tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34863700545078081472024-03-13T06:52:56.137-07:00Adam James' Super BlogAdam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-12411923840306137932022-07-18T02:14:00.005-07:002022-07-18T16:04:47.631-07:00Grief - My JourneyIt's been around two years and nine months since I last posted a blog on here. My last post was about my Mum who had passed away on October 1st 2019, a date etched into my brain. Since then I've been on probably the hardest journey I can remember, but I wanted to share with you my experiences of grief in the hope this blog may help someone out there, going through their own journey of grief. Believe me, it's different for everyone.<br />
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When Mum passed away I was in Australia and for whatever reason my bosses at work at the time said I didn't have enough leave (as I was on my six-month probation) to go back to the UK (yeah, I know, right) and my Dad said that I would be able to watch the ceremony via Zoom or FaceTime. But due to technical issues I missed Mum's funeral altogether! I managed to get my friend to hook up a laptop at the gathering afterwards, but I had missed the actual ceremony. I was finally able to hear it via a recording someone had made on their phone. To say I was devestated is an understatement, and this became such a heavy rock that I began to carry in my heart.<br />
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From that moment on I felt so angry. Angry at my employer for not having any sympathy, angry at technical gremlins that stopped me seeing the ceremony and angry at God because I was convinced that Mum would make it through. I then began to spiral internally and although it was a slow process, it got to the point where I didn't really know what to do. I had counselling sessions, I spoke to people, I tried to read books on grief, I tried to find peace in my working (so I could block out the pain) and tried to get on with life but it was very tough.<br />
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It was clear that because I'd pushed everything so far down to try and forget about it, it became part of me and whatever I did was tainted by this heavy feeling of total helplessness - I was never going to get over missing the funeral or not being there with the rest of my family to grieve together.<br />
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Adding to this huge battle COVID happened and in a sudden move by the Australian government, the international borders were shut and travel outside of Australia was halted. Even if I wanted to get back home, I couldn't. I was now literally living in a nightmare. Yes, Australia is beautiful and yes, my wife and kids are here with me as well as friends, but that didn't help the feeling of isolation and seperation that then also began to form heavy rocks in my soul. I was feeling like I was totally overwhelmed.<br />
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I stuck at my job for another 20 months but the stress of the job and the sense of grief I was still experiencing was too much. I needed a change. I was also taking out my frustrations on work colleagues which was not fair on them but they could not understand why I was becoming so angry as they couldn't relate to my scenario. So I then started looking for other work to see if a fresh change would help. Around about this same time, we also decided to sell our house and move to a beautiful new home - not really the wisest of decisions given the stress that can come from moving home, but we needed to. <br />
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As well as missing mum's funeral, not being happy at work and feeling trapped because of COVID, our old house was in a flood zone and guess what, we had two unbelievable wet winters and water levels were so bad, my daughters converted appartment in the garage got flooded four times. It was horrible. There was no way we could stay living there and so we managed to renovate and sell right in the middle of a global pandemic! Yes, we got an amazing price for our old house but again, this level of stress took its toll on me and now, after everything I was at rock bottom.<br />
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I got a new job, which did not work out the way I was hoping it would and after six months I simply could not function any more. I made the decision to quit my job and I had also felt God say that I would need to take four months off any work to sort myself out. FOUR MONTHS? Sounds like madness. But because God said it, I did it.<br />
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During my time off I've tried to rest but life is life and I seemed to feel just as busy as I was when I was working. But at the start of the year we had finally been able to book flights to the UK so at least I had this in my mind as kind of a goal to aim for and focus on if I got overwhelmed. My sister had also been able to fly over here which was also a very precious time and helped a bit. I also managed to secure a new job for when I return from the UK which is amazing and I'm very grateful for that. But four weeks ago, something momumental happended to me, and this has changed me from the inside out, and I wanted to share this with you.<br />
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I took my daughter to an art class and my wife had said it might be good for me to get alone with God and have it out with Him (He's a big God so can handel my grumpiness for sure). I didn't want to do this at all. You see, for me, part of the pain of grief was in some strange way still keeping my Mum alive in my heart, because I just couldn't let go or face the reality that Mum had died. So to "have it out with God" meant that I would need to admit that I wanted to let go of the pain and in turn, let go of Mum. SO HARD! Also, I've mentioned a few times the rocks I was starting to form in my heart. When I looked back on my life over the last 46 years I had realised that I had formed SO many rocks and there were plenty of unresolved disappointments. These disappointments were totally skewing my thoughts about so many things, including the grief. As always, my wife was right. I REALLY did need to sort myself out.<br />
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After dropping my daughter off. I made the decision to face my fears and I drove down a narrow track and parked up. I made sure I was in the middle of nowhere (very easy to do in Australia) because there was definitly going to be some shouting going on, and I didn't want anyone else to hear it. I found a track and walked along it for a minute or two and I noticed I was walking alond quite a rocky path and there were loose rocks everywhere. I felt God say "pick the rocks up and throw them when you've name each disappointment" so I did.<br />
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Grabbing as many as I could fit in one hand, I stood up and picked up the first rock. I looked at it and said, "right rock, you are the disappointment of my job where I couldn't get back home..." and I continued to tell this rock how I felt and once I had felt I'd said enough, I then asked God where He was in that season, He said very gently "I was there with you," and I so I threw the rock. There was an instant feeling of relief. So I followed this process with the rest of them, but it became obvious there was a rock still in my hand that was much bigger than the others. I knew this was my Mum.<br />
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When I got to this last rock I picked it up and froze. I couldn't find any words. When I did try to speak, I was overwhelmed with anger and gut-wrenching anguish. I shouted, "If I throw this rock I am saying goodbye and that's something I don't want to do." Immediately I felt God whisper, "I'll help you, I'm here with you." So gradually I managed to articulate my thoughts and with one huge cry from my soul I launched this rock as hard as I could into the air. It's hard to describe what I felt but it did feel incredible. All that bottled up pain that had been in my soul for so long, came out in one breath! It was like all the weight I'd been carrying left me in one moment. WOW!!<br />
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Overjoyed I headed back to my car, and I have to say I've not felt that peaceful in quite a long time - if ever.<br />
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This could be the end of the story but I know it isn't. There is still the huge task of going to England in a few days time and this will be the first time I've been there and Mum hasn't been there with my Dad. I've no doubt that I will have plenty more processing to do but at least the beaches there have a LOT of rocks on them...<br />
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Finally, I wanted to spend some time reflecting on what I've learned about grief in all of this. It can hit you very hard, in ways you would never expect. It makes no announcement, like when you're at a station and you hear the voice of a recording saying when you should expect the train to arrive, it just turns up and smacks you in the face and there's nothing you can do to avoid it. It also comes at very odd moments, it's triggered by sounds, songs, memories and words. It makes no apologies for ruining your day. It doesn't let you off the hook. It's horrible but it's also incredibly necessary. What I've learned, is without grief, there is no reminder that you need time to reflect on what has happened. When you're hit by grief, you're given the opportunity to stop, cry, reflect and realise that you are in fact OK.<br />
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Bottling it up, pushing it down or just burying it is NOT the right thing to do but that's what I WAS doing. I thought I was good at dealing with it by saying, I'm good. But I wasn't. Dealing with it this way has not only hurt me but it's hurt those around me because when you hurt, you hurt others in the process. It's not done on purpose but if you don't recognise it, you drive a wedge between you and everyone else. It must be faced head on and it must be dealt with. So in a way, this blog is also a public apology to anyone I may have hurt along the process.<br />
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I've no doubt that in the weeks, months and years ahead I will grieve more, it's inevitable. But at least when it happens again, I'll know what to do. I can go back to that place, remember how I felt, pick up a rock, put all my hurt and pain into that rock, and hurl it into the tall grass.<br />
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I know that my journey may be very different to others as like I said at the beginning, everyone grieves differently but can I still encourage you by saying you are never alone in that place. Even if you think you are, you're not. Whether you believe in God or not is fine, but I know from my experience that He is very real and He wants to let you know that He's always there to help when noone else can. Even that in itself is a huge comfort.<br />
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I really hope this story has helped and encouraged you today.<br />
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Blessings,
AdamAdam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-60641564149880001662019-10-06T20:34:00.001-07:002019-10-07T02:43:21.352-07:00A true warrior in prayerSince my last post in August 2018, there has been many changes in my life (most of which I will probably write about at some point) but by far the biggest change happened on October 1st, 2019. After putting up an incredible battle against many health issues for over five and half years, my amazing Mum died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 80.<br />
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I wanted to use this space to pay a tribute to her because I wanted to share what an incredible woman of faith she was and without her commitment to prayer each and every morning, my family simply wouldn't be what they are today. Through unthinkable physical pain towards her last days, she was pressing into God and literally praying for everyone; the nurses who were caring for her, other patients in the ward around her and of course, everybody else she had on her treasured list.<br />
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My Mum was a quiet soul, she kept herself to herself most of the time and humbly carried the burden of intercessory prayer for over 40 years. I say it's a burden because it takes great courage and commitment to devote every morning to prayer; life is so busy and also you open yourself up to the Enemy trying to do whatever he can to stop those prayers. You see, prayers are direct messages to God and they have unbelievable power. In Mark, in the Gospels, the disciples were trying to cast out a demon from a young boy, but they couldn't do it. Jesus said, "This type of powerful spirit can ONLY be cast out by fasting and prayer!" <br />
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Another important fact about Mum is that she didn’t know anything about Jesus until she gave her life to Him in the early 1970’s. In fact, she gave her life to Jesus on the same night as my Dad. While he was downstairs asking Jesus into his heart, my Mum was upstairs doing the same thing (they didn’t know each other was doing this either, which is hilarious). It was then that this incredible relationship started which makes her life even more of an example - to go from having no Christian upbringing and no experience of God, let alone Jesus and faith, to having an intimate relationship with Jesus is really quite remarkable. Prayer and Jesus was what my Mum devoted more time to than any other pursuit.<br />
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Jesus also taught a lot on prayer and the importance of being alone in a room where no-one can see you (Matthew 6:6), because prayer is so personal. Mum used to shut herself in the bedroom, open up her prayer diary and Bible and would start to pray. She would start with family, then relatives, then close friends and then gradually her metaphorical prayer fishing net would get wider and wider. She did this every day. Nothing could stop her. Why? Because each prayer she prayed was being answered - sometimes straight away, and sometimes a few years later. Some might say that it was just coincidence her prayers were being answered, but because she wrote down exactly what she was praying there was no way it could be. She had a friend in the form of the Holy Spirit who was right there with her, nodding and agreeing and doing what she was asking.<br />
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I say a friend because I also don't know anyone else who's had the physical Jesus turn up in their sitting room and dance with them, like He did with my Mum, too. My Dad was on his way back home after being away at teacher's training college and my Mum was on her own (kids were in bed) in the sitting room and she felt the Holy Spirit breathe on her and she started dancing. When she opened her eyes, there in front of her was Jesus who picked her up and swung her around and they danced for a long time. When Dad got home he found my Mum slumped in an armchair and he rushed over and asked if she was ok. In typical Mum fashion she said, "yer (in her Birmingham accent) of course, I was dancing with Jesus!" Every time I tell this, it's impossible not to be in tears. It's truly astonishing.<br />
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One thing my Mum struggled with, more than anything, was her appearance. I'm not sure why as she was very slim and always looked absolutely immaculate but for some reason she would get really upset if her hair wasn't right, or she spilt something on her or it was windy... whatever the reason was, she did try so hard with this image identity thing but in silence most of the time. I remember one morning as we sat in the car, waiting to leave for church (Mum was always the last out of the door), when she got in the car she was laughing. Dad asked what was going on, and she said that she was looking in the mirror at herself when the voice of God came and spoke to her and said, "You look beautiful today, Jenny!" He knew more than anyone the struggles she was having but knew exactly what to say and when to say it. This is just another story to show what an intimate relationship Mum had with her Father in Heaven.<br />
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Another thing I remember is that she always had a secret stash of cash, which I'm not sure where it came from. My brother would get me to ask Mum for money for football stickers and she always said yes and had a couple of pound coins in her purse. This might not sound a lot, but as a family we had gone through some very hard financial challenges so the fact she had money to spare was a miracle in itself.<br />
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She also loved her worship music. Whenever I came home from school there would be worship music playing and she'd be somewhere in the house whistling away to the music. Interestingly, I never ever saw my Mum whistle. Even that was private to her, haha. But she also loved some secular bands. Her favourite was Elbow and particularly their song, 'One Day Like This', my Dad would often joke with the kids and literally throw the curtains wide during the chorus when the singer sings "throw those curtains wide". This usually annoyed my house proud mum, but I'm sure she'd secretly laugh about it when we weren't looking!<br />
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Now, I could go on with many stories of how Mum blessed us and others around her, but she truly amazed us and everyone who was around her in her last years. In 2014 she was diagnosed with a condition called vasculitis, which causes an inflammation of the blood vessels and can lead to blood supply being cut off to organs, and it was very aggressive. It attacked Mum so much that it shut her kidneys down to 5 per cent efficiency. She was told she'd need to be on dialysis for the rest of her life. Mum had never really been ill and she'd spent many years praying for our health so somehow it didn't seem fair. But we got our church to pray and my Dad and siblings got their churches to pray and everyone else we knew. Within four weeks her kidneys were back to 100 per cent efficiency!! Incredible. The doctors were not quite sure how it happened but asked Mum to "keep doing what she was doing because it was obviously working". She said, "it's prayer, that's all." She was defiant, as always.<br />
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However, because vasculitis is a disease it remained in her blood and although Mum recovered enough to be at my sister's wedding, Mum was never totally free of it and there was a worrying rash on her leg that was growing. Within a week she was in intensive care with viral meningitis, shingles and vasculitis, all at the same time. But, incredibly she survived. She said throughout the whole ordeal she was praying constantly and incredibly the one thing that kept her alive was her KIDNEYS! Apparently, they were so efficient that they helped get rid of all the nasties! Amazing!<br />
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Another thing my Dad noticed was her hair, for many years she was worried about it turning grey (remember what I said about her image worries) but somehow during her illness her hair stopped turning grey and started to grow in light brown. Thank you Jesus.<br />
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For the next three and half years Mum's life drastically changed. She was either in bed or in a wheelchair, the meningitis had caused her to lose the feeling in her legs (which gradually started to come back) and also caused crippling neurological pain in her left arm, as well as causing her to put on a lot of weight from the medication and not being able to walk. My Dad cared for her non stop and their house became a maze of medical equipment. Mum was particularly house proud and everything needed to be in its place. This was so hard for her but with daily care from the health service and Dad's attention she carried on praying and battling every day until the end. She inspired every single person she met with her iron-clad faith and would always have a classic sarcastic quip to say if something was annoying her. I had the privilege of being able to fly back from Australia to see her smiling in her last few weeks. <br />
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In the early hours of October 1st, Mum was finally called home. She was asleep in the hospital and her heart rate dropped slowly as well as her breathing and then she went to be with her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (and all the other heroes in Heaven). The legacy of all of her prayers will live on for literally generations and she will always be remembered as the humble servant who prayed every day of her Christian life, who honoured her husband, children, and who loved unconditionally. She was a prayer giant and I'm forever grateful for her.<br />
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Lastly, in the evening after Mum passed away we were praying as a family, my wife, my kids and myself, giving God the praise for my Mum. My son who's 14 said he had been given a vision of her meeting Jesus. When my son wrote it down and read it to us it was one of the most profound pictures I've ever heard of not only the character of Jesus but the assurance that what Mum believed in, wasn't a waste of time. It was real, and her Saviour was, too. So to finish this tribute, I'd like to share my son's picture with you all.<br />
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"Me and my family were talking about my Nana who had just passed away and were talking about all of the memories we had as a family. I looked up at the ceiling while talking and I see my Nana in her wheelchair and I see her get up out of it and she starts to walk. As she walks, I see all the fat on her body drain away and this huge bright light came as if it was the sun exploding before her. A man on a white horse came with a white beard, hair, robe and had fiery eyes with greens, blues, reds and yellows. He came down off the horse and came to her and showed her all of heaven.<br />
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"After that vision, I looked around the room and looked at the coffee table in the middle of the room. I could see a hologram of the world and Jesus and my Nana were there talking about all her adventures around the globe and how she wished she could've gone to Australia to see the beauty (one of her last desires). Then Jesus said, "I will show you better!" After that Jesus showed her all that had gone wrong inside my Nana's body and was telling her all about it. After that experience/vision it was dead silent in the house.<br />
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"Then I could hear this sound. I looked up to see where it was coming from and so I looked at the middle of the table again and I saw my Nana and Jesus dancing to the song 'One Day Like This' by Elbow. Angels were signing it to her loudly. Then the chorus "Throw those curtains wide" came on and I could see my Nana opening the gates of Heaven wide open and seeing everyone else in the Kingdom of God."<br />
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Thank you Mum for all the memories. I love you and miss you. <br />
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Your son,<br />
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AdamAdam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-46988680245846617412018-08-14T16:16:00.001-07:002018-08-14T16:16:16.729-07:00If faith can move the mountains, then let the mountains move!Since my last post in April my life could not look any more different.<br />
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In my last update I said that I felt it was time to drop my metaphorical nets onto the other side of the boat and change my career from construction back into writing. Not more than three weeks after that blog post I was offered a full time job as a journalist in Sydney!<br />
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Some might say I was lucky, while others might comment that I was in the right place at the right time. But I don't 'do' luck! What happened was I took a step of faith, knowing full well I had not been in journalism for 14 years, and that faith allowed me to step forward knowing that I was safe to do so. I can't quite explain the euphoria I felt when I was offered the job but it was incredible, I can tell you.<br />
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The significance in all of this is that when I laid down my writing career back in 2004 to pursue this Australian adventure, I had literally no idea when I would ever get back into writing full time, but I had received a prophetic word from my Dad to say that one day it would come back to me, so I just believed it would. <br />
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When I had my first interview for this role I'm, in I could have fallen off my chair when the interviewer said, "I think the fact you've been out of journalism for 14 years is irrelevant - you're clearly an experienced writer and that's why you're here." I mean, it doesn't get much better than that, does it?<br />
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One of the things which was cited as a reason for me having a better shot at this new job was this blog. Apparently because I'd 'kept writing' it showed that I had not given up on my dream. To be honest, I feel quite emotional even writing this because this blog came from nowhere. I even called it a stupid name because I thought no-one would read my ramblings, but they have, all around the globe! Who knew that when I started this blog, telling people about all the amazing things God has done in my life, that it would also present itself as a reason for me to get back into writing? I certainly didn't!<br />
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All I am saying is that something in me just didn't let go to God's promises. I didn't doubt that God wouldn't let me down but I certainly, as the years rolled on, began wondering when this would come back. But it did, and I'm here right now doing what I love to do. Faith really does move mountains.<br />
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I hope this has encouraged you today. Keep believing and don't let go. He's got this.<br />
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Blessings.Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-25621439874646485102018-04-11T22:13:00.000-07:002018-04-11T22:13:08.466-07:00Throwing Nets On The Other SideA couple of weeks ago, I told an amazing story. It was about a bunch of hardened fisherman from Northern Ireland who were told about Jesus and the miracles that He did. Not long after hearing about this historical miracle maker, the guys went out, as they always did, and cast their nets. What happened next was incredible. They caught so many fish that their boat became weighed down and they all surrendered their lives to Jesus. The picture is below.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQPg8vmvKtg/Ws6tjHkUUNI/AAAAAAAAAIU/K6wqIPdEUx87s0JeaxJxuMD-7wczAcw2gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQPg8vmvKtg/Ws6tjHkUUNI/AAAAAAAAAIU/K6wqIPdEUx87s0JeaxJxuMD-7wczAcw2gCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_7610.jpg" width="229" height="320" data-original-width="607" data-original-height="850" /></a></div><br />
This story immediately took me to the story in the Bible of Simon Peter. He and his fishermen mates had gone out all night and had not caught a thing. Jesus was standing on the shore as they made their way back and He shouted to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "NO!" They shouted back to Him, not knowing at this moment that it was Jesus. "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." Jesus said.<br />
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Just try to imagine, if you will, yourself as the fisherman in this story. Firstly, it's the audacity of being told by someone who isn't doing what you are doing or isn't going through what you are going through, to try again but in a completely wrong way to what you're used to. I'd be like; "you have no idea, mate. Thanks but no thanks." Simon Peter and his colleagues would have had a routine, a strict way of fishing and would probably have been extremely tired and angry that they didn't have a catch. So not in a good place to hear themselves or their method being put into question.<br />
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Secondly, it's the way they respond, in this story, which I find even stranger. They just went for it. No questions asked but the attitude of, 'what's the worst that could happen?' Don't you find this a little strange, like I do? I can only assume that there was such authority in Jesus' voice that these guys did what He asked of them. When they did what Jesus asked, they struggled to contain the amount of fish - a bit like our Irish friends.<br />
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But then, for me, the most amazing thing happens. After being obedient to the Lord's call to do something which pushed their better judgement, Jesus asks them for some of the fish and cooks up a mean breakfast. Not only does this speak of Jesus honouring obedience with rewards but it also underpins the fact that He DOES understand when we face trials and knows what to do to put everything right. Even if we have made the same mistake over and over again. When we face trials are we standing aside and asking God for help and direction or are we still fishing in the same barren waters?<br />
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I've been in the same situation as the disciples many times. I have not only kept doing what I think is right and not obeying God's voice, but I haven't asked for help or direction. This always, inevitably, leads to discontentment.<br />
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<blockquote><b>"Peter disowned Jesus but Jesus cooked Peter breakfast and reinstated him."</b></blockquote><br />
But the thing I love about God is that He then doesn't judge me when I completely mess it up. When I go to Him and say I'm sorry, there is no 'I told you so' but utter love and acceptance and a fresh chance to be obedient. Think of how Peter was feeling at the moment he walked onto the beach and recognised Jesus. He had denied he ever knew Jesus not too long ago but here he was, being cooked for and then Jesus reinstates him completely. This is such a wonderful story of grace and redemption.<br />
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Two weeks ago I felt I'd heard God ask me to throw my nets on the other side. The idea of going back into writing was almost ludicrous, especially as I hadn't been involved in the industry since before I got married, 14 years ago. But God wasn't asking me for anything impossible, He was asking me to trust Him. I had been casting my nets on the same side, over and over again. All I seemed to be catching were scraps of junk and lots of closed doors. So, like the disciples, I put aside all my so-called knowledge and threw my nets over the other side of my metaphorical boat.<br />
