Hey, so God wanted me to share something about my day today. Today's Saturday. A day I'm normally super stoked about and really look forward to. No work, chill out, maybe hang out with family, work on cars or motorbikes or build something and most definitely have a skate (of course!). Well, today wasn't that day... I had a problem at work this week - a pretty small mistake on my part - that effected a client in a big way and it meant I had to work this morning to make it right. Like I said, it was no ones fault but mine. A small oversight which ended up becoming a huge problem for them. I'm the type of guy that doesn't like to leave things unresolved especially if I had any part in it being that way. It meant I'd have to make it right and it meant I wasn't getting paid a single cent for it either and I knew it was going to take up at least half my saturday. To make it worse I came down with a really sore throat and a cold last night so I knew Saturday morning wasn't off to a good start. I went to bed early like a good boy but barely slept at all and woke up feeling like a freight train had parked on top of me.

But, I had to fix this. There was no one else to do it and it was my problem so I prayed and asked God for the strength I needed and headed out the door. It was absolutely pouring rain outside and it took me a good hour to get to work fighting slow moving traffic the whole way. On the way there because there was so much rain flooding the road combined with an oil slick I spun my car 180 ending up backwards facing the traffic. Awesome...just awesome. Thanks to God I didn't hit anything and was able to just turn around and get back on the road. When I got there to work things went from bad to worse really quickly. The small problem became an even bigger problem and the more I tried to resolve it - it became even worse! It was like the opposite of that story of the King Midas with the golden touch - except everything I was touching turned bad. So I'm there at work, sick as a dog with barely any sleep and the client decided that today was a good day to be an audience the entire time for hours. Watching my every move, my every reaction, seeing if I'd sweat under the pressure, cave in and look for a way out, or someone to blame to take the focus off me.

About 2 hours in it was looking really, really bad and it meant that the client would have lost everything and all my work was for nothing. Hope was fading fast but I prayed quietly "please Father, I really need your help right now... really badly..." Immediately He told me what I needed to do - something really obvious but something I didnt think of before - and as soon as I did it the problem started working as it should have all along. Things started flowing and actually working. Thankyou God. I didn't care any more if I felt like I'd been pummeled by Mike Tyson, things were actually coming together and working. I wrapped everything up and was able to get in the car and head home to get some lunch. On the way home I was praying and thanking God for helping me because I really had no hope without Him and this is what He told me... "Mark... there's always someone watching... Everyone has bad days. No one is exempt. What people are looking at is how you respond in those bad times... Do you run and hide and try to escape the bad? Do you cave in and give up? Do you swear and curse letting all your emotions get the better of you and your good character get thrown out the window? Do you throw a tantrum or a pity party and then take it out on someone later?

Do you look for someone else to blame for your problem? Do you long to run to that thing of addiction to ease the pain? ... Or do you stop and pray, ask for help from Me then stand up and move forward believing I will help you? Todayyou chose to believe in me. You made the right choice and they saw it too. You showed them what faith looks like." Long story short, today didn't start off good at all but God was with me. I chose not to let my client see my problems but instead believed that God was for me and with me and made it my mission to resolve theirs despite how hard it was. I asked for God's help and He gave it to me big time. I was truly stuffed without Him but with Him it all came together. Funny thing too, the client wants me back there next Wednesday to do some more work :) There's always someone watching. They're watching to see what you're made of. What's really inside you comes out under pressure - not who you are on the good days. God is good. Trust Him. He loves you.

[ Hebrews 12:1 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.] 

Hey, we all have those days where we can feel distant from God, where we feel His love might not reach us, where shame and regret grips our hearts and makes us feel alone and unworthy of a relationship with a loving Heavenly Father. The truth is this though...  nothing can separate us from God's love. NOTHING. No one and nothing. Not even you. The Bible says so in Romans chapter 8 and God holds His Word above His Name so that makes it about as totally final and absolute as its ever gonna be. Settled. Nailed down. Done. 1 John 3:20 goes on to say "even if our own hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts." So basically it's like this...God loves you. Endlessly. He's the Father in the story of the prodigal son that Jesus taught in Luke 15. Standing outside in the dark with a lantern on the corner of His property just waiting for the kid He desperately loves to come home and get the help and love they need. That's God. Love personified. Stop fighting His love and just embrace it and let it find you. Have an awesome day despite how you feel because God will never stop loving you. 

