Refinement through Busyness

I usually feel that God doesn't really want us to be 'busy', productive yes, busy no. I would normally say that busyness consumes us until a point that we typically can't hear God and so are spiritually cut off from our source. But I've been reflecting recently that God can actually use our busyness sometimes as a way of refining us.

This year has/is jam packed full of change and stuff to do for me. So far this year I have changed churches, been temporarily unemployed (then reemployed by same employer!), become a life group leader and gotten engaged. The rest of this year looks like this; moving this Saturday, classes resumed this week, possibly will be looking for work again in Sept when my contract ends, preparing for our wedding in December, working, studying, leading a lifegroup, other church commitments. Additionally my fiance is looking for work as he was made redundant a few weeks back.

I had thought that I would only do one subject this semester, but I got into classes this week and realised that the majority of my spiritual food actually comes out of my study not church. There is just something about getting deeper into the things of God that really really gets me spiritually amped. For some people great worship music makes them want to jump up and down, for me it exegeting Leviticus ;-)

So while I was quite prepared to cut back a bit and try to resist the encroachment of busyness I'm feeling this week much more like there is a point to my busyness at the moment. The whole year has felt like a time of refinement, and I believe God is using this crazy-busy time in that process of refining me. I am, where possible, trying to learn to say no to things that aren't essential. But I'm also learning that where my energy runs out, His energy is available to me. I felt that particularly today as I was sitting in my Exegesis class. Most students seemed a bit freaked by the prospect of Leviticus, but I felt elated, I felt that God's empowering grace is there for me to do this.

And I think that's part of what He's trying to teach me in this period of refinement, to stop relying on my own energy, my own strength, my own intelligence and startling good looks, not to mention humility LOL, but rather to rely on Him and His empowerment to do what He's called me to. And I think He's deliberately set the bar so high that I can't do it on my own.

I'm just praying that 2009 will be a year of peace and rest. I'm calling in the Deut 24:5 principle:

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

God bless,
Bec

What gives us stability in unstable times?

I'm being prompted at the moment to think about the source of stability in my life. I'm looking down the barrel of unemployment as of Monday, and well it's giving me the willies. Not that I haven't been unemployed before. I have been through the redundancy mill twice. But there is something about the not knowing whether I will be unemployed for a week or for months that is very difficult to get my head around. There are so many implications if I don't find work quickly. And part of the difficulty is that I am only looking for part-time contract work in IT, which isn't common. I have been very blessed to have had that kind of role for the last two years, which has enabled me to study part-time at Bible College.

But in amongst my angst I've been thinking about what can be relied on when life is uncertain. I read a verse the other day that has stuck in my head since. "...we know and rely on the love God has for us..." 1 Jn 4:16. The context of the verse is in dealing with our eternal salvation and that our salvation is reliant on the love God has for us, but it is giving me some peace in amongst my angst. Whatever happens I know and can rely on the love God has for me. Not to mention Romans 8:28 :-).

God bless,
Bec

Giving God the credit for small things

I read a quote from somebody a while ago who's name I don't remember that went something along the lines of 'Sainthood consists in ascribing to God even the smallest of things'.

Well I've had one of those weird 'smallest of things' things this week.

About nine months ago at last year's Hillsong conference in Sydney I lost my mobile phone. It was only about three months old at this point and not only was it quite new it was a iMate JASJAM. Not cheap. Not only not cheap but it was very firmly installed in my pantheon of household gods. :-( I really loved it. Partly because I'm a geek and love gadgets, but also because I had eSword installed on it and could look stuff up in the Greek on a whim. It was nerdy-geek-biblical-scholar heaven.

Quite apart from the fact that I really loved that phone much much more than I should have it was incredibly frustrating to lose it on the second day of the five day conference amongst 30000 other Christians, and try to be able to find various people in amongst that crowd without a phone was, well, difficult and annoying.

Needless to say I haunted the lost and found stand. But to no avail. It was not handed in. So after returning to Melbourne on the Saturday, I went down my local Tel$tra store and forked out for a new (cheap) phone.

On Tuesday night this week my lovely boyfriend received a call while we were out for Mexican from a lady in Sydney who had found my phone. NINE months later!! She mailed it out to me and it arrived today with a note explaining what had happened.

A month after Hillsong a Jehovah's Witness conference was held at the Acer arena and it was found and handed in. So this is 4 weeks after it was lost! And by a JEHOVAH'S WITNESS. I tell you what, next time they come to the door I think I will be a bit nicer rather than just whacking them with the bible! ;-)

Acer Arena's policy is to hold onto things for a period of time before throwing them out. So a lady there went to all the trouble of finding someone else with the same phone so she could borrow their charger to charge it up to find out who it belonged to. She found James' number and called.

