Substance addiction slowly kills the body but addiction to spiritual highs quickly destroys the soul.

I recently read a post in Darrell Creswell’s Blog entitled “Disease within the Church – Spiritual Narcissism” which I found very timely, accurate and most certainly discussing one of the reasons why I stopped going to church and being the member of one.

You can read Darrell’s post here: http://darrellcreswell.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/disease-within-the-church-spiritual-narcissism/

I became acquainted with Darrell’s blog because he left a comment on my last post about the death of Whitney Houston, and this tragic fact together with the content of his post left me meditating on the issue of addiction and seeking God for some answers.  It was not long before God laid in my heart the link between both Whitney’s death and Darrel’s post on Disease in the Church.  The more I pondered on the tragedy of Whitney’s ongoing addiction to drugs and her inability to overcome it, the more I heard the Spirit of God whisper in my ear: “The Church lays all her focus on the physical addictions of those outside its walls as if the issue of addiction was a rare and terrible disease which will not affect those who frequently visit the pews.  Mercedes, Which addiction is worse: the one that slowly kills the body or that one which is rampant in my churches today and quickly destroys a man’s soul and mars the path I had set out for him or her: the addiction to spiritual highs as a quick fix for a lack of rending and drawing nearer to ME in the monotony and discouragement of everyday life?”

I was once addicted to these spiritual highs myself and like with any other addiction I found it hard to give it up because I refused to admit there was a problem.  I was in denial. Everybody else around me, many of the other members of the church with whom I had contact craved for the same highs and went through the motions of spiritual highs and lows, always seeking after the next fix brought about by the latest cry in leadership techniques, the latest prophetic utterance delivered during a slick conference attended by thousands, the ultimate high at the hands of a well orchestrated worship event which by the sheer scale, volume, and sophistication of its members and instruments was delivered in such a way that one couldn’t but feel carried away by the atmosphere, the expectation in the air and often the mass bordering hysteria which we all love to be sucked into and deceivingly declare as the Holy Spirit in our midst.

When I was at the height of my addiction I was blinded to believe that God very rarely showed up in the small church gathering, in the monotony of my daily living and of Sunday after Sunday going through the motions, in the weariness of bringing up my children, of leading them up the right path, in the discouragement of a marriage filled with challenges and the daily call of laying my wishes down, my priorities down, in the cries echoing in my ears from those in need outside the church walls.

And yet, no sooner was there mention at church or by one of my brothers or sisters about an oncoming Spiritual event, there was automatically an assumption, an expectation, an obligation for God to comply and show up, for us to put one mask down and pick up the other, to put down our faithless and discouraged mask, and pick up our faith-full and joyful mask.  The moment any of these events were announced, recruiting takers was of the utmost importance and the subtle pressure put upon members to drop all and attend was considerable and undeniable.  Even today, as I am no longer a member of a church and many are aware of my views on the church system and its short-sightedness, I get existing members still asking me whether I would come along to some of these events as if there I would find the magic pill to sustain my faith and to fix me up with the fruits of the Spirit til the next event.

I recently had a person come up to me to tell me that they had just returned form one of these “fixes” and how they felt absolutely on top of the world, on a massive spiritual high, how God had spoken to them about their purpose in life, and how great they felt for it.  Euphoric is a word I would use to describe the state of this person’s mind at the time.  Interestingly, at any other time this person often looks downcast, discouraged, hurting, searching, restless, vulnerable and transparent (some of the best attributes in a genuine Christian and fertile ground for others to grow and mature their seeds of faith in).  Whilst I rejoiced with this person for their momentary happiness and elation at the closeness of God during those short-lived moments, in my heart I sobbed at the thought of how long would it take for the ecstasy to wear off and for the desperate crave for a new fix to take place in this person’s soul? Having shared how great they felt, this person went on to ask me whether I or my husband had anything to shout about that God was currently doing in our life, to which I was left speechless and pondering within:  God does not need to do anything in my life for me to brag and shout about it, because God IS and He lives in me and that is all I need and all I need to know. I have to learn to live everyday of my life in that knowledge, even in those days which tend to be the majority of a person’s life when life is a challenge, tiresome, discouraging and dull.

Like I said, I have been there, done that, got the T-shirt so I do not sit here in judgement of that person or any other, but simply recognising myself in them and praying that they are released from the enslaving habit in many Christians’ life that is basing their faith not on what God has already done for them through Jesus Christ on the cross, but on what He still must do for them next.  The problem with that. to mention one of many, is that the next fix always has to be bigger and better, and until we trust that God is in the small, seemingly insignificant details of our life, in the boredom, the pain, the discouragement, the doubts, the fear, the weakness and our failure, we will miss Him and what He is trying to do with our time here on this earth, where he is taking us and others through us, and that is a gigantically significant thing to miss for one who calls themselves an active, practising, devout, passionate follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, or one who aspires to become such.

