Fighting for the Jehova Jireh who fights for us!

Man, my blogs are getting to be too few and far between...

Well, I had an incredible weekend this weekend. Saturday morning I did a BBQ at Bunnings to raise money for Botswana and it started out a total disaster. It was very overcast and starting to rain...not exactly ideal conditions for a BBQ. I had ordered a BBQ pkg from a butcher (that will remain anonymous so that I don't take part in destroying their reputation) The pkg was meant to contain 35kg of sausages, 30loaves of bread and 10kg of onions. BUT...someone lost it! SO, they had to get the meat for me and the onion, but then they told me that they'd ordered the bread and only half came in, so they couldn't give me any bread. RARRR....so they told me the bakery that they go to and we quickly raced down there. But when we got there the lady didn't speak much English and really had no idea what I was talking about when I explained who sent us. So I just said 'OK...I just need 30 loaves of bread!' So, she called her husband and then informed us that we'd have to wait 20 mins for it to arrive. We had no choice, so I agreed. Then I went to pay with my credit card and she said 'Sorry, we don't take credit cards!' RARRRRR...so I calmly walked down to the ATM to take out the cash I thought was in my bank, only to discover my balance was -$180!!! This is the first month I've had my tithes taken out of my bank by direct debit and I forgot and didn't have the cash in the bank...SO...Im now totally broke except for my last $50 in my wallet...that's gonna have to do!! (I just wanted to cry!!) So I went back and paid and then I called my dad to tell him about my disaster! While I was standing there I looked across the road and there was a Lutheran Church (God Bless the Lutheran Church!!) and their sign out the front said 'HELP LORD!' THE SIMPLEST PRAYER OF ALL. God really has got a sense of humour...so I stopped and just said simply, HELP LORD!!

So, we got to Bunnings and set up. By this time the weather had started to clear up. The day went well. Not only did we sell everything but I had a couple of opportunities to share with a few people, which was awesome!!! :D I made a profit of $430...which was not bad...not what I'd expected, but better than nothing!

After the BBQ I headed down to Sydney where I'd been asked to preach at Sydney's divisional Youth Church, Flayva...it was SO awesome!! God is so great! During the offering time, being as broke as I was, I thought I'd put in a few coins. But I felt God prompt me to put in $50! Man, I was so scared...I had no money left so I had to take out money from the BBQ straight away. I thought 'God, don't ask me to do this...I can't afford it!' But He was asking anyway...so I grabbed it out of my wallet and didn't think about it anymore...I just put it in the offering! Then I prayed 'Ok God, I know you needed that for something...whatever it was for just multiply it for your Kingdom!'

After Flayva my good friend Nath came and slipped something in my hand. He said 'Someone gave me this to give to you. Put it straight in your pocket...don't look at it. Just put it in your pocket and look at it later!' So I put it in my pocket and left it there. I got in the car with Fuji to go home and I opened it. To my complete surprise, there wrapped in a piece of paper was $700!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I was in shock...Fuji turned and saw it and was like 'What's all the money for?' I couldn't believe it. I explained it all...it was amazing! Man, that's what I call multiplying...He multiplied my money by 14!!!

So...not a real long blog today...but just a challenge for you...BE OBEDIENT...even when it's scary...STEP OUT IN FAITH...even when it's uncertain...TRUST HIS POWER...even in the impossible...LET HIM BE YOUR JEHOVA JIREH...

Jehova Jireh, my provider
His grace is sufficient for me

My God shall supply all my needs
According to His riches in glory
He gives His angels charge over me
Jehova Jireh cares for me!

FIGHT FOR THE ONE WHO FIGHTS FOR YOU! YOUR JEHOVA JIREH!

Fighting to be faithful and obedient like Elijah

Sorry, it's been a while. Gosh it's been busy. And still having trouble writing blogs from home. I can only do it from the work computer, and most of the time when I'm here I'm actually working...tehehe...hence the reason for my lack of blogs. But alas, here is a new one...I came in early to write one today!

In my devotions this morning I read 1 Kings 17-18 and I was so blown away by the faith and obedience of Elijah. Man he was an awesome guy. I really want to encourage you to read it...I'm sure you'll be blown away too.

This is the general jist of it anyway...there was a new King in Israel, Ahab and this guy was not good! Actually it says in 1 Kings 16:30 (NIV),

"Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him"

So, that kinda sets the scene a little. This guy was just all round bad news! Not only was he evil, but he was starting to worship a false God, Baal. So Elijah, a guy from Tishbite, says to Ahab,

"I'm a servant of the living LORD, the God of Israel. And I swear in his name that it won't rain until I say so. There won't even be any dew on the ground." (17:1 CEV)

Then God said to Elijah, "Leave and go across the Jordan River so you can hide near Cherith Creek. You can drink water from the creek, and eat the food I've told the ravens to bring you." (17:3 CEV)

Let me stop there for a minute...how awesome is that. I mean think about that for a minute. It says in verse 5 that Elijah obeyed God...he didn't think twice about it...he just went where he was told to go. And God was faithful...verse 6 says,

"Ravens brought him bread and meat twice a day, and he drank water from the creek."

