Friday, 28 December 2007

Happy New Year!!!

I just wanted to drop a note and wish you all a happy new year. May 2008 be more than what you have wished and hoped for!
I am going to take a break until mid-Jan. See you then!

Let me leave you with a closing thought...

Genesis 32 is the first Biblical record of Jacob praying. In the past I heard this referenced at how 'unspiritual' Jacob really was... a man who sought only after his own well being...
But get this... Genesis 32 ... Jacobs first recorded prayer in the Bible is the 1st recorded prayer in the Bible!!!
Abraham the father of our faith nor Isaac have a recorded prayer!

Isn't it interesting that prayer is only introduced 32 chapters into the book of Genesis.
What are the possible conclusions that we can draw from this?
I'd love to hear your ponderings!

Saturday, 22 December 2007

Authority - Part 2

In the last blog entry we saw that because Judas allowed offense to build in his heart... and he therefore rebelled against the authority in his life... that Satan entered into him. Today I want to look at authority from the other end of the spectrum. Lets start by looking at this great passage:

Mat 8:5-10 ESV
(5) When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,
(6) "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly."
(7) And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."
(8) But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
(9) For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
(10) When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

In this passage we see that there is a link between authority and faith.
Because of the centurions grasp of authority Jesus declares that he has seen no one in Israel with such faith! Mmmmm... rather interesting!

A passage that looks at faith and authority from the negative is this one:

Mat 13:54-58 ESV
(54) and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
(55) Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
(56) And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"
(57) And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."
(58) And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

The people in Jesus' hometown took offense and rejected His authority. Jesus comments on how a prophet (an office of authority) is not honored or respected.
Now get this... Jesus, who is God incarnate... could NOT do many miracles BECAUSE of their unbelief or disregard for authority!

I may be sounding a bit repetitive here... but I REALLY think that we don't get authority!

Have a wee think... then let me know your thoughts about this subject.

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

Authority - Part 1

Joh 13:21-27 ESV
(21) After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
(22) The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
(23) One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus,
(24) so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
(25) So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?"
(26) Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
(27) Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."

I have been pondering this passage a little today...
Just to give some back ground... as you look over the Gospel accounts you will see that 3X Jesus 'reaches out' to Judas, giving him 3 opportunities to turn from his coming betrayal. 3X Judas hardens his heart toward Jesus. Finally... his decision is made ... Judas will betray his Rabbi... the one with authority over him.
At this point, because of his offenses, because he has hardened his heart, because he has rejected Rabbi Jesus' authority... Satan enters into him!

Did you get that... because Judas went against his authority... because he allowed offenses to be built up... Satan entered into Judas!

We really don't understand the significance of authority!


What are your thoughts?

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

Christmas Cheer : )

Its Christmas... so some goofing off is all in order. This is my family and I...
This is a great laugh and a great idea for spreading the love this Christmas : )

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check it out by clicking the link below.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1480562899

This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

Sunday, 16 December 2007

Human Trafficing and Slavery Statistics

This was taken from a blog... just click the title and you'll be taken straight to it.
Also check out my video placed on the right hand side of my blog page...


Now here is an issue that Al Gore and others should be more concerned about then global warming. I am going to list a whole bunch of statistics here but I think they are worth staring at for a while. This is seriously provoking me to the place of intercession for those who truly have no voice in the world today. I would suggest you take a few minuets out of your busy day to read these statistics.

This list does not even begin to scratch the surface. I think after reading a bit about it you will see that Human trafficking is a bit more important then the global warming.

This subject hits pretty close to home for me. As many of you know I spent a year in Africa before coming to IHOP. In Africa one of my many responsibilities was to help lead our weekly ministry to the prostitutes. Twice a week we would take a truck down to the inner city and bring loads of bread and would hold a church service. I became good friends with those girls over that year. It was weird walking down the streets of Maputo and having a group of prostitutes yell your name out as you walked around the corner. Talk about dirty looks from the on lookers! I think they enjoyed talking to us because for once in their lives someone actually cared about them and did not look at them as objects.

