have this valley, and this “man between two” seemingly hindering any chance of victory. Ever feel like that?

Goliath was HUGE, man! He was 9 + feet tall -- closer to 10′ feet tall! He was dressed in 126 lbs of armor.

And if you haven’t heard this story before, we are about to be introduced to David – a shepherd boy – who will turn out to be our hero. I wonder if David even weighed 126 lbs soaking wet!?

Goliath’s spear tip alone weighed over 15lbs.

I mean, let’s face it, faith or no faith, if we’re going to be honest here, sometimes our circumstances seem just too overwhelming to NOT be afraid. I’ll admit to you that I felt this way last week at when I went to minister and bring our team to compete at X Games.

As you may know, with the ministry Team Faith we use action sports and motocross as a platform to preach the Gospel. Through onsite ministering and chapel services we try to influence the athletes that compete and participate at high profile professional events to come to know Jesus and understand that Jesus loves them and died for them so that they could not only have salvation – or eternal fellowship with God the Father in Heaven after this life is over – but that they could also get the most out of this life now by serving Him and enjoying a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Hopefully, that translates into them recognizing that they have responsibilities as role models to this Generation Y -- the vital group of 70 million 6-24 year-olds -- and others who are extreme sports enthusiasts.

Our rider Kevin Johnson was invited to a prestigious event called the Moto X World Championships, which would be a precursor to the X Games. We would compete in a new discipline of sport called Speed and Style which would set the stage for its debut as a new sport at this year’s X Games.

Well KJ -- as we call him -- did rather well, upsetting his own “Goliath” as it were in a guy named Travis Pastrana, whom he was paired up with right from the get go. In the end, although Kevin finished a respectable 4th place overall and he turned some heads with his “speed” portion of the competition, his “style” part was a little weak when compared to all the other competitors, who are full-time pro freestylers. In fact, many there agreed that Kevin could have a legitimate shot at winning Gold if he could get down some bigger tricks and notably the backflip.

So for months KJ has been practicing and trying to pull off the backflip in hopes of being invited to the X Games for Speed and Style. We even set a time limit on when we’d decide if we’d go as competitors to the event because we knew in order to have a shot at winning, we’d have to be prepared. In our minds as a team, we believed that meant he had to be ready to throw a backflip in the competition.

Let’s pick up our story here –

1 Samuel 17:

(8) Then he (Goliath) stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
(9) If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.”
(10) And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”
(11) When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

When we were finally invited to X Games – I told the promoters at ESPN that KJ was doing backflips with some of the other top freestylers. He had done hundreds in the foam pit, and 3 to dirt – but he was 1 for 2 as he only landed 1 cleanly and crashed twice in his attempts. He didn’t feel that great doing them to dirt.

So when we got there the pressure was on. When Kevin went out to practice he looked pretty good, but the surroundings and the size and scope – not only physically but mentally too – was intense to say the least. He really wasn’t confident and decided that he just didn’t want to risk crashing and doing the backflip. Like Saul in the story -- He too was scared.

We’ll skip down a little as the next several verses basically just establish that David was indeed a lowly Sheppard boy who tended sheep. He was the youngest of eight kids. His 3 eldest brothers were already in the army and had fought in war. But David would come and go tending to Saul and tending his father’s sheep.

One day he was bringing his brothers some cracked wheat, 10 loaves of bread and some cheese wedges on the battlefield and he heard the taunting of the Philistine Goliath. Upset at the disrespect that Goliath was showing to the true and living God of Israel, he was offended and starting asking everyone what would happen if Goliath was defeated.

Word got back to Saul that this little boy was inquiring as to who this guy Goliath was and why he was being permitted to blaspheme the Lord. So Saul sent for him.

Lets read:

1 Samuel 17

(32) Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
(33) And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
(34) But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,
(35) I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.
(36) Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”
(37) Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

Stop there for a minute;

Now, it would be a stretch to say that there were as many similarities in Kevin Johnson and our attempt to compete at X Games as there are with David in this story – so I’m not gonna try to force an analogy here just for the sake of the message.

But I will say, that compared to the guys competing in Speed and Style at X Games and what KJ brought to the table, it was a huge long shot for us to have any chance at all. We’d be lucky to get past the first round in which we paired up against Nate Adams – 8 time medal winner at X Games and arguably the best FMXer in the world. He was seeded number 1 while Kevin barely qualified in last place for the Quarter Finals.