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Well, if you'd have told me there and then that I'd publish my first children's story online and be asked to help start up a motoring news website in the first two days of going self employed as a writer, I'd have laughed very hard. But this has happened. God honoured my faith to trust Him and presented a fresh opportunity to take back which I felt to lay down all those years ago. He is just so kind.<br />
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So the story about throwing nets over the other side of the boat is not so much about the quantity of fish, but it's really about how much faith we have in God that when He says 'do it' we simply say 'yes'. <br />
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What are you trusting God for? What things have you been doing over and over again to try and see an answer but it just hasn't happened? Go to the Father and ask Him to show you what you actually need to do and He will tell you. He did that with the disciples, He did it with me, He's done it for countless others and He will do it for you. <br />
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It's what He does best.<br />
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Blessings!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-53993857090366845242018-04-03T20:23:00.000-07:002018-04-03T20:23:02.644-07:00Walking Out of the ForestIt's been one year and 11 months since my last post on here. I'm not sure where the time went but all I know is a lot has changed since I last wrote anything on this blog.<br />
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When I last wrote, my family and I were living in Dee Why in the Northern Beaches of Sydney and I was working for a large shopping mall company, which I loved. However there were many frustrations which I didn't speak about because I was trying to process everything. As a family we were still trying to establish why we were living in such an expensive part of the world and for some reason we weren't connecting with people or our local church in the way we thought we would. It's difficult to explain but it felt like hard work all the time. I guess sometimes my wife and I would try and take a step back and say, "what is going on?"<br />
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As well as the difficulty of establishing relationships, working out our place in the church and where we were living, we were also finding life very tough financially due to the stupidly high rent costs in the Northern Beaches. This was adding to the stress of the moment and I guess it was dogged determination which saw us through right up until May 2017. Sadly by this time we had reached breaking point. I had changed jobs, my wife wasn't happy in hers and it just all got too much. But bizarrely we still felt that we were meant to be in Australia. Something HAD to change. So we began crying out to God for something to happen. Not more than 8 weeks later, it did.<br />
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One weekend we made a decision to drive up to the Central Coast (about an hour and a half from Dee Why). We wanted to have a look as some friends of ours had moved there and they'd said it was amazing but we wanted to see for ourselves. When we arrived we ended up driving down a little road and at the end was this giant lake. The water looked like a mirror and it was as vast as the eyes could see. But even more incredible that the view, was the sense of utter peace. For the first time in a long time it just felt like we could breathe. It was amazing. Not much was said but we knew in our hearts that maybe we should come back one day.<br />
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About a week later, my wife was at home and she was watching a YouTube clip from Bethel Church's worship conference and Brian and Jenn Johnson were interviewing Mark and Darlene Zschech. They were talking about a church they were leading and my wife was instantly moved by their hearts around what leadership is and she was blown away by it. It was during this video that my wife found out that the church that Mark and Darlene were running was based in the Central Coast in a place called Charmhaven. We'd never heard of it but agreed that maybe we should go and check it out.<br />
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So on May 7th, 2017, we drove to Charmhaven and arrived at Hope Unlimited Church (Hope UC). As we pulled into the carpark there were Kangaroos sitting there looking at us; I remember it as clear as day. We were, like, 'what are they doing there?' - turns out they just 'live' there. So with an edge of excitement we got out of the car and made our way into the doors of Hope UC for the first time. Instantly we were greeted by warmth, kindness and a sense of belonging. It's quite hard to explain but I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by the instant feeling we had. <br />
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During the service, PS Darlene was bringing the word and mentioned that she was in Brighton (UK) with Martin Smith (a world renowned worship leader) and I remember thinking; 'we've only been here for an hour and already my home town is being spoken about and the person in the story is someone I know...'. At this point, my wife taps me on the shoulder and says, "That's Kirsty's friend, Hayley, at the back - I'm going to go and say hello...". I was a bit confused and asked her how she knew and she said she'd seen Hayley's picture on Facebook. The next thing I know they are hugging and laughing. It turned out it was a friend of a friend who we knew from the UK, who'd married an Aussie and moved here several years ago. It's a small world sometimes, really.<br />
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That afternoon as we drove home we had a very strange feeling. One of disappointment that we were driving away from the Central Coast and would be heading back to familiarity, and the other of excitement because none of us knew what was going to happen next. However, our kids loved the Northern Beaches and my wife and I knew that God would have to change their hearts in order for us to move. So we left it to Him and started our week.<br />
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Two days later I was praying and asking God for a word for me so I'd know that this was from Him. Randomly I got sent a verse from the bible in a text message from a close friend; it said this: "So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Jesus Christ - eternal and glorious plans they are! - will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, He does." 1 Peter 5:8 - 11 MSG. I mean, WOW. Like, seriously. My mind was blown and I felt an utter sense of peace that I should begin to push doors and see if this Central Coast thing would happen.<br />
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At this time I was working on a large building site and hating every moment of it. I felt no sense of purpose and was just turning up day after day. But just after our amazing weekend in the Central Coast I felt an air of excitement about looking forward and so I updated my profile on Seek (a job page) and within an hour had a phone call about a job in the Central Coast. I was asked a few questions and whether I was interested and I said yes, absolutely. Within two weeks I had quit my job and was offered the Central Coast role to start in June. We were on our way, it seemed.<br />
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While this was going on, my wife was chatting with my son one day and out of the blue he said, "Mum, if you and Dad think you need to move, I'm OK with that." I mean this was such a wow moment because God was in the process of changing out kids hearts for the move just like we'd asked him too. It was amazing.<br />
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The next part of the story is a bit of a blur. Not because I can't remember what happened but because it happened so quickly. I'll try and summarise what God did, in a few lines. Oh, this all happened in the space of two weeks...<br />
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1. We broke our lease and found a new tenant within a week<br />
2. We applied to rent a particular house in Mardi on a Saturday morning and we approved on the Monday<br />
3. Our son was offered a place in a new school, the same day we were approved for the rental<br />
4. We were given a moving out date, earlier than anticipated<br />
5. My new boss offered to loan me a company truck so that I didn't have to spend money hiring one<br />
6. I was given the day off on the Friday to move in<br />
7. By Sunday we were moved in and at Hope UC<br />
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The way I gauge whether God's plans are lining up with my dreams or not is by the speed at which He works. Sometimes He is VERY slow to do anything. Not to necessarily delay the process but because maybe He wants me to learn something new in the extended time frame before allowing me to move forward. Sometimes He is very fast. This is when His timing for change lines up with my changed heart and everything clicks. Sometimes, I wish that my heart would always be in the right place, but thank you Jesus for grace, I am not a finished work but He knows this and loves me anyway.<br />
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So we had now moved. We felt like we were on holiday. The sense of rest and peace was extraordinary and as bizarre as it sounds, we just knew we'd make really good friendships here as everyone we spoke to had similar stories to us. Stories of struggle, pain and blessing. These people had all gone through much and yet had seen incredible blessing and favour waiting for them at the other end of the hallway. We just knew that God had brought us to the right place and that now we could start putting down deep roots.<br />
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For me personally, however, despite all the joy of moving, connecting in the church, joining the worship team, seeing my kids growing in Godly stature, seeing my wife have the community she craved for so long now all around her; my heart was still feeling restless. You see, when all this Australia thing happened (see my blog post called Launchpad) back in 2004, I laid down my career in writing to go into construction, and that change of career ultimately lead to us getting a visa. Although I had always known God was in that decision, the last four years in the construction industry in Australia were horrible and I had never felt settled in it. Just one look at my resume you'll see I've had more jobs in four years than I had in 10 years in the UK. Now that old feeling of restlessness had come back over Christmas and I was dreading going back to work. But one night God gave me a dream.<br />
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In the dream (it started as soon as I closed my eyes - so I don't know if I was asleep or awake) I found myself standing on the edge of a forest. The trees were all choked up with thick thorns and it was incredibly dense - I couldn't really see into it and it looked a mess. But in front of me was the widest open place I'd ever seen. I could see luscious green fields, a lake and in the distance a beautiful mountain range. The air was fresh and I could literally feel wind on my face. I felt so free. <br />
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As I was seeing all of this, I was also thinking to myself; 'how did I get here? Is this a dream? It feels so real. I need to open my eyes!' So I did. I was back in my bed and only a few minutes had passed in literal time. I mean, what the heck was that all about? <br />
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I was so freaked out by the dream that I didn't tell anyone about it. I have a prophetic gift and have had dreams and visions in the past, but this was so real and almost unexplainable, so I was left perplexed and asked God to tell me what it was all about before sharing it with anyone. But I got nothing, for days. In the end I told my wife about the dream and she said that maybe I needed to wait a little longer for the answer, so I did.<br />
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About two weeks later I was praying with some men from our church and God began to talk to me about the dream. He said; "The forest behind you is your life. It has become thick with confusion and when you are in the midst of it, you cannot see a way out but you know I'm there with you. The wide open space in front of you is what I have planned for you. No limitations, no compromising, no boundaries. It is also a place of rest I am calling you into. The choice is yours though. You either look back and go back into the forest, or you enjoy this new season." Wow. I mean, what do you say to that, apart from 'YES LORD!'<br />
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Not long after this I began to feel such a sense of discontentment at work and this nothing really to do with my employer but more about me asking God about where I needed to be. One thing I knew for sure was that God had us at Hope UC for a reason. He had brought us to an area of the Central Coast where He really wanted us to be involved and stuck into the community and in my current work environment there was pressure on me to be travelling and away from home, this was something I did't want to happen as it had happened before in Melbourne and it was hideous. I kept telling myself, God only moves forward, not backwards. He would not allow me to head back into the forest if His plans were to prosper me.<br />
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One night, my wife and I prayed that if my current role was not right God would shut the door. Three days later He did. I was told that my employer would be looking for someone else as my interests didn't line up with the company any longer. I was given a weeks notice.<br />
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Now, in the real world, this kind of news would be devastating to anyone. Losing a job is not good at any time. But my wife and I knew, without any shadow of a doubt, that God was in this. If He had shut the door, another one would open. We felt peace wash over us and I left my job with my head held high. That was four weeks ago.<br />
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About three days later, I picked up a new job working on a production line, making timber roof trusses. The pay was shocking but I needed the money. Five days later I was told I was no longer required because I was 'too smart and too old'! What does that actually mean? So I was left scratching my head and asking God to just give me a little wisdom in knowing His heart - I literally didn't have a clue. The only glimpse on the horizon was an interview for a construction job, but this was in Sydney. Was this the answer to our prayers or another distraction? We asked God to shut the door if it was a dead end. He did. I was told that I didn't have enough experience - fair enough. I wasn't trained in project management anyway. But then it hit me...<br />
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I have been professionally trained in something. I do have a passion for something which I had once laid down for God and His plans for us as a family. Half of my working life was devoted to this passion. That passion is writing. Writing is my favourite waste of time. Writing is what I love to do the most. Writing is the overflow of my heart. I LOVE writing.<br />
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After this wave of excitement I had a quick peek on a job site to see what writers get paid these days - I was pleasantly surprised. In fact it was much better than what I had thought it would be. Plus with my previous experience, surely someone would see past the last 8 years of construction and pick me up from where I left off? So I called a writing agency to find out. Again, I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently, because I had been keeping this blog, that was technically classed as writing on a regular basis and because I had previously had written work published I stood a very good chance of getting back into the writing game...<br />
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So this, my friends, brings me to today. Literally as I am writing this sentence I am beginning a new journey and have decided to pursue my dream and vision to write for a living. I do not have crazy plans to drop everything and 'just see what happens' but I have a vision to see this gift, which I believe was given to me when I was at school, be used for God's glory in whatever context He chooses. It's time for me to let go of the steering wheel, let God take over, and just rest and enjoy the ride. I am hoping that you will come on this journey with me.<br />
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Just one final thing to say before I sign off; thank you to everyone who has prayed for us, supported us and championed us in this journey in Australia. It has been one crazy ride but God has remained faithful along every step of the way. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to live out a life of faith but when you fix your eyes on Jesus, everything seems that little bit easier. He is always good. He doesn't want us to remain in a forest, He wants us to experience His wide open space. My prayer for you is that this blog has inspired you to keep trusting Him, your season of unanswered questions will not last long. His plans are always perfect.<br />
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Blessings!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-51245192113024166332016-05-19T04:40:00.000-07:002016-05-19T04:40:01.221-07:00New Beginnings Since my last post in September things have become very different. In fact, my life seems almost unrecognisable to what it was and I'm happy to say, all for the right reasons.<br />
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Little did I know that not more than two months after my last entry on here, things would become so hard in my job that I felt I was heading for a serious emotional breakdown and all of my determination to stay in a job which was extremely challenging would be severely fractured. I guess, looking back on things now, it was meant to be that way in order for God to teach me more about relying on Him, but I can honestly say it was flipping hard to do so. <br />
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For one thing, the Northern Beaches of Sydney is not the cheapest area to live with a job, let alone without one. So without a steady income it would always be a massive up-hill struggle. And secondly, I had been feeling that my career would take a severe blow to go from project managing to carpentry in a matter of days. Why was this happening and also so close to Christmas? I mean, to me it looked really bleak.<br />
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But lastly, it was more about how I was feeling inside. I felt like I had lost direction, focus and drive, all of which I thought were the things still driving this crazy Australian adventure. Without these, how was I going to keep going? <br />
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In December I had two jobs, one I thought was my ideal job, working on a refurbishment of a Porsche Centre in Sydney. It seemed like the perfect 'reward' for all my hard efforts but in reality it was a shocking week and a half. If I were to sum it up, I would simply refer to that moment as a blip. Nothing more. The second job was working with a decking company. Again, probably one of the worst weeks ever but I guess it paid a weeks rent.<br />
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It was now nearly Christmas and we were out of money - literally had $7 in the bank and savings which would only cover the rent and nothing else. I had had a small interview with a property maintenance company and the guy had promised to employ me, but also agreed with me that to get over the previous month's catastrophic job flop I should not start until the new year. What were we as a family going to do? We had no money for Christmas presents and the kids had been amazing and we desperately wanted to treat them. So my wife and I did the one thing you can do in a situation like this - go shopping.<br />
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Armed with our $7 we went to a store to pick up some hooks which my wife wanted to get for some pictures. The only trouble was the picture hooks were $7.50 so it would mean I'd have to transfer money into her account from our rent savings. So, stood on a street corner with a rather desperate expression on my face I logged into our account (which I'd done about two hours before we left for the shops) to transfer the $0.50 required. But something had changed as I stared at the iPhone screen. The balance staring back at me was $4,000 more than it was two hours ago! WHAT? I looked again in case I had made a mistake, but I hadn't. Both our accounts were in credit by more than we'd had in any month at any point in the year when I was on a really good salary. I later found out it was because the tax office needed to make an adjustment based on my low earnings the year before and had finally got around to it!! God had provided BIG TIME.<br />
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When we realised what had happened it was the most amazing feeling. We knew in that short moment of time that regardless of circumstance, God would always continue to be our provider. And this time around He hadn't just given us a little, He had heaped blessings on us and we had one of the best Christmases as a family, ever. He is good all the time, right?<br />
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After our lovely Christmas I was due to start my job on January 5th. Weirdly though, I just couldn't sleep the night before my first day. My spirit was so uneasy with things and all I kept thinking about was whether I had made the right decision to work for this guy or not. By the end of the first day I knew I hadn't. It was yet another red herring and I couldn't believe it. Not only was the guy's company completely out of money, it had no vision and the guys working for him had no drive. It was bad. The owner also requested that in order for him to be insured I would need to apply for my carpentry licence. This would mean me spending $400 on something I didn't think I needed as I was going to be on salary. But then the big bombshell hit - "I won't be able to employ you for the first six months," he said.<br />
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What? So not only did he lie about the job but I would have to spend $400 with money which I was trying to save. But it's funny in a way, though. You see I was just saying about how God provided for us but again I was being tested to see if I had got this in my spirit, but I have to say that I failed. Just like Jesus' disciples when they were asked to feed the second hungry crowd and had forgotten how Jesus had provided for the first crowd, I was doing the same here - I had a disbelieving heart and had taken my eyes off the Provider. <br />
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Keen to keep working I went ahead and got my carpentry licence, as required, but the strangest thing happened when I walked out of the Office of Fair Trading with it. I felt to give up my job and trust God that He would come through for me instead of working for a company I now knew was trading illegally. I was going to do this God's way.<br />
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It's interesting the things you remember as a Christian, especially when you trust Him and let go. That afternoon, my wife and I experienced a supernatural peace like nothing we'd had for ages. It was so amazing and it will forever be there to remind me what what it feels like to trust God rather than fear circumstance. It's like I felt this complete reassurance that He would do something amazing. And, I'm glad to say, He did.<br />
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A week after this moment of letting go, and picking up a bit of casual carpentry work provided for by two amazing families in the church, I received a phone-call out of the blue asking me to attend an interview the next morning in the city for a job working within the facilities (maintenance) department at my local (10 minutes on a bicycle) Westfield mall. The strange thing was that I couldn't remember applying for the role and not only that, I had apparently applied back in November right at the end of my project management job. I curiously accepted and the next morning turned up at Sydney's main Westfield mall and breezed through the interview. It was like I was always meant to have been there. Sure enough the next day I received an email saying I had made it to the second interview at Warringah Mall. Again, the interview was like a dream and I was offered the job. A full-time, salaried position for Westfield. But the story doesn't end here, it gets better.<br />
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My wife asked me when I would get paid and I said it was monthly. We knew (or thought we did) that we'd have to find rent for four weeks as I would be paid a week after starting and then not until the following month. It was going to really stretch us but we just knew it would work out. Shortly after receiving confirmation of employment I was asked to go back into the city to sign my paper work. At this point the girl who had handed me the paperwork said, "just for your info, on Friday you will receive your first week's salary as well as three weeks in advance pay, so in effect you'll receive four weeks pay!" <br />
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If there was ever a look like that cartoon image of the jaw dropping to the floor, this was it. Not only had I been given a job but God had met our needs in spectacular fashion. But perhaps the funniest part of all of this was that Westfield had to pay me the highest rate of pay for my role because I had a carpentry licence! That means, if I hadn't have worked for the guy at the beginning of the year I probably wouldn't have been able to accept this job due to what the renumeration package would've been without it. Just wow.<br />
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Astounded by God's goodness and grace I can honestly say that these last few months have been amazing. There are so many things I could write down that He has done but I'd be here (and so would you be if you continued to read) forever. Sure, we have experienced a few financial mountains due to a smaller pay packet (for now) and have been hit by some big bills but we know that if God can provide the dream job after literally years of wrestling with bad jobs, then He can overcome all our issues for us and all we have to do is rest in Him. And to really hammer this point home, God has also provided for my wife a really great part time job at a secondary school which our son will be attending next year! So we are now both earning :)<br />
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Right now I feel like as a family we are finally on the cusp of something huge and we are starting to see fruit from that long time of pruning which I have to say was so very hard. When we didn't understand what God was doing, we tried to trust Him and focus on the fact that He has always known our future before we ever did.<br />
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I have heard it said many times before and now I actually believe it myself - if you look back over all the hard times you will always see where God has proved Himself to be a faithful and loving Father who intimately knows our every need. <br />
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I really hope this story has blessed and encouraged you as it has me.Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-23191376910524692682015-09-15T20:32:00.000-07:002015-09-15T20:32:03.610-07:00Two Years In AustraliaTwo years today, my family and I boarded a plane in London to head off to Australia. We had no idea of what to expect and knew no-one in Melbourne where we were headed. It was the adventure of all adventures and although we knew God was with us, everything else would prove to be a massive challenge of our own personal faith and resolve.<br />
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As I write this, I am sitting in my 3x5m office at work and am reflecting on all God has done for us in these past 24 months. None of it has been plain sailing to say the least but all of it has brought us in a much closer relationship with our Father in heaven. To be totally honest there has been times we have asked ourselves what we are doing and when we have been at our lowest ebb, God has shown us what we have accomplished. It's safe to say that we wouldn't change what has happened because it has installed in us a strength we didn't know we had.<br />
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In Melbourne, we didn't know anyone. We arrived with nothing apart from a few suit cases and we had even left without completing the sale of our house. To almost anyone who reads this, this does sound complete lunacy and unwise and to a certain extent it definitely was. But very quickly we were able to rent a house without any references and sure enough, our home in the UK sold and we were able to pay off all of our debts. <br />
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As well as finding a house, we found two good schools for our kids and an awesome church. Not long after this I was able to string some work together and we began to connect with amazing people. Yes, we were terribly missing friends and family but knew we were not completely alone. <br />
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Six months into our life in Melbourne, I secured a job working for a shop fitting company and although we were grateful for the money it meant I had to work away from home. My wife and kids really found this season so very hard and to be frank I did, too. It was simply horrible. It felt like we were in a very barren time and I hated being away from home. But without that job which we persevered with we would never have been able to move to Sydney, which is what we did just over nine months ago.<br />
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Sydney was always going to be our dream city and the place which we had prayed about, perhaps more than any other place I can think of. But when we moved we had to start all over again. We had no home, no schools and needed to connect with the local church. The thing is, this time we knew God would supply because He had done so before. He had shown us this very early on (a week before we moved) by providing a well paid job just outside of the city (or so I thought).<br />
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Sure enough, after less than a week in Sydney while staying with friends, we were accepted by a rental agency to move into a wonderful house one road away from the beach in Dee Why. Not only that, but our daughter was accepted into the best school possible for her and our son was enrolled into an incredibly culturally diverse primary school. Everything was fitting into place.<br />
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Once settled into our home we began to connect with our local church and became part of a connect group, where we have made good friends. So far, God had done everything He said He would do. <br />