The Church today has an insatiable appetite for these spiritual fixes to the point where one is often regarded as not being serious about following Christ unless they are committed to attending every single event going, every single worship conference going, or every mass prayer event going. Whatever the in-Christian circles are talking about, that is where one must be to be counted.  And God forbid you decide to raise the issue that perhaps their time and the church’s money would be better spent in practical acts of compassion and being doers of the word as opposed to just hearers.

The words of Jesus ring in my ears loud and clear.  Come to me all those who are tired and weary for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  Again, traditionally and conveniently understood as referring to the burden of sin, addiction, and evil at large.  And yet Jesus constantly confronted the Pharisees and other religious hypocrites who got caught up in the legalism of unfounded principles and false obligations used to control and feel superior to others, used to create authority and power which was not theirs to have.  Jeus did not spend much time talking about physical addiction of any kind, but He sure invested time and energy declaring the malady in believers of his time who set up rules and regulations, and missed the very One they claimed to revere and worship by placing their focus time and time again on those who in their eyes did not comply with the rights and wrongs of what it meant to be a true believer, by placing their focus and energy on the wrong place, on the next best thing.

I have now spent almost a year in rehab getting over my addiction to spiritual highs and to having my ego stroked by others who like me base their faith and understand spirituality as the ability to use spiritual jargon with ease, as their knowledge of their latest church trend and the latest teaching by those considered and branded true men and women of God of the day. I won’t lie to you. the withdrawal symptoms have nearly got the better of me on many occasions and at times it was just easier to think about going back to church, to the old system, than to wean myself off what was familiar, convenient, pleasurable and simply easier than having to face the rest of my life interacting with the Spirit of God in a private fashion with no hype, no background noise, no clamour, no fanfare, and most certainly no men’s constrictive ways which dictate that living as a Christian must be filled with conferences, worship events, concerts, public prayer meetings, seminars, spiritual retreats and all the other resource-wasting, money spinning enterprises that our flesh in its weakness has masqueraded as the be all and end all of how to get close to God, and how to make it big in the Christian world, how to even be a man or woman after God’s own heart when in truth we are after pretty much anything but God’s own heart.

The road to cleansing and ridding my soul from all that clatter and noise has been an arduous, lonely and dreary one, but as a result I now know that the faith that I now have is pure, unadulterated, and a simple faith which is resting in God’s daily assurance that the price was paid on that cross and I need to add nothing to that but simply rest in his love, grace and provision one day at a time.

God doesn’t always show up when I expect Him to these days and my mind is finally void of the spiritual rhetoric I once excelled at and impressed others with.  In fact, He often does not show up at all.  AND YET I would not exchange the sporadic glimmers I see of His goodness, His love, His grace and mercy upon me and upon others in my daily living as a simple human being who believes in God beyond what so many churches have made of Him, I would not exchange that for a million spiritual highs experienced at the mercy of peer pressure, human expectation, spiritual pride, falsehood, deception and even make-believe.

For what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, if he loses his soul?

Didn’t you almost have it all?

I am deeply saddened today by the news of Whitney Houston’s death yesterday. Her music filled many of the happy and sad memories I have as a young girl growing up.  Indeed her voice was often the backdrop to many lonely times filled with insecurities and fears but also to many joyful experiences with my most loved ones. As a young girl I grew up to admire her God-given talent, her elegance and beauty, never knowing that though to the world she had it all, she lacked the one thing without which life becomes a constant struggle, a pool of despair, an impossibility.  She lacked inner peace and the ability to not lean in her own understanding, but in the knowledge that despite our frailty and weaknesses, God is able, in the knowledge that though at times we may feel like we do have it all and are self-sufficient, apart from God we can do nothing, without his grace and mercy, we are nothing.

Years ago my husband and I had the privilege of seeing her live in concert in London and she was everything I ever imagined her to be and more, though even then it was apparent that behind the glamour and the success, laid dormant much pain, sadness and self-doubt.

Dear Whitney,

May you finally rest in peace. May the Lord bless you and keep you.  You were a shooting star who shone bright and whose journey was brief but memorable nonetheless.  You will be missed and remembered.

Here she is performing my favourite song by her.

SO BOLD, SO BLATANT.. THERE IS NOWHERE TO HIDE ANY MORE.

It is amazing the things that one learns when the lens through which we look at Scriptures is no longer the perspective of man, or the regurgitated food of another, but simply the voice of the Holy Spirit within each and everyone of us who choose to follow the Good Shepherd.

