There is nothing you can do to make God love you more, There is nothing you can do to make God love you less

Gefs's Weblog

Here is a PURELY THEORETICAL exercise. When Peter asked Jesus how many times we should forgive the answer was seventy times seven.

Matthew 18

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Imagine if God was only going to forgive you seventy times seven times, or 490 times. Try and calculate how many times you have needed God’s grace. What number are you up to? How many times do you have left? If getting to heaven relies on having enough ‘points’ left, will you make it?

There are two things we can take from this exercise:

1)    Don’t mess with God’s grace.

2)    Be thankful that God doesn’t work like this at all. God…

View original post 46 more words

My Challenge For YOU!!

If you are a male and a Christian I want a comment from you explaining why you are not taking the challenge I am making today. Do not read this post and move on without either:

a)Signing up for the challenge

b)Explaining why you will not

Here’s the challenge:

Go to http://www.x3watch.com/x3watchpro.html and download the software; you only need to download the free version which is hidden down the bottom of the page. Put my email address in as your accountability person (Geoffcollins1@yahoo.com.au) Or feel free to add an accountability partner who is closer to you.

The software will block suspicious sites and report to me when you are trying to access sites that are suspicious. I installed this software a month ago and it is a great way to help avoid temptation.

Protecting yourself against pornography is TUFF!! As men, we can be strong for days, weeks, months, even years and then one day we are surfing on the internet and get tempted by a link and before we know it we are clicking the ‘I am 18 years old and wish to continue’ button.

This software is a great way to get some support in those tough times. To know that someone is there looking out for you. To know that you have a friend to be accountable to.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

I guarantee you that if you commit to living righteously and continue to do so, you will see the benifits in every part of your life.

God Bless You

The Impotent Trojan Horse

We cry out to God ‘Why?”. We determine to stoically keep our faith during times of adversity. We grit our teeth and bear it. We whine. We complain. We plod through the valley trusting that the light isn’t far away.

We miss the point.

God, why am I in this situation? God why is this person in front of me moving so slowly when I am in such a rush? God why have I run into this negative person when I was feeling so good? God why am I being falsely accused?

Because YOU are there to DO SOMETHING!

If you just complain or grit your teeth to get through it you have missed your purpose. You will be like a Trojan horse that was placed EXACTLY WHERE IT NEEDED TO BE. The battle was set, the strategy was in place, the volunteer soldier was in position and then, right when the trap door should have opened and God’s warrior should have gone into the fray to win a victory, NOTHING HAPPENED.

God looked into the Trojan horse wondering why His warrior didn’t go forth and fight and he found a distracted and confused person complaining about how uncomfortable the ride in the Trojan horse had been or how there weren’t enough windows or not enough air to ventilate the space.

He shook his head and scoffed at the fact that just that morning His ‘warrior’ had been crying out for an opportunity to “Do something, Do anything for his Lord and King.”

When you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation. When you are somewhere you don’t want to be. When you are around people who are frustrating you. When you are falsely accused. When you are imprisoned unjustly. That is where He needs you. To pray light into the darkness. To speak blessing into people. Not to get distracted by your flesh.

 

In those hard times, seek HIS PERSPECTIVE!! GBU

 

Psalms 91:1,2

Proverbs 3:5,6

Romans 8:38,39

James 1:2-4

1 Peter 1:6-9

Philippians 4:6,7

Philippians 1:12-14

I have been studying the waste management system with my English classes. When I asked the kids what they wanted to DO in the unit of learning they replied they wanted to go to the landfill and see the masses of rubbish that they learnt were thrown out in their city. (1,600 tons a day)

The landfill was closed down over 10 years ago but there are still people collecting, sorting and re-selling garbage in the area. We drove around the remains of the landfill (42 hectares) and parked at a block of land where people were sorting through garbage.

Some of my students were nearly physically ill when they arrived. We walked around in the piles of garbage and talked to the people who live and work there every day. There were young children, teenage kids and their parents, generations reduced to collecting and sorting rubbish for a living. Unable to break out of the cycle of poverty as they only earn about $1-2 a day.

My students wrote reflections about the experience and I was very glad to see that they got what I was hoping to they would get out of the experience, a sense of empathy and responsibility. A few days later God gave me a sermon to share with them and here is an abbreviated version for you.