Some things still haunt me though to this day from those church services. I remember on a weekly basis sitting in those church services worshiping Jesus with the broken and hurting of the world. When suddenly a white pick up truck or a BMW would pull up around the corner. In the car would be a couple of men and suddenly we would loose two or three of the girls in our church service. What really got to me was seeing the young girls, 12 or 13, leave the church service to go of and do their “job.” On a weekly basis I would wittennes child prostitution first hand. I remember feeling helpless as I sat in the dirt with tears running down my face. Girls who were so innocent at times were having their purity and innocence taking from them on a daily basis. This is the only life they knew. To them it was natural, to them it was what their mothers had done for years before them. This was life for them on a daily basis.

I still to this day remember their faces and pray for them on a daily basis. I pray for the countless of street children whom I became friends with as well over the time I was there. I pray that in the midst of great darkness and hopelessness they would encounter the love of Jesus Christ. I pray that they, the weakest and the most broken of the earth would arise from the ashes and become some of the mightiest men and women to ever walk the face of the earth. I pray that they would walk in such goldiness and such humility that the earth would not be worthy of them.

Ill write more later on this. Its too hard to write more right now. Back to the facts. Read them, dwell on them, let them stir you to intercession, the only answer for these lost children of the world.

Here are the facts, true facts that can not be disputed:

1) The International Labour Organization estimates there are 218 million working children aged between five and 17 (2006)

2) 126 million are estimated to work in the worst forms of child labour — one in every 12 of the world’s five to 17 years olds (2006)

3) 74 million children under 15 are in hazardous work and should be “immediately withdrawn from this work” (2006)

4) 8.4 million children are in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities.

5) There are around 3000 enslaved Albanian children used for begging and cleaning windows and cars without payment in Italy and Greece.

6) An estimated 496,000 children are in slavery in Bangladesh.

7) Over 10-20 million people are subjected to debt bondage largely in India, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Philippines.

8) Of 35 million soccer balls stitched in Pakistan, children produce one quarter of the balls, most of them as bonded servants.

9) Nearly 500,000 minors work in virtual slavery conditions in Senegal.

10) “Restavek” the practice of sending children to serve as unpaid domestic labour for more affluent city dwellers exist in the country of Haiti. UNICEF estimated that 25,000 to 300,000 children, 85% of them girls, are victims of this practice.

11) Information gathered by the British charity, Christian Aid, and reported by Reuters, indicates that up to 10,000 children between ages 6 and 14 are enslaved in brothels in Sri Lanka.

12) There are no universally accepted figures for the number of bonded child labourers in India. However, in the carpet industry alone, human rights organisations estimate that there may be as many as 300,000 children working, many of them under conditions that amount to bonded labour.

13) Some NGOs estimate that the number of bonded labourers in India is 5 million persons. However, in a report released during the year, Human Rights Watch estimated that 40 million persons, including 15 million children, are bonded labourers. The report notes that the majority of bonded labourers are Dalits, and that bondage is passed from one generation to the next.

14) 90% of the 100,000 women in prostitution in Bombay, India, are indentured slaves.

15) Persons sometimes are sold into virtual slavery. Many boys from India, some of whom are as young as 4 years, end up as riders in camel races in West Asia and the Gulf States, especially to the United Arab Emirates, or begging during the Haj. Girls and women end up either as domestic workers or sex workers.

16) It takes up to 15 years for girls held in prostitution via debt-bondage in India to purchase their freedom.

17) The number of street children worldwide is almost impossible to know, although the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) and UNICEF in the mid ’90s estimated the number to be 100million.

18) The social phenomenon of street children is increasing as the world’s population grows; sixout of ten urban dwellers are expected to be under 18 years of age by the year 2005

19) According to UNICEF, there are about 25 million street children in Asia and an estimated 10million in Africa (1998).

20) Africa today has 10.7 million orphans just as a result of AIDS and the numbers are growing(UNAIDS). With fewer and fewer family members left to care for them, many–if not most–of these children will join the street children of Africa who are already there because of poverty, wars and ethnic conflicts

21) In the Philippines, the Department of Social Welfare and Development estimated, in 1991,1.2 million street children. Action International Ministries says 50,000 to 70,000 streetchildren live in Manila alone.

22) India’s Ministry of Social Welfare estimated that of the 10.9 million people residing inCalcutta in 1992, there were 75,000 to 200,000 children living in the streets. Agencies agree the number is much higher now, and deaths of parents from HIV/AIDS are likely to cause the numbers to rise more rapidly.

Saturday, 15 December 2007

Don’t let predators, pimps and traffickers abduct or abuse women and children.


