Complacency

Complacency. 

It's awful. 

I struggle a lot with this. 

I posted, February, how i had completely lost a relationship with Jesus. 10 months on, I've done it again. 

I struggle to see the big picture. Sometimes, I live in a day-to-day world. Where I pray for this exam, and for this person who I want to have a Godly conversation with. 

That's not necessarily a bad thing...

...but complacency is.

That feeling of, "i haven't sinned" "i'm good enough" are bad.

Going to church. It's like a ceremony,it's the same over and over again. 

Doing a QT, just an analysis of a bible text and how to apply it to life.

Praying, for me. For things to go my way. 

It's just not good enough.

Why do I seem to miss things? Why do I miss the big picture, of life? 

Why does it take a massive revelation for me to realise where I'm going wrong?!

When is the last time, i sat and told God how I felt? How, i was disappointed about not getting that uni offer, about how that maths test went awfully, how much I wanted that guy to tell me he loved me?

See, I can't even get day to day living right.

I am an awful christian. I don't know why or understand why he chose me. He shouldn't have done. 

I am so humbled, and overwhelmed about how little I am, and how Amazing God is. 

I've screwed up. But he still loves me.

Bruce Almighty

So, I just bought Bruce Almighty on DVD because I love that film. And there was this one quote that sort of struck me, so Imma QT it!

The background info is that this guy Bruce is given all of God's powers but not God's knowledge. So he does things like get himself a better job, get free clothes and other stuff. God says the only two rules are that he can't tell anyone he's God, and he can't mess with free will. a lot happens in the film, and nearer the end, he ends up breaking up with his girlfriend, and he tries to do everything within the powers he has to get them back together and then here comes the quote:

Bruce: How do you make people love you without affecting Free Will?
God: Welcome to my world, son. If you come up with an answer to that one, let me know.

I just guess I never thought about it like that! Although this quote is about him and his girlfriend, "God" relates it back to Christianity.  I'm always praying for God to turn people into Christians, but I had never thought about maybe, that it's the people i'm praying for, that their hearts aren't open to God, and they are the ones not loving God. God loves us, he loves all of us. And although it works both ways, that God has chosen us, he knows who would have been open to him, and who wasn't going to be. 

This may have been obvious to everyone, but it kind of wasn't to me. I'm constantly crying out to God literally and metaphorically asking him why people aren't Christians, why he isn't doing anything about it and showing himself to them. But, it's the wrong attitude. God's done everything for us, but it's a two way thing, people have made the choice to reject him. It's really sad, but we need to keep telling people about God, and telling people how much he loves us, and he's just waiting for them to love him back.

5 women who changed eternity - Mary - Obedience

I absolutely love Mary, she's amazing. aaaah, okay. so Mary is the last of the 5 women in the lineage of Jesus, and there are so many other other amazing women we could learn from, but i'm stopping here for now! There's 3 main examples of Mary that we can learn from - especially her obedience and trust in God.

1)    What's the basic story? Mary is visited by an angel and her first reaction recorded was startled. The angel told that that she would become pregnant and have a son, but not just any old son but one who would be the son of God and would save the people. She wonders how this could be because she was a virgin, but the angel reassures her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her.

What's the significance? She trusts in God because she knows that she’s a virgin and it would be impossible for her to have a child. But God does the impossible and can perform miracles! He kept his promise and Mary does become pregnant. 

How does this apply to me? Ephesians 3:20 says With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. Mary as a young servant girl would have never thought that God could have used her, but he does. God does more in us and for us than we can ever imagine, and if we trust God he will do the impossible for us! Sometimes we can feel inadequate, like maybe God can do nothing with us, or the question of why did God choose us? Mary is a young servant girl, who probably had a standard life up til then. but she goes onto to be the mother of the amazing guy ever, the one who saved everyone by dying for their sins. And this guy is half Mary - gotta be something good about Mary! 

2)    What's the basic story?  Joseph knew that the punishment for adultery would have been death, probably by stoning Mary to death. They were only engaged but that was as serious as being married, they'd have to break up via divorce and to have sex before marriage was adultery. Although we know she didn’t commit adultery, there wasn’t any births born by the holy spirit, and people would have assumed she was lying. 