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However, when I started my job I realized that living in Sydney was going to be no walk in the park. It was incredibly difficult. I had been given a job based on my previous role in Melbourne but this time I had been promoted way above my own skill set. I was made a project manager on a huge building project and it was an hour and a half drive from our house. I tried to reason with God and ask if there was anything easier but since I started in January (and am still here) all He has kept saying is "Keep going!" That has been so very hard, but I have not given up. <br />
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You see, if I had been given this job a year earlier, I simply would have not been able to handle it. But through all the trials I faced in Melbourne, it had built up my spiritual muscles as well as my inner strength to see this as an opportunity to learn more and not as a problem I had to suffer. Together as a family we have become completely different in how we see the world. We now know that everything happens for a reason and sometimes, although extremely painful, we benefit massively by allowing God to lead us though the wilderness. <br />
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So what have we learned from two years in Australia? Well the first and most important thing is that God is ALWAYS faithful. No matter what the trial is, He never ever lets go. The second thing is that as a family we have learned that prayer is the ultimate weapon when being faced with huge difficulties. One of the things I can say which I have noticed the most in my children is they have prayed together every single night. They have grown into faithful giants with their child-like faith. It is so inspiring.<br />
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Thirdly, and this is more personal, is that I have learned to trust God in ways beyond my comprehension. What I mean is that in my job, particularly, I have trusted God for every single word that comes out of my mouth and He has literally taught me how to chair board meetings, produce performance reports and handle situations I have no former experience in. It has been mind-blowing what I have been able to achieve in such a short time by just trusting Him.<br />
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Fourthly, I have seen so many changes take place in my wife's personal faith and reliance on God that she is almost unrecognizable to who she was before we left England. She is so unbelievably strong that I am in awe of her and I know she affects everyone around her with her faithfulness.<br />
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So what happens next? Well, I don't actually know the answer to that. All I do know it we simply have to keep trusting God and letting him lead us into the next chapter. Please continue to pray for us as we venture into new territory because although we know God is faithful it certainly does not mean that we have an easy task ahead. We just know He is with us and it's always good to know that others are with us, too.<br />
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Thank you for reading this and many blessings to you.Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-1088718616364472902015-06-01T19:22:00.001-07:002015-06-01T19:22:25.062-07:00Digging DeeperAs I write this I am currently stuck between a rock and a hard place at work. My job is extremely challenging and I also deal with people that are not nice and who tend to make life even harder. On the upside my boss wants to hire me full time, but on the downside I could be on this particular project for another four months. So I keep asking myself, should I stay or should I go and find an easier path.<br />
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I don't know if I am talking to anyone here but being caught up in an unsettling season can feel like the worst thing in the world - especially when you've felt God lead you down a road which is a lot more rocky than what you felt led to believe. It makes you feel like you've been dealt a hard hand and without clear direction it's sometimes even more difficult to see any way out at all.<br />
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But something somewhere deep inside is telling me to stick this one out. I feel like I am in a privileged position to really grow and mature, even though this all seems pretty overwhelming. To say it's an interesting paradox would be an understatement but what this last two years in Australia has taught me is that when you dig deeper into God's energy reserves things start to make sense.<br />
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And that is really the premise of this blog - someone challenged me to write down some thoughts on suffering for Christ because we had been through hard times but could see God's loving hand in it all. But for some reason, I don't wish to dwell on the sufferings, but rather focus on the blessings. I have, in the past, spiraled down into a world of drudgery and thought about all the negative aspects to my life but very quickly God has shown me how He sees it. I can tell you now, God's view of your life is VERY different!<br />
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I have come to understand that God knows how much I can handle. He knows that the deeper I dig in Him the more strength I will find and this is exactly what He wants me to do. He has overshadowed me with such grace in my work place that in spite of very difficult situations I have seen His hand of victory come in and win the day for me in unbelievable ways. I have come to a place at the base of the cross where the enemy cannot taunt me any longer because the cross and what Jesus won for me on there overshadows anything the world wants to throw at me.<br />
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I am not naïve to think for one moment that I am not going to have harder times, but I praise God for all the hard times I have journeyed so far because these are qualifying me for even greater measures of trust from on high. In other words, I could never have handled this three years ago, but bit by bit, God has strengthened me to be able to handle more and more to the point where if I see a situation coming my way I am better prepared than I was before.<br />
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So what are these situations I am speaking of? Well, firstly, I cannot go into finer details of my work place as I wish to protect my employment and the companies I am representing. However, I can say that I have been pushed into moments of complete panic because there has been a meeting coming up that I have to chair when I have no knowledge of the subject I am addressing! Sometimes I have sat in my office and thought, 'I do not know what I am doing!' This is not a comfortable place to be.<br />
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But God has taught me in the last two years to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. He says in His word that He goes before me and is behind me (Psalm 139 v 5) and He has placed His hand upon me. So I have walked into these meetings saying to God; "You know every word I am about to say before I say it, so I trust You that I will say the right things." I take a deep breath and then I speak. I have sailed through meetings using God's supreme wisdom and come out of these in disbelief of what words came out about subjects I have no formal training in. These really are, for me, walking on water moments - impossible.<br />
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In my home life, these difficult situations take their shape from decisions we need to make as a family. There have been times when my wife and I have cried together because we haven't a clue what God wants us to be doing in a brand new country with no real agenda. These, to me, are the worst moments because these decisions involve our children and we need to look strong for them, right?<br />
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But I can say that even in these times God has come through in ways we didn't expect. A year ago in Melbourne I was working away from home and we were in a constant state of limbo. During those times we kept crying out to God and saying that even though we were facing Mount Everest every day that we trusted Him. When He did come through it was better than we imagined. He moved us to a place where other Australians head for holidays, Sydney's Northern Beaches. It is absolutely stunning and I drive past the beach every day because I still feel like we're dreaming and have to see the ocean just to make sure. <br />
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You see, God knew all along that this is where we'd end up and when we said we trusted Him, He said back; "Well done my good and faithful children - have some of this now." If we had all of His blessing in one go, we'd lose the ability to trust. God keeps us strong!<br />
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So this is all I really wanted to say. Digging deeper into God through uncertain times brings fruit in unthinkable ways. His heart is always kind, always loving and always faithful. It all depends, though, on how much faith we choose to put in Him. When we put our whole heart into His hands, He is totally overjoyed that we are allowing Him complete control - I can tell you this from my own experiences. Once my trust is placed in Jesus, the rest works out for the glory of His name. So with my job, I shall soldier on and know my future is secure and that my steps have been ordered by the Most High.<br />
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Have a blessed week!<br />
Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-55652483444085806412015-04-29T23:15:00.003-07:002015-04-29T23:15:33.500-07:00Office Party Faith TestJust before Easter, my boss had organised a staff BBQ. I was really looking forward to it because it would give me a chance to get to know my work colleagues a bit more, plus having a cheeky beer and burger while looking out across Sydney Harbour was equally appealing. <br />
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After an hour or so, we were all in the conference room and one of ladies was chatting to a friend and was talking about the fact she'd had severe pain for six months due to sciatica and was explaining that she'd been to all sorts of physiotherapists and doctors and they couldn't help her. Instantly my heart started beating really fast and God said to me; "Go and pray for her... now!"<br />
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It was really funny at the time, I remember saying straight back, "not here, surely!" But my heart raced all the more and so it was a case of being obedient to what I felt was God's voice, or carrying on chatting and leaving it alone. The latter, though, was never an option. When I feel prompted by God to do something like this, I would rather leave with egg on my face than pass up an opportunity to see God do something brilliant. So I chose to approach her and ask if I could pray.<br />
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I said; "Sorry to overhear your conversation but I heard you had a lot of pain and I would like to pray for you if that's OK?" Much to my amazement she looked at me straight in the eyes and said "Go for it, I'd do anything to not have this." Praise God! This isn't a usual reaction but anyway, as I sat on the floor to pray for her, the room fell silent and someone even started to video it.<br />
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I asked her if her hips were out of alignment and if one leg might be slightly shorter than the other. She didn't know so I asked her to put her legs out straight. Sure enough the right leg was about 10mm shorter than the left and everyone looked and agreed it was shorter. It's funny what goes through your mind in situations like this. I was thinking, 'what am I doing? My boss is in the room and I hope I don't have to look for a new job after this.' But I needn't have worried. Everyone wanted to see what would happen. This was God's moment to do what He loves to do.<br />
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So I said a simple prayer out loud; "Father, you love to heal. Make this leg come down to the same as the other. Thank you, Dad." Sure enough, within a couple of seconds both feet were perfectly lined up. I remember the person behind me gasping and saying "WOE!" I giggled a bit to myself and said to her; "Can you see your feet now line up?" She agreed and told me she'd let me know how she goes.<br />
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Pretty soon after this, people started to leave the party and I had that sinking feeling that I'd made the whole thing totally awkward and everyone was thinking I was a nutcase. My boss had disappeared into another room to answer emails and I was just standing there not really knowing what to say. So I approached my boss and asked him if everything was OK. His answer was different to what I was expecting: "So I'm thinking of offering you a permanent position with us soon. I'd really like you to keep working with us. Would you like that?" WOW! This completely caught me by surprise. Of course I said yes!<br />
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Since that day, I had started to feel more and more sheepish about the whole thing and wondered why God would put me in that situation. It wasn't that I didn't want to be obedient but more due to the fact that I felt like it would make my job more difficult. I am new to this role and realise that I hold a much higher professional obligation than I used to. I kept feeling very overwhelmed with embarrassment and the more I thought about it the worse that feeling got.<br />
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But, I'm glad to say, I need not have worried. This week I finally got to ask the lady whom I prayed for how she was. She then stood up and said; "You know, two days after you prayed I woke up in the morning and thought 'oh, the pain has gone', and that was three weeks ago. I have not had any pain since, so thank you for praying for me!"<br />
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I was competely gob-smacked! It was the best thing to hear and I could tell from her face that she meant it, too. I think the biggest feeling in my heart was knowing that I had obeyed the voice of God even though it was such a strange moment to start praying for someone, so publically. I'm just glad I did and am totally overjoyed that God healed that lady.<br />
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Have a blessed week, everyone. Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-21893355639349388002015-04-22T22:02:00.001-07:002015-04-22T22:02:56.497-07:00Whatever You're Thinking, Think BIGGEREarly last year my wife was out shopping in Melbourne and noticed a picture in an opportunity (charity) shop. It was a large red picture with huge bold white writing which read WHATEVER YOU'RE THINKING, THINK BIGGER. <br />
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At that particular time we were facing huge battles and it just seemed to say the right thing - it felt like it was from the heart of God to us, that what we were experiencing was not the big picture God really wanted us to see, but He was asking us to raise our gaze and have a greater vision of what He was going to do. That picture is still with us now we are in Sydney and the statement still remains as real as it did back in Melbourne.<br />
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You see, in December we moved to an extremely affluent area of Sydney, the Northern Beaches. This is a small peninsular north of the Harbour Bridge and a place where the average house price is now over $1million (AUD). It is an amazing place to live and our local church, Grace City Church, sits right in the heart of our local community in Dee Why. However, because it is such a sought after area, we have really had to trust God for every bit of provision and sometimes we have thought to ourselves 'how are we going to do this?' We have had to believe God for the bigger picture every single week we've needed to pay rent!<br />
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But to be honest, this is not the real reason why our picture is so significant. The place we live and work is what it is and we always know that God will provide for our bills and meals because that's just what He does. No, the real aspect to this picture about believing God for bigger things is all to do with how people around us view the church in the Northern Beaches and what people are expecting God to do in such a spiritually dry area.<br />
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Where we live people think they have all they need. They have the beach, the gyms, the coffee houses, the parks, the sports and the huge city. The need for church isn't really there becuse there are too many other things to do and so, even for regular attenders of church, the social and sporty distractions take people away from God's house and then it becomes a battle for the church to really make an impact. People in the Northen Beaches are, well, just too busy.<br />
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And this is a shame. Not only would it be amazing to see more people added to the local church but this area could also have such a massive spiritual influence over the rest of Sydney because of its high status and appeal. If people knew the church was making an emergance and starting to impact community I am absolutely convinced that things would be very, very different.<br />
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So what's my bigger thinking for this area? Well it's this. My God can do anything. He can change the hardest of hearts and cause entire communities to worship Jesus because I've seen him do it all over the world. Take David Yonggi Cho's church in South Korea, for instance. This country is a very hard nation to build something to do with Jesus and yet his church alone has 830,000 attendees! And that's just one I want to mention. So if he can do all of this, my expectations for the Northern Beaches are massive!<br />
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I am expecting that one day the church will take priority over social and sporty pursuits; that it will shape and win the next generation for Jesus and will have far reaching conseqences for the rest of Sydney. I am expecting to see people added daily to our church community and healed of all kinds of sicknesses. I am expecting poverty to be wiped out in all areas of the Northern Beaches as generosity from the saints overflows and meets the needs of those who have nothing. I am expecting people from all over the world to be coming to Sydney to be trained in mission and impacting their own communities wherever they are from. And above all, I am expecting all of this to start right from the church I belong to. Why can't it happen?<br />
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The thing is this. If everyone had this level of expectancy then all of this would happen, because there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that it couldn't. Faith is all about believing for the unseen - I mean every Christian who has ever given their lives to Jesus are doing so because they believe it to be true and not because they have actually seen Jesus face to face. If this is the case then believing for God to save hundreds and thousands of lives is not that big a deal, especially to the Creator of the Universe.<br />
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I believe in Jesus because He has become my friend and my brother and I feel His love through the Holy Spirit every day. I get to talk with Him regularly and I get to partake in all the goodness He has for me, just because He loved me first. So if this is my own conviction and I understand that all who hear this message can receive this same level of love in all its abundance, then I have to believe that God can make this a reality for everyone I talk to about Him. There is no doubt in my mind about this.<br />
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So, my challenge to anyone reading this and thinking how they can make any sort of impact in their church is this; come on a Sunday expecting God to break in. Expectation brings hope and hope leads to faith and faith can move mountains. If faith can move mountains then it can certainly move communities forward into God's promises. <br />
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The great thing is, is you can begin now. You can start to pray daily for your church leaders. You can intercede on their behalf and ask God to do a new thing in them and also a new thing in you. You can also make a huge impact on your church by getting there on time and attending the prayer meetings before the service. You see if you go to church with no expectancy, how can God operate in the way some others want Him to? This level of expectancy requires everyone to be on the same page and believing God for big things. Because after all, He is a great big God and so when you ask Him for big things, He is absolutely in His element. <br />
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To finish, my prayer is this. That as you have been reading this, your faith has started to stir. Even if you don't live in Sydney's Northern Beaches this could so be for your own local community. You have the ability by just praying and asking God for the bigger picture to literally change the cause of HIStory. I am personally believing that God is going to radically shake up and shift my own church into a new dimension that the area it is in has never seen before. I am believing this because I am praying it. Are you?Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-75832508170340223212015-04-15T17:50:00.002-07:002015-04-15T17:50:55.132-07:00A Big Thank YouBack in February 2010 when I started this blog page, I had no real aspirations for it - only a portal in the cosmos for me to air my thoughts and feelings; that's why I called it Adam James' Super Blog. I had no idea that five years on I would have well over 6000 reads!<br />
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So I felt, as this is my 30th post, I should say thank you to everyone who has read this, commented and sent me encouragement along the way. Clearly I couldn't name you all as there are literally hundreds of you who I do not know but I will do my best to at least say that you are all brilliant and the reason I am still writing posts on here is because you are reading them.<br />
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I think perhaps by biggest surprise is where the most readers are coming from. I do not know people in Russia or the Ukraine but these two nations are very quickly catching up with the UK, USA and Australia in terms of numbers of hits. To all of you in Russia and Ukraine I wish to send you my warmest thanks and I hope you continue to read. I would also love to hear from you!<br />
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I've also been touched to know I have readers in France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, China, Vietnam, Kenya, Lebanon, South Africa, Canada, South America and Ireland. To all of you I'd like to say I hope you have been encouraged and stirred by these stories.<br />
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Sometimes I like to wait for a particular subject to write about and other times circumstances dictate new experiences that I feel like sharing. Above all, writing is perhaps my biggest passion in life and if I can use this to enable people around the world to know that God loves them then that is one of the biggest blessings in my life.<br />
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If you are new to this page, I just want to say that you make me feel very humbled in knowing that you have clicked on here to read what I've written. Thank you so much for visiting and please share by blog with whoever you wish. If any of you have things you want me to write about I'd be only to happy to share my thoughts on here, too.<br />
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Lastly, may the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you. I will be back soon with another post.<br />
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Blessings!!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-61573091297918355022015-04-08T16:03:00.000-07:002015-04-08T16:03:57.708-07:00Discovering God in Brook SituationsFor what seems like a long while now, my family and I feel like we've been living through brook situations. These are when life feels like an almighty struggle and the ground seems to be very dry - these times leave you with seemingly unanswered questions and the feeling of helplessness. I would say that over the last 18 months there have been times when I have personally felt very alone and have asked those probing questions like; where is God right now and what the heck am I doing here?<br />
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These times are not nice when you are going through them. They seem to throw up all sorts of emotions and they can really wear you down if you lose sight of what God might be doing in you through these times. Sometimes there is nothing you can do and you begin to default to fear because you start to worry that this feeling might never go away. It is a horrible place to be in and I guess the main reason for this blog is to show that God is always in control, even when you think He may be very distant.<br />
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Without being too personal I would say that our main brook situation has surrounded our new life in Australia. There has been times when we have cried out to God, asking Him how long we have to do this for. This is mainly due to learning a new culture, missing family and friends, feeling completely alone in making decisions and struggling to keep afloat financially because this is a very expensive place. We have felt empty and lost sometimes and it really has been the biggest challenge in my own personal walk with the Lord. <br />
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But the thing is; the deeper you dig into God the more you realise that He is sustaining you and lifting you up. We have looked back over the last year and a half and seen all the things that God has done in us and through us and we have began to understand that He has never left us alone. On the contrary, He has been closer than ever before.<br />
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When we were in Melbourne it was probably the hardest time. I couldn't get regular work and when I did finally get work it took me away from my family, sometimes up to two weeks at a time. I know that there are people who are used to this kind of lifestyle and I salute any of you who have to work away from home, but given we were still finding our feet in a new country and not quite understanding everything this was extremely hard. Not only this, our kids were trying to settle in to new schools and my wife and I were not connecting with people in the way we'd hoped.<br />
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Our only joy was found in going to church every Sunday. On a weekly basis we were experiencing church on a whole new level and the teaching we received each week always seemed to line up with our situation, whatever it was. I remember looking forward to Sunday's so much that it became my main focus during the worst times. <br />
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Looking back on it all now, the picture seems very different. I can actually see that during this time, we grew more in God in terms of solely relying on Him than at any other time I can remember. There were so many blessings, too! I will just recall a few of them.<br />
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When we moved, we had no home and had only booked a hotel for our first week. To rent anywhere in Melbourne, you need a history of renting and also references. When you submit your application you are then considered along with a load of other applicants and are picked at random. We applied for our first house and were accepted within ten minutes because the landlord happened to be English and wanted us in his rental. This, we were told, does not happen.<br />
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This house was near both of our kids schools and in a great suburb. I then managed to pick up a bit of work with a local guy and we started to attend a large church in the city which we all fell in love with. Not only that but we bought a really great car which we still have now and it has not let us down.<br />
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A bit later on I booked a flight to Sydney with the last of our money because there was a company who wanted to employ me. I was let down by this guy and very sadly got on the plane back to Melbourne feeling terrible. On the plane I sat next to two Irish guys who chatted to me and asked me what I did for a job. By the end of the flight they took my number and by the end of that week I have been offered a full time job with a large shop fitting company as a junior supervisor! I was meant to get on that plane!<br />
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Then, my job took me away from home. It was horrible. I would be away from Monday to Friday and would only see my family at weekends. I was then moved to a job in Adelaide for night work as a Work Health and Safety person, which I didn't want to do. In Adelaide, the hotel that was booked for me, was right next to an amazing local church where I have made friends for life. Not only that, if I hadn't have done that job, I wouldn't be in the job I am in now which is a Work Health & Safety Project Manager in Sydney. God knew that and I didn't - I just had to trust Him.<br />
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When we moved into our second house, we had viewed it, loved it but were not accepted. We trusted God and handed it back to Him. Two weeks later we had a call to ask if we wanted to move in because the new tenants were allergic to a certian type of tree in the garden. This house was massive and at a low rent cost because it was due to be knocked down at a later stage.<br />
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Finally, from Melbourne, the conditions to our Visa were removed to allow us to move to Sydney even though we had committed to two years in Victoria. This also does not happen. There are so many other things I could say, now, about this time which proves that God was in control of everything.<br />
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Now we live in Sydney - the place God spoke about all those years ago. Our first test, again, was to find a rental. Sydney's Northern Beaches is one of the hardest places to find a rental because it is so sought after. We were told that at any 15 minute open viewing time, you can usually expect 10+ couples/families to turn up. When we found the place we really wanted (first day of trying) we were the ONLY people who turned up and the only applicants. It is a beautiful house and only one road from one of the best beaches in the region - people go there for holidays. Not only that, it is right near our new church.<br />
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My daughter's school was another complete miracle. While in Melbourne, long before we considered moving to Sydney, we were contacted by a lady in the New South Wales education department asking if we wanted to apply for a school for our daughter, even if we didn't end up moving. Our daughter is now in that school and it is perfect. We have understood since then that this is an extremely rare occurance and the lady who championed our daughter so much, no longer works in that position because it was only a year placement!!<br />
