Whilst cycling around this summer I came across this signpost and was reminded how easy it is for us to loose direction, and I began to think how we regroup when we have lost our way. Having been lost at several points in life below are a few thoughts on regaining direction.

Sometimes we can loose a sense of direction in life. This can come through a sudden change or it can slowly creep upon us over a period of time where we wake up one day and realise our sign post has been bent out of shape and we are not sure where we are going or supposed to be heading. Loosing direction can cause us to feel like we have messed up and we may think that there is no way ahead which can be a daunting experience.

The Bible has some great accounts of people who got lost, Joseph being one of many but despite being lost and not sure why or what was happening, God had a plan and a purpose all along. We can be inspired by his story. Whatever has caused our direction to become unclear is not a big issue to God. Jesus revealed his role when we are in a lost situation or season in John 14:6 speaking about himself being “the way, truth and the life”. If this is the case then it is important to walk closely to Jesus when all direction is lost and follow him and he will lead us onto the path. Maybe we only become aware of the path he has led us on when we look back as to where we have walked next to Christ.

If we have truly lost our way we draw close to God and seek him, it is the promise of God that he will be there “When you seek me you will find me. When you seek me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:13. God is the source of all life and all things in life, then when we find him direction will unfold and be clear. The true direction of our lives is that we are heading to God and the how and what we do along the way toward that goal is for Jesus to lead each of us out of a friendship with himself. As he led the disciples all those years ago it is Jesus who still makes a way today.

God is creative and he can make rivers in a desert. So where we count all direction is lost and impossible to regain God can step in and make way where there seems no way. “Behold I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” Isaiah 43:19. Our redirection is just a moment away from each one of us as we go to seek God with all our hearts – a true pilgrimage that we do with Jesus who leads us day to day. 

 

 One of the most powerful lessons I ever had in forgiveness was from when we did night outreach into the red light district in Suffolk UK in 2005. I had promised to take a woman we had become friends with to visit her parent’s graves. They had both been addicts and died when she was young. Yep you have already guessed what happened next – I forgot!

Thinking she would never speak to me again or at least verbally kick off at me I was shocked when she came over and just said ” we are ok you and I.  I was upset but its all ok between us now I just need you to know that”. Right there and then I received forgiveness. That was all before I had the chance to say sorry!

The fact that she had forgiven me was unbelievable but could I now dig deep enough to forgive myself as well?

The fact that we are human beings having soul – free will, desires and emotions can sometimes keep us locked in a prison of unforgiveness. The consequences can lend itself either to others or ourselves, meaning we and others can miss out on moving forward and living in the provision of freedom for our hearts and minds that God has granted.

We are created to carry the presence and nature of God therefore able to act externally and internally making quality choices as Christ did when He encountered conflict and disappointment. I always take great comfort knowing that Jesus experienced many malicious acts against Him and came out the other side. What I notice through reading the gospel stories is: rejection, beatings, false accusation to name a few and that the response of Jesus was from the lens of carrying the presence of God.

Gods nature can be found in Galatians 5: 22-26 often referred to as the fruit of his spirit, it enables us live as true representatives of Gods kingdom. Without having an active friendship with God through the work of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit we will not be able to display the fruit of His Spirit. So there is a challenge straight away for us to keep developing and investing time into our friendship with God to walk in His ways.

God would like us to walk daily in practicing the art of forgiveness. Firstly so we can be free and feel good each day rid of the anger and bitterness that often takes root and shows up in our actions and secondly that others can experience the love of God through us.

In Matthew 6:12 -15 part of the way through Jesus said to pray, ” forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who hurt us”, sometimes it can be difficult to as God for this knowing that we hold grudges/ pain/ wounds of offense in our hearts and minds. Unforgiveness can produce toxic emotions in us causing pain and discomfort to us and those around us.

