Gods Chosen Vessel: A prophetic picture of hope in times of brokenness. Smithereens.

The smithereens prayer. (God's Chosen Vessel)

A picture and word placed upon my heart for  2019/20

I was praying, when I sensed the Lord give me a picture: 

It was a stunning glass vase at the centre of a living room, light went into it in one direction and sprayed out from it, illuminating the whole room.

The glass vessel was crimson red with a mix of deep blue:  it looked like Italian Murano glass. 

As I looked closer I could see that it was made up from tiny bits of glass that had been put back together like a mosaic. Around the floor where other broken pieces in different coloured glass. 

In my vision I asked the Lord what is that made of?

And I heard these words

‘Smithereens: Our best pieces are made of smithereens. Before light can shine though them, these vessels must first be smashed to smithereens. It is a painful moment and a slow process to rebuild them but it is the way of the cross, the way we choose for our light to be carried into the darkness. The glue, the crimson and blue colours; they represent us.’

That is all I heard. 

I  spent weeks marinating in these words, thoughts, the picture and what it means:

With limited editing skills I tried to recreate the picture for everyone to get the idea. But my picture doesn’t do it justice. the light was shining out was much brighter 

This is what I understand from the words and picture:

Here is a great mystery; our mistakes, suffering, chaos and pain can all be used for His glory and purpose. Nothing is wasted, like the fragments of bread gathered into baskets after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus is illustrating that he wastes nothing. 

We are free to live as broken pieces on the floor, damaged with guilt, sorrow, fear, deep heavy burdens, the unknown, our minds playing over and over the things we could have done differently, the things we wish we had never said, the relationship we could have handled better, the moments we failed… or we can give them over to Father God, invite his healing and chose to see those broken moments as an opportunity to learn, to grow, to recover, and to evolve into something that radiates Christ. 

We are broken, we hurt, we cry, we bleed, we suffer but in doing so God creates endless possibilities for us to shine for him. 

What are you walking through?

Bereavement
Fear

Pain

Sickness

Failure

Shame

In these moments you must give the broken pieces to Jesus. He can not only heal but shape and transform and bring his light to the world.

Truth: 

You are never gonna look like yesterday again. You must choose:

You can either stay broken on the floor or be rebuilt

You can either shut down or let Jesus in

You can remain a shattered dream or become a vessel of light and hope for others. 

As I look at those who have had the greatest influence on my life they are made of the same thing: It’s not steel but tiny little fragments of broken glass that have been masterfully shaped by God.

The finest vessels in the world are merely smithereens placed in the Father's hands. 

My prayer:

That this will make some sense to you and that you will be encouraged and healed. May the light of Christ shine thought you today.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Whenever God means to make a man great, He always breaks him in pieces first.”

Mitch 

Some words from the apostle Paul to consider:

2 Cor 11: 

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever.

Phil 3: 

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I'ts Easter Sunday!

It’s Sunday. The needle scratches to a halt on the turntable, the party balloons bursts and the demons scatter into the corners.

It’s Sunday. Wormwood putts down the shutters at the bar and Screwtape reaches for his notebook; this was not in the plan. 

It’s Sunday and Satan now stands alone on the dancefloor… party hat tilted and eyes wide open the shining handsome prince now almost Gollum like as he crouches and stares in horror towards the tomb.

It’s Sunday. The King of Glory fills his lungs with air, his heart pounding with adrenalin, his eyes fixed and focused as Sarayu twirls and giggles singing spiritual songs. 

It’s Sunday the sound of the stone rolling away reverberates around the tomb as the sun, still low on the horizon, shines into the tome as if wanting to get a  first glimpse of the risen Lord. 

Outside has been dark, empty and eerie… shadows had filled the void and even the trees seemed to bow their branches in homage, but that was Friday; this is Sunday.

Jesus stands and walks composed from the tomb, every step seems to be focused and balanced as he enters into the garden like a gladiator. He lifts his face towards the sun and pauses; the warmth on his flesh, the smell of spring; he lifts his once wounded palms towards heaven and smiles.  There is silence, the angels stand around the garden like warriors returning from battle.  Anticipation fills the air as Jesus speaks just one word from his smiling face.  ‘Abba.’

It’s Sunday and celebrations fill heaven as angels rise up in victory; there has never been a more important victory in all of history. Man has done his worst as sin had left Jesus for  dead, absorbing the wrath of God on a cross; his back tore open, his hands and feet nailed, his lips cracked and swollen…He was dead…but that was Friday. 