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So are the hard times all over? Not by a long way. We are struggling with the expense of everything and are really missing family and friends more than we have done. We have had to learn new state rules and my job is extremely intense, it is actually a much higher position than I am qualified for and I am daily having to ask God to help me with every single thing I say, because I am being asked to chair meetings about civil engineering which I have no experience in. It is draining and exhausting but I am getting through it.<br />
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Not only this, we are having to dig deep into our identity in God because there are so many people around us who are dry and thirsty and we are constantly having to ask ourselves why we are here and what is it all for.<br />
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Our only answer to all of this is that God commissioned us to a life in Sydney and despite all of the brook situations we have found ourselves in, we can stand tall and declare that God has been with us every step of the way. There has not been single moment, even in our darkest times, where God has not come through for us. He has shifted things and people into our way so that we can keep tracking along His path. It is only by His grace and help that we are still here and we know that this will never change.<br />
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I really felt that this blog was going to really help all of you who are travelling similar paths right now - those paths which are dark and never seem to end. I want to encourage you to stop and look back at the journey you have been on. You will see all the things God has done and when you do you will be left in wonder.<br />
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Brook situations are really horrible. They can sometimes lead us into fear because we cannot see what's in front. But let me encourage you; God can see and He knows your future. He knows what you need and when you need it. He knows what is in your heart and how to take you to the next level. And best of all, every time you go through a very hard situation but choose to trust God in spite of it all, God says 'WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFULL CHILD' and He qualifies you so that when you face your next challenge you can do it knowing you have risen above the last one.<br />
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I really hope this blog has encouraged you and pray you have an amazing week.Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-73486186353563600062015-01-24T03:02:00.000-08:002015-02-17T14:15:18.055-08:00Promotion Beyond AbilityWhen I received a phone call back in December telling me I had a new job in Sydney, I was under the impression that it was a similar position to what I'd been doing before. I thought I'd be looking after health and safety issues for a small building project and would just be sitting around and waiting for something to happen.<br />
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However, the first day in proved otherwise. It was nothing like what had been described to me and very quickly I realised that the role was for Project Manager for a $4million redevelopment of a large warehouse. To be honest I felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights; a fish out of water - or whatever you want to call it.<br />
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After five days of full-on information I was starting to really doubt myself and felt so under pressure that I wasn't sure if this job was right for me. I was panicking because we'd just taken on a really expensive rental in Sydney's Northern Beaches and I didn't want to be in the position of looking for another job. It's amazing isn't it, how in times of doubt we default to fear instead of defaulting to faith? I had SO defaulted to fear and was letting my mind go on and tell me things I didn't want my heart to hear.<br />
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As a family, when times like these have come up, we've learnt to dig deep and put our trust fully in God for His wisdom - I mean what else is there left to do? If I started to reason with my human understanding I would have given up but there is something about our faith and God's faithfulness to us that works. It just does. So as we began to pray, the peace of God flooded me and I just felt much more at ease about the whole thing. Well, that is until I was told what my client's Project Manager was like.<br />
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He was described as the most difficult human being to deal with and that if he didn't like your character he would simply ask you to leave. Great, nice one. Haha. I must admit the feeling of unease began to come back pretty quick but I kept telling myself; "But you haven't met the guy yet!" Sometimes we let thoughts of what hasn't happened to cloud our judgment on someone or something. But the next day after I heard this I met the guy - he was exactly as he was described. Well, maybe a bit worse!<br />
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I quickly began to pray for him and ask God to give me a bit of an insight into the guys life and just felt that he would be OK. God has been very kind to me over the years by allowing me to get on with people that other people fear. You see, when you fear God and want to be obedient to His every command, people in authority on earth somehow lose their bigness compared to God and therefore I tend not to fear people and their status.<br />
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So already, only a few weeks into a six month project, I have started to be able to understand this guy and the job more and God has been the mastermind of it all - I am convinced of this. Here are the reasons why:<br />
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1) I have never ran a project this large and somehow know what to say at the right times to the right people.<br />
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2) I have been asked to chair meetings about issues which are massive but somehow I have been able to do this with confidence and peace.<br />
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3) I have been asked to plan and make decisions for large contractors and somehow the decisions I'm making are working.<br />
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I know I shouldn't doubt myself and my own ability but this is seriously the biggest job I've ever been given but God is helping me though it better than I could ever have thought of. I am convinced He has put me into this job in order for me to learn more responsibility and to learn that all I need in life is God. He is everything.<br />
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Last Sunday my wife had a prophetic word for some people in the church who were facing big things and to know that God is all we need in massive situations that we can't see a way out of. She was right and it really spoke to me this week. I truly believe that if we claim supernatural wisdom over our own ability the God gives us the ability we need to overcome almost unsurmountable problems. It is truly incredible.<br />
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So in closing I just feel like this blog post is going to be a massive encouragement to people facing tough decisions or tough work situations. I feel like God wants to say to you that He is the Lord over your situation and wants you to know that He is your breakthrough. I have had to let go and let God and He has done more that I ever thought and I know that even though there maybe more tough times ahead, He will see me through. He wants you to know that this is the same for things you are facing. He is good all the time and is always faithful and always sovereign.<br />
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May God bless you this week. Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-61167305171908840502014-12-15T20:37:00.001-08:002014-12-15T20:37:29.668-08:00Year of QualificationsLast Saturday we moved to Sydney. The city that God put on our hearts all those years ago (see Launchpad blog) and the place we felt that many words spoken over our lives, prophetically, would come to pass.<br />
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I guess with this blog update I just wanted to be real and give a frank review on what life has been like in Melbourne since last September. It has been very tough and has pushed us further than we thought it was humanly possible to be pushed in terms of living out and emotional roller-coaster while holding onto God's promises.<br />
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Clearly we knew that moving to Melbourne was a bit of a detour as we always wanted to be in Sydney and although God had spoken to us and we knew we had to be in Melbourne for a season, we still had questions in our hearts as to what exactly God was doing through us there. <br />
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Right from the beginning we had let down after let down. People were not phoning us back for work opportunities, things were being promised and not fulfilled and we just couldn't seem to be in that comfortable, settled feeling, that we really craved. Probably the only thing keeping us going was the church we were attending. Each and every week we'd hear astounding teaching and would come away feeling fresh and lifted up. It would only be the tough days in the weeks that would knock us back down again.<br />
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It is really hard to explain what moving to a different country and culture is like. It's kind of familiar in that people in Australia speak the same language as us but at the same time we've had to learn how to interpret what people actually mean. Australians in general are very warm and sincere people, and they say amazing things to make you feel wanted and loved. However, we have found that many times people have just not followed through on what they've said which has, many times, left us feeling deflated and let down. We have always try to think that people get busy and then forget, but when we're talking about work applications it becomes much harder to understand why people would simply just not phone back.<br />
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As well as this, we have sometimes felt very alone. Understandably we had many friends in the UK and you never think that they are going to be replaced and that it's going to take hard work and commitment to make new friends. But sometimes, when you are going through many testing times; lack of work, lack of money, feeling let down and completely unsettled, etc, you just start to give in and feel extremely low and sad. It's natural for anyone to feel like this.<br />
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Looking at the last six months, I'd say it's been even HARDER than the first six months. When I did finally get a full time job with regular money, I then had to work away from home and only see my family at weekends. I just kept asking God, 'Why is this happening? We've laid down our lives for you and this is REALLY hard!!' All God would ever say back to me was, 'just trust me.' And so I (and my wife even more so) just had to trust Him.<br />
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As well as me working away from home, my mum was in intensive care in the UK with vasculitis, shingles and viral meningitis. She nearly died twice. I cannot explain in words what this felt like. To be so far away from home and know all this was going on and to not be seeing my wife and kids for comfort was agonising. BUT. Though it all, I trusted God. I'm glad I did because she is alive and in recovery at home - hallelujah!<br />
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Back in England, everyone thought we were having an amazing time. All they saw on Facebook was pictures of stunning beaches, updates on how many people on a weekly basis were getting saved at church, pictures of the kids cuddling koalas, Instagrams of stunning Melbourne and us saying how great God was. The thing is, both my wife and I hate being negative and didn't want to say publicly what we were going through, as we felt friends back home would be worried sick about us. It was only when someone pointed this out we realised that we hadn't been authentic at all. We had faced mountains in our faith and had faced them alone because we didn't want to say what was going on.<br />
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Now. After reading all of this you are probably thinking 'what the heck? Why didn't you just come home?' Well, the thing is, we heard so many life changing preaches that we began to understand something profound about our circumstances. God was ALLOWING us to got through these things because He was QUALIFYING us for even greater things! In fact we learned that to suffer for the sake of God's calling on our lives was actually a privilege and an honour because He was saying, 'You have what it takes to go through these things and every time you face these challenges and just learn to trust me, I am giving you a new qualification to be able to handle even bigger situations - WELL DONE for being faithful even when you haven't understood why.'<br />
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WOW!<br />
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So now, looking back on the last 14 months, I wouldn't actually change a thing. I feel like as a family we have grown more in God than we EVER could have done if we had stayed in England and not obeyed God in moving to Melbourne. In fact, without that detour to Melbourne we would not have been prepared or equipped for this next season in Sydney. Is Sydney going to be easier for us? Probably not, but it will be different because we now have what it takes to face new challenges.<br />
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When we felt like it was time to move to Sydney, it felt like God was saying that we had been victorious and it was now time to get out of the difficult harbour and experience the ocean and the goodness of God. The other thing that happened was my job came to and end at the beginning of November, our lease was due to run out and it just felt like God was giving us permission to finally step into the city He had spoken about over 10 years ago.<br />
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Now we are in Sydney I am fully expectant that God is going to use us massively. All what we've learned as a family and individuals will be such an encouragement to people around us. Sometimes God can allow you to journey the hardest of road and its very hard to keep going but I am so grateful that He has never let us down. He has been faithful to His word in EVERY circumstance and although it's been the hardest thing we've ever done, we have never said no to His leading, either. We have just learned to trust Him. <br />
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So now we are in this new season, I am more confident than ever that moving to Australia and learning to trust God in every single circumstance can only mean that we will get to experience Him in even greater measure from now on. I am so excited that we have finally arrived and I promise that I will certainly write more as we see Sydney transformed and lives changed forever.<br />
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What is God qualifying you for at the moment? If you are facing low seasons, don't see them as trials, see them as God saying 'Well done my child, I am qualifying you for something new - SOMETHING BIGGER IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!' Amen!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-59898855141252043612014-08-27T06:06:00.000-07:002014-08-27T06:06:08.413-07:00Trusting Through PainWhen I was asked to work in another city recently, my family and I had to make a decision that was ultimately going to push our faith to it's absolute limit.<br />
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Now I know there are people who are used to working away from home and whoever you are and manage family life around that, I salute you. But for us this was tough because I've never been away from home for longer than 14 days, let alone the 27 days it's been so far. Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll get to go home to my wife and children, but in the meantime it's provoked me to write this latest blog post to encourage any of you going through a difficult season.<br />
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One of the main reasons for this being so tough for us as a family is the fact that we only moved to Australia less than a year ago and are still adjusting to living in a new nation, so to be asked to work away from home for five weeks in a totally different city felt like a big blow to us. I asked the question over and over, 'after the year we've had, Lord, why this now?'<br />
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You see, since arriving in Melbourne we've gone through some deep tests spiritually. As well as finding our feet with schools, work, taxes, attending a new church and learning a new culture, we have experienced a season with virtually no money and just generally feeling like every part of us was being stretched and stretched. Thankfully that particular season didn't last too long as I began my new job and started to bring in a stable income, but then my mum in the UK was taken extremely ill and for the last four months has been battling a horrendous wave of sickness. So being asked to be away from the only people I am most close to in all of this was <i>very</i> hard!<br />
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Two days before I left home for Adelaide, my wife and I sat down to pray and ask God what this was all about and whether we did need this extra stretching. Not that long after we began praying God spoke to my wife and said, "Adam NEEDS to be in Adelaide." We found this an interesting way of saying things because it meant to us that there was a purpose to this trip, however long it was going to take, that would help shape and mould us for something better than what we were living out - even though it meant a season of separation and pain first. And it was and has been painful.<br />
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Seriously. I can't think of a time when I've felt more isolated and alone in a place, especially as my job has required me to work nights, six nights a week. So even if I wanted to enjoy my new surroundings, my new adopted sleeping pattern has meant that it has been nearly impossible to do so. My only hope that I arrived with was that I'd at least find a church that I could make my temporary home and hopefully make some friends. Thankfully, the latter has happened and I have made a few great friends that I know will be long term.<br />
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But what is the need for this new blog post? Surely I know that this season is nearly over and I'll be home soon and therefore there is no need to dwell on a difficult few weeks. Well the reason for this post is because there has been things I've learned that I wouldn't have already - I believe that these things will encourage anyone going through a similar time in their lives.<br />
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You see, it's taught me to trust in God even more that I ever have done before because He's all I've had here. Without Him I seriously don't know what I'd have done. He has shown me that I don't need to trust in provision but to trust in my Provider. He has taught me that when He is all I have, He is everything I need. He has also shown me that I can make decisions which are based around His promises for my life and when I step into these by faith, I can receive abundant joy and provision that goes way beyond anything I ever imagined.<br />
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Like Jonah in the bible story, I didn't want to go to where God wanted me to go because I didn't trust Him enough to begin with. I could have easily gone my own way and done what I thought was right at the time. I remember saying to my wife, "this doesn't make any sense at all - so I guess it must be God." When it came to the day of leaving home I felt very low and extremely disappointed that I hadn't been given a way out.<br />
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But you know, five weeks after I got here, with only one day left, the revelation has finally hit me. God has been wanting to get me here to trust Him, more than I've ever had to before. He has put me in the middle on nowhere to show me that He knows what I need. What do I need? God!<br />
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I have learned in this horrible season, that no matter what I face, God is the answer to my happiness. It's crazy because I have actually wasted the time I've had here because I've been moping about and feeling sorry for myself that I've been 'all alone'. But tonight I realised that I haven't been alone. God wanted to get me here because He knew, even if it was the final day, that everything I need can be found in Him and I don't need to ever feel alone or helpless again.<br />
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You know, my family and I took this step of faith to move away from family and friends because it is what God told us to do. We didn't know where we were going to live, we didn't know what job I'd have, we didn't know if the schools would be any good for our kids but we TRUSTED God. And He has not let us down. So to ask me to be away from them was another faith step - would I be prepared to trust God in an even tougher season than before? At first I definitely didn't think I could, but the tiniest part of me did. I've realised now that this is the mustard seed of faith Jesus spoke about in Matthew 13 (v31 - 32).<br />
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That tiny part of my faith knew that God was in it even thought the rest of me was going NOOOOO! And now, within a few hours of realising this, my faith has grown and I have an uncanny sense of the peace of God. It is marvellous.<br />
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So this is the reason for this blog. No matter what you are going through, whether you know God or not, He just wants you to put your trust in Him. Because out of that trust comes peace and out of that peace comes joy. It is a profound mystery of God but one I know he wants us all to experience.<br />
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He is so faithful.Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-67044820828666359142014-06-12T04:16:00.002-07:002014-06-12T04:16:56.839-07:00Unreasonable FaithIn 2013, when as a family we were preparing to move to Melbourne, there were a few concerns: We didn't know anyone, we had no work, we had no house, we had no schools, we had no idea of the culture and we didn't have a church. To anyone looking in on this decision from a level-headed perspective, we were simply barking mad. But, for us, this was never about what we wanted, we went to Melbourne because God told us to. This move would take unreasonable faith.<br />
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Now, clearly, there were many years of preparation going into this move and it wasn't a flash-in-the-pan choice to up and leave our home in England, but what was startlingly obvious to everyone <i>and</i> us was the fact that for eight years we'd been saying that we were going to move to Sydney because we felt God say He wanted us in Sydney. So imagine for a second what it was like when we got offered sponsorship for a permanent visa but we'd have to move to Melbourne instead. This was never on the cards. This wasn't in our planning. This hadn't been spoken about.<br />
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The only time when God <i>did</i> speak to us about Melbourne was only two days before we had our visa granted. But it was in the way He chose to speak to us that caught out attention and therefore seemed to settle our hearts to the point of an unusual peace. I was sat having a conversation at a church event, and then a random stranger who I still don't know to this day spoke out and said: "God says you need to move to Melbourne. He showed me two city names, one was Sydney and the other was Melbourne - but Melbourne was in much bigger writing. I asked God what that meant and He said He'd switched the cities around. You are meant to go to Melbourne!"<br />
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If there was ever a moment I could have fallen off my chair with shock, that was it.<br />
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Before I move on, let me give you some background info. I have been in and around churches which are part of a church movement called New Frontiers all of my life. My parents were one of the couples that saw the birthing of this back in 1977 and at the age of two, I didn't really have a choice but to be part of this new thing. My wife, had become a Christian and was baptised in a New Frontiers church (funny enough it was the sister fellowship to the one I grew up in) and has only ever known New Frontiers teaching and theology. And just to be clear, the leaders God raised up within New Frontiers have helped shape who I am today. I hope by now you are starting to understand what God was asking us to leave behind. This was, like I said earlier, totally unreasonable.<br />
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You see, this wasn't just a change of countries. This was a complete change in our Christian life. This was a new beginning. There was no New Frontiers church in Melbourne when we arrived. Where would we end up? Only God knew, we didn't have a clue. But He'd said 'GO' so we did.<br />
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So literally two weeks before leaving the UK, a dear friend came up to me and said that we should be consider visiting Planetshakers Church because it was 'awesome' and she'd been there. Then within 15 minutes of that conversation, another mate said; "Someone I know lodged at my house for a bit and spoke about a church called Planetshakers, maybe you should go and check it out." <br />
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Now for me, my first reaction was 'strange name for a church' but my second reaction was 'why did two people just mention <i>that</i> church?'. I hadn't heard about this 'Planet' thing but all of a sudden it was as if I knew we had to check it out when we got to Melbourne. And we did. <br />
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The first Sunday we arrived at Planetshakers Church were were terribly jet lagged and went into this massive building all a bit confused by how many people were milling about. Where were we? When we went in, the music was deafening and it all felt a bit crazy but the people were smiling, friendly and clearly excited about what God was up to. I remember coming out and thinking 'what the heck was that? The preaching was amazing but is this really the place for us?' I chose to give it to God and we then started the process of trying to settle in to our new country.<br />
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After a few weeks we had made connections with two couples in the church who seemed really great and they had invited us to their Urban Life group which met at their house, not far from where we lived. And as we got to know these guys, we began to get a sense of what Planetshakers was about and what it meant to those who attended - everything we heard and saw on display were not just reminders of our own core values from New Frontiers but also visions of what the leadership of the church carried for the city of Melbourne and beyond. It just felt right.<br />
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Every week since October 2013, church has just got better and better and better. Every week feels like a treat to just sit and listen to Godly goodness washing over us and we have grown so much in Him that it was very evident to our dear friends when we went back to the UK for a short visit recently.<br />
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You see, when God asks us to take a step of faith, He does it knowing what the outcome is going to be. We struggle to see what God means to begin with because we can't see the full picture but we HAVE to trust Him. When we do, it feels like He's saying, "Well done for trusting Me, now I'm going to give you THIS!" The outcome is always far greater than we ever expected and that's what has happened to us. Planetshakers Church is the fruit of God saying 'go to Melbourne' and us saying 'OK'. It is far greater than we ever expected.<br />
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Since being part of it, I've seen more people becoming Christians than I've ever seen before, we as a family have grown more in our faith than ever before. My children are praying every night and my 9 year-old has started prophesying. Our house now hosts the Urban Life group we first went along to back in October. We can't stop talking about what we've heard on Sundays as a result of the incredible teaching. <br />
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Perhaps the best day of all (so far) came two Saturdays ago. My wife and I attended the Encounter Day which is the final day of Planetshakers' membership course called DNA. OH MY GOODNESS!<br />
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If there was ever a day that I can look back on and say 'now that was significant' this would be that day. We sat and listened to the leadership team speak about the call and commissioning of the church and what that looks like for them. We all got to literally shred our old lives and put on the new. We got to witness many many people experience freedom in Christ for the first time. <br />
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But for us the biggest part of the day was the anointing. I have been in church, like I said, all of my life. I thought that I'd seen it all, but when the leadership team came around and anointed each and every person with oil it was like we felt as a couple the FULL weight of what our church leadership were carrying in terms of what God was wanting for them. It was mind blowing. You see, that's the thing about God, He's inexhaustible - just when you think you know it all, He's shows you something new and it blows away any concept you ever thought you knew about Him. He is amazing.<br />
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All I want this blog post to show is what can happen if we simply trust God in what seems unreasonable and move forward into what He's asking us to do. We might not have all of the answers and sometimes He asks us to have faith in things that at the time just seem completely against all human reason. There may not be anything organised or set in stone for our human understanding and there may just simply be that whisper from Holy Spirit saying 'just go for it'. <br />