What's the significance? She was put into a potentially life-threatening position and she had to trust God that he would protect her and not stone her, and her unborn child as well.  

How does this apply to me? When we’re put into bad situations, whether it’s because of something we’ve done, or something that is out of our control, we need to trust God. He has an amazing plan for each and every one of us, and his timings are perfect. The bad situation we may be in, may result in a stronger faith in God, and something better coming out of it.

3)    What's the basic story?  The wise men don’t go and tell Herod where Jesus is, and Herod is angry. An angel of the Lord tells Mary and Joseph to Egypt to hide, as Herod wants to kill Jesus. They left during the night, and Herod makes an order to kill all baby boys in Bethlehem. Later on, they are called to go back to Bethlehem because Herod had died. 

What's the significance?If they had stayed any longer in Bethlehem, the baby would have been killed as a result of Herod’s orders. But they are called to go elsewhere for their own and the child’s safety and they do it willingly in the middle of the night as she trusts God! She also returns when God tells her to, even when she is going back to the place where they wanted to kill her child, because God tells her that it is safe!

How does this apply to me? Like Mary and Joseph were in danger but trusted in God, God helped them out of danger. God keeps us from danger and when we are in danger, God helps us. But we need to trust in him that he will help us and not abandon us. When we're called to do something, or go somewhere, we need to go immediately! Going to a new place like a new job, or university or on a mission is scary, it's out of our own familiarities and comfort zone. But God never leaves or abandons us. He'll always be there. 

When we trust God like Mary does, he can do amazing things. He can do the impossible, he can help us out of bad circumstances and into better ones and he can keep us out of danger. It’s easy to try and figure our own way and trust in ourselves or in other people. But like Mary had her eyes fixed on God and she trusted in God, we need to as well.

5 women who changed eternity - Bathsheba - Unlimited Grace

Bathsheba found in 2 Samuel chapter 11, a little in 12, and in 1 Kings 1

What's the basic story?

It starts off with a war, and we know that kings are also supposed to go to war, but for some reason, David doesn't and we don't really know why. He's on his roof and he sees a woman in a bath (I thought when I was little that was why she was called Bath-sheba). And this woman's pretty beautiful, so he sends his servants to find out who she is. They tell him that she is Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite who is in David's army, who is away at war. Because he's away at war, David freely gets Bathsheba and they sleep together. This is the king, so he can do what he wants . .right? 

Turns out no, and the evidence of the affair comes about when Bathsheba finds out she's pregnant and she sends word to David. Ah. David's little secret isn't about to be very secret anymore. But, he decides to try and cover his sin with another sin by getting Uriah back from war to ask how it's all going, and send him home to sleep with his wife so it looks like it's Uriah's child. They don't exactly have pregnancy tests or dates for the ETA of the child, so no one would really know the difference. But Uriah doesn't follow the plan, he sleeps outside the palace door with all the other king's officers. 

David suddenly panics and is like ahh, he needs to go home! He asks Uriah why he didn't go home, and he says something about how his fellow officers are in tents having a hard time, it seems bit unfair for him to go home and sleep with his wife. David persuades him to stay for another night, and he gets him to the palace to eat and drink. He then gets him drunk but still Uriah doesn't go home. David again panics, so sends a letter to Joab in war telling him to put Uriah in the front line so he will get killed. 

Bathsheba's pretty upset about this, but after the period of mourning, she gets married to David and has a son (who is nameless I think?). David's got away with it, the child may be born a few months earlier than suspected but no one will really notice, and he's king so no one's going to do anything. But . .God doesn't like what he's done. 

David's friend Nathan then explains to David that he's sinned once in sleeping with Bathsheba, and quite a few times in lying and then killing him. David FINALLY understands that he''s sinned and there's going to be consequences for this. Then the baby became really ill, and David fasted, and he was lying on the floor all night. On the 7th day, the baby died. David comforts Bathsheba, they sleep together and she gives birth to Solomon 9 months later!