God put something on my heart to put on here a few days ago - a sort of prayer request type thing. He gave me the basic details but it wasn't complete and I knew He was going to fill me in with more later. Well, yesterday He did. This is what He wanted me to post. I wanna put up an offer to pray for you. Whoever you are. It doesn't matter if you believe in God or not. It doesn't matter if you feel worthy or not. It doesn't matter if you've done really bad stuff that you think voids you from a relationship with God. It's not about how you worthy, bad or good you feel about yourself - it's about need. So if you have a need for prayer even if you don't really believe in prayer or God - I do. And that's all that matters. Believing. All you have to do is ask. You can write below or remain completely anonymous if you like and message me through the facebook page link in my profile. Whatever you share goes no further than me and I won't judge you whatever it is. There is a catch though. I know you're thinking WHHHHAAAATTT??!!? There never should be a catch when it comes to praying for people. Hey, it's cool - I totally agree. "Freely you have received, freely give". Stay with me ok. Here's what God wanted me to say. I would love to pray for you. I'd love to agree with you in Jesus Name for what you need. Healing, Freedom, Peace, Provision. Who doesn't want that stuff? Here's what God wants you do do. He also wants you to pray for someone. He's going to bring someone across your path that's going to need it. You won't mistake it, your heart will confirm it. It might be a friend, a family member or even an enemy. He wants us all to pray for each other and our needs. To promote care, compassion and pure, selfless love. I know it's gonna be hard praying for someone else when you yourself are in so much pain and so much need but know this... The prayers God loves the most are prayers prayed in sacrifice. You praying for someone else while you're in great need is exactly that... Sacrifice. And that's what real love is... Sacrifice. Let's make this real and watch what God does. I believe He wants to do something big and we get to play a part. God loves you. 

Live like its your last day alive. Imagine like you just woke up from the best dream. Dance like no one's watching. Sing like your life depends on it. Create with passion because your Father in Heaven is watching through eyes of love. Take all the limiters off and go all out because life is the most amazing gift ever given. Make God smile because He created you awesome beyond description.

[ Psalm 139:14 - I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. ] 

Treat me nice... And I'll pray for you. Treat me nasty... And I'll pray for you. Either way, cross my paths and I'm gonna pray for you. Jesus taught me that every encounter is an opportunity for God's grace and love to be shared. It's simply our job to humbly offer His love and leave it up to the recipient to accept or reject it. Anything else I give will eventually fade - but if I give His love it has the power to change lives, bring freedom, and last far beyond this lifetime into forever.  

Hey, If you've read any of the things I write and the stuff I share you've probably already made up your mind about me in regards to a lot of things. I'm sure quite a few of you think I'm that nice guy that says always says the positive things that make you smile. Maybe some of you think "there's that skater guy with the really cool pics..." I'm absolutely sure that there are some out there that just cant stand who I am and think I should just shut my trap. Some of you maybe think "there's that guy that just keeps talking about God again...sheeesh". The ones that have met me may think you know me through and through but what I'm here today to show you is another side of me. A side that's always been there ever since the day I was born. I've been waiting for this day to speak like this for a long, long time and today God gave me permission to do so. What I'm going to say will disturb some and I'm going to be quite graphic for the sake of maintaining the truth and delivering what God has asked me to in the way He wants it to be delivered. Why am I saying this? Simply because I am a servant and a soldier of God and I do what I'm told. I'm doing this for truth and for freedom.


