Jesus lasts

Have you ever been doing something which you have deemed routine, normal, which you do all the time, and then completely out of the blue, a feeling, thought, insight has suddenly come over you which changed everything? Maybe it's just that I'm a deep thinker, but I get these things often. But I got one on Saturday which was truly life-changing, and opened my eyes to just what God's been doing with me.

I was walking through Sutton town centre, in the midst of Christmas shopping, with people everywhere with shopping bags full of presents, going in and out of shops, with offers all over the place for presents and decorations up, all fueling the consumer version of Christmas.

I felt sick.

I wrote a few weeks ago a blog post called 'Is this it?' and it was that thought going through my mind again. What I was seeing was all the evidence I needed of how much we need God, and that there must be something, somewhere, that is bigger and better than this. There has to be a bigger purpose and meaning to life than the consumer dream and dog-eat-dog, atheist, scientific, consumerist view of the world. (Even writing that sentence and re-reading it, it just looks inadequate and shallow, to be honest)

Before I had felt a kind of righteous anger at this, but now I'd moved on from that. It was much deeper than anger.

I actually felt God's heart for the people around me. It wasn't some holier than though, self-righteous, 'I'm better than you' religious idea or feeling. I can hardly preach to anyone else, because at times I've been part of this whole thing too and I'm in no way perfect or wiser than anyone else - as I will come on to in a minute. But I just felt sorry for people whose whole life revolves around money, possessions, relationships and 'things'. I was thinking that there is something much bigger going on, a bigger story they could be part of, a hope that is real and delivers - and none of them know it. I was thinking, if they only knew the hope and the reality of the Jesus I know, the God who invites us to join His story and who loves us all just as we are, their lives could be so much different. It fired me up again to make sure that I make the best use of what God’s given me to serve Him and serve His kingdom.

However, God wasn’t done with me. That was just the warm up. As I reflected on this I began to realise just how much I myself had been a part of this, even though I’d said I wasn’t. I realised this sadness I felt for others, was how God had felt about me sometimes even though I know there is something better. In a way, that’s worse, because I shouldn’t be orientating myself around these consumer dreams and values, I know there's a real hope that delivers and at times I've not given myself fully to it. I think I began to realise how much I had gone away from God in this area at times, how self-involved I was under the guise of wanting to do the right thing. I thought of all the prayers I'd prayed and how often I'd prayed for myself, for things I'd wanted or moaning about things I didn't have, in comparison to the time I'd prayed for others, how much confession I'd done and how much praise I'd given to God without condition.

I realised just how much at times I had allowed myself to drift away from God's heart and plan for me. I understood just how much fear there was and is in me. After all, fear is how our culture operates. Think about it. Most adverts on some level, most people trying to sell you something do it in a form of fear, trying to make you feel your life isn’t complete without their product. It’s how marketing works to a large degree, and I’d allowed that fear to run my life at times, instead of the fear of the Lord. 

And there was other types of fear I’d allowed to get in the way. 

I'm trying to pursue my writing and develop myself and invest in myself, so that I can become more like the man God made me to be and use what I have to serve others - which is a good thing. I've made a commitment to try and make Jesus the first in my heart - which is a good thing.

But I have realised how afraid those two things make me. Because they have compelled me to face up to reality, to expose myself to God and to the world, to take responsibility for my life and risk failure, embarrassment, and also making some decisions without knowing about how they are going to turn out. And in one sense, that's a great adventure and very exciting, and brings me closer to God.

In other ways, however, it's very scary, and it would be easy to walk away and go back into my comfort zone, immerse myself in the old consumer way of life which is a lot easier, and put my faith and hope in those things. But I can't now. I've seen how pointless - and, frankly, boring - that existence is, and I don't want to go back. I don't want a life without Him. My prayers now are beginning more with how much I need God, how afraid, vulnerable and weak I really am, how I want God to be the first and thanking Him for being with me. There's less asking for stuff now. I think there's a lot more fear of the Lord in my prayers than there ever has been.

