I've changed my vote in this upcoming election

There are two things you need to note about this blog before going in so you are not sorry to have wasted your time reading it :)

1) It is aimed at people who value their freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and

2) I’m a Christian so the views expressed herein are in line with my beliefs.

As most of us are now aware, the Human Rights Commission of South Africa has recently been pushing at the boundaries of freedom of religion and freedom of expression in South Africa. There is a recent case where they have taken on a church in the Western Cape for preaching out of the bible that parents can use moderate spanking as a form of discipline for their children. 

In spite of the fact that:

 1) moderate parental spanking is not illegal in South Africa so the church was in no way breaking the law, and

 2) the church was preaching in accordance with scripture and thereby exercising religious freedom,

the HRC nevertheless opened an investigation against the church and there is a real current threat of a law on the cards in South Africa which states that churches, synagogues, mosques and any other religious institutions may not preach (amongst other things) any portions of their scripture which advocate discipline by spanking. For those of us that don’t believe in spanking, this may seem like a small thing – but the issue at stake here is not spanking. The issue at stake is religious freedom and the state being able to veto what can and can’t be preached in any pulpit, which in effect gives the state the power to outlaw portions of scripture. Spanking may be the first issue, but when the state starts to legislate what can and cannot be preached out of the Bible, Torrah, Quran or any other religious book, this is not something to be taken lightly.

Another two subjects where the state has threatened to curb freedom of expression and religious conviction are those of abortion and homsexuality. The state does not want any religious institution to be able to preach in its own pulpit that abortion or homosexuality is a sin. At this point some people’s backs get up, but again the issue is not whether you are for these things or against them. The issue is - are you allowed the freedom of conscience to be for or against them. Are you permitted to exercise your religious belief or conscience without the state interfering and saying that you may not preach out of certain portions of your scripture. It is easy to get side-tracked by the issues but the real issue is the freedoms that are currently at stake. 

State interference into religion, belief and conscience is a slippery slope. It may start with an issue that causes you to say “Thank God the State is interfering there and curbing that freedom!” But sooner or later an issue of conscience that is close to your heart will come up, and if the state has already set a precedent of being able to curb the freedom of belief and conscience of its people, it is very difficult to reverse that precedent. 

Recently, in Cape Town a man was arrested for imparting his beliefs that abortion is wrong. He did so in a non-violent way, merely exercising his freedom of belief and expression and was taken to court  for doing so. The question is – Should a government agency have the power to curb the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of expression? Freedom of expression does not mean we like or agree with what other people are saying. You may hate what I’m saying, but you should value my right to say it – because as long as my freedom of expression is alive, so is yours. Voltaire summed it up nicely when he said "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." 

At the moment, there are too many examples of state intervention into religious freedom to even mention and the number is growing everyday. So much so that last year, the religious institutions of South Africa felt the need to join hands across religions and say “No more.” The forming of the body known as “Religious Freedom SA” and the fact that it has in a very short space of time grown in number to represent about twelve million South Africans of different faiths should tell us two things:

1) the threat is real, and

2) South Africans are thankfully not going to take it lying down.

When I vote, these are my important factors (we all have different factors which we take into account but these are mine... because this is my blog - lol):

1) Which party is doing the most to try and protect the freedom of all religions in South Africa? 

2) Which party is anti-abortion? This is a personal one for me and I don’t expect everyone to feel the same but my personal belief and logic is as follows: I believe that the taking of a life is murder. I’ve held that belief since I was two bricks high and I first found out about the concept of a baby being killed inside its mother’s womb. I actually won our school’s public speaking competition at the tender age of eleven taking on this very heavy subject, so it is something that is close to my heart and has been for a long time. I don’t believe that you can say that it is acceptable to kill a baby at 24 weeks (like our law does) but not at 25 weeks. Was there a “magic fairy dust” moment between 24 and 25 weeks that suddenly makes the baby worthy of the right to life? The lack of logic astounds me. If a baby is a baby at 25 weeks then it was a baby at 24 weeks, and 23 weeks, and 22 weeks… I’ve seen a scan at twelve weeks and I saw a full little body with every little part already formed. I saw the baby moving and I heard its little heartbeat so no-one can tell me that a 12 week old baby is not alive. In my second pregnancy, they put a little shocking device on my stomach to test my baby’s reaction in the womb and see if she was okay. I will never forget as the little shocker went off, I watched her heart rate climb as the fear came over her. She felt the shock and she felt the fear and her little heart rate skyrocketed. Pro-abortionists like to call these little people “tissue” in order to mask the reality of what is really happening, but if little fully-formed human beings are merely tissue, then I have three little balls of tissue running around my home, each of which I would’ve had the right under South African law to kill in the womb if had I wanted to do that. The point I am making is I personally believe abortion to be murder of the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society. The law states that if you are willingly involved with a crime or if you know about it and do nothing, you are an accomplice to that crime. So if I vote for a party that supports what I believe to be murder, then I’m an accomplice to every little life that is taken and there are approximately 80000 taken every year in South Africa. So I personally cannot vote for any party that supports abortion.