It’s Sunday and Jesus the all-time undisputed champion of love turns towards the shadows in the hedges… he wipes his lip and looks at his hand; there is no blood. He stands tall, Sarayu stands at his right and an angel at his left. They await the words of a Champion… ‘Was that you best punch?’

All of heaven breaks loose in cheers as Satan goes flying, the demons are crying and the soldiers are lying; it’s Sunday.

It’s Sunday. Jesus has risen indeed! He has paid our ransom, provided the basis for our justification, flung wide the doors of prayer, our sins forgiven and our condemnation shattered in a billion broken pieces. 

It’s Sunday. Jesus has stretched out his arms and embraced us in love inconceivable, immeasurable, incredible, invincible and irresistible.

The full wealth of amazing grace is available to us: uncalculating, unchanging, unshrinkable, unstoppable, unlimited, unmasked, unparalleled and undeniable. 

The empty tomb gives hope to the hopeless, comfort to the broken, strength to the weak, identity to the confused, clarity to the misunderstood and courage to the fearful.

He has made a way for us to enter into a right relationship with the Father; given us confident access into the Holy of Holies, eternal life, adoption into the very family of God, liberated us from fear, secured our righteousness and joy.

It’s Sunday.  He has poured out the fullness of God on those who receive him as Saviour, Lord and King. The Holy Spirit power of the Gospel is unleashed for every tribe and tongue.

It’s SUNDAY, we are united in him a band of brothers and sisters around the world joined by the resurrection.  We no longer live but Christ lives in us…Today we are his followers, we are united because the tomb is empty. Because it’s SUNDAY we can join together with Sarayu and giggle and dance and sing spiritual songs.

‘It is true! The Lord has risen’ Luke 24:34

Notes:

Sarayu is the name given to the Holy Spirit in ‘The Shack’

Woomwood and Screwtape are demons from’ The Screwtape letters’.

The woman behind the 1859 Revival in Ulster.

Thanking God for the role of woman in evangelism...

Mrs. Colville and the beginning of the Ulster Revival 1859

Without doubt, the first springing up of that mighty river of God, which so soon engulfed the whole of Ulster in its flood of revival blessing, was in the parish of Connor, Co. Antrim. The parish of Connor includes the village of Kells and is situated about 3.5 miles from Ballymena. The district is usually called by the joint name, Kells and Connor. Claims that the revival had its origin elsewhere cannot be substantiated.

In November 1856 a Mrs. Colville, an English lady, visited Ballymena. This lady had a remarkable testimony. She had been religious but unregenerate, then one day the grace of God visited her, bringing salvation to her heart. She immediately testified of the great things God had done for her soul. Her relations were very angry and said she had “gone mad.” So embittered did they become that she had to leave her home and become a “wanderer.”

This persecution, however, did not quench her zeal for Christ. Like the apostles of old she could not but speak the things, which she had seen and heard. She became a missionary of the Baptist Missionary Society in England. Her work brought her to Ulster and to County Antrim where she went from door to door telling forth the message, which had brought such peace to her heart.

One day she visited a home in the town of Ballymena where a young woman lay dying. Mrs. Colville spoke to the dying woman and those of her girl companions who were gathered round her, concerning the things that pertain unto eternal peace. She described the nature of true conversion to God and pointed out that they were strangers to it and still “in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.”

Her words were overheard by a young man named James McQuilkin, and the barbed arrows from this bow drawn at a venture fastened with a mighty pricking upon his conscience. He rose and hastily made his way homewards in deep anxiety of soul. This anxiety increased and became so unbearable that he was forced to seek out Mrs. Colville and have further conversation with her. Mr. Jeremiah Mencely, a neighbour and close associate of Mr. McQuilkin, takes up the story: “Mr. James McQuilkin was a strong Calvinist and he feared that Mrs. Colville was not teaching straight Calvinistic doctrine. He asked her whether she was a Calvinist or not. ‘I would not wish,’ she replied, ‘to be more or less a Calvinist than our Lord and His apostles. But,’ she continued, ‘I do not care to talk on mere points of doctrine. I would rather speak of the experience of salvation in the soul. If one were to tell me what he knows of the state of his heart towards God, I think I could tell him whether he knows the Lord Jesus savingly.’”