I mean is life really all about just getting stuff to make us happy? Or getting a good feeling when we buy something? About achieving a certain status? About making money? About getting the right relationships and family life? Those things aren't bad in themselves, and it's good to pursue these things in one context. But if these are our whole lives, then we're not going to be truly fulfilled and satisfied. There's going to be something missing. And when things don't go our way, when things go wrong, when we struggle - and we will at some point - we will have nothing to sustain us, nothing to keep us going because the thing we put our hope in will have proven to be fallible. Relationships can fail. We can lose our jobs. We lose people. Reputations can fall as quickly as they rise. None of those things delivers all the time, and personally I believe that none of them ever completely satisfies even at the best of times.

I know that there's no way I can go forward without God in my life, without God at the centre. Nothing else makes sense without Him. He's the only hope we have. Not money, not status, not position, not relationships, not politicians. Jesus is the only hope we have, the only thing that makes sense of life.

And until we acknowledge and recognise that, there's always going to be something missing from our life. There might be things that can fill that hole temporarily or partially, but I'm here to tell you that they never really deliver. They never last. They always need replacing or let you down - and it's only as you distance yourself from them that you will see how pointless these things really are.

Jesus lasts. Jesus delivers. Jesus is what we need, and our lives will not be complete or fulfilled unless they are ordered around Him and His kingdom, and that's not just a one-off decision, it's a lifestyle decision, it's a decision to re-begin our lives, to start with Jesus and fit everything and everyone else around Him, not fit Jesus into everything else.

Otherwise, life is always going to be missing something.

Ultimately, there is something bigger and deeper here. The key to this is that Jesus has to be the beginning of our lives, the first in our lives. We need to stop and then reorder, restart our lives around and from Jesus and the cross. It has to all begin with Him and come from Him, otherwise life is never going to make any sense. The rhythm of our lives has to start with Him.

I will try to develop this idea a bit further in future blog posts - and maybe even my book - but for now, ask yourself these questions.

Are you missing something in your life?
What things are you using to try and make sense or worth of your life?
Do you know Jesus but are trying to fit Him into your life, rather than fit your life around Him?
How are you going to respond to Jesus?

Posted via email from James Prescott

Grace or merit?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often been in the habit a lot of the time that I have to live a certain way, that certain things are inevitable, that there’s a path before me that I can’t change and that no matter what we do, our lives our going down that path. For a long time I’d told myself the lie that my life is destined for failure & rejection. There was a time when I always thought that way, consciously, even when things were good. 

No more. 

Now I know different, I know the truth, I know that all of those things are lies. 

God has been doing some amazing things in my life and changing me in recent years, that has dissipated, almost gone completely from the surface. 

But of course, then something bad or unexpected happens, like the other day with me. Something sudden, unexpected and painful happened which disrupted the momentum I was on, which disrupted the way I’d organised and moved my life on and caused me much stress and frustration, and reminded me of my past which I’d moved on from so well.

It took a bit of time - a day or so - but eventually I succumbed to the old message my heart used to play. That all good things were just a lie and that God was just waiting to ruin my life, to cause me more pain and suffering, that there’s no good thing allowed in my life without me having to suffer at some point for it.

Sounds pathetic doesn’t it? Probably because it is. 

I mean looking back I feel a complete fool for even thinking that or saying that outloud. But the truth is that God knew this was somewhere in me all along and still chose to bless me in all these ways I’ve been blessed - I mean, what an amazing God.

I mean that whole argument I was telling myself makes absolutely no sense. God loves me, Jesus died me, God has blessed me in so many ways in my life, and brought so many good things out of my suffering and grief, and given me so many gifts, so many opportunities and blessings. I am more blessed than a lot of people and have so much to be thankful for. I feel more alive in Jesus than I ever have been, I’m on a journey with Him where I don’t quite know will end, but I am kind of loving it and truly believe that however it turns out, God will use it for good. All that I absolutely believe and know to be true, all the way through to my heart.

But at the very end of my tether, when I had no energy left, no fight left, no mask on, I was totally broken, I realised there was still a very small part of me that simply wouldn’t trust God, that still believed that He has it in for me.

I am really thankful in this situation that I had a very good friend, who sat and listened to me talk about this on Skype for the best part of two hours and get all this out. But I am even more grateful for the next thing they did.

They pointed me to the Bible, to the promises of God. They reminded me of truths I already knew and believed that somehow had got lost in the panic and disruption of the previous day.

That God has good things for me - for us.

That He uses all things for good, no matter what.

That I’m His adopted son, I’m part of His family, and chosen and blessed by Him before time began. Fact.

