Mark 9: 2- 9  “After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶ (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) ⁷ Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” ⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. ⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.”

This is my journey of devotions for today…

1. It involves allowing Jesus to lead me up a very high mountain. ” Why?” have you ever been up on a high mountain? The higher you go up the more disconnected you begin to feel from this world. So Jesus’ intention from this journey is to disconnect me from the world around me. Jesus wants me alone to himself. It’s a sacred place of uninterrupted time.

2. Once this place is achieved then Jesus begins to reveal a little more of who He is to me. It’s like He just pulls back the curtain a little to let me glimpse His splendour in eternity.

3. Moses & Elijah turn up…well I have never actually had them turn up during my devotion time for which I am grateful! Otherwise I would likely become like Peter and start freaking out wanting to do something dumb. However, I do know when I reach this place. It’s the place of the ‘undead’, the place where time stands still, the place where I have stepped through a window into a cocoon of timelessness. In this place it is very quiet, very still, very peaceful. When I reach this place I can spend several hours there and it feels like only minutes have passed by.

4. Warning: When you first reach this place - the first thing you feel is fear. Why? Because like many of the saints of old, you sense your unworthiness and uncleanliness. There is a sense of holiness. At this point you must resist the temptation to follow Peter’s lead - don’t just try and make yourself busy doing something, don’t disengage hold your nerve. This is the time to just sit and wait.

 5. Once you have reached this place you are now in a position where God can actually speak to you. It is in this position where we receive revelation that we may or may not understand just yet. It might be for now or it might be for the future. It’s the place where we discover what Jesus meant when he said man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.

There is so much for us to learn from this mountain experience. This is the process that works for me because it stops me from turning my bible reading into an academic exercise where I just get knowledge to somehow prove that I am better or somehow more enlightened than you. I think this  is what Jesus was trying to get across when he said to a group of religious people in John 5:39 – ^“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” Let’s not refuse to come to Jesus to have life.  

The scriptures are not an end in themselves they are designed to take us places.  A quiet place high on a mountain (in a chair, on a walk) where both the Father and the Son can speak and reveal their plans and purpose for our lives. You know I have  been following this practice for so many years now that I can reach this place no matter what is going on in the world around me. I carry the mountain with me where ever I go.

 Prayer: Father help us to not allow the busyness of life to stop us from making regular trips up the mountain. For it is the words I hear on the mountain in your presence that will sustain my life for the long haul.

I found it very confusing and contradictory this morning (29.10.07) when our Queensland Premier Ms Anna Bligh was interviewed on television advocating the high value of human life. She appealed to the public to be more responsible on the roads in relation to speeding and drink driving due to the fact that this year over 300 human lives have been tragically and unnecessarily lost because of people’s poor choices. 

I found her statement about valuing life a little ironic when just 24 hours earlier she commented that she would support a bill in parliament that decriminalises the termination of human lives in pandemic proportions. This is one of those Rove “What The!” moments. In one breath she is advocating the right to terminate human life through abortion, and with the next she presents life as precious and wonderful, something we should seek to preserve through responsible behaviour. Surely the gift of human life given by a loving God should be celebrated and protected at any age. If you take into consideration what the Bible says about the beginning of human life you find that He knows every human being intimately and is in the process of weaving them together in their mother’s womb.  

I find it ironic that we publicly ask God for his comfort when a family faces the pain of walking through the valley of losing a son in active service for our country. And at the same time we deliberately choose to ignore and reject His involvement in the process of human creation. Either all life is sacred and a gift from God- or none of it is. 

My prayer is that Ms Bligh would realise that God has put her in a position of leadership for such a time as this. She is there to serve the people of Queensland on behalf of God. That she, like the rest of us, can put aside her own journey to ensure that the decisions she makes are about doing what is right for all people before God and not just what is politically correct for a select noisy few.  

God instructs us to pray for our leaders, let’s get on with it.

Acts 28: 6 “ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting for a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.” 

