Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:7-10

This morning I received an honest and rather blunt email from a friend I value greatly, in it they shared that something I had written (not on this blog) was arrogant and offensive.  My first reaction was actually to smile at this amazing friend, who has a really wonderful gift of telling me how things really are, and through this pointing me towards God.  Actually my friend is a prophet, she speaks the painful truth and in turn points me to God.

And my prophetic friend is right, I had been rather naïve and somewhat arrogant, and yes I unfortunately have a tendency towards arrogance.  With her stinging rebuke ringing in my ears I took off for a walk through the bush, taking some time to chat with God.  While I walked, James 4:10 came to mind: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. I headed for my caravan office (see photo below!) determined to come to grips with this amazing passage.

The key message for me is the importance of humbling myself, which in the greek literally means to bring low, that is, to realise who I really am, to notice my many shortfalls, to strip back the exaggerations and face the bare facts about me.  And when I face the cold reality I realise how much I need God.

I need to submit myself to God, to come under the influence of God in every aspect of my life.  And this happens through honestly facing my shortfalls, such as my arrogance.

My arrogance comes from a deep seated need to please my father, it is completely illogical as sometimes these things are (my dad is very proud of me and we love each other very much).  And this manifests in seeking the approval of others, and I do this by showing off.

So today I wash my hands and purify my heart: I take the decision to reform, to abstain from needing approval from others.  I realise that my strength comes from the one who created me, my assurance from the one who will lift me up.

I cannot be double-minded and seek approval from the world and from God, I choose God.

I praise God for this challenge and for my prophetic friend!

God bless,

Mark

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The Portion for next two days is: Jeremiah 17-21 and Mark 11-12

(I don’t post on my saturdays, so two days provided).

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

This is me in front of my new office for my company Global Scope Media, and where I spend time in the Word and studying – yes a caravan!  Love it!

James 1:12 : Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Many years ago a well known Christian leader I had some dealings with was caught out having an affair.  He had been seeing another woman in secret for more than 4 years. It really rocked me and the other Christian men in my network.  We asked questions of each other, how could this happen?  How could he allow himself to get into this situation?  Why didn’t his faith challenge him to stop?  And then a young pastor friend of mine said to me, ‘Mark this could happen to you or I, we need to be vigilant.’  I have never forgotten this.  Temptation is ever present in my life, this is part of life, and not being tempted is unrealistic.  But I am no victim drawn towards sin without little choice!  There are some precautions, some things I can do to avoid sin that are outlined in this amazing James 1:12 reading.

The first is to love God, which in the greek is agapao, meaning to be devoted.  So I counter temptation and sin by spending a huge amount of time thinking about God.  Reading His Word, in prayer, chatting with others: making God a major focus in my life.

The second lesson from James 1:12 is the importance of enduring.  Just keep going, stay on the path, being determined not to give up, even when other have departed.  Stand firm!

The third help I find in James 1:12 to reduce the affect of temptation, is to desire the crown of life.  The crown is a reward given by a king, and that king is God, and the reward ceremony will be in heaven!  This is something I really need to work on, desiring my reward in heaven.

And the final help is to yearn to be blessed.  Blessed refers to God’s favour, of God working through my life in amazing and wonderful ways -  oh I want that!

So how do I reduce the affects of temptation in my life?  I seek to be devoted to God, to endure through the hardships, to desire after a reward in heaven and to yearn to be blessed.  Praise God!!

God bless,

Mark

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The Portion for next day is: Job 31-32

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

James 1:19-21: Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

I while back I witnessed something that really bothered me. I saw two men screaming at each other, and then one of the men punching the other guy in the head. And that was it, after some more yelling, they parted. And I found myself thinking about, ‘let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.’ My first response to this reading was that I am not an angry kind of person so how does this relate to me?  And witnessing the argument seemed to confirm that, as I would never hit someone.  And then God brought to mind a meeting I was at recently where I found myself getting very angry by what people were saying.  Thankfully I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut in the meeting, but afterwards I was slamming doors and getting seriously worked up.  I drove home my mind full of thoughts of retribution, thoughts of how I would react, all out of anger and all absolutely ridiculous.

The next day I was still angry, still ready for a battle and then everything changed in a moment.  In the midst of my anger I found myself talking to God, asking why this had happened, and God gave me this amazing peace -

TRUST ME.