How is it significant?

I don't know how much say Bathsheba has, considering David is a king and has power to do pretty much whatever she wants. When he summons her to sleep with him, she probably didn't get any choice. And she probably didn't get any choice whether to marry David. She just had to do it, and get on with it, which is pretty harsh

She probably raised Solomon on her onesies and she lived with the King so I reckon she did have faith. And she raised Solomon as a Godly man, unlike other of David's sons. She uses her position later on in 1 Kings 1 to make sure Solomon is next in line although he's not the eldest, he's the one with the most faith and he does become king. 

Anddddd she's in Matthew 1! Because of her wisdom and her ability to make her sons Godly, and using her powerful position, her son become king

How does this apply to me?

Sometimes we're put into bad situations and circumstances without much choice in the matter. But, she has faith in God and things do get better, she gives birth to a son who becomes king and she becomes again in the genelogy of Jesus! This shows her submission even when she knew the king was sinning, and if she hadn't submitted to his commands, things could have turned out very differently - so we should submit but maybe not if we know our future husbands are sinning because we have more of a choice now and we don't us or our future husbands to fall into sin. But we need to be humble and submit, but being wise about it too :)

5 women who changed eternity - Ruth - Love

Today is from Ruth, and in the bible, it's in Ruth :P 

What's the basic story?
I really love this story! So Ruth. To explain the family situ, i've done some family trees (you can tell I've had fun with this!) 

Family Tree #1

Okay so Naomi is married to Elimelech, they have two sons called Mahlon  and Kilion. There was a bit of shortage of food in the land of Bethlehem in Judah so they leave. They toddle off to a place called Moab. Eliemelech dies, and then Mahlon marries Ruth, and Kilion marries Orpah who are both Moabities. 10 or so years later, Mahlon and Kilion die :( which brings us to the next family tree. 

Family Tree #2

So as we learnt in Tamar, once a son dies in the family, she should be given to the next son. Well, the next son was also dead. So it leaves Naomi with two daughters-in-law who she can't provide sons for. She says even if she were to re-marry and have sons, they still got to wait for them to grow up and that's a pretty long wait by anyone's standards. Naomi hears that there is food back in Bethelehem again, so she sets off to go there. But she doesn't want Ruth or Orpah with her and tries to persuade them to leave her and go back to their own families and their own gods. Orpah goes off, but Ruth doesn't. Ruth stays faithful with Naomi and promises to never ever leave her!

They get to Bethelehem and Naomi asks everyone to call her Mara which means "bitter" or "sad". Neither of them have a job, and neither of them have a man to go get a job to bring them money and food - so Ruth takes this responsibility. She goes to this field, which belongs to Boaz, who somehow is related to Eliemelech! pretty cool. She sets off to work collecting grain that the workers leave behind, and she's pretty hardworking as she doesn't really stop. Boaz goes up to her and tells her that it's fine that she is there. She's a bit astounded, because she's a foreigner and he's being really lovely to her but he hears of everything she's done to help Naomi. 

Boaz continues to be lovely, letting her eat with everyone, and making his workers "accidentally drop" grain for her to pick up. She goes home, and has a lot of grain, and has given it to Naomi. Naomi tells her to keep working in that field, because if she went elsewhere she might be hurt. 

Naomi then hatches a plan mwah-ha-ha-ha. She realizes that Boaz is the nearest relative, and he can have children with the widow in the family to have children. She tells Ruth to go and lie at Boaz's feet after making herself like all pretty with perfume and clothes. By lying at his feet, she's asking him to marry her. He wakes up in the night like, WOAH, who is this?! He finds out who she is, and what her request is and says that this is her greatest act of kindness because she didn't look for a rich / poor young man to marry. Boaz is like there's another relative who could marry you, we'll find out in the morning what he wants to do, but someone will definitely marry and look after Ruth.

