Getting God's Perspective

More and more often I find myself praying either for someone else or myself to get God's perspective on a situation.

I have come to realise that many of our problems are caused by a skewed view of the circumstances. And if we could only see them the way that God saw them then it would be so much better.

For example, there are some Christians that end up getting a divorce. To get to that point they usually must have pretty different points of view about things, or be at loggerheads.

Also it is very common for Christians to leave the church they have been in for a number of years because they disagree with something or someone in that church.

But God is the same yesterday, today and forever. So He has only one view of the situation, which of course is the right one because He created us, and is perfectly holy, loving and righteous.

Therefore if all the people in those situations suddenly gained God's perspective there would be peace, instead of division. So how do you find out what that is?

I think the obvious answer would be to keep yourself reading the Bible so you understand more how God sees things. But I think when it comes to specific situations what we really need to do is to pray that God would show us His view on it, and show the other people as well!

And God does answer this prayer. I have had a problem with someone before, and prayed this prayer as well as prayed for that person, and I very soon saw things from their perspective, quite differently from how I had before.

It is also a great help when it comes to things that happen in life that we don't understand. For Job in the Bible, suddenly everything had come crashing down in his life for no apparent reason. His friends were telling him he must have brought it upon himself by sin, and he was wondering why?

But from God's perspective it was completely different - He was simply showing how righteous he was to the devil, who claimed that he was only a good man because God had surrounded him with so many good things. Job would have had no clue of that!

Here is an excerpt from Your God Is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan (you can read more in an excerpt here), which brings some of God's perspective into things that we tend to see quite differently:

"If you do what is right, it will go well with you." God says to Cain...What will go well? I would like this to mean God will stay the hand of death, of disease, of accident and injury and illness, always, everywhere, right to the sweet gentle end, for me and those I love, and then that he will whisk us Enoch-like to heaven…

But of course, it doesn't mean that—the idyllic, undisturbed life. That might happen. It might not. That is not important to whether it goes well with you.

God's definition of it going well is unique, distinct, almost eccentric. His definition of wellness is not about health, finances, or job security. It's not about unfailing protection from the vagaries and dangers of a broken world.

It's not about life being fair.

It's about acceptance. It's about God accepting us as his own, the one he loves. It's not about being spared from untimely or difficult death. It's about being spared the "second death"—the death of unbridgeable separation, the death that is at once coldness and burning, oblivion and torment, a writhing crowd of teeth-gnashers and the desolation of unending aloneness.

Because of Jesus Christ, we have received God's unmerited favor. And, actually, that favor has always been unmerited. If we do what is right, it will go well with us. The right thing is faith—to have faith in the one who doesn't always remedy life's unfairness but who does far better: He redeems it—its unfairness, its brokenness, its disease and death—and he gives us back sevenfold all the years the locusts have eaten. "Today," he says to repentant thieves, to trusting Abels, to dying little girls, "Today you will be with me in paradise."

Next time you are in a situation where you and another person are seeing something completely differently, or if you see friends with major differences, or you are struggling to understand something that is happening, try praying for God's perspective on it for the people concerned.

Sometimes we still may not understand, like Job who was asking why? But then we need to remind ourselves and trust that God is in control and will work everything for our good. And hold on to Jesus and our hope of heaven through whatever we are going through.

Where To Go For Biblical Counselling Books

If you find yourself listening to people's problems and need some help on knowing how to help them Biblically, it can be quite hard to find! You also may want help for your own issues.

So I want to share the place I go for book recommendations for counselling - Timeless Christian Books. The books here are very specific to real problems that people face, they cover a wide variety, and they are all chosen by people like Dr. Jay Adams who is a well known Biblical counselor in the States.

Just a few of the topics covered in the books they sell are forgiveness, depression, dealing with rejection, divorce recovery, eating disorders and suicide.

Since I don't live in the USA what I tend to do is to get my book recommendations from them, and then go and find the books on Amazon UK and buy them the cheapest I can! Christianbook.com also ship cheaply from the States.

If you are getting a few books it might be worth checking what the shipping is from Timeless Christian Books though, as it may not be that bad! And of course if you live in the USA then you won't have a problem :)

This is their description: Timeless Christian Books: A trustworthy resource for books from a biblical worldview. We carry books on Christian Living, on Church history, on Church ministry, on biblical counsel­ing, fiction, theology, etc. for children, teens, women, and men. Most books are 20% off retail every day, and there is free shipping on all orders of $15 or more. Orders usually ship the same day.

