Check Please!

Over the past few months God challenged me with one simple question; “Do you live to please people or do you live to please Me?” Life is a constant battle, we seek acceptance from friends, desire attention from loved ones, strive for the appreciation of leaders, yearn to be acknowledged by the one and long for the approval of our parents while on an unmerited pursuit to earn the favour of God.

“Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.” Romans 5:18-19 (MSG)

Adam and Jesus were both created by God and purposed as life giving vessels, Adam and Eve vessels for humanity and Jesus a vessel for eternity, created for the same destiny, but resulting in different destinations all because of one simple decision.

Why the different outcomes one might ask? Adam bowed down to the created (Eve) and Jesus bowed down to His creator (God). Adam lived for one and all died, but Jesus lived for one and died for all.

 “And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.  All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.” Genesis 3:17 (NLT)

Every generation from that point onward was cursed as a result of Adam’s one act of disobedience. He was in good council yet he didn't seek the council of God when faced with a simple choice. If you choose to make decisions based on your feelings towards the people around you, it will steer you away from all God intends to accomplish through you. Our reason for living is to make others happy without letting our happiness depend on others. If you strive for the approval of people and receive it, you will always be striving to maintain it, you might start to feel like a burden and eventually burn out.

When you are a people pleaser you will in-turn become a people praiser; thanking people for the recognition they give you instead of thanking God for using you as a vessel of His goodness.

“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” Romans 6:16

Then God sent Jesus, whose decisions to follow God’s will above all else gave us eternal life. People tried to distract Him from His destiny, He, however, decided to follow God’s will instead of the people’s pleas.

“From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Matthew 16: 21-23

Often those closest to us think they know what’s best for us, but our future extends far beyond us therefore we need to be selfless in our decisions. We are just a spec in God’s spectacular plan therefore we need to surrender our life to God and not to people to live in true freedom.

“Human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.” Acts 17:25

God doesn't need us to please Him either. He didn't create us to serve Him, He created us to serve one another. God said it is not good for man to be alone so He created Eve the trouble comes in when we turn to others before turning to Jesus. All God desires is our gratitude in exchange for His grace and every act of obedience is an act of gratitude. Instead of staying in the season we are in to make others happy, we should continue reinventing ourselves in the identity of Christ.

The only way to explain it is to look at those who create, Peter, Paul and the rest who established the early Church, artists, authors, and poets such as Emily Dickinson, Anne Frank, Vincent van Gogh and John Keats. All of these created because they had a passion and love for their craft but only achieved recognition long after they were gone. Just like God created us but only received the proper recognition He desired after the death and resurrection of Jesus. If we continue to serve people and love God because we have a passion for Jesus and an innate desire to see the world know the same Jesus that saved us, I believe that our will, will always line up with the will of God.

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 (NIV)

Keep Calm and Carry On.

"Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23.

Take up your cross daily, is a phrase that carries a lot weight. We stand at a cross road of choice, we can chose to make the cross heavy and somewhat of a burden or we can embrace the weight of responsibility knowing that our life and the lives of others will be better because of it.

After Jesus was sentenced to death, He experienced a beating that made Him unrecognizable. Sometimes we go through things, to take us to things. When we turn from our selfish ways we may become unrecognizable to many people from our old life but as long as we know that our identity remains in Christ, we have the courage to get up and carry our cross, leaving behind the people who don’t want to familiarize themselves with our new identity.

Know where you are heading:

Jesus knew what was awaiting Him at the top of Golgotha, but He had a choice, either to focus on His pain or to focus on His purpose.

"And just as my Father has granted me a Kingdom, I now grant you the right to eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. And you will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Luke 22:29-30

Become Kingdom focused, choosing to die to yourself daily and focusing on the bigger picture, only then will you have the strength to endure to the very end.

Take small steps:

"If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.” Luke 9:23.

I’m sure every step Jesus took wasn’t easy but it was necessary to take Him to where He needed to be. Most Sundays at Kid’s church I chose to prepare the offering message even though they stare at me with blank expressions. I say yes when asked to pray in public, at connect groups, or at church even though I hate it, I give 100% in all my design work even though I can barely keep my eyes open, I am devoted to spending time with God no matter how busy my day gets, I share the passion I have for Jesus on social media and my blog in hope that atleast 1 person will come to know Christ because of it, even though I have been deleted or unfollowed by a numbers of annoyed people. I trust that if I am faithful in the small steps I need to take no matter what, God will entrust me with greater, life changing, opportunities to contribute towards His Kingdom.

Pick up your own cross:

If you are in church long enough you tend to see many familiar faces leave, and not come back, I struggled to understand why, and I tend to take it upon myself to try and bring them back, without any luck. After seeking council from God, I realised our responsibility is to carry our own cross and not the cross of others.