“James felt that his heart was not right toward God, but he was too proud of his head-knowledge to admit the fact and he at once dropped the conversation. A woman who was present then began to un-bosom herself to Mrs. Colville. Her spiritual condition was so much like that of James McQuilkin that he felt as though he could not have described his own condition more perfectly. He waited with almost breathless expectation to see what Mrs. Colville would say to the woman regarding her, spiritual condition. After a brief pause, she said, ‘My dear, you have never known the Lord Jesus.’ James felt that this was true concerning himself, and the reply sent conviction like a dagger to his heart. After weeks of struggling under great agony of soul, he at last found peace and rest through trusting Jesus.”

The experience of forgiveness of sins flooded his whole being with a ray of celestial light. Immediately he began to testify of the Saviour whom he now knew personally.

Shortly after this, a meeting was held in the National School, Kells, to consider the doing of some repairs to the school fabric, which had become somewhat dilapidated. At the conclusion of this meeting the young man Jeremiah Meneely, mentioned above, and the schoolmaster walked homewards together, accompanied by another young man named Robert Carlisle. - Carlisle asked them had they heard about the great change that had come over James McQuilkin. (McQuilkin was well known to them all. His wife kept a shop in the village of Kells and he himself worked at the linen trade in Ballymena. Each Saturday he returned home to Kells and spent Sunday there.). They both replied they had not. Carlisle was greatly surprised at this and told them how McQuilkin had put away the fighting cocks he had been rearing and had turned away from all the worldly pleasures because he claimed God had cleansed him from all his sins. All three of them, being old-line hyper-calvinistic Presbyterians, thought that such a claim as McQuilkin’s was, to say the least, presumptuous. Jeremiah Meneely was a communicant member of Connor Presbyterian Church but he could not claim such a knowledge of sins forgiven. Nevertheless, conscious of the unsatisfied depths of his yearning soul, he exclaimed, “I would give the world to know my sins forgiven.” Carlisle and the schoolmaster were of the same opinion.

Eager to discover more about this amazing matter, Jeremiah Meneely sought out James McQuilkin and after a long conversation with him became convinced that McQuilkin had something, which had miraculously, transformed him.

As far back as 1853 Meneely had been awakened to flee from wrath to come and afterwards oft repeated the couplet:

“Wakened up from wrath to flee
In the year eighteen-hundred and fifty-three.”

but he had no satisfying assurance as was so evidently manifested in his friend McQuilkin. Deep anxiety now possessed him but a misconception of the doctrine of election was used by Satan to keep him from the assurance of salvation. “If I only knew I was one of the elect” was his continual and soul-disturbing cry. One day in his own kitchen in Jerry’s-town, Ferniskey, Kells (the place was called Jerry’s-town after his grandfather Jeremiah) he was reading in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to John, when he read the words of verse thirty-seven, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me,” he stopped and exclaimed, “There it is again, how can I know I am a given one?” Then a voice, like the voice from the excellent glory which spoke to Peter, James and John on the holy mount, brought home to his heart the second part of the verse, “and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out,” with the question “What are you doing now, aren’t you coming to me?” The glorious light burst into his heart and the same peace which his friend had experienced, became his too. He slapped his knee exclaiming, “I see it now “and arose assured of his sins forgiven and of his name written in heaven. This was in the year 1857.

About this time also two other young men, Robert Carlisle and John Wallace were brought to Christ through the efforts of McQuilkin.

These four young converts were naturally closely allied in spirit and they mutually agreed for their own edification and the salvation of precious souls to meet weekly for prayer and Bible study. The following verses from John’s First Epistle bad been mightily applied to their hearts by the Holy Spirit and greatly prompted them in their decision. “But ye have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.” I John 2: 20 and 27 the place chosen for the meetings was the Old Schoolhouse near Kells and the meetings commenced in September 1857. During the long winter of 1857-1858 every Friday evening, these young men gathered an armful of peat each, and taking their Bibles made their way to the old schoolhouse. There they read and meditated upon the Scriptures of truth and with hearts aflame with a pure first love, poured out their prayers to the God of heaven. The peats made a fire in the schoolhouse grate and warmed their bodies from the winter’s chill, but their prayers brought down unquenchable fire from heaven, which set all Ulster ablaze for God, and warmed with saving rays at least 100,000 souls.

These young converts were convinced of three great fundamentals and upon these their prayer and fellowship meeting was based. ‘They believed in the Sovereignty of the Holy Spirit, the Sufficiency of the Holy Scripture, and the Secret of Holy Supplication, and these three great truths not only characterised the Kells prayer-meeting but the whole subsequent revival movement.