And like David, who had a history of defeating various foes that he came across – the lion and the bear – Kevin has had some success beating some big names in both racing Arenacross for the past 5 years and at the Moto X World Championships.

So – we all agreed we go and regardless of whether or not he did a backflip – we’d do what we could and do ministry in the pits for the other athletes and it would be worth going.

But honestly, after seeing his confidence shaken during practice. I really didn’t believe we’d do anything out there against the best in the world. None of us really believed we’d do anything. In fact, I really thought he might even embarrass himself.

At the end of verse 37 when Saul said to David “Go, and the LORD be with you!” the interpretation in the version of the bible called the Message reads like this: Saul said, “Go. And GOD help you!”

Can you just see Saul say this to David? “Go. And GOD help you!” I wonder if like me, Saul thought David was about to go embarrass himself?

As team manager, I didn’t say it, but I thought it – “Go! And God help you Kevin cause you’re gonna need Him!”

Kevin and Chad, our mechanic, went down to do battle against “Goliath” as it were and none of us said a word to each other. If it wasn’t for our road Pastor Lary Dean, I don’t even know if we would have prayed before he went, that’s how low moral was in our pits. But Lary mentioned this story in his prayer. It was a story we often referred to when facing a tough battle ahead of us.

Lary said: “5 smooth stones Kevin. Just let them fly and let God do the rest.”

Lets skip down to verse 40 and read:

1 Samuel 17:

(40) Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag in a pouch which he had and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.
(41) So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him.
(42) And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking.
(43) So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
(44) And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
(45) Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
(46) This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
(47) Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
(48) So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
(49) Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.
(50) So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David.
(51) Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

WOW! What an event. What an outcome. What a great God we serve. To think that we came into this event without much of a chance and then convinced ourselves that we had no chance. I have to tell you – it was a humbling moment for me to see KJ awarded the Gold at the biggest event in Team Faith history. I realized at that moment how small I was and how HUGE God is. I believe He decided to bless his boys and give us the desires of our hearts this day. And I believe He did it because He knows Team Faith and KJ will give ALL the glory to Him. To us, it was painfully obvious that this Gold was won by God and is for God. Victory for Jesus, Glory for God!

We have been striving for an opportunity to get to this level of professional competition for 14 years. Since the beginning in 1994, the inspiration to see a pro athlete at the highest level of competition win and then glorify Jesus boldly and publicly has been the goal and mission of Team Faith. We believe this event, this hugely popular event – the X Games, is one of the grandest stages, if not THE grandest stage from which to preach the Gospel to a lost and hurting world. We have been trying to show this lost generation that it is not only possible to be a follower of Jesus and compete at the highest level – but also that it is possible to win at the highest level as a Christian and then use the opportunity to tell the world that Jesus is Lord!

We finally did it.

But God had to teach us – ME -- that we needed to get to the end of ourselves before we could truly rely on God and His provision for victory over such a huge obstacle.

I mean think about it -- had we had the best rider in the world who was a proven winner at this game, and had we had the money to buy the best equipment and pay for all the personnel it takes to compete and win at this level, and had we gone into the event with everything just so – would we really have HAD to rely on God so much? Do you think God wanted his boys to experience the best moment in Team Faith history – and in their respective careers without Him being a part of it?

Like David, we should have been confident NOT in ourselves or our equipment or our abilities, but in God and His sovereignty.

God is in control folks. I truly believe He orchestrated ALL this from the beginning – for such a time as this. Because this way – He gets the glory!

But it took all week for us to realize this fight wasn’t ours. It was God’s. And when we finally had nothing to rationalize, nothing to bring to the table so-to-speak, nothing but Him to rely on – He blessed us.

KJ slung 5 smooth stones at the biggest giant he’s faced in his career and God planted them right in forehead of the enemy!

Question: What giant are you facing?

Maybe your giant is some sin in your life that you just don’t seem to be able to break free of in your own strength.

Maybe your giant is a financial burden that seems impossible to overcome.

Maybe your giant is relational and you just don’t think you can bear the pain you have been suffering in a relationship.

Maybe your giant is physical. And you just can’t see how things are ever going to get better.

Maybe your giant is emotional and maybe depression and anxiety at times seems to consume you for everything you are worth.

Maybe your giant is circumstances -- so overwhelming – where are you so over-matched that you just don’t know if you can muster up the strength to go forward in your attempt at winning this battle?

