On most occasions my wife and I have been happy to help and have seen it as a way of putting our faith into action. Some help was one of and others lasted several years and the people actually became friends.

On some occasions though we have felt that the right thing to do was to refer them on to other people that can help them better. We had one of these times recently when someone knocked on our front door asking for food for their family.

My wife answered a knock on the door and the peson told their story and need for help. I was in our study, but I could hear the conversation. As I worked on my computer I felt God saying to me “refer them to the church”.

It made me pause and think. I prayed and I knew it was something God wanted me to do. I then wrote the local ministers name and number on a peice of paper. I explained they have the services that would help them in their situation. They thanked us and went on their way.

Over the next few weeks the person made contact with the local church and started to receive spiritual help and food supplies. They were also able to be put in contact with local government agencies in town that helped too. It was a really good outcome.

This experience reminded me that as Christians we need to help and support those who come to us, but there are times when the best option is to refer them on to other services that will be more effective long term.

As with all things we do as Christians, the key is to be open to God’s promptings as we are helping people. It is when we do this that we know if helping ourselves or referring people on to other services is the right option to take.

God Bless,

Dave

Sometimes we know exactly what to pray. The Holy Spirit may have prompted us or we might really understand the situation or need of the person. So we pray accordingly.

However there are other times when we have no idea how to pray and we are not sure what God’s will is in the situation. After all the Bible says if we pray in line with God’s will, He will hear and answer our prayers (1 John 5:14-15).

As I have reflected on this issue the words “pray with compassion” keep coming to mind. I was then reminded of the compassion that Jesus showed during His public ministry.

On numerous occasions Jesus showed compassion towards others. We see His compassion to the people without a shepherd (Mark 6:34), to the sick (Matthew 14:14), to the hungry (Mark 8:32) and to grieving widows (Luke 7:13). Jesus modelled compassion to us all.

So now when I pray and I am not sure how to pray in the situation, I simply pray out of compassion. I ask God to bless the person, to give them His comfort and peace, to provide for their needs and to give them wisdom for their situation.

Most importantly though, I pray that God’s will will happen in their lives. That is the most compassionate way I can pray, as God’s will is the best outcome anyone can experience.

God Bless,

Dave

At work today someone really thanked me for something I got for them. They told me how much of a difference it will make to the people using them.

It was nice to have someone really appreciate something I had done for them and their clients.

It made me wonder how many people do things for me that I take for granted? I wonder if there is anyone I can say thanks to and I appreciate what you have done for me?

How about you? Is there anyone you could say a heartfelt thanks to today? It might just make their day!

God Bless,

Dave

Graham looked at the examples of Saul and David and their response to when a prophet came and told them they were in sin. Saul’s story can be found in 1 Samuel 15 and David’s in 2 Samuel 12.

David responded with a wonderful prayer of confession that is found in Psalm 51. Verse 4 sums it up perfectly when it says, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge”.

If we contrast this to Saul’s reply. “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”

David’s response was purely about confession before God and getting right with God. Saul’s words were about confessing, but they seemed to be tied to his reputation before the Elders and people of Israel.

I guess the thing that has been rolling around inside me is the man I would prefer to be. I would prefer to be the one who was more interested in getting right with God when I sin, rather than having more concern for the peoples opinion or my reputation.

I really enjoyed RealMen’s and this was one of the key moments that spoke to me.

God Bless,

Dave

Just a reminder that we are on Facebook. We include ministry updates, links to resources, blog posts and encouraging Scriptures for you to reflect on. You can find our Facebook page here.

God Bless,

Dave

Mark 1:35 is a good example of this. It seems that Jesus made a connection with His Father during His prayer time. It seems that He also received guidance because He said they needed to go off and preach in other towns.

As I have shared before I am someone who tries to start each day in prayer. I have my Bible and a prayer journal to record my prayer needs and my prayer for others and any Bible reflections I have. At the moment I am doing this in a free program called idailydiary.

Today as I finished doing this I was reminded that how by starting my day with Jesus in this way helps me to centre my day on Him. Instead of starting to think about work, my problems or things I need to do, I could start with Jesus in my mind. It is a much better way to start the day.