In my weakness I began to claim these promises again, like it was the first time. Even though at first it was a struggle to believe them, but my friend didn’t give up on me. They kept challenging me ‘Do you really believe them?’ ‘What do they mean for you?’

The more I claimed these promises and started to reflect on them in my life, and interpret these promises for me, the stronger I felt, the more confident I felt that no matter what happened I could overcome this attack of the enemy. I was reminded of things I already knew, I felt I was being renewed, strengthened by the Spirit of God yet again, that yet again God was not giving up on me when things were difficult, that no matter how much a part of me tried to push Him away, He was having none of it.

Ever since then those verses have stuck in my mind, I haven’t forgotten them and I know they are true, no matter what life throws at me. I will always remember those verses and those truths, and that evening. It was a significant moment in my relationship with God. The truths I remembered that night were true, are true and will always be true, for me and for everyone.

And that’s the point.

This applies to us all.

C.S.Lewis once wrote about the idea that once you look at the evidence about Jesus, that you have to conclude that He was either mad, a liar or telling the truth, and once you eliminate the first two then the only conclusion you have left is that He was telling the truth.

One thing that always struck me about that idea and which this situation reminded me of again is that sometimes in our walk with Jesus we aren’t required to necessarily like the fact that He’s true and that the message of the gospel and the cross is true.

But it doesn’t change that it is.

We don’t have to always like the fact Jesus is true, no one has to like it. I don’t like that David Cameron is Prime Minister, for example, but it’s true so I just have to deal with it.  It’s all part of relationship, which is what God really wants with us. There are times when the last thing we want to hear is a scripture quoted to us, and we’re disillusioned with God and doubting Him. 

And we feel guilty for it, like we’ve done something wrong. Or we want God to go away and leave us alone.

But the reality is that this is all part of relationship. God understands that and fortunately for us He’s bigger than that. 

He doesn’t give up on us. He knows this stuff is in our hearts even when we don’t, and He still chooses to bless us and love us. The honest truth is that God knew that I had these subconscious thoughts, that they were deep down there somewhere, even when I didn’t. But He allowed that difficult situation to expose them so that He could open my eyes to them and minister to them, and as I accepted again who He is, and looked again at some of His promises, some of those areas started to be healed and restored, and I developed new coping mechanisms, healthier ones, and was able to begin the process of replacing those old subconscious tapes of lies with new ones of truth - and now I can be more aware of those old tapes there and work with God to remove them.

This is all the process of relationship, it’s what we do in all relationships to a degree, you work through issues together and deal with them, and move forward. This is exactly what we can do with God, and yet again affirms the truth that God isn’t interested in a religious, legalistic faith all about rules, but about a relationship based on certain values.

The best thing of all, for me, is that God still loves us, forgives us, gives us opportunities and blessings, even when all along He sees those insecurities, fears and doubts that we don’t even think we have. He knows so much better than us, takes care of us and is always with us.

He has a rhythm for our lives, a plan that’s much bigger than we understand or know. He knows everything that’s going to happen, all the choices we will make and no matter what He is going to love us, bless us and be there for us.

I mean think of all the doubts, insecurities and fears you’ve had about things in your life, looking back at difficult times - or if you’re in difficult times now. The thing is you see that even in the so-called ‘good times’ those insecurities and doubts were still there, but we just couldn’t see them. God was blessing us, things were good, but He knew all those doubts and insecurities were there even then.

It’s easy in the merit-based culture we live in to think that when something bad happens we’re being punished for something, or that somehow we’re to blame for the bad thing that’s happened, or our doubts and insecurities which these difficult times expose are somehow the reason why the good times have stopped.

But that’s a lie. That’s the lie I think I believed for a long time. 

That’s why grace is so scandalous and hard to accept, because this merit-based view of the world is so deeply ingrained in our culture. That’s why I’ve struggled to accept grace at times, because somewhere inside believed in that merit-based view of God for too long, and combined with a lack of self-esteem in my younger years it’s proved a deadly combination. 

But a merit-based faith comes from a religious, legalistic view of God, and as I said, it’s a lie. 

God wants relationship. He wants our hearts. He has a way He wants us to life, and the invitation is to join our lives to that story, that rhythm and reorder our lives and values around that. He loves and accepts us just as we are - but He loves us way too much for us to stay that way. 

