You are not Junk!!!

Recently I watched this video http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=849dc7c803281df74bb2 and the words in it have stayed with me ever since. At the end the guy says God doesn’t make junk, He only makes masterpieces. And I am so thankful that He doesn’t make junk.

In the bible it says that we are made in Gods image.

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them. (Genesis 1 verse 27)

So why would we think that we are junk when God created us in His image? God isn’t junk therefore we aren’t junk. Fact.

When you hit a low, and believe me I have hit several lows, it is not because you are junk and deserve it. When you are in pain, God doesn’t abandon you. God knows all about pain, He sacrificed his own son on a cross for our sins. If there is something in your life that is causing you pain, let it go. Don’t hold on to it. Let it out. Yes it might be painful to remember and to let it out, but it will be even more painful if you don’t let it out. It will hurt more to let go if you leave it longer. You are a perfect masterpiece. The author of the universe knew what He was doing when He created you and He doesn’t want you to be held back. He loves you and wants to see you fulfil everything He has planned for you.

Psalm 91 verses 14 to 16 says this:

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him

And show him my salvation.”

God is with you and He loves you, let Him do a work in you that will break the mold, so that you can move onto greater things. Don’t let past hurts hold you back and don’t be afraid of letting them go. They are not of God and they died a long time ago when Jesus Christ died on the cross and took away all your transgressions. Let go and live a free life with the one who created all life. Let the author perfect you, let the creator restore you to His original masterpiece. And remember you are not and never will be junk, you are a masterpiece!

God speaks through dreams

This morning I was reading the first few chapters of the book of Matthew and it struck me how many times God spoke in dreams at the beginning of the life of Jesus. In Matthew chapters 1 and 2, it mentions five occasions when God spoke in dreams and each time the recipient of the dream did exactly what God told them to do.

The first occasion is in Matthew 1 verses 20 and 21

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

The second is Matthew 2 verse 12

Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they (the Magi) returned to their home country by another route

The third is Matthew 2 verse 13

When they had gone an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

The fourth is Matthew 2 verses 19 and 20

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

Lastly, the fifth occasion is Matthew 2 verse 22

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

On five occasions God used dreams to protect the early life of Jesus and fulfil what was said through the prophets. The good news is that God still uses dreams today. Lives are transformed by God given dreams. So never give up on dreaming and if you’ve lost your way ask God for a new dream. As the early life of Jesus shows, dreams are a direct communication between the dreamer and God and can be a clear message of what you are to do next and where you’re supposed to go.

Blood Diamond

Tonight I spent the evening with my family watching Blood Diamond. Not the usual family movie, but its one which had us all engrossed. Part way through it my brother said something, I don’t know where he got it from, whether he made it up himself or whether it’s a quote from somewhere else, but something in the film reminded him of it. The quote was this

“In the West they ask how can a God of Love not let people into heaven?

In Africa, they ask how can a God of Love let people in?”

And as I watched the film and thought about it afterwards it struck me that all through the bible its talks about this God of Love, and yet although the film is not a true story it is based on true events and its heart aching. The pain that you see on the faces of the people in the film is the same pain that people actually went through as they fought against the rebels in Sierra Leone. That country is now at peace, but wars still exist today in places we don’t even think of on a daily bases, over products that we buy. Here it was diamonds, for others its oil, gold or any number of precious goods.

How does this God of Love let this happen? It’s a question that many of us ask and many of us don’t feel we can answer. I believe that He doesn’t just let it happen. It happens because as a species we turned our backs on God. As a species we sought after a desirable life, living in comfort. We chose and still choose to ignore that which is out there, the problems and difficulties, the wars, the poverty, the diseases. We chose greed.

As a people of God, however, it is time to stand against the greed. To turn away from it and choose to fight for justice and equality. How do we do this? I don’t know. We live simply. We choose to give to the body of Christ and not squander our wealth. When things are given to us we accept them whole heartedly. Because as we give, God will give back to us and we will be blessed abundantly, as will those we give to.

There is no where in the bible that says that we are going to have an easy life just because we’re friends of Jesus. It does say, however, that this beautiful man came, he took away our sins, so we could be close once more to God. So that we will know eternal life, so that we will know a closeness whatever the situation. My prayer is that those who live in war zones will too know the loving comfort of God, that through my giving to the church those people will be reached even if I can’t go myself.