If you don’t do this I would encourage you to do so. From my perspective it helps me to leave the house with Jesus on my mind and I leave with a totally different focus.

God Bless,
Dave

I didn’t actually take notes this time as I wanted to let the conference as a whole wash over me. I figured I could always get the CDs if one speaker really spoke something that stood out.

Anyway here’s some random thoughts…

• It was good to get some time to get away and be filled up and encouraged. It was almost like a pilgrimage for me as I had to drive 300km to get there.
• I really liked that one of the main themes of the conference seemed to be all about loving God and loving your family and that being a real man is about being there for your family.
• TAWG – Graham Maybury used that acronym for Time Alone With God. Never heard that before, but it reinforced to me that all we do as Christian men should flow from this personal time alone with God.
• John Finkelde mentioned that some men might have pushed the pause button on some things God may have asked us to do. He said it was time to un-press the pause and hit play again. This caused me to reflect on some of the things God has asked me to do and ask if it is now time.
• The opening on the Friday night was brilliant. Big screens, lasers, smoke, awesome guitar with sparks flying out, flames flying out of the stage. I was pumped and ready to go by that. We don’t get that in country churches!
• Another theme that seemed to come through was jumping off the busyness treadmill. Working less at work and doing less things we are not called to do makes a lot of sense.
• I also got to sit with one of my great spiritual buddies I haven’t seen in person for three years. As soon as we saw each other we just clicked back into where we left off.
• The worship was great. Loved singing with hundreds of other men. Whoever thinks men don’t like to sing and worship should go to a RealMen conference!
• Also got to meet one of my blogging buddies quickly in person. We had emailed, Facebook’d, Twitter’d in the past but never met in person. Missed out on meeting one of the other blogging buddies…hopefully next time.

There were lots of other great things including lots of Scripture and teaching, but these things are some general reflections I have had since coming home. The main thing was the encouragement to keep doing what I am doing in my relationship God, with my family and in the world I find myself in.

God Bless,

Dave

But what is ambition and is it good or bad to be ambitious? Dictionary.com says that ambition is “an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment”.

As you can see from the above definition ambition is about having a goal or dream and striving to attain it. It doesn’t take much to see that there can be good and bad ambitions. Ambition can be either both positive or negative depending on how it is worked out.

When I did a Bible search on the word ambition I found six main references in the NIV. Two were what I would consider positive (Romans 15:20, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12) and four were negative and were talking about selfish ambition that is self seeking (Galatians 5:20, Philippians 1:17, Philippians 2:3, James 3:14-16).

One positive reference for ambiton is found in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. Romans 15:20 says, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation”. Preaching the Gospel and bringing people to Christ is very positive and something worth aspiring too.

The second positive reference is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. It says, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody”. Paul encourages the believers to be ambitous to live a good life in front of non believers.

I think the key for me is that ambition needs to be focussed for good and be God focussed. I have never been ambitious to have the biggest house, earn the most money or have the most “toys”. But I am ambitious to be the best husband and father I can be, have a close walk with God and see people become lifelong followers of Jesus.

How about you? Are you ambitious? Are your ambitions God focussed and for the good of others? I think this is worth reflecting on today.

God Bless,

Dave

Jesus said these words at the end of a section the NIV titles “Sings of the End of the Age”. He talks about things happening before He returns.

He talks about things like wars and rumours of wars, people falling away from faith, Christians being deceived, people claiming to be Christ and more.

In other places the Bible also tells us that our world is going to be destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:7-13) and a new heaven and earth will replace it (Revelation 21:1).

The thing I find interesting in this verse is the thought that even though this world will pass away, Christ’s words ARE eternal! They are forever words!

I find it comforting to know that even thought Jesus spoke them 2000 years ago…He backs them up eternally.

God Bless,

Dave

I have set up a FriendFeed account recently. If you would like to connect with me that way, you can find me here http://friendfeed.com/passionoz.

I am also on Twitter and Facebook too!

God Bless,

Dave