There is an invitation - to believe the scandal of grace, to join your life with God’s and let Him reshape you into the shape He originally had for you, and receive His unconditional love, grace and blessing. 

Are you ready to accept that blessing?

Have you believed that you somehow have to earn God’s blessing?

Have you believed that bad things that have happened to you are somehow punishment from God, or that something has been denied you because of something you did?

How did you respond the last time something painful and unexpected happened?

Is your relationship with God based on grace, or merit?

Posted via email from James Prescott

God's Adventure

I know that in the times we live in - the so called 'age of austerity' - where things are difficult financially, people are losing their jobs and there are cuts everywhere you look, that it's a difficult time to be optimistic and feel alive. Or so it would seem anyway.

But I don't know about you, but I'm feeling alive right now. Really, truly alive

.

Some things have happened to me recently which have made me feel alive more than ever. Or more accurately, I've made some choices recently which have resulted in me feeling more alive. I’m an optimist my inclination, but I feel even more positive about myself and what God’s doing in me than normal right now, largely down to these choices I’ve made. 

I've invested in some personal coaching which is bearing fruit in ways I never expected with someone who has been a great encouragement, blessing and support to me, even friend (you know who you are, thank you so much!), I've got accountability with someone for decisions about my faith and life, I've started thinking practically about what God might be wanting me to do and taken the first tentative steps in following those things through.

You may already have noticed some changes here. My name at the top, the info bar at the side being about me and a more prominent picture of me. Now that's not because I'm vain (anyone who knows me knows that's the biggest joke ever) or I want glory or status for myself, but because I've realised to take the next step in my discipleship/development, and in particular in my writing,  my name needs to be out there a lot more. Eventually I'll be taking the 'Evolving Church' name off the blog completely - although that's still an idea and concept I'm passionate about and would like to explore further at some point. But one 'evolutionary' step I think I need to take is moving this blog and my internet presence to being more broadly focussed on what God is doing and saying in my life as a whole, rather than continually funneling it through the idea of Evolving Church. It gives me a lot greater freedom of expression in what I write, so that's what I'll be moving to in future.

I'm writing this post partially to keep you guys (and gals) in the loop as to what's happening, but also because this whole process is something I want you to be part of and want to share with you. The way I write has always been pretty open, and I've always tried to take experiences, reflections and lessons from my own life and share and relate them to us all, and that's what I'll continue to do.

What's happening now really feels like an adventure with God. A few weeks back God really challenged me about putting Him as the first in my heart - above career, above relationships, above everything - and I took the decision to pursue that. That doesn't mean I instantly had total faith in God and put Him first naturally in everything, and didn't make me some sort of 'super Christian' straightaway.

But I'd made a choice. A choice I have had to keep making every day since, despite considerable temptation. To be honest, sometimes I've failed, like when I bought a DVD the other day despite a part of me - the God part - telling me not to and that I didn't need it. I realised then how far I still have to go, and was reminded that I'll never stop growing and learning - and failing - but that actually the whole thing is a process which I'm constantly going through and part of.

That's one of the main reasons why the religious idea of God makes less and less sense to me. Religion is about following rules, about meeting a set standard and when you get there you get some kind of blessing and reward, it's about fitting within some set rules and regulations, it's not liberating, it actually holds you back. Certainly in my experience of more ‘religious’ versions of the Christian faith, that’s the impression that’s been given, and how I’ve been left feeling.

And it doesn't involve relationship at any level - nor does it necessarily require it. I didn’t even know you could have personal relationship with God one a one-to-one level until I went to university. I mean, I prayed a lot on my own before then, but it always felt like God spoke to people mainly in a corporate way rather than individually. I never really knew He could at that point.

I think sometimes the religious view of God is a lot easier for us though, because it fits more with the type of life we are used to - a set of rules the we adhere to, and then reward for doing the right thing. That’s the culture and mentality we’re brought up in and which is ingrained to us almost from birth. On top of this, this kind of faith is one that's very easy to tag on to a consumer lifestyle, to be our 'thing', something we do once or twice a week, almost like a hobby. Faith can be a lot easier to view that way, and is often communicated or perceived that way, amongst many 'organised religions'.

But this is the thing. Jesus wants relationship, and the key thing about relationship is that it's two way. It involves active participation and co-operation on our part.