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What we have journeyed as a family this last eight months has only come about because we said 'yes, we will.' I'm not naive to think we won't have more struggles than we've had (and believe me there have been moments where we felt we've been holding on with our finger nails), but I know also that God is so pleased with us because we were obedient. The reward so far for us stepping out in unreasonable faith has been so very good and I know that God hasn't finished yet, either. <br />
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That makes me very excited.Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-22885059961866103172014-01-17T00:13:00.000-08:002014-01-17T00:13:49.858-08:00Generosity leads to ProsperityDISCLAIMER: Before you read this article, I feel I should share that this is purely a testimony to God's amazing provision for my family and I and has been inspired by what we've experienced in the last six months and what God has taught us through this. This article is not in any way written to laud ourselves in glory - all praise and honour is due HIS Name, which is Jesus!<br />
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Being a Christian is full of tests and trials and most of these come from a loving Father who wants the very best for His children. Sometimes we go through tough times and feel God is very distant and in other times when everything seems to be great, He feels close by and we feel peaceful. But there are some things God asks of us that really test our faith. To us as a family this normally involves our finances and each time, the Father stretches us even more than before.<br />
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Personally, I've not really known many times during my adult life when I've been out of some sort of financial debt - whether it be a credit card, loan or borrowed money from a friend. My wife has a much better sense for seeing everything for how it actually is and so marrying me has been a bit of a shock but because of her constant support, we have got much better with money and I'm beginning to learn that being strong with finances is something that God is wanting to put in place so I can be responsible with more of the stuff.<br />
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During the last six months God has tested us more than ever with our money but we've seen God provide in ways that just blow away any doubts that the steps of faith we have taken as a family have been in vein. To others who have witnessed what God's actually been asking us to do, it has seemed totally alien and some have even called us crazy. But actually to those with any common sense it IS crazy! However, when God asked us to be obedient (whatever the test) it would be more crazy for us not to trust Him and do what He said.<br />
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The first huge test for us was back last summer (2013). We were readying ourselves to move to Melbourne, Australia, from the UK and had many possessions which for anyone moving house, let alone country, would have made a good return and could have been invested into our new home - IF we'd have sold them. But God challenged us. He had began stirring something deep inside us both about sowing into people's lives and how blessing others is worth so much more we could ever dream of. We had in the past given people money or things to bless them but this time God was asking a whole lot more. He was wanting us to GIVE everything we had away. Yes, even our car.<br />
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Now, we're crazy enough to not think twice and go for something mad, but the more we thought about what God wanted us to do, the more we knew what an impact it would have. Not just from the people who were going to receive stuff for free but what riches God would store up and then give back to us over time. After all, God does say in the Bible to test Him in finance and this was a big one.<br />
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If you know me well enough, you'd know that I love music. My CD's were once my prized possessions and before I had a son who used to use them as slidy things for his feet. They were spotless, always in alphabetical order (sometimes chronologically) and some of them blimmin' expensive. For Cats (my wife), her interests lie in her clothes and she had mountains of dresses which were on constant rotation around the local towns as friends would keep borrowing them. Our kids had toys and things that were dear to them and even they were starting to talk about who they could give things to.<br />
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So during the last few weeks of living in England we had a constant stream of people coming into our home and leaving with armfuls of CDs, DVDs, a dress or two, or some toys and clothes for their kids. It was amazing to see people leaving with huge smiles and it left us with a real sense of God cheering us on as we did what He'd asked us to do. But believe me, there was a huge cost to this, too.<br />
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It wasn't just about my U2 collection, or Cats' favourite dresses going. It wasn't even about our car being given literally to a stranger who needed a car. It was that all these things meant something to us deep down and that they could've also been used to finance new furniture. They were sentimental, memories. We gave away the whole lot. Looking back now as I'm typing I can still understand what that must've looked like and how utterly crazy it seemed. But the thing is, God's plans and purposes for our lives mean a lot more to Him than a bunch of CDs.<br />
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When God calls His children to take radical steps of obedience it is a complete honour. To me it feels like He asks us to go through stuff for Him because it means that we've got what it takes to make it through. It's a bit like a boss at work giving a promotion because he or she has seen qualities that others may have missed. God commissions out of us a heart of generosity because He has been so incredibly generous to us, this then leads to His favour being poured out. Prosperity follows our courage to obey Him.<br />
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For us, we saw God provide instantly when we arrived in Australia. Our hotel room was upgraded to an apartment because of a leak from upstairs - this was strange because there was no pipes or running water above where the leak was! Secondly, we'd check our bank account in the UK to see what money we didn't have and there would be deposits paid into our accounts. Some of these were really large sums. Then we found a perfect house to rent and were accepted by the landlord straight away, no questions asked. This is unusual in Australia because in order to rent you need a history of paying rent and we didn't have any.<br />
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Numerous other things kept happening that were totally out of our control. One of which was when our house in the UK was sold. After leaving the UK the value of our house had dropped which meant we'd be a few thousand pounds down on what we thought we'd get. But by the time we completed the sale, we'd received anonymously exactly the same amount of money. We hadn't lost a penny! Not only did God provide extra, it also meant that once we'd paid out all our moving expenses and old debts which we couldn't settle before leaving England, we were totally debt free!! I can't even begin to say what that feels like. And the good news is, we still are and it still feels AMAZING!<br />
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Sometimes though, when God challenges you, obedience is hard because as humans we can't see the outcome. But we have to trust God because He KNOWS the outcome! It's an incredible lesson to learn and although we haven't learnt it fully, we're beginning to get better at recognising His voice and knowing that everything will be OK.<br />
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This leads us on nicely to another area we have been affected in and this time has nothing to do with finance. God wasn't just asking us to give stuff away. He was asking us to leave EVERYONE. CD's and dresses you can replace. Friendships and strong bonds you've made over many years aren't so easy to find again. God wasn't just asking us to be generous with our money, He wanted us to be radical enough that would see us waving goodbye to those who were closest to us. All I can say at this moment is thank you JESUS for Skype!<br />
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This, and I know my wife would agree, has been our greatest challenge. Ever. We have both felt very fragile at times and there are moments when all you want to do is reach through the screen and grab and hold onto the person staring back at you. It is very, very hard. If any of you have ever thought about relocating countries to follow your dreams, just make sure you know God's in it, too. You become acutely aware of what people mean to you when you don't have them near you. If it wasn't for the red book, sitting on a shelf in the other room, which is full of the promises of God, I can honestly say I think we'd have cracked by now. But we haven't.<br />
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What has happened instead is another testimony to God's provision. Not only has He provided us with everything we need; a car, a job, a great house, an incredible city, fantastic weather, lovely people and beautiful food, He has provided an incredible church which is teeming with life and full of passionate worshippers. God has opened up a door for us here which we could have missed if we'd have stayed where we were and not taken a radical step forward. Every Sunday we come out of church blown away by what we've just witnessed. Don't get me wrong, our church in the UK was pretty awesome and it's a dangerous thing to compare so I'm not going to. All I am saying is that at the right time in our lives we know we are where we're meant to be by what we are being taught through mighty men and women at Planetshakers Church, and through the new friends we are making.<br />
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We are connecting with amazing families who have incredible stories. We are witnessing the body of Christ blessing others around them and hearing stories of even more radical steps of obedience than what we've been through. Not only is God doing an incredible thing through His church but He's providing new friends for us who live locally. He's provided work for me with a brilliant bunch of guys, our kids have got school buddies and ride around the local park of their bikes. It feels like we are basking in God's love and I have to say it's the best feeling in the world.<br />
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Yes, this testimony of what God's been doing seems like a good old pat on the back for us but it isn't. Without God constantly caring for us, constantly making sure that we feel loved and have the very best from Him, I would not be writing this blog to testify about how good He is. We have got a heck of a lot to learn and what's more we have only been here for four months but what I do know now is this: God is always faithful. When He asks you to be generous with your money, do it. When He's asking you to lay down aspects of your life to follow Him, do it. When you go through the hard times, know this: God will never let go and will never stop loving you and He will always have the victory. Why? Because Jesus won it all for you on the cross.<br />
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Two nights ago we went for a swim in the sea at sunset. As I looked out towards the horizon I just felt the Father's love in such a vivid and incredible way. It was like He was saying; "All this is yours, well done!" And that's what inspired this blog. I felt God was wanting me to tell this story, not to come across proud but to testify of His goodness. He is utterly amazing and I'm pretty sure that we are not the only ones with a story to tell like this, either. My only hope is that this story inspires many to come to God in times of hardship and to ask Him where He is in the situation they're facing - I have no doubt that when you do ask Him, you'll know that He is providing your every need because He is your Father and you are His kids. What loving Father wouldn't do that?<br />
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Finally, a little challenge. If you are just about to sell something you own for a bit of cash and you know God as your heavenly Father, stop and ask Him who needs what you've got and give it to them. It's madness, but it's completely counter-cultural and you have just sown into someone else's life! Have fun :-)<br />
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Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-91712921346162412632013-12-20T23:15:00.001-08:002013-12-20T23:15:14.453-08:00News from Down Under!Well as it's nearly Christmas, I thought it was the right time to write a short(ish) blog on how things are going here in Melbourne, Australia.<br />
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It's now been exactly 94 days since we landed in our new country and to be honest it's felt a lot longer than that. Before I go into more detail I just need to honour three very important people in my life. Firstly my children, Daisy and Dexter.<br />
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Moving country is probably one of the hardest things we have ever done. Not only is it the sheer distance we are away from people we know and love, it's the feeling of starting from scratch and dealing with all the emotions that goes with that. For our two children I can only begin to imagine how it's been for them, putting their trust in their mum and dad who have taken a huge step of faith without really knowing what the outcome will be. All we've been able to reassure them with is what we've know from the start - Jesus wants us in Australia.<br />
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In the time we've been here, Daisy and Dexter have had to get used to a new culture, make new friends and start new schools. They've also had to start going to a new church and if you know Daisy enough, you'll know this is a HUGE deal. To Daisy, her church in the UK meant everything and was one of the hardest things for her to let go of. But she has been incredible. She has shown strength that has surprised us beyond words. She has dealt with her emotions and although at times has felt very low, she has found strength through worshipping on her own in her room and has astounded us on a daily basis.<br />
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For Dexter the move has been a bit easier as he is extremely strong in character and young enough not to experience the emotions that Daisy has faced. However, there have been times that he has been down but one of his favourite ways to get out of this feeling is to ask for us to pray as a family. Because of his eagerness to pray and Daisy's knowledge that God gives her comfort that cannot be obtained from anywhere else, we have prayed as a family nearly every night since we landed. Our bond as a family has grown in strength and it, in my opinion, has been because our children have been so inspiring. They are incredible.<br />
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Secondly my wife, Catharine. Wow. She has been my rock in this last three months. When we got here, our house in the UK had not completed its sale and I was an utter nervous wreck as we had no means of income. But Catharine managed to conjure up an inner strength that I can only describe as supernatural. For her, family is the most important thing in the world (after her Saviour, Jesus Christ). Leaving her family was only possible because of how amazing she is at understanding that God's promises over her life will not be broken and when God says He will provide, He will provide, whatever the situation. <br />
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In the first few weeks I don't actually know what I'd have done without her constant encouragement and support. I am a very strong person when it comes to my faith but for whatever reason I was not sleeping and was becoming more and more stressed over all we had to do and achieve in such a short time. Catharine kept me going and she lifted me when I was low. She is the most amazing woman on this planet and I'm so grateful to God for providing me with a friend and wife like her. Catharine, you rock my world!<br />
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After landing we knew we only had a hotel for a week and after that nothing. We hired a car and looked around for a suitable rental property and within a day of looking we found the place we're in now. Apparently in this country, renting is quite difficult because you need suitable references and a clear history of paying rent before being accepted. However, once the landlord who is English found out that we were and English family, he said yes to us renting with no questions asked. Amazing. This was God's provision in action.<br />
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Then there was Daisy's new school. We knew Dexter's place at any school would be a simple procedure, but Daisy's needs are much more difficult to be met when it comes to picking a school. When we looked around Berendale School (still in the first week), we knew it was the right place for her and we were even told that Daisy would be offered a place BEFORE grants had been accepted or given. This doesn't happen in the real world in Melbourne. God's blessing was on Daisy and on us once again. House? Check! School for Daisy? Check! <br />
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It was during this first week we realised just how amazing it was that we'd been given permanent residency within seven months of applying for our visa. According to the locals, this just does not happen. Most people have said, "wow, you guys must be here for a reason!" We are under no illusions that this visa was a miracle but to hear others who did not know our story say the same thing has been like confirmation after confirmation that this is God's ultimate plan for a lives. Such a good thing to know when trying to adjust to a new culture.<br />
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On our first Sunday we attended Bayside Church. It's local to where we live and while we were there we met a few great people and one told us about Moorabbin Primary School. he said that it'd be perfect for Dexter and when we looked to see where it was, we realised it was on route to Daisy's school and only a 10 minute walk from our house. We made an appointment and Dexter was offered a place right there and then. School for Dexter? Check.<br />
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That following week we then went crazy, driving around to as many 'op shops' (charity shops) as possible to buy the basic things we needed for our house. Our money was still tied up in the UK in the house but because of the amazing generosity displayed by friends in the UK we were able to buy the basics to make our empty house feel like a home. During this week I also signed up to a building agency to get some work, but in order to be paid correctly here you need a tax file number so we had to go to the city to get one. It was a bit of a pain, but we got what we needed.<br />
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The next thing was me finding a good job. As much as we knew we had a permanent visa and it was sponsored on the basis that I was a carpenter, we had arrived assuming there'd be loads of work for me. However, we were wrong. After to speaking to several carpentry firms, they'd all said that they didn't have enough work to take on anyone new. The agency I'd signed up with had gone quiet and so that only gave me one option and that was to phone a contact I'd made in the UK. You see, not only were there not many jobs around, my tools still hadn't arrive from the UK and our house STILL had not completed its sale which meant I had no funds to buy any tools.<br />
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So I phoned this guy who'd been the only one who responded from my barrage of emails I'd sent several weeks before we landed. He was very genuine on the phone and invited my to work for him the following week on a two day job. It was just the lifeline we needed because this has since led me to working for one of his contacts who owns a very high-end company in one of the richest parts of the city. But loads of patience was required in the build-up to this full time position.<br />
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Back at home we were still trying to understand exactly what God had us here for. Our local church was fine but we'd been visiting another church in the city called Planetshakers which was exactly where we were at spiritually but much further away for us to travel and both Catharine and myself have always had a heart to serve the local church. Planetshakers wasn't local and yet it felt familiar. <br />
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A few weeks later we finally had the news from the UK that our house had at last settled. The funds were transferred and we were able to pay off all of the debt which had accumulated from the visa, moving of furniture from the UK and everything we'd bought so far to make our house a home. It felt so good to be debt free for what was for me the first time in years. Although our bank balance was low, we owed nothing to no-one and felt as free as anything. It was such a great moment.<br />
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So we were now debt free, I had the promise of work, our kids had places in schools and we were beginning to find our feet in the area we were living in. But there was still the issue of where our church home would be.<br />
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I have been part of a church movement called New Frontiers all of my life and Catharine has been part of it since 1998 but in terms of church life that's all she's known, too. We were very secure in its doctrine and had never thought for a moment that God may have other plans for us, in another church, in a different movement. Melbourne has no New Frontiers church and although we knew this before we left the UK, we didn't feel as a couple we'd have the time or the energy to start something new with no-one around us. God had spoken to us loads about resting and how this was a time for us to rest in Him. But inside we were battling with where we should be going to church and what covering we were under. It was pretty unsettling.<br />
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One Sunday we went to Bayside and it just didn't feel right. This is not and in no way a slight on the church itself, they had been very supportive in terms of people lending us heaters and blankets for our home and someone taking my wife out grocery shopping one Sunday afternoon after finding out we didn't have much money. Our kids had been saying that they liked Bayside more than Planetshakers but we just knew that as a family we are just not meant to be doing 'nice church' without being used in some capacity.<br />
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So we stood in the kitchen, Cats and I, and prayed. We prayed and asked God to show us what we should be doing. In just one small moment it became clear. At Planetshakers we could relax and rest, while at Bayside we'd struggle to get comfortable and would find it hard work. God spoke about rest, didn't He? That night we went to Planetshakers and just sat there and breathed in goodness - this was the rest that God had spoken about. It was such an amazing feeling.<br />
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Since then, we've been going every week and having got involved with a local church group and spoken to the leadership a couple of times, we know this is where God wants us for now. The church's foundations are built on the values of honour, authenticity and identity - all these Cats and I hold very highly as our own values having been part of Bedford's King's Arms Church's Training for Supernatural Ministries course. God is so kind in giving us this and we feel so privileged to be a part of Planetshakers' movement.<br />
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These days, now we're coming up to Christmas, things have really fallen into place. We are seeing God's amazing provision in terms of finance from work, we have a small selection of local friends which is growing, we have an amazing church where we feel God will really use us and our kids are happy in their new schools.<br />
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All this, however, would not have been possible without God's provision and strength. We have had times of real soul searching in terms of what we're meant to be doing here, we've been learning at breakneck speed a whole new culture, we have been missing our families and friends in the UK and there have been moments when we've literally had 2 cents in the bank but have not gone hungry.<br />
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God has carried us through some very difficult moments and we're not naive to think the struggles are over. But we know this: God has fulfilled His promises and have delivered everything He said He would. We have rest in our hearts, we have the provision of finance and we have a new circle of friends both at church and in the local area. <br />
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It has been one heck of a journey so far but we feel so at home. Melbourne is the most amazing city and we know that this journey the Father has us on will be one that sees us growing in Him beyond our wildest dreams. My next blog will be about what the Father has been saying to us as a family but until then, have an amazing Christmas and may God bless all of you!<br />
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Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-89480109953562439592013-09-12T03:41:00.000-07:002013-09-12T03:43:08.897-07:00LAUNCHPAD!So here we are. One week away from a dream God gave us nearly ten years ago. What started as a whisper from the Holy Spirit into my wife's ears during a prayer meeting in 2004, is now a ferocious roar from the Father saying IT'S TIME TO GO! In exactly five days from now, we'll be heading to Heathrow Airport to start our journey to Melbourne and to step into what God called us into back then, before we were married.<br />
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In 2004 my wife Catharine was at a lady's prayer morning. Just a normal morning praying and waiting on God and out of nowhere she heard the words: SYDNEY SYDNEY SYDNEY, over and over again. Although it didn't make much sense, my wife knew it was from God and knew He had placed a seed of faith inside her. She then shared it with me and I said I'd go away and pray about it.<br />
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One morning on the way to work I asked Jesus to prove to me in a simple way that this was His vision for us. I actually remember saying, 'Lord, you know my sense of humour, show me in a simple way that I know it's from You.' Twenty minutes later I arrived at work and my dad asked me to make a cup of tea. I went to the draining board to fetch a mug and I remember looking at the draining board and thinking, 'mate, there are so many cups here. I'll just pick one from the middle.' As I picked up the cup I noticed a picture of a young girl with a backpack on and to me she looked like Daisy, my daughter. I smiled and turned the cup around and the word SYDNEY was written on it. Tingles went from head to toe and I knew Jesus had answered me.<br />
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This simple gesture then started off a whole journey of prayer for us as a couple. Praying into something we didn't really know about or what God wanted us to do about it. For me at the time I had just laid down my journalism career to support my new wife and daughter by stepping into the family trade of carpentry. This was a move I didn't want at the time and one day was praying with my church leader about it and asking God why on earth He was taking me away from my love of writing. He simply said: "Well Adam, My Son was a carpenter." Talk about humble pie. I knew in a moment that I had to change.<br />
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So that was faith step number one. You're going to read many more of these in this blog. For us as a couple, one of the first things we did after being given this vision from God was to hand it back to Him and said; 'if you want us there, Jesus, you have to move us'. Ha, be careful what you ask God for, you may just get it!<br />
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From this moment things started to take shape and we felt more and more that this was totally God's plan for us. Just in our everyday lives we were stumbling into conversations about Sydney, adverts about Australia, Wanted Down Under, walking past random people in the street only to overhear their conversations at the split second they said the word 'Australia' or 'Sydney'. This went on for years and is still happening now.<br />
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So after a couple of months I had to look into the visa process to see if we'd qualify. In my initial visa questionnaire to see what points I'd get (pass mark of 120 points is needed) I put down that I was a journalist. I don't actually know why but the points came back as 110. Not enough. On my second attempt I put carpentry. 135 points. Ah, I see. God changed my career path to suit His plans... LIGHT BULB!<br />
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So how was this going to work? We didn't have much money and I later found out the in order to qualify for Australia as a carpenter I would need an Australian Assessment via a company called Vetassess but their requirements were that I needed four years worth of carpentry and I only had a few months. Plus there was the small matter of paying £1500 for the privilege. From what I was finding out, the Australian visa process was going to be nearly impossible. To make it more impossible we had to consider our daughter, Daisy, and her needs.<br />
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Faith step number two. You see, our beautiful girl Daisy has an intellectual learning disability which affects her ability to understand many things and along with a speech and language delay and hypermobility, she is quite a complex character. Her persona and smile is very infectious and she has brightened up my world in so many ways. But at this moment in time I was thinking, 'how on earth is this going to work for Daisy? Will our visa be refused right at the last moment?' You see, the Australian government does not grant permanent visas to those who would cost them money long term and so we needed to be assured that if we went through with this we would get through. We prayed. A lot.<br />
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So after four years I took my (I know this is all about my part, this is only because the visa can only go through one person - my wife was backing me the whole time in this through solid faith and prayer) Vetassess theory test to see if I would qualify for a practical. I did, but only just. The response from the assessor was very frank and not very nice to read. It said: "You may proceed to the practical but please be advised that we don't think, with your limited experience, you will pass. Proceed with caution." Nice.<br />