In an interview with J. G. Lawson in 1903, Jeremiah Meneely himself described the prayer meeting in the following words: —” The prayer-meeting was started in the autumn of 1857 and continued for three months before there were any visible results. Two more men joined in the prayer meeting during that time. One was an old man named Marshall and the other a young man named Wassan. On New Year’s Day 1858 the first conversion took place as a result of the prayer meeting, but after that there were conversions every night. At the end of the year 1858 about fifty young men were taking part in the prayer meeting...

In 1859 what can only be explained as a Spirit filled explosion of prayer and evangelism spread across Ulster.

What if Mrs Colville has never visited Ulster?
What is she had not went from door-to-door sharing her faith?
What if she had not shared Jesus so boldly with James McQuilkin, a religious man who did not know Christ?

Rise up women of the truth

Stand and sing to broken hearts

Who can know the healing power

Of our awesome King of love

The Hobbit: Christianity on middle earth?

The much anticipated return of the Hobbit has finally arrived on the big screen in REAL D3D, HFR 3D, IMAX 3D and whatever other options your local cinema can offer. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End is now “Far over the Misty Mountains old” and on his way to “Dungeons' deep and caverns cold.” without his handkerchief!

'The Desolation of Smaug’ is part two of a trilogy of movies following the young and rather reluctant Hobbit together with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their stolen mountain home and treasure from Smaug the dragon. At almost three hours long it’s a test for most but every review including mine, says the same: The time moves fast, a bit like the Lord of the Rings, grabs your attention from the start and better than Part one. 

Part 1 was a cinematic masterpiece in many ways from the super high definition capturing the epic scenery of New Zealand without ‘avataring’ everything and everyone in sight.  In Part 2 however there are much higher modelling needed for the orc’s through to Smaug. Of course our very own (For Northern Ireland reads) James Nesbitt stars as ‘Bofur’; a rough diamond of a dwarf who seems to be there for the craic and banter as much as the treasure. Possibly no one could play that role better than Jimmy: Former ‘break man’ on the big dipper at Barry’s Amusement park.

The story follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf friends as they travel back to the dwarves home; known locally as the lonely mountain. The face many a challenge including spiders, bears and orcs (This includes an epic water chase which will no doubt will arrive at a theme park in due course), but the ultimate problem is not enroute to the mountain but in it! A giant dragon by the name of Smaug. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a surprisingly violent movie in parts and once again I would say that the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is completely messed up. The answer is simple: tone down the violence. You can’t go HOBBIT LEGO mad for 6-9 year olds and then slap a 12A on the movie release allowing parents to bring their under 12’s. Orcs are not just shot with arrows and stabbed with swords; they really do get messed up good. As soon as the elves show up, orc decapitations start happening, with the aftermath of at least three being shown. If I read the BBFC rules I think the movie breaks the already irresponsible too lenient requirements. (Rant over... and incidentally we did not to bring our kids.)

Oh... and there's giant spiders, yes spiders! I wouldn’t put a giant spider in an 18’s movie! That could scare anyone who's scared of spiders (that’s me lol)

Is there a Christian message in the Hobbit series?

Have you ever travelled been away from home, family and friends longer than your heart can bear? This bittersweet ache for home is the beating heart of Peter Jacksons The Hobbit film series. At the end of Part one An Unexpected Journey little Bilbo is very much homesick and knows the only way to get back is to first find the home of the dwarves. In The Desolation of Smaug things as can imagine don’t go as planned, Gandalf disappears and they are faced the dangers of Mirkwood Forest alone and of course the

Dragon.

The story set in middle earth seems a strange place to find anything Christianity. There are no prayers, bibles, or any mention of Jesus or anything else that might associated it with the Christian faith; so how might it to be Christian?

 Two things to consider:

1, The Author’s own comments:

Tolkein was a devout Christian who attended church regularly and played a large part in leading his friend C.S Lewis to faith in Jesus. While Lewis published classics like ‘Mere Christianity’ where faith is clear and direct, Tolkien preferred not to make his faith so evident in his works.

This does not make his faith any less sincere or passionate; he simply chooses to express it differently.  In the same way my Christian joiner friend Trevor does not need to devote his crafts to pews, pulpits and crosses so too does Tolkien find no need to use his writing skills directly on Christian work.

However he does not hide this faith on put it under a bushel when writing: In a letter dates October 25 1958, Tolkien wrote: ‘I am a Christian” and then adding “which can be deducted from my stories.” In addition to this he told American scholar Clyde Kilby, “I am a Christian and of course what I write will essentially be from that viewpoint.”