Wow.  Trust God.  What ever happens I need to trust God.  A smile entered my world, the anger draining away.  And then I learnt more about the meeting that had got me all pent up and discovered that there was more going on than I realised and actually I really didn’t need to be angry at all.  And this reminds me that I have a long way to go in my faith.  I seek the meekness that comes from having the word implanted in me as the James reading states.  Meekness is being quick to forgive, gentle, prepared to let go of that which would make me angry.  I want to be able to forgive instantly, to be gentle and loving in who I am, not how I am.  So I don’t want to act gentle and forgiving, I want to be gentle and forgiving.  And this can only come from having the Word of God implanted in me.  And this is why I spend so much time immersed in the Word, to graft this mighty Word into my soul; that it becomes part of me.

I seek you Lord, I trust in you.  Praise God!

God bless,

Mark

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The Portion for next day is: Psalms 45-47

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

Luke 6:27: ‘But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.’

I had intended to reflect on way more Scripture than this, but I couldn’t get past verse 27! What a seriously powerful message!!

Recently someone I hardly know was unbelievably rude to me, and my initial reaction was to get angry and upset, and try and work out a way of getting back at them. My reaction certainly wasn’t to love them and be nice to them – and this is why this reading is so tremendously challenging.

Enemies in the greek is those who are rude and hostile towards us, people who for whatever reason treat us badly. And rather than lash out Jesus challenges us to respond in a completely different way. The first word is Love which in the greek is agapao and literally means to have generous concern for, to value and esteem, to be faithful towards and delight in. And then there is good which in the greek is kalos and refers to speaking well of someone, praising and applauding them.

So if someone is rude to me or treats me badly Jesus is saying that I am to treat them with considerable respect like they are a close special friend or dear family member… wow. I read the Bible and God is forming me, smoothing out my rough edges.. and now I am ready to love my enemy and do good to them. This is nothing short of stunning.

Is it just me or does this Scripture challenge you?

God bless ya!

Mark

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The Portion for next day is:  1 Samuel 26-31

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

I posted a quote on the Bible page and various other pages and it attracted more than 1,000 comments and some very strong negative, defensive reactions and some in complete agreement.  It was titled, The Crisis of Overworking Men:

‘Why are so many Christian men overworking and undercaring for their wives and children? The time has come for us men to examine what is really important in life: our work or our wife? Ephesians 5:25-31,33 A man should love his wife as Christ loved the church and as he loves his own body.

Everywhere I look I see this pattern of men getting distracted, getting their priorities all wrong when making their main focus not their wives and children but work, whether paid or not.  And this is really really bothering me.

This is not just limited to men, of course woman struggle with this overwork issue as well, but right now I am turning my attention to my fellow men.

And I completely understand the need to work, to bring in money for the family – this needs to happen!  But I see men take high pressured, time hungry jobs that consume their thoughts even when they are not at work, just so they can have a nice house and/or car.

And in the midst of this driven, high pressured environment their relationships with their kids and wives suffer.

Ephesians 5:25-31,33 says: A man should love his wife as Christ loved the church and as he loves his own body. Our wife and kids should be the priority in our lives, and yes we need to be part of providing for them, but also we need to spend more time with them, playing with them, listening (no really listening), reading them stories, going on walks, playing games and lots and lots of laughter.

This has got me really stirred up..  really bothered by this.  What do you think?  Would love to read your comment below.

God bless ya,

Mark Brown

http://twitter.com/RevMarkB

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The portion for the next two days is: Exodus 9-12

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

Isaiah 40:28-31:  ‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’

Yesterday I was interviewed for a global leadership role of an amazing Christian organisation and wow what an experience!

I feel like I gave it my best shot, that I said all that I wanted to say and was able to provide a clear vision and idea of what I would do if given the role.  And for those reasons I am very happy with how it went.

I felt a huge sense of peace and joy throughout the interview, praise God!   And a massive thanks to those who prayed for me, you are amazing!

So I have done all I can, now it is up to God.  Whatever happens, my prayer continues to be that God’s will is done.

Two massive things happened to me through participating in the interview process, the first was God giving me a strong sense of what I am to do with my life, which I shared in my last blog post (to read about this click here) and the second directly relates to the amazing reading from Isaiah above:  I realised I work way too hard.

5 weeks ago I finished as CEO of Bible Society New Zealand and my plan is to slow the pace of life down, spend more time relaxing, hanging out with my wife, playing with my kids and exploring ideas and relationships.  But what has happened is actually the opposite, I have been extremely busy and I am not to happy about it.