I must have read the gospel of John a dozen times and yet today for the very first time I have seen something which I had never seen before.  Each word filled with fresh revelation and the power to break strongholds and the religious spirit which is deeply rooted in our generation’s understanding of what The Body of Christ is and how it should serve in this world, a revelation which in previous years I was unable to see, because I could not filter through the impurities of men’s interpretation, men’s desire to control and manipulate, to own one’s freedom which was ransomed by the blood of Christ alone and given freely and unconditionally, one of the main pillars which sustains the Christian faith.  Jesus spoke of not wanting to disclose certain truths to his followers because they were not yet ready to hear certain things, not ready to accept the truth.  I now see that had I  had this revelation years ago, I would have not accepted it as the truth because my paradigm for The Truth was not the voice of Jesus himself, but that of men and their own interpretations.

John 10

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

¹ “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

   ¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

   ¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

There are various darts that pierced right through my spirit as I read these words.

It has always been understood within the institutional church, or at least many of the churches here in the UK, that when Jesus spoke of “The thief” who comes to kill, steal and destroy, he is referring to the devil in this particular passage.  When I was an “infant” Christian and I relied on the nurturing of those whom my local church had appointed, accepted and entrusted with my spiritual development, I was taught that “The thief” in that particular passage refers to the devil.  Whilst I don’t discount that these three purposes sum up pretty well what the devil is intent on accomplishing on this earth, it is not him whom Jesus refers to in this passage, and Christian leaders today do Jesus’ message a great injustice and disservice when they assume that this is what is being spoken off in this message. Indeed, it is my belief that in assuming it is the devil whom Jesus speaks of in this passage, Church leaders are masquerading their own responsibility to their congregations and to Christians all over the world.

It is my belief that when Jesus spoke of “the thief” in this passage he was not exonerating today’s church shepherds who are in essence its pastors or pastores as we call Shepherds in the Spanish language, from their responsibility to lead the sheep in a manner which honours and is faithful to the example set by Christ himself of how to lead the sheep.  In this episode Jesus is not exonerating those called to lead by putting the blame on the devil for those sheep who are attacked by wolves and scattered. No, he is clearly calling to account, to integrity and to the truth, those who have been granted the honour and privilege to follow into Jesus’ steps in leading, protecting, and guiding HIS SHEEP.

I believe Jesus is not only referring to the time during which he speaks these words, but that this is a prophetic utterance giving us a glimpse into the deception which many Christians are part of specially today. Jesus said:

“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.”

The point Jesus is trying to make is that He is the ONLY way to salvation, to freedom, to grace and to the forgiveness of sins.  Many shepherds today contradict and do a great disservice to the concept of grace when they set in place hoops through which their sheep have to jump in order to feel apt, worthy and deserving of being a member of that pen.  The loyalty to the human shepherd himself and his vision for his congregation, and not faith in Jesus Christ, become the ultimate test whereby an individual is deemed to be deserving of being a member of Christ’s body, appointing the human shepherd instead of Christ himself  as the gate through which the sheep must enter. This is the ultimate and most despicable of idolatries for it comes at the hands of those whom God entrusted with the most honourable of crusades.  I equal it to the spy who joins the enemy’s ranks to gain a vantage point over their primary threat, they get up, close and personal pretending to be someone they are not and when they have what they came for, they kill the very ones whom they claimed to want to protect.

Like thieves, false shepherds will often be subtle,  cunning and manipulative in their approach to the sheep, but ultimately, the depths of their hearts are revealed when they see “the wolf coming” and they abandon their sheep and run away.  One can clearly see in this picture that it is indeed the wolf that represents the devil here and not those whom Jesus referred to as thieves and robbers.  The thieves and the robbers are those false shepherds who will put a price on salvation, forgiveness of sins and on grace rendering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross meaningless and worthless.

My spirit also felt greatly stirred as I read: “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice”.

Indeed, we see from both the Old and the New Testament that God’s leading of His sheep is always preceded by the warnings of His prophets who pave the way by preparing the heart and spirit of men to receive what it is that God has to say to His people, to the churches.  These are often individuals who are set apart for a very understated and often unrecognised and thankless task, but it is that very humility, isolation and the utter death to validation from others required that qualifies them for such a mighty and most worthy task.  This is why God’s watchmen will always be taken out, exiled into a different spiritual realm where any pulls of the flesh will be exterminated through the antidote of death to self, persecution and rejection by those whose opinions most matter to them.  It is an arduous process, not for the faint-hearted, and only those who obey the voice of the good shepherd to pursue that calling will survive the furnace that transforms hearts of stone into pure gold, a gold which glorifies in nothing of itself but will only serve to reflect in its entirety the glory and goodness of God himself.

I was equally intrigued and stirred by Jesus’s repetition of the fact that he is the gate through which His sheep come into the pen to then be led out again.