3) Which party, although not advocating any particular religion holds firm to Judeo-Christian values and will govern upon those values for the good of ALL people regardless of their religion?

4) Which party is free of corruption and will tackle corruption head on?

5) Which party is a friend to Israel - Again, this is a personal factor for me as a Christian and is quite important to me in deciding how I vote. 

Those are my five "must-haves". We all have different ones but, as a Christian, those are mine. As far as I know, there is only one party that ticks all these blocks so that will be the party I vote for. 

I have in the past always voted DA because logic told me “We need one strong opposition party in South Africa.” It never actually occurred to me that in South Africa, the parties rule by proportional representation. The South African system is not a “first past the post” system meaning that the winner takes all and the losers wait for the next election. In South Africa, the number of votes any party gets is directly proportionate to that party’s seats in parliament and ultimately its voice in parliament. It’s actually a wonderful system because all the minorities are heard, from the EFF to the FF. All of them will get their proportionate number of seats in parliament and will get to have their say on the bills that get passed in this country. The EFF will no doubt provide the left voice, the FF will provide the right voice, the IFP will bring the Zulu voice, the DA will bring the liberal voice and the ACDP will bring the Judeo-Christian voice. Every seat each of these parties get, makes their voice louder in parliament. The logic of “Vote for the strongest opposition” would apply in a “first past the post” country but it does not apply in a “proportional representation” country. In a proportional representation country, every person can and should vote their conscience. I think the only question one should ask before voting is: “Which party holds the same values I do so I can be sure they will bring my voice to the halls of parliament?” 

I remember Diana Ross saying once “Every decision is made either out of fear, or out of faith.” As a Christian, a fear-based decision will be “I need to vote for the strongest opposition.” A faith based decision will be “If God can work through a donkey, then He can work mightily through a few upright men in parliament.” Like I heard someone saying last night “One person plus God is a majority”. So this is the first time that my vote will be about conscience more than strategy. When I stand in that voting booth, I know I am not going to be alone in there and I will stand account for where I put my X.

The reason I’ve written this blog is not to enforce my views on anyone but to encourage you to vote your conscience in this election (whatever that may be) and to make sure you know the policies of all the parties before putting your X down. That is all.

Where does our strength come from?

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!” (Phillipians 4v4)

Why does God repeatedly remind us to rejoice, regardless of what is going on in our lives. It’s a very foreign concept to human nature. “Rejoice in all circumstances,” He says. In all circumstances? What happens if I’m going through hell? What happens if nothing is working out the way it is supposed to?"

“I will say it again. Rejoice!” says the Lord.

The bible says “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8v10) So the first thing the enemy wants to steal from you, is your joy. Just like a robber who goes straight for the safe because he knows the most valuable things are in there, so the enemy goes straight for your joy. If he can get that, he knows he has robbed you of your strength in the Lord. Like Samson lost his physical strength when his hair was cut, so we lose our spiritual strength when we lose our joy. So when God says “I will say it again, rejoice,” He is repeating himself like a loving father trying to tell his child something of great importance. As our eyes move anxiously to those things that are of temporal value,  God reminds us to focus on that which has eternal value.

I remember long ago a pastor saying “Satan cannot sow seeds in a grateful heart.” This has stuck with me because I have found it to be so true. None of the enemy’s seeds can grow in the soil of a grateful heart. But an ungrateful heart is the perfect soil for his seeds to flourish. Gratefulness is a state of mind. It’s the difference between getting to the end of the day and say “Lord, thankyou that I had my daily bread today. True to your word, you have provided everything I needed for today,” as opposed to “What about tomorrow? I had enough today, but will there be enough tomorrow?” …Same circumstances, different heart… The first heart is safe from losing its joy, but the second heart is on dangerous ground.

