I recently had the chance to drive around the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Overall it was a very wonderful experience.
Everywhere I went I found these signs reminding people that in Australia we drive on the left. I gather that overseas visitors have had trouble staying on the correct side of the road.. !
As I’ve thought more about it I’ve been struck by the message that comes through. There is a right side of the road and a wrong side. Travelling on the wrong side will result in disaster. The right side will make it possible to arrive safely at our destination.
The same is true for life’s road. Jesus Christ is the right way, travelling along the road with him is going to get us to our destination. Travelling on the wrong side of life will result in disaster.
It bears thinking about!
December 11, 2008
September 30, 2008
In Spring the trees blossom with a cascade of colours and smells. It’s a delightful time! And especially as everywhere you look there are the signs of new life, and with it new hope.
No matter how dark the path we tread or how deep the river we cross, we will get to another place. What we find when we arrive does depend somewhat on us and the choices we make. I can choose to wallow in a ’slough of despond’ or I can choose to look for whatever may provide encouragement and hope.
These particular blossoms only last a day or two… yet they have a beautiful fragrance and are attractive to the birds who come and feed on the nectar. They gave me joy just to see them and to see the birds enjoying them.
May 9, 2008
“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV
Our mirrors reflect the outward appearance; God’s mirror reveals the inward condition.
We need to also let ourselves see our own heart, and then allow God’s healing and cleansing power to free us from all the grief, pain, and guilt we’ve lived with unnecessarily.
October 21, 2007
Mike Evans from Wholeness Ministries has written an article on stress which I would like to include here as part of the stress series. I hope you find it helpful.
Who among us has not experienced stress? Stress at home, in school, on the job, even in church. Perhaps most especially in church.
DEFINITION— Stress: anxiety, nervousness, pressure, depression, sleeplessness. It is uncomfortable, not fun. It manifests itself in the flesh.
I. WHAT CAUSES STRESS.
Stress is a result of conflict in finances, family and job.
False expectations( self-imposed and “others” imposed).
Trust: lack of trust in regards to God, self and others.
Comparisons: envy, jealousy, pride.
Fear, perception of risk in any area of your life.
Wounds or hurts: a result of those things which are done to us by another person or some experience we have been exposed to in the past. These hurts affect us in the present in the form of bad memories, and weak or wounded emotions. This in turn leads us into various forms of sin, depression, a sense of worthlessness and inferiority, unreasoning fears and anxieties as well as psychosomatic illness, etc.II. WHAT CAN WE DO TO REDUCE OR ELIMINATE STRESS?
FIRST! Realize that our battle is a battle fought in the spiritual realm. Ultimately all that causes stress can be dealt with by knowing and employing some spiritual principles.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
SECOND! Create an environment that will reduce stress.
“Do not worry”- FINANCES,
Matthew 6:25 (NIV) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?“Get rid of…” harmful RELATIONSHIPS
Ephesians 4:31 (NIV) Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.“Wives and Husbands” – FAMILY
Ephesians 5:33 (NIV) However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.“Children and Parents”- FATHERS AND MOTHERS
Ephesians 6:2 (NIV) “Honor your father and mother”–which is the first commandment with a promise”THIRD! Be willing to accept and deal with the hurts and wounds we’ve all experienced and understand the necessity of giving and receiving forgiveness. Matthew 18:15 (NIV) “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
“Be transformed–renewing of you mind”
Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.“put off the old self and put on Christ”
Ephesians 4:24 (NIV) put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.“Put to death what is earthly in you”
Colossians 3:5 (NIV) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.Just because we are “born again”, our mind, will and emotions are not automatically changed. Transformation is a process where we are dealing with those areas of our life that cause fear, anxiety, depression, etc.
When the Word of God comes and convicts you, how you respond to that can release stress. Submitting to what God wants, will release the stress.
III. WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE HAVE AVAILABLE?
Much of the stress we experience today could be significantly reduced by dealing first of all with the past and then by understanding and accepting who we are in Christ and what that means in terms of practical, everyday living.Who we are:
Romans 8-Children of God
IJohn 3:1 Children
Eph.2:4-6 Seated with Him
Gal. 1:4 Chosen, Adopted, Sealed
Eph. 2:10 His workmanship
ICor.3:16 A Temple
What we have available.