Can you imagine a raven, a bird, coming to you twice a day to bring you meat and bread? Does that not totally blow your mind? I mean come on. Picture it. Humour me. Close your eyes and picture a raven flying through the sky with meat and bread in it's mouth. If I said that's how you were going to get your food every day I bet you'd say, "Yeah, ah ha...and a stork delivered me to my parents!...Riiight!" Don't feel bad, I would have reacted the same way. So when God said to Elijah, "Hey dude, go hide near Cherith Creek and I'll send a raven every day to feed you!" don't you think he would have thought that was a bit crazy? I know I would have. But Elijah didn't even question God. He probably thought it sounded a little out there...but he didn't question it because it was GOD! God was sending him. God was telling him to do something...so why would he question it? He just obeyed. No questions. He just did it. And sure enough, every day, in fact twice a day, God sent a raven to feed Elijah bread and meat. WOAH! What an awesome God.

But, before long, ofcourse, all the water started to dry up. I mean it hadn't rained in ages, the water supply can only last for so long. So God says to Elijah,

"Go to the town of Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I've told a widow in that town to give you food." (17:9 CEV)

Again, sounds a little far fetched. I mean, a widow. A widow is poor. A widow can't afford to feed Elijah. But again, no questions asked, Elijah heads off to Zarephath. When he arrives he sees a widow. She's out gathering sticks for a fire. So he goes up to her and says "Can you get me some water?" Then she starts to walk away to get it and Elijah (not even afraid he's pushing the friendship a little) calls out to her, "Oh, and by the way, can you bring me some bread too?" The widow turns around and says, "Sorry mate, I swear by God that I have nothing! I mean all I've got is a handful of flour and just a little bit of olive oil. Sorry, I'm about to go home and make something for my son and I to eat and then after that we'll probably starve to death cause we'll have no food left." but Elijah says to her, "Don't worry about anything. Just go home and make your bread, but first give me some to eat. I promise you in God's Name that you will NOT run out of oil or flour!"

So, the widow trotts on home, probably thinking, "Is this guy for real? What if he's tricking me? What if I make it and run out of oil and flour? My son and I will die." But she gets home and makes Elijah some bread anyway, and sure enough, her jars are full. She didn't run out of flour or oil, just as Elijah had said.

Has anyone seen that ad that used to be on TV about the Tim Tams that never run out? That's what I picture when I think about this womans jars of flour and oil. Every time she used a bit of flour or oil God would fill it up again. She had a never ending jar of flour and a never ending jar of oil. Wouldn't you love to have a never ending supply of food? We're funny people aren't we? I mean, isn't it funny that we don't trust God and we doubt and question everything?! Wouldn't it be so great to live in those days when people didn't question what God asked them to do. But today we are taught to question everything and we get in the way of what God wants to do and how fast He can do it! Although, I have to say from the outset that that is no excuse! We don't have to question everything. We don't have to doubt what God says. We make our own choices. Life would be so much simpler if we would just say YES straight away!

So the story continues. It keeps getting better. Well, not before it gets a little sad. Elijah had been staying with this widow for a little while now and then her son got sick. He got so sick that he died. The widow was SO angry with Elijah. She said to him,

"What have I done to you? I thought you were God's prophet. Did you come here to cause the death of my son as a reminder that I've sinned against God?" (17:18 CEV)

Elijah himself was feeling a little sad and confused at why this had happened. So he took the womans son upstairs to his room and put the boy on his bed and he cried out to God. He said, "What's the deal God? This woman did everything you said and she let me stay in her house just as you said. Why have you let her boy die?" Then he stretched himself over the boy 3 times praying to God,

"Lord God, bring this boy back to life!" (17:21 CEV)

Then all of a sudden the boy started to breathe. Elijah let out a sigh of relief, picked him up and carried him back down to his mother. His mother was totally gobsmacked!! She looked at him and said, "Man, you really are for real. Now I know for sure that God sent you and that everything you've told me is true!"

Well, first God provides food and water for Elijah, then he goes on providing more for Elijah and the widow and her son, then He brings this boy back to life! He was dead! He actually stopped breathing. He was gone! But God bought him back to life again! Man, can it get any more amazing than this? YES!! WOOHOO!! God is so good...