Do I have a hidden agenda? No. Do I run a church or plan to? No. Do I make any money from this? No. Do I want a relationship with you as result of this? No. I'm here to tell my story - plain and simple and to bring a very simple message... Hope. One of the most underrated gifts of God. Hope is the difference between winning and losing a war. And I'm not just here to write a message - I'm here to hold up the head of a giant as proof. My giants name was depression and it nearly killed me. I suffered all my life with it and so did both my parents. After attempting suicide, I was put on anti-depressants and was told that this would be how it is for the rest of my life. That's what the medical world says anyway. No hope, just a pill to numb the never ending pain and immense weight of depression. I just couldn't accept that and it made me search and dig for the truth. I'm not here to tell you the how or the why because the way God sets you free will be vastly different to what He did for me - what I'm simply here to say is this. It can be done. That giant can be defeated and I'm not talking about just having it suppressed with drugs and medication. I'm not talking about a constant daily struggle back and forth. I'm talking about complete and total annihilation. I'm talking about severing it's head from it's body and holding up it for all to see that there is power in the Name of Jesus. More power than you could possibly ever imagine with the mind and intellect you've been given.


I write this today drug free for years completely and totally free of depression. I don't rely on pills, alcohol or anything to maintain my freedom. My freedom comes from Jesus alone and is more than enough to keep me free. I sat in a doctors office after being set free and she asked how I was going on my anti-depressant medication. I laughed and told her "Oh, I don't take that any more!" She seemed quite concerned and asked what I was taking instead. I told her "I'm not taking anything at all and haven't for years. I don't have depression any more. I prayed to God and He took it from me". She then asked if I was doing OK and I told her no, I'm not doing OK. I'm far better than just OK. My life had never ever been this good. She looked at me then at her desk and said "I used to go to church as a little girl..." There's probably not a single person in the western world that doesn't know the story of David and Goliath. The teenage boy who took on the war machine man killing giant... and won. What I want to share is this. The battle with Goliath didn't end when that stone hit his head. The battle ended when David used Goliaths own sword and completely severed the giants head from his body. The next part of the story goes like this... David then carried that head around everywhere he went as his trophy. All through the Israelite camp, all through the Kings courts dripping blood all over the place. Do you think that many people stopped him and told him he was making a mess? I doubt that very much.


Read the story for yourself in 1 Samuel 16 and pray and ask God to speak to you from it. My story is this, I grew up in a very broken home. My parents dabbled in witchcraft, new age beliefs, drugs and a whole lot of really bad spirituality before I was born. I learned later in life that the things our parents do can and are very often transferred to their children. As a result I lived a very disturbed childhood. For me to see apparitions and figures move across doorways was common place by the age of ten. I began hearing voices in my teenage years, things I cannot repeat. While I know this is probably scaring most of you there are a great percentage of you out there that know exactly what I mean - and so this is for you. Ever since the day I was born God put something inside me. Something quite strange and peculiar. He put a fight in me. A fire in my bones for justice and freedom. All my life I've been fighting, fighting authority, fighting society, fighting abuse, fighting manipulation, fighting greed, fighting the norms... sadly as it was done in my efforts most of that was a complete waste of time. But now I have a real reason to fight. I found the true reason to wage war... your freedom. I exist for quite a few purposes on this planet but one of them I know for sure is this. I exist to wage war. My war is with what haunts you, what torments you, what robs you, what lies to you, what hurts you and what keeps you chained.


I've learnt a few things about prayer over the years and it goes like this. If you let me pray for you it means I step into the fight with you. What it also means is this... I'm going to pay for it. I'm going to lose sleep, get hurt and cop it real bad from the enemy. But here's where that part that God put in me as a baby comes in... I was born for this. Some people have gifts of mercy, some gifts of teaching, some music and art... we all have something to offer. I'm offering a hand that's scarred from war. A heart that's been stitched up by my Master so many times I've lost count. I'm offering eyes that have seen way too much darkness for one lifetime. But most of all I'm offering you... Hope. Jesus said in John 8:32 "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." You will never be free if you keep believing the lies. I'm here to tell you that depression is not a metal illness. It's not a disease. It's not a condition. It's not a hereditary trait. That's what 'they' want you to believe. Ask yourself, who do you want to believe? The ones who keep feeding you pills or some guy that sounds like he's either completely lost... or maybe he found it. Depression has an identity. It has a personality. It's a someone. Yeah, you just got the chills too didn't you...