God in Jesus has extended His hands out to us through the cross. He is ready to meet with us, to know us and be known more by us, to interact with us and show us who we really are, and our role in the restoration of all things, our role in bringing heaven and earth back together again. To see God's kingdom here, now - not somewhere else, someday. But here, now, alive and active and growing. He wants us to go on an adventure with Him

But to do that involves our participation. It involves us making choices to be intentional about our faith, to put Jesus first in our hearts above literally everything and everyone, and submitting to Him, and committing to choosing that every day. God doesn't expect us to get it right all the time, but if we are being intentional then we will be more aware of when and where we don't get it right, and be more able to deal with it, because we'll be more in tune with what God is doing and wants to do.

Life won't ever be boring, that's for sure. I know my life doesn't feel boring anymore. I'm not claiming to have it all together, to have nailed it, to have all the answers or that I always get it right. I don't claim this attitude will solve all your problems either. 

There will still be pain.

There will still be hard times.

Your life won’t always be simple. In fact, it may be even more difficult at times. It might even seem mundane sometimes - once the romance fades and we need to push on through (I still have that to come...) but we need to persevere in those times, because its through those times that we really grow. When we’ve gone through our Friday and come into Sunday (I will talk more about this in another blog...), then the joy, the good times, feel more precious, more joyful.

 

I know from experience life is not always going to be easy or ideal, no matter how good things are.

 

But I do know that since living this way, I've felt more alive than ever - and I don't want to go back to how things were, even though things were a lot safer before.

That's the adventure of God, the adventure of discipleship. That's the invitation God extends to all of us.

There’s a video below of a song by the band ‘Angels & Airwaves’ (if you’ve not heard of them, they rock) called ‘The Adventure’. It’s on a very epic scale, almost ‘Star Wars’-esque in it’s style, and for me it’s really powerful. It hints at there being a bigger story going on, an adventure for us all, one that we’re not meant to do alone. It inspires me certainly. I mean do you ever get a tingling down your spine when you see things like this, the fleeting thought that your life was meant for something bigger? I always do when I see things like this or any great film about destiny or identity - like The Matrix, Dead Poets Society and others.

I think that tingling feeling we get, that dream of something bigger, is from God. It’s God telling us somehow that our lives do have purpose, meaning, that’s bigger than just being part of the consumer life and tagging Jesus on to it.

 

God is looking for participants, co-conspirators in remaking creation and bringing heaven back to earth, He’s looking for partners, He’s looking for disciples. He wants relationship, He wants our hearts.

The song says ‘I cannot live, I cannot breathe unless you do this with me’. That could well be speaking about a dependence we need to have on God. But it speaks to me about God desiring desperately to have relationship with us, for us to engage with Him and be part of His plan, to join His adventure, to join ourselves to His story. He doesn’t want to do it without us.

Watch the video, and listen to the song. As you do, reflect on these questions.

Are you ready to embrace a bigger vision & dream for your life?

Are you ready to put Jesus first in your heart?

Do you want a life of adventure?

Above all, are you willing to join your story to God’s story, and go on the adventure of your life?

Posted via email from James Prescott

Control

Today I bought a new album (which shall remain nameless, though as it came out today that narrows it down considerably, especially for those who know me) and as I purchased it in the shop I suddenly had this thought come over me, which has come over me a lot more often recently.

‘Do I need this?’

‘Why did I buy this?’

Now to be fair it’s a great album and one I’ve been planning to buy for a while by one of my favourite bands, it wasn’t that expensive and will get a lot of use. But that wasn’t the point.

Me being a deep thinker, these two thoughts very quickly went beyond the superficial and into why any of us buy anything, why we have possessions, why they are so important to us, and my eyes began to open.

It’s all about control.

When we buy something, we gain control over it. We gain the right of possession, we can do what we like, when we like, how we like with what we have bought without consequence (as long as its legal of course). But there is a feeling, an emotion, a sense of satisfaction we feel inside when we buy something we really want.

All of us feel it, no matter how much we deny it. It’s almost ingrained into us. This feeling of self-satisfaction and happiness. But it’s not just happiness we feel. It’s power.

Buying something and possessing us gives us power - and the more we possess, the more powerful we feel, the more control we feel like we have, the more independence we feel like we have.