Let's skip over to 1 Kings 18:16-46. That awesome story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. Remember Ahab the new King? Well, he was getting really cocky and he was still worshipping Baal. So, Elijah gave him a challenge. "Lets both go get a bull to sacrifice. We'll both set it up on an altar and you pray to Baal and I'll pray to the real God and then we'll see which one sets the sacrifice on fire!" So, ofcourse, Ahab's up for a challenge, being his cocky self, so he agrees to the challenge. So Elijah says, "Lets not flip a coin, you go first!" So Ahab gets his people together and they get ready.

So everything's ready. The bull, the altar. Now all they have to do is call on Baal and surely he'll send the fire! So they start praying and dancing around the altar. They're calling out to Baal, "Come on Baal, answer us!" But, surprise surprise, no answer! Elijah thinks, this is too good to not say something. So he has a bit of a dig at them, "Hmmm, maybe he's gone on holidays. Shout a little louder! Maybe he's asleep...tough job being a false god!" So, stupid as they are, they start to shout a little louder, just incase he did go on holidays. But nothing!

So Elijah comes over and says, "Alright, that's enough now. Move aside! You look ridiculous. Let me show you the REAL God!" So he prepares his altar and puts his bull in place, and just to prove his point he says to the people who were worshipping Baal, "Go get some water, like bucketloads, and full up the trench around the altar and then soak the offering with water." So they did it 3 times. The altar was soaked! Then when it was all set he called out to God and said, "OK God, it's all set. Show us your stuff! Show these people you're the man...the bees knees if you will!!" The Lord smiled (He loves Elijah's sense of humour) and straight away he sent fire! Not only did it burn the bull, but it burnt the wood and stones on the altar and the ground around the altar was all scorched and all the water they'd poured on the altar was all soaked up! When the people saw what happened and picked their chins up off the floor they all fell on the ground and worshipped God!

YEAH! Now that's what I'm talkin bout! What an awesome God!! Then Elijah, feeling quite excited and proud of his God, I'm sure, nudges God and says, "Hey God, how bout that rain now..." He tells Ahab to go and eat and drink cause it's gonna rain. So off Ahab goes. Then when he sees the clouds coming he sends a messenger to tell Ahab to get in his chariot and get out of there before the rain came. If he didn't leave then the rain would be too much and would stop him! So he gets in his chariot and gets going. Then it started to get really cloudy and windy and it started pouring! Then next part is awesome...the worlds first champion sprinter...it says in 18:46NIV

"The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel."

Man, Ahab was havin a bad day that day! Not only did Elijah prove his god wrong, but he whooped his butt and beat him home!! WOOHOO! Go God!!

Man what an awesome devotions this morning! What a lesson and a challenge! It's so much easier to say YES to God the first time and watch His power and provisions start to unfold in our lives, rather than hang onto everything and try and figure it out first! Trust me! You're never going to fully figure out God, so get over it and just be obedient! You don't need to understand everything right away or sometimes at all! If God thought that you couldn't act without understanding everything then He would explain it all to us! But He wants to see if you will say yes even when it doesn't make sense. Even when it seems like a risk or it seems a little too scary. He doesn't want you to think about it, he just wants you to say "OK Lord, use me!!"

What a challenge today!! To be used by the Lord in such a powerful way! Can it still happen the way it did when Elijah obeyed God?? Of course it can! And more importantly it WILL...when you say YES! Don't hesitate! If God is asking you to do something...just be faithful and obedient...not cause there's something in it for you at the end...but just because God said DO IT!

Fighting for Pauly!

Ok...I just need to post a blog to plug my friend Pauly...He has a new blog page...check it out here ...Its really awesome and he has some GREAT stuff to share!! You will truly be blessed by his blog!!

So that's all I came to say...haha...my shortest blog EVER!! Enjoy...it will never happen again!! hahahaha

Fighting for safety through appropriateness!

Wow...it's been too long. I've been having trouble with my blog page and haven't been able to actually post a blog. Finally, here's another one! Sorry readers!

Something I've noticed around me lately is this issue of appropriateness or, more to the point, inappropriateness. At first I was really surprised and kinda concerned at how inappropriately young people behave these days, especcially young girls, but then I look at some parents and I realise where it starts. Now, I'm not here to judge people's parenting skills (or lack there of), I'm just here to point out what, in my opinion, is appropriate and what's not and maybe give you some insight into what inappropriateness leads to.

I'm also not writing this with the hope of stepping on anyone's toes, and I hope and pray that that's not what happens. However, I do hope and pray that if you do feel a little twinge then you might take that as a challenge God is laying on your heart to behave in a more appropriate way or to speak out about this behaviour if you know it's around you.

Our local Post Office is inside a Newsagent. This morning I went to the Post Office and, as always, there were magazine covers stuck all over the front windows. Almost all of the pictures were of women flaunting their 'stuff'. Either dressed in clothes that leave much to the imagination, or behaving in some way that might attract the wrong kind of attention. There were magazines with articles on 'how to's' for sexual realtionships, there were articles on 'casual sex'...articles on famous people who have new or multiple partners, or are having or adopting children with partners they've only just got together with. There are magazines with centrefolds (I've never opened one...I'm not game...somehow I don't think it would appeal to me!) It's all just absolute crap!!

