Grace and Truth

…all the words of this life…

Tag Archives: Christian


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Hmmm..considering the black box

I am now the proud (also excited and a little scared) owner of this black beauty….

IMG_2606

I am excited because it means more autonomy as a street-preacher.  Also it means not having to rely on others’ and their equipment which will allow me more freedom.  It means that I can now go out during the day time as well as the night. But mainly it’s because owning this little baby is the consolidation and the establishment of a vision God gave me for my life years and years ago….

I remember the first time I ever saw an open-air street preacher.  I was walking through the city with my boyfriend (now husband) Matt.  We were out for a lovely day, strolling in the sunshine, holding  hands.  I saw this young guy with black hair standing on a little ledge at the bottom of an Anglican cathedral. He was holding a black Bible and reading from it.  There were three gothic youths standing around him listening respectfully.  Something about him, about what he was doing, laid hold of me.  It made no sense to me whatsoever, that he would stand there and do that, I mean to read from the Bible in public and not care what anyone thought of him was a foreign concept to me.  Yet I was drawn to him. I really wanted to stop and listen, but I couldn’t.  I don’t know why.  My legs just wouldn’t stop.  I couldn’t do it.  I kept on walking, but I kept looking back.  I remember the primary feeling I had for him was respect, because my primary thought  “That is something I could never do“.

After many experiences and years had gone by, there was one day when God gave me a vision of myself standing on a busy city street during the day and preaching.  Yes, preaching. No one was more astonished at the vision than I was, believe me.  It seemed so random that I actually dismissed it from my mind as an impossibility.  However I couldn’t dismiss it from my heart, because God had put it there.  It kept popping up, and popping up, and popping up until God must have decided that I was especially thick, and He had to make it very clear to me by calling me to go out to the road, (as I’ve detailed in “The Call” post).

So whilst I have been preaching in the city on Friday nights for two and a half years now, to be able to preach during the day is new to me.  This Friday, in fact, is when I will be starting this new adventure with a small group of ladies.  So it is very exciting that a vision which God gave to me years ago, as of Friday, will be brought into existence.

(I just want to take a moment here to encourage you to hold on to the dream or vision God has given you for your life.  And the more of an impossibility it seems to you, the more God will get the glory for it.)

However, it is also very scary to be the owner of this black box.  Why?  Um, because street preaching is scary.  Yes, I still find it scary.  I still get the shakes from nerves.  I still wonder why I am doing this to myself every time I drive into the city.    (That is, until the fire of God begins to burn so deeply within my soul that I just HAVE to preach, have to warn, have to share Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.  And the fire burns up the fear of man. It drives away the shakes and the fear…oh my friend – God is good, He will never leave you stranded – just try Him.)

It’s also scary to be entrusted with this responsibility.  The black box seems to stare at me from its solid position at my feet as if to say “You do realize that with me also comes more accountability, don’t you?  Don’t  you take me lightly now….”

I don’t ever want to take it lightly.  I want to appreciate more and more every day what my Jesus has done for me and is still doing for me and will continue to do for me.  He is my Lord and Saviour, He is my life, He is the reason for my being.  He is the love of my life.

Jesus, all for Jesus, all I am and have, and ever want to be…

God bless you

 


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Ha! Love it….

“It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners, as it is in captive nations today. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us – so everyone was happy.”

Richard Wurmbrand


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Tonight’s F-f-f-freezing Street Preaching 14 June 2013

flinders st

Christian – do you know that most high school and uni students think that the Theory of Evolution is a proven scientific fact?  Do you know that they don’t even know it is called the Theory of Evolution?  It has somehow along the way become simply “Evolution” and accepted as fact.

Christian – do you know that most heavy metal rockers are intelligent, deep thinkers who do not fit into society?  That these “outcasts” are angry at a world that they can’t fit into and are open to the gospel.  Some of the best, most articulate conversations I have had are with these guys.

Christian – do you know that most Westerners who accept Buddhism and its teachings do so because they think it’s all about peace and love and have no idea of the real teachings of the Seen Ha, karma, the wheel of suffering and reincarnation.

Christian – do you know that most youth are looking for direction?  That they cover up their fear with mockery.  Do you know that if you persist with them as a mother or father would and speak the truth (even hard truths) to them in love that the mockery and fear will break away and they will come to respond to the gospel and even respect you for it?

