He Leads Me Beside the Still Waters

Sometime I feel that I’m not a very strong Christian! My faith is fickle and unstable. When thins go well, I feel able to conquer the whole world. When life gets difficult, I wonder if I’m even going to manage to survive the day. Can you identify? I suspect most people can.

Lately my focus has been drawn to Psalm 23, and I’ve discovered some very encouraging truths. None more encouraging that verse 2 – “He leads me beside the still waters.”

Sheep are very timid creatures – something like myself! I’ve read that sheep are especially afraid of fast moving water. I also get afraid when life moves too swiftly for my comfort!
Sheep should be afraid of water. Because of their heavy coat of wool, the water would soak into it, making it heavy, and the sheep would easily drown. But the shepherd doesn’t laugh at the sheep’s fears. He doesn’t even try to force the sheep. Instead, as he leads the sheep through valleys and mountains, he is constantly looking for still waters, where the sheep can be comfortable and quench their thirst. If he cannot find still waters, when the sheep are sleeping and resting, he will gather stones and make a small dam in a stream where even the smallest lamb can drink from without any fear.

So here is the deal: God knows my limitations, my fears and my lack of faith. And he doesn’t condemn me because I have weaknesses. He doesn't force me to go where I can’t be safe. He never demands work from me that is beyond my strength and abilities.

Instead, He is constantly looking after my needs. He understands the loads I carry. And He also knows where the places of relief are located.
It gives me so much confidence to know that even while I am sleeping, the Shepherd is working to prepare for my needs of tomorrow.

Psalm 121:3-4 – “The LORD is your protector, and he won't go to sleep or let you stumble. The protector of Israel doesn't doze or ever get drowsy.”

Here is a practical exercise for you when you start getting stressed: Close your eyes, and get a picture of still waters. Maybe a small dam, tucked away between tall beautiful trees, in the mountains. Perhaps it’s a small stream, gently running down a hill, with green grass at its sides. Perhaps you’re on a beautiful, quiet beach, where the ocean is calm, lapping gently at your feet. When the picture becomes clear in your mind, start repeating and believing; “He leads me beside the still waters.” But don’t just say it. Believe it!!! And keep saying and believing it until it starts becoming a reality to you.

This will help you, when the heat of the day is on, to know that there is refreshing and relaxing power available to you, that comes from our Great Shepherd.
This morning I was paging trough a hymn book – looking for an appropriate song for a family who were preparing for a funeral of a loved one. I stumbled across these words, and I instantly knew that they were meant for you;

“God will take care of you
through all the day
Shielding your footsteps,
directing your way
He is your Shepherd,
Protector and Guide,
Leading His children where
still waters glide.”

I know this is the feeling David had when he wrote the Twenty-Third Psalm. And I know that as these words saturate your mind, it will give you that same assurance too.

Hope

Today is the day that we get to hear what we’ll be paying for electricity – the new tariffs could be an increase of as much as 54%. On Monday the Leader of the ANC Youth League told a gathering that if the President of the ANC is charged with corruption (guilty or not), the youth of this land must take up arms to “enforce the revolution.” Interest rates were hiked by another 50 basis points last weeks. Robert Mugabe has said that he will not accept the outcome of the Zimbabwe presidential elections if he loses, and is prepared to go to war to protect his position. Our South African counterpart doesn’t seem to have the balls to take a stand on the issue. Fuel will increase again next month.

It seems as if we’re spiralling into an ever increasing darkness of hopelessness.
It seems that the country is shell-shocked, unsure or unable to respond articulately to the crisis. Yet, every single day I hear masses of people silently crying out, “Give us some hope! Give me some good news. I need some hope!”

I wish I had a bigger stage from which I could proclaim: “THERE IS GOOD NEWS! THERE IS HOPE!”

Promises have been made before, and promises have been broken. So you will have good reason to doubt my claim of good news. Except, it’s not my claim. It’s a claim made by the one person in history who has never broken a promise – is unable to break a promise.
Did you read the scripture I put on the cover?
Psalm 42:11 – “Why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my saviour and my God.”
Come with me, and let’s check out the good news God promises.
In Psalm 23:1 David says “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”
You need to understand the context of this statement. The sheep never worry about the next day. The simply trust the shepherd to supply their every need. They somehow understand that the shepherd is in control. When was the last time you saw of flock of rebel sheep in a trade union meeting discussing a strike, or demanding a wage increase, because the future looked bleak and they were unsure of the shepherds ability to provide???