I believe thankfulness and joy are intricately linked. The bible says “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5v18) Again those two strange little words: “all circumstances.” Give thanks in all circumstances. Can God possibly mean that? Yes…

Joy is not happiness. Happiness is a feeling you have when things are going well. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit and it is not dependant on circumstances. The most confusing thing about people who know the Lord is their supernatural ability to praise through the worst of situations. The world looks at that and says “Is that person honestly using their last breath to praise the Lord? Their God is not saving them and yet they praise.” The world stares at that in wonder, shock and sometimes disgust. They don’t get it. And it’s not something you can “get” if you don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. We all know the story of Job, a righteous man who lost everything – his possessions, his children, his health. The world responds to those circumstances like Job’s wife did: “Just curse God and die.” The world says “Wake up buddy, your life sucks and your God is not coming.” But the Spirit living inside of a true believer responds like Job did: “Though you slay me, YET will I praise you!” Like Shadrach, Mishack and Abednigo who were put into the fiery furnace for their faith and said “My God is able to save me, BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T, I will not bow down to your God.”

I have so many examples of people I know personally who have passed through the fiery furnace and kept their joy. The bible says that the kingdom of God is made up of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That’s the kingdom of God so it cannot be shaken. Where the kingdom of God is, you will see righteousness, peace and joy, even if it is out of place in its surroundings. No-one can not conjure it up in the flesh. It is supernatural and it can not be shaken. I look at Jeremy Camp who married his young bride who had cancer, full of faith that God was going to heal her. I will never forget the video I saw of her thin and sick and unable to get off the couch and using all the strength she had to raise her arms to praise the Lord. She died shortly after that, but that image of her is stuck in many minds around the world.

The bible says believers are salt and light, and there is never a time when that light shines brighter than when they are suffering. Everybody understands a person who is happy when things are going well. Nobody understands a person who shines joy and sings praises when everything is being stripped from them. Our greatest opportunities to shine for Christ come when we don’t understand… Because when earthy understanding ends, supernatural peace and faith begin…

“And the peace of God which TRANSCENDS all understanding will guard yours hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4v7)

Nothing but the blood

I need to write about my God today. I have mixed emotions about everything else so I come back to the rock. The rest is sand and it can’t be trusted. It moves around with the wind and changes everyday. But not God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Alpha and the Omega. He doesn’t change like shifting shadows. And He can be trusted.

On my way to work this morning, Nick and I were quiet because our minds were full and spilling out our thoughts at that stage wouldn’t have helped. We were deep in our own minds and probably both praying. Then God used Gareth Cliff to speak to us. I laugh as I write this because people doubt the sovereignty of God, and here God uses South Africa’s best known atheist to speak to us. Somebody who denies God often was used by the God he denies. The irony was amazing to me.

We have had miracle after miracle happen recently. It’s the kind of miracle that happens when you need to cross a raging river by walking on the rocks, but there is only one rock at a time for you to stand on. As you step off that rock into the torrent, the next rock appears from under the water and you say “Phew. If that rock didn’t appear, I would’ve drowned in these rapids.” There are two ways of looking at these kinds of miracles. You can either be in awe of God that even the rocks obey Him as He raises them up under your feet just before you fall and drown. Or you can be angry. Why is there no bridge? Why must every step I take be so frightening. Why must my veins be pumping with adrenalin everyday because of the fear of my next step when others are driving across this torrent on a beautiful well-lit, engineer-designed bridge.

First off, you need to realise that the bridge you see others crossing is an illusion set up to trip you up by the enemy. Yes, we have an enemy. The Bible says he prowls around like a lion seeking whom he may devour. His native tongue is lying. You can be sure that every time he whispers anything in your ear, it’s a lie because that’s the only language he speaks. The Bible says he seeks only 3 things - to steal from you, to kill you and to destroy you. You can’t forget about him. He wants your faith, he wants your hope and ultimately he wants your soul and he’ll do anything to get it using his most powerful tool - lies. That beautiful bridge you think others are walking on is a lie. Everyone has their own set of stepping stones across the torrent. Many fall and are carried away, but the just shall live by faith! Come on! I want to shout it out like Braveheart “The juuusssttt shall livvvee byyy FAITH!”