Incidentally, I do not get any commission from them for this recommendation. I just want to share it because it can be so hard to find good counselling books!

It is also worth checking the resources of CCEF - Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation since they write many of the books recommended by Timeless Texts and may have more in their bookstore.

If You Had 3 Wishes...

The other day in the car I was having some fun talking to the children, and said, "If you had 3 wishes, what would you wish for?" I was curious what they would say!

Here are a few of their responses:
"That I could eat a horse" (that was my 3 year old)
"That I could fly"
"That I could drive a car now!"
"That I could have my own pirate ship" (that's why the strange photo at the top!)

As they were getting excited talking about it, I was thinking to myself, I wonder what mine would be? So eventually when they had finished, I told them what I would wish for.

Here are mine:

1. That Jesus would come back tonight!
2. That our children would be saved and follow God wholeheartedly all their lives.
3. That I would finish all that God has given me to do.

I surprised myself quite a bit, because last time I thought about things like that, probably back when I was quite young, I remember flying being one of my wishes just like the children!

But now I think I realise that it is only eternal things that really matter - everything else is only for a season, and in the light of eternity that season is incredibly short. 

So it excited me and inspired me to try to keep my mind on the things that are really important. We can get so swept up in the cares of this life that we forget that life is short and soon we will meet our Maker. 

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17,18

It also reminded me of the story of King Solomon and how he prayed and God asked him what he wanted. We can ask God for what we want too, in fact He encourages us to! 

So though it's not like at all like a genie, where we are guaranteed to get whatever we want, we should ask for these things and trust God that He will give us what is best in His good time. 

'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find...' Matthew 7:7

So how about you? What would you wish for if you could only have 3 wishes?! 

Using Our God-Given Resources for Him

How do you make your little decisions in life? Often we make big decisions by consulting God in prayer, but not so much the little ones.

Yet if you are a Christian then your life and everything you have is not your own to decide what you want with. It is God’s:

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20

Jesus Christ redeemed us with a price – His death on the cross. So we are His, set apart and consecrated to God, to be holy, to glorify Him with everything we are, have and do. As Clarke says in his commentary:

'You have no right over yourselves, to dispose either of your body, or any of its members, as you may think proper or lawful; you are bound to God, and to him you are accountable.'

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 illustrates this clearly with a story of a master who has a servant and before going away entrusts them with varying amounts of his property in the form of ‘talents’ or large sums.

When he comes back he rewards those who invested it wisely and rebukes the one who did nothing with it. It is symbolic of us with Christ as our master, and everything we have as what He has entrusted to us.

What are we doing with it? Are we investing it wisely, or are we spending it in a way that He wouldn’t be pleased with?

It should change the way we view and do things

Since our life is not our own, and everything that we have comes from God, we should view life differently.

We should be looking at what we have in terms of stewardship – we are stewards of our bodies, our gifts, our time, our money, our possessions, our children. We are looking after these things and should invest them wisely for our Master.

I remember reading once about a lady whose daughter died, and she viewed it like God had lent her the child for a time, and had now taken her back again. That has always been a challenge to me, and I try to think of my children this way when I am worried about them, as I know God gave them to me and will protect them or take them home as He wills.

Here are some things to think about with stewardship in mind:

• Time – on our days off, do we still think how can we use our time to glorify God?
• Money – do we consult God about what we spend our money on?
• Body –  do we look after it so we can serve God longer or just do what everyone around us does?
• Possessions – do we look at them as a gift from God, so they should honour Him in what we do with them, and share them with others in the same way?
• Gifts and talents – do we find ways to use them to glorify God?

When I became pregnant I suddenly changed the whole way I thought about myself. I was no longer just me, I was me and my baby. So I didn’t run across roads in between cars anymore and I was careful not to eat things that might give me food poisoning whereas before I would have taken the risk.

In the same way we should view our lives as not our own, but as God’s. And we should consult Him about what we do with it, and do all of it for Him.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Col 3:17

Take my life and let it be...

There is a great hymn which puts this into words, called ‘Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee’ by Frances Ridley Havergal. 

There are a number of tunes to it so I have linked to them all at the bottom of this post and you can choose your favourite! I think my favourite is still the one I grew up singing - the last one.