Here is a message from traffickingpersons.com's Craig Muller who is a Christian:

Don’t let predators, pimps and traffickers abduct or abuse women and children.

You are probably visiting this web site because you are like me. I can’t stand the thought of a child cowering in the darkness, alone and hopeless because some creep is taking advantage of their weakness and using them to do things no child should ever have to do. I am committed to the rescue and care of parentless children.

I don’t have any faith in my ability to help these kids, but I do have the faith that God our father cares about the least of them and he’ll use you and I to do His will. Throughout the Bible, He tells us to care for orphans and widows and He will empower us to do it.

We now have thousands of children and women under 24/7 care because people like you and I are standing in the gap to protect the vulnerable and care for the victims of trafficking, exploitation and brutality.

Our commission and that of our colleagues here and abroad is to make sure we can save children and give them a chance to hear the living word of God.

The commitment of the Child Trafficking Task Force of Warm Blankets Orphan Care is to rescue and care for orphans. We do that by teaming up with nationals in the refugee camps, streets, jungle hamlets, war zones and any other places where children are left to roam with no one to care for them. Trafficking is heaviest in places like Cambodia, Thailand, India and Indonesia where there is little protection and poverty puts the focus on mere survival.

You are part of the Child Trafficking Task Force team. Through your support, prayer, input and resources, you are putting kids in a protected environment and helping them to regain their childhood ….

Child traffickers, sex predators and bullies are after these kids. Let’s not let them have them.

-Craig Muller
President, Warm Blankets Orphan Care
and team member in the Child Trafficking Task Force

If you would like to sponsor a home that takes care of orphans at risk click HERE

Friday, 14 December 2007

Its Time To Dance Upon Injustice!

There is an estimated 800 000 people who are moved across borders in the slave trade. Most of these for the sex industries.
It has been estimated that there are more slaves today than ever before in history!
Slave trading is the biggest criminal activity behind drug trafficking and
illegal weapons trade.

This is a grievous injustice! Sometimes I wonder how God can keep Himself from destroying all of mankind... our wickedness is so great.
Sometimes I feel hatred toward these people... I would love to see these despicable pigs beaten to death. But I know that LOVE conquers all. I know that even these despicable pigs... Jesus died for. Despite their darkness... He loves them.

How great is our God!
(help me Lord)

Over the next few blogs we will look at how we can dance upon injustice... how we... God's hand and feet and mouth on this earth can make a difference.

I look forward to your comments : )

Thursday, 13 December 2007

More Leadership Lessons From Colin Powell

Colin Powell talking about leading kids (or anyone for that matter):

"You can't lecture them as to what they are supposed to do. The way they really learn the right things to do in life are is by watching... They take every opportunity not to pay attention to what you're saying, but they are always watching."

I look forward to your comments : )

Thursday, 6 December 2007

10 Great Questions To Ask As You Self-Audit

I have borrowed these from my good friend Jeremy's blog. You can check his blog out by clicking HERE.


The ten questions leadership guru John Maxwell regularly asks himself provide a helpful springboard for a self-audit …

1. Am I investing in myself? This is a personal growth question.

2. Am I Genuinely Interested In Others? This is a motive question.

3. Am I Doing What I Love and Loving What I Do? This is a passion question.

4. Am I Investing My Time with the Right People? This is a relationship question.

5. Am I Staying in My Strength Zone? This is an effectiveness question.

6. Am I Taking Others to a Higher Level? This is a mission question.

7. Am I Taking Care of Today? This is a success question.

8. Am I Taking Time To Think? This is a leadership question.

9. Am I Developing Leaders? This is a legacy question.

10. Am I Pleasing God? This is an eternity question


What questions do you elevate yourself with?
I'd love to hear your comments!

Monday, 3 December 2007

This Should Help To Mess You Up!


I thought I'd share a few challenging thoughts from the book 'Irresistible Revolution' by Shane Claiborne:

"Christians should be be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society."
Jacques Ellul, French theologian


"You don't get crucified for being cool; you get crucified for living radically different from the norms of all that is cool in the world. And it's usually the cool people who get the most ticked off, since you are disturbing their order, for it was indeed the cool religious leaders and the cool politicians who killed the Lover from Nazareth. Some things never change."
Shane Claiborne


I'd love to hear your comments : )