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Movie review, "The passion of the Christ"

I avoided watching the Passion of the Christ for a long time until now.  Seeing that it came out in 2004, I have avoided it for 15 years. Why did I not watch this movie earlier, being a Christian and a movie watcher?  Well I usually steer clear of violence in movies as I seem to have a low tolerance for images of cruelty and bloodshed. The reason I thought about watching it this year is that our pastor decided it would be screened for a movie night at our church.  Because I wanted my initial experience to be before the big night, I asked a close friend if she would preview it with me.  We both were very nervous to say the least and I was tense for the days leading up to the experience.  We ended up with my friend and her husband, and another friend in her lounge room- no snacks- and much nervous chatter and could I say 'avoidance' chatter beforehand and even at certain intervals throughout.  There were murmurings of 'here we go', 'now it begins' and 'oh
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God 'called it', I believe it!

God gives us many good promises in the bible.  The promise we are mostly aware of is his promise to save us from our sins if we call on the name of the Lord (Acts 2 v 21). In our being saved, he calls us "Holy" even though we can see we are still very human and weak.  He says even though our sins are as scarlet, we will be made white as snow (Isaiah 1 v 18). In Romans 4 v 17 the scripture says of God that He is the "- God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were".  This scripture is amazing, because it is quoted in the context of the story of Abraham, a man who God enabled to father a child at 100 years old and his wife being 90, not exactly the peak childbearing age! It was before God enabled Abraham to father a child through Sarah, that he called him by the new name, Abraham.  Until that point his name was Abram.  God said: "No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a F

Enduring strength

"He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless" Isaiah 40 v 29 NLT. I read this verse this morning and saw it in a totally different light.  I used to mainly see this as talking about God's power to sustain us daily, that is, while we are experiencing particular weaknesses and struggles...(which I still agree he provides). Power = Empowerment He also gives us empowerment- and I saw this as a type of 'deliverance'- lasting changes in our feeling of power and strength through changes in us and our circumstances and situation. This is the concrete lifting of us from a weakened or powerless state in any number of areas and promoting us to a more enabled position. The following are some examples of the many kinds of empowerment that I could think of... Leverage The ability to create change The ability to influence The ability to be heard- having 'a voice' The ability to sustain a healthy relationship Emotional happiness and stabili

Completion

John 17 v 4 "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do" NIV Jesus prays in John 17 this statement of fact when he is with the disciples, before he went to the cross.  It seems Jesus had a sense of completion of at least one stage of God's work for him at that time.  It was like he was giving his own eulogy before his departure. And he had succeeded in completion. I believe that's a word for myself and others right now- completion. If we are thinking about giving something up, ask yourself- have I really completed this? There is work God has given us to do- and there is a point of completion God has in mind for each of those areas. We get so tired sometimes that it seems something has to go out of our schedule- maybe the most difficult thing is the most tempting to let go of- God might be releasing you- but pray for wisdom... I had realized there was an area of ministry I was involved in I was starting to dread fronting up

Psalm 62

Psalm 62 v 1-4 (Passion Translation) To the Pure and Shining One King David's melody of love's celebration " I stand silently to listen for the one I love, waiting as long as it takes for the Lord to rescue me.  For God alone has become my Savior.  He alone is my safe place; his wrap-around presence always protects me.  For he is my champion defender; there's no risk of failure with God.  So why would I let worry paralyze me, even when troubles multiply around me? But look at those who want me dead, shouting their vicious threats at me!  The moment they discover my weakness they all begin plotting to take me down. Liars, hypocrites, with nothing good to say.  All of their energies are spent on moving me from this exalted place." David is in an interesting position.  He stands serenely waiting for Gods help, for which he is fully confident.  The visual image is that he is wrapped in protection, and that is Gods very presence. God's pres

Make way for the Glory

"When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.  And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple" 1 Kings 8 v 10-11 This is an amazing scene.  Solomon has finished building the temple and instructs the ark to be brought up.  All the people are gathered.  And God comes and fills the temple with his presence. Last month I had a vivid dream about our church service being interrupted by the power and glory of God.  I looked out and suddenly the chairs were cleared- everything was 'out of place'.  Someone helped me find my place in the order of service 'script' as I was worship leading.  Someone called out 'can we have the chairs back?'.  When I went out to the bathroom a door was hanging off it's hinge as though 'the place had been shaken'.  (This reminded me of the place in Acts 4: 31 where it says "After they prayed, the place

Breakthrough is upon you!

My son has struggled with his health the last year and a half.  After many investigations it was revealed he had a parasite infestation- sounds terrible, right?  Apparently it's not uncommon for us to have some species in our system but most people don't get any symptoms. My son's had a lot of nausea and fatigue and missed many days of school.  This year he missed almost the whole of the first term of grade 7.  It took awhile to go through the processes to confirm the parasites again this year and he's on his second lot of antibiotics.  So it was the second lot of antibiotic, we ran out of supply and missed the closing time at our country pharmacy. He missed almost two days.  If you know antibiotics you need to keep them up regularly to be effective. I was in the pharmacy this morning- I was rushed, tired and not feeling fantastic emotionally after a disturbed sleep.  The pharmacist or assistant tells me that sorry there's no repeats on the script.  I say that