Remarks such as these make it clear that at the very least it is not absurd to claim that Tolkien’s faith had a clear impact on his fiction including the story of The Hobbit.

2, The Christian Thread in the story:

Purpose: Bilbo is chosen for a specific purpose - one he did not create and even rejects at first. Bilbo looked content outside his little Hobbit hole, furry feet rested and blowing smoke rings into the summer sky. All is well in the shire and knowing that the cupboards where well stocked with food there seem no reason for change let alone adventure! That word was not on his radar... but someone had a different plan.

Though it seems incredible that such a person/Hobbit could be of any use to a team embarking on a life threatening adventure to the desolation of Smaug, Bilbo has been ‘chosen’ to do just that. In weakness, fear and trembling he becomes a helper and hero. And in helping others, Bilbo is helped... he returns eventually to his hobbit hole not with an ounce of treasure in his hands but a heart full of a very different treasure.

Tolkien is suggesting: If Bilbo has purpose, so might we.

Providence: Elrond holding up the lamp in the right moonlight, Bilbo stumbling across the ring, the keyhole appearing. There is too much reliance on chance and it seems clear that Tolkien is suggesting something bigger: The hand of Providence. The writer has a personal faith and conviction that God works in mysterious ways and he uses Gandalf in his final words to Bilbo to address this “You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventure and escapes were managed by luck, just for your sole benefit?”

I guess the bearded wizard could ask the same question to each of us... Providence?

(Providence: the foreseeing care and guidance of God over each of us)

Protection: This is a world of good and evil, a world where Bilbo needs to think carefully clearly and make choices. There is always a decision to be made: Adventure or comfort? Spare Gollum or not? Hide or fight?

With the material comfort of the Shire constantly on his mind he presses on with his mission trusting that in making the right choice, protection will come.

What is more important: mission or comfort? Character or talent?

From the smallest and weakest, The Hobbit reminds each of us that we can make a difference and we each have a role to play.

Of course you don’t need to have a Christian faith to enjoy the movies, that’s what makes them so universally popular and while I feel film director Peter Jackson (brilliant as he is) has, and perhaps unintentionally, sucked some of Tolkien’s original core value from the writing yet there is still some Christianity alive in middle earth and a little Bilbo Baggins in each of us.

In closing I will leave one of my favourite quotes from The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

‘It does not do to leave the dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him’

Let’s be careful out there!

Onwards

Mitch

The Bible is a dusty old fashioned book loaded with rules, contradictions, half truths, manipulative stories and legends.

“The Bible is a dusty old-fashioned book loaded with rules, contradictions, half truths, manipulative stories and legend. It is at best irrelevant and at worst a dangerous book which has divided people, broken families and caused militants to rise up and kill the innocent. It is a crutch for week people, a hiding place for the weird and a platform for religious nuts to shout and force their opinions into others. Should such a book even be kept in the house let alone read?”

That may be your opinion but I dare you to read it. I dare you to lay aside your preconceived ideas and prejudice to give it a go. If you have been ‘Bible Bashed’ before or people have tried to manipulate or intimidate you with its words then on behalf of all right thinking believers I apologise. The Bible is described as a sword and there have been many, including myself, who have in their enthusiasm and lack of skill flashed it’s blade like a toddler with a light-sabre. 

Why read it?

The Bible is a book like no other; it has not only shaped our country but the world. It has moulded politics, culture, human rights, equality laws and democracy the world over.  Three Bibles are distributed free of charge every second and it remains the world’s No1 best seller.  It has inspired kings, leaders, artists, poets, sports stars the world over as well as billions of others as they go about their daily lives.

This book has something to say to everyone. It teaches us about honesty, hard work, leadership, integrity, charity, compassion, humility, self-sacrifice, putting others first and above all love. It brings hope to the hopeless, comforts those who mourn and shows us than in our brokenness God has made away for wholeness.

I desperately want to make this book ‘trendy again.’ There was time when carrying your Bible under your arm was just as cool as walking today with a set of ‘Monster Beats’  over your ears while plugged into your Ipad. 

Here is just one of many stories that offers great lessons for everyone.  

It’s the 20^th year of Artaxerxes, King of Persia about 450BC and the walls of Jerusalem have been a broken messy rubble for 120 years. They were torn down by the Chaldeans and then allowed to sit unrepaired for now more than a century. Now a city wall in ruins was a bad thing in those days. Not only did it leave the city open for attack, but it prompted ridicule from neighbouring powers. Literally tens of thousands of Jerusalem’s people had seen the broken walls and done nothing. What the people needed was someone to rally them, plan a course of action and take them through the building process. They needed a leader and they got one in a cup-bearer to the King called Nehemiah.

