We are not on a short sprint to heaven, but a lifelong marathon. The Holy Spirit is like a champion runner who draws alongside us at the beginning of the race (John 14:15–27) and promises us that we will make it to the end (Ephesians 1:13–14). He will help, challenge and encourage us. There will be times when we lean on him. There will be times when he pushes us forward. But the whole time we must keep in step with him.
~ Krish Kandiah (Fresh)
As I was watching the West Wing, something caught my attention. One of the script writers for the president listed a bunch of achievements that mankind had achieved... it made me think about these great things we claimed to have done. Such as; splitting open the atom, sending a man to the moon, being able to fly, building the tallest buildings, technology and nearly being able to reach the stars.
In all of these things I wonder what God thinks. I wonder what He thought when we landed on the moon and tried to reach heaven. Will we get a "well done?" or is it more of an ache of despair because the God of heaven came down to earth, walked on the earths soil, ate, drank, communicated, touched those around him. He was real and right here. Yet we think we can touch heaven with our sophistication, with our wonderful acts and pronounce "We are the greatest"... I wonder what God says to that?
In fact I think He already has said it. Right where the nails pierced the son of God, there resonates what he thinks about us. He no doubt loves us, He died for us... but the reason he died for us is because we think we are the greatest and we reject God. All those things we have done are nothing compared to Jesus. Nothing. What do we have to boast in? Nothing but the Cross of Christ - the most awful and terrible act that mankind has ever done. We forget about those things don't we?
Grace is a good thing. Infact it is an amazing thing. Ephesians 2, describes Grace as a Gift of God. We do not earn it nor deserve it. We are just given it through Christ because God is rich in mercy. Now that is good news! But Grace is hard.With Grace there is no room for Pride. And yet I like being proud. I like people praising me for the works I have done, the bible study that I have spent ages over. But Grace says I don't have a leg to stand on. Mo put it really well at Relay 1 - Compared to my 5 quiet times a day, the obediance of Christ is better. And it is! I mean, which would you rather give to God? Your bible study or the sacrifice that Jesus made on the Cross?There is no room for Pride.Grace is hard because I want to hold on to all the things that I do and present them to God and say how amazing they are and how amazing I am. Yet they are dirty rags. Therefore like Paul in Philippians 3 - can we count them all as rubbish compared to knowing Jesus?....Can we?..... We must!The most crazy thing about Grace is that my relationship with God isn't counted on what I do, its about Jesus. It is always about Jesus - I say that alot, but recently I have found that this very statement is so true and thats what it means to live in Grace. To look to Jesus and not myself. To say that Jesus is great and I am not. My perfect standing with God does not come through my bible studies, quiet time and sharing the Gospel, all of which are good things - but they don't make me great! Therefore my perfect standing with God comes through Christ and Christ alone.There is no room for pride at the Cross.
Free Week was amazing. Apologies for not finishing off blogging on what happened, lots of stuff happened and if you are on my prayer letter list then you would of got more regular updates!! So I thought I would do a review of the week:
Seven Reason Why Free Week was Amazing....
1) The Gospel is True and we got to share it to over a 100 people in each event...
2) Two students became Christians last week...this is awesome.
3) Bostons Tea Party was a great success and the atmosphere was amazing...
4) The day started with a long walk and then prayer. Praying with students and seeing God answer them was amazing.
5) Eating in halls was fantastic and some good conversations were had.
6) Spending time with CUGS was brilliant - encouraging and really fun!
7) Jesus is amazing. The whole week made me praise Jesus more. Love it!
Thank you for all your prayers.
Day 2
God is amazing. His word is amazing. Jesus is Amazing and I can't stop smiling. God is moving in Exeter and doing fantastic things. It makes me realise that actually none of this is about me, but it is about Jesus. I am just a Jar of Clay.
Today was exciting because a 1st year at Exeter became a Christian! She is our new sister in Christ!!! Praise God for His word and softening hearts. Please pray for her, please pray that she will see more of Jesus and just love Him with all her heart!
The events have been having a fantastic turn out and there have been some really encouraging conversations and prayers answered. The evening events have been drawing in over 100 people each night and John has been faithfully explaining the Gospel so well. It is really exciting to see God doing amazing things!!
Please continue to pray. Prayer works! :O)!
Thank you
Cat xxx
Day 1...
As my alarm sounded off its beeps which awoke me from a nice slumber and then the radio blasted out the gentle tones of radio 4 talking, I realised that it was 6:45am and my 5th mission week had begun. Once dressed and semi awake, I flicked to Psalm 111 and was reminded that the name of the Lord was Holy and awesome... that was a nice start. I then stepped outside and the heavens had opened - rain was falling hard and strong. A part of me wondered why would it have to rain this week when we had snow all last week... but God is good and He knows what He is doing!!
Prayer with the Hallgroup was encouraging. It was good to lift up everything this week to God, knowing that it is for His Glory and not for us...
Which leads me on to what happened wonderfully at the lunch bar... As everyone was tucking into their food and finding a seat, John started talking. He was grappling with the idea of "Why am I Here?"... Then suddenly a sound blasted from the room. Yes it was that sound that pierces your ears and can wake you up from a coma... the Fire Alarm went off. So we all went outside in the rain, umbrellas and hoods up, shivering and yet the crowd still remained. So what could we do at this point?... Well - have the talk outside! So under a small covering we crowded round the speaker as he told us about Jesus. I felt like I was in Acts, re-living one of Peters or Pauls sermons as the crowds gathered to hear the Good News. Questions were asked, people discussed...God was moving among them.
What is also exciting was that at BTP (Bostons Tea Party) where the evening events were held, God drew in a crowed of about 150ish people. It was amazing, people were standing and crouched just to hear the Good News!! What an encouraging day to start with...
Please do pray on a personal level, that I would have oppertunities to talk to people about Jesus - with boldness, courage and love. I find starting conversations hard, so need to rely on God!
Also..pray for energy, not just for me, but for students and for the other CU guests helping this week.
Thank you so much for all your support!!
Next week is Exeter Christian Unions Events week. They are putting on a week of events that include lunch time talks, evening talks, prayer breakfasts and fliering. This is my 5th mission since becoming a Christian and it is still as exciting. You would think I would be use to it all by now, but I still get nervous and scared about meeting new people and about telling them about Jesus. I shouldn't because the Gospel is true and I want people to be changed from next week - not because the events will be great, but because Jesus is better. Jesus is better then they have ever imagined and I want them to see Him, fall in love with Him and follow Him.
Pray for hearts to be opened, soft and eager to hear the Word of God.
Pray for boldness to speak truth, to proclaim the Gospel and to Love.
I will try to blog as much as possible next week about what is going on. Please keep praying!
Thank you :O)
"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning."
Mere Christianity ~ CS LEWIS
Next week is Exeter Christian Unions Events week. They are putting on a week of events that include lunch time talks, evening talks, prayer breakfasts and fliering. This is my 5th mission since becoming a Christian and it is still as exciting. You would think I would be use to it all by now, but I still get nervous and scared about meeting new people and about telling them about Jesus. I shouldn't because the Gospel is true and I want people to be changed from next week - not because the events will be great, but because Jesus is better. Jesus is better then they have ever imagined and I want them to see Him, fall in love with Him and follow Him.