Building, Rebuilding

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builder labours in vain.,,,useless to build a home or guard a city.
Or move home.
Or start something new.
No work can prosper without the Lord. We cannot create something, or try to protect something, without God's blessing and presence. Matthew Henry comments:
"Our care must be to keep ourselves in the love of God; then we may be easy, whether we have little or much of this world...The Lord will assuredly comfort and bless those who serve him."And so: "Use wisdom and understanding to establish your home; let good sense fill the rooms with priceless treasures." Proverbs 24:3 - 4

Brian Houston: (Release, Revive, Repair, Rebuild study) "Life is too short to live broken and beat up. Sadly, we live in a world full of brokenness often because of lives built on the wrong foundations. The foundation on which you build your life determines what is established, what is planted and immovable. Everyone is in the process of building their life - and builders require plans - so what plans, or 'whose' plans are you following?

God gave Ezra and his people a miraculous opportunity to rebuild the walls of His House and their future. The wonderful thing about God is that we can rebuild our lives when we follow His plan for us. God's Word is full of wise instruction on how to rebuild broken lives.

 One of the best commitments we can make is to build what Jesus said He would build - His Church. "To make the community livable again" we must rebuild lives through healthy, flourishing local churches whose teachings are firmly planted in the Word of God. When we do this, it brings our life in line with His will. One of the greatest decisions you can make is to choose to live a life dedicated to accomplishing and building something that will stand as a testimony or legacy for the generations to come.
Isaiah 58:9 - 12:
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again."
As with Ezra, God gives us new life to restore old ruins, revitalises us.
Brian Houston's questions:
What am I building that will stand the test of time? Is what I am building in line with what God is building?

Isaiah 61:3 reminds that God will renew and restore: he will "provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.

I am reminded that it is not about me, it is all about Him. That His glory was ruined on the cross but he rose from the ruins into glory. He is in the business of recreating ruined lives.

Wonderful thought. Paul says: "God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won’t stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns."

"I will bless you with a future filled with hope—a future of success, not of suffering. You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you and accept your worship." (Jeremiah 29:11 - 14)

Brian Houston (Day 8 of Release,Revive, Repair, Rebuild: "Ruins speak of former glory, of something that once was but is no longer - better days, glory days. Ruins represent failure - images of former battle, devestation, broken remains, abandonment.

In Old Testament times, God presenced Himself in a temple of stone. When that temple was in ruins, he sent Ezra and his people to rebuild it. Today, God dwells in the hearts of men and women when they receive Jesus. What is man-made can lay in ruins, but what God makes is eternal.

Personally, all our potential through failings weaknesses and mistakes could be left in ruins just like that temple. Perhaps right now you face financial ruin. Maybe you are on the edge of a ruined reputation or a relationship that is in ruins. Is there a dream you have abandoned because it lies in ruins? Because Jesus brings the ruins of your life, back to life!

It is amazing to me that God never leaves what belongs to Him in ruins. He is a God of life, of restoration and He is forever building our lives. It's a process where God releases us from bondage and repairs our brokenness. He revives us by His Holy Spirit and line upon line of His Word, He relentlessly rebuilds our life. We were created for glory and through Christ, we will be returned to glory.

Isaiah 61 declares this beautiful exchange:

Give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by GOD to display his glory. They'll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage.

They'll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new.

 Do not allow yourself to sit amongst ruins! Rise up in spirit and in stature, knowing that He has called you unto Himself, 'set apart for His glory'. Take courage in these verses today, knowing that whatever circumstances you find yourself in, what is ahead of you are glorious plans and purposes.

LiFE!

Another You Version plan from Brian Houston: Release, Revive, Repair.

Jesus said - Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1 - that the spirit of the Lord had come upon HIM to preach the good news, proclaim freedom and give sight to the blind, freeing the prisoners.

We are all ignorant, trapped, blind and imprisoned in some way. In our thoughts, our emotions, our physicality to varying degrees.

And so he offers help: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Yes, but how? Paul has the answer:
"I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

Brian Houston: ""For we were slaves." Ezra 9:9
Many people who have already walked through the door of freedom in Christ are still slaves to something or someone....The word 'release' implies momentum and action. It carries the idea of liberation, spaciousness, generosity, forgiveness, mercy and grace. Release is about emancipation - set free from whatever has restricted us. When I think about release, I see prison doors swung wide open with overjoyed people running onto a wide-open field....

It's time to break free from bondages in circumstances, relationships, finance, addictions or health. It's time for deliverance into an overcoming life. Don't settle for brokenness - Jesus came to heal the broken, to release us from everything that weighs us down.
God has not forsaken you. He has not forgotten you nor has He given up on you. Do whatever it takes to walk in the freedom that Jesus won for you."

Bonnie's Faith Jam: What Easter Means To Me This Year

OK, it's Wednesday. I'm new to this Faith Jam thing but I do know that I link to it on a Thursday. And today is Wednesday. But I can't wait.

Over at facebook I reposted this classic paragraph: Greatest man in history, named Jesus... He had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him... He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. And I've been reading Philip Yancy's book What Good is God?  And what has struck me most is that Jesus came and spent time with the marginalised. The outcasts, the sick, the disabled, the poor, the immoral...and that, in contrast, I spend my Christian time with the comfortable, the accepted, the wealthy, the healthy...easy to do when one lives in the Western world.

Now, nothing wrong in having soul-restoring times of sweet friendship with devoted followers of Jesus who are comfortable, accepted, wealthy, healthy...but my focus has to be to the folk Jesus hung around with.

So my prayer this Easter is to recognise and relate to the sick, the hungry, the prisoners - all those afflicted not just physically, but spiritually. To hang around with them. Because when I do that, I'm with Jesus. Really with him.