Trust God!

Genesis 42:35
[35] And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
[36] And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.

There is an ancient proverb that says “Worry give small things big shadows”. I read another great quote about worry: “It pays to worry. Ninety percent of the things I worry about never come true”.

I suggest you read the about the story of Jospeh in order to understand the context of the scripture above. Start reading around Genesis 37.

Jacob is worrying! Joseph is dead, Simeon is gone and now they want to take Benjamin away. “All these things are against me”. Now that’s a pretty serious statement – that means past, present, and future – everything is against him. Jacob is saying “I’ve been singled out for all the problems of the universe to hit me”.

What do you do when “all these things are against you”? I didn’t say “if” but “when”. If you’ve been around long enough – you will know the feeling.

There are going to be times when it looks like everything is against you. I’ve come across a lot of born again Christians that think because they have been born again that they are somehow immune to problems in their life. The very fact that the Holy Ghost is a comforter ought to tell us that there are times when we are going to need comforting (John 14:26).

What Jacob didn’t know was Joseph was the Prime Minister and Simeon is in the care of a loving brother Joseph. Why was he worrying about Benjamin? Jacob was going by what his eyes could see – not what his faith could discern.

It may look like it is all falling down around you – but God is still in control. We tend to think that God doesn’t understand what we are going through, but He does. We have a high priest which is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15) – He knows what it is like. Jesus knew what it feels to be “man forsaken” and “God forsaken”. “My God My God – why hast thou forsaken me”.

Jacob thought all these things were against him – but that was not true. They were actually for him. They seemed to be against him! If fact, they had never been better.

The devil would like us to get our minds on everything that is going wrong – “all these things are against me”. He seeks to destroy our peace because if you don’t have peace you cant have joy. If you don’t have joy we wont have strength – the Bible says “the joy of the Lord is our strength”.

There are times when it appear everything is against us – but that does not mean you are defeated.
1. Have faith in God!
2. Trust God!
3. God has everything under control!

That's my five minutes!

Praise Builds a Bridge

Psalm 22:1-3
[1] To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? [2] O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. [3] But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Notice that the writer begins the verse in a terrible dilemma. He obviously feels God forsaken. The Psalmist feels like God is not there. The Psalmist feels like God is ignoring his prayers. He is definitely facing a dilemma!

But, what a turn around in attitude in verse 3. Note that after putting his petitions to God, the psalmist shift gears and shifts into praise.

I don’t know about you, but very often my first response is self-pity and I know that most of us tend to have that same response. So, the idea of shifting into praise in the midst of our dilemma is a significant paradigm shift for us.

So what is the scripture telling us? I believe the Psalmist is telling us that the best thing to do when you are facing a dilemma is to praise God. It is our praise that creates a door for Gods presence to come into our problem.

The Psalmist shows us that when you are in a dilemma, shift the focus off the dilemma and get to praising God.

We see this principle in the “Lord’s prayer”.

Matthew 6:9-13
[9] After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. [10] Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. [11] Give us this day our daily bread. [12] And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. [13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

In the model prayer…”our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”….this is the “praise phrase”. Then, it says “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.

I believe we are seeing the creation of a bridge here! Notice the connect. Praise creates a bridge…in comes the kingdom of God. God comes into our dilemma!

Acts 16:25-26
[25] And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. [26] And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

This Bible story begins the unjust arrest of Paul and Silas. The local Philippian authorities beat them and then threw them into a jail cell. Besides the trauma of the severe beating, they were fastened in stocks which clamped their arms and legs in an immobile position…can you imagine what it would have been like. Nothing like our jails today that meet human rights standards. The atmosphere there was depressing. According to the standards of that day, a prison was more like the resemblance of a dungeon. A dark, damp, stench-ridden place, with no facility for waste or comforts of any kind.

Yet, in spite of the throbbing pain in their bodies and the disheartening atmosphere, at midnight Paul and Silas were heard praying and singing praises to God! What a strange sound this must have been to the other prisoners, who were used to only hearing the groans or cursings of those who had been beaten. What a paradigm shift!
Then suddenly, there was an earthquake that shook the prison! The doors flung open, and amazingly, the bonds of Paul, Silas, and every other prisoner were released! What caused this mighty discharge of power? Praise!

PRAISE BUILDS A BRIDGE! God inhabits the praise of His people.

That’s my five minutes!

A few random thoughts!

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “A mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original shape.”

