Take Note - An Interlude

Some things God said to me at church tonight. The first thing was to Take Note - God Is Interested In You. Not in a sort of scientist studying a fascinating and obscure specimen way; but that He wants to encourage you. He wants you to remember that He is for you, that He has your best interests in mind, and He wants to guide you into that future. He knows your potential, and He wants to encourage you that you can give more, do more and be more than you dreamed you could. Especially be more. He wants you to remember that.

That was at the beginning of a talk on grace. Grace is all about God reaching out to us, searching for us before we even thought about Him. And keeping on doing that. But it means more than that. He doesn't just want to stay at at distance, He wants to get close to us, and us to get close to Him. As Adrian Plass has said, it was easy for him to think that God loved him, but that didn't really mean much - after all, that's sort of His job. But what really helped him, was when he came to the understanding that, as he put it, God is nice and He likes me. So remember, God Is Nice, And He Likes You.

And the other thing He said was about promises. He wanted people to know that what He has promised, both generally and specifically, are real. He wanted to remind them of the promises, and underline them. He has not forgotten. I don't know what it is He has promised you, but He does and you do - He has not forgotten.

So, take note and remember...

Be More Dog!

You may have seen some ads for a phone company with this slogan, and the idea (I think) that being a dog means being more enthusiastic about life. Now whether or not you agree with this, that's what I took from the ad - so when God pointed it out to me, and told me to do just that, I wondered if that was what He meant. What does it mean to be more doglike than catlike (and what does that have to do with mobile phones)?

This was the first thing that came to mind:-

Now I'm pretty sure I don't consciously go around with the attitude that I am God; but, I have to acknowledge that I tend to lean towards thinking I know best, and that things should be done my way. Not all the time, but enough to make sure that I don't put God in His rightful place at all times. Is it that attitude that leads to a lack of trust, or a lack of trust that leads to that attitude - or both leading to each other?

But the thing that really inspired this post was going out on with Street Teams last night and seeing some of the guys with their dogs. A couple of them who have had dogs for years now have several pups who are old enough to come out with them - we didn't really see them for several weeks just around when they were born - and watching the pups made me think about this subject again.

The first thing was obvious, which was that they didn't really stop moving, especially the pups. They were pretty loud, all of them, and that is clearly showing that they are interested in life; curious about everything, and interested in it all. And, also clear was the fact that dogs are very much family animals - whether it was with the other dogs or any of the people who were there, they seemed to prefer spending time with someone rather than being on their own. One in particular, called Otis, just never seemed to stop moving, going from one person (or dog) to another.

So, from that, I guess I can conclude that being interested in life and company is A Good Thing - and one of the things God wants me to be more like. But there were a couple of other things as well. One is that although most of the pups looked alike, they were clearly all different; quite varied in personality. And the other is that they seemed to be pretty much always hungry. Which means, I guess, that God wants me to be more enthusiastic about life, and hungry for the things of God, searching them out wherever they can be found.

I'll just leave you with this video:- and, remember, Be More Dog!

(More) Guidance

After my last post on this, I figured I'd write something a bit more specific. A couple of ideas that have really impacted me.

The first is one I heard in a talk once, and I have mentioned it before, I think. That is that you are more likely to regret not doing something than doing it. Or possibly that you will regret them more, I'm not sure. I've thought about this, and there's definitely something in it. Of the things you do, there could be all sorts of things you could regret, from doing it wrong, to doing it badly, to just choosing it in the first place; but, of the things you don't do, you just never know.
You don't know how things might have worked out, you don't know whether you might have learned something, or made new friends - or even just enjoyed it. And, more importantly, you don't know how your life may have changed - how you may have changed as a result. All you know is what you did; and, also, that some of the opportunities you turned down may have had quite a significant impact on you. Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone should go for every single opportunity that comes their way without even thinking about it; but what I am suggesting is that you should consider things more carefully when it comes to opportunities. If anything, I think you need to be more sure about turning one down than about taking one; try to lean more in the direction of saying 'yes' more than 'no'.

And the second, which is definitely linked to the first is the fact that when it comes to taking opportunities (or not), we are the only ones who can make that decision. It seems a cliche to say that we are our own worst enemies, but the reason cliches become cliches is because they contain a certain amount of truth. There's a song we sometimes sing at my church which contains the line 'if God is for us, who can be against us?'; and the answer to that question is us. Always us. For a start, we are the only ones who are always around ourselves - even if we sometimes wish we weren't. But, ultimately, when it comes to taking opportunities, we are the ones who have the most power. We can easily stop ourselves from taking them, either absolutely, by not doing them, or more subtly, by procrastinating or not doing it whole heartedly - and then, when it doesn't work out, we say that we knew that was going to happen all along.