In Mathew 18:21- 35 we find the story of the unforgiving slave how many times to forgive we are told 70 x 7 meaning lots in this passage and from the heart meaning there is emotion attached to forgiving whether it be tears, relief or a sense of closure.  As a forgiver or the forgiven either way it will have an emotion and impact that comes with it.  Unforgiveness has emotions attached to it as in obsession with recounting events or pain on seeing the person or feeling anger then experience it turning to bitterness which can be so destructive. So it would be fair to say that forgiveness from the heart has emotions too.

There tends to be two ways to walk in forgiveness: – 

        1. A catalyst quick work, breakthrough comes

         2. Process, bumps us forward by daily walking with Jesus

In part two we will unpack these ways a little deeper. But just say a prayer with me now to Jesus if you have been challenged to give or receive forgiveness. First we must accept the forgiveness of God in our lives and know the relief it brings to us.

Lord Jesus. I ask you to come and heal my life where I have kept bitterness as a trophy I hand that to you today. I ask you to forgive me for such actions……. I thank you that you died to heal my life. I accept your work of forgiveness and receive it as a truth in my mind and heart today. Knowing that as far from the east to the west is how much you have wiped away my sins and no longer remember them. Help me now to forgive myself and be a blessing to those around me.

In Jesus name I pray. AMEN

I want us to focus on the power of living from a base of gratitude and how this can break self-obsessed thinking and feeling habits. In the Scriptures we read that God recommends living from an attitude of positivity toward Himself, life and others.

Hebrews 12:28-29 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

Our custom can sometimes be to focus on what we don’t have (the negative) this cane develope an unhealthy habit where as individuals we can become increasingly inward looking to the point of self-obsession. We focus down on our past, try and understand it and then see how this relates to the problems we face today and promoted to try and live in this backdrop. Sometimes this can be a helpful process however it can also create an eternal prison and remain behind the bars of the past.

Scripture implies that when we know the truth it will set us free John 8:32. Freedom was brought at a very high cost to Jesus who gave up everything to secure our freedom from the chains of captivity Isaiah 61. He also placed some helpful God shaped ways to think and act that would help us in this life. I want to focus on the power of living from a base of gratitude and how this can break the self-obsessed mind.

The mind is a powerful organ that functions by what we input into it. If we input new data (learning or habits) into the mind we can create new thinking patterns and this causes fresh behaviour reactions to develop. Yes, I have been reading deeply on how humans function and why we do certain things.

Gratitude comes by increasing our awareness of what is happening around us each day. To develop this art I have been keeping a gratitude dairy each day. Before I go to bed I quietly sit and make a note of what I am grateful for. Here are some examples:

Laughing with friends, a kind husband, nice home, work for a great charity, people to pray with, a loving family, food, understanding friends, being part of an amazing Church, creative ability, great ministry team around to help, friends in other countries, watching films with friends, quiet days to write, fitness, hanging out with people who have vision for life, people who believe in me and knowing a loving God who loves me.

Out of the art of practicing gratitude the heart can soften towards God, others and in deed self. We may find that by focusing of the vastness of what a great big life we have on the side we become easier to be around, quicker to be in the presence of God. Jesus spoke about giving thanks to God for everything we have for a reason.
So I challenge you to start your own diary and see what is happening in your life now and let the past relax its influence in who you are today.

 Some how we have learned that to navigate through the map of life and often feelings are what we make our choices or decisions. We may catch ourselves asking the question “does it feel right” however most of the great philosophers and spiritual leaders would recommend making choices by other means to fully appreciate life.

Jesus himself has some great pointers marked out in the New Testament on successful living from His perspective, for example “do to others whatever you would like them do to you”, “it is more rewarding to give than to receive”. The Bible asks us to become followers of the ways of Jesus – when we consciously walk this way I believe we are living out of a renewed mind according to Romans 12:2 which has to be good.

Over the next few weeks I am going to explore some streams that flow form the river of Jesus that we can invest in and look at how they can impact our lifestyle. I am sure that we will find virtue and value whilst navigating the map of our lives. I think the few words below sum up a sort after feeling that many of us crave “success” and will lift us to a place of fulfilment when practiced.

