Connect your charger

I don't know about you but my phone regularly displays the message 'Connect your charger'.

My phone regularly needs its battery charged by being plugged into the mains power supply. Left by itself it will not last much more than a day and a half before fizzling out.

One day it struck me that this is how I am with God. I need to connect with Him regularly. Daily. To plug into His infinite resources.  To receive the power to live in a way that honours Him.

I tend to run around trying to be very impressive for God in my own strength and fizzling out.

I love the way John 7:38-39 puts it:

'Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit'

Wow. How I would like that to be a description of me - that rivers of living water flow out from me.

And yet the criteria is very simple: believing and trusting in Him. Which means going to Him to receive the power, the water, the Spirit, the resources needed. And then simply to let that flow from me.

When the power has come from Him.  There is always more to plug into.
When the resources have come from Him. They never run out.
When the rivers find their source in Him. There is limitless supply.

And then He gets the glory. Because it is His power on display.

Father, thank you for reminding me through my mobile phone for my constant need to come to You for all I need. May my life bring You glory because of Your power displayed. Amen.

Circling prayers around Christmas

I recently read Mark Batterson's book Praying circles around your children.

The main things I got from it were:

Pray asking God what He wants me to pray about.
Write down what you feel God says to pray about and keep at it!

It is actually very simple. I keep reading books about prayer because I want someone to tell me what to pray and then I'll pray it and I'll get the powerful answers they get.

But actually only God can tell me what's on His heart for me to be praying for my family, myself and things in my life just now.

So I have been taking baby steps in asking (and trying to remember also to take time to listen as well!). It has helped me stick at praying over things much more than ever before. When I'm not praying what I think I ought to be praying for but I'm praying what I believe God has asked me to pray for, I find I can pray with much more faith and persistence.

I felt God gave me some verses to pray specifically about the Christmas period, where we as a family spend quite a chunk travelling away from home, meeting up with relatives. I usually find it quite draining as I try to connect with everyone and have reduced personal space.

This year I felt God gave me these verse to 'circle' from Zechariah 8:

"a sowing of peace"
I prayed that I would sow peace wherever I went.

"you will be a blessing"
I prayed that I and my family would be a blessing wherever we went.

"do not fear"
I prayed for freedom from fear.

"seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts"
I prayed that this Christmas would be characterised by joy, gladness and cheerful feasts.

As I daily prayed these prayers over the Christmas period God showed me many things.

As I prayed that I would sow peace, he showed me that when I'm stressed about Christmas, I bring stress into the atmosphere and affect those around me. I realised I needed to first receive His peace and be full of peace myself. Then as I received His peace, I would sow peace into the places I was and bring peace to others. It would be His peace.

As I prayed over being a blessing, God showed me that it wasn't all down to me to be so amazing that I blessed everyone. Again, I need to receive the blessing He has for me and simply let it overflow to others. So it wasn't me try to bless by my own effort out of my own resources, but recognising I just needed to be connected to God and be ready to be a means for Him to bless them.  Then the glory all goes to Him.

As I prayed for freedom from fear, God helped me see more clearly some of the fears that I needed to be set free from. He helped me see the ways I'd been thinking wrongly and showed me some simple truths that I had not grasped before. For example, "The stress of my hostess is not all my fault. I do not need to feel guilty about it and it's not my responsibility to make it all go away. I can only seek to not add to their stress unnecessarily."  Another revelation was "It's ok to be an introvert and need time on your own. Take the time and don't feel guilty about it. Then you will be more refreshed by your time alone and more ready to come back out and enjoy socialising again."  I was also living under the fear that my relatives were privately judging me for the way I live my life because it's different to theirs. I realised I needed to let myself be me and let them be themselves and not feel we ought to agree on everything just because we're family.  My fears were easily seen to be silly and unfounded when I brought them out into the open and recognised them for what they were.

Finally, my prayer for a season of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts was answered as I let myself enjoy the time with my family and let go of the striving, effort and fears.

I felt that these prayers were answered because I had started with prayers that God had shown me were the ones to pray. And as I prayed God didn't really change the situation I was going into. He changed me. He helped me listen to Him, trust Him, receive from Him and let go of things that were not from Him. He helped me see things in a new way.  All praise and glory to Him.

Not because they deserve it

Just before Christmas I was reading the account of Jesus washing his disciples' feet.

It struck me afresh:

Jesus washed the feet of Judas.  He knew Judas was about to betray him to death.

Jesus washed the feet of Peter. He knew Peter was about to deny him three times.

Jesus washed the feet of the rest of the disciples. He knew they would all desert him and run away in his darkest hour.

He knew their weakness.  He knew they would doubt. He knew they would fail him.

But he washed their feet. He served them. He modelled humility.

Then he said:
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet" John 13: 14

And so there we have it. No excuses.

He has washed our sins away by his blood. Not because we deserve it. Not because we've earnt it. He has poured out his love upon us.

We are called as His disciples, to serve one another in humility.

Not just those who deserve it.
Not just those who earn it.
Not just those who appreciate it.

 But all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We pour out love and service in humility because we follow the example of Christ:

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!