Don't fight alone

I've been re-reading a book lately by Francine Rivers called 'A voice in the wind' which frankly is AMAZING, but I was struck again by something which made me stop the first time I read it. This was quite odd because very rarely will I put a book down once I've picked it up (yes, I'm a bookworm) - but this part was so significant and filled with unimaginable meaning and significance that I simply had to stop and meditate on it. Here's the quote;
'Do you remember the story of Jehoshaphat? The sons of Moab and Ammon and Mount Seir came against him with a mighty army. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel and God said through him, 'Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.' While they sang and praised the Lord, the Lord himself set ambushes against their enemies. And in the morning, when the Isrealites came to the lookout of the wilderness, they saw the bodies of the dead. No one escaped. The Isrealites had not even raised a hand in battle, and the battle was won.' Kissing her head, he had said, "Stand firm in the Lord, Hadassah. Stand firm and let him fight your battles. Do not try to fight alone."
Now I know that's quite a long quote to prove a point; but I spent ages trying to find the story of Jehoshaphat in the Bible and I found it :D 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.

This point struck me so hard, because so often we can get caught up in our own little battles; struggling against our own enemies and God's just there like 'I'm here, won't you let me fight for you? Hello?' and we're so focused and determined to achieve what we're doing ourselves that we end up saying 'No, I can do this, let me do this alone'. What we're doing is likely even to be for Jesus! I can think of many situations where I've been preparing for a Christian event or something related to that and I'd get so stressed just completely focused on the task at hand, almost brushing the Big Man off every time He tries to intervene. Even talking to our non-Christian friends we can lay all the responsibilities on ourselves and be so focused on talking a good argument and convincing them of the truth within the pages of the Bible, that we miss out God altogether.

But what struck me most about this passage, wasn't that God fought for them, but God won for them. Now that sounds silly because God is God. But going back to the examples I was using a moment ago, like when we're talking to our Christian friends, or organising an event, I would expect that there would be quite a lot of physical effort that I would have to put into those things to make them work. But in this passage, the Isrealites don't even lift a finger!! They do nothing. All they do is praise Jesus.
Wow.
Because what this phrase 'Don't try to fight alone' is saying, isn't that we should start fighting and then run to God when things get tough, it isn't even that we should allow God to fight with us as equals, but it's saying that we need to allow God to fight FOR us.
Which is pretty awesome, pretty daunting and pretty scary, right? Leaving everything up to him.

Now I am not saying that is how it always works, in fact Biblically, faith and works are important and we can't just sit back and expect God to do all the work, because he's chosen us as tools.

I think, this passage is really about prayer and faith. About actually fully surrendering EVERYTHING in your life, into the hands of God. About bringing your burdens and plans to God (willing for him to tear them apart and build new ones) and surrendering them to him. Not just sitting back, but allowing him to do his thing. God is a gracious and loving God and he want's to fight for us; he's already won the ultimate victory, but he wants to fight for us now - and we have to let him.

Miracles #2

My last post was about the first miracle I ever witnessed... but now I think I actually want to go backwards to the first miracle that happened with my involvement... so here goes... this ones a bit gross :)

Right, so when my brother Jamie was born about 1 1/2 years after me, he was a fine and healthy baby - but after a while we noticed something wasn't quite right... he didn't poo. Not like, he did a little bit but not enough... but like never... and I'm talking weeks not just days. Poor little thing kept trying and trying but nothing ever... well, you get the picture.
Anyway, as hilarious as it sounds, this was a major issue and it really could have killed him. So naturally my lovely mum and dad got the church praying for healing as he was taken in to the hospital after a worried phone call from my mum.
So there they were, my mum, my grandad and granny, and Jamie at the hospital. (Unfortunately it just so happened that I decided to have a fever that day so dad had to stay home with me.)
Anyway, after a quick check up they decided they needed to get a good look... so they brought out the pointy sticks... :) hahaha... this bit always makes me laugh.
They weren't expecting anything to happen 'cos they were convinced it was this terrible disorder that meant that he just couldn't poo, but they were checking to see if he just didn't have enough room :).
And, as the church are all praying back home, by the grace of God, when the doctor tried to stick these lovely sanitary things up his bum... HE POOED ALL OVER THEM!!!!! I'm serious!!! Weeks and weeks of poo stored up until that moment when it covered the faces of all the doctors in the room... apparently, it was explosive :D.
Anyway, after more testing, THEY COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH HIM! So they sent him home... not a problem since :).

Now I know that is a HILARIOUS story (and I don't doubt this will get around, but tbh I tell everyone anyway) but there was real danger there. He really could have died. But only by God's grace, he was healed and whatever was wrong with him, was no where to be seen - the doctors couldn't explain it.

