It's Not the Prayer That Has Power

Prayer is not magic.  (I hope I explain this right)  In just the same way you wouldn’t expect holding your tongue right to move God, neither is there power in just saying a prayer – at least not if your faith is in the prayer.

What I’m trying to say is that our faith must be in God Himself, and prayer is how we express that faith.  But if our faith is in the concept of praying – then it’s a bit like thinking prayer is some magic formula or silver bullet.  That’s not how it works. 

People of other religion pray religiously because they think its the prayers which will make them approved of.  However we have learned that its not prayers in their own right which change anything – but our heart towards God in praying. 

Is your faith in Christ and do you trust Him?  If so, it is only natural that you would turn to Him in every situation – and in doing so, your prayers are heard.  It’s not the words themselves, or even the act of praying that has power – It’s Christ who has the power, and we have placed our trust in Him. 

Australia Day

It has been 222 years today since Captain Arthur Philip from England and 11 ships landed in Botany Bay in Sydney.  On that boat was Australia’s first minister Rev Johnson from the Anglican Church who was also chaplain to the prisoners.  A lot has happened in the last 222 years.  Isn’t life amazing!!

Imagine... A Song by David Alley & John Lennon

John Lennon was onto something, but He just never ealised that His dreams weren’t possible without God.  Rather than doing away with God to acheive peace and unity between people – instead we need more of God.  So I thought a rewrite of the lyrics of his famous song was in order.

Imagine we’re in Heaven 
In the presence of God
No fear or worry 
Our eyes on Jesus Christ 
Imagine all the people 
Finally at Peace 

Imagine there's no problems
No sickness or disease 
No sadness or bereavement
Our healing is complete 
Imagine all the people 
Finally at Peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer 
But Jesus dreamt it first
And someday we will join Him 
And the world will be as one 

Imagine wars are ended
I wonder if you can 
No need for greed or hunger 
A brotherhood of man 
Imagine all the people 
Sharing all the world 

You may say that I'm a dreamer 
But Jesus dreamt it first
And someday we will join Him 
And the world will be as one

Human Attempts to Be Good Enough.

All over the world people exert energy and effort in an attempt to make themselves “right” or “good enough.”

Here are some examples:

In Saudi Arabia every year, millions of Muslims travel from all over the world performing the Hajj (pilgrimmage) to Mecca.  This is the “Holiest” place to Muslims and it is obligatory to complete this pilgrimmage in the lifetime of every Muslim.  They believe that if they kiss the black stone in the centre of the swirling mass of people, near the big black box (the Kaaba) that they will be instantly granted eternal life.  Some people are trampled to death attempting to kiss that black stone.  Others are trampled to death just by being there.  Watch the Hajj on Youtube.

Jews come from all over the world to Jerusalem to pray at the Western (wailing) Wall which is the last physical remnant of their faith still tangible in today’s world.  Jews (and others) write their prayers on paper and stick them in the cracks on the wall.  (Watch Live Webcam of the Western Wall)  Jews believe that if they can keep the 600 or so laws God gave to Moses that they will be righteouss.  In reality, it is impossible to keep these laws and the harder one tries, the more frustrated they become.  You can also send your own prayer to the Western Wall via Twitter.  

Hindus are perhaps some of the most interesting people in the world.  Hindus, mostly found in India and Nepal worship collectively over 1 million gods, in the form of various idols.  Hindus beleive that everything is reincarnated.  There is even a Hindu temple worshipping rats.  One of the most popular Hindu gods is Ganesh – an elephant.  Because of their belief in Karma and reincarnation, most Hindu people are vegetarians which makes it difficult to find meat to eat in India.  McDonalds does not serve meat in India.  Hindus are some of the most devoted and religious people on earth and this is seen in their devotion to their idols and the many pilgrimmages associated with their various gods and festivals.  Their biggest pilgrimmage is the Kumbh Mela.

Bhuddists sit in silence meditating, and spinning prayer wheels full of their many prayers in an attempt to earn merit.  If they are able to earn enough merit, they will (they believe) be reincarnated as a higher being.  If they fail to earn enough merit they may come back as a lower being.  Animals are lower beings.  They beleive that if their views, intentions, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration become pure, that they will cease to exist and attain “nirvana” which is the desire of every bhuddist.  They believe they will achieve nirvana when they are good enough. 

For many Christians, attending weekly church meetings and taking regular communion, baptism, plus the sacrament of confession “guarantees them a place in heaven.”  Christians are just as religious as most other peoples even if their methods vary slightly.  Many Christians see the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Communion as being essential to their faith, and these rituals keep over 1 billion people of the Roman Catholic, Episcopal/Anglican and Orthodox peoples very busy all the time. 

The most famous human had a great insight into all of this.  Jesus Christ said that “narrow is the road that leads to life, and few find it.”  Despite the efforts of the vast majority of all humans, Christ (who claimed to be God in the flesh) says that only a few of these people will find “righteousness.” 

St Paul said in his letter to Italian Christians that “nobody is good enough, not a single person.” (my paraphrase)  Even people who consider themselves followers of Christ (Christians) are not “good enough” to merit reward or a place in Heaven.

