Trust me, I've been there, I've looked, I've searched and I know now, that there are no answers to be found in the bottom of a bottle or on the edge of a blade! Fighting Hard, Recovering, Rebuilding, REBORN. Moving on from addiction to a new life.
He was there in the beginning At His side As the Father formed the universe His love spans all time Time gone Time of now And time to come So hold on Feel Him there Feel His love Hear His word But hold on Now is your time
He was there at the beginning So shall He be at the end Where the end is new life There we find the word The One with God at the beginning Who’s face we will greet at the end
Christ was there with God when the world was formed, yet we stayed so far from God, He came to earth as man to save us all.
His love was so great, He left His seat in heaven to die for us.
LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING by RED ROCKS WORSHIP I see His body breaking I see His fingers bleed I see the darkness tremble At the ground below His feet And in the darkest hours There on Calvary He was sweetly broken Broken beautifully, broken beautifully
So come on into the waters Come let the broken sing Come all you sons and daughters His love changes everything So come when the fear is fighting You finding the Risen King Come on and let the light in Your love changes everything
And when the Heavens opened I saw the sins of men Become a crown of glory As You died and rose again And in the darkest hours And in the valley low I will fear no evil ‘Cause You’ll never let me go You’ll never let me go-oo
So come on into the waters Come let the broken sing Come all you sons and daughters His love changes everything So come when the fear is fighting You finding the Risen King Come on and let the light in Your love changes everything
And light can overcome when death has lost its sting Your love, Your love, Your love changes everything And love can overcome when death has lost its sting Your love, Your love, Your love changes everything
And in the darkest hours And in the valley low I will fear no evil ‘Cause You’ll never let me go You’ll never let me go
So come on into the waters Come let the broken sing Come all you sons and daughters His love changes everything So come when the fear is fighting You finding the Risen King Come on and let the light in Your love changes everything So come on into the waters Come let the broken sing Come all you sons and daughters His love changes everything So come when the fear is fighting You finding the Risen King Come on and let the light in Your love changes everything Your love, Your love , Your love changes everything Your love, Your love , Your love changes everything Your love, Your love , Your love changes everything Your love, Your love , Your love changes everything
Woah-oh-ooh Woah-woah, oh-oooh Your love changes everything Woah-woah, oh-ooh Woah-oh-ooh, woah-oh-ooh
Last night’s quietness was in a way a bit of a low spot, I really was a little shaken by the silence of the house. By the time Victoria and Eve arrived home, Ben was staying at his Gran’s, it was late and the rain that had been promised came down and came down hard, taking out the satellite TV signal with it, which was fine, because there was nothing on at all! So I ended up reading John, Chapters 10 to 17, although I have read through them a few times over the last 16 months, I started to feel and understand them more than before.
I was particularly interested in the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, although Lazarus had been dead a number of days before Jesus arrived, he was raised from the dead, when everyone present had lost faith, when they all questioned Christ.
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (John 11, 37)
Yet Jesus did what they all believed impossible, he brought Lazarus back to life as if I he was only asleep, all around doubted, they had no faith in what Jesus could do or who He was.
Also, this week I have been drawn to reading Joshua 6 and the fall of Jericho, in particular what God instructed of Joshua:
6 Now the gates of Jerichowere securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then theLordsaid to Joshua, “See, I have deliveredJericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ hornsin front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.5 When you hear them sound a long blaston the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout;then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.” (Joshua 6, 1-5)
Joshua never doubted God instructions, he carried them out as instructed, with faith in what God had promised would delivered, he stayed faithful and indeed God delivered Jericho to Joshua just as He promised.
Two very different stories, one of complete faith and one of lack of faith, complete contrast to say the least. The question I asked myself is which of those stories am I part of.
Then this morning it was back to Church, back home for me, where I really feel part of something, back to the camera for the morning preach, with Justin preaching today it meant being alert as he does tend to cover every inch of the stage. But having said that, even though he was as lively as usual, I actually seemed to take in more of the preach than I normally do when I am filming, usually my concentration is on the preachers movements rather than their words, but this morning was different.
This morning was about our belief, our hope in God’s promises, about whether we still had faith and still believed, despite what we see before us, do we still hold on to that hope?
Justin’s examples were firstly from Numbers 13:
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadeshin the Desert of Paran.There they reported to themand to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!Here is its fruit.28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.We even saw descendants of Anakthere.29 The Amalekiteslive in the Negev; the Hittites,Jebusitesand Amoriteslive in the hill country;and the Canaaniteslive near the sea and along the Jordan.” 30 Then Calebsilenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13, 26-30)
When Moses sent the spies into the land of Canaan, the majority saw only fear, they failed to hold to the promise of God, that He would hand this land to the Israelites, they believed it couldn’t be done, they lost faith. But Caleb stayed faithful and silenced the people, he believed, he had faith in the promise, he didn’t let fear take him.
The second example was Mark 5 and the raising of the young girl from the dead:
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.“Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” 36 Overhearingwhat they said, Jesus told him,“Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5, 35-36)
Just as in the story of Lazarus the crowd surrounding Jesus lost faith, they simply failed to believe.
In all these stories that I have listened to or have been reading this week, the underlying issue is belief, this morning’s preach by Justin, backed up what I had been reading and indeed what I had been questioning within myself.
Am I holding on to belief?
I’m not sure why I was drawn to read the book of Joshua this week, but again I think I was drawn to it for a reason.
If what God has promised me is behind mighty walls, do I have the faith to march around them every morning until I hear the trumpets sound and walls come down. Will I keep doing that everyday, even though I see no change in the walls, will I let me eyes deceive me and remove my faith that God will deliver my prayers.
It’s true I let me eyes defeat my faith, I let my ears erase my belief, why can’t I be like Joshua or Caleb, it didn’t matter what their eyes saw or ears heard, they believed. Why I am like those that surrounded Jesus and doubt His ability to raise the dead!
There is something dead in my life and I pray everyday for that to be resurrected, but between the prayers I let my eyes and ears remove my belief, so what I am going to do now?
Well tomorrow morning I am going to march, I am going to march around those walls every morning, it does matter how many mornings, I will march until one morning the trumpets will sound and the walls come down, then the dead will be raised back to life.
I have to march, I have to believe, I HAVE TO HAVE FAITH!
On my way back home from Church, whilst I was walking along the cycle track with my iPod on, this song came on, again I’ve heard it many times, but once again for the first time I actually felt it.
HOLD ON LOVE by REVIVE There’s fear in your eyes As you face the unknown You keep asking why For a reason to hold on But hold on love
The life that you plan The dreams are all gone You don’t understand why you should hold on But hold on love
I’ll be here Whatever comes your way I’ll be here It’s a promise I have made When you close your eyes And say your last goodbye I’ll be here
I’m strong enough I’ll be your hope I made a way I just need you to hold on Hold on love
I’ll be here Whatever comes your way I’ll be here It’s a promise I have made When you close your eyes And say your last goodbye I’ll be here
No matter what you’re facing now As you’re drowning in a sea of doubt You should know I won’t let you go No matter what you’re going through Just remember I have been there too You should know I won’t let you go
I’ll be here Whatever comes your way I’ll be here It’s a promise I have made When you close your eyes And say your last goodbye I’ll be here