Christian – do you know that a lot of people will actually thank you for taking the time to speak to them on the street?

 

“Preach abroad…It is the cooping yourselves up in rooms that has damped the work of God, which never was and never will be carried out to any purpose without going out into the highways and hedges and compelling them to come in.”  John Wesley

 

Love & blessings to you


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Fortress by Robin Mark

“That this love pursued us is a mystery
For the heart is base
And You are holy
Yet the streams of mercy
That flow over me
Will afford me grace to stand in glory

Where with men and angels
Where with slaves and kings
I will sing my praise to You alone

For there’s no heart greater than the Father’s heart
And there’s no love sweeter than the Son’s

Hallelujah, to my King
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Jesus Christ my Everything”

Praise God for Jesus!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SdzgwIErio

 


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A Sower Went Out to Sow

Said Jesus:
“Behold, a sower went out to sow…”

out to sow
out to sow

a sower went out to sow
and walked on down the road.

His eyes beheld the pastures
the sun beat on his head
he saw some dirt rocky,
he saw some dirt red.

But to him
it mattered not
what the ground
consisted of –
whether dry and dusty
or even full of weeds,
for where-ever he walked
he simply
scattered
seed.

From his breast/ into his hand
the precious seed was passed

but not for long
did he hold on
for that seed was soon cast

cast far
cast nigh
cast low
cast high

that seed was not spared.
For the sower knew
that fruit only grew
when that precious seed was shared

(The “seed” is the “word of the kingdom”, Parable of the Sower Matthew 13:1-23)


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Warning: only read if you want to be challenged

LR preaching

“Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”
William Booth


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The Mystery of the Cross

I woke up one morning with this in my head, and wrote it in my journal:

The cross is ugly,

The cross is beautiful.

The cross kills,

The cross gives life.

The cross is God’s hatred towards sin,

The cross is God’s love towards us.

On the one hand, the cross deals a death blow to pride, vanity and selfishness

On the other hand it’s beauty is evident by the suffering of a sinless Saviour

Who can say whether it is one or the other?

It is both.

For Jesus is meant death, pain and suffering,

If we follow Him, it will for us too.

But this is the only way to life and hope

You can’t have the life of the Saviour

Without first, having the death of the Saviour

You can’t take a short-cut

First the pain, then the relief,

First the sorrow, then the joy,

First the death, then the life

“Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it stays alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” (John 12:24)


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Mother’s Day

mother

Happy Mother’s Day to all the hard-working mothers!  And to my own Mum, I love you, thank for giving me life, for always loving and supporting me.  You’ve been through some hard times but you always have a smile on your face, and I respect that.

 

My kids brought in to me breakfast in bed this morning and all their little presents they’d bought from the Mother’s Day stall at school  I love seeing what they choose for me.  Mother’s day is such a special day because you get to say “I love you” and “Thank you” to the person who brought you into this world and it is a day when as a Mother you feel the appreciation of your kids.

 

Here are some quotes about Mums you may like:

 

The impression that a praying mother leaves upon her children is life-long. Perhaps when you are dead and gone your prayer will be answered. – D.L. Moody

 

I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

 

Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children. Billy Graham

 

May God bless you today, especially if you’re a Mum!


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Feeding Others

holyforchrist777.blogspot.com

holyforchrist777.blogspot.com

“Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?…” (Luke 12:42)

Following on from Being Fed, after the revelation of my own true state of spiritual starvation, through the depression I suffered, something very interesting happened.  I would like to explain the spiritual principle that has been revealed to me.

God opened my eyes to see my true state of starvation.  I was shattered by the knowledge that I could no longer rely upon myself –in any way.  My body let me down, my mind let me down, with all my own resources at an end all I could do was cling to was Him.  But this knowledge led me to a deeper relationship with Him, one in which I knew I needed to be fed and in fact that was the only hope left for me.  He fed me with the Bread of Life and kept feeding me as I spent time with Him.

Then what happened next is the interesting point:

God then led me to start feeding others.

Because pride in my self, my abilities and strengths had been broken, I began to have a greater sense of compassion for others whom were struggling.  A desire rose up in me to help others because of what I had been through myself.  Out of that desire our food pantry ministry was born four years ago, in which we give out food parcels to people suffering food insecurity both in the Body of Christ and in the community.