Friend, I need you to know that God created provision even before a need existed!
Matthew 6:8 – “Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”

I cannot but place my hope in what God has promised. If I don’t put my hope in God’s promises, then where can I put my hope? My bank manager? Politicians? The international community? A rich, unknown uncle who may leave me his millions? Somehow, I don’t think so.
So, I choose to put my hope in God, who has also promised,
Philippians 4:19 – “My God will richly fill your every need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus.”
I can’t speak for you, but my hope is firmly planted in what God has promised. Quite frankly, that doesn’t only seem to be my best hope, but my only hope!
Now, I can’t promise that in these times of difficulty, you may not have to sell your house or car in order to downscale, or have to cut back in many other areas, but I can promise that when all is said and done, you will look back and see that God never deserted you.

He never abandoned or left you. But all the way through He remained faithful. When times get tough and difficult, be assured, He is there, sorting out EVERYTHING to work in your favour. If may not seem like it at the time. But it will. It always does!
Psalm 37:25 – “I once was young, now I'm a greybeard - not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets.”

This is a time to be bold, strong, and courageous, my friends! This is a time for you and I to be bearers of good news and hope to the multitudes who are crying for it. DO NOT be a participant in BAD NEWS stories! Simply steer people’s hope in the right direction. It’s going to make you feel pretty good for having made a difference.

In Praise of Fathers

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The Pursuit of Happiness

In the Sunday Times this week was a fascinating article on Narcissism. (Self-absorption, vanity, egotism, selfishness, conceit, self-importance). It seems the world in general is obsessed with self-absorption.

Confession time: This morning I had a ‘discussion’ with my wife Tammy. Well, perhaps it was more than a mere discussion – possibly a mild disagreement. No…actually it was an argument. A narcissistic argument! Meaning I was absorbed with self-importance and selfishness. Luckily she gently helped me see it for what it was – a narcissistic attitude, and after some sulking, but more importantly, self-examination and an acceptance that I was acting selfishly, peace has been restored to the marriage!

The issue is this: We all want happiness! And it seems we will pretty much do whatever it takes to make me happy. Whether it is pursuing goals and goods, or whether it is stepping all over people around me to achieve my little world of bliss. But I want to be happy! If I happen to make you unhappy in my pursuit of happiness, well, that’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. Or can it? Have we possibly gone about the chase after happiness all wrong?

In the book, ‘Quiet Desperation: the Truth about Successful Men in America’, the psychologist surveyed successful men all across America and discovered that successful men are no happier than unsuccessful men.

I read an article about Patrick Swayze, the actor. You'd think he'd have every reason to be happy. He's had one blockbuster hit after another at the movies, he's rich, handsome, adored by millions. Yet he said, "It's true that this is what I've always dreamed of. But once I got here I wondered why my life felt so empty. I'm not satisfied with what I've got and I have no body to complain to."

Then there was an article on Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, possibly the first rock super star to die of AIDS. At the height of his career he wrote these words: "What is there left for me to do in this life? Did I achieve what I set in my sights? Am I a happy man or is this sinking sand? Was it worth it?"

Matthew 6:3 - "How happy are those who know their need is for God."

The first step toward happiness is to recognize what your real hunger is. The ache in your heart, what's missing is God! If anything but God is at the center of your life, you will not be satisfied. The Bible says God made you as a spiritual being. You're not just a piece of flesh. Pascal says, God created a God shaped vacuum in your heart. When you try to fill that emptiness with anything but God it's like trying to put a square in a round hole. It doesn't fit. What you're really searching for in all of your search for happiness, is God. When He's not the center of your life you are unsatisfied. Augustine said, "Thou, O Lord, hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they find themselves in Thee."

You were made to know God and your greatest need is to know Him. The sooner you figure that out the easier your life is going to be. Then you stop trying to find replacements, plastic substitutes for the real thing. You get to know God.

Getting to know God results in me understanding that it is God and God alone that meets my needs.

Don't expect your spouse to meet all your needs, or your boss, or anyone. If you expect somebody else to meet all your needs you're going to be disappointed. God says, “Expect Me to meet your needs.”

Rather than frantically grabbing all you can get, relax God will take care of your needs. The whole world belongs to God. If you are His child, they will belong to you. Learn to become a giver and not a taker. Trust God and expect Him to meet all your needs.

