Matthew 10:26 - “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." (Italics added by me)
As I was walking down the street this morning, as I do each morning - at the same time - along the same route - which takes me past the Primary School, I witnessed an amusing thing. This morning there was a police car parked on the side of the street at the corner boundary of the Primary School. There was no mistaking it was a police car; bright iridescent yellow, blue and white check stripes up the side and across the back, uniformed officer sitting behind the steering wheel...and if none of that gave it away, the word POLICE was positioned across the back in large bold lettering and there were the blue and red lights on the top. Yep, it was definitely a police car!
Now that wasn't the amusing thing, and he could have been there dropping his own kids off to school before going to work. What was amusing about him being there was the traffic slowing to a below 40km school zone pace, when usually they drive in ignorance of this speed limitation. Parents who normally 'pause' their car long enough to let their children out to cross this busy street unaided, actually got out of their cars this morning and held hands and walked children across the road. Drivers handling steering wheels one-handed whilst using their mobile phones with the other, this morning seemed suddenly uncaring as to whether Aunt Fudd wanted to talk at that very moment or not.
It's amazing how our attitudes, actions, and attention changes when we know someone is watching! Especially someone with the authority to fine us or even lock us up, depending on how rebellious our everyday behaviour might be.
In this day of modern technology, more than ever before, Big Brother is watching, and not always as obviously as this policeman was this morning. It's not hard to imagine 'he' sees more than we're even aware of. I thinks it's so common-place now that we even disregard the knowledge of that and go along doing our own thing anyway. And the world even encourages and welcome liberal, free thinking. But if we thought about it more - the fact that 'we are being watched', perhaps we wouldn't drive those 10-15kms over the limit, or we wouldn't download that song by that artist we just love, or we wouldn't eat that 'small' bunch of grapes while pushing a trolley around a supermarket, or drink that bottle of water before we get to the checkout.
The thing to remember is that while, in the world, we may think we are getting away with something, or even think that by world standards that 'thing' borders closely on being okay, so it doesn't matter, we are not fooling God. God does not judge by world standards! "He is a God Who considers hatred to be murder - and lust to be adultery." (paraphrased quote from the movie "Fireproof") The world might not always see what we do, and certainly if we can keep our mouth shut about it, the world has no idea what we are thinking, who we're hating, or lusting after, or bitter and angry toward....but God knows, God sees, God hears, God is aware of it all!
What would happen if we all decided to live our lives AWARE that God is watching. He is, you know. How much more pleasant would it be? How much happier would those around us be? How much more joyful would your own lives be? I've touched on this topic before, but it's worth being reiterated....often.
Think about it....
...and then, give it a try!
God bless.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
NEW MEMBER - Meet 'n' Greet....
This is awesome. I am please to introduce another new member to our journey. Please make welcome Glamm Girrl - it's so good to have you on board and I pray you are blessed as we move forward in our collective, and individual, walk with Christ.
Love Toni xxx
Love Toni xxx
Sunday, 30 September 2012
GOD PROVIDES - EVERYTHING WE NEED
Have you ever thought about the things that God provides us with?
Often we think in huge terms, things like homes, jobs, cars, etc. But have you ever considered the little things?
The other day, I did an extra day of sorting at our local Bargain Centre. Now, sorting means being out in a hot, dusty shed, surrounded by bags and bags of donations- all gratefully received. Being Spring, with the weather warming rapidly and trees and flowers blooming everywhere, it's also hayfever season. So, add to that the dusty shed and bags of donations and what happened was a bout of hayfever, sneezing, runny nose and eyes- and I was very glad to have been alone. However, what it also meant was I quickly realised I had embarked on this morning of sorting unprepared.
After half an hour of the usual aforementioned symptoms, I finally prayed and God, in His awesomeness, provided. The next bag I opened contained masses of toddler clothing, mostly pink indicating it belonged (hopefully) to a girl but there was also a neatly folded, pressed and clean men's handkerchief.
GOD PROVIDES EVERYTHING!! Even the little things. Take care, don't overlook them.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (MATTHEW 7:7)
God bless you all.