“He calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice” John 10, 3-4 and then “I am the gate; whoever  enters through me will be saved.  He will come in and go out, and find pasture.” John 10, 9

Tell me, how many shepherds do you know in today’s Western church who make it their life’s purpose to not only draw the sheep in but more importantly, lead them out into green pasture?  For is it not fair to say that many shepherds today only draw the sheep in so that they can call it their own, claim it as a trophy, a reflection of their own wise and efficient leading skills, their closeness to God as they deceive themselves in believing that many sheep means they were anointed by God more than anyone else, in believing that many sheep translates into God’s reward for their good works, and good use of their authority given from above?

There are two clear ways to discern whose ministry honours God’s Good shepherd:

•  One is to see what a shepherd does once the sheep has come into the pen.  The Western Church has come up with all sorts of formulas and enticing ways to draw the sheep in and get them to confess publicly that they believe in Jesus Christ and make a commitment to follow in his footsteps, but one can easily see whether the sheep did indeed come into the pen through the right gate that leads to life, a life to the full or instead through the empty promises and deception of the thieves and robbers who stand to gain something for themselves as they draw the sheep into the pen.

• The other way of testing whose shepherding is rooted in following the voice of Jesus Christ is observing whether any given shepherd walks the walk along with the sheep through thick and thin, through green pastures and thorny bushes too.  To this day I cannot understand how pastors justify hopping from one pen to the next, casually disentangling themselves from the sheep that have been put under their care, clinically washing their hands off, severing spiritual bonds established by God himself.  I find it bewildering that the institutional church has set in stone a system whereby shepherds get promoted like CEOs, whereby shepherds can climb up the success ladder and be relocated to lead bigger numbers which produce bigger dividends.  Please someone, put me out of my misery and tell me where in the bible such fallacy came to be justified? And please do not mention the example of the apostle Paul.  A bigger salary or a greater reputation and fame were not the incentives that led him from church to church, but his calling to oversee and nurture those put under his care who in turn continued what the Holy Spirit started through him.  Nowhere in the New Testament we see a pastor who once he ceases to shepherd a church, all contact, leadership and nurturing of that church is severed to the point were limbs are amputated, sheep scattered and the body is left to gradually bleed to death.  This is a common occurrence in the Body of Christ today. Trust me, I have experienced this first hand.  The reason why church leaders have come to accept this as the truth, to tolerate such carnage and often be at the forefront of it is because Christ is no longer the gate through which their sheep are called to come through but the tight and controlled hoops they have established to secure their own control over a precious flock they understand to belong to them and not to be owned by Christ alone: “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays his life for the sheep.  The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep.  So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.  Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” John 10, 11-13  So bold, so blatant.  There is nowhere to hide!

There are too many deceitful shepherds out there who sadly are deceiving themselves first and foremost, as they claim to be following the apostle Paul’s model of “being The Church” in this world, when in reality only seek to make a name for themselves and pride themselves in having started a church which has in turn birthed many others.  No piece of evidence illustrates this point better than another ongoing fallacy: denominationalism which has been used by the devil to destroy the unity that Jesus called His Church to display which emulates  his bond with the Father, and to discredit in this way the love of Jesus in this world through His sheep.

CHURCH OF CHRIST, ARE WE LISTENING YET?

In memory of those lost as a result of the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand back in February, and those affected by the tremors once again yesterday, I have decided to republish an old post again today.  Originally I entitled this post  “The shaking of Christchurch yesterday.  Is there more to this than meets the eye?”.  Today, I am calling it:

CHURCH OF CHRIST, ARE WE LISTENING YET?____________________________________________________

Original post published on 22nd of February 2011

“The shaking of Christchurch yesterday. Is there more to this than meets the eye?”

My heart breaths heavy again this morning as I read in the news about the earthquake which caused such destruction yesterday in Christchurch, New Zealand.

I am sure I am not alone in wondering whether this earthquake manifested in the natural is symbolic of what is currently taking place in the spiritual realm and foreboding of what the Spirit of God is beginning to do in His Bride.  Is this mere coincidence or are we truly living in the days prophesied by Jesus himself in Matthew 24? Is the shaking of Christchurch yesterday literally announcing the shaking of Christ’s Church today?

I do not mean to be insensitive to those who have lost a loved one yesterday during the earthquake.  Far from it, as I myself know of  two families who may have got caught in the disaster.  I am yet to find out.  But for those of us who are Christians and say we believe the word of God, we cannot continue to cover our eyes and our ears in the hope that these things will pass, when many of the natural disasters, wars and general chaos taking place in the world today are clearly spoken of in the word of God as the birth pangs of a new world order which will be established with the second coming of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.  Jesus very much insisted on us being ready for such a time.  Though he clearly said no one knew when it would come, he insisted with equal emphasis that precisely for that reason, we should always be prepared, keep watch.

