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Are you thirsty?

10/4/2017

JESU JUVA

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:37-39

I remember one occasion when I became desperate for water. I went bushwalking with two friends in the Blue Mountains. I had a map of the route and led the way.

'It's just a short walk,' I said to my friends. 'Only one hour.'
But in the end, I missed a turning, and one solitary hour walk turned into four gruelling hours. Most of it was uphill, and none of us was prepared. None of us had enough water to drink. By the time we reached the top, all three of us were desperately thirsty.

We found a remote café surrounded by gum trees and entered.
Cakes and other sweet treats must've been on display, but we didn't care about food. Our faces must've been red from exertion and covered in a sweaty glaze, but we didn't care how we looked. We just wanted a drink.

None of us even carried extra cash to purchase drinks from the café fridge - we really were ill-prepared for an arduous journey. We hoped someone inside the café would be merciful and allow tap water to freely pour our way.

The waitress who met us in the café doorway hesitated momentarily at our simple request. After all, we weren't paying customers desiring a seat and sustenance. We just wanted water.
In desperation, pride disappeared, and I admitted it was my fault. 'We took a wrong turn on our bushwalk,' I explained to the waitress. 'I didn't read the map correctly. We weren't prepared for a long, uphill hike.' I didn't care what she thought; I just wanted her to give us free tap water.

In the end, the waitress took pity on us because we looked hot and bothered and sounded desperate. She waved her hand towards a glass jug brimming with crystal clear water. I guzzled glass after glass, and so did my friends.

The water tasted beautifully sweet when we were desperately thirsty.

Has life's journey, with its uphill battles, made you thirsty?
Are you thirsty to find satisfaction in this life?
Are you thirsty to be purified from the sinful behaviour which dominates your life?
Are you desperate to satisfy your thirst?
Are you thirsty to know the Lord?

God hears the desperate prayer. The Psalmists called out to God over and over again because they knew our Father hears heartfelt cries.

Cry to Him in your desperation, in whatever situation you face today. Find a quiet place: a cupboard, a bedroom, a garden, the car, anywhere you can and cry out to him. Come in the name of Jesus Christ, the living Son, and tell the Father how thirsty you are.

If you are conscious of a spiritual thirst for God, Jesus invites you to come. The only way for that spiritual thirst to be quenched is to make a conscious choice to come to him. If you do, Jesus promises to pour living water into your life that never runs out: the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a person, not an impersonal force, and Jesus sends him as a gift to help us in our weaknesses.
Are you thirsty inside?

Only the power and presence of God will satisfy.

“You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry…”
Psalm 10:17

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Splashes of joy

1/4/2017

JESU JUVA

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10

I found a ladybird today.

It doesn't sound extraordinary, except I haven't seen one for years. I'm not sure where they've been hiding. For the past few months, while meandering through gardens with camera in hand, my eyes have been searching for pretty herbs, flowers and leaves. I've photographed many other interesting things, but never a ladybird.

This morning as I headed off for a photographic jaunt in the city's botanical gardens, I sent a prayer towards heaven: 'Lord, I'd really like to find a ladybird today.' A simple request from a child to her Father.

I didn't believe I'd truly find one, so I busied myself with shots of exotic flowers and fruit. I also didn't consider my prayer important in the scheme of things. After all, how important is a ladybird?

I found myself in a faraway nook of the extensive gardens and walked straight past a tall tree, one among many. The corner-of-my-eye glimpsed purple bell-shaped flowers. Worth a second look, so I took a few steps backwards.

The tree was enormous. Shade covered its flower-laden branches. My gaze dropped and stopped upon a tiny figure: orange with black polka-dots and six whispery legs. The first ladybird I'd seen since... I'm not sure when.

My newfound friend was easily coaxed to take a ride on my hand. He stayed with me as I searched for a splash of light away from the shade. Sunshine was necessary for a photograph.

It was such a tiny moment with a tiny creature, but my Abba Father demonstrated he hears even the smallest prayers. The ladybird was my splash of joy after a few difficult days.