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The thing is, because this was a faith mission for us we didn't want to take matters into our own hands and pay for the practical on a credit card as we wanted God to demonstrate His favour on us by providing the money but we didn't know how He would do this. We just prayed and believed. Around this time, my brother-in-law Jim and his wife Dominique were wanting us to find out whether this Australian thing was ever going to work and suggested looking after our kids so we could go to Sydney and see it for ourselves. We agreed and prayed in the money.<br />
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If you are reading this and are not a Christian, praying in money might sound strange to you. You see, my God is a very rich God and loves to bless His kids with the desires of our hearts if we are faithful to Him. When we put our trust in Him for money it's one of life's biggest challenges and He loves us for it. We prayed for our flight money and it all came in within a week as cash gifts from those who love us but didn't know what we needed it for.<br />
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So in April 2008 we travelled to Sydney for a ten-day jaunt to see if this was the promised land. My wife, being a keen surfer was expecting big things from the mecca of surfing, and I was just expectant that God would say in a loud voice "THIS IS IT!"<br />
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When we arrived it was not what we were expecting. It was cloudy, raining and cold. We drove through Sydney absolutely shattered (although we'd somehow been upgraded to Business Class thanks to a very kind friend) and spend the next few days wandering around in a bit of a jet-lagged daze. Catharine didn't like it at all and I was struggling because I wasn't relaxing in the way I thought I would. We met up with friends on the last few days which took the pressure off a bit but still didn't really 'get it'.<br />
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On the final full day we took a drive to the coast and ended up in a place called Dee Why. As we rounded the corner we saw the beach, a parade of surfing shops and restaurants, and people walking along without a care in the world. At that moment we both looked at each other with tears in our eyes and said "this is it". We knew that at long last God had confirmed in us what we had been seeking Him for. It was an amazing feeling.<br />
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However, when we got back we slipped back into the norm and busyness of life and although we were getting regular reminders there was still a carpentry practical to take and all the rest of the visa process. More prayer was needed, but we were more hungry for stronger prophetic words from those who didn't know our situation to confirm it even more.<br />
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In June 2011 my wife went up to the King's Arms Church in Bedford for a conference called Heaven Touches Earth. She'd travelled up with a friend and on their way they gave each other a little faith test. My wife said; "if anyone mentions the word crocodile in their talks then I'm going to Australia." Sure enough during a seminar taken by Wendy Mann the word Crocodile was used and my wife knew that God had answered her little faith game. Afterwards she sought out Wendy and mentioned this to her. Wendy then said, "hang on, I wrote something at the top of my notes." On the top of her notes it said simply 'Family - Sydney'. WOW.<br />
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My wife then heard of a course called TSM which stands for Training For Supernatural Ministries and asked me if she could take two days a week away from home to do this. I had no hesitation as I knew God was in it and agreed. But in order for her to do this course it was going to cost £1000. It was a lot of money and we still had to pay for my carpentry practical which was about £1000 on top of this unexpected new financial hurdle. We prayed about it and left it to God. Cats then confirmed her place on the course as a step of faith.<br />
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But two weeks later we were involved in a car accident. This really shook up our kids and Cats and I ended up with whiplash injuries. We thought nothing of them but were asked by our insurance company to get the injuries treated. We did out of duty and then were involved in an insurance compensation battle which we really didn't want. However, when a cheque landed though our door for the amount we needed for Cats course and my carpentry application, we knew God (even through a strange experience) had provided for us.<br />
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So for a year Cats life was radically transformed and she began to journey into knowing more about her identity in Christ and also seeing heaven on earth. It was during the first part of the year on TSM another confirmation was going to come.<br />
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During one morning Cats was taking part in a game called Postcard Prophecies. This is where postcards are laid out on the floor face-down and you pick one up and others use the picture to speak into your life and what God is saying through the picture. Cats' postcard was full of road signs. She laughed because she felt it represented her busy life. Later on, she was walking across the room when one of the team members stopped her and said; "are you called to another country?" Cats, quite taken aback, said; "I don't know, am I?" At which point the guy said; "When I saw you all I had in my head was that song by Men at Work, 'I Come From The Land Downunder'. I think you're called to Australia!"<br />
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Well that was it for my wife. She knew in an instant that God had confirmed it for her. At the same time I had paid for my carpentry practical which was going to take place in January 2012. This was a big moment for me.<br />
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I am confident in my skills but when I received the information on what I was going to have to construct for my test I felt the pressure in an immense way. Everything was hanging on whether I'd pass this test because without a trade qualification we could not proceed with the visa. But what had God said? Faith goal number three. He said we were called to Australia. During this time my dad had been asked to build a small roof for someone and needed my help. I agreed to help as I thought it might give me what I needed to pass my test.<br />
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When the day of the test came I was extremely nervous and prayed in the car on the way to London. I said a bit of a strange prayer which went something like; "Yeah Jesus, I just pray that you are somehow in the room with me today. I don't know how you are going to do that but I just need you to show me what to do." My nerves went and I arrived at the college.<br />
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After being shown to our classroom and workshops, two men who were going to be our examiners walked in. One was short and fat with a bald head and the other was tall, skinny with a beard and long hair. Just as I began to realise that this bloke looked like the typical Jesus of Nazareth in those terrible old films, a guy in front of me whispered to his mate, 'blimey, Jesus is here!' I nearly laughed out loud. At this moment, the tall skinny guy said; "Hello. I'm here to help you pass your exam today." Ha. My God has a very good sense of humour.<br />
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The practical went really well. We were asked to build a mono-pitch roof which is what I'd built only a week before my exam so I knew what to do. However there was a shock. At this moment I was asked to go into another room and answer a 47-page exam paper on all aspects of building and construction. THIS WAS NOT IN THE SCRIPT. I couldn't believe it. My heart sank because I failed nearly every exam at school because I am terrible in an exam environment. We were then told we'd be expected to answer maths questions. I failed maths GCSE at school. This had all gone wrong.<br />
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When I turned to the first page and saw the first two questions I could have cried. But then this very gentle Australian man walked in and said; "What question are you on? Do you need a calculator? Here, use my phone." WHAT?<br />
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I finished the exam and answered every question as best as I could but then had the agonising wait of 14 days for my result. It came in at 12:30am on Monday February 13th, 2012. I had passed! Not only had I passed but I had passed 100 percent of the modules! For me, this was the moment when I knew God REALLY wanted us in Australia.<br />
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However, in our hearts we still knew there were huge mountains we'd not yet climbed over. The first was how were we going to get Daisy into Australia and the second was what kind of education is on offer in Sydney? As a family we felt that the best thing for us would be to find out by means of me travelling to Sydney on my own to do a bit of a reccy and find out what. I had been in contact with a couple of schools and it all seemed like Daisy would fit in. We weren't worried about things too much but still needed some confirmation that this was the right thing to do as Daisy was very settled in her school.<br />
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So we booked up the flights and on the Thursday before I travelled to Sydney I went with Cats to her TSM course in Bedford and bumped into an old friend whom I hadn't seen in about 20 years. He was going to be taking the seminar on the attributes of God but right at the start of the meeting said: "I'm going to prophecy over Adam James!" And this is what he said:<br />
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"I could see you in like a red pick-up truck, like a van, but you're getting out of the van and getting into an amber truck. I feel like God has got you in a season where He's preparing you for some big change. I feel like you feel like you've been in a red truck that represents a kind of stop light, you almost feel like you've hit a ceiling and you've been praying for breakthrough, you've even been praying about whether you should change profession or change companies, or change direction. And it's like you've been driving in a red truck that's at this stop light.<br />
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"I think you're in a season now where God is preparing you for big change, He's actually been preparing both of your hearts for change. I feel like even the last two years or so God has been stirring the pot in your hearts and rekindling some dreams of old, rekindling some passions of old and it's almost like things that used to be fresh have become stale for you in the recent past and actually God says He didn't design you to live that way. And that's why you have felt discontent because He's actually designed you to be firestarters, He's designed you to be Pioneers and that's how He made you and that's why you've felt a bit bored.<br />
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"I feel like in regard to your church connection you've just lost a bit of passion for the church. But I feel like God says He's going to reconnect you with a strong passion for the people of God but also for the outbreak of the Kingdom around you. I feel like God's going to begin to give you some Kingdom ideas, even in terms of moneymaking opportunities. It seems like He's going to open doors actually you you two to be who God has really made you to be. I feel like there's a mould you are yet to find that really fits you but God says this amber season in one of you finding the mould that fits you.<br />
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"I feel like God's instruction to you is you need to shape your life around His prophetic promises. And this is a time to do that. I feel like you have a window of opportunity to shape your life according to prophecy and prophetic promises and not according to circumstances.<br />
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"I feel like God says His provision is going to follow you as you follow His prophetic promises. And that's His provocation to you. There's a step of faith for you to take in which you'll see God provide. And so He wants to almost assure you of that today. That as you take a step forward His provision will follow.<br />
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"And I feel like in terms of, I don't know if you have children, but I feel like God almost wants to reasure you about your children and give you a tremendous sense of peace about them. You are to see actually that their health is connected to your ability to radically obey God and actually they are going to be healthier when they see you radically obeying Jesus in this season. And that actually is going to be the best medicine for them, seeing their parents take radical steps of obedience.<br />
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"So I feel like the Father says stop worrying about your children, you don't need to be in any anxiety about them. I feel like, I don't know if any of them have any special learning issues, but again, I feel like the Father says you are not to worry about that either. God is going to put specialists in your life and put those who have the ability to teach in particularly areas where it's going to connect to your kids learning styles, that He's going to provide for you perfectly.<br />
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"And so I feel like the Father wants you to know He is on you in this season. He loves you so much and He designed you for such a season as this."<br />
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WOW! To say that I went to Sydney with high expectations after that would be a gross understatement! We knew that taking a giant step of faith was exactly what God wanted us to do. So I flew to Australia.<br />
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My time there was pretty frantic and in the space of a few days I had the promise of a full time job along with a sponsored 457 visa and had visited two schools which were fantastic. It was like God had laid out the red carpet for me and all the doom and gloom of the last trip to Sydney had vanished. However, during my visit to the last school i was told this; 'there has never been a case that we've heard or where a child with a disability has EVER been granted a permanent visa'.<br />
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Flying home with that ringing in my ears was a sober thought. What if we do go through this process and can't get in? What did God say? Breathe in and carry on, was my conclusion because God never goes back on His words.<br />
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As soon as I was home I looked into the visa process. Firstly I would have to wait for the employer to get back to me with the visa application and and in the meantime I found out that I'd have to take and ENGLISH exam. What? To get into an English speaking country, I'd have to take an English exam - even though I was English... and spoke English. The cost? £120. What a joke.<br />
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But I did it and passed with flying colours and we then thought we were ready to go. Nope. For five months we heard nothing from my 'new employer'. September was looming and we were thinking; 'do we take the kids out of school? There must be something I can do to speed up the process?<br />
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However there wasn't much we could do. On July 1st, 2012 all rules on immigration were changed and I found out we'd have to go through something called Skills Select. This is a lottery based scheme were only the 'select few' get chosen to apply for a visa and it would also mean that I'd have to fill out a very long application and wait to find out if I had enough points. Not only that, I still had not heard back from Sydney and noticed that the state of New South Wales had closed ALL doors on sponsorship.<br />
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What did all this mean? Well, I would soon find out. In August I filled out my Skills Select application and submitted it to the Australian Government to wait for the result. I then found out that my 'new employer' had decided NOT to sponsor me any more. He said the risk was too great and if things didn't work out we'd have to fly home at HIS expense. Plus we would not qualify for any benefits or funding for schools.<br />
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This was an absolute disaster. It was such a big pill to swallow after everything had looked so good for us. On top of this my Skills Select Application came back to say I had NOT got enough points and asked me to read through and make sure I had answered all the questions correctly. AAGGHHH!<br />
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When I read back though, feeling extremely low, I noticed that under the question; 'Have you any Higher Education diplomas etc?' I had put nothing. This was a carpentry application and the only diploma I had was in media when I was a journalist. So I added it anyway, just in case. Sure enough a day later it said YOU QUALIFY!<br />
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What? So I have enough points but what about Sydney? If we can't get into New South Wales, how do we do this?<br />
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Well, literally the next day I was searching on Google (what would we do without it?) for sponsored visas for Australia and the very first entry which came up read; 'Skilled Carpenters Required for Victoria - Apply here for a Permanent Sponsored Visa.' Eh? So I clicked on the link and sure enough it was true. The government of Victoria was doing a trade drive to sponsor carpenters on a permanent basis through SKILLS SELECT. The information had a small link on it asking people who'd been successful through Skills Select to apply. Only those with exceptional circumstances would be accepted. <br />
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I applied.<br />
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Three weeks later on my up to Bedford to start my TSM course (I applied in August 2012 after finding out we weren't going to Sydney - and why not?) I received an email. 'Congratulations your application to receive a permanent sponsored visa for the state of Victoria has been successful!'<br />
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WHAT ON EARTH WAS GOING ON? Why was God now moving us to Melbourne? What was there? Is there a church? What about Daisy? So many questions amid the delight of being accepted.<br />
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I feel at this point in this long story I should say that this was by no means over and a done deal. We still had a visa application to submit which is a very lengthy and painful process and a medical to get through which would highlight ALL of Daisy's health issues. This was going to take EVERY ounce of faith we had. All we could think of was to keep going back to all the promises that God had made to us. We felt we should keep praying a believing God would in fact do the impossible. Remember; no-one with a disability had ever been granted a permanent visa.<br />
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So on September 22nd, 2012, we submitted our visa application and in October we had our medical. The medical was horrendous. Such a horrible experience because we were so conscious of Daisy's needs and this was picked up very quickly. They wanted us to provide pages and pages of information to say what was wrong and how it affects her life and ours. We sent everything they asked for and then started the anxious wait.<br />
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After four months of waiting without any news, we finally received an email from the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth (MOC) in Sydney to say that they wanted more information on Daisy. What they were asking for in NHS terms would take months but they wanted it ALL in 28 days.<br />
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There was no apology for taking so long to get to that result. Just a very cold shoulder and no other communication. <br />
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Fourteen days then went by and we had not had any appointments booked for Daisy as no one really knew how to answer what the MOC was asking. But finally we had a breakthrough and ALL of the information we needed came through on the very last day of the deadline. It was such a relief to hand it all in but had highlighted even more our gravest concerns that we might not actually get the visa, due to the information we'd received. The reason for this is because in the Australian visa process if one person does not meet the health requirements, everybody fails.<br />
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With all of this going on it was a relief to get away to Bedford for a couple of days and attend the Prophetic Forum conference which is put on once a year. On the way up, we'd prayed that this would just be a time for soaking and receiving as we were both worn out from everything that was happening around us. We actually prayed that we didn't want to focus on Australia but on Jesus.<br />
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In the morning of the second day we were having a coffee break and I'd sat down next to an old friend, who asked me how things were going. Cats was in another room and I really wasn't up for having a conversation but I mentioned that things were a bit crazy. It was at this moment that a lady who I've never met in my life then interrupted the conversation and said; "Are you called to another country?"<br />
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A bit taken aback I thought about it for a moment and then had a check from the Holy Spirit that this lady knew in her heart where we were called to. So I said; "Yes we are. And you know where we are called to, don't you?" She laughed and said that she did so I then suggested that if I told her which country, she'd have to tell me which city. When I said the country was Australia, she jumped up in the air from her seat (in quite spectacular fashion) and shouted "I knew it!" I said; "Which city do you have?" And at this moment she paused and clenched her fists. It was like she was worried that she was going to get it wrong. I reassured her and said that it didn't matter if it was wrong because this was already all a bit strange anyway.<br />
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Finally, after a few moments she stood up and said; "It's Melbourne!" What? Did I hear her correctly? Yes I did. Then she said this, which is the part of the story I won't ever forget; "I saw two city names. The first was Melbourne in huge letters and then behind it Sydney in smaller letters. Like God had them in some sort of priority. I think He's switched cities!"<br />
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WOW, wow and wow!<br />
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At this moment I ran back to Cats and told her about what had happened. She was so excited but said she wanted to see if this lady was actually a real person by talking to her and asking if she had any prophetic words for her. Cats said that she was NOT going to reveal that she was my wife, just to see if the words lined up. <br />
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A bit later on Cats grabbed this lady (we still to this day have no idea who she is) and asked her to prophecy over her. Pausing for a while, she then said this; "I see you are going to be a prophet to the nations and I see you will be getting on a plane very soon!" It was at this point my wife told this lady that she was married to me. Everyone then went a bit nuts.<br />
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As if this wasn't enough, on the same day I head received a prophetic word from a friend to say God was going to put 'dog tags' in my hand and on them He had engraved the words Honour, Love and Worship. I hadn't seen dog tags for years and it was a funny word as it was so unusual. But I was looking forward to seeing what God was going to do with it and received it into my heart.<br />
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Coming back home we slipped back into the real world and got back into our 'when are we going to hear?' mindset. It was at this point I'd began to work for my brother again on a loft (attic) conversion and was just trying to process all that had happened the weekend before. I'd even looked up 'dog tags' on Amazon but found a bunch of novelty ones and nothing nice to look at.<br />
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A couple of days went past and my work colleague and I were carrying out of the house sheets of chipboard flooring to be thrown away. This is a normal process of clearing out a loft in order to start the construction. It was about 3pm on a Tuesday when this very strange thing happened. My colleague said; "Hang on Ad, there's something hanging from your sheet of flooring, it looks like DOG TAGS." What? How can anything 'hang' off a sheet of chipboard that's smooth on both sides. Sure enough, my colleague then handed me a set of dog tags and written on them was the word LAUNCHPAD. I laughed and laughed and laughed. This was God speaking in a very clear way - again.<br />
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Calming down after the hilarity of the dog tags we then entered another month of painfully waiting for a decision. To be honest, despite all the words and encouragements this whole process was now doing our heads in a bit as it's hard to remain in faith when you don't hear a thing for months on end. But after a few more weeks it was then time for another conference in Bedford and this time it was the Spiritual Leadership conference. Cats felt it would be good for me to go on my own.<br />
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Although I don't like going to things like this on my own, somehow we felt as a couple it would be pivotal for us and that whatever I received it would benefit us as a couple. It was now June. There was now only four months to go until our deadline for entering Australia (if we were granted the visa) would run out. We hadn't put the house on the market and time was rushing past. <br />
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So on Friday 14th June, I travelled up to Bedford (again) and settled into what was an amazing time. My first task was to sit in what is called a Prophetic Booth. It's a small room where two people pray and prophesy over you for about half an hour. The thing is, because of my wife and myself's involvement with the King's Arms church over the last two years, I was worried that I'd know the people who were going to be speaking and prophesying over me. I was hungry for God to speak clearly about what it was He had for us.<br />
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When I got into the booth I was relieved to see that the couple who were going to pray were not those whom I knew. So I just sat there and waited to hear what they had to say. This is a short excerpt from what they said:<br />
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"The first thing I see, well, the first thing I felt God say was that you were called to something of a new generation, a new movement – there is a new generation and a new movement emerging and you are called to be on the forefront of that. God's giving you a gift, I see a speaking gift and a teaching gift and there's a theological kind of gift, I don't know if any of this resonates with you, but there's something of explaining biblical concepts to a new generation, teaching to a new generation, and you being sort of hip, that might not be the right word, but you are just being very cool and very relevant and very rooted in God. There's just something of a real gift on you to be able to do that.<br />
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"I see roads, I feel like there's going to be some travel for you, I see you not having bags, I see you just travelling and the things that you carry with you are things of the heart – yeah, like in the Bible, the disciples were told not to take anything with them and they just went out and spoke to people and were given everything they needed. I just felt that you were going to be travelling and speaking and not needing to take anything with you. Please hear me I don't know if God means the spiritual or the practical, but I felt that God was going to bring things into your path, provision into your path and bring people into your path and fill the gaps that you need."<br />
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WOW again! It's probably at this point I should mention that when the prophetic voice gets louder and more frequent, that's normally a sign the God's about to do something big. I left the room feeling somewhat dazed and happy, but there was something nagging me. I knew my brother and sister-in-law were both at the conference with me but they are also my church leaders. They were clearly wanting God to break into our situation but still not wanting us to leave as moving to the other side of the world means massive separation for everyone.<br />
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During the next worship time I felt that God was wanting me to approach Jim, my brother-in-law and say that it was time to let us go in there hearts. God was speaking clearly and saying that they needed to release us from their spirits as this was what was helping to keep us home. We prayed about it together and it felt good to know that even in the pain of separation, God is in control.<br />
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On Monday June 17th I woke up to this email: <br />
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<b>We are pleased to advise you that your application for a permanent sponsored visa for Australia and New Zealand HAS BEEN GRANTED!</b><br />
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I read this sentence over and over again. It was about 5:30am and my wife was fast asleep. I carried on reading down the page, my heart pumping so head I thought I was going to burst. I then got to the part where it mentions each person individually and what conditions have been placed on the visa. I looked at Daisy's bit: CONDITIONS - ZERO.<br />
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I cried a lot in this moment.<br />
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God had somehow managed to allow us a condition free, permanent visa for Australia. This is not only an impossibility in terms of legislation laid down by the Australian government themselves but it was a complete green light by our Father in heaven that this WAS the right thing for us to be doing. Even to this day (with five days to go until we fly) I cannot understand what went on in the immigration department to make that decision but it will live with us forever. Nothing short of the biggest victory in prayer we've had.<br />