Now, what if I told you this. Jesus can not only set you free from that Giant that taunts you - He can also make you stronger than it so that you can take it's head clean off just like David did on that battlefield. Why would He do that? Because it gives Him glory. He wants you to be free and in setting you free, it makes those around you wonder and ask the question "Can I be free too?". The answer is a resounding "Yes". Romans 8:37 says "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us." A conqueror is someone who wins their battle... but someone who is more than a conqueror is someone who after finishing their fight goes and joins someone else's fight for their freedom. Call me a glutton for punishment but I just wanna see people set free more than anything else in this world. Like I said above, I'm not here to tell you how it will be done. I could explain in detail exactly what happened to me when Jesus reached down and ripped out of me the evil that didn't belong and how it radically and completely changed my life forever but God doesn't want me to do that for the sake of pointing this all back to Him. Was it the church that saved me and set me free? No. Was it my giving or my service to God that saved me? No. Was it some special ritual or chant? No. God opened my eyes after doing it and revealed me to the catalyst that led to my complete freedom from depression... the death of pride.


You see, pride is us saying "I'll do it my way..." and that can go on for years and years even to the grave. For me, I got sick and tired of my giant and sick and tired of doing it my way and failing all the time and finally gave up and shared my pain with others allowing them to pray for me. What I didn't realize was that I did exactly what God wanted and put Him in the ultimate position to move in and deal the final blow to my enemy. James 4:6 says "God opposes the proud but favors the humble." And this is what I did, I humbled myself before God and others. As a result God said "Today's your day Mark. Those prison walls are coming down. Welcome to the real world son". Now, if that's you - and based on the national percentages of how rampant depression is in our western world - then you need help like I did. You need the same Jesus that I needed. Can I encourage you to read Psalm 18? Pray before you read it "Father, please open my heart to your Word and teach me what I need to know" and He surely will. The one David is talking about in Psalm 18 is Jesus. The Jesus you need to save you from depression. Pray and call out to Him. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. He died to set you free and He specializes in restoration and redemption for all. His arm is never short to save.


And if you need a soldier to pray I will gladly step into your war to fight with you. Am I going to pay for this big time? Yep. Is that going to stop me? No way. Message me using the button at the top of this page and I'd be honored to pray for you. You can be free from depression. Totally and completely free. But it can't be done your way. I had to learn to that too. It's gotta be His way. His Name is Jesus and only He can truly set you free.

[ John 8:36 - So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ]

"Never judge a book by its cover...you'd do far better to get to know The Author †". I've been judged and accused of many, many things by others. Some of them lies, some of them were truth and things I needed to pray, ask forgiveness for and humbly request God's help to change me. At the end of the day though, I don't exist to get public approval or for the opinions of others. I exist to be a humble signpost to God. Do I often fail at that? Yes... regularly. Is God's grace sufficient? Totally. It wasn't my friends, popularity or anything down here on earth that saved me from my pain and emptiness. It was simply and completely undeserved grace through faith in Jesus that saved me. And so, my focus isn't down here... It's on the One, the only One who had the power to save a broken, hurting, addicted lost boy like me. And He can save you too... from whatever it is that hurts you. Nothing is a match in the ring for the power and authority of His love for you. I challenge you to let go and trust Him and watch what He can really do... Call out to Him. 

I wanna share something God put on my heart and has had it there brooding for quite some time... I've prayed, studied and observed the church in the book of Acts for quite some time now and have to say that to date I have never seen a church in our current day and age that even comes close to what that church was and did. This church was a total explosion of the power, love and grace of God and grew exponentially on a daily basis. Just stop and think about that for a second... daily. This church didn't just have a structured religious Sunday service and a midweek bible study - it operated 24/7. The doors never closed. It was a place of prayer, refuge, help, love, peace, inclusion and family. The leaders there had a problem they had to resolve and do you know what that problem was? The leaders of the church were so busy waiting on tables giving out meals that they couldn't do the "normal" church functions. I'm not sure about you but I haven't seen that sort of problem in a church for a long, long time.


