The War of Life

Sir Winston Churchill

These are words that WERE NOT spoken by Sir Winston Churchill about World War Two:-

'It was one of the best periods of my life, the war. All the brutality, death, hate, disagreement...it was so much fun to lead it. I was really sad when it all ended.'

Why didn't he say this? Because NOBODY in their right mind loves war!

But war is the situation we all find ourselves in. Deep down in our souls the battle between what were made to be and what we selfishly want to be rages on. We want to be popular, attractive, happy, rich and have everything we need or want and will stamp on anyone to get there. God has a better plan, put your trust in Him and you will find true happiness and the other stuff often comes along as well. CS Lewis puts it wonderfully,  'Aim at Heaven and you'll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you'll get neither'.

This battle is what Paul referred to as the 'struggle against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.' (Ephesians 6:12, paraphrased). We want things that bring us pleasure, even if they are only short term, even if they hurt others, but God wants what is truly best for us and for everyone.

Some give in and let the selfish desires reign, and wonder why true happiness eludes them.
Others struggle to figure what is right and what is wrong and which way to go, they do the thing that seems right to them but that doesn't always make it the right thing.

I feel, even as a Christian, that I have been in both of those camps. But there is a third camp I want to be a part of and just felt called towards when spending time with God last night.

This camp is a camp that depends on God for everything. Knowledge, provision, guidance and strength. This camp prays and waits on God.
I think it's amazingly true that whatever the question is, prayer is the answer. Prayer is our biggest weapon in the war of this world. When I feel low, when I feel like I'm losing, when I feel that it's impossible...prayer is where I let God in and He just has this astonishing way of showing you the way out or making a way for you. He never lets us down.

The biggest reason I fail in anything in life is because of a lack of prayer. They say 'Fail to prepare, prepare to fail'. The ultimate preparation for anything is to pray so I have decided to rephrase the quote- Fail to pray, prepare to fail.

One of my favourite proverbs is Proverbs 16:3 which says, 'Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans'.

Give your plans for today, tomorrow and your future to God...your plans to grow closer to Him, your plans to come through the hard times, your plans to be a better person, your very plans themselves and see what He does. He has never let me down when I have turned to Him, just need to work on turning to Him more often.

Too many Christians like myself are losing the spiritual battle, I'm missing out on so much. When I pray my problems seep away, God gives my great advice, encouragement and blessing and I couldn't be more full of joy afterwards. Let's turn this battle around, let's pray like there is a war going on...because there is.

Cop-out

“Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”

St Francis of Assisi

I was thinking about this inspirational quote tonight. This quote has been a comfort and encouragement to many Christians over the years, myself included, and I still think highly of it BUT....

I realise that this quote holds me back sometimes, like it's okay not to tell people about Jesus and the amazing things He has done because I can just do it through my actions. I justify my silence by telling myself that it's okay because surely I am showing them through my actions.

Whilst we need to shine the light of God through our actions, it doesn't make up for or replace speaking the amazing truth of Jesus into the lives of those we run into, whether one-off's or regularly.

Of course we must remain wise and must never be forceful with this truth. If people don't want to know then we should pray for them and wait for God to bring them to a point where they are interested and be ready then.

But we should also remember that people we know and love are going to miss out on eternity, and that's a truth I cannot bear. I'd rather risk people's hatred now for trying to help them find God than risk them not being in Eternity.

Telling people takes courage, being a Christian takes courage. Pray for me and those who know he truth of Jesus that we may have courage and the right words to lead people to the best news in the world - Jesus Saves.

Who does he think he is?

"I was kind of in a bad mood and when he brings on [Nigel] de Jong and takes off [Edin] Dzeko, and we're losing 2-0, I thought it was a defensive substitution so I decided to sit back on the bench," he said.

"At the same time Dzeko comes off and is really angry and has a go at Mancini. He then sees the tunnel is closed so he has to sit down next to him and they start to have an argument.

"Dzeko was speaking Bosnian and Mancini would swear at him in Italian so it was a real mess. So I go and sit down and he doesn't see me because he's having this discussion. But then he turns around and sees me and you can imagine what happens.

"He's in the middle of an argument so then he tells me to keep on warming up and treats me like a dog.

"So when he spoke to me in that tone of voice, and I said 'No, I'm not going out'. So I was willing to play, but the coach was in such a foul mood because he had that argument with Dzeko.

These were the words of Carlo Tevez, Premier League leaders Manchester City's around £200,000 a week striker who is currently on strike having been disciplined for the refusal he outlined above. 