Oh the finicky nature of the crowd! Paul has just survived a shipwreck. In fact he had to actually coach and guide everyone on board so no one lost their life. So here he is in a bad situation which was brought on by another person’s arrogance and stupidity. Of course he pulls it off because his God has helped him. The people on the island are impressed that everybody was saved. Paul is a hero. He then starts a fire for warmth and a snake comes out and latches onto his hand. Immediately the crowd turns and Paul goes from hero to murderer one deserving punishment of the gods. Now they watch and wait as he gets his just deserts, but nothing happens. He doesn’t get sick, he doesn’t swell up, and he doesn’t die. So what happens? The crowd changes their minds again deciding that Paul is a god! 

What is the moral of the story? Just do what God has called you to do and ignore the crowd because they will watch you like the stock market. When they think you’re doing well you will be the hero with everyone wanting to be your friend. When things start to go a little pear shaped they will determine that the spirit of the Lord has left you and its time to sell, sell, sell the stocks. Then you will pull of something spectacular under the hand of God and you will be back at superhero god status with your stocks going through the roof. People will be screaming “buy now, buy now!” and then in due course the cycle will begin again. 

Watch the crowd, its dynamic is 10km wide and 1mm thick - Crowds are shallow and temporary and if you start playing puppet to them you will become the same. Hold true to what God has called you do and don’t be swayed by the crowd. Don’t listen to the crowd tune in to the individual voice of people God puts around you to guide you- be wise.  

Prayer: Father help me to always listen to you for affirmation and not get caught up in what the crowd says because they change their minds more than the weather. 

Acts 26: 16 “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.”

Here we see Paul encountering Jesus on the road. Paul is told by Jesus that he has appointed him as a servant and a witness. It’s interesting that he did not appoint him as an Apostle or Leader. Jesus seemed to feel that understanding servanthood was the most important thing for Paul to come to grips with.

Let’s face it, Paul already knew and understood leadership. In fact Paul had already achieved much in this field, however for all of his leadership accomplishments and the status he achieved, leadership alone had not really served him all that well. His Leadership achievements had not brought Paul into the right place where he could embrace the new thing God was doing. It looks to me like Jesus wanted Paul to truly understand the nature and heart of a servant first and foremost. Once Paul fully embraced and understood what that truly meant- then true leadership soon began to emerge out of that place.

“Servant Leadership” is absolutely what Jesus had on his mind in the encounter with Paul on the road, and all of us today would stand up & affirm this same process. My only question in 2007 is do we have the right the balance and emphasis on each word? Leadership is very attractive for it brings with it honour and status, but servanthood, well it’s just not that attractive at all.

When was the last time we celebrated and applauded the ones who have just washed the disciple’s feet.

Prayer: Father always help me to remember that first & foremost I am a servant, and out of that heart & spirit eventually comes the trust of leadership.

Thoughts from my devotions out of Nehemiah 6

This is one of the best examples on goal setting and what you can expect you should you feel like when you want to do something significant with your life. Lessons to learn from this chapter:

1. Everything good will be attacked. That is just the nature of the world we live in. What happened to your nice new lawn you put down a few months ago? Its full of weeds, weeds that you did not plant. Where did they come from? It’s part of the curse and the result of sin, all good will be attacked.

2. Verse 3- People will try to stop your progress. Why? I am not really sure about that. Maybe fear, insecurity or maybe even plain old jealousy. Perhaps your progress makes them look and feel bad.

3. Verse 5-8- If that fails they will then try to discredit what you are doing by questioning you motivation for embarking on such a venture. Or they may even question even the validity of the goal itself. However, Nehemiah knows all this stuff is just nonsense with the intent of hoping he will just loose heart and give up.

4. Verse 9- Nehemiah just stiffens up his resolve asking his God to strengthen his hands to finish the project. God happily grants his request.

5. Verse 10- There is only one course of action left to take. Stand over tactics to see if we can be scared off the mission. The threat of death, or loosing your job, or loosing credibility etc. It’s an intimidation tactic as a last ditched effort to get you to conform and cease that which you are doing.