Love Toni
Often we think in huge terms, things like homes, jobs, cars, etc. But have you ever considered the little things?
The other day, I did an extra day of sorting at our local Bargain Centre. Now, sorting means being out in a hot, dusty shed, surrounded by bags and bags of donations- all gratefully received. Being Spring, with the weather warming rapidly and trees and flowers blooming everywhere, it's also hayfever season. So, add to that the dusty shed and bags of donations and what happened was a bout of hayfever, sneezing, runny nose and eyes- and I was very glad to have been alone. However, what it also meant was I quickly realised I had embarked on this morning of sorting unprepared.
After half an hour of the usual aforementioned symptoms, I finally prayed and God, in His awesomeness, provided. The next bag I opened contained masses of toddler clothing, mostly pink indicating it belonged (hopefully) to a girl but there was also a neatly folded, pressed and clean men's handkerchief.
GOD PROVIDES EVERYTHING!! Even the little things. Take care, don't overlook them.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (MATTHEW 7:7)
God bless you all.
Love Toni
NEW MEMBER - Meet 'n' Greet....
Good morning,
I'd like to introduce our newest member - AlondraV. It's so nice to have you on board, and I pray you are blessed along the way.
Love Toni xxx
I'd like to introduce our newest member - AlondraV. It's so nice to have you on board, and I pray you are blessed along the way.
Love Toni xxx
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
NEW MEMBER - Meet 'n' Greet...
It's always a thrill to come to my blog page and find that there is someone new following. Today I want to introduce you all to our latest member - The Lafskytribe! This is exciting for me, especially - because this is another of my brothers! Ahhh, I love my brothers! Dean - enjoy the journey and thanks for coming on board - Love heaps, Toni xxxx
Monday, 17 September 2012
HOW IS YOUR PATIENCE HOLDING UP?
According to different sources I've read on the Internet recently, it took Noah between 20 and 75 years to build the Ark. Of course, the Bible doesn't give a specific time-duration, and the '120 years' mentioned in Genesis 6:3, it is said, refers to the commencement of the lead-up to the flood; it doesn't refer to the day God told Noah to start building. And, as with many things we read in the Bible, it is easy to forget the day to day view of it, and think only of the broad brush view. God said to Noah that the people of the earth were really bad and He was going to destroy everyone except Noah and his family, and Noah was to build an Ark. So, being a righteous man, Noah did as God said and built an Ark....and so the story goes; the flood came, and the Ark bobbed around for forty days before the rain stopped. It may even seem that all the while they were playing happy families with the best line-up of pets in history! Then we might even find ourselves thinking; "Wasn't Noah amazing - I wish I had that kind of faith and those abilities." But we forget, Noah wasn't a ship-builder by trade, and Noah didn't build this thing over the period of a weekend!
This was a monstrous undertaking. The movie "Evan Almighty" depicts a Noah-like character building an 'ark' in his suburban neighbourhood, and given the way the movie flows, it's subtly suggested the process of building this 'ark' took only a few weeks. Yeah, even with it's much smaller size, maybe if you had some behind the scenes help!
Genesis 6:22 says; "Noah did everything as God commanded him." But whether it be 20 or 75, this took years....and years! It's easy to even think, well - okay, it took years, but he did it, and with ease because God told him to, and God was with him, and Noah was some kind of superman. Hmmm, I don't know about that! Of course, God was with him - we know that because the Bible says so - Genesis 6:8; "But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord." Genesis 6:13a; "So God said to Noah..." Usually when God is speaking to anyone, including you, He is with you. But the Bible says nothing about this being an easy task for Noah. I imagine it was actually pretty difficult!
For many years I was a penpaller, writing to people from all over the world, sharing my day to day life - the condensed version of it at least. I still have a few people I write to. A few months ago one of my son's got married, and with these few remaining penpals I shared photos of this momentous day (yeah, I'm still in the 'my son is the first in the world to ever get married' mindset!), and one response was amazement that I now have a married child. "Penpal" remembered only the moments of my son's life that I had shared; as a toddler, as a teen, school days, new job, etc. Anyone on the outside looking in would feel the same. Fleeting glances and exclamations of 'where did the time go?' But for me, I lived every day (every hour!!) of my children's lives. I experienced the tears and laughter, the new teeth, losing teeth, teeth being knocked out on scooter handlebars, or chipped on railings that were crashed into. I patched up the scraped knees, sat in hospital waiting rooms while they were stitched up, sat beside beds when they were ill, endured the birthday parties at home. I've lived the good, the bad, and the ugly- every day of my 25 years (so far) as a mum, and there was a nice balance of all of those things, as any parent would know.
