junctionj.community

I am reading some stuff on Song of Solomon, and came across this:

We had just passed through immigration at Lagos airport, and found our bags. I think it was around 11pm on a Friday night when we walked into the main hall to find a taxi.

I had been mulling over this third part to this post before I went to Niger, and I have some great things that God spoke to me about while I was away. But I need to get this off my chest before I move on!!

In part 1, I talked about the stumbling block I had, that because God is in it, things will be easy. So when tough came my way, I wondered if God could be in it. Until I thought about Joseph and David.

In part 2, I talked about the importance of reaching out.

The final part of my thinking about what to do when your back is against the wall, is to let go. Sometimes we can be so convinced that God is in what we are doing, that we fail to see our own desire to make things happen - we don't want to be a failure, or be double minded, or we just want the dream for us. So I think it's a good thing to lay down the dream before the Lord... if you can't lay it down, then that would indicate that it's your desire more than God's. And just because you lay it down, God's not going to turn away in disgust at your weakness, he's perfectly capable of giving back what ever you laid down.

Or maybe God is in what you are doing, it's just that you are going about it in a different way than he wants you to. So when you lay things down, it allows God to reshape you, point you in the right direction.

In all things, we need to remember that we are so completely loved by God, and that he is nice. He actually likes you and wants to give you the desires of your heart - chances are he put them there in the first place! We are learning to live in his love and intimacy and rest. No matter how tough your situation, he's got the grace and wisdom for you. He loves you, and wants your love and heart, and he is a miraculous provider ... he wants you to be conscious of him 24/7... but that's something for my next post!

....being family!

i have just started a new group of BEING FAMILY where i would like to nurture an environment for us all to be family together.

...although a little later than everyone in reading this ....oh my goodness, i don't know where to begin .....layer upon layer of heavenly daddy, holy spirit and jesus revelation ....i need to process

Last week I blogged about this topic and I've had more about it, so here's part two.

Today I posted on the forums this topic, about causes of blockages to finances and favour.

So what do you do when your back is against the wall, when your situation is looking grim in the natural?

First of all, there has to be an assumption that what you are doing is what God is showing you to do. So before you get to the spot, you needed to have got these things lined up:
peace in your heart and a sense that this is where God is taking you
you need to ensure that you are not praying through an idol, that what you feel God is leading you, is not just the desire of your heart, something you want
confirmation through Scripture
confirmation from one or two others you respect and trust, preferably who are more mature than you in God
natural circumstances - the door needs to be open for you to walk through
you need to acknowledge God, to trust him, and acknowledge him so that he can make your path straight

So that's all good, and you start your journey, and because God's making it happen, you assume it's going to be an easy walk. Not necessarily. Think about the first recorded dream God gave Joseph, and how long that took to come about, or how long it took David to become king after he was anointed by Samuel. So just because it's tough does not mean it's not God.

But tough can be really tough, especially where your finances are concerned. Finances are tricky in that you need to mix common sense with faith. I don't think staying at home waiting for money to arrive day in day out is God's heart for us. But I do believe in provision for the vision, that if God has called us on a journey, he will sustain us.

If you are facing a tough situation right now, let me encourage you to keep pressing in. Pray in the spirit, soak and journal when you feel prompted, just keep your eyes on Him. I wonder if he lets us go through with this kind of thing to stretch us, and to deepen us, and to let us prove him faithful. How do we know, I mean really know that he is our provider, if we never let him provide? Or that he comes to our rescue, if we try and rescue ourselves first?

Surround yourself with scripture if it helps you - I am not one to read scripture over myself daily, but I do hold passages in my heart, like 2 Chronicles 20, especially v 12, "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

Keep talking to God, keep asking, keep pressing in. Remember that God is not so much interested in what we do, but in who we are, and in our heart. Remember too that you are his son or daughter. So you are not alone. He is faithful.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I had a great meeting last week with a pioneer - if you want to read the full post, you'll have to join my MBA group to do so ;)

There is some amazing writings and discussions going on in the writings group, which I heartily recommend you checking out if you haven't already. You have to join the group to see what's happening.

Gordon Harris is talking about, among other things, the trinity. It's really inspiring and we have kinda been spurring one another on with it - certainly he has been encouraging me to dig in deeper.

I have to confess that I have been a little stuck with things recently. It began in my journaling on September 7. Here's what I wrote:

"Lord, the sentence,

'God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of knowing himself.'

Describes the community of love so well.

But what bearing does that have on my life? What does it mean? How does it change me? How does it demand or even ask politely that I live my life?

It isn't giving me magical powers (by that I mean signs, wonders and miracles)
or giving me fame or fortune,
or giving me life,
or really making me different.

This is not about WIIFM, 'what's in it for me', but a yearning and longing to be different. After all, Jesus was different and changed the world around him.

So maybe I am not living in that community. Positionally, theologically I am, but in reality I am not. My life doesn't appear to reflect living in a community of love with the almighty, supreme being, God."

I guess I was kind of frustrated, and wondering what I was missing. It's great to talk about the trinity, but really, it has to have a bearing on my life, to change me in some way.

I am realizing how results orientated I am, and so I want to see the evidence of God. I was talking to Jo's dad Norman today, and he mentioned that we want God to be like a bank account, that we can deposit our investment, and then see the progress. Wow, I am so like that - I want to see the progress of how my investment in God is going. But it's not like that.

Anyway, two days ago, I came across a verse from Jeremiah that unstuck me and undid me. Here it is, from the NIV:
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.
(Jeremiah 9:24)

It just put me back on track - God made me to have relationship and experience with him, and my goal is simply to walk with him, so that I can understand and know him. Everything else falls out of that.

Yours, back at peace and content with him, Russ

Most of you will now that I am a die hard Apple fan, and am quite evangelistic about it.

You may also have seen the Mac v PC ads that Apple have been running for ages.