In coming away for this interview I have had a couple of days at the hotel I am staying in to prepare, to rest and so by the time I got to the interview I was my usual self, full of energy, my focus and capacity for thinking was sharp and my responses spot on.  And I realise that this is actually what God wants me to be like all the time, this is more of who I am, as opposed to the usual tired me I have become used to.

I realised that I need to take more time out, rest more so that I can fully be who God created me to be.

I need to relax in the evenings, take way more breaks, reduce the number of tasks I am involved in and most importantly, I need to hope in the LORD as it says in the Isaiah reading above.    The Hebrew behind the word hope means to wait, to be patient, to take the time out so that God can work.  Wow.

Here I am rushing around expecting God to act within my busyness and God is saying to me to slow down, to spend more time waiting, praying, resting so that He can renew my strength.  And I have received a taste of this over these past few days, where in the midst of me focusing on fewer things, on slowing down my hectic pace and taking more breaks,  I feel renewed and stronger for it and God has blessed me with an amazing sense of what I am to do with my life.

Praise God!!

God bless ya,

Mark Brown

http://twitter.com/RevMarkB

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

If you would like to subscribe to this blog and receive my reflections as an email for free:  click here.

And I welcome your comments!!  Click on comment and scroll down.

Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The portion for the next two days is: 1 Cor 13-14

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:7-9

Tomorrow is a big day for me as I am to be interviewed for a global leadership role.  And in preparation for the interview I have been thinking a lot about my vision for the organisation I might lead, and was blown away when I received a strong sense of what God wants me to do:

To be part of leading a reformation of society, one person at a time.

Wow.

The position I am being interviewed for would be an amazing way to express this calling, but I also realise that if it isn’t this particular position, another will emerge.

Wow I get excited at the thought of being part of leading a reformation of society, one person at a time! Society will reform when you and I submit to God and come into His presence.  For once this happens we will see a change in our attitude, a change for the good in how we relate to those around us and how we decide what is important in life.

I believe this will lead to more passionate evangelism, increased involvement in church, an increase in discipleship, and many more acts of selfless service, all towards glorifying God.  This will lead to a greater concern for the poor and disenfranchised and less glorification of material excess, we will witness greater acts of love and compassion and less violence and self interest, we will see families drawn closer together rather than being pushed apart through anger and abuse.  And I yearn to be part of this reformation.

This calling is a culmination of many years of preparation and yet it coming today is absolutely perfect.  As tomorrow I am being interviewed for a role that would provide the structure in which to offer global leadership to this calling.

In the Joshua reading above I am challenged and encouraged to spend considerable time reflecting on the Bible.  As it says to meditate on it day and night, so that it doesn’t depart from my mouth.  The challenge of the teaching contained within the Bible to be constantly part of my thinking, part of my approach to life.

As this calling starts with me, I am the first person who needs reformation.  I need to continue to spend time in the Bible, to be praying, facing my sin and actively yearning after Jesus.   And I don’t do this alone, for as Joshua states, I am to Be strong and very courageous… for the LORD my God will be with me wherever I go!!  Praise God!!

So will you join me in this calling?  Will you submit to God and open yourself up to reformation, to an even greater change in your heart?  I invite you to join me as together we yearn to be in God’s presence!!

And I invite your prayers as I am interviewed for this awesome role; I seek only to do God’s will. (My interview is on friday the 23rd April at 11am, to see what time this in your part of the world click here.)

God bless ya!

Mark Brown

http://twitter.com/RevMarkB

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

If you would like to subscribe to this blog and receive my reflections as an email for free:  click here.

And I welcome your comments!!  Click on comment and scroll down.

Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The portion for the next two days is: Mark 9-10

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

Here is my final devotion of the five part series on ‘How to be a strong Christian’ for my kids, with the final one being on serving.

We spent quite a bit of time at the beginning reviewing the other four, and reinforcing the connection with each of their fingers.  The first finger is prayer , the second is reading your Bible, third is dealing with sin, and the forth, attending church.  My plan is that over the next weeks and months, I will remind them of these five important parts on how to be a strong Christian.

Then I spoke about serving, asked what they thought it meant, and shared how serving is helping others out, even when we don’t benefit ourselves.  I read 1 Peter 4:10:  Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

And then taught them that when we serve others using the gifts God has given us, that we are actually sharing God’s wonderful love!