I couldn't believe the cheek of his words, refusing to warm up just because his boss spoke to him rudely. If my boss asked me to do something rudely, I might be irritated but I would do it because ultimately he is the one who signs my cheque, a cheque which is around 1/800th of Tevez's weekly wage. It would take me 20 years to earn what he does in a week. 

But this is the world we live in today. The common mindset is that it is all about us, we treat ourselves like God and anybody or anything that doesn't fit in with our desires is rejected.

G.K. Chesterton said, 'For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything'. In today's selfish world that includes ourselves, woman, drink, drugs, careers, sports team and many other unworthy things.

When we seek proof for the existence of God, we put God on trial. And guess who is the judge? We make ourselves God and even if we find the proof we need it still isn't good enough because when we see something negative it brings us back down. There is plenty of great, reliable evidence for God and plenty of good answers to the difficult questions but when we depend on our own judgement alone we will never submit to God in our lives. Submitting to God means denying our own judgement and trusting Him alone regardless of what we hear and see, making Him God of our lives. 

We know He is real, let's truly put our trust in Him :-)


The greatest act of faith takes place when a man finally decides that he is not God.Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Tug of the Heart

Happy Valentines Day everyone, whether you are single, taken, married or whatever! Hope everyone had an excuse to smile at least once today (we have one everyday in Jesus!) :-)

My one gripe about Valentines Day is the negative comments on Facebook from people. This was my first Valentines with someone this year (none of my previous relationships occurred over Valentines before!) but even in previous years I was happy just to see others be happy with each other. I didn't see the need to be negative.

This year there were a tonne of derogatory comments on Facebook and I realised that many of the comments were just attempts to hide how people really felt, that they did care about Valentines and having someone to share it with but they didn't want to show it. The ones who didn't post anything negative at all were more convincing to be honest ;)

This reminded me of the spiritual struggle we all have but particularly of the ones Atheists have. The Bible makes it clear in Romans 1:18-20 that there is no excuse for those who claim not to know God. Everybody knows there is a God but because they don't want to know Him they fight it.

Every article about Christianity on BBC News is littered with comments from Atheists belittling the faith and the British Humanist Association always seem to get to comment on them (so much for the BBC being down the middle). Why do these guys care so much? If you really don't believe in a God (and they do, they just don't want to admit it) when why does it bother you so much that some do?  Seeing them fight it so much is great proof to me that they really do think there is a God. Those who don't seem to care are a lot more convincing!

Don't fight the truth in your heart any longer, you don't need to...

"The atheist can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman." Author Unknown

Is this what we were meant to be?

Reading through the news took me to a really sad story and an indication of how messed up our world has become.

A 20 year old girl getting so drunk at a themed night (ironically called 'Misbehaviour') in a Cardiff nightclub that she stripped off completely during a 'Innocent' wet t-shirt contest whilst being egged on by the crowd.

One 'fan' wrote 'She just got drunk and naked for a bit of banter. No biggie'. I wonder if her family, future husband and future children share that sentiment. Imagine it was your daughter/girlfriend/wife. It is a 'biggie' really isn't it?

This just sums up how I feel about Britain right now. How many people actually truly care about each other?  Not by their words - How are you doing? (and I ask that way too often without truly caring - to me truly caring is not just accepting okay for an answer if you know something is wrong and trying to do something about it to help them!) - but by loving on people as ourselves, like Jesus commanded (Matthew 22:39 is one of a few occasions in the Bible). I would love to see a Britain where people truly thought about others and blessed others rather than just pay fake respect to each other, if even that for some.

Who was looking out for this girl? Everyone just wanted a bit of pleasure, as if life is all about enjoying yourself with no consideration for others and for the God that made you that many suppress. (yes, there is no such thing as an atheist, everyone knows God exists - Romans 1:18-20 - and are suppressing the truth because it doesn't quite fit in with their idea for life) I am all for enjoying life, but I have tried without and with God and I know where true enjoyment comes. Not in the perverted, selfish and sensual orientations of today's world but in the joyful, selfless and loving arms of Jesus Christ. It's actually scientifically proven as well! Yes, I said His Name..sue me! (I believe a Christian will go to prison in this country for standing for their faith in the next ten years, free speech and belief is getting this suppressed here)

This is a challenge for me also, when praying about this I felt God telling me to lead by example. If I want to see others care about people then I need to care about people so ridiculously that people take notice and are inspired that way themselves. Not everyone will take notice but some will and lives will be changed and God's Kingdom would come further on this earth. Incentive enough?
The Bible is all about examples, from the good but tainted such as Abraham, Moses & David to the tainted but changed Jacob & Paul to the perfect example of Jesus.