Noah experienced every day it took to build the Ark. We experience only the 'highlights' and only a handful at that!
Let's say, for arguments sake, it took fifty years for Noah to build the Ark. When I was 9 or 10 I used to try and imagine myself as a lady of 50, and that seemed not only really, really old, but such a long time away too - way, way off into a future I couldn't even imagine. Now though, it doesn't sound much when you say it fast! Okay, so imagine it took Noah 50 years - don't just see the 5-0. Put it in perspective...God told Noah, in a time when rain had never fallen on the earth EVER before and people had no idea what a flood even was, to build a boat, the task of which was going to keep him busy, and take every day of those fifty years to complete. That's 18,250 days....of mocking, ridicule, taunting, aching shoulders and hammered thumbs...every day for 18,250 days. Maybe Noah even faced saboteurs, stolen or hidden property, misplaced tool, unco-operative sons, days of illness, or times of aftermath from Mrs. Noah's cabbage stew, which tasted a little funky when he ate it but he was famished after a hard day of Ark-building so he ate it anyway...these are the thing we don't know about, and very rarely cast a thought to.
I think there were also days when he questioned. Or days when he didn't work quite as hard as he had the day before. Or days when he was tired or cranky. I think there were days when he woke up and felt like a right idiot building a boat for a flood that was coming when the sky was clear and the day was sunny! I think he especially felt like this on days when the crowd had gathered and was pointing and staring and shouting those derisive comments. God provided everything he needed, including the measurements and the instructions, but we don't know how much other 'heavenly assistance' he had, or what that might have been. Though I doubt God built a wall around the construction site to shield Noah from the hurtful remarks hurled at him.
Nor do I believe this undertaking sped by in the blink of an eye. How did Noah's patience hold up? Were there days when he woke up, discouraged that he was doing the same 'ole thing again for the 1,017th time? Were there days when he just wanted to throw in the hammer and walk away, back to the 'old days' when life... - - okay it wasn't quite as good, but it sure made more sense? How many times whilst hauling himself upward on the swinging plank-seat to reach those beams at the very top did he have to tell himself, out loud, that even though this seemed a very odd thing to be building, God knows what He's doing. How many times did he says to himself; "I don't get why this is taking so long, but God, Your timing is not my timing."
I wonder how many of us would hold up, if we were in Noah's position? I wonder how many of us would have even said yes to God?? Being told by God to not only do the impossible, but do something that is going to convince every single person you know that you are crazy, AND take years to accomplish! How many of us would step out in faith, armed with bucket loads of patience and get on with it? How many of us even have one bucket load of patience? Yeah, I struggle there!!!
Quite often we just don't understand why or how God arrives at His timing or purposes. But are we meant to know? Why should we know? We're not God! And anyway, armed with all that information, but minus the 'all-knowing-God-ness' of our Father in heaven, how many of us, including Noah, would respond with something like; "Well, I don't think that's a very good idea!"
Can you imagine Noah...
"A boat? Out here?"
"What's rain?"
"A flood - what's a flood?"
"It's gonna take me how long?"
"Oh, but God, I don't think that's a very good idea!"
So, my petition to you, Dearest Reader, is summed up in a quote my mother loves and has written in the front of her Bible (I have it in mine too, now), which goes like this: "Lord, I do not understand Thee, but I trust Thee." Even when it makes no sense at all, if God is asking let us do. No matter how long it takes, or how much patience we have to muster. And while we're doing, let us trust that God knows what He's doing, and why He is asking for our obedience in this task He has chosen us for, and why it will take the time it is going to take to accomplish it.
Let's pray...