As born again believers, we have two choices everyday – Am I going to live today in faith or in fear? Only two choices. You are living by one of them whether you realise it or not. You can recognise fear in the fact that you try and retain control over everything because you don’t really trust God with it. The words of fear are “God, I’ll just hang onto this one because I think I know better what needs to happen here than you do. You can have the unimportant stuff. This is too important to trust you with.” And you recognise faith with the words “I am not my own. I trust you. Not my will, but yours."

Faith can only come when the gospel is deeply rooted in your heart. The gospel is not just necessary for justification and then we leave it behind. No! It is the gospel that justifies and it is the gospel that sanctifies. You don’t say to a new born again believer “Ok, you have heard the Gospel, you have accepted Jesus, you are now justified by your faith. The cross has done its work, let’s move on! Now we teach you how you are supposed to live according to the bible.” No! The Bible says that the Gospel is the POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION.” In other words it is the only power that takes us to our salvation.

What is salvation? Many will say salvation happens the moment you are born again but salvation is far more all encompassing than that moment. According to the word of God it is

1)      Righteousness (justification)

2)      Sanctification (more of Christ in your life and less of you) and

3)      Redemption (being raised up on that last day.

Salvation consists of all three of these things. So if the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation that means the gospel is required every single step of the way in our journey. We need to constantly be reminded of the cross, of the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the worth, of the power of the blood sacrifice that was made on our behalf and of the fact that we are made righteous because of what Christ did that day at Calvary. We are righteous because of Him. From that place of constant awe at the gospel comes the power unto salvation, which includes righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

Something hit me like a ton of bricks last night when I was thinking about these things and talking to some friends. The power for change is in the cross. No amount of teaching will bring the power required for change, it doesn’t matter how brilliant a teacher you are. All teaching should start with “This is what Christ did. Because of what He did, you are justified by the pure and powerful blood of the lamb and you are made righteousness. Your sin is therefore not counted against you. Can you believe such grace? THEREFORE… (and the teaching about what the bible says about holy living should start).” Most preaching today around the world starts after the THEREFORE and leaves the first part out… The gospel is used once off for salvation and then the teaching and preaching is separate from the gospel. This is not what the bible teaches. The gospel is to be front centre everytime we meet anywhere in his name. It is the starting point and the ending point. In between, the bible teaching happens but it happens on top of the foundation of the gospel. So the gospel is actually the middle point as well.

Once you are a born again believer, the gospel never gets old. It has the power to grip your heart anytime of the day and no matter how often you hear it. Never will a born again believer say “Oh no, is this preacher talking about the cross again (sigh)?” If they do, then I have to doubt whether they are in fact born again. The gospel unlike anything else in this world grows in power in our heart the more we hear it, it does not lose its power because of “over-use.” Never, as preachers, should we think “My preach was about the gospel last week, so I can’t go with that subject again. I need fresh material. No, we preach the gospel every week. Not as an add on at the end of the preach aimed at justification of non-believers, but as the power unto salvation which includes the sanctification of the believers who are sitting there.

Now that I have finished writing this, I have quickly googled to see if someone else has said it better than me and I found good old Spurgeon. Many, many years ago...There is nothing new under the sun – just a constant enemy who knows where the power lies and will do anything to avert the eyes of the church off the cross and onto ‘christian living’.

“Leave Christ out of the preaching and you shall do nothing. Only advertize it all over London, Mr. Baker, that you are making bread without flour; put it in every paper, “Bread without flour” and you may soon shut up your shop, for your customers will hurry off to other tradesmen. . . . A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. However grand the language it will be merely much-ado-about-nothing if Christ be not there. And I mean by Christ not merely his example and the ethical precepts of his teaching, but his atoning blood, his wondrous satisfaction made for human sin, and the grand doctrine of “believe and live.”

Cliches - how true are they?

I was thinking today about some of things we say and realised that so many clichés are simply not true. It’s amazing how when something gets said often enough, we start to assume it’s truth. The fact is that when something does not line up with the word of God, it simply is not true. God is not wrong - we are. Let’s play the truth game.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them - NOT TRUE

This one basically means that you are only supposed to give someone one chance. Once they mess up, they’re out. You don’t see them as a person who made a stuff up, you see them as a person who is a stuff up. This is the pole opposite to what the Bible says.