Gratefulness

Kindness

Gracefulness

Peacefulness

Forgiving

Gentleness

Prayerfulness   

Joyfulness

Giving

 At Christmas time we reflect on God coming to find us. One of the consequences of Him visiting humanity is that He brought a peace encounter and the peace that can be found spiritually, physically and emotionally.

 Peace comes to us in three places potentially

1.From Outside

God came to find us. His vision was and is to restore His creation through the life giving sacrifice of one man, Jesus Christ His son. He is only person who has lived without sin as part of His life Hebrews10: 1-18 and yet was tempted in every way Hebrews 4:15. As we opt into the opportunity given us by Jesus Christ we surrender our life past, present and future into Gods hand embracing His hand of peace to us from the outside to the in.

2.On the Inside

When we make peace with God we have access to peace for our hearts and minds. Jesus explained to His followers that He was leaving them a gift of peace in

John 14:27“Peace that I give to you and it’s a peace that the world doesn’t understand “.

Elsewhere in scripture we are advised to “let the peace of God rule your heart “ implying that we have that ability as Jesus promised His followers Colossians 3:15. This is a great gift to make the most of especially when we live in a busy, stressful and demanding context.

3.Towards Others

Once we accept the gift of peace of Jesus we are able to put this incredible ability to work. We ourselves become peacemakers, resolving conflict is one of the greatest needs in the world today and we have the ability to break through and bring peace to people. This is the requirement of every follower of Jesus. It is not just believing in Him but living as He did that makes the difference to others in the world. 

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

 

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God”.

Finally

This Christmas let us find restored hope in a saviour who was born to die to give everlasting life. And let us find reassurance from the God who is devoted to live His children us

Let us share this amazing news to those with out peace in their lives. 

“As we draw close to God He will draw close to you” James 4:8

 

We have a saying in our culture “ sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt”. I am not sure where or why this saying came from but it is not true. Words can have the power to build someone up or destroy them, Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue can bring life or death; those who love to talk will reap the consequences”.

Not sure if you are aware but the biggest battle we may ever face is in the mind. We have all had some difficult experiences and knocks in life but how the mind interprets those events may determine the pathway we take in life.

We have been thinking through false belief systems in a recover group that we run. It was interesting that whilst I was preparing the session I stood back and objectively looked at what I really believed about myself and I was shocked. I had not realized that I was walking through life making decisions based on false beliefs. Now I have become aware of what they are for me I am working on living through the truth, the mind requires daily attention as the false beliefs often become automatic actions.

God has some great points to make on the mind in Scripture. Part of walking in the truth is getting to know what is possible through friendship with God and what He says about us. Through reading the two verses below God explains that He can help us change the way we think in other words as we begin to believe what He says about us more than any experience we have had or unhelpful words that people may have said to us then our thinking and attitudes will be more helpful for us as we walk through life.

Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. NLT

Ephesians 4:23 “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes”. NLT

So change is possible according to God but we must become more aware of why we live the way we do, make the choices we make knowing that what we believe about ourselves impacts and shapes our life story.

Life can be like wearing a bunch of labels that we either place on ourselves or other people place on us. Particularly in western culture we are obsessed with finding out who we are and how we tick to help us navigate life. Once we have discovered the answer to the question we stick a label on so we can be identifiable.

However the label can make us rigid in our thinking and the difficulty with living through the label is that we shut down on the opportunity to hear what God has to say about us, we have already made that decision through another process. The fallout of that can be when God comes to us with a fresh experience or opportunity to broaden our horizon, we can’t make it fit with the label we are already wearing and we end up saying – NO, and miss out.

Labels are also created by our own choice, for example if we have been hurt at some point in time. We can use them at our convenience to avoid pain or rejection. Then we walk the path of self – preservation with a disability of not being able to trust self, others or God. As those labels come from an unhealthy decision base therefore they will not be healthy for us in the long run.