Lord, so often we don't understand Your ways, or why You ask of us the things You do. We don't understand why our prayers aren't answered as quickly as we would like, or why we aren't healed the way we want, or at all. But we are strengthened by faith in You. We know that Your Word and Your promises are truth, and in them we can place our faith and be made strong in You. And we can endure anything through faith in You. We can also rest in knowing You are in control and with us always, through everything, and Your timing and purposes are perfect. Thank You, Lord, for that perfection, and for the comfort we draw from You. In Jesus' Name, amen.
This was a monstrous undertaking. The movie "Evan Almighty" depicts a Noah-like character building an 'ark' in his suburban neighbourhood, and given the way the movie flows, it's subtly suggested the process of building this 'ark' took only a few weeks. Yeah, even with it's much smaller size, maybe if you had some behind the scenes help!
Genesis 6:22 says; "Noah did everything as God commanded him." But whether it be 20 or 75, this took years....and years! It's easy to even think, well - okay, it took years, but he did it, and with ease because God told him to, and God was with him, and Noah was some kind of superman. Hmmm, I don't know about that! Of course, God was with him - we know that because the Bible says so - Genesis 6:8; "But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord." Genesis 6:13a; "So God said to Noah..." Usually when God is speaking to anyone, including you, He is with you. But the Bible says nothing about this being an easy task for Noah. I imagine it was actually pretty difficult!
For many years I was a penpaller, writing to people from all over the world, sharing my day to day life - the condensed version of it at least. I still have a few people I write to. A few months ago one of my son's got married, and with these few remaining penpals I shared photos of this momentous day (yeah, I'm still in the 'my son is the first in the world to ever get married' mindset!), and one response was amazement that I now have a married child. "Penpal" remembered only the moments of my son's life that I had shared; as a toddler, as a teen, school days, new job, etc. Anyone on the outside looking in would feel the same. Fleeting glances and exclamations of 'where did the time go?' But for me, I lived every day (every hour!!) of my children's lives. I experienced the tears and laughter, the new teeth, losing teeth, teeth being knocked out on scooter handlebars, or chipped on railings that were crashed into. I patched up the scraped knees, sat in hospital waiting rooms while they were stitched up, sat beside beds when they were ill, endured the birthday parties at home. I've lived the good, the bad, and the ugly- every day of my 25 years (so far) as a mum, and there was a nice balance of all of those things, as any parent would know.
Noah experienced every day it took to build the Ark. We experience only the 'highlights' and only a handful at that!
Let's say, for arguments sake, it took fifty years for Noah to build the Ark. When I was 9 or 10 I used to try and imagine myself as a lady of 50, and that seemed not only really, really old, but such a long time away too - way, way off into a future I couldn't even imagine. Now though, it doesn't sound much when you say it fast! Okay, so imagine it took Noah 50 years - don't just see the 5-0. Put it in perspective...God told Noah, in a time when rain had never fallen on the earth EVER before and people had no idea what a flood even was, to build a boat, the task of which was going to keep him busy, and take every day of those fifty years to complete. That's 18,250 days....of mocking, ridicule, taunting, aching shoulders and hammered thumbs...every day for 18,250 days. Maybe Noah even faced saboteurs, stolen or hidden property, misplaced tool, unco-operative sons, days of illness, or times of aftermath from Mrs. Noah's cabbage stew, which tasted a little funky when he ate it but he was famished after a hard day of Ark-building so he ate it anyway...these are the thing we don't know about, and very rarely cast a thought to.
I think there were also days when he questioned. Or days when he didn't work quite as hard as he had the day before. Or days when he was tired or cranky. I think there were days when he woke up and felt like a right idiot building a boat for a flood that was coming when the sky was clear and the day was sunny! I think he especially felt like this on days when the crowd had gathered and was pointing and staring and shouting those derisive comments. God provided everything he needed, including the measurements and the instructions, but we don't know how much other 'heavenly assistance' he had, or what that might have been. Though I doubt God built a wall around the construction site to shield Noah from the hurtful remarks hurled at him.