But that feeling good about being independent is rooted in a lack of trust in anything and anyone else. It’s rooted in the consumer, dog-eat-dog mentality which says you can’t trust anyone else, that ultimately it’s all down to you to do what’s best for you and don’t dare trust anyone else, because all they will do is hurt you, take advantage of you and bring you down. In fact, it also can say that it’s better someone else gets hurt than you, try to avoid suffering and getting tied down as much as possible, and if you’re “foolish” enough to get tied down in a relationship there’s always the get out clause of divorce or selling the flat you bought together.

That’s the so called ‘consumer dream’ that we are sold from the minute we’re born. Apparently this is the key to happiness, this is what will give us most satisfaction and joy, it’s the only thing we can put our faith in - ultimately, ourselves. Of course, we love it, because it makes us gods. 

And that can feel good. When things are good and we’re doing well, anyway.

The problem is that this idea only works for a few. It never works for everyone. The majority end up suffering - in fact, the reality is we all suffer, and because the consumer dream is all about feeling good, which never really delivers long-term, when we don’t then we deal with it very badly, and because our whole rhythm of life is geared towards achieving that dream we hardly have any space, any rest, any peace, and we don’t have community to support and encourage us at the difficult times, unless we are lucky enough to have grown up in a stable, happy family which is still together.

I experienced again today just how hard it is to be a Christ-follower in a consumer world and just how ingrained this consumer culture is into our thinking, feeling and routine. 

I’m trying to be a disciple of Jesus, trying to have Jesus first in my heart, to worship Jesus not possessions and take joy from giving and serving, not taking and receiving. Jesus words about the road being narrow took on even more significance today, and there was something even more profound that I began to understand.

That being a disciple of Jesus is not something you can fit in to your ‘normal’ life. It’s not something to fit into your life. 

It has to be the rhythm, the heartbeat, the soundtrack to your life. It has to be before anything. You have to retrain yourself to think, live and act like Jesus right from your very core, deep in your heart, in your subconscious. 

We almost have to go back to the beginning, and start again. Retrain ourselves to think, act, live and breathe differently. So that we see everything - money, possessions, food, work, everything - in the light and context of Jesus, and those things, if we have them (and they aren’t evil in themselves), are merely a part of a life ordered around Jesus’ agenda and values. Enjoy these things in proper perspective, and be willing to let them go, for the sake of God. 

Ultimately, the Jesus way is the total opposite. It’s surrendering control. It’s letting God take control of your life - not absolving responsibility, but being willing to take responsibility and make decisions in obedience to the way and calling of Jesus. It’s essentially saying that your life, and your body, and your gifts - which are ultimately from God anyway - now are no longer yours but His, to be used as He chooses for His purposes and cause. Our pastor put it brilliantly once, to be ‘change in Jesus pocket’. To make ourselves totally available for His kingdom and glory.

This is easy to say - not so easy to live, and its something I (and all of us) need to think about and spend a lot of time reflecting and meditating on, before taking some action. There are several communities in the US and UK who are trying to live out these values as community, and although I’m not saying all of us should do that (ideally maybe, practically, very difficult), I think they deserve greater examination and consideration, both in this and in the context of looking at Sabbath and rhythms of life. 

Church is people you see. It’s a group of Christ-followers working together for the good of the kingdom, through serving their own community and the wider community, and through serving and loving each other, discipling each other, praying and worshipping together and being taught about how to be and bring Jesus into their everyday. At it’s best it provides a network of support in times of need and a place to celebrate in times of joy, and can be the centre of it’s local community. At it’s best, everyone in a church would be pursuing this Christ-like life, trying to be a real disciple. When you see that practiced in community, it is an incredible thing, a real blessing. That’s something we can all be aspiring to.

And it ultimately can only come if we’re willing to give up control and build God’s kingdom.

It’s amazing how far you can go from simply buying a CD isn’t it? Looks like I’m making some Progress...

Posted via email from James Prescott

The Most Honest You Can Be

Have you ever heard someone say something about you, and the instant you heard it, it made sense?

Like it ticked a box, you connected with it in some deep divine kind of way, almost like you always knew this thing about yourself, or had felt it on some level, but someone saying it had merely confirmed it or vocalised it for the first time? You may even have thought this thing about yourself, but had either been too afraid or unwilling to admit it.