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Since this moment we have been brought closer and closer as a family. We know that the heartbreaking reality of leaving friends and family has arrived but we also know that this is our time to seize all the God has for us. This is an opportunity to live in the vey palm of God's hand as He will provide everything we need. We still don't have a house to live in when we get to Melbourne but have this overwhelming sense of peace that God knows exactly where we're going to live. <br />
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This whole journey from 2004 until now has only really ever been about one thing: God spoke and we trusted Him. It has not been easy. We have not had everything go our way and we have had times of tears and anguish. But through it all we trusted God that He is always faithful and will always keep His word.<br />
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This last weekend we feel as a family we've received the applause of heaven as we take a new step into the unknown. We had the mother of all send-offs last Saturday and it was a truly humbling experience to know that there were so many people behind us. We have been blown away my people's financial generosity as well as emotional support - it truly is the most incredible feeling.<br />
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So lastly, before I write my next blog from the other side of the globe, I just wanted to express out heartfelt thanks to all those at The King's Church Mid Sussex and The King's Arms in Bedford. Without your close support in these last two years we would have felt completely isolated in this huge decision. You have all played a part, whether it be in intercession without us knowing or by giving time and finances. We are blown away by the family of God and want to say a big thank you.<br />
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I also want to express my undying love to my two amazing kids, Daisy and Dexter, for being so brave in all of this crazy thing. They have NEVER said that they don't want to go and they are doing this with such joy.<br />
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There's also my soul mate and wife Catharine to thank. She inspires me every day to press into God more and more and I know that it is because of her radical obedience to pursue God in complete sacrifice that I am able to do this with her. She is an amazing woman and I love her with every fibre of my being.<br />
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But ultimately this all comes down to one thing. His name is Jesus and this whole story is about Him. Without Him, we wouldn't be on this adventure. Without Him and the hope that He brings, we would be very confused and frustrated. But we are at complete peace. This is going to be one heck of an amazing time. So with that, myself and my family are just about to make our way to Heathrow and step on the Launchpad.<br />
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See you Downunder!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-77194709268082058242013-08-03T08:35:00.003-07:002013-08-03T08:35:56.663-07:00God or Science?<br />
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." Mark 10 v 25.<br />
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OK. I am going to attempt to write about something that has been burning in me for a while. When you read this, please note that these are my opinions and although I've used certain quotes from different points of reference, the bulk of this article is around my own understanding of this topic; God or Science.<br />
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Also I just want to say that I have complete and utter respect for those out there who admire science and all that it's been to us in the last 200 years or so. Men and women have made great discoveries and many of the cures for diseases we have now is from the result of countless hours of research. So I am not criticising anyone who has a science-only viewpoint, in fact I think it's healthy for us as Christians to embrace the other points of view before we make our own views heard.<br />
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As for me, I have been a Christian all of my life. I have never known the world any differently than that of a world where God created everything, man completely screwed up and tried to walk away from God, He then sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross so that we could be in a perfect relationship with Him, and we can spend the rest of our lives in complete freedom because Jesus rose from the dead and that means we are also alive in Him for eternity.<br />
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Now, reading back this last paragraph with an introspective view there are loads of things that I could pull out of this and question - like this:<br />
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a) If I've only been a Christian then I am bias to one point of view?<br />
b) Is there a God and then why doesn't it say anything about God in my science book?<br />
c) We screwed up from what? How did we know right from wrong?<br />
d) Was there really a man called Jesus who lived a perfect life? If there is no God then He died for no cause.<br />
e) How are we alive in Jesus?<br />
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I've probably missed out a load of questions that you may be thinking of but if I have, ask yourselves those questions because the results are quite staggering.<br />
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But going back to my point about being a Christian all of my life, does this mean I do actually have a one sided view of the world? Could I, and many many hundreds of millions of people who believe in creation, actually have got it wrong? Well here's my honest view; I have questioned my Christianity many times and even tried to do my own thing, but every time I do it leads me back to one thing. My life is better because I believe in Jesus.<br />
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You might be now choking on your coffee but before you stop reading I just want to let you into my life and how I tick when no-one is around. Because I truly believe that when I describe my life in a little detail it may give you some insight as to why I believe in God.<br />
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I would say that I am a good person. I would say that I don't do horrible things to people and that I am kind and generous. I guess it's mostly from my upbringing and what was installed in me as a child. I didn't live in a rough neighbourhood and my parents weren't divorced and we went to church. Sound idyllic doesn't it? <br />
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But I have also faced huge battles. We lost our home twice when I was a kid, we had just about enough money to share one Mars bar between five of us. My brother and sister were terribly bullied for their Christianity at school (I was teased but used to punch back so I was left alone). I lost my best friend to meningitis. I broke all my morals by sleeping with girls before I was married. I was swallowed up in debt. But in all of this, I knew that somehow I was protected and that this protection was not of my own making.<br />
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These days my life is full on. I have an amazing wife and two glorious kids. I work full time as a carpenter and we serve our local church so much that most of the time we're busy and don't have much time to ourselves. Some days I am very grumpy and other days I am extremely happy. But in all of this, when I wake up I have a moment either praying or reading my bible. When I do, I get this instant feeling of electricity in my body. It's very hard to explain but it's like getting a super high. Now I could be bringing this upon myself but I don't even ask for it. It just happens.<br />
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My head is usually filled with all kinds of thoughts but sometimes in the day I will hear my own voice say things in my head that I definitely would not say to myself. Things like: "You never fail me." Or; "You are amazing." But sometimes I will hear lengthy thoughts like: "There is a shift in this nation taking place where I am calling people to Myself and the hard ground is beginning to crack." I've come to understand that this is God speaking into my life. Yes, he loves to talk to His children. After all, He is a Father of many sons and daughters.<br />
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Now it's fine if you think I'm mad. I sometimes think that. But what I'm trying to explain is there is something very other than myself going on in me most, if not all of the time and it is the most wonderful feeling. My question to you at this stage is, have you ever felt like that?<br />
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Another thing that happens on a constant basis is something that upsets me because it causes something inside of me to go 'OUCH!' In every day conversations or on the radio or the TV, people left, right and centre are saying; 'Oh, Jesus Christ!' Or; 'Oh my God!' Whenever someone uses these names as a swear word it hurts - it really hurts. It's a bit like someone criticising your mother or shouting at your child. You feel violated. All the time I'm thinking; 'I know this Jesus you've turned into a swear word!'<br />
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What is this? If God does not exist, then why do people use His name without realising it? No other name is ever used to swear by. The thing is is that Jesus himself said that His followers would suffer because of His Name, so I guess it is actually part of being a follower of Christ, you have to ride so much abuse and negativity. Even my work colleagues take it in turns to berate me because of my faith. Does it make me want to give it up? No, because once you know God, everything becomes clear and somehow you put up with suffering for Jesus. He really suffered for me.<br />
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So that's just a little taster of what it is like as a Christian. It is a very hard road to walk. I quoted Jesus at the start of this blog because I believe that He wasn't just talking about rich people in terms of money. I believe that we all display a natural resistance to God because we were born into a world that has forgotten Him. It is all about us and if someone asks us to give up everything and lay down ourselves to follow someone we've never seen, the natural reaction is to jump up and down and say NEVER! I have had so many people use the same phrase: "It's not for me, thank you."<br />
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So what about science? Firstly Albert Einstein said this: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science in blind." This statement is brilliant. For me he is saying you cannot have one without the other. The two go hand in hand. If you believe in science and science only without questioning whether God is real then you have no argument. If you live in a world where it is all about God and you never think that science solves anything, you are also being ignorant to many amazing people.<br />
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Science is one of those subjects I have actually not put too much effort into as I believe in this whole creation story and that God made everything. It has caused issues with my friends because they think I am blinkered to the world in which they live. One friend said: "You believe in a God who does nice things to people and gives you a nice life, but I believe in science and logic." Fair enough, I thought, that's a pretty sound statement. But when I think about science my brain goes into the whole 'evolution is wrong' mode and that scuppers every other thought. <br />
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In reality I have a lot to learn about science and I am willing to learn. I just think with the story of creation and the idea of this amazing world coming into being as the result of a big bang with no intent or purpose to begin with, is more puzzling than the idea of someone far greater than us making it and then wanting a relationship with the people He'd made.<br />
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As far as I understand it, science is all about hard evidence. People say to me; 'where is the evidence of God because if you don't have it I'm not likely to believe what you have to say, anyway.' The thing is, how did scientists of the eighteenth century come up with hard evidence that the world came from a big bang? Hadn't the world been around a lot longer than them? Plus we believe in a load of other things that don't require evidence. What evidence is out there for other gods that are worshipped by other religions? Do people question them? No, because it would be ludicrous to question a Muslim or Hindu. So why is the existence of my God and Saviour questioned over and over?<br />
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People say, how do you know Jesus was real. Where is the evidence? There is nothing but a bunch of old literature written about Him in a book that was compiled over thousands of years by a load of men. Admittedly some were eye witness accounts but HOW DO WE KNOW as we weren't there? Was Noah real and did he have an ark? Very true, indeed. But I could say, what about Henry VIII? Have you ever seen him? How do you know that all of those stories are true? Was data collecting in the 16th century better than in Roman times where every death was recorded? Also, what about Father Christmas, why do we tell our kids about a completely fictional character without feeling guilty that one day our kids will find out he isn't real?<br />
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I have other burning questions like: Who was there testing gases before the world exploded into being? Where did these seemingly amazing gasses come from if there was nothing before hand? How did they collide in a galaxy that didn't exist? In my Bible it says 'In the beginning God...' so at least someone was there to light the fuse! If He did light it, doesn't that mean He did create everything anyway? Isn't atheism a faith? It must be because it's more confusing to think that nothing became something, rather than something creating nothing into something. Anyway, I digress.<br />
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So I'm now going to quote from Professor A Cressy Morrison, former President of the New York Academy of Sciences. This guy says that the more we look into science the greater the chances are that we'll find God. Speaking of creation and the chances of a big bang he says this:<br />
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"Suppose you put ten pennies, marked from one to ten, into your pocket and give them a good shuffle. Now try to take them out in sequence from one to ten, putting back the coin each time and shaking them all again. Mathematically we know that your chance of first drawing number one is one in ten; of drawing one and two in succession, one in 100; of drawing one, two and three in succession, one in 1000, and so on; your chance of drawing them all, from number one to number ten in succession, would reach the unbelievable figure of one in ten billion.<br />
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"By the same reasoning, so many exacting conditions are necessary for life on the earth that they could not possibly exist in proper relationship by chance. The earth rotates on its axis 1000 miles an hour at the equator; if it turned at 100 miles an hour, our days and nights would be ten times as long as now, and the hot sun would likely burn up our vegetation each long day while in the long night any surviving sprout might well freeze.<br />
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Again the sun, source of our life, has a surface temperature of 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and our earth is just far enough away so that this "eternal life" warms us just enough and not too much ! If the sun gave off only one half its present radiation, we would freeze, and if it gave as much more, we would roast.<br />
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The slant of the earth, tilted at an angle of 23 degrees, gives us our seasons; if the earth had not been so tilted, vapors from the ocean would move north and south, piling up for us continents of ice. If our moon were, say, only 50,000 miles away instead of its actual distance, our tides might be so enormous that twice a day all continents would be submerged; even the mountains could soon be eroded away. If the crust of the earth had only been ten feet thicker, there would be no oxygen, without which animal life must die. Had the ocean been a few feet deeper, carbon dioxide and oxygen would have been absorbed and no vegetable life could exist.<br />
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It is apparent from these and a host of other examples that there is not one chance in billions that life on our planet is an accident."<br />
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He then went on to make this point when saying that man conceiving that the idea of God is proof in itself that He exists: "The conception of God rises from a divine faculty of man, unshared with the rest of our world - the faculty we call imagination. By its power, man and man alone can find the evidence of things unseen. The vista that power opens up is unbounded; indeed, as man's perfected imagination becomes a spiritual reality, he may discern in all the evidence of design and purpose the great truth that heaven is wherever and whatever; that God is everywhere and in everything that nowhere so close as in our hearts."<br />
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Please hear me once again. Questions about my faith and discussions about science and religion are healthy ones to have and I have had many debates in the past of these two defining issues. My own views on this subject are there because of situations that have happened which I cannot explain and therefore am left looking at God for answers. I am no scientist but I am fully aware that God is real. Not because I've seen Him but because He makes me feel complete. I am not searching for answers any more because God has given me His reassurance. I never feel like I am missing something else as He is all I need. I have prayed for money when I've had none and bunches of cash have fallen through the letter box. I have had my back healed after 16 years of pain. The doctors cannot explain how I am pain free and how my disc is now normal. <br />
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The biggest evidence that God is real in my life has been recently when I discovered some writing by my daughter. My daughter has a significant learning disability which means she has a very low IQ and virtually no understanding of the world around her. She knows people and can talk with limited ease. She can walk and run and bake the most amazing cakes but stick her in a room of people talking and she will retain no information and she attends a special school as she cannot learn in mainstream setting. We once asked her to keep a diary but she couldn't say how she felt. She could say statements like: 'I ate breakfast,' but could not relate the day to her life. She has no conceptual thinking. She cannot think hypothetically so even with our best description of God there would be no way she would be able to cope with the concept of another being loving her from so very far away.<br />
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In her book it says this: "God had sent me a picture of seagulls flying past me and they were singing to me with joy. They were singing 'Bless The Lord' and holding onto me. When they flew past I felt emotional with joy. And God gave me a spirit of Luke 1 verse 28 where it says 'Greetings, favoured one! The Lord <i>is</i> with you.'"<br />
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You will notice that Daisy has described in detail what she saw. She cannot do this with speech. This knowledge and wisdom must have come from another source. Also, Daisy spends most of her free hours worshipping God. This isn't anything to do with logic but to do with a 15 year-old girl created by God adoring her heavenly Father. I want to be more like her. This is all the hard evidence I need.<br />
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So going back to the scripture at the start of this article. Are you willing to give up all your understanding and knowledge on what you do know and to put your trust into something and someone you don't know? It's a big ask from Jesus. It's a massive one. But I can testify right here that it's the best thing I've ever done and will ever do. I gave Jesus my life and He gave me the world!<br />
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"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." Albert Einstein.<br />
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Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-90843106888978130772013-02-05T04:39:00.001-08:002013-02-05T04:39:18.292-08:00TAKING RESPONSIBILITY<br />
Since September I have been privileged enough to be part of a course called Training For Supernatural Minitries (TSM). This is a course ran by a team from the King's Arms Church in Bedford which helps reaffirm our call from God, maximize our spiritual gifting and to see heaven on earth displayed through healing on the streets and revelations of God's amazing love for people and His children.<br />
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Let's get one thing straight. Having been a Christian since the age of five and raised in an amazing church with strong apostolic teaching, I thought I knew most things about myself and what God wanted from me. I thought that other than developing in areas of prophecy and healing, my spiritual gifts were pretty good and it didn't matter too much that I was still carrying stuff from my past, thinking that if I didn't expose it, know-one would know and everything was just fine.<br />
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Wrong.<br />
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Within the space of a month of starting TSM I became acutely aware that God was wanting more from me and there were things that I thought were fine but were actually massive weights around me. I had been blaming past actions in terms of temptation and old sexual relationships for robbing me of who I really was but had carried on squaring the blame on pictures I'd seen and ex-partners. I had not realized that all this time the blame landed with me. I was the one who had given in to temptation and I was the one who could've been more responsible for my actions.<br />
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It was as this landed in my spirit I was able to cry out from within and ask God to deliver me from this guilt and to be forgiven for taking this out on others when it was my fault. When I did this, the only way I can describe the feeling is to say it felt like God removed the cookies from my mind that had stored these thoughts for so long. At last, I was free from guilt and shame. Amazing times.<br />
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From that moment God then began to restore parts of my mind and spirit that had been dormant for ages and I started to receive revelation of who I was in Him. I began to realize that I was a SON on God. I was His beloved boy who'd been hurt by the lies of the enemy and I didn't have to live that way any longer. I'm not saying I won't make mistakes any more but what I am saying is that as soon as I realized my son-ship I then knew that my old life had in fact been crucified on the cross and forgotten forever! What was I worrying about for all that time? Freedom had been restored to me in one afternoon and I know I'll never be the same.<br />
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Now that I'd had my eureka moment, it was then a case of breathing in all that God had for me. At the time I wrote down these notes from a preach I heard on Identity by my amazing course tutor:<br />
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'The God of the Universe really rates me!'<br />
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'We are not sinners who are sometimes saints. We are saints who sometimes sin! We are royal, chosen and the beloved of God. People who don't know Him are blessed by us being around them. We are princes and princesses of God!'<br />
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'Performance and comparing myself to others is just annoying. God didn't make a mistake when He made me. I must not look at others in high responsibility and think I wish I was like them - God made me like me! I AM His treasured possession!'<br />
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'The enemy's lie is our value and performance is wrapped up in our identity. Wrong. Our identity is dictated by how Jesus performed! I have value I can do all I am called to do.'<br />
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'MY IDENTITY IN JESUS DOES NOT CHANGE WHEN I SCREW UP!'<br />
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'God is thoroughly over the top in loving me, even when I am going the wrong way.'<br />
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'Pride speaks royalty based on achievement. God makes us royal because of what Jesus did.'<br />
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To me this was the moment. After 32 years of being a Christian I was now beginning to understand what God's heart was for me and that He was wanting a new authentic me. If I, through my testimony, can tell what God has really done then this will help people struggling with things in their own lives. Such an amazing time.<br />
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However, there were other things going on that were affecting my time at TSM. Because I was now trying to work a three day week in order to accommodate this course, my earnings were down pretty dramatically. We had always felt as a couple that our regular gift to God should not be touched and so even through times of barren earnings, we have still given outrageously. The fruit of this was our bills account was still operating normally but if you looked at what was coming into this account, it should never have worked out. But it did and praise God for all His provision.<br />
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The trouble was, in my attempts to protect the bills account I had not been protecting my spending on a credit card and things had started to get quite bad. Not only that, we'd only paid for TSM up to Christmas and it was now time for the next installment and I didn't know how on earth we'd get it. I thought of all different ways of covering this debt but what God was asking me to do was be honest and tell my incredibly patient wife what the deal was.<br />
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I obeyed God and things were understandably hard for a few days while we tried to assess the problem. I also knew God wanted more from me so I set aside time to pray about what He wanted me to do. God very quickly revealed that His heart was for me to honor my wife and children by laying down TSM and serving them. He reminded me if I ever wanted to lead others, then I needed to lead my family first.<br />
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After a chat with my course tutor I knew that God had spoken and so last Friday I shared this testimony with all of my TSM family as a way of them understanding why I was leaving. It was one of those moments I knew God was pleased with my obedience but I also understood that it was now time for action, responsibility and commitment to my wife and children.<br />
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This next season is one I believe God has lead us into for a reason and we are ready for all He has for us. I know that in past times when things have seemed hard God has always shined through and we have seen amazing things happen in our lives which demonstrate His never ending favor. I feel that God is wanting my wife and I to be ready for new adventures and actually this is a time for both of us to be serving and committing ourselves to our local church more than ever.<br />
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I am very excited about the future and praise God that I had the chance to be part of an amazing course and to get my life into perspective. God is just amazing and I am so grateful that He loves me. I hope this has also encouraged you.<br />
Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-30729553537306730652013-01-16T05:33:00.000-08:002013-01-16T05:33:18.121-08:00FIRM FOUNDATIONS<br />
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During recent weeks I have been stirred to share my testimony. Many people know my background while others don't and in the last week or so I've realised there are friends of mine who may need to hear this as they are in a season of trying to make a decision whether to follow Jesus or not.<br />
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My life has been full of laughter, joy, despair, anguish, disappointment, encouragement, love and peace. Some have thought in the past that just because I am a Christian I have all the answers - well I don't. I just know that choosing to follow Jesus is the best decision I ever made and the fire that started to burn bright in me as a five year-old is still burning now, even brighter. But why?<br />
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Well this is my story and I hope it encourages you.<br />
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I was born in in 1975 in Brighton, East Sussex, which is on the south coast of the UK. At that time my mum, dad, sister and brother were living in a three story house in the middle of the town, as it was back then, and my dad's business went through a rough patch and we ended up moving to a place called Scaynes Hill in West Sussex. <br />
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Moving to this part of Sussex seemed a good idea and my earliest memories were that my nan and granddad lived just along the road from us and we had some nice neighbours. I also remember a couple who lived across and they had become good friends with my parents and they had formed a small house church in their living room. I remember being there and sitting on the stairs, looking through the spindles of the staircase as a two year-old watching my parents worship. Everyone always seemed happy.<br />
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Not long after that the church had outgrown this small house and briefly met in Scaynes Hill Village Hall before moving to the bar lounge in a new building called Clair Hall. This was Haywards Heath's new cinema/theatre and it was amazing for everyone involved.<br />
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As this was all happening, my family had moved out of where we were into a very large house in a place called Cuckfield before finally settling in a house in Lindfield which backed onto a very large green.<br />
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I don't remember specific details about all the moves but I was told later in life that getting into this house in Lindfield should never have happened but that God had made a way for it to happen. Looking back now at the circumstances we were in it was indeed a miracle.<br />