I asked my kids what gifts they had with my 6 year old boy sharing that he had a gift in finding bones (he is a junior palaeontologist!) and making campfires, my 3 year old boy shared that he was good at hugs (oh he so is)!!  Then I issued them a challenge each, to come up with three things they could do over the next couple of days that serve others and show the love of God.  We wrote up a list with boxes to tick when the task is complete, and what a list it is!!  Not long after I finished the devotion, I was getting something from my bedroom when my 3 year old boy bursts in arms wide and gives me a wonderful hug!  And in that act he served me and I really did feel God’s love.. wow.

I will be continuing to lead devotions with my kids and though I won’t be regularly posting them on this blog I am sure the will make an appearance from time to time.

God bless ya!

Mark Brown

http://twitter.com/RevMarkB

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The portion for the next two days is: Jeremiah 12-16

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

Number four of my five part devotional series for my kids on ‘how to be a great Christian’ was on the importance of forgiveness!

I started by reviewing the other three days, using the fingers of our hands as prompts, the first finger being Prayer, the second finger, reading the Bible and the third finger going to the church.

And then I spoke of how every person on the planet sins, does wrong and that we need to pray to Jesus, to admit our sin and then Jesus will forgive us, and once that happens our sins are gone!!!

I read 1 John 1:9:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

And reinforced how important it is to share our sins with Jesus and to know that He takes the sins away.

Then we performed a play!

My 6 year old boy carried a bag on his back, my 3 year old and my 1 year old put rocks into the bag, and each rock represented a sin, weighing my boy down, eventually his bag was full and he called out, ‘help me Jesus! Please forgive my sins.’ At that point my daughter stepped forward and playing the part of Jesus she started to remove the rocks, one by one till the bag was empty and he was free of the burden!!  I asked my boy whether he felt relieved to not having the weight on his back (it was heavy!), he turned to me and said, ‘no it wasn’t heavy, easy to carry dad!’, that’s my macho 6 year old boy, don’t mess with him!! LOL!

I want to declare that without the forgiveness I find at the foot of the cross I would be a mess.  I say this not only as an Anglican Priest, but as a qualified psychotherapist.  The grace available to me at the cross is one of the most beautiful aspects of my walk with Jesus.  It is freely given and I embrace it wholeheartedly.  I am far from perfect and to know when I slip up, when my bag is full of rocks, that I can go to Jesus and he will forgive me.  YES!!  Praise Jesus!!

Mark Brown

http://twitter.com/RevMarkB

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The portion for the next two days is: Psalm 42-44 and Job 29-30 (I don’t post on Sat hence the two!)

To access the complete plan for the year click here.

Ok I realise my blog has suddenly developed a devotion for kids bent and there is a good reason.  I am massively challenged to step up and share in the spiritual development of my kids and this is so big for me I want to share it with you.  And if I am upfront, I kinda hope it inspires you!

So this is number three of five, once I have finished the 5 ‘fingers’ of the ‘how to be a great Christian’ hand I will return to normal service.

So today’s devotion was on going to church.  I set the room up like a church and then when the kids and my wife were seated I went up the front and with a cheeky smile on my face I pretended it was church!  I greeted them, asked who was a visitor for the first time and had some fun to relax them.

Then I asked them what they liked about playing with their cousins, my kids aged 8, 6, 3 and 1, those who could, shared how much fun it was, the games they played etc..  I talked about the bond and connection they have with their cousins, the fun they have, the things they learn from them.  I then said that church can be just like that, a place where you play with friends, have fun and learn about Jesus.

I then talked about how church is a lot like our home, only it involves lots of other people!  I shared that at home and at church:

We get to meet friends

We help people out

We get to eat yummy food

We can pray and sing cool songs

And we learn about Jesus

I then read Hebrews 10:25

Some people have given up the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.

I spoke openly how lots of Christians don’t go to church and yet they should, as it is a place where they can receive lots of encouragement and encourage others!

And then we went round the family and each person shared an encouraging thought about the other members of the family.  My 8 and 6 year old said of me that they loved that I was a strong Christian!  Well praise God for that!!

And we finished with prayers and something to eat and drink, just like church.

God bless ya!

Mark Brown

http://twitter.com/RevMarkB

http://www.facebook.com/MarkBrown.page

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Yahweh’s Yarn in a Year : 1 year Bible reading plan

The portion for the next day is: 1 Samual 21-25

To access the complete plan for the year click here.