Those splashes of joy have appeared before along my life's journey. When I was baptised in the Holy Spirit as a seventeen-year-old, the first manifestation I experienced was a deep, supernatural joy. I think God knew I needed that particular emotion from all that had been and for all that lay ahead.

I didn't laugh out loud. I experienced an unmistakable sensation deep inside – it bubbled, burst, pulsated. I couldn't manufacture that feeling. When the Bible speaks of the joy of the Lord being our strength, those words are true. That sensation has arisen now and then, usually in dark times, those moments when joy is least expected.

I remember another time waiting for a bus. The sky was grey. The pavement was grey. The buildings were grey. My circumstances were grey. Unnamed depression lurked in my soul at the time, but suddenly the rivers of living water bubbled up. The burst came. It caused my head to lift up and my heart to sing praise to God, and it gave me the strength to keep going.

Sometimes I am at the beach when the joy hits. It causes me to lift my feet and run. If a dog is with me, he partakes in the spontaneous joy and flies across the sand. That joy needs an outlet, and I think it must be how David felt when he danced before the Lord (2 Samuel 6).

I need to remember those splashes of joy - and look out for them - because it can be easy to forget when life seems like an endless struggle.

Don't pretend and clothe yourself with false joy. People see through the charade. Be real. Life is hard, and sometimes circumstances are dark. But even amid darkness, splashes of light can appear, which don't depend on circumstances. They come from the power of the Holy Spirit. Look out for them - as you seek Jesus - because the joy of the Lord does, indeed, give strength.

Look to the Father in Heaven, through his Son Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Cry out to him. You might be surprised. You might find joy.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

The sharp end of the surgeon's knife

15/3/2017

JESU JUVA

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:17-18

About half a dozen of us sat around a small waiting room one Wednesday morning, and none of us wanted to be there. I glanced briefly at the others and observed pale faces and eyes flickering with nervous fear. I probably wore the same expression.

We certainly wore the same clothing. A white hospital gown and little else. Small talk was more than awkward. 'What are you in for today?' I politely asked the acquaintance seated on my right. I assumed everyone waited for gallbladder removal surgery like myself. I'm not sure why I thought that, except perhaps, I wasn't used to the ways of surgical waiting rooms.

'Haemorrhoids,' answered the lady. 'My fourth operation in the past year.'

What else could I say except to wish her well? I decided it best not to ask questions of anyone else, and, anyway, none of them volunteered to declare the purpose of their presence in the surgical ward that day.

Physical surgery can sometimes be a shameful experience and almost always a fearful one. I could sense it in the faces of my waiting room acquaintances. I knew it in my heart.

Each of us in that waiting room had to face the consequences of a disordered body. My tiny gallbladder was filled with crystallised stones. I'd ignored it for about two years, hoping and praying the pain and discomfort would disappear. But it didn't. In the end, there was only one option: face it. This meant the sharp end of a surgeon's knife.

I made the decision, surgery was scheduled, and then I had to wait.

My disordered body was meant to climb onto the surgical table at 10:00 am. I still waited at 1:30 pm. Weary from both lack of food and nervous emotion and dreadfully thirsty from lack of water, waiting for surgery became a hardship in itself.

I passed the time with a book. I'd downloaded it the night before last in preparation for waiting. It was an autobiography by a woman called Sheila Walsh.

As I waited, I read: 'It is one thing to believe in the ability of a surgeon to perform life or death surgery; it is quite another to allow yourself to be put to sleep and submit yourself to his knife.' 1

The practical words about surgery became a metaphor for trusting God and allowing him to perform surgery on our inner lives. I'd never heard of this author before, but as I waited and read, I found myself identifying with her timely words. Sheila Walsh wrote with a raw edge about her own life struggles with depression. Her words made me want to weep as I began to realise it wasn't only my body that required surgery. Reflected in Sheila's struggles were parallels to my own life. I was ignoring stuffed-down emotion and had for a lifetime.

