Consistency

Consistency is hard. That’s because it requires character, not just feelings or a big moment. It’s easy for me to write about praying daily; it’s another thing to live it. I pray that I live it! It is not something that can be done in a human’s strength but only comes from the power of God himself. I pray for more character. I pray for more prayer.

Consistency changes you over time. You would prefer that every problem be solved immediately if possible. However, that’s not how character is built. Paul had a “thorn in his flesh” that caused him considerable trouble, yet God was quite okay with letting it stay. Do you have a thorn in your flesh? Perhaps it isn’t all bad. It could be more of an opportunity to grow in character rather than a punishment. You may well have done nothing to deserve it. Don’t worry; keep praying. God wants to change you from the inside out and wants those changes to remain. He isn’t interested in quick results, but “fruit that will last.”

Stay consistent and run to win. Run and don’t stop. Stopping is losing, running is winning. Even if you tire, don’t stop; keep moving, no matter how slow. If you get tired of praying for hours, that’s okay, just keep praying a little. Whatever you do, don’t stop altogether. Your Father can still help you if you stop, but that isn’t a close relationship anymore. Do everything you can to stay in a healthy relationship with him.

Sharing the Faith

I am currently reading through 1 Peter, and I love the following verses from chapter 3. 1 Peter 3:15-17 ‘Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!‘

The way to preach the gospel is not always from a pulpit, but rather by showing others a holy and pure life. This shifts the responsibility of sharing Christianity with unbelievers from the pastor to every Christian. I love that we are all meant to be a part of God’s plan. There is no one too small or insignificant to participate.

We are called to live a life that cannot be mocked or criticized, even by non-Christians. To live this way, I know I need God’s help. I can’t live this life on my own. I think this is God’s intention. No one can live this kind of life on their own, so there must be something or someone helping them. (God) 🙂 I have heard a few testimonies of Christians who came to the faith because they were challenged by Christians who didn’t smoke, drink or do drugs and who were always happy. They were challenged by the way Christians lived, and found God because of it. When my time on earth is over, I want to meet people who were challenged by the life I lived. Do you want to challenge others too?

We know that we are called to live a life that cannot be mocked or criticized, but what are some practical things to do that show this kind of life? 1 Peter 4:7-11 sheds some light on this. ‘The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.‘

By praying earnestly, showing deep love, cheerfully sharing and using our gifts, we are living for God. The lifestyle God wants you and me to live doesn’t sound complicated; The difficulty is living faithfully day after day. If you are already living in this way, keep going! If you aren’t, don’t worry; start now. It’s important to remember that life isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon. Consistency is how we win.

Living with Christ as the Foundation

When reading 1 Peter 2, I came across some verses that talk of Christ as an example. My attention was drawn to verses 4 – 9 which say ‘ You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honour, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Yes, you who trust him recognize the honour God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.‘

You and I get to live with Christ as the foundation of our faith. His example goes before us to show us how to live. I am so thankful for the privilege of living after Christ came to earth! His example shows us how to live in many different ways. He taught to obey authority and pray for them. His life also taught us that sometimes suffering is necessary to fulfil God’s will. Jesus died for us because His Father in heaven wanted to save all people. The greatest gift in the history of the world came at a great price.

Now that Jesus has come, we are called to live the way He did, devoting our lives to doing good and suffering through persecution. The calling isn’t to find persecution, but to live the way God called without compromising if hardship comes. Although this calling is hard at times, it is far greater to live for God than to live for pleasure, as many people do. The troubles the world faces are many and often have no remedy. I can attest to this because before I lived as a Christian I was living for myself, only seeking pleasure. The problem was that pleasure couldn’t satisfy the desire inside me. It always wanted more. After putting my faith in God and living for Him rather than myself, I stopped pursuing pleasure and started to find purpose again. I actually overcame depression!

If you find yourself going around in circles in life, consider surrendering yourself to God and His will. When you live in His purpose, it fills you and satisfies the desire that seems to never end. In a word, you find contentment. You are content with much or little, rich or poor, free or slave. You are so free in yourself because you now belong to God.

Moving Past Doubts

A little while ago, I was upset with someone. They didn’t treat me the way I wanted to be treated, and I felt hurt. When I was alone in my bedroom feeling sorry for myself, I had a thought to read my journal. I found the document on my MacBook and started reading. My journal is short – only a handful of pages. However, in those few pages I had written thoughts about the same people in my life. The funny part? My anxious thoughts about them a few months ago were the same ones I was experiencing now. I started laughing because I knew what happened after I wrote in the journal. Without saying anything, they had made it all right again. It was all just a misunderstanding on my part.

