For someone who is afraid and worried

Do you feel like you are walking through fire, swimming against the current, alone in the middle of nowhere? If you are going through a difficult stage of life and you are afraid or worried about the outcome. I want to urge you to put your trust in God today. He is bigger than your situation. God sometimes delivers us from some situations, other times also allows us to go through difficult situations. But one thing that is guaranteed according to Gods Word is that he will be with us no matter what.  He will never leave us nor forsake us.

He promised us in Psalm 23 that when we walk through difficult time he will not run away. David said  “….. though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me…..” God will walk with you and walk you through it. You probably need to go through that situation in order for you to understand what God wants you to know and learn in order for you to achieve and fulfill what is ahead of you. So hang in there for a little while. God will not dump you there. What God does not save you from, he will always walk your through it. Never doubt the presence of God right now. He is the God of yesterday today and tomorrow. He knows the end from the beginning.  You can not reach the mountain top with out first going through the valley! Today walk with your head up, God is with you. Acknowledge his presence now.

For someone who is going through a rough time

I was reading Psalm 27 this morning. Gave me motivation to face todays trials! If you are going through a rough time. this is for you. Don’t let evil walk over you today! Be calm as a baby, cool and collected.

Psalm 27 – A David Psalm

1 Light, space, zest— that’s God!

So, with him on my side I’m fearless,

afraid of no one and nothing.

2 When vandal hordes ride down

ready to eat me alive,

Those bullies and toughs

fall flat on their faces.

3 When besieged,

I’m calm as a baby.

When all hell breaks loose,

I’m collected and cool.

Prayer for the Media

Last week at the Annual Pacific Island Media Conference in Auckland,  I was asked to pray to open the conference. As someone who has been involved in the media for 20 years,  I prayed (not as a pastor but as a media person) asking God for his forgiveness and his help. I decided to post this on my blog because I received an unexpected overwhelming reaction from the media people who were at the conference.  I pray that you too will pray this prayer with me.

Father in heaven we gather here today as men and women who work in the media industry.

Lord we know we have a place in society as the eyes, the ears and the mouth of our communities and nation. We have a special task to do and we ask Lord that we will do a great job of it.

Even today as gather that it will help us become better in what we do. And that is ‘To communicate and to disseminate information that are relevant and vital for the good our communities’.

Lord we pray that you will help us all who work in this industry to realize that we are in a position of power and influence.

Help us to understand that in our hands is a powerful tool called Media that can influence decisions.

A powerful tool that can shape perceptions and attitudes.

A powerful tool that can change people and the mindset of a nation.

A powerful tool that can potentially destroy people’s lives

Lord help us not to underestimate the power of media and influence of our work.

Lord deliver us from abusing our position and the power that media holds, for our own gain, our own ego and our own good.

Lord forgive us the Media for being unwise in the some of the things we have said on air that has done more harm than good.

Forgive us for fabricating stories and news items, for printing inaccurate information and malicious comments in our magazines and newspapers and blogs and call it freedom of speech

Forgive us for invading people’s private lives and for unnecessarily putting our nose into areas that we shouldn’t and call it good journalism

Forgive us for taking things out of context and editing stories and videos to suit the story and the demand and our opinion rather than presenting the truth.

Help us to uphold Good Broadcasting Standards and guidelines.

Help us to uphold good family values even Godly values in programmes and stories.

Help us to uphold good ethics in journalism an in the media.

Help us to relish truth more strongly than own prejudices and personal agendas.

May we present truth in a way that will enlighten hearts rather than inflame passions and conflicts.

And finally Lord we know that we have been trained that negative news sells and juicy gossip is profitable.

Help us to focus more on the positive not so much on the negative in spite of what we have been taught or to assigned to do, knowing that there is more good out there that we have failed to recognize and report on.

Your Word tells in Philippians 4:8 ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Help us not to be negative biased media.

Bless PIMA and the work they do in promoting Media in our Pacific Community. Bless the discussions of today.

We pray in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Take it to the Streets

Pastors Prayer Request

I must say that I was very impressed with yesterday’s attendance at the 5:00am prayer meeting. Over half of those that came were young people. Fantastic!  We prayed for the ‘potential of our church’ according to our 21 days of prayer and fasting calendar.

As your pastor I really do appreciate your prayers for me and my family. It is very important that you uphold us in your prayers. Not for any selfish reasons on our part, but its biblical. Paul asked for prayers all the time from his congregations. Here are some of my prayer requests using Paul’s words. (underlined)

Colossians 4:2-6
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.  

 Ephesians 6:19-20
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-2
Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.

Silence & Solitude

Notes from Craigs  Sermon on Sunday

• But I’m too busy to take time out to pray!
• “We live in a noisy, busy world. Silence and solitude are not twentieth-century words. They fit the era of Victorian lace, high-button shoes, and kerosene lamps better than our age of television, video arcades, and joggers wired with earphones. We have become a people with an aversion to quiet and an uneasiness with being alone” Jean Fleming

How to:

a.  Minute retreats: A spiritual pause.  looking to Christ, listening to His Spirit

b. A daily time with God:
Outward Silence and Solitude:  A time of reconnecting with God. Bble, Prayer, Private Worship

c. A few extended times of Silence and Solitude each year

d. Have special places where you can go for Silence and Solitude

Do you desire to fire your pastor?