“The Peter asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times but seventy times seven times!” Therefore the Kingdon of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold – along with his wife, his children and everything he owned - to pay the debt. But the man fell before his master and begged him “Please be patient with me, and I will pay it all” Then the master was filled with pity for him and released him and forgave his debt. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time: “Be patient with me, and I will pay it,” he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said “You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I have had mercy on you? Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That’s what your heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from the heart.” Matt 18 v 21

Where there is smoke, there is fire – NOT TRUE

The truth is that where there is smoke, there is smoke. Only God knows if there’s fire. One thing I’ve learnt is that no matter how many rumours or how bad the gossip, nobody knows the real story. Most of the time, we’ve only heard one side of the story and the Bible clearly says “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” (Proverbs 18 v 17) There may be lots of smoke, but only God knows what really happened and especially WHY! The Lord says we are not allowed to judge the motives of others. In other words, the minute we say “I know why they did that”, we are sinning. 1 Thes 2 v 4 says God alone examines the motives of our hearts.

Safe upon the solid rock, the ugly houses stand. Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand – NOT TRUE

This is a saying I lived by during the beginning of my University years and I’ve got to say: it is the most stupid of them all. No matter how shining your palace is, if it’s built on sand it’s gonna be rubble when the storms come - underwater, smashed up and broken to pieces. Because my husbands a builder, I’ve learnt that we need to check the ground under any house before we start. If it’s too sandy, we may build a “palace’ on it but it will crack and break and soon look like the Addams Family house. That’s what happens to any house that is not built on the foundation of Jesus Christ who the Bible calls “the rock” (1 Corinthians 10 v 4 and many other places in the Bible).

The Bible says: “Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the wind beats against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”- Matthew 7 v 24-27

Forgive, but don’t forget – NOT TRUE

1 Corinthians v 4 says that “Love keeps no record of being wronged.” This is a tough one. When someone wrongs us, as humans we love to put it in our pocket and save it for a rainy day. Next time they make us angry, we dust off everything that we’ve saved in our pocket and show it to them. Our little record of wrongs. God says no, we are not to keep a record of wrongs. With forgiveness, comes forgetting and most importantly, A CLEAN SLATE. Everyday. If God’s mercies are new every morning, then ours should be as well. New every morning for anyone who needs it. Mercy is not holding someone’s sin against them. God shows us mercy and we are to do the same.

He says He our sins from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103 v 12) and he says “I will never remember their sins.” (Hebrews 8 v 12).

We are to forgive in the “same way” that God forgives us, and that is remember it no more.

Trust no-one, love few, learn to paddle your own canoe – NOT TRUE

We are not supposed to love “few”, we are supposed to love everyone – even our enemies.

Jesus says “You have heard that the law says ‘love your neighbour’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children as your Father in heaven. For He gives sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there in that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind to only your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” – Matt 5 v 43 – 48

And now that we know we need to love, we know also that we always need to trust because in 1 Corinthians 13, it says “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” When you do not trust someone, you are not operating in God’s perfect love. We are called to trust and believe the best of people and God will judge and discipline. So often we try and take God’s job over...

God helps those who help themselves – NOT TRUE

Do you know how many people believe this little one? Some people even say it is in the Bible! It isn’t. The Bible in fact tells us the exact opposite of this. The fact is that God helps those who seek first His Kingdom:

“So don’t worry about these things saying “What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, and He will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6 v 31

If you have a personality that likes to always have everything under your control , ie “I trust myself, more than I trust God” then this scripture will make you uncomfortable… But it is in the Bible and it is true. If we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, God promises to meet our needs. If we don’t believe Him, then we need to speak to Him and ask Him to help us in this area to trust Him enough to seek first His kingdom and not seek first “helping ourselves” because nowhere in the Bible does it say “God helps those who help themselves…”

Charity begins at home – NOT TRUE

This one basically means that we only look out for the needs of ourselves and our family. Everyone else must look out for themselves. This is so not how the Kingdom of God works. While we are definitely called to look after our family, we are also called to look after our family in the Kingdom of God.

“When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.” - Romans 12 v 13

“And all the believers met together in one place, and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need” Acts 2 v 45

“If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to me, they will not be without their reward.” – Mark 9 v 41

“If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and he will repay you!” – Proverbs 19 v 17 (I love that one. What a beautiful promise from our Lord.)

Eye for an eye – NOT TRUE

Eye for an eye leaves the world blind. In the old testament, before Jesus had died and risen and paid the price for the sins of all who believe in Him, they use the words “eye for an eye.” In the New Testament, it says “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.” – Matt 5 v 38 - 42

And Romans 13 v 17 says “Do not repay evil with evil,” so the Bible is clear on this point.