Sometimes I find it overwhelming and astonishing how clear and straight to the point the word of God can be.  Often we hide behind the excuse that the Bible can be ambiguous in some passages, and blurry as to the meaning of some of its content, which I agree it can, but I fear that in some instances, particularly in the very relevant passages which concern us as the Christians of this generation and those to come, God is clear, transparent, resolute and firm in his statements. When Jesus speaks of the impending disaster and chaos to come in the last days, he immediately warns us all to be ready at all times ensuring then that we are proved loyal and faithful to his commission and commandments as the children of God.  And then he goes on to sum up how our faithfulness and obedience will be measured on that final day.  He says:

When the son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25, 31-36

If you are a Christian reading this, how are you faring in those areas?  Clearly our faithfulness and obedience will have nothing to do with church attendance, how many church rotas you have your name on, how many committee meetings you attend or how many prayer meetings you religiously are a respected and trusted part of. It simply boils down to this as far as Jesus is concerned: What did you do for the least of these?

There is also nowhere to hide from the candid warning from Peter in 1 Peter 4, 17-18:

“For it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

It is time to begin to look in the mirror as Christ’s Church and to face some very hard questions and deal with the even more disappointing answers.  Only the months to come will tell whether this shaking taking place in Christchurch yesterday is indeed the blowing of a trumpet which brings tides of judgement and justice being established on this earth.  In any case, Christians must know that for the ungodly to have any kind of hope of redemption, we must first begin to put our own affairs inside God’s family in order.  God in his grace and mercy has granted us a long, long time to repent in humility and seek Him with all we have for direction and obedience of His will, but The Church in many instances and countries continues to follow the will of men.

Has the time now come for God to intervene for once and for all?

“For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equalled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” Matthew 24, 21-22

Heavenly Father, we lift to you those lost in yesterday’s tragedy and ask that in your grace and mercy you restore the peace of the families of lost ones, you make your presence clearly felt in their hour of desperate need and brokeness.  It is my heart’s desire that as they seek you with all they have, they will find you and when they do, nothing will be able to separate them again from your love, not even the schemes of the evil one aimed to set unrest, fear and doubt in their hearts and minds. God, we know through your word that the day will soon come when the wedding of the Lamb will take place, when the Bride would have made herself ready, clothed in fine linen, bright and clean. Holy Spirit bring conviction upon those of us who need to repent for not obeying your will, for putting ourselves first, for defiling your holiness with our idol worship and denying you in the process.  Send your fire Holy Spirit, purify your Church Lord Jesus,  open our eyes and our ears, help us to be ready for the coming of the great, glorious and wonderful day upon us. AMEN

I could choose not to move, but I refuse

ENOUGH SAID!

David Wilkerson – You will always be an inspiration to millions and you shall be missed!

Dear Friends,

It was with great regret and sadness that we got back from our wonderful holiday in Florida to hear the news about the death in a car accident of Pastor David Wilkerson whom I have greatly respected and learnt from in recent years.  I will soon write about the special God-filled encounters we had during this holiday, but firstly I would like to post a video tribute to David Wilkerson which gives only a glimpse of the wonderful legacy he has left behind him.  He has been and continues to be an inspiration in my life and I hope one day my faith in Christ will produce if only a vague reflection of the wonderful fruits found in David’s life, for a life of faith in action transforms the heart more than a thousand sermons, and the transformation through the witness of faith in action is long-lasting and permanent unlike the ephemeral and superficial change which results from a powerful sermon. 

God bless you David!  You shall be deeply missed!

ONE CLICK OF YOUR MOUSE: THAT IS ALL IT TAKES TO SAVE A LIFE

Some of you may recall that some weeks ago the BBC showed a two part documentary for Comic Relief about the Kibera Slum just outside Nairobi, Kenya.  I was moved and challenged greatly by some of the realities in the lives of the people of Kibera which were exposed through this program.  I felt compelled  to write a post entitled “A desperate plea from the depths of my soul” which you can find in the archives of this blog for the month of March.  By the grace and providence of God a complete stranger left me a comment on this blog with details of a charity called Zelyn Academy which has set up a school to keep young children off the streets in the slum. 

I have managed to find a video with images of the school and a message from the two men who set up this academy back in 2006.  Donating to this cause is easy and straightforward.  Zelyn Academy is now linked to Charity Giving: a UK registered charity.  Simply go to the link below and click donate:

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/kss_zelac

I have also copied and pasted the info on their Facebook page so that you can know in detail the amazing vision that the founders of this lovely organisation were given by God.