ICor.1:7 Spiritual Gifts
Eph.6:10 Armor of God
Romans 8:26 Spirit interceding for us.
Romans 8:34 Jesus interceding for us.
2Tim.3:16 Word of God
WE HAVE IDENTITY-POSITION-RELATIONSHIP
We choose the level at which we believe this and live it. That decision will determine the extent of stress in you life and how you deal with that stress.God wants to help you overcome stress. He has given us the tools to do it. Go and try them out.
Retrieved from: Dr Grant Mullen’s Article Archive
20 October 2007
October 17, 2007
Stressers
* When control issues at stake – things out of my control => stress
* When have to do something have never done before and don’t know how to do => stress (Tapping into danger of not knowing what/how to do – an old wound?)
* When have too much to do and not enough time to do it => stress
Why have too much to do?
(1) Overcommit?
(2) Unable to say ‘no’?
(3) Tapping into a lie/wound that have to do everything I’m asked to do?
(4) Need for approval which agrees to do too much?
(5) Need for legitimacy or acceptance so take on too much?
(6) Perfectionism ? So believe can and should do it all, etc.
* When find oneself in a position way out of comfort zone => stress
* When find oneself in a position that initially enjoyable but then shifts as added responsibilities come and discover these trigger => stress (- do these tap into old hidden wounds?)
Some of the above inter-relate and there’s probably lots lots more. Looks like a lot of possible sources / possibilities of stress becoming significant in a person’s life.
Result:
- Tiredness, weariness, exhaustion
- Panic attacks
- Depression
- Physical ailment such as arthritis, asthma, allergic reactions, mysterious aches and pains, ulcers, susceptibility to infection, etc.
- Psychosomatic ailments
- Sleeplessness or restless sleep
August 17, 2007
This Healing Prayer blog has been inactive for a while. Apologies for this. Life has been a bit full for quite a while and I am now in the midst preparing to retire back to Australia later this year. After that’s happened I’ll work at adding more material which I pray will be a blessing and encouragement to all who stumble across it.
Blessings!
May 31, 2006
The following is adapted from John & Paula Sandford’s book, “Healing the Wounded Spirit”. I have found it quite useful in helping people ascertain how they feel about God. We can be angry at him without realising it. I hope this is helpful.
Checking and Dealing with Anger at God
Questions:
Let’s imagine that we existed in the heavens. All questions are to be answered silently if the person so wishes. We will discuss them later.
1. Suppose we are sitting in a group in a heavenly place enjoying the angels and the saints, the Lord enters and says, ‘I would like three or four volunteers to go to earth.’ Would you have been one of the volunteers?
2. If Jesus had presented himself before you, had said your name, and asked, ‘Will you go to earth for me?’ would you have responded, ‘Oh, boy, yes Sir, right away, Hallelujah!’ or ‘O.K. (drat!)’
3. If you had to come to earth but were given your choice, would you choose the time and place in which you were born, or some other century or country?
4. Would you choose to be born to your parents, or some other?
5. Would you choose your father? Or some other father?
6. Your mother?
7. Would you choose to be a boy or a girl?
8. Would you choose your face?
9. Your body?
10. Your mind?
11. Your character and personality?
12. If you are a woman, are you beautiful? Pretty? Attractive? Desirable? Loveable? Would someone choose you? Should they? If you are a man, are you handsome? Good looking? Attractive? Desirable? Loveable? would someone choose you? Should they?
13. Do you like you?
14. If Jesus walked up to you in the present moment and said, ‘I’ll give you your choice. You can either go all the way through life or straight up to Heaven with me right now,’ which way would you choose?
As we ask these questions, we tune in our spirit to the other’s spirit to sense by empathy what he really feels. Sometimes people are incapable of being fully honest. We may sense more accurately than they can express what they actually should have answered.
Statement:
‘In whatever degree you would not have volunteered for life on earth or would have agreed only reluctantly to come, in whatever degree you would not have chosen your time and place or either or both of your parents, or you would not have chosen the sex you are, in whatever degree you would not have chosen your face, your body, your mind or character, in whatever degree you do not think you are beautiful or handsome, loveable or chooseable, in whatever degree you don’t love you, to that degree you are angry at God. You are saying inside that He could have done a better job creating you. In whatever degree you would choose to go straight to Heaven rather than live life here, you are telling God you don’t like it here.’