1 Corinthians 13:7 says ‘Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.‘ This verse affirms the need to never give up and endure through every circumstance. In my mind, I had the right to be upset, but if I had followed the Bible, I would have assumed the best instead and saved myself the pain.

Have you had doubts about someone? Have you been let down by someone you love? Write down your thoughts and feelings in a few sentences every-so-often (once per week is ideal). When you worry later, you may find that reading your past thoughts and feelings show you how to proceed.

I want to give another example. I get very annoyed when I arrange a time to catch up with someone and they cancel last-minute or say they can’t make it without giving me a time that works. I feel like I’m stabbing in the dark simply trying to see them. When this happened to me a few months ago, I was quite upset. A few days ago it happened again with the same person, and the identical feelings came to me. After reading my journal I realized this person was not upset with me or avoiding seeing me. This friend was busy, nothing more.

Big problems become small ones when brought into perspective. I recommend journalling if you sometimes have doubts. It is simple to do and very effective at clearing your mind.

The Pursuit of Acceptance, or the Pursuit of God?

Today I have been challenged by the scripture found in Isaiah 53:1-6 ‘Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.‘

Jesus spent His time on earth not for Himself, but sinners. He was despised and hated during His ministry. What hit me hard was how the Son of God came to earth and was misunderstood. If God’s own Son wasn’t liked and didn’t care to be liked, why am I so concerned with what other people think of me?

If I am to live for God and not myself, I will need to re-focus myself on Him. It seems so easy to get caught up in what the world defines as success, but to put that aside and look like a fool may be necessary to obey God. How far will you go to pursue God rather than acceptance of other people? This challenges me, because often my motives aren’t right. I love social media because it’s a platform that can be used to get even more acceptance from friends. Does a follower of Christ even need social media? I deleted Instagram because I do not have the self-control to use it in a healthy way. I have kept a Facebook account, but I wonder if I should delete that too. In any case, I will be judging my motives very closely the next few days. I want to be in the pursuit of God, not the pursuit of acceptance from people.

Increase Your Love for Other People

Lately, I have been thinking about the presence of God and His love. When I set aside time alone with God and start praying, I almost always feel peace and a feeling of being at rest. The longer I pray, the greater the feelings get. After an hour or so, I start to feel peace and contentment so strongly that I usually can’t hold back tears. I am not one to cry, but I often do when I pray. I believe that prayer brings me closer to God. The closer I am to God, the more love I have for other people.

I have often heard it said that ‘To love others, you need to learn to love yourself first!’ This statement sounds right, but in my experience, it does the exact opposite. The more I think about myself, the more I feel insecure, afraid and impatient with other people. I believe that God teaches a way of life that goes against the culture you and I live in today. I strongly believe that to love others, you must love God first. How do you love God? Submit to Him in prayer, and He will give you so much love for others that you CANNOT HELP but share it!

Matthew 22:34-40 says ‘But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”‘

So, based on this verse, by loving God first and loving your neighbour second, you should love yourself… last? I believe so. Okay, then where did this idea of self-love come from? I believe it comes from selfishness, not God.

God showed us how to love. Jesus stripped Himself of all power to come to earth in the form of a man, then proceeded to serve others for the duration of His time on earth. In his early Thirties, He died on a cross for sins He did not commit. Are you keen on being sentenced to death for a crime you did not commit… at the age of 32?! I know I’m not. At no point did Jesus teach His disciples to ‘love themselves so they could love others’. He taught them to pray. He even gave them a whole prayer to pray, word for word.

If you want to love others the way Jesus taught, learn to pray. If you already pray, add some more time to your praying each day. God LOVES to hear you and me pray and will come closer to us to listen. I love that about Him.

Have you experienced powerful prayer? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your story! 🙂

Generosity: Consistent Giving

Growing up in a low-income family taught me to be careful with money. I had a lot of respect for money because it was so difficult to get. When I was ten years old, I was earning $2 for each hour of work. It was a struggle to save money because I could only do chores around the house to make money, and the rate was meagre. However, I managed to save several hundred dollars, which I used to buy large Lego sets!

As I grew older, I continued to focus on myself. I carefully saved money again, but by the time I turned nineteen, I lost all my savings. It was when I had no money and rent to pay that I hit rock bottom. I had been relying on my strength to provide up until this point. I was nineteen with nothing to my name and in a bad financial state. I had to change my mindset.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 says ‘As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.’

I was ‘setting my hope on the uncertainty of riches’, which didn’t pay off. It is in generosity that treasure is stored up in heaven and a future secured. Thankfully, the story gets better. I learned to start being generous in small ways. With time I got better and faithful to His word, God provided a fantastic job and working arrangement, which paid more than double what I was earning beforehand! A life of generosity is the best life to live.

