God With Us - May the God of Peace Go With You

Good day to you all! ;)

I hope you're having a good weekend so far, I must say, I am because I'm looking forward to starting my new six month work placement at Pastures New animal sanctuary. It could be anything that I'll be doing from digging post holes, filling pot holes to all sorts of other manual work, but that's for an upcoming life update.

The time has come for me to unpack this week's "60 Seconds..." broadcast, so are you ready?

Good, let's go!

This week I'm going to take a look at an issue that's been bugging me of late; the stress that comes with trying to do life on your own terms.

You know? How you can be going from one thing to another throughout the day and then something unexpected occurs. I've already looked at the dangers of tackling that with an inward practice of looking at our lives and our lives alone.

When God Moves, Mountains Shake & the Heavens Quake!

Try, for a moment, recalling a time when God really moved for you. I mean, a time when your circumstances changed so rapidly that you knew it could be none other than God's help that changed what you were going through or the way in which you were going through it.

For me, that time only goes back a matter of a few days when I was in the praise pit at my local church last Sunday. This is a move that I was forced into making, by myself I might add, because I've been feeling really overwhelmed by my circumstances at the moment.

It is truly something I know goes against some of the things that I have been putting on here because we should always be looking up to God for our help in our daily lives. A big thanks to Pete though, for encouraging me to do just that because it's seen me move to greater heights than I even thought possible.

But the only problem with that is that the greater heights I've been climbing to on a Sunday probably just about equates to the greater depths I've been plummeting to during the week.

Isn't that convenient? That the enemy to our mortal souls, the accuser to the brethren, has been throwing an awful lot at me psychologically and I've been having to lean harder and harder upon my faith to get me through these tough times.

Like a Palm Tree That Bends

Let me just, at this point, re-quote what I put in last week's blog from Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church: -

Have you ever seen a palm tree in the midst of a great storm? That tree may be bent so far over that it’s almost touching the ground, but when the wind finally stops, that palm tree bounces right back up. What’s interesting is that while that palm tree is hunched over under the pressure of the storm, it is actually becoming stronger.

Take a look at that last part again: -

What’s interesting is that while that palm tree is hunched over under the pressure of the storm, it is actually becoming stronger. (emphasis added)

I must confess at this point that I have been completely guilty at the moment of letting my circumstances rule my head and heart getting me to the state where I hardly recognise who I am anymore. I am not kidding you, I've been an emotional wreck this week to the state where... no wait, I'd just be repeating, literally, what I've just said. It's a brave and bold admission for me to make given my past track record of keeping my ghosts and skeletons in the closet so tight, that they could not even get out if they tried.

My problem is simply that I've been trying to work out the future for myself when it is not for me to know the future, it's only in God's hands that my future rests.

To further illustrate my point, have a look at this short video from Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church, Singapore: -

Does this illustrate the point I am trying to make any better?

It is invaluable to realise that the more we try to work, the more stressed out we get. On the converse side of this is the fact that the more we rest in the finished works of Jesus Christ, focusing on letting Him be our guide, the more God can go to work in and through us.

So tell that to my past self as Monday, Tuesday and most of Wednesday I was worrying and stressing about what I was going to face when my work placement starts.

How is God supposed to work in & through us if we're too busy holding the reins of life? We're not meant to rein in life; we're meant to REIGN in life, bro's!

Final Thought

Consider the last point, that Joseph made in that snippet I've posted today: -

"if we had not been declared righteous, Jesus would not have been raised from the dead"

THANK YOU, JESUS! That's all I can say on that one!

Remember then, as you go about your life tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, that God is here, He is watching all that is going on around us and... HE MISSES NOTHING, NOT A TRICK!!! :)

He is interested in the details of your life, every single one of them so why not take this time today to invite Him in? Either for the first time or the 101st, it doesn't matter, He'll only come in if you invite Him. You don't have to be eloquent of speech, just let Him in and allow Him to be Lord of your life today!

Jesus never forces His will upon us, but when we get onboard and see what He is doing, that's when we realise that His will is infinitely better than ours ever could be!

Until next time, bro's...

Peace out!