That particular Wednesday, I put my trust in a surgeon I didn't know. When I awoke from dreamless oblivion, my body shuddered from pain. My abdomen felt like it had been stabbed, which, in-a-somewhat civilised manner, is precisely what had transpired. The pain was excruciating, but over time it lessened and disappeared. What's more, gallstones no longer ailed me either.

My body became healthy, but Father God gently began highlighting my emotional weaknesses through his Holy Spirit's power. I needed his healing, but more than that, I needed Him.

One of the biggest admissions I ever had to make was to myself: I struggled with depression. Its suffocating blackness had lurked beneath the surface for years. I shoved it down, trying to keep it hidden.

But it was time to be honest, and being real meant that I began to cry out to God and confess all my weaknesses to Him. I looked to my Father, through His son Jesus, in the power of His Holy Spirit. I made a choice to put my trust in the most skilled of surgeons. My God, the living God, heard my cry. He took His surgeon's knife, inserted its sharp point and cracked my emotions open like a walnut shell.

A journey began then. A hard one. It's painful to be under God's knife, but it's necessary, and there's no wiser place to be.

Is there neediness in your own soul?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and cry out to the Father. He hears the desperate voice. His words in the Bible promise that He answers anyone who seeks and calls upon His name in earnest.

And, at times, when the journey becomes excruciating, know that the pain will pass, and healing will come. The body takes time to heal after an operation, but so does the soul.

My journey is not yet over, but my eyes are on Jesus, and I'm trusting in my Abba Father. You can trust Him too.

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.”
Psalm 34:4-5

1. Walsh, S. 2015. Loved Back to Life. Thomas Nelson, Tennessee.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Shine like stars in a dark world

8/3/2017

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Philippians 2:14-16

JESU JUVA

For six months of my life, I lived near the edge of the desert in the Western Australian countryside. When I awoke each morning, I stood outside and gazed over fields covered with red dust and brown grass. Flocks of white cockatoos ascended in noisy pandemonium as they swirled through a pure blue sky. The daylight hours possessed a rugged beauty which never wearied my eyes.

But it was the night sky that mesmerised me most. Away from city lights, town lights, street lights, house lights — all artificial lights — the Milky Way flowed like a river through the sky. Stars glittered in the velvety blackness. They looked brighter and bigger than ever I'd seen before.

On three occasions, I even saw shooting stars. The sky was black enough, the shooting satellites bright enough, that my unaided gaze saw the momentary fizzles of lights.

Those country night skies never failed to remind me of the apostle Paul's words in his letter to the followers of Jesus Christ in Phillipi: “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”

Every generation since Adam and Eve has been 'warped and crooked' and, nowadays, it seems more noticeable than ever. Perhaps, because of the constant background chatter of television and internet, the darkness appears to be deepening. Each day brings murmurings of terrorism, war, disease, creeping authoritarianism, immorality, and all manners of destruction and death.

True believers need to shine the brightest when the world is at its darkest. This means we should be noticeably different from the crowds of unbelievers who surround us.

Can people see something pure shining through our lives? The way we talk, the way we behave, the way we respond, the way we care for other people, the way we have an unshakeable trust in our Heavenly Father. It's a challenge. In our own strength, it is impossible. We might possess good intentions for a time, but those good intentions can so easily vanish! But with God, nothing is impossible. The Holy Spirit has been sent to help us in our weaknesses.

When God calls us to shine forth, it's not our own light that shines. Human beings can't produce any light from within themselves. It's the light of Jesus which shines through us. It's the light of Jesus which will show people the path to our Father God.

In future days, the purpose of this website is to encourage followers of the one true God (God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit) to shine like stars in this world. And also to encourage anyone who does not yet know God to seek him.

It's a tough world. The darkness is deepening across the globe. Sometimes we might even be tempted to give up. But with our God, we can overcome. He is powerful, loving and faithful. Press in and press on. Keep on going and never give up. With God's help, we will reflect the light of Jesus. That's when we'll shine.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Forward>>

Are you thirsty?

Splashes of joy

The sharp end of the surgeon's knife

Shine like stars in a dark world

Shine like Stars

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