Sum up

Nobody can live the way the Bible says if we are not in Christ and He is not in us. We can try, but we will fail. The standard is too high. The good news is that it is Christ who saves and the minute we are born again, we are made righteous! All our sins are washed away as far as the east is from the west. Do we then suddenly behave like perfect people – No. But because of the precious blood of Jesus that paid the price for every sin we will ever commit, God sees us as righteous. We’re still sinners, but it’s paid for. It’s remembered no more. And from the moment we are born again, God starts a process with us called sanctification. Christ living in us starts to show in our lives and people will start to see the evidence of that because we will do things differently to the way of the world. Outside of Christ, we have no chance of ever getting it right. No amount of “human will” is enough.

The starting point is here: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life.” So the one requirement is to believe, then God takes over and does the rest as you yield to Him and His ways.

One rotten apple...

It’s been a while since my last blog, because I don’t write one unless I have something worth saying. Today I think I do.

I saw two of my friend’s facebook statuses this morning that got me thinking:

1. Eph 3:10: The thing that God has chosen to usher His glory in on the earth is the CHURCH (ekklessia- corporate), not the individual saint. Loving sons give themselves to their heavenly Fathers purposes, the way He has chosen them to. If you love God, you will give yourself too, and for the church, just like Gods first Son (Jesus) did – Andrew Selley

2. My laptop said to me this morning “Plug in or look for an alternative power source.” It reminded me I need to plug into God as my power source – Adam Helyer

And people say Facebook isn’t good for anything ;)

Nick and I are not content with mediocre. Both of us are always wanting more. When our marriage gets into a rut, we’re both quick to say “Let’s make it awesome.” When we see we’ve slipped behind in any area - be it parenting, work, play, fitness, social life or living for God, it bothers us because we have high expectations of ourselves, and life. Most of our conversations consist of “This is wrong, this has to change, we have to get better at that, this is not good enough. We suck!!” LOL…

After reading those 2 statuses today, something hit me like a ton of bricks - you can’t change the fruit on a tree. The fruit is either rotten or healthy because of the root. You can point to the fruit everyday and say “That’s not good fruit. How do we change that? Let’s work on an action plan!” But you will never be able to get the fruit healthy if your root is not getting the water to sustain it. End of.

We are the king and queen of trying to change the fruit and somewhere along the line, we both forgot to focus on the root. As a result, for example, one of us decides we want to get fit (a fruit) and we do it for a while and then stop because there is no underlying life to sustain it. Or we decide we want to change something that’s bad about our character and it lasts a day before it pops back up. Or we decide we want to be a godly spouse - which isn’t easy! A godly wife respects, honours and submits to her husband as head of the home and a godly husband lays his life down and loves his wife in the same way that Christ loves the church! I mean come on – it’s not for the faint-hearted. We manage it for a (short) while and then stop because we’re only human and how long can you get something right using your own strength?

We also haven’t been very focused on church life lately and our subconscious excuse has been “We’re just going to sort out the fruit and then we can concentrate on the root.” WRONG ORDER!

Over coffee this morning (and a few of my tears), we realised that God has never once left us? Not ever. He’s like a loving father to us. He disciplines us but even with that, he puts boundaries in place and makes sure we are always looked after. It’s like us grounding our son to teach him something but still making sure he has a roof and meals and all our love at his disposal. It’s the controlled discipline of a loving Father that leads to repentance and abundant life! (The bible says the Lord disciplines those he LOVES and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son - Hebrews 12v6). It basically hit home that we can not change the fruit in our lives. We can only make sure that we are plugged into the power source so living waters are flowing through us to sustain healthy fruit. Everytime we want to change something about our life or about ourselves (which is daily for us), we need to say “Let's get back to the power source.” Not come up with an action plan. Because when you are plugged into the power source, the bad things give you up and the good things flourish. No effort required.

John 15 v 5 says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” So what is the one thing that is required of us in order to bear much fruit? Remain in Him.

Thankyou Lord for the lightbulb moments that make things clear. And thankyou that you “who began a good work in us, will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1 v 6) You won't relent until it's done.

Cry of my heart

By the time I get home in December, I will have spent more than 100 days away from my children this year. Is it something I would’ve chosen, no. But am I grateful that I had such a well paying job in this economy. Yes.