Tetris

When I load up my internet browser it automatically opens up google and yesterday was no exception. However, google had one of its special logos yesterday which happened to be that of tetris. And if you clicked on the logo it took you to the results you would get if you searched for tetris. Now being a bit of a tetris fan I decided I would play a few games of tetris and see how far I could get. 

For anyone who has ever played tetris you will understand how frustrating it gets when every brick doesn't fit into place. Yesterday it was really bugging me that I would build it up beautifully and be waiting for one brick to finish it off that seemed to take forever to come. And as you go up the levels they start coming at you faster so you end up with more holes and it gets harder to fill in the gaps. 

Last night it was this that God spoke to me about. He said life can be a bit like tetris sometimes. You can have things going really smoothly and everything slotting into place, you can have things coming at you fast and everything seemingly going wrong, and you can have it in the middle where you know there are gaps but you manage to play it right that everything eventually fits into its right place.

At the end of the day it is all about the path we choose. In Proverbs 19 verse 21 it says this:

Many are the plans in a mans heart,

but it is the LORDs purpose that prevails.

So if today you feel like your life is playing out a bit like tetris, take a step back and let God be guide you. He will show you how everything fits into place.

It's good to cry...

Last week I found out that my next door neighbour had past away. Now I don't feel I deal particularly well with death, but does anyone? It's a strange experience and while all those around me have been really supportive, it feels like its actually something that you go through on your own, because you're the only one who trully knows what that person meant to you and the emotions you feel.

When Lazarus died, the bible tells us that Jesus wept, and this is the perfect example for us. When you are dealing with the loss of a loved one it is ok to cry no matter what anyone around you may say. Yes its important to celebrate their life and look back a fond memories, but its also important to find space to cry. Crying is an emotion that helps let stuff out, without it things can build up and up and up on the inside and you may not cope particularly well.

So, if you are ever dealing with the loss of a loved one remember it is ok to cry and let it all out, after all its what Jesus did.

Full Stop?

I don't particularly like it when things come to an end. I don't like it when they decide to stop television programs that I like. When Friends ended - I cried, when Dawson's Creek ended - I cried, and now it's the final series of ER and there have been 4 episodes and I have already cried myself through 2 of them.

It's not just television shows either; I don't like anything coming to an end in my life. I remember leaving primary school and crying so hard - I didn't like the idea that I had to leave somewhere that I loved and go to some where else which seemed big and scary at the time. I remember dreaming quite often about my school being extended so that it went right up to age 18 and I wouldn't have to leave until I absolutely had to. In reality of course this didn't happen, and secondary school wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. Even though I was returning to the same place for college, I cried when I finished secondary school in year 11, but by the time it came to the end of sixth form, although I was sad to leave, I was ready to also.

Each of these things came to an end, to a full stop. And like all the seasons of my life before it, my degree will eventually come to an end a year June and I will move onto something else. And although I do not like saying goodbye I know I will move onto bigger and better things because that's what my future has in store for me. And although it is scary, I know that the one thing that will never come to a full stop is God, who stands by me through everything that I do, guiding me along the correct path.

The sun will no more be you light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be you everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
Isaiah 60 verse 19

Love

Well today is Valentine's day and supposedly the day of love, but according to some statistics 1.5 million people will break up today, with the day also brings 300,000 arguments. However, there is some good news, it is estimated that there will be be around 30,000 marriage proposals today. So, what for this day of "love". What does it really mean?

For me I'm not a lover of Valentines day, it is a day which makes every person who is single wish they had some one, and many will be wasting time wondering if they will get a surprise card or gift when in reality the chances are pretty slim. And for every couple it puts pressure on them to go out and buy cards and gifts to show their significant other how much they care, when in reality shouldn't they being showing their love every day of the year? Valentine's day is just another hallmark day, a day whereby an estimated 1 billion cards are sent worldwide every year, second only to Christmas.

In the bible love is mentioned many times. Jesus teaches about love and says it is the greatest of all the commandments:

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater that these."
Mark 12 verses 29 to 31

John talks alot about love as well:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
1 John 3 verse 16

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4 verse 16

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 John 4 verses 19 to 21

You see, love is special because you can never be told how to love, it is something that is learned through being loved, that is why Jesus is the perfect example of how to love - because he loved us so much he died for us. Love is more than just a saying its a feeling.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13 verses 4 to 8

So, as we learn to love each other - through the example of Jesus - we learn to love God. Don't let this hallmark holiday overcome you, for today is no different than yesterday was or tomorrow will be, for everyday should be a celebration of Love.