His story is one of the most remarkable stories of leadership ever recorded. He made plans, envisioned the people and worked with them to rebuild the walls. In the end, what lay a mess for 120 years was repaired inside just 52 days.

Are you a leader? There is much you can learn from this guy and you can find his full story inside the Bible in a book that bears his name: Nehemiah

Whey not find that old book and give the story a read... alternatively you can download it here 

Here are some leadership lessons from Nehemiah that we would do well to follow:

• He identified the problem that no-one else could see
• He approached and shared the challenge with key influencers 
• He measured up the task
• He cast the vision before the people
• He encouraged them with stories of past success
• He received ‘buy-in’ from the people
• He organised them
• He worked with them and not just from a desk

The walls were built because Nehemiah had a burden, showed ability to work in a team and led them with clear direction.

A dust irrelevant book? I dare you... blow the dust of the Bible and read it!

The Bible: A book of failures for failures

 

The Bible is a book of failures for failures

 

Tom Watson, Sr., founder of IBM, was being interviewed by a young man who asked the following question: “Mr Watson, how can I be great like you?”  Without hesitation Mr Watson responded, “Double your failures.”

Albert Einstein’s teacher described him as mentally slow, unsociable and adrift in foolish dreams.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas.

Winston Churchill failed in sixth grade and did not become Prime Minister until he was a senior citizen and eligible for a bus pass (62)!

And what about this guys climb to success!

Failed in business – bankruptcy, 1831

Defeated for legislature, 1832

Failed in business – bankruptcy, 1833

Sweetheart dies, 1835

Nervous breakdown, 1836

Defeated in election, 1838

Defeated in U.S. Congress, 1843

Defeated in U.S. Congress, 1846

Defeated in U.S. Congress, 1848

Defeated for U.S. Senate, 1854

Defeated for U.S. Vice President, 1856

Defeated for U.S. Senate, 1858

Elected President of the U.S. 1860

 

His name: Abraham Lincoln

 

I guess the point I am making is this; if you have failed a few times you are in good company. The greatest business people are often those who have also failed most. Every ‘no’ can take us closer to a ‘yes’; it’s how we respond it that really matters. Are we teachable? Can we learn from our mistakes? 

Remember: Failure is only temporary but quitting lasts forever.

 

The Bible is a great book to guide us through failure and into success. It is littered with stories of people who are remembered ‘to put it mildly’ for being less than consistent due to failure:

King David, Solomon, Moses, Joseph, Abraham, Jacob, Peter, Paul to name a few. Each one has a story of failure. All of these people where called by God to do great service and had the Bible been a book of fiction you would only have read about consistent and exemplary lives. You would not expect major blunders. Yet, what do we find in their lives: weak parents, jealous leaders, lies, arrogance, corruption and deceit. We see real people who took their eye of God and failed. Go and read them for yourself...these are stories we can relate to and learn from and in our weakness we can draw strength from their experience and see how gracious and merciful God is in spite of our failures.

Have you a failed business plan? Have you messed up with your family? Maybe you didn’t get the grades you hoped for in this year’s exams. The challenge is not to remain in the failure. Learn from it, lift your head and overcome. The people who rarely fail are usually the people who rarely try. Success is not how fast you reach the top, but how fast you bounce back when you hit the bottom.  Seeing yourself as a failure will not make you feel better and even more importantly will not help you do any better. Find new ways to work, focus on your strengths, admit your failures and plan to bounce back.

The worst thing we can do is worry about past failures for this will just compound yet more failure in the future. The Apostle Paul gave this great advice: ‘This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead’ Philippians Chapter 3 verse 13. This was Paul’s secret of success. It can be ours too - forget about past mistakes and think about how we can do better in the future.The Bible is a book for wobbly weak-kneed people who are big enough to admit they sometimes fail and need help.

 

 

 

Here is little prayer we can all pray: God, thanks for not giving up on me, thank you that you did not create me to become a failure. Help me to understand that in all my mistakes, disappointments, hurt and failures you waste nothing and you can turn it around for good.  Amen.

The lesson we need to remember is: we all fail but only failures stay down. Keep on trying and looking to help others when they fail too.

 

Make today a day when you give your very best.