• I wonder what would happen to Spirit-filled Christians if they really understood and believed these scriptures?
• John 4:4 - "Greater is he that in you, than he that is in the world"
• John 14:12 says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.”

Jesus redefined what is and what is not possible! He said, “All things are possible”. And because we sometimes need to hear the same thing in different ways, Jesus also said, “Nothing is impossible”.

Jesus had a pretty impressive resume of miracles! It’s easy to say, “but that’s Jesus. What does that have to do with me?” The answer is everything! As the scripture says above “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these".

My son is learning alot of things, it is amazing how fast kids develop. But, if i told you that Lachlan can do algebra and calculus, you wouldn't believe me (after all he's only 15 months). You would say, "that's impossible". It is not impossible! It may be impossible at his present stage of development, but give him a few years and he should be able to do it.

Just as a young child grows up and in time they can do those things that were impossible when they were new borns or toddlers. The same is in the spiritual realm, faith is the only difference between what is impossible and what is possible. It is a developmental issue. Impossibilities disappear as we develop our faith.

Soren Kierkegaard “If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never”.

Albert Einstein said, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of eighteen.”

With the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can do "greater works" than Jesus even did! That's what the Bible says!

That's my five minutes!

Bethel

One balmy evening in the South Pacific, a navy ship spied smoke coming from one of three huts on an uncharted island. Upon arriving at the shore, the crew was met by a shipwreck survivor. He said, "I'm so glad you're here. I've been alone on this island for more than five years." The captain replied, "If you're all alone, why do I see three huts?" The survivor answered, "Well, I live in one and go to church in another." "What about the third hut?" asked the captain. "That's where I used to go to church."

This little story hits on the truth about our sin nature. Our sin nature tends to push us away from a close relationship with God and not towards Him. Just like the story above, even if we were the only ones on a uncharted island by ourselves, we would probably find it difficult to worship God without finding other distractions.

I don’t want to go into the whole life of Jacob, but we see the same tendency with Jacob in the Old Testament. In chapter 28 of Genesis, we have the old deceiver Jacob making a vow to God. After his vision of the ladder and the angels, saying that "this is my God and I will follow Him all the days of my life”. (Genesis 35:1-13)

God had promised Jacob land and had promised to make his seed like the dust of the earth. God promised to keep him. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel (v16).

Afterwards he went on his way; he became rich; he forgot God and the vows he made at Bethel. The years go by and now he is coming home. He has another experience with God; he wrestles with the angel and prevails. He meets Esau, and Esau forgives and forgets. But Jacob is not yet filled with peace, for his sin is still on his heart.

Then God calls him: "Go back to Bethel. Go back where you made your vow, go back to where you first felt My presence. Go back and renew you vows and start life over again." Jacob heard God's call and went back to Bethel and rededicated his life in that holy place.

The name Bethel comes from the Hebrew “beth”, meaning house, and “el”, meaning God. Bethel means House of God. Today many of us are far away from God.

For some Bethel “or that close relationship with God” is just a fond memory.

We remember when God touched us and saved us, but the years have come and gone, and our spiritual freshness has grown colder and further apart than it was at first.

We have lost the joy of our salvation.

“Let’s go back to Bethel”.

That's my five minutes!

Growing Spiritually versus Growing Physically

Jonathan Moore is a fantastic worship leader and singer and was the full-time music minister for Rex Johnson in Austin, Texas. I admire this guy because he is going out on his own to plant a church in San Antonio Texas. He has been blogging all the activities and feelings associated with such a venture!

Anyway, Jonathan Moore recently wrote something that i think was really cool - i had to share it! Also.....i just had to share a few pics of my little boy Lachlan (see below).

Maturing as a Christian is the polar opposite of maturing mentally & physically as a person. In normal life, as you grow up, you pass milestones that are directing you toward independence (i.e. learning to ride bike, learning to drive, graduating from Jr High, High School, College, getting married, etc). But, as you grow up as a Christian, instead of heading toward independence . . . we actually move toward more dependency on Christ! In fact, spiritual maturity is much more child-like in it’s nature than adult-like.

Remember, in Matt 18:3, Jesus told his followers, “Unless you change and become like little children, you’ll never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

Thanks Jonathan......i hope you dont mind me using this!

That's someone elses five minutes!

Don't be distracted!

Life is full of distractions. It doesn’t matter what you put your mind to do, there will be some sort of distraction. While common to life, distractions can end in pain, suffering, and even tragedy.

