Humble and Pure of Heart

Purity of Body: Day 36 - Humble and Pure of Heart

Matthew 5:8
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

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Looking for Love

Purity of Body: Day 32 - Looking For Love

Matthew 9:35-36
Jesus made a circuit of al the towns and villages.  He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives.  When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke.  So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.

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Do Your Possessions Posses You?

Purity of Mind: Day 22 - Do Your Possessions Posses You?

Matthew 6:31-33
Do not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving.  People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know God and how he works.  Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.  Don't worry about missing out.  You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

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What is my motive?

Purity of Mind: Day 9 - Don't Bargain with God

Matthew 7:7-11

Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

Here's the thing, after all that talk of another fresh start I still didn't last that long, just a couple of days and then I let my busy life take over once again.... But even so I have come back and just as if it were planned this way the topic of today's chapter is completly perfect for what I need right now. Today's chapter is all about how we bargain with God coz sometimes we don't trust him enough to just leave it all with me. And my initial thoughts after reading the chapter were "well I don't really do that, so I'm pretty good" but then as I reflected a bit more God gently reminded me that I was bargaining with him right now...

See at the moment there are a few crap things happening in my life, all of which I don't really have any control. So trying to be a good Christian I pray about and then because that doesn't feel like enough I deceide that if I fast something I really love that will get God's attention and I will get what I want. And so that's were I am, fasting until God makes it turn out the way I want... and while there is sacrifice in that, there isn't much faith.


Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with fasting until you see answered pray, I guess the problem lies in whether the fast is for an answer or for the answer you want. I think perhaps I need to think a bit more about why I am fasting, what I want to see and whether or not I am looking for God's answer, or my answer.

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A Working Progress

Purity of Mind: Day 2 - Who Determines Your Worth?

Matthew 10:29-30 (The Message)
"What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.

My self confidence is something that I have always struggled with, the way I look, the things I am into, the people I hang out with...everything, and I think one of the things that I have realised as I have started to grow up is how much I control the impact these feelings have on my everyday life. Sure I can compare myself to everyone, but I am always going to find someone better, or cooler or smarter or whatever. But even though I know its a stupid waste of time I continue to do it.

So many times I have found my self crying, wondering why I can't just be happy and almost every time the person I have been crying on has told me that I need to get my sense of worth from God. Like purity though this is something that I have really struggled with, not because I don't know that God loves me and that I am precious child of his, but more because I can't understand why he would want me to be. I know it sounds kinda morbid and depressive, but its true...God's grace and love is something that I find incredibly hard to fathom. I know that I am getting better at living in God's truth about who he has created in me, but its something that I think I will see be working on for a really really long time.

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