Ecclesiastes 2 shows the futility of trying to be happy without God in your life over the long term. The first 11 verses of Ecclesiastes 2 uses "my", "mine", "myself", or "I" 34 times. He talks about my success, my happiness, my health, my harem, my money, my pleasure, my education, my success. It's incredibly self-centered. Self centered people are never happy. Why? If you achieve all that you could ever wanted or ask for, you still have to live with yourself - and when you're self-centered you're no fun to live with. You're miserable. Learn to trust God and don't be so self-centered.

It is not by accident that the baby boom generation -- the Me Generation or the Me First Generation -- is the most self absorbed generation in history. And they are also the most dissatisfied generation in history. Self-centeredness, depression. and a lack of fulfillment.
So here it is – the way to find happiness: Get to know how good God is, and then trust God to give you all you need for your life. That is where happiness begins.

Life is What YOU Make It!

I’m proposing a new sport for the Beijing Olympic Games. Most of us would qualify with ease. It's not new really. It's as old as Adam and Eve because they were very skilled at it. Some of you are skilled at it. It would be a great Olympic game and therefore a lot of competition. I would call this game Passing the Buck, also known as Dodging a Responsibility or Shifting the Blame. The goal of the game is to eliminate all personal responsibility by accusing everybody else for your problems. A lot of people would be able to play but it would probably be boring - politicians would always win.
I know that life is difficult! And I know that life is sometime grossly unfair. I am aware of the fact that life will many times throw you a curve ball. But one thing I also know: Your life will always be what you make it! The sad reality is that we have become experts at blaming everyone else for our problems in life, and have used it as a cop-out for taking responsibility for making our lives good.
There are the people who have an excuse for everything. They can justify any mistake, any lack of responsibility. They can rationalize any failure. They're always making excuses. They say, "That's just the way I am... I've always been that way." That's the ultimate cop out if you don't want to grow.

Jesus talks about this kind of person in Luke 14. v. 16 "Jesus replied, `A certain man was preparing a great banquet and he had invited many guests. At the time of that banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited to come for everything is now ready. But, they all began to make excuses. The first one said, "I've just bought a field and I must go see it. Please excuse me."' [Isn't that a great excuse? You've been invited to a party and you have a piece of land and say, I've got to go look at it. Couldn't it have waited? Was the land going to do anything?] `Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen. I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." Still another came and said, "I just got married so I can't come."'“
Benjamin Franklin said, "People who are usually good at making excuses are seldom good for anything else." I think it was George Washington Carver who said, "Ninety-nine percent of all failures are caused by those who make excuses." They spend all their time making excuses so they don't have the energy and the creativity to do something right.
It's interesting to me that the three most influential men of the last 100 years created gigantic excuses for people -- Darwin, Marx, Freud. Darwin said, "Don't feel bad about it. Don't accept personal responsibility.

You're just a victim of your creation. Blame evolution." Marx came along and said, "No, you're just a victim of your circumstances. Economics." Freud came along and said, "You're a victim of your conditioning. Blame your environment." They had all excuses for reasons you couldn't accept responsibility.
The fact is, we are influenced by a lot of factors. But the more you shrink from personal responsibility, the smaller you become. An unhealthy person moves away from accepting responsibility for his own life.
I think the greatest champion in the Olympics so far is a guy named Jeff Blacknik. He won the Greco-Roman wrestling. The amazing thing about Jeff Blacknik is that two years prior to winning gold, this man had Hodgkin's disease. He was dying of cancer, in the hospital, having surgery for Hodgkin's disease. Two years later he won the Gold Medal in wrestling.
Champions refuse to be controlled by circumstances. A winner never makes excuses for his life. He is not manipulated by his creation, his genes or his circumstances, his conditioning. The world's full of examples of people who overcame bad circumstances and made something of themselves because th
The greatest limitation on your ability is your attitude. The Romanian coach who defected a few years ago, who's became the coach for American's women's gymnastics, was asked on TV, "How can you tell a champion?" He said, "I don't look at muscles. I look at their eyes. The eyes tell me what's inside. It's their attitude. I can always develop muscles, but if the attitude is not there, they're not a champion."
A winner will never be an excuser - I just didn't have the right day. Excusers are really just losers.
So, be encouraged this week, my friends. Jesus said that the Spirit in you is far greater than anything in the world. That means that regardless of what life throws your way, you CAN and WILL overcome it. It’s simply a choice you have to make – a choice to believe what Jesus said, and a choice to refuse to allow your circumstances to get the better of you. Be strong!!!
ey refused to be excusers.

Suffer the Children...

Children of War

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Exploring the devestating effects of war on the lives of children


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An Inspiration to Excellence

The Pursuit of Excellence

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A motivational presentation towards excellence


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