Basic Information

Location	P. o. box 3765 – 00100 G. p .o ., Nairobi, Kenya
Hours	Mon – Fri: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Sat: 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
About	Situated at the very center of the expansive Kibera slums in Kenya Africa. The school cares and supports orphans, destitute, needy and vulnerable children by providing them with Education, feeding and clothing

Public Transit

INTRODUCTION Kibera Slum school, Kenya – Zelyn Academy Children’s education charity is the only school of its kind within the expansive slums of Kibera (with a population of approximately 1 million people). The school runs under BIRECE GROUP , a Community Based Organization formally registered by the Ministry of Gender , Sports , Culture and Social services in Kenya . BIRECE is an abbreviation for Brothers-In-Real-Care for the Entangled . The registration Certificate’s number is 19964 . The charity work was conceived and developed as a result of breathtaking experiences noticed in the community by the founders; children affected and infected by HIV/Aids and poverty seemed forgotten. Child labour, prostitution, drug addiction and street life had been the only option to these precious lives. HOW IT STARTED & OUR GOAL Through its charity work, the institution began by maintaining in school 7 children in 2006. The number had risen to 276 when the term began in January, 2010 . The children are freely provided with education, feeding and clothing. All these are done through in kind donations. The charity would like to assist and enable more children within the slums of Kibera (about 300,000 children still do not have access to education, food and clothing). OUR MISSION AND METHOD The charity believes that the children in the institution will eventually get greater opportunity in the future to find work and support themselves and give back to the community. You will never know what it means to a child to know that someone is caring and loves them enough to assist in their education and support! Within the context of maintaining these innocent children in school, the charity must continue to provide relief and assistance through its feeding and clothing programs. In addition, we need to secure regular funding to reward our experienced team of qualified teachers. Opportunities to sponsor and support a child’s education, the feeding or clothing program and school staff are open. The future of these children depends on us, and with the help of others, they will be able to dream a different future. OUR ACHIEVEMENTS From the year 2006 to date Kibera Slum school, Kenya – Zelyn Academy Children’s education charity has been able to maintain in school 276 children both orphans and vulnerable children coming from very poor families who can not provide basic needs for themselves and the children . The children now enjoy free meals, clothes, shelter and learning materials provided by the charity work. We have also been able to build a half of the school ( stone built ) Their happy faces can tell how they feel! HOW YOU CAN DONATE We have a PAY PAL account! It makes it so easy to donate as little or as much as you want. It is just by a “click”. If you would like to mke a donation of any amount, please open the fan page, click on the ‘>>’ logo next to ‘boxes’ along the top of the page and this will take you to the ‘donate’ button, log into your existing PAYPAL account, or if you do not have one, its a very simple process to create an account. PAYPAL ensures a totally secure transcation. It is completely free to send money with pay pal and it is safe and effective. WHAT WE USE YOUR DONATIONS FOR Your donation could buy exercise and text books for the children, school uniform, pens, pencils , crayons and papers and help keep them in school by feeding them with at least two meals in a day . Even USD10 is a very helpful amount to give because it could either feed 15children on gruel/porridge for two days, or buy a pair of shoes for one child, or buy a short trouser and a pair of socks for one boy. Please, tell others about our cause and how it is NOW easy to donate .Thank you for the support! CONTACT academyzelyn@yahoo.com

 AND FINALLY HERE IS THE LOVELY VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmIqwa7c1Zw

* THIS IS AN UPDATE WRITTEN A FEW DAYS AFTER ENTERING THIS POST:

YOU CAN NOW ALSO GO TO THEIR NEW WEBSITE AT: http://friendsofzelyn.webeden.co.uk/#

It is sickening to think how many millions of clicks of a mouse take place a minute from wealthy people, like myself, who do not give a second thought to purchasing the latest gizmo, gadget, toy, fashion accessory, or luxury item.  And yet for every one of those clicks, we can make the decision to replace that indulgence with rescuing a life from misery, poverty, disease, humiliation, fear, dread, hunger, desperation, a death sentence, a hopeless future. 

We may not have slums in our nearby areas, but we surely have people who are living in poverty and who rely on initiatives like this one to make it through the day.  It is only by the grace of God that we find ourselves in such privileged circumstances. I don’t want the gap between the wealthy and the poor to widen in our own countries, so let’s be generous and compassionate to ensure that the standard of living is more balanced in our communities, and that one day we are not faced with a humanitarian crisis like the one so many countries are having to face right now.  

My mind cannot comprehend why God would allow some countries to suffer so much whilst others indulge in such wealth and abundance, unless it was for the sole purpose of developing in us a more Christ-like character of compassion, generosity and selflessness. I cannot make any sense of so much blessing in some parts of the world, unless it is meant to in turn bless others.  The purpose of one’s life has to transcend beyond our own comfort and pleasure, or else we leave this world just as it was when we entered it and what is the sense in that?