That happened to me the other day.

As part of my discipleship and growth I have booked myself in for some Skype coaching sessions with a well-known worship leader, someone with experience in ‘full-time ministry’ (though I dislike that phrase, as we all are one way or another) and who has studied theology and reflection at length, someone who can sharpen me, challenge me, and push me and move me on in my walk with Jesus and indeed in my writing.

For a while I’ve been trying to figure out my own distinct voice, my own message, my own style. I’ve known that although I’m pretty clever I’m not an academic in the traditional sense, however at the same time I’m passionate about church, theology & discipleship as well creativity, especially writing/speaking and video/audio communication. I’ve modelled a lot of what I do on people like Rob Bell, Brian McClaren and my own pastor Jason Clark. 

I was talking about my style with this worship leader/coach and having read a lot of my blog and heard my story they suggested one other person - of whom I’m also a big fan - who my style closely matched and seemed to fit with. Donald Miller. 

Now Don Miller is my favourite author outside the Bible. Rob Bell is a great speaker/author/communicator, but as a pure author Don Miller is supreme (and he’d probably be the last person to say it). I recommend his books to pretty much everyone I meet, especially his most recent, ‘A Million Miles in a Thousand Years’, about the concept of story in our lives (a book I read at least twice a year now, if not more). So to have someone say my style was similar to his and that these were the kind of books I should be writing, was encouraging to say the least.

But unlike the others, I’d not tried at any point in the past to be like him. I’d not copied him. Although I’d learned from the others, I’d essentially been me, and when I let me come out, then something a lot better emerged. Something similar to someone else entirely but something that was different.

It was me.

That’s thing this whole process opened my eyes to, simply that despite how similiar in style what I create might be to someone else’s work, whoever it is, it’s going to be different.

It’s going to be mine. It’s going to be me.

I mean I’m passionate about things that Don Miller isn’t maybe as much, I have experiences he hasn’t had, I have a different story to tell. The same with Rob Bell, Jason Clark and any others you may mention. I have a different story to tell than any of them and my work is going to be different to all of theirs - although their styles might have had some influence on mine, the work that I produce is still essentially going to be mine, and I don’t have to pretend to be anyone else or subconciously mimic anyone else, I just have to be me.

It’s a scary thing actually, being you, baring your soul - as someone who writes, I know this and I’m sure it’s true with anyone who creates. It’s almost like baring your entire soul in public, when you give out something of yourself you’re exposing yourself a little.

Almost like being completely, stark 

naked.

We don’t like that word do we? Naked. It makes us feel uncomfortable even reading it on a page, yet alone saying it. In fact I wasn't allowed to use it in the title of this post, that's how faux paux it is nowadays. But it’s not a rude word as far as I can see though. It’s merely a statement of something, which can imply something else.

But this word has endless connotations, which go way beyond the physical. Being naked is exposing the deepest, darkest, most honest places of your soul to the outside world. Showing people the things you don’t want them to see, that you try to hide. Things that only you (and God) know.

But sometimes, it’s the only way we can be really ourselves isn’t it?

We get so conditioned by the world to act, live and think a certain way, that everything can become a show for someone and we don’t even realise it. Sometimes it’s only when we go to bed on our own - which of course some people often do physically naked - that this comes off, and we say our most honest prayers, think our most honest thoughts, and feel the most honest.

God sees this part of us all the time. He knows it better than we do. He sees this all the time, and nothing we do can hide it from Him. 

But there is a message hidden in Genesis. Before humans rejected God, they were ‘naked and felt no shame’. I think we often miss the meaning there. It wasn’t just that they were physically naked and felt no shame, but that they were completely themselves, in the way God originally planned them to be, living in total harmony with God. To me the story says that when we’re in that condition 

there is nothing to be afraid of 

nothing to hide

nothing to divide us or come between us

In many ways, God wants us to be naked with Him. Divinely naked. 

He can already see our naked souls - but He want us to expose ourselves to Him so that He can show us who we really are, and heal the scars and wounds that we might find, and heal the division between us.

God wants us to be divinely naked. Right now.

Posted via email from James Prescott

Divinely Naked

Have you ever heard someone say something about you, and the instant you heard it, it made sense?