There is also a very challenging and thought provoking book that she wrote based on this hymn, called Kept for the Master's Use - one of my treasured books.

This is what she writes in there:

'So let us go on to another prayer. Having already said, 'Take my life, for I cannot give it to Thee,' let us now say, with deepened conviction, that without Christ we really can do nothing - 'Keep my life, for I cannot keep it for Thee.''

She later goes on to explain consecration:

'Not for 'me' at all, but for 'Jesus;' not for my safety, but for His glory; not for my comfort, but for His joy; not that I may find rest, but that He may see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied! Yes for Him I want to be kept. 

Kept for His sake; kept for His use; kept to be His witness; kept for His joy! Kept for Him, that in me He may show forth some tiny sparkle of His light and beauty; kept to do His will and His work in His own way; kept, it may be, to suffer for His sake; kept for Him, that He may do just what seems to Him good with me; kept, so that no other Lord shall have any dominion over me, but that Jesus shall have all there is to have... 

Is not this, O you who love the Lord - is not this worth living for, worth asking for, worth trusting for?'

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
 Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.

Take my hands and let them move

At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing,

Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold,

Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine,

It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour

At Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

by Frances Ridley Havergal

Linking up with A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and Winsome Wednesday

What Does Submission Look Like in Real Life?

Many Christians agree with submission because they see it in the Bible: ‘Wives submit to your husbands’ (Eph 5v22). Yet how that belief works out in people’s marriages can vary so much!

I have to say at the outset that I can’t give much Biblical backup for my view of how it should work simply because the Bible says to submit, but doesn’t give that much explanation of it. So this is my opinion! However I have gone into more detail on what it means Biblically in another post, and also why God has put it in place as well as how to do it in another one, if you want more in depth information with Biblical backup. 

I also should say that I am not, by any means, a perfect example of a submissive wife, even though I try to be :) Having said that, here are a couple of things which I think are key to it working properly in real life:

 It starts in the heart

I believe true submission should start in your heart. That means that you’re not just waiting for your husband to get to the point of making a decision as head of the home, but you're looking for what he wants, way before that.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that we always do what they want in every situation, but it means that we are aiming wherever we can to please them. Which makes sense anyway, if we are loving them as we should!

Sometimes my husband will make little comments that make me think he doesn't entirely like the idea of something. And if it is something that I am quite keen on doing, what I then do is try to sit down with him and ask him what he really thinks about it.

This gives him a chance to talk seriously, and I can find out how much he is against it. Sometimes I find that  it’s not really a big deal. Other times I find out that he really isn’t keen on it and often then I will give up the idea.

Obviously if he told me I must stop doing something, I would, but usually he won't do that so I try to discern what his wishes are and endeavour to please him the best I can.

Give your input, then let him lead

With big decisions that we feel strongly about, the temptation can be to keep on talking about it till we get our way. And only give way if our husband actually says, ‘No, this is what we are going to do.’

But I think submission goes further than that. What I try to do with big decisions is to give my input if I feel strongly or if my husband asks for it. Then after that I pray that God would guide him and leave the decision to him, unless it is something where he really wants to make a joint decision.

I am blessed to have a husband that is wise and has loads of common sense, and makes good financial decisions. So that does help a lot! And I understand that it may change things somewhat if you don’t have that.

But in reality, when you disagree is where the rubber hits the road. And that is where I have tried to get into the habit of saying, “This is what I think… but it’s up to you” in the majority of things.

I try to give my input, and then let him lead. It can help if you think, ‘What’s the worst that could happen if…’ because usually it’s not that bad! 

You also really need to trust God because in submitting to your husband you are submitting to the Lord. So when you are worried about how it will turn out it really helps to remember that God will honour your obedience and will work out everything for good.

Linking up to Solo Deo Gloria Party

On Rest, Energy and Motivation

I apologise to anyone who has missed me (though I find that hard to believe!) for having taken such a long break from blogging without warning! In truth I have been exhausted, from going a bit too hard for too long, and then a big weekend outreach that was great but managed to push me over the edge.

So I had to rest, to renew first my strength and then my motivation to do anything! I only just got back motivation to blog this weekend as God spoke to me through my dear husband who was preaching on Daniel 11:

‘The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many’ Daniel 11:32,33

Isn’t that a cool verse?! It reminded me that as Christians we are all called to exhort and encourage each other (Hebrew 10:24,25), disciple others (Matthew 28:19,20), and share what God is teaching us (Matthew 10:27). 

