Are You Feeling Ripped Off?

Have you tried to get it right, do the correct thing, endeavoured to work hard and still find all is not going the way you dreamed?

After running up and into a number of blind alleys/brick walls I can relate to that. You can become a little bit discouraged.

However, if we picture the scenario for people in the time of 'John 14' - living in your homeland under the rule of a cruel enemy where you might walk outside and see Uncle Harry nailed to a cross on the side of the road or Auntie Enid fed to the lions. Surrounded by this atmosphere Jesus spoke the words in 'John 14:1,& :27 "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" you might say;

ARE YOU FOR REAL!? His answer to us is...

"My peace I leave with you"

I know we are facing our own giants of financial ruin; unsure futures etc. Yet in 'Matthew 6' He tells us again "Do not worry" about that because you are in My hands. What you wear - eat - where you go in the future is under My jurisdiction. If you want it to be?

Sadly though He shares in -

Matthew 24:12 (NKJV)

"12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."

Further to that He said in Luke 18:8 "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

Our lot in life may or may not improve in these troubled times - BUT - Please don't give up? Remember Sir Winston Churchill "We shall never surrender" - We are in a battle for our very existence.



The World Needs Our Footprints - Love Jen

Where Did You Come From?

This passage of scripture written by King David is a humble recognition of his origin. A great reminder of ours. It informs us that if we seek God for His intention for our life He is more than willing to be the author of our biography.


Psalm 139 (NKJV)

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!

or another translation puts the same message this way .....

Psalm 139:13-17 (New Living Translation)

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!

More evidence of God's desire to have a hand in our future is in the following passage where God calls a young man called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nation.

Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NKJV)

4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
5 “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

It seems clear then, our Lord has a purpose for our lives that is set out even before we are born.

What has He prepared for you to do?


I know the World Needs Your Footprints - Love Jen

Do You Want Something?

It says in the word 'ask and you will receive' but it's not just like a kid in a candy shop is it?

Looking at the Lord's Prayer from another light I would like to start in Luke 18.
I know it's not there is it? However a good key to it is, right in verse 1 -"men ought to pray and not lose heart".

The chapter proceeds with the woman who nagged the Judge. Then the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, where in verse 11 it says "The Pharisee stood and prayed like this with HIMSELF 'God I thank you that I am not like other men'"
It would seem our attitude has something to do with the ratio of answers to petitions don't you think?

Who are we asking to answer us?

Matthew 6:8b-15 (New King James Version)

8b For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, POSITION
Hallowed be Your name. PRAISE
10 Your kingdom come. PRESENCE
Your will be done PRIORITY
On earth as it is in heaven. PLAN
11 Give us this day our daily bread. PROVISION
12 And forgive us our debts, PARDON
As we forgive our debtors. PEACE
13 And do not lead us into temptation, PREVENTION
But deliver us from the evil one. PROTECTION
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.POSSESSION

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

So like it says in one of those Indiana Jones movies "The PENITENT man will pass"

Oh! I know this is all much easier said than done - it is a daily battle for us all, would you agree?


Nevertheless The World Needs our Footprints - Love Jen

What are you doing with that?

The parable of the Talents (Mat 25:14-29) that Jesus taught, referred to money but it just so happens that the word in English refers to something else which is helpful for us and enables us to look at this parable in a double light.

As the principle holds true in both aspects – if you have it and don't use it – you waste it.

So it sends us a challenge to pause and think about, Are we using the talent He has given us?

God also says in His word that “Every perfect gift is from above” so when I see something beautiful like a Ballerina or a clever Physicist I think of that verse implying the talents He has offered.

It is said in a marriage ceremony “the 2 shall become 1 flesh” and I have preached to leadership couples in churches in many places where men have their wives and children sitting three rows behind them, that looking at this statement through the parable of the Talents, if a man does not give credence to his wife in his ministry he is hiding half of his talent in the ground as she is his other half, meaning half of him is buried, unused, how can God bless that? The same applies to his children as they are the fruit of the marriage. Does that seem reasonable to you? Surely much more can be achieved through partnership?

As I believe the desire of all Christians everywhere is to hear those words written in this parable, “well done good and faithful servant”, when we meet Him face to face. It doesn't hurt to consider what we are doing with the gifts He has supplied us.

What beautiful talents are emerging in our lives? God bless them?

The World Needs our Footprints – Love Jen

What Sort of Greeting is That?

Today I would like to consider Mary and her willingness, obedience to her call.

Like wow! She is being told by an Angel that she will carry God's Son in the flesh in her body. It's an amazing call but it comes with a huge cost and danger to her well being. In that day, to be pregnant and not married was huge. When the Angel entered he said such a strange thing, imagine if he had said that to you? ...

Luke 1: (New King James Version)
28 And having come in, the angel said to her,
“Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Mary's reaction to his strange request of her in Luke 1:30-33 is ….

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.


Elizabeth her cousin is also miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist what an awesome time in history this is. Don't forget though they are under Roman occupation and living through incredible hardships.

Elizabeth just knows that Mary is carrying “The LORD”...

42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

I love reading the first 2 chapters of Luke and seeing the heart of these two women and to remember what was said to to Zachariah, about his coming son John the Baptist, when he met the Angel ….

17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 

That is our call also to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, Jesus told us that in Matthew

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.


Notice Jesus says 'make disciples' not 'make christians'?

So you see – the World Really Does Need Your Footprints – Love Jen

WHY ME??

This blog will contain a few different accounts of the people's reaction to being 'called' by God to be His instrument. I just love God's sense of humour in whom He chooses to GO.

Have you ever felt like the job in front of you is too much for you. Well you are in good company.