In the end the walls were rebuilt, the goal was achieved and the job was done. All because of one man’s conviction. One man found his destiny in God and he pursued it to whatever end. Friends, every human being must realize that God has a plan, purpose and specific mission for their life. Something that only we can do and we have been designed for such a mission. The trouble is too many of us are allowing the enemy to come in an stop us from fulfilling this God given plan for our lives. Sadly it is often those who are closest to us that the enemy uses to try and sway us from the goal. It is important to understand though - that people don’t do it because they are evil, they innocently do it because they are fearful for us and are often being manipulated by powers they don’t even understand themselves.

Jesus himself experienced this with Peter as he was heading to the cross. Peter tried to stop him from such a foolish enterprise and Jesus replied to Peter “get behind me Satan for you do not have the things of God in mind”. Jesus realized that his very good friend Peter could be used unintentionally by Satan to hinder the mission. While Peter was coming from genuine concern.

The bible clearly teaches us that our fight for life is not with flesh and blood (or people) it is with principalities and power in the heavenly realm. It is nothing to be feared, but something we must be alert against because often behind a lot of good intent, or fear, is the devil doing whatever he can to stop you from finishing your life well.

As I said earlier, all good will be attacked intentionally or unintentionally. It’s just the nature of the world we live in and the spiritual forces that are work behind the scenes. The challenge is to see your life mission and goals through to the end.

Prayer: Father help me to hold true to what I know you have put in my heart. Let me be quick to discern when the enemy is using people around me to sway me off the target. Give me the courage to see my life mission through to the end.

It has always troubled me that we live in a would today where I can line up a dozen people and be unable to make a distinction between those who have fellowship with Christ and those who don’t.

Pastor Craig in his book, Confessions of a Pastor, quotes statistics from the guru of church demographics George Barna, and look what he finds out…

In the area of serving….
27% of non Christians serve in not for profit organisations
29% of Christians serve in churches

There is only 2% difference!

In the area of giving….
48% of non Christians give to organizations
47% of Christians give to organisations

Those who don’t follow Christ are actually more generous!
10% more non Christians gave to the poor

Exactly the same portion of Christians and non Christians read their horoscope each day- 36 %

In the area of marriage….
27% of born again believers have been divorced
23% of non Christians have been divorced

Statistics like this make me think that something is wrong. It appears that Christian people are no different to the world. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that that the world has done a far better job of evangelizing the church than the church had done of evangelizing the world. It appears that the values of the world are now heavily entrenched in the lives of Christian people. Hence the fruit is both the same within and outside of the church.

Pastor Craig’s book Confessions of a Pastor is a step towards helping people bring their lifestyle into the light of truth. It’s one small step for each individual that could result in one huge step for the church global.

It’s the message of personal holiness, a journey that if embraced will transform not only your own life but the lives of others around you.

The church exists for the world, not to become like it, but to shine the light of Christ in the midst of darkness. A light that points the way home.

Confessions of a Pastor review here

This week in The Courier Mail (Wed 10 October 2007) on the front page we see a photo of a soldier who lost his life serving his country, our country- Australia.

We also heard the terrible, but heroic story of a young Dad who lost his life to save the life of his son.

Both tragic events remind me of the scripture in the Bible where Jesus said ‘No greater love has a man than he lay down his life for his friends’.

Friends, listen and learn- wisdom cries out from the streets reminding us of what is important in life. Say a prayer for the family members who have been left behind and thank God for creating such wonderful men that leave us a great example to follow.

I am always reminded that when things get tense with someone, take the road of self sacrifice. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter who is right and wrong. What matters most is that love prevails through genuinely serving each other.

Confessions of a Pastor: Adventures in Dropping the Pose and Getting Real with God - I would sum up this book as a must read for everyone who wants to live a victorious Christian life and a mandatory manual for those considering ministry as a full time vocation.

I found Pastor Craig’s book refreshingly honest because it brings to light the things that keep most leaders in the dark. Jesus said that if you want freedom and life you must bring that which is in the dark into the light. Pastor Craig encourages us to walk this journey with him. It is a journey of an open, honest and transparent life.