I recently heard of a tragic accident in a circus during the “big cat” show, where the lion tamers enter a cage with the dangerous big cats such as lion, tigers etc. In this case, the lion tamer was tragically injured when he was attacked by one of the lions. The day of the accident was the same as any other day - just another circus act, just another town, doing the same thing they have been doing for years. The lion tamer was well aware of dangers associated with these animals and was well experienced. But one day tragedy stuck when he became, in his own words “distracted”.

Later, while lying in a hospital bed paralysed, with little hope of ever walking again, the lion tamer told reports that he had simply become “distracted”. When questioned about what distracted him, he replied that he could not recall what it was – “I was just distracted”. It is sad enough that this man’s life was never going to be the same – but it was even more of a tragedy that this man was nothing more than the result of a distraction. The irony of the story is that something had captured his attention, only for a moment, but now he could not even recall what it was.

While distractions in the physical world can result in tragedy, the same applies to the spiritual world. Spiritual distractions are just as fatal. Distractions to our soul!

Most people that I have seen backslide into the world didn’t do it because they woke up one day and decided that they no longer loved God. In all cases, it was simply a distraction. Like the lion tamer, when you ask them what it was they usually cannot recall what it was. They can't tell you what distracted them and resulted in them walking so far from God. It was a distraction that allowed the enemy of their soul to maime them and lay them down a cripple in the presence of God.

There are so many things in this world that would try to distract us from our relationship with Jesus. We cannot let anything get between us and our relationship with Jesus! Jesus said “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched” (Mark 9:43).

This was God’s way of telling us – we may make mistakes that cause pain and suffering – but Jesus would rather us make it to heaven with a handicap than to go to hell with everything we have. We cannot afford to make a mistake with your soul. Physical distractions cause us pain and suffering for a time. But spiritual distractions have an eternal consequence.

Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back (distractions), is fit for the kingdom of God.

The most grievous errors and mistakes are the ones taking place in the heart of men and women – distractions to our souls. A distraction to men and women who love God and know God and want to live for God and somehow become distracted by the things of this world – only for a moment – but ending in disaster!

That's my five minutes!

Intercessory Prayer, We Miss You!

I recently received this stirring article about intercessory prayer - i had to share it. We can't have revival without prayer!

This is just a line to let you know how things are since you’ve gone. It’s not the same without you, nor will it ever be. Although our lives seem shallow and empty when you’re not here, we’ve learned to make up for you in other ways. We’ve learned to live without you.

We now run the aisles, leap for joy, jig to the music, sing catchy choruses, and tap our feet in time to the rhythm of the drums. We use sticks, banners, black lights, and our sign teams do a tremendous job acting out recorded music. We’ve learned to worship without you.

The prayer rooms are mostly silent now. Those that do go there, for the most part, come away dry-eyed. A lot of praying now is chanting and singsong style. That’s how we know we’re in the groove. We pray memorized phrases that come automatically. We love what we call Prayer Walks. Most of us don’t even close our eyes anymore during prayer. We just walk and pray while we look around. We pray because it is required. No one prays till they break through anymore. We just pray till our 10 minutes are up.

Too, Too Busy
Family altars are almost unheard of now. You can’t imagine how busy we are and how hectic our schedules have been. It’s unbelievable. We get up in the morning and never stop till we go to bed at night. We do try to make it to church most services and get some praying in there during the service, but prayer at home is kind of out of the question. That may be another reason you haven’t heard much from us.

Oh sure, we still believe in prayer, as such. But not very many of us are anxious for you to come back. (You were always the polite type, you know, never forcing yourself on anyone. You never came uninvited. You only left because you were ignored.)

The sad truth is you’re not really needed anymore. You see, most of us have hospitalization insurance now. (It sure takes away that old desperate feeling we used to have.) So now, there’s no need to pray more than the few minutes it takes to drive to the Emergency Room. Also, we don’t have to ask for our daily bread like we used to. We now have better jobs with good benefits and government programs to fall back on.

If we lose our jobs, there is always unemployment or welfare. If we retire or become disabled, Social Security now supplies our needs. So, you can see, we’re doing okay. Other things have filled the void in your absence. Sure we miss you. But we’re getting over it somehow. Actually, we’re too busy to entertain you right now, even if you tried to come back. I hope you understand.