Ruth goes home with some grain for Naomi as a gift from Boaz which is pretty nice. Boaz goes and asks the relative if he wants the land of Elimelech, and he has to take Ruth as a wife. He basically says no. Boaz says in front of elders and witnesses that he's taking the land and Ruth. They get married, and have a child called Obed and we get to the last family tree!

Family tree #3

How is it significant?
The first thing we notice about Ruth, is how much she loves Naomi. She could have gone home to Moab, and got re married and had kids and had a very different life. But she loves Naomi and she's obedient and stays with her. Now that's dedication and a half.

Secondly, she is really hard working, when she goes to the field, she has minimal breaks and she gets a lot of grain.

Thirdly, there is a recognition that she isn't an Israelite, that she is a foreigner and that she would get hurt if she went to another field. It's no coincidence she came at the same field as a relative of hers, God was there in that and making sure she wasn't hurt!

Ruth goes and asks Boaz basically to marry her. I think that's pretty bold! Usually it's the men who ask, even in modern days but nope, this time it's Ruth who asks Boaz to marry her which if she didn't they probably wouldn't have got married. 

Lastly, their son Obed, was the father of Jesse who was the father of David. Yes that David. WOOO, Ruth is mentioned in the Matthew 1 Genelogy of Jesus as well which is pretty AWESOME. 

How does it apply to me?
Ruth shows amazing love to Naomi, and we need to do that. As women after God's own heart, we need to be loving. Not just to family members, not just to friends, but those who are unlovable, or those who aren't loved. We need to be showing God's love to all people, even when it's not at best advantage to us, and even when it's hard.

We need to be hard working as well! Whatever we end up doing, whether that is a real job, or whether we're stay at home wives / mums we need to be working hard. And working hard as if we're working for God. Whatever situation we're in = work hard!

But anwyay, Ruth is confident and assured in herself and she knows what she wants. Oooh yes, so I know this happens to me and a lot of other people but girls tend to be a bit fickle. Like "ooh I like this guy. No I don't. Yes I do. No, wait, do I?" We need to be strong in what we believe in, in all circumstances!

5 women who changed eternity - Rahab - Faith

Today I'm looking at the story of Rahab and how she is a woman of God!

What's the basic story?

A little bit of background information, the 40 years in the wilderness was up, and the only people left from that generation was Moses, Joshua and Caleb. They approached the promised land for the 2nd time, and this time nothing could stand in their way. They had already defeated many kings and places that I dream of being able to pronounce. They designated Joshua as their leader and they were preparing to cross the River Jordan to get to Canaan. 

This story is found in Joshua 2-6 :) The whole story is great, but really all i'm focusing on today is Rahab and her role in all of this. Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho and they ended up in Rahab's house. Now Rahab was a prostitute so it was probably normal for men to come into her house without anyone questioning it. But, someone must have spied the Israelites, as someone told the king of their whereabouts. The King demands that Rahab brings the men out, but instead she hides them and tells the kings men they had already left. Rahab then tells the men that everyone in Jericho is pretty frightened because their God had given them that land. She admits the God rules over the heavens and the earth and pleads with them that when they destroy Jericho, they will show her and her family kindness like she had shown the spies. She then is told to tie the red cord round her window and keep her family inside when they attack and they will all be saved. 

They conquer Jericho, and Rahab and all her family are saved in the end!

What's the significance?

She's a prostitute, she's got a sexually immoral background and a past. But God does amazing things through her! 

There is absolutely no coincidence that the spies went into her house, it's God's leading that they did, because she saved their lives by lying to the King's men about the whereabouts of where they were. 

She had heard of this "God" and heard about things he had done like drying up the Red Sea when they came through Egypt. She knew that if these men promised before God that something would happen, it would happen. And so it was. They promised she would be spared, and she was! 

She puts her faith and her trust into this God she knew little of, and of these spies. She could have been killed as a result but that one step of faith changed her life and others. . .

In Matthew 1v 5 "Salmon was the father of Boaz. Boaz's mother was Rahab.) She becomes part of the genealogy of Jesus!

But not even that, later on in Hebrews, Chapter 11 is talking about people who have great faith, and those who trust in God and guess who features!

