When the old was new

Stick with this one… I do have a point… probably several… if you look out for the patterns and pictures that God imprints on everything He does, you’ll make it to my point well before you read your way there.

The church of 2000 years ago was previously not a thing. It had never existed before. Yes Christianity birthed from Judaism but the church wasn’t a reformation of the temple or a revamp of the synagogue system – she was a brand spankin’ new baby, born on an earth shaking weekend about 30AD.

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It is for freedom

I have been thinking a lot about the difference and overlap between the need for redemption and the need for forgiveness.

The transaction at that fateful tree, transferred the birthright of all Eves children from the Kingdom of Light, to the Kingdom of Darkness when she believed and acted on the persuasions of an upstart Prince – over the presence, blessing and promises of the King of All.

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Would I die for you?

If a child of yours needed a kidney, or bone marrow, and yours was a match, you would do it wouldn’t you?… Recently in a bit of a health scare for a child of ours (make that a health issue in which I got scared – it doesn’t take much to go from 0-10 in my scale of potential for disaster) I found myself thinking – if I could take this for them, instead of them – I would.

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A different kind of prayer

A verse I’ve been thinking on a bit this holidays is Malachi 3:16

Years ago I made a new friend when she shifted to the hills, came to our church and asked our then minister for someone to meet and pray with… he put her in touch with me and we became deep, instant and now longtime friends as we met together to pray every fortnight or so for several years. Our third was a baby when we met, and she came and prayed and chatted and folded washing with me through the births of the next 3 kids.

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The watches of the night

The most agonising sorrows I’ve ever felt have been for others… a little of me in there too, but mostly others. When I watched a particular message by Michael Card, and heard this song for the first time, my heart sang with relief to know my sleepless nights were because my heart had a taste of the sorrow of Messiah… the man spoken of in Isaiah. To know this sorrow was how He felt for me… incredible.

I know the roundabout of sorrowing for another and feeling like the specifics of the Psalms don’t fit my cries, but when I learned that lamenting is worship, at least when addressed to the Father, it felt so purposeful instead of so very fruitless.

Prayers are eternal. Not a single word ever dissipates into nothingness.

So once again, if anyone’s headed for a sleepless night, know that addressing our sorrows to Him is very much prayer… and very much worship when we know and trust His heart for us.

I love this song by Kristen Getty – but I love her reading at the beginning of this clip even more.

A snippet:

I have cried upon the steps that seem
Too steep for me to climb,
And I’ve prayed against a burden
I did not want to be mine.
But, here I am and this is where
You’re calling me to fight,
And You I will remember
Through the watches of the night