Easy Revivals
We are having revivals now without you. It’s not hard. The pastor fasts and prays, along with a couple others. The evangelist preaches mostly just to sinners now. Most of us try to get to church in time for the first song or two. We justify the fact that the number of new converts is down. Yes, there seems to be diminished conviction, less lasting victory, fewer miracles, and many young people are backsliding. We agree, however, that it’s not us that are at fault here; it’s just the times we’re living in. It’s like this everywhere.

As your friend, I’m writing this to you, knowing how much it must hurt you to have folks say they miss you . . . and yet in their material and intellectual progress, they’ve weaned themselves away from the haunting memory of you.

What hurts, I know, is that we were children you personally raised. You were always there when we needed you. (But now we don’t.) You taught us about faith. You taught us about miracles. You taught us about a move of God. You taught us about revival. You taught us about how to touch God. Thank you for that, but you see, this is a new day and we are trying to go to the next level. Our services are structured differently now.

Can you believe that now when you are ever mentioned in church, everyone gets real quiet? (They all feel guilty I’m sure.) It’s like they experience a momentary twinge of guilt while they consider their part in your disappearance. Once in a while some even get misty eyed when we talk about the old times you shared with us. Yet all that feeling vanishes along with the pizza right after church.

Happy Memories
By the way, do you remember all the folks of yesteryear coming into the sanctuary with red-rimmed eyes? Remember the baggy looking knees in mens’ suits? Remember all night prayer meetings? Remember the depth that was in worship? Remember when sinners couldn’t sit in their pews any longer, and would run to the altar? Remember when you could feel unity and brotherly love? When folks helped bear one another’s burdens? When the saints didn’t watch the clock? When they could hardly wait to enjoy the after service atmosphere, praying around the altar until the wee hours of the morning? Boy, those were to good old days. We call that “Old School.”

Well, it’s pretty much all gone now. But you ought to see our new Hammond C-3, our new drum set with a cage and everything. Electric bass guitars are just awesome and the electric guitars, too. We use praise singers to help cover up the fact that our congregations don’t sing like they should or used to. We let them do most of our worship for us. Our choirs just do terrific on the new style songs. Old saints don’t like the new songs much, but the younger crowd seems to like them. Many music directors don’t even know some of your old favorite songs, so they don’t get played much anywhere.

You would be proud of our church buildings. Carpet on the floors, there are pews now instead of benches and they are padded besides. The arched beams are beautiful; we also have the loveliest of imported chandeliers. Our pastor has polish too. He doesn’t preach long. We are more concerned about sermon length now, than content. Our pastor spices up his sermons with cute sayings but I guess that’s progress for you. “Win some, lose some.”

Speaking of “lose some,” we’re losing a surprising percentage of our young people. An unbelievable number of marriages have gone on the rocks. Many lives have been in jeopardy. But that’s to be expected, I guess. Teenagers seem to be at war with their parents and want to dress more and more like the kids at the public school. Our youth meetings may not have much in the way of prayer, but we have great icebreakers, skits and games.

No Offense Intended
I hope you’re not offended. I don’t mean for you to be. You’ll always have a special place in my memory. You were kind and generous to me. You sure got me out of some hard times. I can’t thank you enough! Still, this is a generation now that doesn’t know you at all. Your coming would probably scare them.

Remember the night when my mother sat at the piano bench and you joined her there?

Remember how she wept and groaned in the Spirit and slumped to the floor during the revival service and how some tried to call the ambulance because they thought she was sick? They never knew you and her were talking.

That’s what I mean. A good many never got to know you well. And most never knew you at all. Those that knew you personally have waited so long to talk to you that they are now, to say the least, embarrassed.

So while we are trying to work out our feelings about you, and see where you might fit into our plans in the future, you might try your luck someplace else. Try Brazil, Ethiopia, or how about the Philippines? You might have better luck in Third World Countries, or behind the Iron Curtain. You might even luck out and find someone to talk to you in some little storefront on the other side of the tracks. Surely someone somewhere needs you.

We’re terribly sorry, Intercessory Prayer, we miss you, but we really don’t need you . . . right now!

© 2008, Martyn Ballestero Sr.

When the Power Breaks Forth

God wants Spirit-filled Christians to have an impact on the world around us and He has equipped us with everything we need – that is the power of the Holy Spirit. We must recognise that before God can use us in the way that He plans, there must be a breaking of the outward man so that the inward man can come forth. Our ineffectiveness as Spirit-fill Christians is not the fault of someone else, but it is our fault. Our Spirit seems to he wrapped in a covering so that it cannot easily break forth.