Several thousand years ago a man called Abraham discovered the secret – Righteousness is a gift.  It’s not something you can earn – but it’s something you can be given by God.  That’s why so few find it – everybody is so busy trying to earn it – they forgot to ask. 

 

$10 From the Tooth Fairy

We have always tried to teach our children to be generous – and a part of this is that we tell them they need to give away ten percent (10%) of all their income every week when we attend church.  Our children get $5 a week pocket money for which they do chores.  Ten percent of this is a mere 50 cents. 

Two weeks ago my daughter decided to give her whole $5 at church instead of just the usual 50 cents.  I tried to reason with her thinking perhaps she was confused and didn’t really understand how much she was giving.  But it seems she did understand.

We are certainly not going to get in the way of our children being generous because we believe it is important to learn giving.  This act showed us that our daughter is beginning to learn real generosity beyond the amount “she has to give.” 

We’ll the surpising end to the story is that 2 of our children were away for a few days elsewhere visiting relatives.  While they were there, my daughter lost a tooth and a delighted grandmother gave her ten dollars “from the tooth fairy.” 

When my daughter got home and excitedly told us about it – I reminded her that when we give and are generous, we create room for God to bless us. 

“Give and it will come back to you, a good measure pressed and overflowing.”  – Jesus

“It is more blessed to give and receive.”  – Jesus

Random Thoughts About Hypocrisy

A few random thoughts about hypocrisy:

• A hypocrite is someone who complains that there is too much sex, language and violence on his television screen.


• A hypocrite is someone who acts differently on a Sunday


• If a hypocrites is standing between you and God – he is closer to God than you are.


• Church is a great place for hypocrites – why not keep them all together.

Different Types of Hypocrisy:

• 
  
  Genuine hypocrisy is actually deliberately saying one thing and pretending to be that but in reality not being like that.


• Most of us do not suffer from genuine hypocrisy, but the thought and concepts in most people’s minds label Christians as hypocrites. 


• Common hypocrisy (the kind most people struggle with) is acting differently to how you want to… and we all struggle with sin, therefore everyone in church is a hypocrite. 


• That being the case… if you can’t beat them, you may as well join them. 

These things are worth thinking about because through the grace of Christ we can overcome our weakness and failures and become more like Him.  I hope these thoughts challenged you. 

Weekly Newsletter Begins Thursday

It’s been many many years since I’ve pressed the send button in my mailing list software program.  This Thursday I start to send out my newsletter once again.  So if you’re on the list, watch out, its coming your way.  If you’re not on the list, it’s easy to subscribe. 

The Gift of Boredom

It’s school holidays (vacation) in Australia and we have 3 children at home all day every day for 6 weeks. (2 to go)  It didn’t take long before they grew tired of the same activities and games and began looking for something different to do.  This lead to the inevitable complaint – “There’s nothing to do around here.” 

Of course there are thousands of things they could do if they put their minds to it, and if they can’t think of anything, we have extra chores to help fill in their time.  Needless to say, they somehow manage to think up something. 

In our house our children are banned from saying the word “bored” (shhhh - don’t tell them I said it) for one very simple reason.  Boredom is a good thing. 

Today’s generation, and in fact most people generally, want to be constantly entertained.  Who wouldn’t.  The downside of this is that in today’s society most people ARE constantly entertained, and children grow up expecting that this is normal.  It shouldn’t be normal and in fact the brain is not well able to handle this kind of “normal.”

In Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives a book by Dr Aric Sigman he show how research has proven that constant entertainment trains the brain not to think and not to be creative.  We are raising a whole generation of people who are less creative and because they all watch the same kind of shows and movies – they are all starting to think the same way. 

So Boredom is a gift to our children because it means they have to think, and it sparks their creativity.  So this summer, my son (also called David) decided to catch a lizard.  Not just an ordinary lizard – after half an hour in the yard he managed to find himself an Eastern Two Lined Dragon.  Quite a Catch.  Then he had the fun of finding food for it every day.  Just because he was “bored” (oops, said it again) he was able to find enough entertainment and excitement to last the whole family a week.  In addition, we all learned a lot about lizards along the way. 

Next time you are bored – remember, it’s a gift. 

Love the Palestinians

 

Every week we are hearing on the news, information about Israel, Palestine and the Middle East.  Because we are Christians and we all read a lot about Israel in the Bible, it is tempting to take sides in our minds when we hear news from the “Holy Land.” 

We hear that a Rocket Strike has happened in Israel and we are sad - then we hear that the same has happened in Palestine and we think that’s OK.  This kind of thinking is wrong and evil. 

The Bible is very clear that Christ came to save all people both Jews and Gentiles.  In Ephesians 2:15 it says that God is taking the Jews and the Gentiles and making “one new man.”  This means that God has the same deep love for the Palestinian Arabs (some of whom are Christians) as He does for the Jewish Israelis (who aren’t even saved).

And we should take the same approach as Christ.  We should not take sides in our mind but love both Israeli people and Palestinian people.  We must pray for peace between these two countries and whenever we meet someone from either place, we should let the love of Christ flow out of us and minister to these people. 

Determine today - no matter whether a person is from Israel, Palestine or from any other place in the world - we are going to show them the love of Christ and treat them how Christ would treat them. 

 

Testing BlogJet

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination." -- Albert Einstein