The PASSION Blog

The last few days I have had the old Hillsong song “Just let me say” rattling around inside me. It got to the point where I had to put it on this morning and sing through it a few times.

I usually make my connection with God through prayer and sitting in His presence. But sometimes only worship will do. There is something awesome about worship that helps you to connect with the Creator and bring heaven to earth. Today “Just let me say” did that for me.

If you are not sure of the words for the song they are below. They express my heart to God today…

Just let me say how much I love You
Let me speak of Your mercy and grace
Just let me live in a shadow of Your beauty
Let me see You face to face

And the earth will shake as Your Word goes forth
And the heavens will tremble and fall
But let me say how much I love You
Oh my Savior, my Lord and Friend

Just let me hear Your finest whispers
As You gently call my name
And let me see Your power and Your glory
Let me feel Your spirit’s flame

Let me find You in the desert
Till this sand is holy ground
And I am found completely surrendered
To You my Lord and Friend

So let me say how much I love You
With all my heart I long for You
For I am caught in this passion of knowing
This endless love I’ve found in You

And the depth of grace, the forgiveness found
To be called a child of God
Just makes me say how much I love You
Oh my Savior, my Lord and Friend (x2)

Just makes me say how much I love You
Oh my Savior, my Lord and Friend

It is a strange feeling almost having completed the year at Tabor Bible College. I have been wanting to do Bible College since back in the early 90s. Originally I started at Perth Bible College in 1994, but due to a lot of stuff going on at the time I didn’t get to finish it.

Shortly after my first go at Bible College I met Larissa, we got married and our kids came along. I got busy with work, family and PASSION and never really got to go back to it. In the meantime I did plenty of short courses on places like ChristianCourses.com and several at other colleges, but still had the yearning to complete at least one year of full time college.

So as it turned out this year was the year. Things seemed to fall into place. We moved to the country, we were in a good place financially and I had the freedom to finally go and do it. A friend from church recommended Tabor as they had been there. I found they offered external studies, so that was the place. I had the feeling if I didn’t do it now, then it would probably never happen. So I jumped in.

Now I am almost done I feel like I have ticked off one of the boxes in my life goals. I never thought it would be at the age of 41, as a mature aged student, while living in the country, doing it externally, after 19 years of being a Christian! Just goes to show that things rarely work out as we imagine?

So what is next? I am still deciding what I will do next year. However, at this stage it looks like I will switch back to part time and do one unit at a time. I like the idea of studying and continuing to grow, but doing five or six units per semester is a pretty tough workload. Especially when it is combined with homeschooling our kids, ministry and life in general.

A question someone asked the other day is, “What will I use my ministry studies for?” My best answer to that is life. I am not sure if I will go into full time ministry again or not, but I will use what I have learned to bless others in whatever situation I find myself in. If that is in the church, the workplace, through PASSION, through the homeschooling community or whatever. I am just open to God to use me to bless others and to reach people for Christ and to help them become lifelong followers of Him.

To be honest, not knowing what the future holds after studying is quite exciting. God could call me to do absolutely anything. The canvas is completely new and completely blank. It’s a great place to be

One of my favourite passages of Scritpure comes from Psalms 1:1-3. It says…

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

When you look at this passage you find five things that give you advice on how to be successful in life. It shows you some things you should do and some things you should avoid.

Here they are…

1. Don’t listen to or take advice from bad people.
2. Don’t hang around with people you know are doing the wrong thing.
3. Don’t join in with people mocking or running down others.
4. Take delight in God’s Word.
5. Meditate on the content of God’s Word day and night.

The result of this…

God promises a properous life that yields fruit at the right time and you prosper in whatever you do.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds good to me!

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I found this one yesterday and I thought I would share it…

A couple had been married for fifty years. “Things have really changed,” she said. “You used to sit so close to me.”

“Well, I can remedy that,” he said, moving next to her on the couch.

“And you used to hold me tight.”

“How’s that?” he asked as he gave her a hug.

“Do you remember you used to nuzzle my neck and nibble on my ear lobes?”

He jumped to his feet and left the room. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back,” he said. “I’ve got to get my teeth!”

One of the blogs I have started following this year is John Finkelde’s blog. John is senior Pastor of C3 Hepburn Heights.