And then, after some time, another hunger began to take hold of me, that was to “feed the multitudes” through street-preaching.  This one came as a real surprise to me as the thought of preaching the gospel on the street to passersby absolutely terrified me! I remember the first time I went out there.  I was so scared that I was shaking and I wondered why I was doing this to myself.  Through the terror though there was a fire burning within me.  I was so well-fed, I just had to share some of this food with others.

It somehow didn’t seem right for me to keep feasting when I knew there were others

pastorsponderings.org

pastorsponderings.org

out there who were starving.  Just as Christ broke the bread and poured out the wine as a symbol of His life being poured out for us, He also calls us to be as broken bread and poured out wine for others. Being broken bread and poured out wine hurts.  It’s not easy and it’s certainly not comfortable.  Often it is difficult and something we would not typically choose to do ourselves. But Jesus is still moved with compassion for the great multitudes and just as He said to His disciples then, He says to His disciples now: “You give them something to eat”. (Mark 6:34 & 37)

If we look at the Apostle Peter’s life we can see this spiritual principle at work.  Peter, at first, couldn’t see his own spiritual bankruptcy. Even though He had been with the Lord for about three years, seeing Him minister, learning from Him, Peter still didn’t really know his need of God.  Self-confidently he had declared “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”   (Luke 22:33)  When the moment of truth came however, Peter betrayed Christ and denied Him three times as Jesus had foretold he would do. Peter was heartbroken. I believe in that moment his own true state was revealed to him.  He saw the emptiness within, the starvation of his soul-poverty and he was broken by the knowledge.  The revelation of his impoverishment caused him to retreat and return to the career from which Jesus had called him – fishing. In John 21 we see Jesus in His amazing mercy seeking out Peter in his failure.   He calls out to Peter and the others with him, and look what He says, “Children, have you any food?”

Jesus immediately gets to the heart of the matter – do you have any food?  Are there any inner resources left in you on which you can depend? Or have you come to the end of yourself?  Have you seen your need of me yet?

The disciples are, of course, thinking merely in the physical realm, but nevertheless their answer is true both physically and spiritually – “No”, they have no food.

So what does Jesus do next?  In His grace He provides the food they weren’t able to provide for themselves, and, as is God’s way, it is in abundance.  “…and now they were not able to draw …in (the net) because of the multitude of fish.” (v 6).

He feeds them.  “Come and eat breakfast,” He says (v12), and He “came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.” (v13)  He came and fed them – but only after they had seen their need of Him.

Immediately after they are fed Jesus seeks to restore Peter.   Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him three times and each time after Peter declares his love for Him, Jesus says “Feed my lambs”;”Tend my sheep” and “Feed my sheep”.  Why would Jesus single out Peter, the disciple whom had been the one to verbally deny Him, to feed and tend His precious sheep? It’s because of this spiritual principle – Peter had now seen his own bankruptcy and been broken by it. More so than any of the others he had seen his inner emptiness and it was because he could see it that he was ready to be used.  Jesus could not entrust His sheep to merely anyone. He needed someone who had seen their own need, and therefore would be sensitive to need in others.  He needed someone who knew that without God they could do nothing and would therefore be utterly dependent upon Him.  Peter would not be a harsh and unfeeling shepherd, He would now truly love and care for the Master’s sheep because his own pride and independence had been broken.

Watchman Nee said “When once your back is broken you will yield ever after to the slightest touch from God.”

So to sum up:

  1. Here in the West we are spiritually starving.  Starved of eternal relationship with our creator, the source and sustainer of all life, we seek temporal satisfaction elsewhere.  We often don’t know that we are starving.  In some cases this revelation can only be achieved through painful experience.
  2. Once we see our true state of starvation, through God’s intervention, we then naturally seek to be fed.
  3. God then uses us to feed others through the broken bread of our lives

It is my hope and prayer that this post has encouraged you to seek after the only true source of life and satisfaction –Jesus Christ, the Bread of life.  If you already know Him I pray that you will seek Him in greater measure and that ultimately you will share Him with others wherever He may lead you.  I will conclude with a quote from D.T. Niles:

“Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.”

God bless!