Mark 10:23And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “

Are you and I like that rich person ?

The bible tells us that if we have 2 coats we should share one with those who have none. No matter how little you have there is always someone worse off you can give to.

The Widow and the Mites

Mark 12:41-44 41 And he sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury: 44 for they all did cast in of their superfluity; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Give, love and take responsibility for those less fortunate than you. Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. You are expected to DO something with what you have and those who have more are expected to DO more.

Be a light…God Bless You

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS AND LITTLE REMINDERS – Part Two

So I went to the gym for the first time. I walked in, got a locker and got changed. It has been a while since I went to a gym and when I did it was usually a very small gym close to home. There were rarely more than me and one other person there and the aerobic room was upstairs. I also don’t do a lot of things without my wife and kids. I work, go home and if i go out it is usually with them. I found myself in a very large gym with lots of modern equipment and 20- 30 people working out. The aerobics room was a big glassed in section of the gym and I noticed there was a high impact aerobics class.

Then I noticed a friend of mine who is a pastor. We chatted and caught up and he shared with me about how he has to be careful and keep his eyes from wandering into the aerobics room. I acknowledged the comment and shared how I had written a few post on my blog about similar things and how I was preaching on the radio next week about ‘family’ and how my focus is that we (especially husbands) need to make disciplined choices and protect our eye gate and ear gate from temptation. We continued chatting and sharing and then parted ways.

When I got home I realised how my friend Scott had been a very divine appointment. I hadn’t been fully conscious of it but I had been looking into the aerobics class as there were lots of attractive girls in there. As I said, I rarely go out without my wife and 2 beautiful daughters so am usually focused on them (or if i loose focus it is easy to regain it) but had it not been for Scott I might have drifted off into a world of fantasy and it could have been my undoing.

I thank God that he put a believer in my path to remind and strengthen me. For me I have a wonderful feeling of power when I can say “ Yes, I know that temptation is there but i choose to ignore it !! I love my God, I love my wife and I choose to do the right thing !!!” It is a buzz for me it makes me feel spiritually fit and healthy. I feel proud. It is very similar to the buzz people get from being health conscious and working out. Youfeel good and you don’t want to pollute your body with doughnuts and junk food. You want to eat right, work hard and get good results. I want to let the right things into my life, my spirit in my relationships. I want to pray hard and with God’s grace I will see wonderful results.

God Bless You.

He is always in control

Mathew 17 : 24-26

24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

25″Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?”

26″From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27″But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

For morning devotion at the school I work at there re 2 teachers assigned to each class. My partner and I take turns giving sermons and leading the 15 minutes we have with our class each morning. This morning she shared about how last week she was having a problem and without knowing it my sharing was very specific advice for her.

Even now I don’t remember the sharing I gave. Quite often I go to class with little or no idea what I am going to talk about and just talk about something I have heard or learnt in the past. But God is God and He is in control !!

Why didn’t Jesus just take a coin out of His pocket and hand it to Peter to pay the tax ? Because He wanted to make the point that He is in control of everything, nature, money, every circumstance, everything !

One of my favourite experiences as a Christian is when you have the revelation or ‘re-revelation (remember) that God is working in every aspect of your life. He knit us together in our mother’s womb, He clothes the lilies in the field (Matthew 6:27-29), He commanded the waves and wind to stop, He cures disease and HE LOVES YOU AND ME !! How wonderful that is, if He is with us, who is against us ?

Lean on Him today, trust in Him, have faith in Him. They are the key words in Christianity because that is what Christianity is all about. The fact that God is God and He has a beautiful plan. Love Him, trust Him and know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