Leaders that willingly humble themselves and serve others. Leaders actually down on the peoples level. Just like Jesus hey. You see, these leaders actually got it. They actually understood and took hold of what Jesus said and did and ran with it - and God blessed it massively! Servant hood... plain an simple. There were no exalted positions, no hierarchy, no big salaries or fancy chariots rocking up in the car park before church. People would actually give up their riches to help each other. Can you imagine that? People would actually sell houses and land and give it to the church not so the leaders could get rich, fat and lazy but so that it could be distributed to help those who actually had need. It's what God wanted the Kingdom of Heaven to look like and because they captured the heart of God and made it real - God blessed it powerfully. People flocked to it and wanted to be a part of it because they didn't need to be convinced of Gods love by some fancy, hi-tech stage show presentation - they actually felt God's love the moment they arrived. The love was real. It moved, healed, gave and spoke. It looked like Jesus.


One of the biggest things that God revealed to me about the original church in Acts was this. Equality. No one was any better than anyone else. Love was the binding force that leveled out all of the useless positions that we so often see in the church today. Yes, I said useless and I won't apologize for it. Those given power by God are given it to help others - not themselves. Jesus taught this in Matthew 23 when He said to us "Call no man Father because you only have one Father and He is in Heaven, Call no one teacher because you have one teacher who is Jesus." Jesus also went on to say that we are simply brothers and sisters - equals. Sinners saved by the grace of God and that we exist simply by His grace and of no merit, effort or achievement of ourselves. Can you imagine a place where anyone could walk through the doors of a church and was accepted because of God's love, grace and mercy and not because of the acts that they had to prove to those in power? That place existed once and God used that church powerfully like a wildfire in that corner of the globe... we need that again. We need to capture that heart again. A heart that thinks, feels, sees and acts like our Father does. A heart that shows love, mercy and grace to all and where selfish ambition, greed and self exaltation dies at the door. It's time the real church arose, woke up and showed the world what true love is! 

What kind of King would give up His rightful throne, set aside His crown and leave the safety of His home in Heaven to die to save us at the hands of cruel murderers? What kind of Creator would willingly and knowingly sacrifice Himself in the ultimate way to redeem His broken creations? What kind of majestic Lord and supreme ruler would choose to become a servant of servants to teach us the true heart of His Father? How absurd, how ridiculous, how contrary to all we know...yet so profound at the same time. What is this love? So powerful, so radical, so immense.
He must have known something about our worth that we don't know to go that far. He must see with unbroken eyes to see past what we do with these crude fleshly portals. Lord, please reveal that worth and truth to your children...help us to see like you do...Help us to give as you did... Help us to become like you... † 

Have you ever met those people who it just seems everything in their life just goes right all the time? That their good days are nothing short of epic and their bad days even seem to outshine your good days like the sun compared to the moon? I'm here to tell you those people don't exist. Everyone has hard times - there are no exceptions in life. Some you can see and measure the effects from the outside, some hide it on the inside better than others but the truth is we all feel pain. We all hurt, we all bleed and we all need relief from what hurts us. So what do you do when the pain gets too much? Where do you go when the loneliness piles up as high as a mountain? What do you do when the words they said cut like knives? Where do you run? Is the bottle your answer? Maybe it's being in the arms of one you love? Maybe it's a drug of choice? Maybe accomplishments? More possessions? Maybe fame? Can your friends fix you? The simple truth is this - there is only one person who can mend your heart... The One who made it. There's only One who you can trust to work on your heart with the utmost precision and care it requires - the One who designed it. There's only One who can find all the broken pieces and put them back where they belong. Can I encourage you that if that's you, invite Jesus to that place of pain and allow Him to do what only He can do. He won't go there without your permission or consent because He loves and values you that much. He can make you whole again. †

[ 1 Peter 5:7 - Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ] 

I have nothing to prove and nothing to lose... I am simply a humble forgiven sinner who was shown extraordinary undeserved mercy by the Jesus the King of all Kings. It was my encounter with Him that changed my entire life within the space of 3 days completely shattering every shackle that held my soul. It wasnt my efforts, my lifeless religious acts or my futile will that finally set me free - it was the sheer power and authority of His love that blasted my prison of addiction, depression, sadness, shame, loneliness, suicide and death into ash that disappeared in the wind of His voice. I asked Him "why...? what was it that was different this time...?" His reply was "My love was always there and ready to save you...When you gave up your pride, I broke down those walls from the outside to bring you into the light." It was pride that was the last line of defense around my heart provided by my enemy the Devil to keep me chained. Once I sank the knife into pride, the towering walls around me came crumbling and crashing down under the immense weight of my Saviours love for me. I never knew what love truly was until that day. So vast, so powerful, so all encompassing. And then I realized that the one that had the power holding me prisoner all along was really me... Pride is a lie.  