Daniel prophesied that those people who knew God instructed many, which I'm sure encompassed those things. We shouldn’t keep what we know and are learning about God to ourselves!

I discovered that three vital things were necessary to get rid of my tiredness and regain my energy and motivation: going to bed at a good time every night, taking an hour in the afternoon to rest, and of course spending good quality time with God – reading His Word and praying.

In fact after practicing these three things and being more disciplined in at least the first two than I have for a long time, I actually feel better than I have done for ages!

I have been struggling with patience for a while, but with better rest I am finding I do far better. And anyone who has had children will know it is probably one of the most needed fruits of the Spirit :)

I also have been reading a great book during this time, which I underlined a lot of, and would like to recommend to anyone who sometimes struggles with managing their inside life that not so many people see, but that holds up everything else. It is called ‘Ordering Your Private World’ by Gordon MacDonald.

Ordering Your Private World By Gordon MacDonald / Thomas Nelson

I have just lent it out so can’t quote extensively from it, but here is something he quoted from John Wesley which most of us Westerners probably need to meditate on:

“Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry; because I never undertake any more work than I can go through with perfect calmness of spirit.”

How do you prevent yourself from getting exhausted?

How Can You Be Sure You’re Going to Heaven?

Right now it may not seem that important whether you are going to heaven or not, but one day when you stand before God, it will suddenly change in priority.

I know this is blunt, but we never know when that might be – it might be tonight. So I just want to urge you to make sure. The Bible says ‘Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith’ (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves, taken from the Wiersbe Bible Commentary

1. Was there a time when I honestly realised I was a sinner and admitted this to myself and to God?

2. Was there a time when my heart stirred me to flee from the wrath to come? Have I ever been seriously exercised over my sins?

3. Do I truly understand the Gospel, that Christ died for my sins and arose again? Do I understand and confess that I cannot save myself?

4. Did I sincerely repent of my sins and turn from them? Or do I secretly love sin and want to enjoy it?

5. Have I trusted Christ and Christ alone for my salvation? Do I enjoy a living relationship with Him through the Word and in the Spirit?

6. Has there been a change in my life? Do I maintain good works, or are my works occasional and weak? Do I seek to grow in the things of the Lord? Can others tell that I have been with Jesus?

7. Do I have a desire to share Christ with others? Or am I ashamed of Him?

8. Do I enjoy the fellowship of God’s people? Is worship a delight to me?

9. Am I ready for the Lord’s return? Or will I be ashamed when He comes for me?

Not everyone has the same exact experience, but for the most part these questions should help you figure out whether you really are a true Christian or not. If you are truly saved, then you have a guaranteed place in heaven, your name is written in the Book of Life!

If you have answered ‘no’ to many of these but want to be saved, then this is what you need to do:

• Realise that you are a sinner - we have all done wrong things, like lying and stealing and not loving as we should. The Bible says, 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'. Because God is a holy God, just like a just Judge would have to punish breaking the law, He has to punish sin, and 'the wages of sin is death' - eternal punishment in hell. 
• Recognise that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you - we have earned a punishment for our sins, but just like someone can step in and pay your fine so that you don't have to go to jail, God stepped in. He sent His only Son down to earth so that He could die on the cross for our sins and take our punishment on Himself: 'The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord' This means that we can not only be saved from hell, but can have the free gift of eternal life in heaven.
• Repent of your sin - you need to say a true heartfelt sorry to God for all the wrong things you have done, and for rejecting Him up till now, and ask for His forgiveness, and change your direction - give your life to following Jesus. 
• Believe in Jesus Christ for salvation - You also need to believe the truth that Jesus is the son of God and died on the cross for your sins, was buried and rose again. And that if you put your faith and trust in Him then you will be saved.

Here is a prayer you can pray to God - the prayer itself doesn't save you, but if you truly and sincerely believe these things as you pray them, you can be saved.
"God, I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and give my life to you. I confess Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen."

If you have answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions but you still lack assurance, you may just be experiencing doubts, and it would probably be good for you to read through 1 John and keep reading it! It was written so that we might know that we have eternal life. Also you can go back to square one, and do it all again, then you will know that you have done it even if your emotions are telling you that you don’t feel saved!

If you still have questions, you are more than welcome to e-mail me.