Do you maybe need to “let go and let God” as the cliché says? Do you need to finally get to the end of yourself to let God be God?

I hope so! Because that’s a good place to be! And maybe David – and even Kevin Johnson will inspire you to realize that God has your back.

Sometimes it’s about having the faith to just move forward – one step at a time – taking what you do have – a small smooth stone perhaps – and letting it fly relying on God to do the rest.

The Divine Introduction by Petrus Smith

The memorable picture of ET stretching out his glowing finger towards the young boy in that ancient movie has always stuck with me… the trepidation in both the human and the alien as they were about to make the first contact, both not knowing what would happen, both slightly untrusting. But both driven by something deep within to connect with each other, regardless of the mess it could cause.

Steven Spielberg’s pointy-finger-ET-handshake-scene was preceded many centuries earlier by the great Michelangelo’s ceiling paintjob of the Sistine Chapel. His ‘Creation of Adam’ fresco depicts God stretching out his arm to touch Adam’s finger. The connection is famously just separated by a slight distance, so it almost feels as if you’ve walked into the scene at just the right moment… when everything is silent… and Creator is about to make contact with the created for the first time, one not knowing what would happen, one slightly untrusting. But both driven by something deep within to connect with each other, regardless of the mess it could cause.

This is one of my favorite paintings because I love it when Truth is expressed, without words. And with the ‘Creation of Adam’ you can almost feel God’s longing to connect with His creation. I think better than any 10-step process or purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive campaign to reach the lost, Michelangelo depicts the heart of evangelism perfectly – the tension of a Divine Introduction.

God isn’t a product that needs to be pitched or marketed in the most cutting-edge way so that non-believers will suddenly have their eyes opened and be converted. Nor is Christianity a club that we need to get more people into so that we feel better about which side we’re on. Our main priority is and must always be communion with God, to worship and enjoy Him in all things. And as far as Evangelism goes – All we really have to do is set up the ‘Divine introduction’ like Phillip with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8: 26-40. And much like this and the story of the prodigal son, both parties are pretty eager to meet each other… again.

We must however be wary not to fall into the trap of rather proselytizing a person. I know how easy it is to just get people to ‘be a Christian as I am a Christian’, but that is not the point. Our obligation is to introduce them to the Father, the ‘HOW’ they worship Him is for them to work out ‘with fear and trembling’. We can give advice and support to help them along their journey of faith, but they must individually go it alone.

This may sound a bit unorthodox, but then again that’s the point. Look at Jesus. His main goal was to bring mankind back into relationship with the Father – not start the new ‘Mount-of-Olives-Super-Church’.

Christianity is not meant to be an institution… it’s a relationship. I know you’ve heard many evangelicals say that so I will reiterate:

Christianity is not meant to be an institution… it’s a relationship.

The Church is ancient, but just because something has been done for thousands of years doesn’t necessarily make it right. I mean what if we have it wrong, and the way we worship God is not right… then we are leading others astray and “it’ll be better for a milestone to be tied around our necks and for us then to be thrown into the sea”. But the flip-side is that we, by the grace of God, actually have this worship thing down… then if all we do is teach a new Christian how WE do it… then they will know the ‘how’, but not the ‘why’ and their worship would be empty and they might end up as another mindless drone of the Church and not a very good ambassador of Christ.

There is a pretty scary verse in Luke 6:46 where Jesus is telling the story of ‘religious’ folks that are facing the eternal judgment and they list all the great things they have done ‘in the name of the Lord’… but the Lord turns to them and says ”away from me, I did not know you”. Ouch!

These guys were the famous believers, probably voted most likely to get a front-row seat in Heaven’s party, but they missed the point. Theirs was a faith of How’s rather than Why’s.

Let me put it this way… boy meets girl. Once they say their hellos, someone guides the boy on everything else he must say and do to make the girl happy. He does it ‘by the book’. Their relationship might look very nice from the outside but inside there is no real conviction of commitment or even love because they are following a set of rules so when things start getting tough they bail.

Sure, doing things ‘by the book’ is nice and neat and relationships aren’t. In fact they are downright messy as Adam and ET knew… once they start things will never be the same.

But why would the God of the universe want to connect with you or I?

See, the essence of the Trinity is relationship… it’s how God could create love, because he knows, and is, Love. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all one… but more importantly all are in absolute love with each other.

And luckily for you and I, in love with us too.

