Reflections of Brengle - holiness

"I saw the humility of Jesus, and my prode; the meekness of Jesus, and my temper; the lowliness of Jesus , and my ambition; the purity of Jesus , and my unclean heart; the faithfulness of Jesus, and the deceitfulness of my heart; the unselfishness of Jesus, and my selfishness; the trust and faith of Jesus, and my doubts and unbelief; the holiness of Jesus, and my unholiness.  I got my eyes off everybody but Jesus and myself, and I came to loathe myself." 

Samuel Logan Brengle p47-48 of 'Samuel Logan Brengle' by Hall

Great words of Samuel Logan Brengle - my experience tonight, but I thank God that as I can't sleep even though I'm exhausted, Jesus came to save me tonight from my inadequacies and all the feelings of unholiness, just like Isaiah felt in chapter 6, the live coal has touched my lips, and maybe even my heart. I thank Jesus that right now, I no longer loathe myself though as Brengle says, but in Jesus changing my heart, I am now starting to see myself as He is re-shaping me - it's a work in progress though!

Jesus can and will do the same for you, that is my testimony.  I pray that Jesus will be all you need today and as I was reminded while standing collecting in a shopping centre today and saw a guy missing an arm - Jesus wants to make you whole today - not necessarily physically, but spiritually, the essence of yourself.

Why don't you just take a moment and soak up His presence.

May Jesus, who died to give you life, give you rest and wholeness that you need today.

Be blessed
Simon

What are you controlled by?

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit"

Ephesians 5:18

What a contrast between riotous living and righteous living


But if a man or woman can be controlled by alcohol, how much more can the Holy Spirit control a man or woman?

Benny Hinn - 'Good Morning Holy Spirit' p92

It's always good to stop and re-evaluate and look at where we are in life. We can't really intentionally go forward unless we look at where we are. Of course life does go on whether we do or don't, but to intentionally shape the direction of our life we need to.

To direct my life for tomorrow, I need the Holy Spirit to direct where that is actually going, otherwise I'm just directing it on my own wisdom, which I admit, can sometimes be not so great!
I'd much rather depend upon the all wise, all knowing God who has a perfect plan for my life - will I choose to follow it or not, is up to me.


What are you going to choose to be controlled by today - the choice is completely up to you.


May God bless your journey today, and tomorrow!

Re-evaluating

It's so easy to get caught up in routine and become insensitive to what you are actually doing and the way it can effect those around you.

We run a breakfast program at our local Primary School 5 days a week, and it can be very annoying, especially during the winter, getting up a couple of hours earlier than you would if it was just a 'office' hours day and it can be very stressful with dozens of youngsters demanding different cereals or toast, or spaghetti on toast, or a milo, or tinned fruit etc.

All we ask from the kids in return is to wash their dishes, but for most of them, that's too much and they creatively hide the bowls or cups and we have to hunt them down and stay behind to do their dishes.

Some days I just grumble but 'suck it up' and wonder why I am actually doing what I am doing - is it really worth it?!

Today we had a couple of new girls come to our kids club that we know from the breakfast program and at the end, their mother was telling us that her daughter has never eaten breakfast at home, but has been excited every morning and getting up early to come to breakfast at the school. Apparently it's her highlight of the day!

What a slap to my far from enthusiastic approach to breakfast!

You never really know what God is doing around you, nor how He is even using you in your day to day 'routines'

I thank God for His gentle reminder to me to never undervalue anything that He uses us for. It can be so easy to forget the impact that even the simplest of things can do to others and who knows what they might be going through.

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Colossians 4:6

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free.

Amen!”

Prophetic movement

I was at at conference on the weekend called 'Dwelling in The Spirit' in Melbourne. The conference was amazingly powerful and there was no doubting that God was present. I felt on the first night that God had even sent four angels specifically for our time there, but not sure of their specific role or purpose but God surely had His way.

As we went along, one of our main speakers, Corey went into a ministry time at the end of his sessions and many many people recieved words from God and were encouraged as it usually is when you hear from God.

One of the things I took away from the weekend is that I heard God saying to us, and when I say us I'm speaking to The Salvation Army who it was run by and attended by, we NEED to be a prophetic movement!

It's easy enough to respond to situations but to be one step ahead, or to take leadership over situations it to have a hand up; in terms of the 'evils' of this world, we NEED to be one step ahead to be relevant, or else we will loose influence and be irrelivant. One saying I love is 'prevention is better than a cure'; it pays to be prophetic, and the world we live in needs us to be.

God, His Word and His Salvation is going to be always relevant, more than relevant, a necessity for the world, so how do we bring that necessity to the world around us - by being prophetic - being relevant, two steps ahead of the enemy in whatever form he is counteracting God's work.

What does this look like and how will this happen? How it will look, I'm not completely sure, maybe a bit like the book of Acts but in modern settings, but how, just by listening to the voice of God, loving Him with all of our hearts and minds and acting on His Word when He speaks.

What is the Spirit saying to The Salvation Army today? How are we being that prophetic movement that the world so desparetly needs? Love God and love your neighbour - pray night and day for justice (Luke 18:7-8 http://www.saglobal247.org/)

I just want to leave you with a passage of scripture;

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

2 Peter 1:19

Be relevant (prophetic) to the world that is needing the relevance of God and His salvation.

God

There is a living God; He has spoken in the Bible. He means what He says and will do all He has promised.

- Hudson Taylor

Short message for today

"What is impossible with man, is possible with God"

Luke. 18:27