Peaceful Zealots

Christians love to be reminded especially at Christmas of the words "Prince of Peace" and "Zeal" used in the verses below:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭9‬:‭6-7‬ NIV)

Of Christians purpose our aim should be to become a Peaceful Zealot for Christ!!

Enjoy the Christmas Festivities and we hope to see you at All-Souls to share it with us too.

　

Cussing “Jesus Christ!!”

Never could understand the bad wrap Jesus Christ gets when people use his name in cussing...

Whatever we think or believe of Him we cannot ignore his Great Commandment “Love one Another” hardly worth cussing over!! Maybe it's because we often confuse acts carried out by others in His name that are not in accordance with His commandment to be those of His, well of course they are not His, they are acts of humans!

So when people use the name Jesus Christ for cussing (or an exclamation!) Christians will often cringe as they love the name Jesus Christ and will always be saddened when it’s used in any other context other than in love/reverence. For Christians Acts 4:12: "for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" This is Jesus Christ and He means everything to them.

 

Happy!

The world seems obsessed with being happy :)

Mindfulness, at Peace, Connected, Content, Zenned and whatever the latest buzz craze is!!

It also seems the more affluent the country is, the greater this obsession...

The Apostle Paul did it tough at times (he was executed in the end!) after a life of plenty, he knew the extremes and shared this little gem:

Philippians 4:12  “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want”

Christians try to keep in mind that this world is imperfect and the perfection in heaven aside God is yet to come. We have a lot to look forward to as Christians and in the meantime we try to be content with our lot in life, ultimately these times will soon pass, we have an eternal 'Happy' focus...

We of Free Will...

Lord, you never force us to believe in you.

                         You don’t make us praise you.

                         You won’t command us to love you.

                         But instead, you invite us to come.

 

In our heart of hearts at some point we all know there is a Creator God - the world is no fluke.

 

God is God, the almightiest being that can do with his creations as he well pleases - its not about us, even if we think it is - as we his creations are always within God's power even though he created his creations with their own free-will.

 

God invites, in fact God longs for us to acknowledge him in all this - then we of free will become truly free.

 

The letter is "I" ...

Two Sundays back Leonie gave a terric message at our families service... just one of her key points is really worth repeating here:


The letter " I " - is in the center of 'sin'

So if we think about it....


Sin is:

Loving things and Using people

Where Love is:

Loving people and Using things


Pretty simple stuff isnt it? But it is this type of catchy reminder that really sticks... guess which group of folk are in the happier camp?

Thanks Leonie :)



　

Our Own Serenity

The following came through on a daily feed from somewhere:


"Serenity does not expect or demand love from others but thinks of new ways to offer love even
 to those who seem unloving.

It opens as we let go of trying to become something and begin to savour being someone.

Serenity is the courage to let go, to open up, to be"


Often we are caught up trying to be something for someone or being something else for ourselves.

This can dictate who and how we associate with different people yet these biases will ultimately hold back our own serenity in who we are.

One of my favourite sayings to correct the untruth that creeps in is to say:

"All Souls are Equal" (a nice little plug for our church as well) it brings the ego back and with it the serenity of being exactly who we are and just as God made us.

The last one (For 2012!)

The final blogging for 2012 comes from 2 quotes. 

The first being an adaptation "it wasn’t until I figured out that it wasn’t the Lord who was working with me but me working with the Lord that all things started to fall into place" (source unknown).

So let us head into 2013 resting from the stress of our own efforts (if so) and trusting in our loving God to keep on showing us his will for us - keeping in mind that the creator of an entire universe knows how to communicate that will to us!

The second one... As Christians we should consider ourselves “counter-cultural arming ourselves with love and peace" (Sharron Reissinger Lucas) as we go out into this world.

What a pure and simple message and an easy one to keep us all in his peace when going about our daily ways in 2013.

....and just to close with a final joyous Christmas (common-ism) "Jesus is the reason for the Season" so let us all enjoy his birthday celebrations - Amen!!