Jesus said in the book of John 10:10 “I have come that you may have life in abundance” He explains “their is another one who is trying to destroy your life” (make it difficult). Jesus offers us something unique, a chance for change and yet in John 5:40 Jesus points out that “even though abundant life is on offer we refuse to go to Him”. The label again dominates our life with phrases like, this is my background, the genes are in my family history, I was born this way so this is how it is, someone told me I am like this, I am this type of personality, and so on.

But when we let God come to us He begins to bring health and wholeness into our lives. The labels we once wore are no longer appropriate to wear as a badge of identity as our identity is shaped by what God says about us John 10 directs our thinking to the fact that “Jesus is the shepherd our lives”. If we draw near to Him the process of dropping the labels begins.

A few months back I wrote about the power of consistency and positive outcomes from that lifestyle. After being so ill at the beginning of the year I felt that this year has been about investing in strengthening myself up.

As part of this time I have invested in getting a personal trainer to help me get properly fit especially now I am in my 40’s the words “what we do now will affect the next few decades” ring in my ears especially as I am totally committed to serving Jesus long term not as a gap stop filler. Well this week after 15 sessions I have noticed it is starting to payout; the results are becoming evident!

This has got me thinking about the payout in terms of practising spiritual disciplines or as I call them following Jesus. Day one we are excited as we have understood the new life that Jesus brings when we follow him, we may stay on that mountain top for a few weeks, months then bang back down to earth as they say and we are in the process of what the Scriptures call “working out your faith”. In other words we have to begin to not only believe Jesus but now live as He did – following in His footsteps.

I have been following Jesus for 35 years with a 7year blip in the middle and I think it’s beginning to payout (the results are becoming evident), I think differently, try to live differently, understand and operate in spiritual concepts and actions more now than I did a few years ago. Obviously we don’t follow Jesus to gain reward He is our reward but we do change shape in our character, actions and attitudes.

2 Corinthians 3:18: And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Often on the journey of faith we may want to give up, it becomes hard like in physical training but if in the hard times we can dig deep and push through the pain of perseverance then payout day comes and you realise your not the person you used to be, you look different, act different you have become a little more Christ like “you have been changed into the image of Christ” so keep going the payout day will come!

Each one of us has a passion that is placed inside us given to us by God. Passion looks like something that really rocks your boat and excites you. The best place for us to live from is by sitting in the seat of your passion and letting that steer and direct your life.

We seem to be well able to do this from a negative perspective often worked out through negative behaviour but struggle to allow ourselves to flow in our unique positive passion. Some passions from a Christian perspective maybe prayer, scripture,intimacy with God, development, helping the poor, serving community, mission, preaching, healing and so on, reflected by the many outreach initiative of churches and organisations.

We can sometimes get so involved in others visions or passions that we can neglect our own God given passion and get distracted from investing in it. I can easily stand in the gap where I see a need and decided if no one else is doing it then I can – as Gods heart is about mercy and justice, working to turning the tide amongst the exploited poor in the world.

My own personal passion is too see a revival of people coming to Christ  and watching the presence of God transforming people through his power. Not in a spooky way but in a character transforming way. I have sometimes not always been able to express this but often I will read books on revivalists and love to hang out with people operating in revival this helps me keep that passion or vision alive for the day when the opportunity comes from God to walk in the passion.

So few questions to think through:-

Are you living from the seat of your passion?
What is your unique passion?
How will you keep it alive and in the front of your mind?

The Bible reveals that we should that we should “let the peace of God rule our hearts”. When we follow the passion inside us even if that has a high cost to us then peace will be present as we will be walking in what was always intended to be.

Jesus lived as a passionate man, He loved us and was passionate to drink from the cup of the cross (a high personal cost for him) He knew what was to come, that we would be free to live and follow Him and help others come and meet Him.

Lets dig deep to seek out the passion which we were born for.