Flashback :2007

Hi! I've been sorting through my old files, with the intention of cleaning up my computer and I came across a few of these old blogs from a time before Facebook was popular. The deep, dark past of 2007... This one is from MySpace! Remember that? I wrote it in May 2007! In fact, I wrote it on my last ever sick day!(before my current enforced holiday!)Interesting glimpse into the past. (Disclaimer: this article reflects my thoughts, attitudes and beliefs of the time, not necessarily now. It reminded me that life is a journey and we are always learning and growing) Hope you enjoy it :)

BEGIN HERE: MAY 2007

Hello

I have the day off because I have a cold and it is raining. So I can take some time out and write something. I'm looking forward to this... lets see what happens.

Some of you may know, but most probably don't, that I have been studying at the Living Wisdom night school for the past 18 weeks. In short, this school is teaching us some life and counseling skills. It also has many other goals, such as teaching us how to speak the truth in love, how to see ourselves how God sees us, and to teach us how to renew our minds. It has been my experience that we are often told to do many Christian things but find it hard coz we don’t know exactly "how" to do it.

So that’s what this course has done for my classmates and I. Now I know how to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. Now I know why I believe lies and don’t want to embrace the truth. It’s often easier to live in delusion coz its all we have known, in some cases, for our entire lives. But Jesus promised that when we know the truth it will set us free, and I have finally been persuaded that this is the case, even if I have to go through hell first!

But enough about that. I was just thinking "yeah it’s great that I have been studying a course on wisdom, but why? what’s the point of getting wisdom anyway?" So I thought, the bible might tell me. It’s good like that!

I first checked my concordance to see what "wisdom" translates to in the original Hebrew. "hokma" wisdom, skill, learning, this can refer to skill in life, trade, war, or spiritual things. This is cool. It seems to be telling me that wisdom is a skill. Skills can be learned can’t they? Cool so wisdom isn't necessarily something super-spiritual (although there is that element) but it’s a skill! Sweet as. We can learn wisdom, and with practice get better skilled at life and other various things.

Cool.

Anyway, Proverbs chapters two and three seem to give some pretty cool advice about these benefits of wisdom. So I started to read it and here's some of the stuff that it says. I think there seems to be a lot of things so I will just list a few off them.

Verse 5: You will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you. (Well that’s good, if discretion and understanding are protecting and guarding me, then surely that means I don't have to protect myself. I don't have to be on the defensive, I can let my walls down, I can express who I am and not be afraid. All of our relationships and lives will be much more fulfilling if we all let our walls down and came closer to each other. Isn't that what God intends? He will protect us. Relax).

Wisdom will save us from wicked men.

It will save us from the adulteress.

We will live in the land. (What land?) The Promised Land (what's your Promised Land?) wisdom will let you live in your Promised Land, where your dreams and goals are fulfilled and the desires of your heart are met. I want to live there!

Our lives will be prolonged and prosperous, our bodies healthy and nourished.

Wisdom will bring peace to our lives. (Not necessarily our circumstances, but in our souls (heart/mind/emotions) instead).

Well, there’s heaps more in there, I highly recommend that you read it yourself...

In Proverbs 3:7 Solomon warns us not to be wise in our own eyes. My thoughts here would be, to remember who gives you the wisdom = God, not yourself! And also to check why you are gaining wisdom. Is it for purely selfish reasons? To feel good about yourself and improve you life. Or is it purely to please other people? If we always please people, then how can we always please God? Both are wrong. We should be seeking wisdom so that we can find a healthy balance of helping both ourselves and others and ultimately bring some positive attention to our heavenly Father.

Its not always selfish to want good things, and its not always loving to help other people (they might just need to learn how to swim on their own for example). So seek wisdom for everyone's benefit and ask God to help you remain humble as you do so.

Well I might go get some breakfast now. I have only just touched the tip of this huge iceberg, and I am in desperate need of a coffee. Hope you get something from my ramblings and seek a bit more wisdom in your lives.

Might come back later, got the day off, so there’s only so much relaxing I can do without getting bored!

Bye

END HERE: JULY 2012

Well, I did come back later! Took my time though! Since then I have done many wise and unwise things, but with the intention of increasing the wise things and learning to weed out those unwise things.

I was thinking that our lives are like gardens, with many beautiful and fruitful plants growing in them. If we keep making unwise decisions, it's like allowing the weeds to grow and choke those God-given plants, making it difficult for us to produce anything of any value! You would have to rely on going to the supermarket every week and giving your money to someone else just to get fed! I would rather grow my own veges to feed my family, and even have so many that I would take my extra food to the supermarket and give it to them! That sounds very rewarding!

(Of course we will always need to go to the supermarket regularly to get stuff, if we want our lives to actually taste any good!) ;)

I don't want my life to be like that neglected, old compost heap! With a few old spuds growing in it, and lots of weeds!

And let's be honest... it smells a bit funny...

I would rather my tomato plants, for example, were straining under the weight of masses of fruit, needing others to take the fruit off! This helps everyone! I would have to help others, just to survive! A weak spindly tomato plant with weeds growing all over it won't help anyone. Sometimes it even struggles to help itself!

While some things change over time, and we should all be wanting to grow, some things remain the same. I am still in desperate need of a coffee!

:)

Sprinkler

I had a bit of a prophetic word on the weekend. Christians would probably know what that means. For the rest of you, I will quickly try to explain what that means!in completely unreligious language! It's a bit like getting a picture, or a phrase, or a sense of something a bit deeper, in your mind, or heart or somewhere! that is often God trying to speak to you, or someone else around you. It's not kooky new age crystal ball rubbish, but it is an attempt by someone or something bigger than us, which we don't really understand, which Christians and many other people, would call "God", trying to tell us something, which will help us in our life. Anyone can get them, and some people get more than others. You just have to be open to listening to them. Usually, when I remember, I just say something like, "God, if there's anything you want to show me, or tell me, or maybe use me to tell someone else something, can you tell me? I don't fully understand everything, but I will try to do my best, and leave all the rest up to you!" (that's called praying, by the way ;))

This picture came into my head while I was playing drums at a church meeting on Friday night, and I did't get the chance to share it, coz I was obviously busy!

So I usually get pictures of random things, that don't seem make any sense. Some people get words, some people get feelings etc, we are all different... This was of a small, round, common garden sprinkler. It was connected to a hose, and sitting out on a sparsely covered back lawn. There was no water coming out of it, and the grass around it was dead or dying. Then suddenly, it turned on and started firing water out in a circular radius around it and instantly, the grass grew up thick and green!

The thought that accompanied this picture was, "see what happens when you are plugged in to me and you let me use you how I have designed you to be used. Everyone around you grows if you just be yourself and let my living water flow through you. It's not for your benefit, it's for the benefit of everyone around you that you let me use you how I want to. People around you will miss their destiny and not fulfill their potential because you are not setting them free! What are you afraid of?"

I love getting stuff like this! It has nothing to do with me, any more than someone buying you a present has to do with you. The only thing that you had to do was to be given it and then use it, or whatever...

So I believe I was given this, and it's no big deal, because if we read believe in God, all of us should be getting stuff like this fairly regularly I would say... It's not weird. It's completely normal. Just don't be a spiritual,religious fruitcake! Thats stupid and embarrassing for everyone involved. Just be real!

So hopefully this word is for you, or for someone you know, and I hope it makes a difference too!

If you ever get prophetic words, I'd love to hear them! It can be really encouraging.

Also, come along to La Vida this weekend, for a couple of days learning about and experiencing more of this kind of stuff, with David and Greta Peters. Message me if you're keen, coz registering ASAP is important.

Good bye