When you next click that mouse, please remember that in your hand lies the amazing power to give someone the very basic things we take for granted every single day.  AND REMEMBER TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR YOUR BLESSINGS EVERYDAY,  because this will keep you humble, grounded and open to the needs of others; this will give your life a purpose that transcends beyond anything else you ever put your mind, heart and soul into; this will forge your character to withstand and overcome the cruel turns of life.  It is that grateful attitude, that humble heart which makes those who have nothing content and peaceful in their hopelessness.  It is our self-absorption, our pride, and our greed which rend us unable to be grateful for all we have, which make us permanently dissatisfied and always wanting more.  The truth is one does not have to look too closely to realise who are truly the poor and who are the rich.  What they have cannot be bought with money.  It comes from putting your life in the hands of Jesus Christ and trusting by faith through the most appalling of circumstances that though Jesus may not give them what they want, He will always give them what they NEED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYUzxK8TYA&feature=related

Would Christ live a lie, then attempt to preach the truth? The inconsistency that makes today’s Christian witness powerless

I have taken the liberty of cutting and pasting David Wilkerson’s devotional published yesterday.  He is, in my opinion, one of the few Christian Leaders today who is completely in tune with what the Holy Spirit is speaking to The Church.  He is the kind of Christian who belongs to a unique breed in danger of becoming extinct. He is one of a kind.

DAVID WILKERSON: GOD’S GREAT INTENTION FOR HIS PEOPLE

I believe God has had but one great intention for his people ever since the cross and it will not change until Christ returns in glory. God’s intention has to do with understanding the mystery of the gospel, revealed first to Paul the apostle. It is a mystery no longer.

Paul said, “By revelation [God] made known to me the mystery…which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed…by the Spirit…. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery…” (Ephesians 3:3-9).

The mystery revealed is simply this: Christ’s body is still here on earth! The head is in heaven but the rest of his body is right here on earth. We who love and serve him are his body, the visible part, which men see of Christ on earth.

“For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Ephesians 5:30).

“And he is the head of the body, the church…” (Colossians 1:18).

God’s full intention for these last days can be summed up in this one sentence: Being that we are Christ’s body on earth, God’s intention is that every member become a true expression of who Christ is!

God intends for us to express such a complete fullness of Christ that any sinner can see in us the Lord Jesus Christ as surely as if he once again walked here in the flesh. We are to appropriate so much of his fullness, his glory, his completeness that the world will see in us the hope and answers to their needs.

It is not enough to know Christ. We must be a full expression of who he is! We must look at everything we say and do and ask: “Does this represent who Christ is? Is this what I want the sinner to see of him, through me?” Would Christ, in his physical body, walk into an X-rated theater? Would he linger around a pornography counter? Would Christ abuse his body in any way? Would he indulge in adultery, fornication, drinking? Would he cheat, gossip, tell dirty stories, or lie? Would Christ live a lie, then attempt to preach the truth? Would he try to spread the light with a pocket of darkness in his own heart? Would he tell others not to commit adultery, then do it in secret himself?

We must continually keep before our eyes this one great intention of God—that we his body reflect honestly and purely who he is! Set your heart on being a true expression of who Jesus Christ is.

I have heard it said that “In the last days the powers of Darkness will intensify”

Today has not been a good day.  I feel:

Betrayed

Disillusioned

Disappointed

Nauseated

Shocked

Angry

Disturbed

Floored

ON MY KNEES but for all the wrong reasons.

It is always sad when we hear of another Christian who has fallen into sin, be it an action, a thought, an attitude,  a motive.  We can try to help that person by carrying them in our prayers, by counselling them, by helping them see the error of their ways, perhaps by simply giving them the space to come to terms with the result of their actions.  But my spirit is grieved and my heart weeps  when another Christian not only harbours a sinful disposition, but is so blinded by their own ignorance of the predicament they are in, that they no longer see sin as sin and even go as far as putting a stumbling block on another Christian’s path, even to the point of choosing a stumbling block in the very area where they know the other person has a weakness and is most likely to trip over and fall.

If YOU are reading this, know that I am praying for you, and I am praying for me that I find it in my heart to forgive the person whom another trusted with their very soul; the person who portrays themselves as walking daily with the Lord, the person who is or has been in Christian Leadership, the person who has rebuked another on occasion to the point of making them question in depth and in turmoil their own personal spiritual choices.  Nothing destroys hope more than the disillusionment of finding out that the person you thought someone was is not that person at all, but far removed from who they say they are, and far removed from the standards of spirituality they set and expect from others.

I feel the intensity of the powers of darkness being turned a notch or two by the Evil one in these days we are living in, for even those who raise their hands during public worship of the Spotless Lamb, they  do so whilst behind closed doors they carry out actions which stand against the very essence of the One they claim to worship, which defile and grieve the very Spirit of the One they say abides within them.

I feel a burden to share with you a prophetic word from David Wilkerson, pastor at Times Square Church in New York.  When this man speaks, the place where people gather to hear him shakes as the spirit of God fills people with conviction and the urge to repent.  His sermon is called “Purity in a Wicked Age” and he gave it whilst visiting various churches in Russia.  It is a bit heavy going in that it is being simultaneously translated into Russian, but if you can bear with it, it is well worth the effort.