The thing I like about John’s blog is he does short posts that are interactive and they make you think.

One of my favourite posts that I have gone back to a few times is “More hot tips for parents of teens“. In it John gives some tips for parents at the different stages of development. He says…

Parents of teens need all the help they can get so here’s a few more tips from me.

Keep optimism high - in the midst of teen angst we can get pretty morbid about the present climate at home. Counteract this by nurturing an optimistic outlook. How? Fast forward to your teen’s twenties. Trust me, they will eventually turn for home, loving your company & valuing your advice. Go there in your head now.

Switch out of trainer mode - 0-6 yrs parents are benevolent dictators, 7-12 yrs trainers & then 13+ coaches. When your kids become teens it’s game on! And you have to switch from trainer mode, controlling everything, to coach mode, releasing them into the larger world bit by bit. Don’t overprotect. Don’t over comfort. Don’t smother them. Release them.

Pray & often! God can do more than you so lean heavily on him thru these years.

Although my girls are not quite at the teenage years yet, I found this advice very helpful and it has given me something to think about as this time quickly approaches. As they say forewarmed is forearmed!

If you want to check out some of the other posts on John’s blog you can do it here

As a Christian I think it is very important to test prophecies that people might give to you or to your church.

A simple definition of a prophecy is…

Speaking prophetically or bringing a prophetic message is when someone gives a supernatural message that conveys a specific vision of God’s will for his people. It is so they are comforted, encouraged or challenged.

I always try to apply three tests to a prophetic word.

1. Does it line up with God’s Word? - If a prophet tells you to leave your wife and marry someone else you would know it is not consistant with the Bible’s view of marriage.
2. Does it build up and encourage the hearers? - Generally speaking most prophetic words are to build up the church in some way (ie. comforted, encouraged or challenged).
3. Has it come to pass? - This takes time and in some cases a prophetic word might need to be put on the backburner and prayed about before we see anything happen.

When you apply these three tests prayerfully we usually see over time if a prophetic word really is from God or not.

I was just over at ChristianCourses.com and I found they have added another free course. It is called “Getting to know the Bible”. The info says…

Many people are curious about the Bible but may lack an understanding of how the Old and New Testaments fit together. Getting To Know the Bible, our newest Bible Basics FastTrax course, will provide a simple overview of the Bible and show why it has become an enduring and influential book. This study will reveal spiritual insights that speak to our hearts today and provide a foundation for further study in the Bible.

I thought I would pass it on as it would be good for those who have never really read or studied the Bible. You can visit ChristianCourses.com by clicking here

One of the things that I find interesting about blogging is that you can make friends with people even though you have never met them face to face. This happens as you interact by reading and commenting on each others blogs over a period of time.

Several years ago I would not have thought this possible, but I have slowly come around. My wife has made a number of close friends over the years on blogs and forums and then in time via emails and phone. They have shared lives and supported and encouraged each other. A couple of them she has met up with and became great friends face to face too. Personally I have found that recently I have made some blogging buddies that I am sure I would be friends with if we lived closer to each other.

So can you make friends by blogging? I think you can. Obviously it is not the same as face to face and spending time in each others homes. But in a world where people are becoming more and more isolated from each other I think we need to take advantage of technology to make and maintain connections with others. It is just so vital for our mental, emotional and spiritual health that we do.

Hi all,

Just a quick note to say that I have updated my theme on my blog. As they say a change is as good as a holiday! Let me know if you like it?

This theme has comments enabled too, so feel free to comment on any of my posts. Just remember to keep them positive!

God Bless,

Dave

On Sunday nights I have been watching some of the old Billy Graham crusades on the Australian Christian Channel. It has been great to see these events and the responses of the people.

He is in some of the largest stadiums in the world and they are packed with people. When the people come forward in response to an alter call it gets me every time and I end up in tears. For me there are not too many things more special than when someone comes to Christ.

When you see that moment when the penny drops and people understand that Jesus died for their sin to purchase their salvation, it is awesome. When you are there with them, it is even better.

As my wife always says when we see people respond to an alter call, “There’s a party going on in heaven for each of those people right now”. It is so true. All of heaven rejoices at just one person coming to Jesus.