Prayer:
‘Lord, we repent for rebelling against being born here on earth where you put us. We repent for not liking and accepting what you created us to be. We repent for rejecting earth and ourselves and all of earth’s experiences. We couldn’t trust your lordship, that you knew what you were doing. We forgive you, Lord Jesus Christ, and Father God, for creating us and putting us here. We repent for rejecting ourselves. We accept our bodies. Reconcile us to ourselves. Reconcile us to our time and place, our position in this earth. Thank you, Jesus.’
Sandford, John & Paula. 1985. Healing the wounded spirit. Tulsa, OK: Victory House. pp 230-1, 236-7.
Purchase the book from Amazon.
March 29, 2006
This is the second in a series on managing stress. At the Managing Stress website, Wayne Froggat* has an article entitled “Enlightened Self-Interest”. The article is quite practical in its application. He says,
- The ability to act in your own interests follows on from self-acceptance and confidence. As we shall see, though, it is also important to take into account the interests of others. The principle of enlightened self-interest has two parts:
- To cope with stress and achieve happiness, you need to place your own interests first; and …
- Your own interests will be best served if you take into account the interests of other people.
He has a number of helpful points under the following sections:
Human beings are fundamentally self-interested
[...]Human beings are also motivated by social interest
[...]Why enlightened self-interest is important to stress management
[...]
In his final section, Developing enlightened self-interest, he says:
- Go out of your way to practice showing positive feelings towards others- gratitude, respect, trust – which in turn will arouse goodwill from them. Choose some new activities in various life areas – work, family, leisure, that will bring goodwill.
- At the same time, act assertively. Ask for what you want, say no to what you don’t, and tell others (when appropriate) what you think and how you feel.
- In other words, until enlightened self-interest becomes part of you, consciously seek to get you get more of what you want, while respecting the views and feelings of the other people involved.
The whole article may be found at:
Centre for Stress Management: Enlightened Self-interest:
* Wayne Froggat is Consultant Director of the Centre for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, London, and Director of the New Zealand Centre for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. Consultant Editor of the Online Journal of Multimodal and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy.
March 29, 2006
Stress is something we contend with every day. Stress can be good stress where it gives us impetus and energy to be productive in a our daily taks. Most of us are familiar with the stress that is bad stress and which becomes a major factor in causing many problems in our lives. This is when stressful events occur without a time recovery time between. The pressure builds up until we lose the ability to function well, at which point we are in distress and become exhausted, suffer ill health and possibly a breakdown.
I’ve come across a website which has some helpful articles about stress. One of these articles is “Twelve Rational Principles: Using the principles of Rational Effectiveness Training to achieve a satisfying and productive life” by Wayne Froggatt (Consultant Director of the Centre for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, London)
The twelve principles are:
Self-Knowledge
Self-Acceptance and Confidence
Enlightened Self-Interest
Tolerance for Frustration and Discomfort
Long-Range Enjoyment
Risk-Taking
Moderation
Emotional and Behavioural Responsibility
Self-Direction and Commitment
Flexibility
Objective Thinking
Acceptance of Reality
Each principle is defined and described in the article. Follow link below to read the rest:
August 11, 2005
In Luke 4:18 & 19 Jesus quotes from Isaiah as he begins his ministry and says,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
He goes on to declare to those in the synagogue that the scripture had come true before their eyes that very day!
In Isaiah the full passage says,
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, aznd with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Reading through the gospels we read how Jesus again and again performed the most incredible miracles:
In the midst of it all Jesus sent out the disciples saying,
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received.” (Matthew 10:8) Obviously, he fully expected that it would be the case and it was.
Incredibly, Jesus says in John 14:12(-14)
“The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!”
The same works? And, greater? Yes, indeed!
Am I seeing it? Am I experiencing it myself? Not yet.
But, something inside me says that Jesus wouldn’t say something like that if it wasn’t possible. Frankly, I’m tired of seeing only little bits of healing here and there. I want to know what Jesus was talking about, to see the greater works happening in me, and through me.
It really seems to me that the greater works ought to be the norm of our lives!