Pastor Craig has boldly gone, (like Captain Kirk on the USS Enterprise!) where no man has wanted to go before.

Self disclosure, and publicly! It is risky leadership…but essential if followers are to be free to at least have a go at walking the Christian Life.

For me it is a must read on every level.

Then it is a must do and apply!

If all Christ Followers read it…we might collectively and individually stand out as different from the crowd- the world.

I want to thank Pastor Craig for his willingness to be vulnerable- it gives me courage to do the same for those God places around me.

In my devotions recently I read from Psalm 85:10-13 “Love and faithfulness meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares they way for his steps.”

Here are my thoughts….
This is a great reminder to me that the end result of anything is totally out of my hands. What makes the difference? What brings the increase? What prepares the way for blessing?

Righteousness!

The righteousness that looks down from heaven. All I have to do is play my part, all I have to do is be faithful to whatever God has asked me to do. If I will do that He will do the rest.

There is something powerful that takes place when heaven and earth collide in harmony. The only sad part is that many human beings never discover exactly what God has created them to be because faithfulness is not very attractive and sought after commodity. We live in a world where as soon as things get tough, most people decide to move on. Faithfulness is the ability to hold on when all others let go, it’s the ability to stay true to God when everyone else walks away. When faithfulness springs up from the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven…Lookout something significant is about to happen!

My Prayer: Father teach me to stay true to you so that the harvest will be plentiful.

Recently in my devotions I read from the Bible in Esther 4:14b “And who knows but that you have come to this royal position for such a time as this.”

Here are my thoughts…

Esther is an amazing book where you see God and people working hand in hand to foil the enemies plan. Let me set the scene….

Mordecai took Esther in when her mother and father died. She was a beautiful girl so he encouraged her to try out for the King’s service and she soon found herself as one of the elite few. Then the Queen does something stupid disqualifying herself which elevates Esther to Queen status. However, Esther has kept a secret- the fact that she is a Jew! All was going pretty well until Haman gets a set against Mordicai and the Jews. He devises a clever plan to have them all annihilated by manipulating the King. Now does that sound familiar? -Hitler and the Holocaust. There is nothing new under the sun for the devil, he just keeps on revising the same old game plan. However, before it can be executed God, Mordicai, Esther, Haman and his wife and friends and a Eunich all have a part in the divine plan.

Haman - is determined to kill Mordecai and all the Jews

God - already has Esther as Queen

Mordecai - has instructed Esther to keep her nationality a secret

Haman’s wife and friends suggest he builds a gallows to hang Mordecai

God - takes away the King’s sleep so he decides to read a book and discovers that Mordecai was never rewarded for foiling a plot to kill the King

King - calls Haman in asking him what the King should do for the man he honors? Haman spits out a wonderful list of things, but then it all goes south when the King asks him to do this for Mordicai!

Haman - is humiliated and ticked off

Haman’s wife and friends realise this is the beginning of the end for him

Esther - is organizing a few dinner parties to set the atmosphere to drop the clanger that she is indeed a Jew!

King - sides with Esther and Haman realises that he’s in big trouble. The King is trying to work out what to do with Haman, but Haman knows things do not bode well.

Eunich - walks in offering a great suggestion. The gallows outside were built by Haman to hang Mordicai on.

King - REALLY! “in a sheepish Ace Venture tone”

Haman is hanged on the gallows and his estate is given to Esther and Mordicai

The moral of the story is this, do not go after that which God considers precious. We must all realise like Esther we are called for such a time and season as this. It is no mistake that we have been born during this time, God has ordained it. We are called to carry on Jesus work and foil the evil plan of the enemy. Yes, it’s risky but we must understand God is always orchestrating things behind the scenes to make sure all works out well. All we have to do is have the courage to make a stand believing we have born for such a time as this, and God will do the rest!

My Prayer: Let me always have the courage to stand up for what I know to be right. Let me trust you completely to whatever end!! This is my season to make a stand.