This society drives me crazy, from the way it denies and buries God when every argument against God assumes God through the assumption of the laws of logic, (Ask any Atheist how he knows anything and watch him squirm, you cannot claim to know anything without confessing the existence of God - I am happy for an atheist to come and debate this!), from the way it takes a pleasurable drink (for some) such as beer or wine, drink way too much of it..wrecking their bodies, their relationships, their minds and their lives pretending it's cool whilst doing so. If you need alcohol to have fun and be confident, you have serious issues.

To continue this rant, the word 'banter' is getting out of hand. I am not against fun between friends, but when this 'fun' involves serious repercussions that will affect them their whole life (as for the 20 year old Glamorgan student) you have to question whether you are treating that person as a friend or your worst enemy. True banter is fun for everyone, not just you!

God Loves us, God sent us Jesus, Jesus told us to love each other, we love each other. God Loves us...this is the true circle of life.

If you want to become a Christian, have questions, not sure, need prayer or want to talk about anything just Facebook me, tweet me @mjw6150, e-mail me: mjw6150@hotmail.com

God Bless you all, God wants us to change the world, to change our lives...He can do anything, therefore we can do it!

Love and Blessings :-)

A-Z of Christianity 'K'

KINGDOM

Disney World Castle in Orlando, Florida

As most of you who know me will know I had the privilege of going to Orlando, Florida for New Year just gone. The trip was memorable for many, many reasons and one of those reasons was getting to go to Disney World in Orlando. 

Even at the ancient age of 23 it was exciting to go there and I wasn't disappointed, really enjoying the experience of seeing the characters, going on the rides and getting the full Disney experience. We only had the time to visit the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney as it is such a big 'world'. What struck me is that it is almost like another world (hence the name Disney World I suppose!). My girlfriend calls it 'the happiest place on earth' and she isn't far right in many ways, everything is geared towards making the park that way to visitors.

I was reminded that when we make God King of our lives by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior we become a part of His Kingdom. 


The Bible says in Galatians 3:26 that we are all sons of God through Christ Jesus. As a son we have an inheritance which, in Hebrews 9:15, is described as 'eternal'.


If we make Jesus our Lord and Savior we not only inherit eternal life but we have an inheritance in Heaven to look forward too, which is spoken of in 1 Peter 1:3-5...


'Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.'

The choice of choosing to trust God or not is the biggest choice of your life because no other choice has so much depend on it. Don't write God off. He wants to know you, He loves you with a crazy love that led Him to take the sickening punishment our sins deserved. He wants to bless your life beyond your wildest imagination. He wants you to spend eternity with Him. You can look everywhere but you won't find anything more important or amazing than this on earth :)

In the Old Testament it says:-

Deuteronomy 5:29
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children for ever!

It's impossible to keep all the commands but Jesus has covered us on that one, let's trust God today and see what He does in our lives. I've seen Him do amazing things in my life and others lives and I promise that those who choose to fully trust Him will not be disappointed :)

Join the Kingdom today!

Courageous Christianity

I must begin with apologies for the lack of blog action recently. I have been very busy and sometimes it is also nice to have a break and refresh myself, watching Cardiff City get to the Carling Cup final last night being a particular highlight since my last post!


Last year I made the theme for my blog, 'Love' and whilst I didn't write every post about that I really hope that my posts inspired you to increase in your love for God and your love for the people He created.


This year I want to start a different theme (but please be encouraged to keep up the love!) and it is one I feel very passionate about.


We live in a world today that is very resistant in an almost militant way towards Christianity and we also live in a world where we see Christianity represented so badly by many. I feel it is time for Christianity, the people of God, to be brave. That's why this year I want to write about Courageous Christianity.


Mark Twain sums up today's world by saying, 'It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.'


To understand more clearly what I mean by courage I have a few more quotes:


Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon


Courage is doing what you're afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you're scared.  ~Edward Vernon Rickenbacker


I think Dan Rather sums up courage the most accurately in my view 'Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow'

There are many things in life that demand our attention, that demand our reverance and priority. I know in my own experience that I can get so swamped with my hobbies that I forget to pay significant attention to the really important thing in my life, which is Jesus. 

I feel that too many times in my life I hold onto things instead of God, I focus on other things that comfort me instead of God. This may comfort me but it doesn't give me the joy that focusing on the One who Loves me perfectly and gave His own life to save me. It's easy to let the emotions of music and a football match, whether positive or negative take us over. I need to be courageous and fight the inbuilt selfish desire for an easy life and let God reign over all. 

Paul puts it wonderfully in 2 Corinthians 10:5, 'We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.'

This probably doesn't sound very courageous but I really think it is, let's make it our effort in 2012 to give all of our lives, thoughts including the comforting rights to God, the one who truly cares and has the power to take care of all our worries and stresses.