Gods ways are so much higher than our ways... And I'm so glad for that. He never has a bad day. He never has a headache or needs some "me time". He's never too busy, too tired or just sick of our problems. He is ALWAYS there, ALWAYS ready to listen, ALWAYS caring. He is THE perfect Father. He is Unfailing, Faithful, True, Secure and Immovable. So no matter how rough things are... You always have a higher place to appeal to... Your Father in Heaven. You don't need to settle for sloppy seconds or go through a middle man to get to God. The veil of the Temple was torn that day Jesus died to give you full and direct access to the Father. He loves you endlessly and wants close and meaningful relationship with you.

[ Isaiah 55:9 - For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ]

My King didn't go all the way up that dusty hill with a heavy, splintered symbol of death on His back for me to just sit around idle... He didn't surrender himself willingly to be accused, mocked and tortured for me to just sit back and smile... He didn't refuse the painkillers and take the easy way out that day when the sky plunged into blackness for me to play and party in the freedom He paid so much for... My Jesus didn't plunder hell itself leading the very capitivity that held us all captive now as His prisoner for me to just enjoy a golden ticket all expenses paid trip to Heaven. No... He died to buy my freedom with an absurdly high price and to make slaves into soldiers. He gave up everything to bring redemption, life and the power of God to the sons and daughters of men. His own words were "I came to cast fire on the earth and I wish it was already burning..." So start the blaze Lord... Let the wildfire begin again... Hear from Heaven as you did in the days of Elijah and send fire that burns white hot in our hearts. Awaken your army. For your Kingdom, your glory and for the freedom of all mankind! It's time their eyes are opened. It's time they knew the Truth.. Speak Lord, lead us. You are the true King † 

Hey, so I was reading the Bible the other day and I prayed before I started reading that God would speak to me and teach me what He needs me to know. I always do that before I read the Bible and God always and without fail teaches me something - because He loves me and also because I always have so much to learn from Him. Sometimes its something really basic and simple... and sometimes its something really deep that just blows your mind to bits. So I was reading John chapter 21 which is after Jesus had died and come back to life. He sees the disciples on the lake in their boats downcast, depressed and feeling lost and calls out to them telling them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat to catch some fish. They do and they catch the biggest load of fish they've ever seen - in fact it's enough to fill two boats. The disciples then tow their boats to shore and have a very unique and remarkable breakfast with the risen King of all Kings... Jesus. Here's the bit that really struck me. While they are eating and talking on the beach Jesus says to Peter "Peter... Do you love me?". Peter replies immediately "Of course I love you!" Jesus answers "then feed my sheep...".

Interestingly Jesus asks this same question to Peter two more times and by the third time Peter is sad and offended to be repeatedly asked this very heart tugging question. Here's what God revealed to me... Right before Jesus was dragged away to be crucified Peter denied Jesus three times by the words of his mouth. He openly told others He didn't know Jesus and didn't follow Him. To be blunt, Peter made a point of being quite angry and annoyed that He was associated with Jesus. By doing this Peter brought a curse upon himself. Proverbs 6:2 talks about this type of self cursing and says "you become trapped by your own words". In Matthew 10:33 Jesus also said "He who denies me before men, I will deny before my Father in Heaven." Here's the thing, the Bible is infallible and eternally perfect in it's laws and precepts so this means that Peter truly was stuck. He had no hope to help himself out of what he'd said and what he'd done. He truly was trapped by the words of his own mouth. What Jesus did by asking Peter "Do you love me?" and giving him the chance to respond taught us the power of two things. Number one... the power of our own words. But far more importantly that that... the power of Love.