Hebrews 11:31 - It was by faith that Rahab, the prostitute, welcomes the spies and was not killed with those who refused to obey God

And in

James 2:25 - Another example is Rahab, a prostitute who was made right with God by something she did. She welcomed the spies into her home and helped them escape by a different road. 

And she showed her faith through her good works!

How does this apply to me?

It doesn't matter about our past, God can do amazing things through us, through the bad situations we've been in, through our sin that can be a positive thing in the future. Whoever has a past, God alone can give them a future!

God is a good God, he has everything under control and he definitely keeps his promises.

Lastly, Rahab had faith, a lot of faith in God and the spies. That's a really admirable trait to have, and as women of God we should be full of faith as well!

5 women who changed eternity - Tamar - Hope

Story number 1 is of Tamar in Genesis 38, and it's a story of hope. 

What's the basic story?

Judah (one of 12 sons of Jacob) gets married and has three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah chooses the son of Er to be married to Tamar. But Er does evil, and he dies. It's then Onan's responsibility to have children with Tamar for his brother. But Onan knew the children wouldn't be his, and doesn't have full sex with her, so Tamar doesn't get pregnant. God then kills Onan for the sin he commmited. Judah tells Tamar to live at home til Shelah grows up and she will be with him then. But Judah was afraid that Shelah would die too, so never got Tamar back. Judah's wife then dies. Tamar hears that Judah is going to Timnah, and she wears a veil that covers her face. Judah thinks she's a prostitute and doesn't know it's Tamar. She wants a goat as payment for her prostitution and as a deposit for the goat, she takes his seal, cord and walking stick which shows his personal identity. They have sex and she gets pregnant! When Judah tries to find this prostitute, he can't and he's like, we'll pretend it didn't happen. He finds out Tamar prostituted herself and she's pregnant and he says to burn Tamar to death. She sends the seal cord and stick back to him to show he made her pregnant. She doesn't die and he recognizes it was because he didn't give her to Shelah that this all happened. She has twins called Zerah and Perez, but Judah didn't have sex with her again. 

What's the significance?

Tamar doesn't exactly have the easiest life. As background information, we all know the story of Judah who is Tamar's father in law. He sold his brother Joseph in slavery and lied to Jacob and said he was killed by an animal. He also marries a Caaninite women, which was against God. So her father-in-law isn't exactly a basket of roses and her husband was evil which is why he dies. The family she's put into is kind of rubbish, and she has to live with these people. 

Her husband then dies. No matter how evil he was, that's pretty harsh for her as well. 
Deuteronomy 25 v 5 - 6 says:
If two brothers are living together, and one of them dies without having a son, his widow must not marry someone outside her husband's family. Her husband's brother must marry her, which is his duty to her as a brother-in-law. The first son she has counts as the son of the dead brother so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.
So, Tamar has to marry Onan, and by law they are bound to have sex and have children to carry on the dead brother's name, and then his own name, but Onan won't have full sex with her, so she can't get pregnant. That's shameful on him and on her as well. He ends up dying!

She then is told to go home, and she will marry Shelah in time, but Judah doesn't keep his promise. The best part, she takes matters into her own hands. As we've seen, she's had a pretty tough time, but she's resilient and doesn't give up. She stuck with her faith to follow the law, and because of it, she did amazing things. She follows the law, unlike Judah, and went to take what was rightfully hers. "She's a virtuous woman who risks everything, her life and her reputation to get what was due to her, and her tribe".

In the Genelogy of Matthew 1, we see that the twins that Tamar and Judah have become direct links to . . .JESUS HIMSELF! If Tamar hadn't had hope, and resilience, then the genelogy would stop at Judah and we wouldn't have Christ. Mind blowing! She was determined to make an heir from that tribe, no matter the cost. 

How does this apply to me? 

We need to be like Tamar! We need to be strong in our faith and our character, being resilient, to do things for Christ and for what we believe in no matter what the cost is. It doesn't say she once doubted God or what she was doing, but she had faith and she trusted in God and his plans. Even when things seem tough, great things can happen!