And it's not just taking opportunities when they present themselves; but keeping going with them once we have started. For instance, I have recently been struggling with this blog, with keeping going, as it doesn't seem that many people are reading it. Now I'm not going to stop doing it (not yet, anyway), but that is exactly what I'm talking about. When things are tough it is easy to give up, to just stop; and no-one else can do it for you. Or me, in this case. If I'm going to continue with this blog, then I have to do it - no-one else can. Ultimately, the ones who make our choices are us; to do something or not to do something, to keep going or not to keep going; only us.

Guidance

Well, guidance. A tricky subject at the best of times. Two important things to bear in mind. One is that no-one has this sorted, not even people who have been walking with God for fifty/sixty/seventy years; they've just worked out how to trust Him a bit more. And two, God is more interested in spending time with us than with us always getting it right. Of course He loves it when we do get it right, but He loves us anyway - all the time. And that will never change; no matter what.

• Another thing to remember is that it's easier than we think. God is on our side, and wants us to figure out the right thing to do, so He will help us as much as He can. So, something you may have seen before, but I think is worth repeating: the 5 'CS'. In order, these are Controlling Spirit; Confirming Scripture; Circumstantial Signs; Counsel of the Saints; and Common Sense. In other words, what do you feel about x; God speaking through the Bible; things happening that point in a certain direction; asking Christians for advice (and listening); and actually thinking it through. He may use any of these, usually more than one. The reason they are in this order is that asking for guidance should start with God and end with us.
  So, how does it work practically? Really, this is an impossible question, because every single situation and issue is different; but start with prayer. Always. See if God says anything, or if you have some strong idea of what to do. He promises to live in us by His Spirit, so He will guide our minds and hearts, even when we are not aware of it. Now, obviously, we are not perfect, so we will make mistakes, which is why the other things need to be considered. And He will be in those too - again sometimes without us being aware of it. Confirming Scripture doesn't really need to be explained, except to say that we don't go looking for Bible verses to support what we already think. It is more likely to be accurate if it comes from outside e.g. passages referred to in sermons, things people post on Facebook, daily Bible study notes, that sort of thing. Which leads nicely into the third one - if these things are coming from outside, then they are circumstantial; but also other things that might come up in conversation, or opportunities that are presented. The fourth one is pretty obvious: that if you ask someone else, they may see it a bit more clearly because they're at a little more of a distance, and may help you see it differently; but that if you ask someone, you should listen to whatever they say. Don't just accept it because it's from someone else, but don't just reject it either, if it's not what you want to hear. And the last is all about thinking about it; but with the important point that God is involved. Don't just say that you can't do x, so He wouldn't say that; He can.
  
  Another issue is that there are two parts to being guided; figuring out what to do and then doing it. This is a big problem that pretty much everyone goes through repeatedly. When we come up against things we don't really want to do, or don't think we can do; we can say we're not sure what it is God wants us to do, when actually we have a fairly good idea, we're just resisting it. Also, sometimes, in a similar way, He may give us just the first bit, and tell us what to do next when we get there. Or not tell us any more because that's all we can handle at that point. Something my church leader once said that when he's struggling with guidance, he will go back to the last thing he's sure God said and start from there.
  So, what do we do when we have some idea, but it doesn't seem clear? Well, two things we can always do. One is to spend time with God, praying and worshipping. The more we do that, the clearer our minds will become. Romans 12:2 promises us that. However, that doesn't mean it will be a quick process; it will actually take longer than our lifetime. But it WILL happen. And the other thing we can do is to meditate on the situation. This doesn't mean sit back and let it happen; rather the opposite. To meditate means to turn something over in our minds and look at it carefully. This being the case, that God wants us to know things and that as we draw close(r) to Him our minds will be renewed, a good place to start (after giving it to Him again) is to just go with our instincts. The Bible says He will give us the desires of our hearts, and as we have our minds renewed, our desires become more and more like His. As we go on in life, we teach ourselves to ignore our instincts, but we all have them, and we have them for a reason. So, that's a very good place to start. Also, it is usually better to do something; we can even learn from mistakes. If we don't do anything, not only will we not get anywhere, but we won't have anything to learn from.