For this reason he wants to get into our lives, that He might know us, but more importantly that we might know Him. All creation is riddled with the Creator exposing himself in all his omnipotent vulnerability to man and woman. He has being revealing Himself to us since time immemorial, and like Saul of Tarsus we need the scales of preconception or systematic religion to come off our eyes that we might truly know Our Father.

So take another look at who you think God is and make sure that He is indeed the Mighty One and not some ‘wooden man-made idol’. It’s ok to feel some trepidation as you step forward into this new level of relationship, but trust me – it’s GOOD. Cause the more you know the one whose image you are created in the more you’ll know thyself.

PS: It’s true that a 1 st impression lasts. So I would submit that you make sure your 1 st impression of Christianity be with the Christ, and not a frail human that has claimed to be a follower but lacked all the character traits of a Holy God. If it has been the case… ‘be kind, rewind’ and start over. You’ll be immensely grateful!

Creation Sings By Sylvia Shekinah

Words spoken so often…. “Creation sings the glory of God, the Wonder of God’ but do we actually realize how much creation does sing to Him, and for Him..?

We (most of us) see a part of creation every day, it could be a bird that flies overhead, or a dog barking in the distance. Whatever it is, we experience a piece, a segment of this incredible creation…

On a house boat recently on lake Kariba, it was early morning and I was sitting on the deck, admiring the work of  my Creator. There were so many sounds, different sounds, not one was the same, not one had the same tone, there was not a moment of silence, but a constant noise, an ongoing  song, a song that was being sung to glorify the King, A song that is a daily part of the soundtrack of God. The God of heaven and earth who simply conducts and the whole of creation’s choir sings or plays their own individual instruments.

I was watching a Louie Giglio dvd recently, where he was preaching about the story of God, how we are all part of the story and the soundtrack, each person plays a different part, has a different role. That’s something that sounds so simple yet it’s pretty effective and inspiring…

Think about it…  See life as a production, the main character is God himself, the story is his, we are part of the cast, and part of the event, but it’s all about HIM. He is the author.

Then I SAW Him as an artist, the earth and sky, the canvas. Each sunrise is different, unique. Each sunset an original work of art. He paints His own picture …sometimes he simply throws the colors  together, allowing them to create their own patterns, make their own displays, other times the incredible uniformity of color , rays and shading are a pure genius’ work. The sky has varied colors, the way it reflects on the water is different each and every day, it simply declares with a silent thunder, of the glory of God .The glory that in its silence, is thunderous in its awesomeness.

How privileged we are to be a part of creation’s song, to be a part of the worship that is continually and constantly giving Him praise and honor, He is the one who directs every lightning bolt , who commands the tide to come in, or leave again. With the whisper of His voice He commands the ocean (have you watched the ocean lately? It’s a pretty big drop of water), the winds, the heavenly stars, He does all that and so much more, yet we have the honor and the privilege of joining in, of being a member of His choir and His amazing production, by bringing Him worship.

The word says if we don’t do it, the rocks of the earth will, I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be outdone by a rock.

If you read the bible, on many occasions it talks about ALL the people singing a song, there’s the song that Moses and the Israelites sang in Exodus 15, and many others throughout the scriptures, I doubt there were people that thought ‘I don’t feel like singing today’, ‘I don’t have a good voice’, ‘I can’t play an instrument’, ‘I can’t dance’.

No. They sang, they worshipped, in spite of whether they could hold a tune or not, they didn’t care about what everyone around them thought, because everyone was singing songs together, worshipping together.

Why is it in our  present day and age we  are so concerned about what people think, we’re so conscious about sounding good, looking good ,gaining approval.… NEWS FLASH: God looks at the heart, not the ability…

Let’s just worship Him in the way we know best, from our heart, let’s not worry about what people think. Let’s become part of creation’s choir. Let’s harmonize with all the different sounds, let’s allow ourselves to be directed by the master conductor.

Let’s be a pattern on His canvas. Let’s allow Him to color us in.

There’s a poem I read a few years ago which I’ve never forgotten it, it says;

‘Dance as though no-one is watching, Love as though you’ve never been hurt before, and Sing as though no-one can hear you’

God desires us to worship Him as only we can, with our unique sound. Will we join in creation’s song and be apart of the soundtrack or are we going to let the stones, the trees and the rocks upstage us?

Allow Him to direct you, to conduct you, to paint and mould you… But always, let Him be your audience, let Him have the VIP seat in your life and allow Him to be your guest of honor.