Nature has its way of breaking. Jesus said "Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit" (John 12). I remember watching seeds grow when I was at school. The outer shell of the seed had to be broken before the life could come forth. In John 12, Jesus is clearly saying that unless we are broken we are of no use.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). So the treasure is in the earthen vessel, but if the earthen vessel is not broken, who can see the treasure within?

What is the final objective of the Lord's working in our lives? It is to break this earthen vessel, to break our alabaster box, to crack open our shell so that the Power can break forth. It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing (John 6:63).

That’s my five minutes!

Releasing the Spirit

The greatest hindrance to the release of the Spirit in our lives is the flesh! That is, to reach out potential as Spirit-filled Christians we must die to the grasp of the flesh.

In studying the topic of “brokenness” I came across a very interesting story and an ancient temple in Asia. Anthropologists found an altar area that was literally buried under shards of smashed pottery. Further research revealed that the people in that region were pottery makers who regularly sacrificed the fruit of their craft to their god. Having created their masterpieces, that work which stood to gain them the most fame and profit, the craftsmen would take the vessels into the temple and smash them to pieces before their stone god. The broken fragments were mute testimony that, in sacrificial worship, the craftsmen had given up all hope of gain from the vessels.

What a perfect picture of what God calls us to be as Spirit-filled Christians. Hudson Taylor called it the “exchanged life” – the life that is indeed “no longer I, but Christ that livetth in me”. Only when we are broken on the altar of the Living God can we know the power of His life in and through us! Acts 1:8 says that we receive power when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The scriptures go further to say that we have that power to be witnesses. That is, we are filled with the Holy Spirit to show forth – to witness. God expects there to be a release of the Spirit that testifies and witnesses to others!

What stops this release of the Spirit – it is the flesh! It is because of the flesh that many are not where God wants them to be, not reaching their God-ordained destiny or purpose and not serving God as they have been called – a recipe for frustration.

I am not saying that if you aren’t filled with the Holy Spirit and I am not saying that you aren’t saved. I am simply saying that you aren’t where God wants you to be, you aren’t what God wants you to be and you aren’t doing what God wants you to do.

There is just one basic thing that will enable man to be useful before God: brokenness. We’ll explore “brokenness” further, but for the meantime…..

That’s my five minutes!

Shut up you fool - you'll get us both fired

Desperate for employment, a depression-era farmer applied at a passing circus. At the circus office door he made an impassioned plea. "I'll do anything," he begged.
At this, the manager's eyes lit up. "You're hired, I need a new gorilla. The old one has died, and we cannot afford to import one. We have skinned old Kong out, and I need someone to wear the suit and do the gorilla act”.

The farmer's reluctance dissolved at the mention of a sizable salary. Pride gave way to necessity, and his new career was launched – a circus gorilla.

As it turned out, the farmer enjoyed it. His act was dramatic and crowd-pleasing. He would swing out over the lion's cage on a rope and chatter excitedly at the enraged beast below. The rope was carefully measured to ensure the risk of being eaten alive by the lion was minimal.
But during a matinee one day, miscalculation brought catastrophe and the gorilla tumbled into the lion's cage. The lion leapt upon him immediately and, placing a massive paw on either of the gorilla's shoulders, began to roar in his face.

"Help", screamed the man in the gorilla costume. "Help me! Someone please save me!"
"Shut up, you fool!" the lion whispered in his ear. "You'll get us both fired."

Unfortunately, a great deal of what passes for true Christianity is nothing more than just “monkey suit” religion. We need to stop and consider our Christianity and ensure that we aren’t just playing church and religion and pretending that we have some sort of relationship with God. We must be very careful that our Christian walk doesn’t decline to the level where holiness has become more about obeying rules (and wearing the costume) than it is about becoming more like Jesus. It is my belief that many that profess to be Christian have simply mastered the act of looking like a Christian. Many are simply wearing a Christian costume and just hoping that they don’t get found out!

Christianity is not so much about the outer “costume” that we design, but it is about an inner change that results in an outer change. That inner change is the infilling of the Holy Spirit. As the old song says, “Jesus on the inside, working on the outside”.

The Bible says that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit that are filled with power (Acts 1:8). So, over the next few posts I want to explore why it is that there are so many Spirit-filled Christians that are not exhibiting this power! What is it that is stopping the “power” breaking forth?The greatest hindrance to the release of the Spirit in our lives is the outward man, the flesh, the carnal man – the costumes of Christianity that we wear as a substitute for the real thing! “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63).