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It was during my early years in Lindfield that I had started asking questions about what church was and why we went every Sunday. Growing up watching my parents worshiping had made me realise that there must be something to life that I didn't know, but what was it?<br />
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You might be thinking that I was easily persuaded or that I was forced into this decision. Totally not the case. When you see someone engaging with God in worship there is only one conclusion to draw from this - there must be someone that they are worshiping.<br />
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At the grand age of five I asked my dad if I could become a Christian and he prayed a simple prayer with me which went something like; "Dear Lord Jesus, please come into my life. Thank you for dying for me, I'm sorry for all the wrong things I have done. Amen." And that was it.<br />
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Did a bolt of lightening hit the house or the ground shake? Nope. I just felt happy.<br />
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Something strange did happen though. I did all of a sudden become aware that there wasn't just a God but there was also a devil, too. He was nasty and evil and he made people make bad choices. I became a bit too obsessed with this and ended up getting my parents summoned to school because I kept blaming the devil for things I was doing wrong. It is a funny story but interesting how a five year-old can then have a discernment about what is right and wrong.<br />
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School was hard for me as was always daydreaming but by the time I had reached the age of seven I had decided to get baptised. I made this choice because I had read that this is what Jesus did. If Jesus did this and He was the Son of God then I'd definitely have to! It was also a way of me saying, 'right I'm taking this seriously now'.<br />
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At this moment in time my dad was just going into teaching, which was at the time terrible money but he did it to provide for us. It was such a hard time for everyone. Sometimes we'd buy a Mars Bar as a treat but would have to share it into five because we could only afford one at a time. But in all that financial hardship, we never went without a meal. Never went without clothes. Never had to move. God was sustaining us in ways that I can't even explain here. It was that amazing.<br />
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By now I had made really good friends and one whom I met as a five year-old is still my friend now. But there was one who was my closest friend, Tim. We were inseparable. Throughout junior school and senior school we had such a great friendship and would often sit in his or my room chatting and sharing our lives and it was such a happy time. <br />
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As we grew up together the youth group of our church had started to go to things called bible-weeks, where thousands of Christians from all over the country would get together to worship and hear preaching. We weren't really interested in the God stuff as there was loads of Christian girls there! Funny and unfortunately true. <br />
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But while this was going on my dad's business which he had started in Brighton was struggling and towards the end of my school years I'd effectively given up on education. I was only good at writing and hated all the other subjects. I decided there and then that I wanted to be a journalist and write about cars. <br />
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As well as not doing well at school, I had also started to grow a bit cold with the whole church thing and wanted to 'have a life' as I used to think. I don't know the reasons for growing cold but as a teenager on the verge of college I guess I wanted to drink and smoke and party like all my other friends. I had started to think that being a Christian was a pretty lonely existence.<br />
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This was now 1992. I had started to teach myself bass guitar and I had found a media course in Brighton but it wasn't due to start until the following year so I had a chance to retake some GCSEs and move to Brighton with my parents as I was the last one left at home. It was then that I became a member of a church called Clarendon which had loads of young cool people in. I missed my friend Tim but we kept in touch as best we could.<br />
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As soon as I started going to this church there was something in me that was desperate to know God in a personal way. I knew all the Sunday school stuff but this was different. This was about me knowing who He really was. I began to encounter the Holy Spirit in ways I hadn't done before and once you have one hit from Him you just want it again and again. And it was during this year I got mugged.<br />
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I was walking across Brighton to get to college and for some reason a man chased me across a road and hit me in the face about five or six times before someone scared him off. I didn't react, I just stood there with my hands in my pockets. My gums were bleeding everywhere and I walked to the Police Station where I did some ID stuff but went home not quite knowing what had happened. It put such a fear of men in me that even now I will react with a chilling coldness to violence.<br />
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It was the next morning, however, that I experienced God's first miracle in my own life. I looked in the mirror and my gums were still bleeding and I had bruising to my face but I knew I needed to pray and forgive this person for what he'd done. So I sat on my bed and said; "Lord, I don't know why I'm praying for this man, I don't even like him and hate him for what he did. But You love him. I pray that you forgive him for what he did to me and that you take away my pain. Amen."<br />
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When I walked passed the mirror on my way out of my room I glanced at my reflection and noticed the bruise had gone from my face. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I realised God had taken away my pain. So I check my gums - ALL TOTALLY HEALED.<br />
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It was such a revelation to me about the love of this great big God that I served. He did love me. He did take away people's pain and He really did want the best for me.<br />
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From that moment my faith grew and grew and I felt that life was now all ok and I even finished my National Diploma in Media with a distinction. I was on top of the world.<br />
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As well as this I had joined a team to go on outreach in America and had got into the musicians at church. I was playing bass with world renowned worship leaders on a regular basis. I was going to meetings where people were getting healed from all sorts of physical ailments and others were being set free from addictions. There was a huge wave of God's power sweeping across the country and God had given me new spiritual gifts like tongues and prophecy.<br />
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And then BANG.<br />
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My friend Tim had got meningitis and died a week later. At the time of his death he was 19 and had been made captain of his university's lacrosse team. He was in the prime of his life and loved Jesus. What the heck was all this about???<br />
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I was so angry at God. Not for taking Tim but because I could not understand why God didn't just heal Tim so that the glory of a miracle could be told to everyone I knew. But in my heart I knew I could not question God over this because He is always just, even when we don't understand it. It was a horrible, horrible time.<br />
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I got a job as a journalist working on car magazines and it was amazing. I did this for eight years but was still struggling to understand what had happened to Tim. I started drinking, meeting the wrong girls and getting involved with the wrong groups of people. In 2002 I was working for a magazine and was horribly in debt, I was drinking in excess of five pints a night, maybe 10 on a Saturday and Sunday and was now heavily into pornography. My life was out of control.<br />
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But. In the midst of all this. I could still hear the distant voice of God saying my name. ADAM. ADAM. ADAM. I knew that in spite of ALL my running God still loved me. It was time to get away from where I was an back to Brighton.<br />
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I didn't quite make it to Brighton straight away and ended up living in London for a while which was fun but I was still drinking every day and it all came to a head one night when I vomited a huge amount of blood. Enough was enough. Time to call my parents.<br />
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So in the January of 2003 I moved back to Brighton and as much as I wanted to go to church I thought I was too dirty and headed to the pub that backed on to my old church so I knew I'd at least see some familiar faces afterwards. I did but there was one face I'll never forget.<br />
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When I saw my wife for the first time, I recognised her but couldn't put my finger on why. I gave up trying to catch her eye and sat with an old homeless guy to play cards. It was then that this mysterious girl walked up and sat down in front of me and started chatting. I couldn't believe my luck.<br />
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A year and a half later we were married and it was, since giving my life to Christ, the best thing to happen to me. In marrying I also gained a daughter and a year later we had a son. As well as this God was now starting to point to areas in my life that needed sorting out. Everything was starting to come together.<br />
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As well as this I had heard a call of God to lay down writing and to go into the family trade of carpentry. This was huge for me. I had carved out a very successful career as a journalist and was being flown about all over Europe to test all sorts of new cars. Now God was asking me to lay it down?? It was horrible and I didn't know what to say but when I was praying I asked God why I should lay down everything to become a carpenter. The answer from God was simple: "Adam, my Son was a carpenter!" Oh, yeah, stupid me. In that one moment I knew that God was referring to Jesus who laid down all His majesty to work as a carpenter and then die for me. <br />
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I then looked back on my life and realised that I was like the prodigal son in the bible that Jesus spoke of. I had tried to run away and spent my money on anything I could but ended up with nothing. I then came home to find that God hadn't shunned me, but He welcomed me back into His massive arms and was also wanting me to have the best life I could ever have. It was just the most amazing feeling.<br />
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In all of the despair of losing a close friend, being out of control and lost without hope, God was holding me up throughout all of it. I just never knew it at the time.<br />
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Step by step, through God's amazing strength I was now being restored to the person I was just before my friend died and it felt so good. God had dealt with my past and was now working on me as a person for the future.<br />
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Now I am still enjoying God's love but in measures I have never experienced. Throughout my marriage to my wife we have both been maturing in our spiritual gifts but in this last two years it's felt like God has been shifting us at warp speed into a new and exciting season. We have both been so blessed with financial provision it's hard to know how to express our love to Him but we are trying.<br />
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At this time we are seeing people healed on the streets, people being set free from all sorts of illnesses including cancer. We're seeing our church grow faster than at any time I can remember. Our spiritual gifts are now at such an exciting level that we are being used more and more by God to speak into people's lives through the gift of prophecy. I am so thankful that God never took His eyes off me for a second. If He had of done, I certainly wouldn't be writing this blog.<br />
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But what has been the remedy? Why do I believe in God with such assurance? It all comes down to the spiritual foundations set in place back in the late 1970's by my parents. It is a result of constant unwavering love from them and the power of my mum's prayers for me when I was in a bad place that has kept me here. I have no doubt about that. <br />
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It is also down to men and women who have and are still speaking into my life nuggets of God given wisdom on a weekly basis. But ultimately it is down to one constant. One who never changes. One who has always interceded on my behalf. One who never holds anything against me. One who has never stopped loving me. His name is JESUS.<br />
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Jesus has transformed my life so much that I am unrecognisable to myself and to my friends and sometimes even to my wife.<br />
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So this is my very brief story. I hope it has encouraged you and that if you don't know Jesus, you will pray the same prayer I did as a five year-old.<br />
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You will never look back. I promise.<br />
Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-73745765526336653092012-05-31T08:50:00.001-07:002012-05-31T08:50:46.162-07:00Power hourAs a Christian I find it so encouraging to my faith when we act in obedience to the promptings of His voice and He delivers treasure because of our willingness to do His will.<br />
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A great example of this was today in Haywards Heath where myself and my friends Jenny, Gemma and Graham ventured out onto the streets for our weekly 'treasure hunt'. I had to admit to the group that I'd arrived feeling a bit stressed but the moment we prayed that feeling left and we were left with small descriptions of people we should pray for. <br />
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Jenny had already come expectant as God had put someone on her heart to pray for a certain situation but this person was unfortunately working behind a coffee shop counter. However, I felt that Jenny should write down the her prayer and give it to the girl for her to read - surely it would have the same effect.<br />
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While Jenny and Gemma spoke to their 'treasure' Graham and I set off into town to look for ours. All I had in my head was 'a man with a broken arm' and Graham had 'a woman in a white top and blue trousers with a walking stick'. Within two minutes we saw two ladies matching this description but to be appropriate we didn't approach them and hoped that our moment hadn't passed. <br />
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Graham and I looked for our guy with the broken arm and pretty soon he appeared from nowhere. It was amazing. God gives a little clue but makes it blindingly obvious as to what the clue is leading to. Love this about God - mysterious yet undoubtable. We didn't even get close to the guy before Gemma and Jenny literally ran to him and asked if they could pray for him. He said yes and was really interested to listen to what they had to say.<br />
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Not long after this Graham and I met a guy who had crutches and we approached him to ask if there was anything we could pray for. He said he'd just come out of hospital after a long illness and would love some prayer. He also said he had a 'sort of belief' and had been searching for the right church. We were able to pray and ask God to bless him and later invited him to our church. It was only after we finished we realised his son had been watching all of this. Praise God.<br />
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Then, finally, just as we were leaving town a lady with a white top, blue trousers and a walking stick walked passed. Once again the girls were onto it and asked the lady if they could pray for her. Her response was 'well if your Jesus can help with this pain then yes, I'm totally up for it.' It turned out that this lady recently had hip replacements and was really grateful for Gemma and Jenny being courageous in their faith. Jenny laid hand on her left hip and they both prayed. At this moment, I looked at Graham and said; "this is Kingdom stuff going on here, LOVE IT!"<br />
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So all this happened in the space of 45 minutes. Three sick people prayed for and one person blessed, all because God LOVES to use His people to do His will. This is why I love being a Christian. GOD IS LOVE!!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-28901446598067322312012-05-24T14:45:00.000-07:002012-05-24T14:45:24.271-07:00Prayer is rising!Before I get into this blog about prayer I think it's important to be completely honest; I don't pray nearly as much as I need or should do. Prayer is first and foremost an honour and a privilege. To know that I am even allowed to have access to God's throne-room and tell Him all the stuff I want is pretty mindblowing and I know full well that I take this for granted on a daily basis. I <i>should</i> pray more. I <i>need</i> to pray more. I <i>want</i> to pray more.<br />
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My prayer life has in the past and in recent months become a long list of requests - almost a shopping list of things that I'd like to see happen and some of the time I haven't even thought whether these things I ask are part of God's plan for me in the first place. It also becomes a bit of a one way conversation, too. I do ALL the talking and then leave the room before He has had a chance to tell me all that He wants me to hear. Anyone else relate to this?<br />
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Also, I have never challenged myself on the issue of my own prayer life, either. It's not often I sit there and analyze how I pray and what I'm getting from it. So why write a blog about prayer when I am clearly not happy with my own prayer life?<br />
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This Tuesday (22nd May, 2012) I went to a worship evening and one of the speakers said that sometimes it's good to just pray and thank God for things when everything is going well and to just worship Him for those things. Although this might seem an obvious statement it was like a bullet out of the blue for me. So I asked God to tell me how I should pray and <i>this</i> is the reason for this blog. I feel that God wants to use me to give a bit of insight into what it's like for Him when we come to Him with thanks giving in our hearts (Psalm 100 v 4). <br />
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God told me on Tuesday night that He LOVES it when I come to Him with a thankful heart and that I don't actually need to give Him a list of requests because He already knows exactly what I need! He also said that because He is a loving Father, why would He not give me the desires of my heart if they are pleasing to Him in the first place? He said He just loves it when I sit with Him and tell Him how much I love Him.<br />
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It then occurred to me - what if when I pray I ONLY thank Him for things past, present and future? In other words a sample prayer would be like this: "Father thank you for saving me, thank you for my family, thank you for my church, thank you for blessing me this morning with new breath, thank you for all you are going to do today and thank you for what you are about to do with my future because I know you have it sorted for me." Before, my prayer would have been 'thank you for today, I ask that you would do this, that and the other'. <br />
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So that same Tuesday night I began to pray with this new frame of mind. Firstly it was amazing. I couldn't believe that the more I thanked Him for, the more I had to be thankful for - the list just grew and grew as my heart was instantly filled with excitement at just worshiping my God who's given me everything. I also found that every time my head wanted to ask something of God, my heart was saying 'thank Him for it as if it's already happened'. So not only was I worshiping, I was also praying prophetically. It was something I have not experienced as a Christian in 30 years.<br />
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So now it's like there's this whole new side to prayer I never knew existed and it's like pure worship and adoration to the King. I believe that this type of praying isn't just for the quiet times either. Imagine a prayer meeting where everyone who prays offers thanks for things that have been done and are yet to be done? Imagine hearing the praise from the lips of His people - we all have things to thank God for that are unique to us.<br />
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But get this. This is not all God said about prayer. He also said I don't allow Him time to talk to me! God said that in the same way I tell Him that I am thankful, He also wants to say to me how much I mean to Him. He says that He wants to tell me every day how much He loves me, in the same way I tell my children how much I love them. God says that this prayer life I lead now needs to be a two way conversation. I am SO up for that!<br />
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So. How's your prayer life? When did you last spend time before the Father thanking Him for all the things He's done for you and then allowing Him to tell you how much you mean to Him? Like I said, I thought in my long Christian life I knew how to pray and that I needed to ask Him stuff all the time. But I didn't. Sometimes God just wanted me before Him. He knows my needs - He has them covered. Thank you Lord for loving me in this amazing way!Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3486370054507808147.post-47721812325357314192012-05-17T14:26:00.001-07:002012-05-18T01:13:31.150-07:00'On Earth as it is in Heaven'In Matthew 6 verses 9 to 13 Jesus told His disciples how they should pray and it went something like this:<br />
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<i>Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. <br />
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. <br />
Give us this day our daily bread. <br />
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. <br />
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.<br />
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.</i><br />
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For me as a young Christian the Lord's prayer was meaningless and I remember it being said in school assemblies or funerals but I had no idea of its powerful message to us as Christians and also the relevance it has is today's society. Back in the days of Jesus, this kind of prayer would have been revolutionary as many people would not have felt comfortable being so personal with a God so revered and to call Him Father would've seemed extremely personal. However, when you look at it in more detail and consider each part of it, a rise of faith begins to stir and you realise that these simple sentences are actually the key to life and could change the world around us.<br />
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This prayer tells us how to address God, accept His awesome Holyness, ask for His Kingdom to be displayed on Earth, ask for His provision, forgive sins and how to love our neighbours, to be pure, to turn from the enemy and declare that the Earth is God's and will be forevermore. This is an incredible prayer and should in no way be brushed under the carpet in the way I used to.<br />
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But it's verse 10 in this passage which has been really stirring me, recently; <i>Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven</i>. What's Jesus saying here? It seems to me that He is asking us to believe that the very power of God in Heaven can be displayed right here on earth, right now. Have you seen Heaven being displayed on Earth recently? Surely if Jesus is asking us to pray this then we should expect great things from Him, here and now.<br />
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In my church in Mid Sussex there seems to be a growing hunger to know our God in a new way. Not just in terms of receiving more blessings, which is all good, but in terms of actually expecting God to move in our meetings in ways we're not used to. People are desperate for God to use His Spirit in a whole new way and our times with Him on Sundays have been nothing short of exceptional.<br />
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That's all well and good within the confines of a church building and for those experiencing it but what about the rest of society on the outside? This blessing isn't just for the converted, it can be for everyone who wishes to accept it.<br />
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Jesus is very clear in this prayer. He doesn't say; 'in churches as it is in Heaven' - He says; 'on EARTH as it is in Heaven'. In other words, the very glory of Heaven needs to be poured out onto a dry and barren land in order to see His message reach all those who've never heard it before. This is our great commission - to boldly go where no man has... you get the message, right?<br />
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Now, two years ago, I wouldn't have labeled myself as an evangelist or someone who would go in search of the lost and tell them they need to sort their lives out as they'll meet a grizzly end if they don't. No. I was very much a 'I'm alright, Jack' kinda Christian and was comfortable with that. However, God doesn't <i>do</i> comfortable Christianity. In fact I would go as far as to say there's no such thing. Being a Christian takes a huge amount of faith and every day is a huge adventure. It has stretched me more than anything else I know. But I also know this: God loves those who don't love Him just as much as He loves those who do. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?<br />
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Now I see things a little differently than I did two years ago. If you are from the Mid Sussex area and have walked through a sleepy commuter's town called Haywards Heath on a Thursday lunchtime, you may have seen three people walking about trying to talk to people about the wonder-working power of our Creator God who lives and breathes and is ready to revive and heal people right there on the spot. Yes, I said heal. God is in the healing business in a massive way. <br />
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To give a little background, I felt back in November that God was wanting to bring His amazing message of salvation to the streets by using myself and my friend Gemma who also has the same desire to see His Kingdom on Earth. These days there are three of us, myself, Gemma and Jenny, going about the town every Thursday lunchtime praying and asking God to give us descriptions of people God would like us to bless or pray for (this style of evangelism is called Treasure Hunting). It has sometimes been very hard, but other times amazing like today.<br />
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Sometimes God is so amazing in His working out of a situation that I'm regularly left speechless by it. Today all I felt God say when I was on my way to pick Gemma up was; "A man in a blue jumper." We didn't know how this was going to happen but God did so we asked Him to show us who it was once we were three together in Haywards Heath. Within seconds we saw a guy on the other side of the road with another guy walking along and one of them was wearing a bright blue jumper. We trusted God that if this was our man then he'd cross over the road with his friend. And he did.<br />
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Seizing our opportunity Jenny and I approached our 'blue-jumpered treasure' while Gemma hung back and prayed for us to be used in this situation. I said: "Excuse me, mate, would you say your jumper was blue?" "Yes, I would," he replied with a slightly puzzled look. So I then explained that God had spoken to me earlier about a guy in a blue jumper and seeing as though he was the only person wearing a blue jumper, then it must be him who God was talking about. Looking at me with a smile, he just said; "I suppose I must be." Classic.<br />
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So we were then able to give brief testimony's about how amazing God is and give him words that God was speaking right there and then about how much God loved him and wanted the very best for him. All in all we spoke for about 10 minutes and were then able to pray with him. In case you're wondering about his friend, he was receiving some words of encouragement, too, from Gemma. These two guys were totally blown away by the fact that God was actually speaking directly to them and in that moment, Heaven had indeed come to Earth.<br />
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Not long after this, Jenny had a very strong feeling that God wanted us to cross the road and that He was going to give us someone else. Not long after we crossed the road, sure enough there was a guy that God immediately pointed out to Jenny and told her to tell Him what God thought of him and that he was so valuable to Him. This man immediately laughed and said that he knew God was on his case because He'd provided him with a new liver about four months ago and kept wondering if someone was keeping him alive! You see, God knows everything about everyone. What does He know about you?<br />
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In these two small encounters God met and astounded three people who were just going about their daily business and hopefully their lives will one day belong to the God who so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son Jesus Christ for. <br />
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So next time you read or pray out the Lord's Prayer really allow the words to resonate in your spirit and ask God what it is that you can do in order to fulfill His desire to see His Kingdom come on Earth. It may not be by approaching strangers on the street but it could be in other ways like randomly blessing someone with a meal or gift. It is so rewarding and if this blessing culture grows fast enough, it could very well change not just an area of Mid Sussex but a whole country. Now wouldn't that be something?Adam Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16742986854793342605noreply@blogger.com1