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=15382&commentView=itemComments

May you be blessed by it as I was.

THE FACE OF FACELESSNESS AND HOW TO OVERCOME ADDICTION TO VALIDATION FROM OTHERS

There is a very, very fine line between feeling a clear calling on one’s life to share God’s heart with others, and the addiction to self-worship, the need to have approval from others, to have others agree with all you say and see spiritually. The weight of the burden that comes with such a calling can sometimes feel incredibly heavy, because at the core of that calling we have placed our need to be right above all else, instead of the exaltation of Jesus Christ.  Jesus himself said come to me all of you who are weary for my yoke is easy and my burden light.  Clearly when the calling to share God’s heart and what we see with spiritual eyes becomes so heavy that we are unable to operate, unless we feel the approval and support of those who matter to us, it is obvious that we have gone beyond our calling and begun operating on our own strength alone and for all the wrong reasons.  What was meant to be a blessing and an honour becomes an addiction which will gradually but most definitely separate us from God one day at a time.

A blogosphere friend has recently challenged me deeply and painfully on this particular area, because in my zealousness and passion to share what I see and hear from the Holy Spirit, I am at risk of allowing into my heart the very religious spirit which I am so desperately trying to remove myself from.  We all have blind spots which we are unaware of and I am blessed that God has placed someone in my life to bring this particular blind spot to my attention in a loving but resolute and direct manner.  Satan will often seek to ruin us through our blind spots, and these areas are often the very ones we often confront others for failing at.  Funny that, isn’t it?

God has been doing a pruning work in my character over these last few years, and months.  There have been things in my life which I have had to change, comforts which I have had to eradicate, and yesterday I felt very much challenged to deactivate my twitter account permanently.  The thing is that months ago I would not have been able to contemplate doing that.  I convinced myself that having a Twitter account was a good thing in my life, a wonderful source for learning about other people’s ministries and missionary work, a great source of encouragement and inspiration, a source to study the word of God in depth, and an incredible resource to hear the teachings from some of the most well-respected men and women in Christianity today.  How could that be such a terrible thing, right?  Since exchanging various communications with this friend, I have come to realise that actually it did matter to me how many people were following me on twitter.  It did matter to me that people read my tweets.  It did make me feel relevant that for a period of time Rick Warren followed my tweets. In short, I had become addicted to the approval of others and to the absolute need to have others validate what I say and write.  Ouch! It hurts me in the stomach to even admit to that, but addictions are not overcome unless we acknowledge them first, and trust me when I say that thousands of Christians share this same addiction to social media today. 

Have you ever thought about the fact that some of the most popular Christian people on Twitter to mention but one of the many social media tools, have on their “following” list thousands of people? And what can be the reason for that other than to draw attention to their own twitter accounts, to enlarge their own following?  These are in many instances people with important ministries and a massive responsibility to The Church and ultimately to God, and yet by implication from the figures of people they follow which appear in their twitter pages, they must spend every second of the day catching up with the tweets of thousands of people.  Clearly, it is not humanly possible to do so, and so the question remains for each and every one of us who use social media to share our faith:  Is this tool the means I use to serve others and glorify Christ or am I serving and glorifying myself primarily?  Can anybody else see how these powerful tools can become real and serious death traps that keep us from actually being active in the Harvest and truly instrumental to further the Kingdom of God? The question each person who invests a large part of their time in social media must ask themselves is:  What is the cost of this addiction in my life?

How can one person go from an addiction to a social media tool to destroying the source of that addiction with one simple click of the mouse?  GRACE AND GRACE ALONE, THAT IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED.  The Holy Spirit convicted me yesterday through an email from a friend.  It was not pretty, I am telling you.  When I read that email, I was gutted and so angry that a person whom I trusted and loved as a friend could be so blunt, bold and frankly hurtful, BUT there is hurtful and there is HEARTFUL, and though my stomach was churning as I read that email, I knew in my spirit every single word was right, with a purpose and emanating from a deep love , a double-edged sword that cuts through bone and marrow in order to bring health to the spirit.  I needed such a sword to sever a cancer in my life, and by the grace of God alone I am now free of so many things that threaten my walk with Christ.  This is of course not to say that Twitter in itself is a sinful activity. What causes my spiritual life to come to ruin may be the very tool God is using to charge another person with a new responsibility in the kingdom or to “promote” them to a new level of ministry.  The key is to be in tune with the Holy Spirit to such depth that we are not swayed so much by our need to always be loved, accepted and validated by others, but much more so rooted in what the word of God tells us is TRUTH, and what the Holy Spirit is speaking into our own life daily.

I am on a journey to become faceless, because facelessness is the only path to meekness, and meekness is the only way to walk alongside Christ.  Watch the video below.  John Paul Jackson explains it beautifully.