Sketches

This morning's sketches to and from church on trains and buses.

Went to an event at The Salvation Army. Was supposed to be helping but found time to scribble some people.

The 7th March 2013

It was a day I will endeavour not to forget.

A day that a silence was broken and fear was conquered.

A day that has probably catapulted me into my destiny. Not necessarily what I did but what it represents - a boldness discovered.

A day that I was completely reliant on the Holy Spirit. 

A day that I chose to actually believe and take comfort in the word of God.

A day that I added works to my faith.

It was the 7th of March 2013.

It was the day God used me as an oracle.

It was the day...

Not so fast, let me give you the background story.

When God wants to change your life, He doesn't often give you much warning but you may notice a few strange circumstances. I don't believe in coincidence so I'm going to call these particular events God-instances.

Lately I've been troubled by my submission to fear and wanted to change - a desire that God put there Himself and was only to pleased to help me with. How do I know? First of all, the Bible clearly says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and sound mind. Secondly, the God-instances that have happened in the last month or so.

GOD INSTANCE #1 - My perception of myself challenged

He was hammering away at my doubt. He did do this on a Sunday, not during church surprisingly, but after church. He used a 'chance' meeting with an old University acquaintance to question me about my life, what my dreams are and why I'm not going for them.

On the same day, after deciding to spend more time with this girl, looking for an opportunity to invite her to church, I followed her to a make-up stall where she was served by a former primary school classmate. I hadn't seen this girl for at least a .decade yet we recognised each other immediately. She also decided to quiz me about my whole life and ambitions and the two girls ganged up on me and challenged me not to be afraid.

The humbling thing is that neither of them are Christians, and the one who served us at the counter used to bully me in school (verbally, of course) and had suddenly decided that I was her friend and hugged me several times. All these things perplexed me and got me thinking about a lot of things - mainly how I was going to use these new found friendships to bring these girls to Christ.

Anyway, I managed to get my friend and her Mum to come along to church that same night which gave me a lot of encouragement. Various sermons also reminded me that Jesus Christ is the only truth and everyone needs to know it whether you think they will want to hear it or not.

These things really started to stir up inside me, but only one thing was still missing - the courage to act on it.

GOD INSTANCE #2 - Men's meeting

This is where I met a guy who really challenged me to get deeper in my relationship with God, based on what I shared regarding struggling to engage with the Bible in the way I wanted to. He said these words to me that really stuck with me and changed the way I thought of the Bible:

'The Bible is our food'

Those of you who know me know how much I like my food. How could I hear something like that and not relate it to my love for natural, physical food? Impossible.

GOD INSTANCE #3 - Watching Joyce Meyer

She was speaking on the subject of fear and really challenged me to ask myself why I'm afraid to trust God and believe that He's with me. And the need to do things although I am afraid.

All these things and more led me to decide to ignore fear on that faithful morning , the 7th of March 2013. When I got to my destination I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 2-5. Reading verse 3 and knowing that Paul was as terrified as me gave me great comfort. I read it several times until I believed it and then closed my eyes as the moment was approaching - I didn't want the tension of the moment to build up and make me chicken out.

I also decided I'd have to do it as quickly as I could to give me no time to look at faces and cower.

Again, to prevent me from ducking, I threw myself into it by greeting my audience with a 'Good Morning' - this is all I knew I was going to say and I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the rest of the words. The message that left my mouth was greeted with utter silence but I know it resonated in the hearts of some of the people.

The only response I got at all was a man chuckling next to me. This didn't bother me one bit. I had conquered fear. I remained in the same position. I had preached on a train carriage full of people. Or should I say the Holy Spirit spoke through me.

That same Holy Spirit can speak through you. Ask Him to give you boldness.

Be encouraged!

GOD IS GOD

A few weeks ago, I was at a bus stop, with my eyes closed, minding my own business - praying that the bus would come soon, and in process of counting it down - when a lady asked me if I was waiting for a certain bus. 'Yes', I said, and closed my eyes again. This didn't seem to deter this lady who was clearly intent on speaking to me and somehow perceived that I was a good listener. Sure enough, I listened. I listened to her telling me she'd just come out of hospital and complain that the hospital had a new section complete with security guards and yet didn't seem to be able to afford good care for patients. I listened to hear talk about her friend's Mum whose life support machine had been cut off recently. I listened to her say life isn't fair. I was quiet through all this. And then I heard her say these words: 

'It makes you wonder, if there is a God, he must be an evil one!'