This article caught my attention. Someone emailed me this the other day. Here’s a summary of it.

• Do you desire to fire your pastor? Perhaps you should fire him/her up instead!
• Do you want to leave your church? Perhaps you should be the one to build it up!
• The best way to build your church and fire up your pastor is to be involved and pray for them constantly and continually!
• Pastors and church leaders face many opportunities and challenges each day. They balance the stresses of ministry while they are researching and writing the sermons, managing the affairs of the church, going to countless meetings and counseling others significant problems.
• They wear many hats as the pastor, priest, counselor, preacher, teacher, manager, organizer, visionary, administrator and caretaker all rolled into one with little to no free time.
• As well as dealing with the stresses of modern life with their family all under personal attack and usually doing life with a lower salary and an ungrateful congregation who expects them to be perfect.
• They need your help, they need your prayers! When we commit ourselves to pray for our pastors and church leaders, we will have no need to bicker, gossip, slander, withdraw, place blame, or seek to usurp our will as God’s (Rom. 8:28, 8:33-34, 37-39).
• Praying for your church is like filling a balloon with helium, the more it is filled, the more it will soar and not sore! For us to grow not just numerically, but in what is much more important, spiritually and in community to one another, requires our discipline and passion to pursue Christ more and ourselves less.

Am I faking it?

Hearing about Michael Guglielmucci’s admission to faking his cancer illness made me stop and think. I thought about what is going on in his mind right now, his wife and family, and his church. The embarrassment is beyond words and the hurt is indescribable. He has hurt a lot of people especially those closest to him. Michael has been living a life of fraud, betrayal, lies, pretense, dishonesty…. for the last two years. All because he faked being sick. (in the last 2 years).

Since then I have been searching my own soul as a pastor, a leader, a husband, father and a Christian. Someone who claims to be in a relationship with Jesus for over 22 years. I have been asking myself lots of questions to check where I am in my relationship with God. May be I will post some of those questions later but here’s the BIG Question. Am I faking it?

1. Am I faking the whole Christian thing or am I in a growing, intimate, passionate relationship with Jesus. Am I faking loving God.
1. Am I faking loving people. Do I genuinely love the people I do life with, my family, my leaders, my church, etc…. Do I really love them or is it all fake?
2. Am I faking my relationship with my wife! Is she still the number one woman in my life (like what I said on our wedding day) or have I been faking the whole marriage thing for the last several years.

I heard Casey Treat said the other day that ‘the reason why so many Christian leaders fail is because leaders fail to do the basic Christian stuff’. That basic Christian stuff is praying, bible reading, soul searching, repenting, etc….

When our character is not in an authentic position in God, our ministry is a fake.

To all the Ministers in Manurewa

I sent out an email yesterday to all the pastors in Manurewa on my list. Some don’t have emails and some are not in our Ministers Netowrk. Love for you guys to join us. Anyway here’s part of that email. Be encouraged!

Dear Ministers
Can I encourage you by saying thank you for all that you are doing, shepherding the flock and for caring for Gods people. Thank you for faithfully preaching and teaching the Word of God each week. You have one of the toughest jobs today: overworked, often taken for granted, often criticized, burdened with many issues and tasks besides preaching, understaffed, poorly paid, always dealing with everyone else’s problems, and yet having to be an example of a victorious Christian. On top of that, people are always coming to you with advice and what they think God is saying to them but not you, and then their people suck the life out of you but you need the energy and time care and provide for your family. In the midst of all that you have a personal walk with God to maintain and to hear clearly from him about his will for the church.

There are a million things you could have done with your one and only life right now, but you chose to accept Gods call to feed His sheep. God bless you. Remember we are a team. Don’t do ministries alone. We are better together. I am always available for coffee.  

On a different note, no doubt you are well aware of the situation in Weymouth on Tuesday night. Please continue to pray for our community and don’t lose heart because it seems like one step forward , two steps back…. Encourage your church to love Manurewa with the love of God and may our hearts be broken with what breaks the heart of God.

In the midst of darkness, light shines brighter.

Let’s Shine TOGETHER!!

Standing with you for Manurewa.

Lui

PS. Our Next Ministers Network will be on the 10th of September at St. Andrews Presbyterian Manurewa.

It’s te reo Maori week

Tihei Mauri Ora.

Ko te wehi ki te Atua me whakakororia tona ingoa i nga wa katoa. Kei te mihi a ahau i te Matua nui i te rangi, nana nei nga mea katoa. Kia tau mai te aroha, nga manaakitanga o te Atua.

Kia Ora

Its funny trying to speak another language but I think its a healthy thing to do. Its good mentally and for personal development but also socially. Its a sign of acceptance and integration.