That's my five minutes!

Worship: My Life on the Altar of Sacrifice

To worship God is to recognise His worth or worthiness. The Bible often calls this "glorifying God" or "giving glory to God” and it is very clear that it is the whole duty of man. To worship God! Paul said to the Corinthians, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Unfortunately, many have diminished worship to something that is done in church on Sundays, usually through a song. While that is one way to worship God, worshipping God requires much more than that.

Paul said that we need to present ourselves as a sacrifice to God and that it is worship. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

What is the meaning of these words “reasonable service”? If you study, you will find that the words “reasonable service” mean “spiritual worship”.

Now the whole idea of presenting ourselves as sacrifices in worship as presented by Paul in Romans 12 is not a new concept. This is the language of worship from the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, a worshipper brought a sheep or a bull or a pigeon and sacrificed it on the altar as an offering to God. At the heart of this act was that sin demanded punishment, and the slain animal represented God's willingness to accept a substitute so that the worshipper might live and have an ongoing relationship of forgiveness and joy with God.

But all the Old Testament believers knew that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). They pointed beyond themselves to Christ, who was the final sacrifice for sin (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:12). His death cannot be improved on!

I’m glad this is the case, because when Paul says that our worship is to present our bodies as a sacrifice he does not mean that we die and atone for our sins. Paul was saying that we show the worth of Jesus Christ by the way we use our life – how we spent our time, talent and treasure. Paul made this clear later when he penned his desire for Jesus Christ will be honoured in his body (Philippians 1:20). Further, Paul exhorted others saying “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

God is calling us to “whole of life” worship. He no longer looks for physical altars with physical sacrifices placed and burned upon them for His pleasure. Instead, He asks for a much more significant offering: our life, placed and lived upon the altar of our surroundings for His glory.

I’m challenged when I think about this. God wants me to build a platform out of my job, my talents, my home, my finances…and upon it place my life in dedication to Jesus Christ.
THAT’S MY REASONABLE SERVICE. THAT'S MY SPIRITUAL WORSHIP!

That's my five minutes!

I want to please God!

“Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Hebrews 11:6 is an important scripture for all Christians. After all, the Christian walk is about pleasing God. Therefore, when we read that “without faith it is impossible to please God”, we ought to be immediately assessing our life as to whether or not we have faith. Personally I find that my level of faith tends to vary. I can go through times where I have great faith, but I can also go through times where my faith is diminished - i'm just being honest.

Faith does not have a physical form – we can’t see it, we can’t feel it, we can’t touch it. In that regard, we find faith is often something we struggle to define. What exactly is faith? How do I know I’ve got faith? What does a person of faith look like?

I’ve been in the church long enough to know the standard answer to the faith question. In answering the question “what is faith”, I have previously just recited the scripture in Hebrews 11:1. But, it wasn’t until recently when I was studying faith that I realised what that scripture really meant. I found the writing of Pastor Mark Johnson very good on this and as usual he got my mind ticking.

The companion to faith is desire, although faith is much more than desire. No one has faith for something that they don’t desire. Maybe that is why Hebrews 11:6 says that “God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” – that speaks of desire to me. To desire something is to reach for something that you don’t have. In essence, desire is here, the object of desire is over there. However, just desiring something is not faith!

Faith begins with desire, but must then be accompanied by a level of expectation. Expectation goes beyond desire. In fact, desire with a level of expectation is actually “hope”. Desire wants something, expectation looks for something, but hope wants and looks for something. Hope is part of faith, but it is not faith!

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for” – true faith is not just hoping for something, but it is living as if you have it (the substance) in your hands.

“The evidence of things not seen” – faith is living as if you’ve got the evidence in your hands.

Hope is anticipation; faith is participation. Faith requires participation – living as if you’ve got the thing your hoping for (the substance, the evidence) in your hand now.

I think that is why Peter and John asked the man at the gate Beautiful to “take up his bed and walk”. He could have said “I believe I’m healed” and then just continued to sit there – but that would have just been “hope”. When he participated in the healing by taking up his bed, standing to his feet and walking – that was true faith. Faith is participation. It is living like you’ve got the healing.

Faith envisions, faith encompasses, and faith enjoys (even before it becomes a reality).

That's my five minutes! (inspired by Mark Johnson)