God's healing power is real, and it's available to us TODAY if we want it.

Miracles #1

I have to be honest and say that I'm not very good at this whole blog thing. I don't really know what I'm supposed to write. But I suppose I can give some encouraging testimonies. I'll start with the first miracle I ever witnessed (or can remember witnessing).

When I was still in early years of primary school, my lovely mum would walk us to school - it wasn't a long walk, but we had to walk down a very busy main road. If any of you don't know, I have two younger brothers (I'm sure they won't mind being mentioned) James, who is 1 1/2 years younger than me, and David who is 6 years younger. Anyway, one day we were walking to school and little Jamie was pushing David in his buggy.
They were playing a game together. Jamie would push the buggy and let go, making David giggle and catch it shortly afterward. As I'm sure you can imagine, this seemed harmless enough, but I bet you can guess what came next.
Having pushed the buggy and let go, this time the buggy swerved and to our horror, rolled out onto the busy main road. At this point everything was happening so quickly, we were all stuck like glue to the path staring at the buggy that was now flying into the air after being hit head-on by a car going somewhere between 30 and 40 mph.
It landed face-down on the tarmac.

It seemed like hours before we heard him crying. But cry he did.
A bemused looking driver climbed out of his car and tried to help as we pulled the mangled looking buggy from the road. After seeing he was OK, the driver left.
By the grace of God, little Davey was still in one piece - the same could not be said for Jamie, bless him (he was very upset, obviously).
After taking him to a nearby friends house, we began to inspect him for injuries...

Within minutes it was obvious that he was completely unharmed - not even a bruise! And there he sat playing with our friend's daughter as though nothing had happened at all.

To this day, I thank God that he protected my brother from what could have been a fatal accident, and believe that this was indeed a miracle. Praise God!

The Importance of Sharing the Faith

Since my first posts were a complete fail and wrongly invaded people's privacy :/ (sorry)
I've decided to start over, and as my first post, I'm going to talk about the controversial issue of the importance of evangelism in a Christian walk.

First of all, lets start with the basic message of salvation.
We were sinners and yet God loved us.

Wow right? The Bible says rarely will a man die for a good man, though for such a man he may do so, but Jesus died for us when we were still sinners! Whilst we were turned against him in ignorant rebellion, he shed his blood for us! That's amazing right? That in itself turns me awestruck.
Anyway, the point of Jesus dieing is within that - we were sinners; who needed saving. So along comes Jesus, the ultimate rescuer who substitutes his own perfect life for our sinful stained lives. And in doing so, also defeats death by rising again on the third day, securing us in faith of his power and reigning victorious over the Evil One who has plagued us for so long. (He fights on, because though the war is lost, the battle rages on and he'll take as many down with him as possible - so stand firm and close to God!)
As a result of Christ taking on our own punishment, we mercifully become sons and daughters of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, ultimate authority, creator and destroyer, alpha and omega, beginning and the end.

Wow. What mercy! What grace!

Now after such a saving experience, not only do we gain eternal life, but we gain NEW LIFE. Now. Here on Earth. He gave us the opportunity to come into a dynamic, unbelievable, unfailing and unconditional relationship with our new father, the one and only God.
Isn't that incredible! The Bible uses the analogy where a man finds some treasure in a field and it is SO valuable that he goes home, sells all his possessions and buys the field. Because how much more valuable is eternal life and quality of life and redemption, salvation, peace, strength, love and an unconditional loving relationship with the one true God, than any earthly possessions we could ever own - for those things will last only for a few decades, where God lasts forever.

So, moving on. What relevance does this have to evangelism?
Well, I say anyone who has found this life - eternal and new - who has found this salvation and unconditional love, and does not wish it upon his friends, family, neighbors and strangers, does not truly understand the thing of which I am talking about.
How can anybody find something so amazing, and not want other people to have it too?
I defy anyone who knows Jesus as their Lord, Savior, friend and God, to tell me that they have no internal need to share it with others. In the very act of following Jesus we encounter the Holy Spirit - which in turn equips us with unimaginable compassion for humanity, enabling us to merely glimpse at the incredible compassion that God has upon his people.

I will stand here, facing controversy, persecution, argument and threat and say that any 'Christian' who does not evangelize with people around them about the faith they have found, is in breach of the two most important teachings of Jesus and is therefore not a 'follower of Christ' which is essentially what it means to be a 'Christian' (clue's in the name).
If you are a fellow believer who does not have this heart for the lost, then brothers and sisters, I beseech you, do not be discouraged, but pray that God will bring upon you not only his Spirit of compassion, but also of courage and wisdom - because he who asks receives and he wants you to know that love.
Friends, do not think I have come to condemn, I wish only to encourage - may God bless you. :)