Lets start with MOSES from the book of Exodus
"I am slow of speech .. slow of tongue ..I am not eloquent .. why is it You have sent me?
"I am a poor speaker how will Pharaoh listen to me??"

God says... "I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say" "I am the Lord"

Moses is very insecure, when he is asked to face Pharaoh he gets Aaron to speak for him which also turns out to be a huge mistake, hence the Golden Calf episode.

Like us Moses wanted God to fulfill His promise instantly - but - it was a process - and we all "hate" the "process"


now GIDEON ... from the book of Judges chapter 6
"My clan is the weakest in Manasseh" + "I am the least in my father's house"

The Lord ......
"The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valour"
"Go in this might of yours .. have I not sent you"


then JEREMIAH .. from the book of Jeremiah chapter 1
"Look, I cannot speak I am a youth"

The Lord ....
"I formed you, I knew you, I sanctified you, I ordained you, I have put My words in your mouth, I am ready to perform My word. I am with you, to deliver you"

Every task that was required of these men was enormous. Moses was being asked to face the ruler of Egypt and tell him to 'Let My people go' whilst Gideon, to form a very small army and defeat a very large one. Jeremiah, to face his own people and tell them what a gigantic mess they were making of their lives. Each one was making an effort to save his own people.

God has always called people to perform His words and we are not always willing. He has even used people who do not know Him to bring about amazing outcomes.

So when you are feeling the Why Me's remember you are not alone. You could be about to change a nation, if that is what He has called you to do.


The World Needs Our Footprints .. Love Jen

Just Be Real

Blog 3 in the series on my favourites stories in the bible is the Woman at the Well from the Gospel of John chapter 4.

I love the way Jesus meets this woman and transforms her whole life in a few sentences.

The fact that Jesus spoke to her, in the first place, was the first interesting fact because:-

1) She was a woman

2) She was a Samaritan woman

3) She was an outcast

4) She was an immoral woman

Which in those times made her totally UNACCEPTABLE in those times and by Jewish custom, He was totally not supposed to talk to her.

So He ...

1) Met her where she was at,

2) Accepted her by allowing her to draw water for Him,

3) Loved her offering her eternal life,

4) Amazed her telling all she had ever done,

5) Restored her by going to her village and verifying her testimony therefore giving
her back value with her own people.

Jesus our High Priest came dressed in normal clothes and met this outcast woman, with no pomp or circumstance, changing her whole life. This account is a true picture of everything he wants us to be in this world in our dealings with people.

Lord we want this Living Water in us.


The World Needs Your Footprints, Love Jen

How Would You Forgive This?

Now it's time for Jonah - you might say "Jonah has been done to death" and I would agree with you but if you'll bear with me - I don't intend to draw a little picture of Jonah in a whale's belly sitting at a table reading the paper with a lamp on.

If you would like to brush up on Jonah he has his own book in your bible and only 4 small chapters so you should be able to woof that down real quick.

I want to write this blog because I think poor old Jonah has been badly maligned by preachers and teachers everywhere as a disobedient naughty boy who got his comeuppance first in the whale and then in the desert with the dying plant. No one mentions that in the book of Nahum 100 years after Jonah, Nahum pronounces the complete annihilation of Nineveh as they were right back at their old tricks again.

Further to that I would like to say that the Ninevites were a very cruel race. They not only killed but they decimated people and spread their body parts in all sorts of places, flaying them and even making pillars of their heads. And I won't say what they did to the women.

So you see it's kind of like asking the Jewish people to go to Germany and preach forgiveness - no one is going to blame them for having some reservations.

In Jonah 4:1-3 he makes it real clear how he feels about it - I knew you would forgive them - and you wanted me to be the one to tell them, I'm disgusted, I saw families slaughtered - God what do you think You are doing?? And I have to go back and face my people as the bearer of the news of their salvation - I'm disgusted!! I would rather die!! ........ Like be honest who is with Jonah here?

Now I know we have to suck up and get over it - but all I am saying is, it is not that easy and when we read the bible we should not do it from a pious point of view casting judgement on them as if they were wooses. We need to place ourselves in their shoes and really get the gravity of what is being asked of us.


The World Needs our Footprints Lov Jen

Are You Willing?

I have decided to do a series of Blogs on my favourite passages of scripture.

My first account will be on the story from Judges chapters 4 & 5 on the life of Deborah who was a Judge in Israel. Please let me know what you think and add any of your insights. You may need to read through chapters 4 and 5 of the book of Judges to refresh your memory of her.

It would seem that the men had kind of dropped the bundle at this time in Israel's history as it was not their normal custom to be led by a woman. Deborah was also a prophetess which would be handy when working as a Judge as long as you stayed in tune with God.

Deborah goes to battle with the 'Leaders'
Judges 4:9
So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Into the hands of a woman........

Judges 4:21
Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

So note not only do we have Deborah as Judge/Prophetess of Israel we have Jael, Heber's wife killing the leader of the enemy - How would you feel about having to do that?

It appears then that when men and women get together with a heart to serve the Lord in whatever combination of hierarchy God will bless them, if that is what He has asked them to do.

Deborah goes on to say, in chapter 5, who is and is not with them in the battle. The list of distractions include - Cults, Dead Religion, Philosophy, Fear, Materialism and Worldly Pleasure. Things have not changed that much eh?

On the positive side the list is interesting also - Rulers, Recruiters, Leaders, Heroes, Front Line People go into the battle with Deborah.

The two passages of scripture I love out of this account are...

Judges 5:2
“When leaders lead in Israel,
When the people willingly offer themselves,
Bless the LORD!

Judges 5:9
My heart is with the rulers of Israel
Who offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the LORD!

God help us to be those people who willingly offer ourselves.....

The World Needs Your Footprints

Love Jen