You see, when Peter said three times out loud in reply to Jesus "Yes, I love you" he unknowingly broke the curse that he had put on himself three times before Jesus death. It was love that broke the curse of death holding Peter's future in failure and shame. Jesus was teaching us a very powerful truth here. Be very careful about the words you say, especially the ones you say about others and yourself. The Bible says in Proverbs18:21 that "death and life are in the power of the tongue..." and Jesus showed us this to be true when He taught Peter the power of his own words to bring death and life upon himself. In obedience and through faith in Jesus, Peter was set free of the curse he had brought on himself and at the same time was released into the life and position that Jesus had for him - to lead the very first church and tend to Jesus followers while He was gone. You may have seen the movie 'The Matrix' and might remember the epic scene where Neo is sparring with Morpheus in the virtual dojo. Neo is struggling with the concept of the Matrix and Morpheus says to him "Neo... in here there are rules... some can be bent... some can be broken..." While the Matrix is only clever sci-fi movie - Jesus was the first one to speak like this and what He said wasn't just a clever concept or an interesting ideology... He was speaking the truth.


The fact is there are rules, there are consequences, there is cause and effect for what we do... but there is always a higher law. The law of love. It can be seen several other times in the Bible. In Matthew chapter 17 a foreign woman comes to Jesus begging His mercy for her daughter that's severely oppressed by a demon. Jesus replies to her "I wasn't sent to help you, I was sent first to the Jews". She pleads on His mercy asking for just a crumb... just the tiniest scrap and Jesus responds telling her that the faith she has in Him has set her daughter free. The same happened again when Jesus attended a wedding in Cana in John chapter 2. Jesus mother Mary comes to Him and tells Him they've ran out of wine asking Him if He can help them. Jesus replies and says "It's not my time yet to be known for doing miracles..." Mary then looks at the servants and says "You do exactly as He says...". What happens next is the very first recorded miracle of Jesus... the water in to wine. Many times this happened - The Centurion who believed in nothing but Jesus spoken authority, the woman who touched the corner of Jesus robe, the two blind men who followed Jesus pleading His mercy for their sight the be restored, and the thief on the cross that finally saw who Jesus really was and humbly asked for His mercy.


So why and I saying all this? I'll tell you why. We are all fallen, we all sin and we all make mistakes. Sooner or later in life no matter how careful you are you are going to get stuck somewhere along to the way. It might be something you do - a bad choice - or it might even be something someone else does to you. Either way, life isn't perfect and you're going to need help. The rules will say "too bad, you brought this on yourself - you made your bed now sleep in it..." but there is a higher law... Love. So if that's you and you're stuck, call out to the King just like these others did and appeal to His love and mercy. He never turns away anyone who comes to him humbly and broken seeking His help. If you appeal to love you will be replied with exactly that... Love. It doesn't matter how badly you've messed up - His love for you is greater. If doesn't matter how deep the hole is you've got yourself into - His love for you is greater. It doesn't matter how far gone you think you are - His love reaches further. It doesn't matter how lost you feel - His love will find you. If doesn't matter how broken things look - His love will put the pieces back together.

How can I say this with such a surety? Because I was lost, broken, trapped, addicted, hurting, alone and with gaping holes right through me - and it was His love that found me, healed me, teaches me, keeps me and completes me. So if that's you, appeal to His love and simply pray calling out to Him "Jesus, I need your help... please help me" and He will. This is why we can come boldly before God asking for His help - not because we are any good or have done anything worth any merit - simply because of His love for us. God loves you.

[ Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God ]  

It was God in His perfect love that created this world. It's God's love that sent Jesus to save us from from sin and death. It's God's love that feeds us, guides us, heals us, teaches us, reaches us and keeps us. His love is a choice. A free gift of grace to all. Receive His love and receive life everlasting, relationship unending and purpose beyond imagination. God loves you! 

Yeah, you hear them too dont you? When you're alone... When you're still... When you're quiet... The voices that say you're worthless, ugly, forgotten, damaged, useless, unloved and unworthy of love. It doesn't matter how many friends you have, how much money you have, how many things you collect... The voices are still there huh. I'm here to say there is a voice that's more powerful than all the echoes of the rabble. It's so much more powerful than you could ever imagine. It is the voice of truth, the voice of value, the voice of identity, the voice of true strength, the voice of peace. It is the very voice of love. You know who I'm talking about... We all have a longing for that voice to complete us, to answer all those unanswerable questions. He is the only one who has the truth and once you know the truth you will be truly set free. Freedom and life beyond your wildest dreams. Call out to Him, seek Him with all your heart and you will find the answers you need... You are worth more † 