Generosity: Consistently Tithing

It was when I had been a student of generosity for some time and had started to give more frequently at church and more consistently with friends and family. I thought I had finished learning what generosity was. I was a good guy now and genuinely enjoyed being generous. I had started to live life with a purpose greater than myself, so I no longer existed to please myself and immerse myself in fun and entertainment. I recognised that I was a part of something bigger.

However, although I was starting to grasp some of the basic concepts of generosity, I hadn’t matured much in the way of Godly giving because there was no strict consistency. I didn’t know how much I was giving, but it didn’t matter to me. I thought that as long as I give a lot, it doesn’t matter how often I give and certainly didn’t matter at what time I gave. I was wrong. A pastor gently pointed out to me that it isn’t so much about the amount I give as much as the heart behind the gift. Was I giving to ‘get it out the way’ for a while? Was I a dependable giver? After examining my motives, I found that my heart was not in the right place.

I needed to decide on how I continued to give. Was I going to remain in a method of giving without structure? Would I apply discipline to generosity? I decided to try giving in the way suggested by the kind pastor. He told me to set aside a percentage of each paycheque, rather than trying to give a specific dollar amount. He also recommended setting aside the percentage for giving before spending money on ANYTHING. Setting aside a percentage of each pay shows that you are disciplined and don’t take God for granted. You are the real deal. Giving immediately or setting aside the amount to give at a convenient time before paying for any bills tells your heart that God is the priority. You could give God 100% of all your leftovers, but what does that matter? 10% of your best means far more than 100% of what you don’t use.

Malachi 3:8-10 says ‘Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.’ This Old Testament verse describes God’s desire to bless His children. The following sentence deserves close attention: God wants to bless you, but He cannot because your heart is hard and not entirely devoted to Him! Do you think God needs your money? NO! He wants your heart!

Matthew 23:23 says ‘“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.’ Jesus shows that although tithing originated from the Old Testament, it is relevant in the new covenant. The fundamental principles of giving are the same today as when the law was first written.

Generosity: Sacrificial Giving

I previously mentioned the story of me as a twelve-year-old boy dreaming about all the things I could buy with one million dollars. The exercise got me thinking of all the different stuff I could buy and all the holidays I could experience if I wanted to. However, after thinking about myself for some time, I decided to think about ways I could spend the money to help others. I considered giving half of it away, but I had second thoughts. Giving half of a million dollars seemed to be such a waste! What if I only gave 10%? What if I gave $100,000 and kept the rest for spending as I saw fit? Surely that was generous enough!

There is nothing wrong with giving 10%, but there is something special about giving more than a sensible amount. Luke 21:1-4 says ‘Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”’

Jesus saw through the dollar amounts straight to the heart of each person. The widow chose not to eat because of her love for God. The wealthy people of that time were indeed generous, but their level of giving did not require much sacrifice.

God does not require sacrifice, as Hosea says at 6:6 ’For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.’ However, when you choose to go beyond God’s expectations and requirements because you love Him that much, He will respond and repay! Matthew 6:19-22 says ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

God is after your heart. If you give Him everything you have, especially to the point where it hurts, He notices! Every gift given need not be sacrificial, but a healthy, generous life will include the occasional sacrificial offering which shows the heart of the giver.

Generosity: The New Lifestyle

As a twelve-year-old boy, I was alone in my thoughts one afternoon, dreaming about all the things I could buy with one million dollars. The previous day I had been asked what I would do if I were given one million dollars. How would I choose to spend the money? I thought of many different fun things to buy. I thought about how much chocolate I could buy. I wondered how far I could make it stretch if I went on holidays for the rest of my life. To me, a sum of money that large could last forever!

That question showed what was really in my heart. What would I do if there were no limits? If I could say yes to anything, how would I spend my time? I dreamt of indulging in pleasures. I thought I would be happy if only I had cool stuff. Now I realise the thing stopping me from being happy was not my lack of things and grand holidays, but instead a desire to live a life of generosity.

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 says ‘6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully[d] will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they[f] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!‘

These verses can be used to make many different points, but I want to highlight the use of sowing and reaping as an example of generosity. A farmer sows for a season, and during that season does not plant a single seed. Instead, he plants thousands of seeds for days on end! He will not stop until the field is covered. In the same way, giving should not be seen as single, one-time events, but instead as seasons of giving over and over. I am not talking about giving time, energy, or other resources. I am specifically talking about money. There may be times when it is financially impossible to invest and give thousands of times per year, but when that season comes, it is up to you to take advantage of it.

If only I understood the importance of a generous heart when I was younger, I would have started to see my life take a different direction earlier. However, I did begin to see that each coffee I bought someone, each $10 for a brother, or even each McDonald’s $1 frozen drink for a friend made a difference and started to open my world…