At this point, I could listen no more. She'd talked enough, it was my turn. I was angry she'd said that, but I was more upset that she didn't know how good God is and how untrue her statement was. Instead of unleashing all the scriptures on her, I just said 'You can't say that, God is a good God. You can't blame Him for everything.' (In hindsight I should've said you can't blame him for ANYTHING!). She then said she's 'not a church person or anything' which seemed like a pretty random response to me. 'What do you believe?' I asked her, which earned me the common response of 'I don't know really', followed by 'no one knows for sure do they?' 

'I do, I do!' I was screaming in my head, which came out as a more adult 'I know for sure, God is real. He speaks'. I admitted to being a Christian and she then proceeded to tell me she had been having suicidal thoughts. I had no idea how to react to that, but I thought I'd have to pray about that so I took her name and told her I would. I won't bore you with any more conversation details but in the end it turned out she knew the location of my church so I invited her. No idea if she's ever come but I pray she is still alive and has come closer to the truth if she hasn't fully discovered it yet.

The account I gave you proves two things to me:

1. Everyone is looking for God

That lady had no idea what she believed in but was determined to speak to me about the injustice of life. She knows something is not right with the world and wants answers. She was looking for a friend, someone to confide in - why else would you randomly tell a stranger that you are having suicidal thoughts? (I'm sure God made her open up to me but I'm just saying) God alone provides that deep satisfaction that would convince a person of their worth, God is the best listener, counsellor and friend.

2. God can use anyone at anytime

I am normally really willing to listen, but on this occasion I wasn't really in the mood - I'd just done a tough session at the gym and just wanted to go home (I know I sound like a baby). Even though I had my eyes closed,God still conveyed to this woman that I was the correct person to speak to. I'm just glad that God told me the right things to say to her and that He gave me the boldness to 'stand up for Him' in a sense. 

I feel so privileged to be used by God to speak truth. I felt that God was telling me write this to encourage someone. I kept procrastinating but for the last couple days I haven't been able to get this out of my head, so whoever you are, I hope this speaks to you my friend.

God bless you.

Remember He is with you and He loves you, He will never forsake you.

Sunshine -`o -

Change

Hey guys, it's been a while hasn't it.

There was just something that I thought I shouldd share with you:

I was studying a couple of days ago when I came across a Business theory to do with change. I thought it might have some relevance to someone, I knoww it does to me. Behind the business jargon, there are some really important messages.

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John Paul Kotter is a professor at Havard Business School, who is widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on leadership and change. Kotter says "The change process goes through a series of phases that, in total, usually require a considerable length of time. Skipping steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces satisfactory results."

Kotter summarises these eight phases as follows:

1. Establish a sense of urgency

Talk of change typically begins with some people noticing a vulnerability in the organisation. The threat of losing ground in some way sparks people into action, and they in turn try to communicate that sense of urgency to others.

2. Form a powerful guiding coalition

Change efforts often start with just one or two people. and should grow continually to include more and more who believe the changes are necessary. The need in this phase is to gather a large enough initial core of believers.

3. Create a vision

Successful transformation rests on "a picture of the future that is relatively easy to communicate and appeals to customers, shareholders, debt holders and employees. A vision helps clarify the direction in which an organisation needs to move".
"A useful rule of thumb: if you can't communicate the vision to someone in five minutes or less and get a reaction that signifies both understanding and interest, you are not yet done with this phase of the transformation process".

4. Communicate that vision

Kotter suggests the leadership should estimate how much communication of the vision is needed, and then multiply that by a factor of ten.
"Deeds" along with "words" are powerful communicators of the new ways.
The guiding principle is simple: use every existing communication channel and opportunity.

5. Empower others to act on the vision

Allow people to start living out the new ways and to make changes in their areas of involvement. Allocate budget money to the new inititative.
Remove any obstacles there may be to getting on with the change. You can't get rid of all the obstacles, but the biggest ones need to be dealt with.

6. Plan for and create short-term wins

Since real transformation takes time, the loss of momentum and the onset of disappointment are real factors. In successful transformation, leaders actively plan and achieve some short term gains which people will be able to see and celebrate.

7. Consolidate improvements and keep the momentum for change moving

As Kotter warns, "Do not declare victory too soon". Until changes sink deeply into an organisation's culture new approaches are fragile and subject to regression.

8. Institutionalise the new approaches

In the final analysis, change sticks when it becomes "the way things are done around here", when it seeps into the bloodstream of the corporate body.