“Whoever does not persevere and carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:27

Let me explain; If we have to carry our own cross as well as the cross of others how much more difficult are we making it to reach our final destination. Our responsibility is to disciple ours not discipline others! Discipline is self taught with a willing heart. We should continue pointing people to God, encouraging them that there is hope in the midst of their hardship, but He simply wants us to direct them not dictate to them. As leaders we should take responsibility for others but to a certain extent. We can’t save anyone on behalf of God, in the end it is their decision. We can lead a horse to the water but we can’t force it to drink, our duty is to plant the seed and let God do the watering.

You are not alone:

With that being said, God will never let you carry your cross alone, even Jesus had Simon from Cyrene to help Him carry His cross up the mountain. We have Jesus right beside us carrying our cross every single day, His burden is light and His yolk is easy.

Get up when you fall:

Yes we might trip and drop the cross along the way, Jesus fell three trips before He reached the top, but all we need to do is pick it up daily and continue walking and we need to encourage others to do the same. With every fall we become stronger because we have the greatest encourager of all!

“But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32

It’s never to late:

Just like Jesus saved the resentful criminal who hung next to him on the cross, Jesus will use every bit of his energy to pull us out of our pits of despair, and we should have the same mentality with others. Those who seem hopelessly lost will always have a glimmer of hope and it’s those people that God has called us to reach. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

What is the cross?

#CrossEqualsLove. We should carry our love for Christ daily, as well as our love for others. We need to set out with a purpose to passionately seek and serve no matter how hopeless a situation may seem. If we fall along the way God will always be there to lift us up again. Lets keep our eyes fixed on the cross as a reminder that we are victorious because of what Christ has already done.

Spiritual C.V.

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. Luke 10: 1 – 4

We are appointed by God to bring in the harvest, with that being said I want you to look at what your goals are for this year. Many of you have given up a lot since you got saved, whether it be an amazing job that didn't line up with the calling God has placed on your life, maybe a season out of your original 5 year plan, or even giving up a lifestyle that hindered you from stepping into your new life. We did this because we all believe that Jesus has a greater plan for us, that we are set apart to bring glory to His name by pursing our divine purpose and destiny.

As we take our relationship further we step into the calling we believe God wants to achieve through us from serving in a specific department at church or even taking a leap of faith to share His gospel in a different country, learning the ropes and being the new kids on the block can be a bit intimidating almost as if God is sending us out like lambs among wolves. We step into our season of faith with knowledge and understanding from our previous experiences but God tells us not to take a purse or bag or sandals. God warns us to not lean on our own understanding!

“For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 1 Corinthians 1: 19

In Luke 10:5 - 7 it says “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.”

Live out your calling with peace, peace in the sense of listening and learning no matter how challenging people or situations become. Learn as much as you can, take in every opportunity that is given to you and stay planted no matter. When you are content, you will be given the opportunities that God has specifically set out for you and you will excel at these tasks and bless many with your innate abilities! If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large things.

When I read that passage in Luke God spoke to me in a really odd way, he asked me this question, are you doing the internship to grow your personal C.V. or your spiritual C.V.? Let me explain, if your intention is to grow your personal C.V. you serve to obtain position, however if you focus on growing your spiritual C.V. you serve to position others.

Personal Information

When we gave our life to Christ, we had to deny ourselves and follow Him. God has given us a new identity, He has renamed us as his sons and daughters, He has given us a new birth date, He knows the finest detail of our lives from the of the amount of hairs we have on our head, He has already reserved a place for us in Heaven, and we have a direct line to Him through prayer.

Education

He trains us up in His word, using vessels like the church, servant hood, connect groups, leaders, pastors, conferences and events, Godly conversation, bearing witness to the testimonies of others and giving thanks for our own answered prayers.

Professional Experience

We gain experience every time we act in obedience, doing the things God has asked us to do and every time we step out in Faith regardless of the outcome. Whenever we are employed to bring hope, light, encouragement, life and love to a hopeless situation its added experience.

Skills

We gain skills and bear good fruit if we continue to educate ourselves and grow in experience. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, he equips us with all the necessary skills we need to fulfil a specific task whether it be the correct words to say in a prayer, the right advice to give in counselling or what steps to take when leading a lost person home. We may feel that others have more skills or “talents” than us but we should always make use of the talents we have been blessed with, God promises us more talents in return. In order to become a better you have to give your best.

Achievements

God will always elevate you and make you achieve in every area of your life if you make yourself available to be used by Him. God wants our availability instead of just our ability, that way he will be able to use us way more than a person who is too busy pursuing their personal desires. If we give God access to every area of our life we will impact and influence way more situations than a talented, busy, person can.

References

Always make sure that there is someone who you can seek good counsel from, someone you can confide in and people who will always bring out the very best in you. You are only as good as the company you keep.

Covering Letter

Jesus is the author and finisher of our spiritual C.V. therefore he also has our covering letter covered. He makes all crooked paths straight so that when you venture out into a new season, a new challenge and new opportunity he has already set you up for success.

If we have a strong spiritual C.V. and make ourselves available to God I believe we will see things and experience things people can only dream of witnessing.

"Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Luke 10:23-24 "

You are set apart for a reason, go into each day with the passionate desire to learn something new. The more knowledge, skills, experiences and achievements you gain through Christ Jesus the more employable you become in your contribution to building the Kingdom. God will never place you in a situation you can’t handle, although He had confidence in you from the very beginning you need to learn to have confidence in yourself.

Simply Believe

Ever heard of the term K.I.S.S.? No, it’s not what you planning to do on Valentine’s Day, it’s the marketing acronym that stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. As humans we live busy and complicated lives, complicating the uncomplicated. We have a knack for making hurdles out of tiny bumps in the road but we tend to forget how simple our God is. Okay yes He created the heavens and the earth, yes Jesus explained the truth in complex parables.... but God simply spoke the world into existence, He created us with a simple breath and Jesus healed with simple phrases like... “Get up and walk”. Jesus simply chose to love the unloved, include the excluded and use the unusable. If it was me the gospel would’ve been a pity party about everything I had to endure, and that is exactly why I am not Jesus.

You see if God is a simple God who takes on the form of a simple man, to spread the good news in a simple (and small) country then why do we as Christians make it so complicated to be a Christian? God has spoken to me over the past few days on how to live a simple life and can be summarised as follows:

Simply Love:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” Philippians 2:3 (NIV)

Love people and love God without the continuous need to prove that love and earn it in return. Jesus already chose us, so why do we continue to pursue His acceptance? Jesus loves a pure heart, someone that passionately chases His purpose in their life simply because they love Him and acknowledge His love for them in return. Jesus’ love is everywhere you just need to allow Him to love you, only then will you be able to sense God’s love for you in the simple moments of life.

Simply Serve:

We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. We should learn to simply serve and serve simply. Just like you don’t think about the next step you about to take or how you are going to use your hand to pick something up, serving should be natural and birthed out of the passion we have for building God’s Kingdom and seeing change happen in our community. If we simply serve we are making a commitment to set time apart to give back; to serve simply means to make a decision not to serve to obtain position or to serve in all areas of church life at the same time without giving each area the necessary attention it deserves, it means to select an area or two that God has placed on your heart and give it your all. Remember our goal is to serve the lost not only to socialise with the saved. Church is not about us, it’s about Christ and we should always be prepared to simply serve no matter what our leadership role entails.

Simply Pray:

If you know me, you would know how much I hate to pray in public but Jesus tells us to pray simple prayers. Simply just talk to God as often as you can no matter where you are or what you are doing.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV)

God has really worked on me in this regard over the past couple of months pushing me to pray in public for selected people but I believe in the power of a simple prayer that comes from the heart. Don’t pre-think your prayers, don’t post-criticise your prayers, just enjoy the presence of the Spirit during your prayer, that way you can ensure that each word that comes out of your mouth was perfectly placed by God Himself.

Simply Praise:

Worship God without feeling the need to raise your hands in the air and shake it around like you just don’t care. I raise my hands only as a sign of surrender when I feel the prompting of the Spirit to do so, but if raising your hands and speaking in tongues becomes nothing more than a religious act, something you feel you need to do to reach out to God then you have it all wrong my friend. God is already in us, if we do these things out of an act of love and gratitude then you won’t feel convicted if you don’t do it. Honour God with the way you live your life, the words that come out of your mouth and the compassion you have for people. It should be a way of life, not a way just to do life!

Simply Play:

We are free and a new creation, we are called to simply have fun and enjoy every minute of our new life. If you love and understand something it becomes simple to do because you want to do it. They say the narrow road is complicated, but I say it’s exciting! I love not knowing what God has in store for me next but I simply trust that His plans are far greater than anything I can think up for myself. If we enjoy life and live it in abundance, people will be drawn to our joy and enthusiasm which will ultimately result in one of the simplest and most effective ways to introduce people to Christ.

Simply Believe:

“But Jesus, on hearing this, answered him, Do not be seized with alarm or struck with fear; simply believe [^[a]in Me as able to do this], and she shall be made well.” Luke 8:50 (AMP)

Everything that I have shared with you can be simplified to two simple words… simply believe. We have a God to pray to, a love to cling to and a home to look forward to, all of this if we simply believe. Our simple actions have extraordinary reactions.

Take a look at the woman with the blood problem:

“When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” Mark 5:27-29 (NIV)

She chose to believe that simply touching the hem of Jesus' clothes could heal her and with that simple faith Jesus was greatly moved. When people pray for breakthrough in our lives don’t think of it as just another prayer. Choose to believe that chains can be broken, choose to believe that God loves you enough to ensure that you live a life with His stamp of approval on it. If we simply believe then all the “duties” of being a Christian will come to us as easy as inhaling and exhaling or the blinking of an eye. God doesn’t want to burden us, He wants to elevate us so that we can live a simple life just like the post-sin days of Adam and Eve, living in peace, joy, hope and love.