You might be sitting there reading this thinking, 'Oh it's harmless really' or 'Oh but she looks so nice in that backless top and mini skirt that reveals everything when she sits down' Maybe. But then again, picture how she'd look with police tape surrounding her week old dead body in a park somewhere. Harsh? Too graffic? I'm sorry, but that's reality.

Did you know that around 10million children - mainly girls - are forced into some form of sexual exploitation? That's equivellant to half our poplation in Australia. Did you know that a further one million children enter the commercial sex trade each year? So you're thinking one of two things, 'That's so sad!' or 'That doesn't happen in Australia'...let me give you some other statistics. Did you know that the NSW sexual assault and court conviction statistics show that in the last financial year 11, 000 people contacted NSW Police to report a sexual assault? Amongst those were 63 gang-rape offences and 320 child sexual assaults. NSW's only 24 hour Rape Crisis Centre received 3,352 cries for help. The financial year before there were 9,151 reported assaults in NSW...that means that within a year there was an increase of 1,849 reported sexual assaults. The report also showed that 63 people had reported that they believed they had been victim to drink spiking. If you think that sounds devastating, the Australian Bereau of Statistcs estimated that only 20% of rapes are reported. That means that the actual figure could be somewhere around 60,000 sexual assaults in NSW alone in one year. Even more alarming than that is that only 247 convictions were made in that time.

I could go on. I could find all the stats you wanna know about how many of those rapes ended in murder. I'm not telling you this stuff to freak you out, but I'm telling you this to open your eyes a little. Guys and gals, if you're sitting there thinking, 'that could never happen to me' I want you to read those stats again and then find me the one person who actually left home the day they were raped and murdered knowing it was going to happen to them. This increase of assaults means that there is an increase of sick and perverted people out there who still don't know Jesus. So this is my advice....

1. Tell EVERYONE about Jesus as if your life and theirs depends on it...because it does!
2. Dress appropriately. This means the following (and this is not about me being a prude or being jealous cause I couldn't get away with wearing any of it...this is about you protecting yourself! This is mainly for girls) wear something that covers your midrif; make sure your skirt is not so short that you can see everything when you sit down; wear tops that cover your breasts; Wear shirts that have a back on them; even better, wear tops that say 'I LOVE JESUS AND I'M PROUD OF IT!'
3. DON'T go out at night by yourself. You may think you live in the safest suburb ever, but you don't! No one does! Don't even risk it!
4. Get a mobile phone!!
5. Make sure that you are behaving appropriately. I see so many girls throwing themselves at guys and so many guys lapping it all up and I have to say, it's not healthy. If you're not with that person, and by that I mean you're not officially a couple, then sitting on someone's lap of the opposite sex, lying all over someone, hugging someone so tight that your bodies are pressed up against eachother, are all things that are not appropriate. I know I know...I'm so boring...hey, I love a good hug...but, you know what? I don't wanna lead someone on either and get myself into a compromising or dangerous situation! I hope after reading this you don't either!

I guess this mostly goes out to the ladies out there, although men, listen up too! Firstly, ladies, respect your brothers! Don't dress inappropriately because you WILL make them feel things that they may not want to feel!! Don't sit on their lap because you WILL make them feel things they may not want to feel!! Don't be over flirtatious with them because you don't know what they will read in to that!! Don't EVER go out alone!! If you can help it, go out with other gals or others guys...not so that the guys can be your 'pretend boyfriend' for the night, but so you have protection!

Guys, respect your sisters! If they are sitting on you, don't humour them! Without putting them on the spot, politely get them OFF! When a girl dresses inappropriately she does it to impress guys and to get attention. Don't give her the attention. Respect her enough to not egg her on! Don't grab a girl around the waist or anywhere inappropriate that may make her feel things SHE doesn't want to feel or you don't want her to feel. When you're out with your gal friends, protect them. Don't be the knight in shining armour who holds her hand all night, but keep an eye out for her and for any unwanted suspect male attention...no matter who she is or what she looks like, trust me, SOMEONE will give her attention that she won't want! So protect her!

Guys and gals, I can't tell you enough how important it is to do EVERYTHING in your power to protect yourselves and each other. Not just by watching out for each other, but by being aware of the way you present your self, physically, emotionally and in your personality. Go out, have fun, hang out with mates! Have a laugh, enjoy life, enjoy JESUS! But, don't be blind! There are sick people out there and you don't know who they are or where they are. So BE SMART and BE SAFE...!! (hehe...I could make an ad... :P)

I love you all...you're all beautiful...and Jesus loves you!!

FIGHT FOR SAFETY THROUGH APPROPRIATENESS!!