I'm blown away. First of all, that God would return to me what was previously an idol in my life. Secondly, that He would move the heart of a JW to hand it in. Thirdly, that the lovely Maria went to all that trouble to find a charger so it wouldn't get thrown out, so she could return it to me.

In and of itself, it's a bit of a small thing. But I'm just amazed that God and the JW and Maria would go to all that trouble for me. And it's come at a time that it's really encouraging, and a reminder that God does love me, and isn't ignoring my struggles and difficulties at the moment. Its a little thing, but it makes me feel loved that He'd care about a little thing like that.


God bless,
Bec

Dethroning VISA

Have you seen Fight Club? If not, I'm sorry, I'm about to ruin the ending for you!

The movie centres around one man's existential angst. He is seeking salvation from the doldrums of working for an insurance company so he can service his credit card debt, which has been racked up by having to have everything in his apartment "Ikea perfect". He meets an enigmatic stranger and finds salvation in this "Fight Club" scenario, which basically is about a bunch of blokes getting together and rediscovering what "makes them men" (aka beating the living daylights out of each other). The fight club concept grows and groups form all over the US. At the end of the movie, the fight clubs have formed a quasi-urban-guerilla-terrorist movement, and they seek to bring salvation to the US, by unseating the culprit behind the humdrum of life - slavery to the Credit Card companies. The final scene of the movie is where you see all the credit card companies simultaneously blowing up across the skyline.

This is a rather graphic illustration of what happened in my life when Jesus saved me. Up until that point I was in the grip of 'Visa' with an unsustainable debt. I placed a lot of faith in Visa, and regularly gave offerings (interest) of $150 a month to keep the religion going. I believed that "in case of emergency" Visa would bail me out, Visa would save me. But in the day-to-day Visa was just a comfort, and a way to participate in worship of the other gods of the secular world, "at no cost".

The bible says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). In the greek there are two words for temple, and the one used in this context more particularly means "Holy of Holies". The Holy of Holies was where in the OT, the ark of the covenant was housed. The ark represented God's presence amongst His people - now this function is taken over by the Holy Spirit's indwelling of His people. No one went inside the Holy of Holies, except the High Priest once a year. Now there is a story in 1 Samuel 5 about an encounter between the Philistine god "Dagon" and the Ark of the Covenant, verses 1-4 are awesome:

"After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained."

This is what happened when God moved into my life, and the Holy Spirit took up residence in me. All the old idols started falling on their faces before Him! One particular idol that God took care of was 'Visa'. At this point it was going to take me about 3 years to pay off the debt that I had accumulated, because I was living beyond my means, and if I did manage to pay it off in 3 years that would be without saving ANYTHING, but living pay cheque to pay cheque.

God challenged me on where I was putting my faith and my trust. "'In case of emergency', who are you going to trust to look after you? Visa? Or me?"

The Lord showed Himself faithful and gracious. This was "an emergency" or at very least a very, very nasty spot to be in. I felt so imprisoned, knowing that for the next 3 years I would be a slave until I paid off my debt. However, the Lord delivered me of that debt, I was given a lump sum of the exact amount I was in debt. So I paid it off and cut up my credit card. Since then whenever there have been "emergencies" or tight spots, He has NEVER failed to provide. In addition to that first lump sum which paid off my credit card, He has miraculously produced lump sums of money when I needed them four or five times. Additionally, before starting at Bible College, He provided a part-time IT contract role that was only supposed to last 3 months, and I have now been here nearly 2 yrs! This job just doesn't exist, He put it here for me. He has also used my lovely boyfriend to prompt me and teach me how to better manage what I have. He has also taught me to be content with what I have, because I know He is good and provides for me, however much He provides - despite what I may think - is enough to meet my needs.

God has ALWAYS been faithful to provide for me, when I have been financially responsible and when I have been financially irresponsible. This is not to say that I have been able to afford to buy everything that I WANT, but I have NEVER gone hungry, I have NEVER lacked what I needed. And this has been such a beautiful and constant reminder of the goodness and faithfulness of God.

I can testify that Luke 12:22-24, 27-31 is true:

"Then Jesus said to his disciples: 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ...Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

We quite simply do not need to worry about these things, God will provide, because He is good, and He is our Father, and He has promised to look after us, and delights to give good gifts to His children. We just need to focus on seeking His kingdom & His righteousness.

So that is how 'Visa' was dethroned in my life. Christ set me free.

God bless,
Bec