Fragile but not broken

There are times in life when circumstances hit you, regrets split you and no job description seems to fit you, leading you towards your breaking point. You can't bow down to these feelings, you have to find that strength within.
What do I mean by that? Well, it could mean different things for different people, but for me it means changing my mindset from a negative one to a positive one. I used to be the most optimistic person I know and now I've been infected with pessimism - I don't like it. It's affected the way I see myself, to the point that when other people say things about me I don't even believe them. That's not cool. This whole self pity thing really doesn't go with my soul, so why am I wearing it?

A lot of things have been said to me which have had a negative effect on me, but is man bigger than God? Not even. Isaiah 2:22, in the Bible, puts it this way: "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" The context is that as great as man pretends to be, as lofty as they make themselves in their own eyes, God can easily destroy them because He is much greater. And I think as much as I hear it and as much as I try to understand and believe it, I still behave as if man has the ultimate say in how my life will turn out. And why, because I'm interviewed by men? And men have marked my exams? And men own companies? Rubbish, men cannot dictate my future, but God can. I've let some things sink in which I shouldn't have, I almost stopped believing in myself, and for what reason?

God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or imagine, but these days something in me has been preventing me from even asking or imagining. This is not healthy for my soul - not at all. So for me, finding the strength within first of all means shaking off the doubt I can do without. After that, I will be free to find it. And for me, that strength within is the authority which Jesus Christ has granted me through His Holy Spirit. That is what is going to restore my confidence and drive me on to be the man that God purposed me to be.

There is no time to wallow in self pity and the like. There isn't enough energy to be wasted on doubting yourself. I'm speaking to myself, but I'm also speaking to you. Get up, shake it off and move forward. Find the strength within. Don't be afraid to try things differently. You may be fragile but you don't have to be broken.

Carpe diem.

Am I doing enough?

Recently it seems I'm not the only one going through a time of reflection. People all around me are asking themselves pertinent questions, some of which they cannot answer themselves. For some people I've spoken to, there is a feeling of failure and a desire to do more; others find encouragement in how far they've come. It's only natural to evaluate oneself every so often. It's a healthy thing to do, especially when the outcome is a practical effort to improve. It also happens to be the middle of the year. If you set specific goals and objectives at the beginning of the year, you would probably expect to have seen some progress in some of them by now. If you haven't seen as much progress as you would have liked at this stage, it's easy to get a bit down. 
I was speaking to someone recently and she confided in me that she felt quite rubbish, and that she didn't feel she was doing enough in the church. I honestly did not know what to say. Firstly, because I know this person very well, and I personally had the view that she does too much. Secondly, I was thinking if she doesn't do enough then what hope do I have? Because of the scale of her disappointment in herself, I came to the conclusion that it must be a spiritual attack. The devil is trying desperately to slow Christians down in any way he can, and one way he does this is by making you feel inadequate. This is what he was trying to do to this lady.

When someone genuinely feels like they are not doing enough in the kingdom, the hope is that they will address quickly by trying to do more (if this is the will of God). But more often than not it produces a heavy guilt which gives birth to inertia. It doesn't take long to get from 'I'm not doing enough' to 'should I even bother? This is too hard?' This is not how God wants us to think, He doesn't want us to beat purselves up about what we are not doing, He wants us to do the things that He wants us to do. Yes, as Christians we shouldn't be complaicent, and we should constantly be examining ourselves to see that we are producing fruit, but complaicency is not an action, it's an attitude. Not participating in recognised church ministries does not make a Christian complaicent; what makes them complaicent is a lack of desire to serve God. These are two completely different things: for instance, a Christian who seemingly does nothing at church could be praying for the church everyday in secret. Is this not vitally important for the church?

Apart from this, God has called different people to do different things at different periods. They may be involved in church ministry but going through a time where they feel ineffective. Maybe God wants to divert their attention back to Him because they were 'distracted with much serving' like Martha in Luke 10:40. Some, God may tell just to be part of the congregation until they have grown enough to take on responsibilities. There shouldn't be a race to grow. As a visiting pastor at our church said last weekend, 'God lets us grow gradually. Wouldn't it be weird if we were babies and we just turned into full-grown men and women overinght, but still thought like babies?' Heck yeah was my answer, the same principle applies. There are some people who God calls to serve in more than one ministry for a variety of different reasons e.g. to teach them teamwork, humility, trust, respect for authority, love etc. You just wouldn't know.

