Belinda's Blog

i am not BUT I know I AM!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:50:04 GMT

It's cold, in fact freezing cold at the moment and it feels as if the winter is never going to end. Even though the sun shines most days, our bodies find it hard to keep warm and our souls encouraged! I went to bed last night with the words of an unusual Psalm in my head - some of you may remember that we used to hear a song to the words of this Psalm sung by... I hesitate to even mention their names... yes, Boney M... I shudder!! Anyway, back to this Psalm and the words which have been in my head and heart for a while "How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign (strange) land?" Psalm 137:4

I've been thinking about how easily and quickly we stop "singing the Lord's song" when we feel negative, or find ourselves in a strange place - not a strange physical place, but a 'strange place' emotionally, or circumstancially or just when we feel that this life and this world are just too much! When we feel cold, miserable, far from God, dissatisfied with our lot in life, discouraged or just feeling worn down by life's challenges or the failings of our personal lives.

How can I sing the Lord's song in a strange place/land is what I sometimes ask myself? Isn't singing or rejoicing about being happy and everything being going right or just feeling that I am in a good place? No, I don't think so!

What is the Lord's song which we are supposed to be singing? Well, I think it can be many things but something which I have been meditating on regarding the Lord's song is just acknowledging WHO He is and what He promises to be in our lives and proclaiming it over our lives.

The Lord's song to me is this....

i am not but He knows my name

i am not but He has pursued me in HIs love

i am not but I have been purchased and redeemed

i am not but I have been invited into The Story

i am not, but I know the Creator of the universe

I am not, but I know I AM

As Louie Giglio puts it in his book 'i am not But I know I AM'...... I am small but I can be on a first-name basis with I AM. I am beyond tiny, but every ounce of me has been bought and redeemed by God's Son. I am a galactic nobody - in fact 99.99999999999999999999999999999% of the people on this earth have never heard of me. BUT God, knows everything about me and calls me His own.

Louie Giglio goes on to say 'we can live our entire life completely oblivious to the grand story of the Creator of the Universe that is unfolding all around me. We can spend our days making so much of someone as small and transient as you or me, and so little of someone as glorious and eternal as God".

The prophet Habakkuk puts it like this....

"Though the fig tree does not blossom and there are no grapes on the vines,

Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

YET I will rejoice in the Lord (sing the Lord's song!)

I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

He enables me to go onto the heights".

(Hab 3:17-19)

The Lord Song and answer to me is...

I need hope - I AM

What lasts? - I AM

I need a fresh start - I AM

My vision is bigger than my resources - I AM

Nothing's real anymore - I AM

Who can I trust? - I AM

I don't have a prayer - I AM

I can't hold on - I AM

I'm pouring into others, who's pouring into me? - I AM

I'm not sure why I am here - I AM

I'm tired - I AM

I can't - I AM

God says "I AM THAT I AM, and that is My name" - My memorial name to every single generation. The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving to all He has made - Ps 145

The Lord's song is about overview - a proper perspective - a God perspective - i am not BUT i know I AM - He is able - On Him I have set my hope that He will continue to deliver us and make me stand firm in Christ.

Proclaim the Lord's song today in whatever 'foreign / strange' place you find yourselves in - and remember God does not find Himself in a foreign place. He is exactly in the place He has always been - with us!

Getting perspective again

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:10:21 GMT

We've just had a short holiday in one of my favourite places - the Natal Drakensburg. The mountains - a place of personal rest, renewal, restoration, reflection and indulgent reading which I sorely miss.

Somehow being in these beautiful and majestic mountains with the crisp, pure mountain air and starry, starry nights, helps me gain perspective on life and the world around me again. Time in the mountains makes me appreciate the bigness of God and the minuteness of my life!

In my times of reflecting I thought of how complex I make my relationship with God - how I can panic and fret about my future and how much of a failure I sometimes feel as a Christ follower. these feelings and thoughts can overwhelm me at times.

In a book I was reading, there was a simple statement that had a meaningful effect on me and it brought things into perspective for me. The statement was so simple: "We follow God one choice, one moment at a time!"

The rest is up to Him! God only requires that I follow Him one step, one choice, one moment at a time - in any case, we only have the present - we have no other guarantees and we cannot live in the future, so what's important is how I handle the moment, the 'right now' of my life. With His help and grace, I can do this - I can cope with this!

I read something else which also gave me a fresh perspective:

The grand essentials of life are:

'Something to do,

'Something to love, and

'Something to hope for'.

"I will never, never fail you nor forsake you". Hebrews 13:5

Seeing the fruit of praying for our city!

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:43:47 GMT

During 2009, our logo on our website included the words 'Passionate about our city' and this has often challenged me personally as I know that at times I feel more 'passionate' about what is wrong with our city rather than passionately praying and believing God for the peace, prosperity and welfare of our city!

During our Thursday Engine room times, over the past year or two, we have been praying for our 'city', trusting God that we will see our city turning to Him. Sometimes I have sensed a hint of despondancy lurking in the 'shadows' of my heart as we have persisted in praying for our city, simply because at times it doesn't appear to be making any difference! I find myself crying out to God in the privacy of my heart ' How long, O Lord, how long before we see the breakthrough?' I have also often wondered what it is that I expect to see as an answer to our praying for Middelburg? I believe I 'saw' something of what God is doing in our city on Sunday 28 February during our Celebration service.

On Sunday some 15 people were baptised as believers in Jesus Christ at Solid Ground. Amongst this group, were several new believers - people who not too long ago, were far from God. As I heard their testimonies and saw them take this courageous step of faith through the waters of baptism, I got a glimpse of what God is doing, right here amongst us! I saw 'the city' in Solid Ground church and I turned to Graeme and said "look around - can you see what is happening - the 'city' is trickling in right under our noses - God is bringing 'the city' to us as we have been praying and we are not always aware of it!" It has not come through mass evangelistic crusades and it has not come in great numbers but it has been happening through the testimony of transformed lives as each one has reached one. Individuals & families have come to Christ - households sitting in a place where they never sat a year or two ago - lives in the process of transformation - Jesus Christ making the difference in people's lives! I looked around the congregation and realised how many people have come to Christ through someone reaching out to them and those individuals in turn reaching out to someone else - 'helping people find their way back to God!'

More than a year ago one Thursday evening, we were asked to write names of people we were praying for on a piece of paper, place the papers on the seats of Solid Ground and we began to pray and have continued to pray for these people. You know what the amazing thing is? Some of the people who were baptised on Sunday were named on those pieces of paper! A futile exercise some may have thought at the time - BUT God sees & He hears & He answers!

I felt new hope and encouragement rise up in my heart and I remembered this scripture in Isaiah. 'Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children.
"Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the Lord.
"Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God
(Isa 66:8-9)

When God announces the moment of birth - nothing can stop Him and delivery will take place! Being in labour is painful and can seem like an eternity... yet the birth will take place and a child will be born. So it is with prayer - the breakthrough does and will come.
Galations 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we WILL reap a harvest if we do not give up"!
It is NOT futile to pray for our city - the trickle we are seeing will become a flood - a harvest of people finding their way back to God!

Belinda