Obedience Cream

A very good friend of mine, who always looks beautiful and has excellent hair, shared with me a life lesson that she discovered with a hair straightener she bought. When she opened the pack, there was a DVD inside which contained the instructions on the process of how to achieve straight hair. She smiled as the presenter stressed that before using the straightener, the 'obedience cream' must be applied to the hair for the desired result. My friend remarked that we could all use a bit of obedience cream around the house!

I had my own similar life lesson when i took my 3yr old son shopping. We had dropped my daughter off at school and she had been a bit clingy and shed a few tears as her grandparents had gone home that morning. We were going to the shops to buy a remote control car as a gift and so I let him ask the lady at the shop where we would find it. Apparently he had been paying a bit too much (or too little) attention that morning as he asked where the 'self control card' was. Obviously he thought his sister needed a little boost in self control!

Wouldnt it be nice to have somewhere we could order - I'll have some obedience cream, a self control card and some trust tablets please! Unfortunately there is no local grocer that sells fruit of the Spirit and no on-line store for instant character upgrades. What we need is to upgrade our view of God.

I had never thought of it like this before, until I heard Aliki Flodine speak and share through song this weekend. We can try all we like to improve our obedience, increase our trust or boost our self control, but until we are filled with His Spirit, and seeing God for all He is through the Bible, we will never be able to grow. The only way is by having our view of God upgraded.

A friend rang, just as i wrote that, and shared how she needs to spend time in prayer and reading the Bible so that she can fathom how awesome God is, and through that, she will be able to trust him more! WOW!

God provides us with his word which shows us who he is, and he has given us his spirit to apply it and challenge us. I need an upgrade and thats exactly where Im going to start.

Bring it on!

p.s. do you want somewhere to start? Read the Psalms and join with David in praising God for his awesome characteristics or focus on the names of God - El Shaddai (God Almighty), Jehovah Jireh (God who provides), El Elyon (God most High).

Life's a Beach

Speaking of walking, my brother was strolling along a Beach in Hawaii last week (as you do!) and has an exciting story that Id like to share with you.

"I went for a walk on the beach in Maui just to pray. Was thinking, 'Gee I never really try to share God with people'. So I kinda just prayed, 'God give me the opportunity to talk to someone about you'. It was one of those prayers that I wasn't really concentrating on, just sorta said it in passing if you know what I mean...

Anyway, I'm walking along and I see a guy sitting on the beach. I just thought... I've got to talk to this guy.

Long story short, this guy was just praying to God for help a minute before I walked up to him. He was an alcoholic, no job, nowhere to live, hadn't eaten in days. Just down and out. So I bought him lunch and some stuff to eat for the next few days before he started a job he had just got a few days later. It was just so cool that I walked up just after he prayed for help... and very cool that God answered my prayer even though It was just one of those 'in passing prayers'."

That, my friends, is what walking with Jesus is about! Its about being in step with God, so you can just offer those 'in passing' prayers. Its about knowing his prompting - when you just know you have to do something. Its about meeting the needs of people around you in real, practical and spiritual ways. Its about being Jesus' hands and feet and joining him in the work that he is already doing.

"And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love." 2 John 1:5-7

"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:6

Those footprints in the sand in Maui remind me of someone's...