Equally, that you don't see someone actively involved or standing on a platform does not mean they are not serving God; nor are those at the forefront of activity automatically servants of God. The latter may be seeking their own glory, hence serving themselves, or dare I say it, indirectly serving Satan. Believe or not, some people even immerse themselves in activities and surround themselves with churchfolk deliberately to avoid spending time alone with God - they may not know how to. This is an issue as we all need to have personal relationships with Him. No one is going to escape by piggybacking off another's salvation. Each one will stand and give his/her own account before God, so it's necessary for all to know Him intimately. Relationship is vital.

Another person I've spoken to recently who feels she has really grown spiritually attributes this in part to the activities she's been involved in. Her involvement in these activities have helped her mature. The positions of responsibilty she holds means that her relationship with God has to be a good one, both so that she can handle the responsibility, and so that she remains effective. The main factor for her growth, therefore, has been the strength of her relationship with God and not the activities/ministries themselves. It is very important to grasp this, as it is so easy to get caught up in routine and forget the reason you do what you do.

However, it isn't always the case that positions of responsibility in the church cause one to grow, it depends on the person's motive and how vigilant the ministry team is. As I alluded to earlier, there are many people who simply hide behind ministry to seem busy, or to avoid relationship. For instance, imagine if a church had 2 services and one lady insisted on teaching a Sunday School group for both services every week. When will she hear adult preaching or fellowship with other people in the church? People would eventually realise that there was and issue and ask questions.

It's not for us as Christians to judge based on what we see with our eyes. Neither should we be discouraged or feel inadequate because others seem to be doing a lot. What we should be doing is making sure that we have a relationship with God. 'Seek first the kingdom of God and all things will be added to you.' A lot of people tend to think of this verse referring to us getting what we need or desire, but how many see this as including responsibilty as well?

I believe that when we seek God earnestly, and with our whole heart and we get to know and love Him, he then trusts us enough to give us responsibilties, which, by the way are a privelege.
So maybe 'am I doing enough?' is the wrong question to use to evaluate ourselves. We can never do enough, especially for God, that's why people are not saved by works. Perhaps the more helpful self-appraisal questions are 'Is my relationship with God getting stronger?', 'What are my motives?', 'Am I ready to take on new/more responsibilities?'

Check, check, check.

Know for yourself

John 4:42 ~

"They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.""

Recently I was asked why, if I grew up in the church, did it take so long for me to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour. I could've given a number of reason s, but the real reason is that I was believing in Jesus through others, I didn't know Him myself. And how could I have? I hardly ever read my Bible in my own time. All the verses I had knowledge of I'd heard at Sunday School, in the main services at church or from parents and friends.

I accepted what people said was true at face value, but it didn't have any major bearing on my life. All it inspired me to do was live by good morals, it didn't inspire me to seek after a relationship with God. There are dangers attached to believing based on other's experiences/testimonies. They may impact you for a little while, but unless you seek those experiences/truths yourself the effects are likely to wear off quickly.

In John 4:42, the Samaritans said, "... we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world." [emphasis added]. So, in addition to the aforementioned danger, there is also a chance that you didn't fully believe in the first place.

As a teen I was quite apathetic, so the change began when I suddenly had all these inquisitive people around me. They were not satisfied with just hearing about the Bible, they would read it and ask God for their own interpretation - something that I had never considered.

One friend from college was especially fond of quoting scripture, and it became increasingly difficult to hang around with him without contributing much to our discussions. And so, the quest for more knowledge began. It was about time too. Hosea 4:6 says in the New International Version, "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Self-destruction is not my portion, neither will it be yours.

I'm very grateful for that friend's commitment at the time as he would also invite me to afternoon youth services after I'd attended my regular church in the mornings. It was there that I felt God tugging at my heart's strings when a girl from our college made an altar call after preaching.

I was still reluctant to go forward as I knew many of the youth in the congregation, and suspected that most would be shocked I hadn't made this decision already. This was not a valid excuse, what is pride if not a burden? So I went up, said a prayer, was prayed for, and felt some sort of release.

Almost 6 years on, I haven't looked back. I'm getting to know the real character of Jesus a little more every day, thus feeling closer to God. I can honestly say that over the years my relationship with God has compelled me to dramatically change my mindset. And my new way of thinking has changed EVERYTHING!

There will be trials and tribulations, and times when you wonder why you bother being a Christian - such is life - but let me tell you this:

The rewards during - and most importantly - after the battle, far outweigh the pains of the battle.

Keep on keepin on, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

God Bless,

Sunshine -`o -