Like it ticked a box, you connected with it in some deep divine kind of way, almost like you always knew this thing about yourself, or had felt it on some level, but someone saying it had merely confirmed it or vocalised it for the first time? You may even have thought this thing about yourself, but had either been too afraid or unwilling to admit it.

That happened to me the other day.

As part of my discipleship and growth I have booked myself in for some Skype coaching sessions with a well-known worship leader, someone with experience in ‘full-time ministry’ (though I dislike that phrase, as we all are one way or another) and who has studied theology and reflection at length, someone who can sharpen me, challenge me, and push me and move me on in my walk with Jesus and indeed in my writing.

For a while I’ve been trying to figure out my own distinct voice, my own message, my own style. I’ve known that although I’m pretty clever I’m not an academic in the traditional sense, however at the same time I’m passionate about church, theology & discipleship as well creativity, especially writing/speaking and video/audio communication. I’ve modelled a lot of what I do on people like Rob Bell, Brian McClaren and my own pastor Jason Clark. 

I was talking about my style with this worship leader/coach and having read a lot of my blog and heard my story they suggested one other person - of whom I’m also a big fan - who my style closely matched and seemed to fit with. Donald Miller. 

Now Don Miller is my favourite author outside the Bible. Rob Bell is a great speaker/author/communicator, but as a pure author Don Miller is supreme (and he’d probably be the last person to say it). I recommend his books to pretty much everyone I meet, especially his most recent, ‘A Million Miles in a Thousand Years’, about the concept of story in our lives (a book I read at least twice a year now, if not more). So to have someone say my style was similar to his and that these were the kind of books I should be writing, was encouraging to say the least.

But unlike the others, I’d not tried at any point in the past to be like him. I’d not copied him. Although I’d learned from the others, I’d essentially been me, and when I let me come out, then something a lot better emerged. Something similar to someone else entirely but something that was different.

It was me.

That’s thing this whole process opened my eyes to, simply that despite how similiar in style what I create might be to someone else’s work, whoever it is, it’s going to be different.

It’s going to be mine. It’s going to be me.

I mean I’m passionate about things that Don Miller isn’t maybe as much, I have experiences he hasn’t had, I have a different story to tell. The same with Rob Bell, Jason Clark and any others you may mention. I have a different story to tell than any of them and my work is going to be different to all of theirs - although their styles might have had some influence on mine, the work that I produce is still essentially going to be mine, and I don’t have to pretend to be anyone else or subconciously mimic anyone else, I just have to be me.

It’s a scary thing actually, being you, baring your soul - as someone who writes, I know this and I’m sure it’s true with anyone who creates. It’s almost like baring your entire soul in public, when you give out something of yourself you’re exposing yourself a little.

Almost like being completely, stark 

naked.

We don’t like that word do we? Naked. It makes us feel uncomfortable even reading it on a page, yet alone saying it. It’s not a rude word as far as I can see though. It’s merely a statement of something, which can imply something else. I almost didn't use it in the title of this post, but to me it expresses most the message I really want to convey here.

But when you look at it's core meaning and examine it, this word has endless connotations, which go way beyond the physical. It's almost a divine word in a sense. Being naked is exposing the deepest, darkest, most honest places of your soul to the outside world. Showing people the things you don’t want them to see, that you try to hide. Things that only you (and God) know.

But sometimes, it’s the only way we can be really ourselves isn’t it?

We get so conditioned by the world to act, live and think a certain way, that everything can become a show for someone and we don’t even realise it. Sometimes it’s only when we go to bed on our own - which of course some people often do physically naked - that this comes off, and we say our most honest prayers, think our most honest thoughts, and feel the most honest.

God sees this part of us all the time. He knows it better than we do. He sees this all the time, and nothing we do can hide it from Him. 

But there is a message hidden in Genesis. Before humans rejected God, they were ‘naked and felt no shame’. I think we often miss the meaning there. It wasn’t just that they were physically naked and felt no shame, but that they were completely themselves, in the way God originally planned them to be, living in total harmony with God. To me the story says that when we’re in that condition 

there is nothing to be afraid of 

nothing to hide

nothing to divide us or come between us

In many ways, God wants us to be naked with Him. Divinely naked. 

He can already see our naked souls - but He want us to expose ourselves to Him so that He can show us who we really are, and heal the scars and wounds that we might find, and heal the division between us.

Posted via email from James Prescott