Nor do I believe this undertaking sped by in the blink of an eye. How did Noah's patience hold up? Were there days when he woke up, discouraged that he was doing the same 'ole thing again for the 1,017th time? Were there days when he just wanted to throw in the hammer and walk away, back to the 'old days' when life... - - okay it wasn't quite as good, but it sure made more sense? How many times whilst hauling himself upward on the swinging plank-seat to reach those beams at the very top did he have to tell himself, out loud, that even though this seemed a very odd thing to be building, God knows what He's doing. How many times did he says to himself; "I don't get why this is taking so long, but God, Your timing is not my timing."
I wonder how many of us would hold up, if we were in Noah's position? I wonder how many of us would have even said yes to God?? Being told by God to not only do the impossible, but do something that is going to convince every single person you know that you are crazy, AND take years to accomplish! How many of us would step out in faith, armed with bucket loads of patience and get on with it? How many of us even have one bucket load of patience? Yeah, I struggle there!!!
Quite often we just don't understand why or how God arrives at His timing or purposes. But are we meant to know? Why should we know? We're not God! And anyway, armed with all that information, but minus the 'all-knowing-God-ness' of our Father in heaven, how many of us, including Noah, would respond with something like; "Well, I don't think that's a very good idea!"
Can you imagine Noah...
"A boat? Out here?"
"What's rain?"
"A flood - what's a flood?"
"It's gonna take me how long?"
"Oh, but God, I don't think that's a very good idea!"
So, my petition to you, Dearest Reader, is summed up in a quote my mother loves and has written in the front of her Bible (I have it in mine too, now), which goes like this: "Lord, I do not understand Thee, but I trust Thee." Even when it makes no sense at all, if God is asking let us do. No matter how long it takes, or how much patience we have to muster. And while we're doing, let us trust that God knows what He's doing, and why He is asking for our obedience in this task He has chosen us for, and why it will take the time it is going to take to accomplish it.
Let's pray...
Lord, so often we don't understand Your ways, or why You ask of us the things You do. We don't understand why our prayers aren't answered as quickly as we would like, or why we aren't healed the way we want, or at all. But we are strengthened by faith in You. We know that Your Word and Your promises are truth, and in them we can place our faith and be made strong in You. And we can endure anything through faith in You. We can also rest in knowing You are in control and with us always, through everything, and Your timing and purposes are perfect. Thank You, Lord, for that perfection, and for the comfort we draw from You. In Jesus' Name, amen.
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
2000+ YEARS AGO JESUS PRAYED....FOR YOU!
Dearest Readers,
Ordinarily I don't like to do this too often - cut and paste a large pieces of anything, including the Bible ,and then say "Here, read this!" However, today I am breaking this 'rule' and doing just that. Lately I have been reading, and re-reading John chapter 17 - which is where Jesus prays His longest recorded prayer in the Bible. I've been studying it and looking deeper, and I really want to share this and encourage you all to read it too....really read it. Look deeply at what Jesus is doing and saying here...especially look at the section I have highlighted (verses 20-26), where Jesus is praying for YOU. When the true revelation of that hit me I was awestruck, and a little emotional. 2000+ years ago, when He knew what was about to happen to Him, He set that aside and prayed for me! And you...and every other believer. Whoa, that is a little overwhelming, don't you think?
Also, I underlined the first part of verse 24...Jesus is asking God for us to be with Him in heaven! How does that make you feel? To know that our Lord and Saviour was thinking of you all those years ago before He was to go to the cross for our sins, and more than that, He wanted us....with Him....in heaven! He petitioned the Father for us!
How deep is His love?
How immense is His desire for us?
The King of kings and Lord of lords is in love with us! :-)
"Here, read this!" :-)
Please read this chapter, Dear Readers....it truly is worth the time it will take to read 26 verses, and to hold these words of our Lord close and safe in our hearts.
God bless you all,
Love Toni (Jeanne) xxxxx
John Chapter 17 [New International Version (NIV)]
Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. 2 For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. 4 I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. 7 Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. 8 For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. 14 I have given them Your Word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth. 18 As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
13 “I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. 14 I have given them Your Word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth. 18 As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are One— 23 I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. 26 I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
24 “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me. 26 I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
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