GBU

I Fell – Part Two

When my wife got home I was determined to confess to her straight away but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I carried a burden with me all day, knowing that I had sinned and that I needed to confess my sin or it would NEVER be resolved. My mind raced with thoughts that ‘I could confess to a friend a ‘or I could just pray ‘ and ‘why tell my wife, she will be so disappointed’. I went to sleep that night with the problem unresolved.
The next morning I woke up early, prayed and when my wife came out of the bedroom I confessed. She cried and was very disappointed but after 15 or 20 minutes she listened to what I had to say.
“I did it, it was wrong and I am telling you because I don’t want to hide anything from you. I need your forgiveness and we need to pray together”
My wife is an AMAZING woman!! It was her prayer and faith that brought me to my salvation. I once had a mental breakdown and during the process of my recovery I felt I had to confess all my sins to her. She listened stoically as I told her of past drug use, sexual sin and on and on and on. She forgave me and loves me BUT I will not waste her forgiveness.
If I didn’t confess my sins to her and receive her forgiveness I have no doubt I would have fallen into the same or worse sins again. Unconfessed sins are like poison that eat people from the inside out and before you know it the decay of sin has destroyed the husband, father, minister, friend, employee ,man, that God intended you to be.
It’s BLOODY HARD !! and there is no guarantee that you will receive the absolution that you want from the person you confess to BUT there is a guarantee that you will receive absolution from God through the blood of Jesus Christ. I also guarantee you that it will be much easier to beat those sinful habits when they have NO SPIRITUAL POWER over you and almost impossible to beat them if you keep those sinful secrets inside of you……that rubbish will surface one way or another !!
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Don’t be a slave to your sins, they control you no matter how muc h you think you are in control.

Repent !! Confess your sins, seek forgiveness and take your place in God’s Kingdom !!

God Bless You

I Fell – Part One

It’s been a long time since we have had internet on at home, usually I use the internet at work. A week ago we had the internet connected and I was faced with a whole new set of challenges. Almost straight away I noticed that our time as a family started to decrease as I wandered around in cyber world looking at things on YouTube and chatting on face book. But the biggest problem was that there was a new temptation in the house….pornography.
For the first few days I made sure I drove my wife and kids to the places they wanted to go rather than being left behind, in the house alone. A few days ago my wife went to the doctor and I was surfing around when I followed a link and before I knew it my spirit was telling me it was time to close things down. But I didn’t. I kept clicking and clicking even though I knew I should stop.
Now that I have seen things I didn’t want to see but couldn’t resist I have gone through a range of emotions. The first was erase all the evidence so my wife won’t find out. The second was ‘Oh my God, what have I done’ Why risk the happiness of my marriage and my very soul for something I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO LOOK AT when I am in my right mind. The next thoughts I had were ‘I have to get the net disconnected’ and confess to my wife what I have done. My final thoughts were ‘This is why I need God’s grace!!

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to the mountain move and the mountain will move !!!

So what are you worrying about ? What are you stressing about ? Can God trun sround your marraige ? Can God turn around your health ? Can God turn around your finances ? YES but if they don’t turn around is it because of something you have done or are doing ? Do you need to reset your expectations or dreams ? Do you need to remodel your finances ? Do you need to change your habits ? Do you need to stop whining and stressing and start praising God ?

Then do it !!

‘Call on God but row away from the rocks’  Indian Proverb…….’And if you hit the rocks anyway trust it was God’s plan so go out singing praises to His Mighty name !!!!!!!!!!!

Phillip Ian Tri

Here is a part of a post from 2007… http://yearn4god.com/2007/12/06/philip-ian-tri-11207-51207/

Philip Ian Tri (1/12/07 – 5/12/07)
When Andrew and I received the following text message from Pak Stefanus (Head of Ada Hari Esok Orphanage) we were of one mind:

“There is a woman in Tandes who needs to give birth by operation, there are a lot of complications and she is very poor. Is there anything you can do?”

In just a few seconds we agreed to bless her with the money that was left over from the Charged Retreat. We sent Rp.4,700,000 (US$507.15) and waited. After a few days we heard that the woman’s blood pressure was too high to do the operation. We prayed for her and finally were told that the baby was born on the 1st of December (2007). The problem was that he was only 1.8kg and needed to be in an incubator in intensive care.

We subsequently helped with further medical costs and raised an army of prayer warriors to pray for the baby. The mother of the baby even allowed us to name the baby. His name was Phillip Ian Tri (Philippians 3) as God had put the following verse in my Spirit :

Philippians 3:7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Phillip died at 8 days old. Yet I believe he knew God and is with God. Even more, I believe that his short life did a great deal to teach a lot of people about the value of their lives. I pray the same is true for you. Don’t live a long, lost life. Set your eyes on Jesus and run the race to the end well.

God bless you and your family and loved ones.