It has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to especially because I can not properly explain to them. I can’t say “Mommy and Daddy want to do everything we can to make sure you don’t go without. Everything we do is for you. We will make some bad choices and some good choices, but the heart behind all we do is love for you.” No, to them I’m just a mom who was there one day and gone the next – and that kills me. I actually have to force myself not to think about it because it’s like a dam wall that if I allow one trickle through, it’s going to burst and I’ll just be swept away with emotions that are too big for my little heart to take.

I have had a lot of time to think though about the things that are important and how I want to live my life next year. You know, as moms we sometimes get so caught up in the 24 hour-ness of it all that it becomes about survival more than about pro-active parenting and we start wishing for a break. If I can say I’ve taken away anything with this very, very difficult year, it would probably be this:

1) I’m going to cut out all TV when I get home. If time is the coin of my life, then I would rather spend it on something that it’s worth spending it on. I have lost hours with my kids (I start crying as I write that) and I don’t want to lose anymore. There is enough of me to properly divide between 3 beautiful little people without any of them feeling like a day went by without quality time with me – but I need to cut on the pointless, time-sucking activities.

2) The bible says in Titus that the mom’s duty is to be homeward focused. I don’t know what that means to everyone (and I’m sure it’s different for all) but I am going to sit before God and work out what that means for me. My focus is far too often on worrying and fretting about what I can do. Am I doing enough? Is there something I haven’t thought of? How can I possibly in these times focus on my children? My focus needs to be elsewhere so they never have to worry about anything. I need to do all the worrying now so that they don't have to do it later! I know it sounds silly but this is a constant battle in me and the ONLY THING IT DOES, is keep me out of the here and now. I miss the “Mommy, look at this picture I drew” because I’m thinking about “What’s gonna happen tomorrow?” The past few years have been an exceptional case, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve lost hours. (crying again)

The Bible says “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life.”

Do we really read that verse for what it is - the God of the Universe telling us to do something. Or do we just skip over it and think "That's unrealistic."

There are always going to be those people who will say “Look at the storm! What are you going to do about it? How can you be this casual? Are you stupid? Do you not care about your children?” These words have pierced me in the past but after having done it that way and seeing that it does not add one drop of joy to your life, I am now going to be lifting my shield of faith when words like that come along.

I choose not to worry - and that's not "the gospel according to Nikki". That's the gospel according to God.

I am anti-religion

I’m feeling very emotional. As I finished updating my facebook status saying how grateful I am for all the best things in my life, I think the reality of it must’ve hit home because I felt like I’d just been stabbed in the heart (in a good way). How do I repay? I can’t.

The gift of salvation is the one I want to focus on because I think that’s the one that brought me to my knees in tears just now. When God opens your eyes to what He’s done, when you’re standing at the cross and you know exactly why it’s happening, when you hear for yourself the words come out of Jesus mouth “It is paid in full”, it cuts you to the deepest place in your heart. No-one can explain the feeling to you. No-one can do the cross justice with words... The moment when Jesus breathed his last breath, the curtain tearing in two, the sky going black, the soldiers saying “Surely He was the Son of God…” That was the first time in history when we could say with confidence “Oh death, where is your sting?” because God in His infinite mercy had actually done it. He’d taken our debt upon Himself and paid it and opened heaven’s doors to sinners like us.

It really is apt that the date we write down everyday is based on a time before Christ and a time after Him because He cut history in half when He came to earth in the body of a man, taking on all our frailties, living a sinless life and paying the price for our sins with His own blood. It is MinDBlowing.

People often say to me “Are you religious?” and my answer to that is “No. I am anti-religion. I am saved by the blood of Jesus. I do not have to earn my own way to salvation through religious practices and doing the right thing. I’m a sinner… always was, always will be. But the price for my sins has been paid. And I have a relationship with God. I know Him and I know His voice. And the closer I get to Him, the more I want to dedicate my every waking breath to Him. The more I look at Him, the more the things the world has to offer fade away. The more I know about Him, the more He becomes enough for me.

Stephen Covey says in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly effective people” that we must “Begin with the end in mind”. Think about what you want to hear on the day you die. Once you’ve worked out what you want people to be saying at your funeral, then you have a clear idea of what your real goals are. The words I want to hear on the day I die when I’m standing at the gate of eternity are “Welcome home, my good and faithful servant.” So if I follow Covey’s advice and begin with the end in mind, then that is my goal in this short life.