One of my absolute favorite verses in the Bible... [ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? - James 2:15 ] Don't stress if you have to work hard to make ends meet for your loved ones, to do good to others, and when helping others comes at a high cost to you. God's mercy, grace and love is poured out on those who serve others like Jesus did. Pure, simple, humble sacrificial love. The more you give to others - the more God gives back to you and what He gives to us is worth so much more than any of the riches that this world has to offer. Peace beyond comparison that cannot be bought, identity settled forever that can only be given by our Father in Heaven, and life everlasting that explodes with passion and light because of our King and His Kingdom. God loves you.

I went for a run in the mountains behind where I live and found a stack of abandoned mines, old rusty mining equipment and these really run down concrete bunker type shelters there. Inside we're hundreds of empty coke cans and bottles, chip packets and the walls lined with the most amazing art I'd seen in ages. See, most people see graffiti and automatically think "rebellion" "delinquent" "criminal" "misfit" "antisocial" and all the usual stereotypes that go with youth culture. I came from pretty much that side of the tracks growing up so I probably have some sort of affinity to it by association but what I see is this... Some kid has taken the time to get hold of enough paint colours, imagined, planned, started, endured and completed their work of art that has no rules - no boundaries - no critiques and exists only for the purpose of expression. Now here's the good bit... Think about a rainbow for a second. What purpose does it serve apart from reminding us of Gods promise never to flood the world and to just look awesome?

They're always an amazing arc, they're always colorful and they always show up right after dreary downpour. To me - a rainbow is God's graffiti. It's His expression of mind blowing art simply because He can. So the next time you see graffiti, stop and think about the kid that did it. Yeah, they've probably got issues - probably a lot of them - but the truth is they are an amazing, intricate and immensely valued person loved by God. I got written off by many in my life as a waste of time, a rebel, a 2nd class bottom feeder but I know today they we're nothing short of dead wrong. God in His amazing mercy opened my eyes to the value I never knew existed and in doing that He helped me to see the hidden value in so many others I come across in life. God loves you. You're an amazing person and I can make that statement with absolute certainty because I don't even have to meet you to know its true. It's true of every single creation of God. It's true simply because God says so. Have an awesome day because God made you awesome! 

I used to be a hater playin for the other side...
Till the True King came along and showed me how to kill my pride...
He taught the secret to my peace was the willing end of me...
So I took His hand and followed and it's His Truth that made me free...
Who knew all along that my freedom was so near...
The end of hatred, self and death and the final end of fear...
See this King holds the power to set any captive loose...
He offers all the keys to life and leaves it up to us to choose... †

There's gonna come times when God will ask you to leave the safety and comfort of the place you are in and come and follow Him. Just like He asked the disciples in the Bible, He still asks new disciplestoday to leave what they are doing and follow Him. God never forces anyone to do anything but He does promise that if you trust in Him, He will provide and never ever leave you. Several times in my life God has presented me with this type of crossroad. Either stay with the comfort, possessions and lifestyle that I have - or let go of what He asks me to and follow Him to where He's leading. Did I know where He was leading me? No. I just had to trust Him that He is a good God and that He is faithful regardless of how things looked and keep asking for and listening to the still small voice of God telling me to go, wait or stop. Has the roads that I've walked with God been paved with gold, lined with sweet smelling roses and surrounded by magical butterflies? No... Very often it's been just me and God one step at a time climbing a dusty, dry mountain path. But I will say this, Sometimes it's been really hard but I wouldn't change a single thing.

You see - the roads I've walked with Jesus has taught me more about myself, more about God, more about this world and whats really going on and more about how to care for others and build God's Kingdom than I ever would have learnt just staying where I was. Faith is just that - walking forward by God's voice and following Him to where He leads you even when you don't know the landscape or have a plan B. He promises that if you seek Him with all your heart and don't hold back anything from Him that He will also do the same for you and not hold back any good thing that you need for the journey. And best of all He promises to walk every single step with you! So when that day comes that you're at the crossroads and it's either stay in comfort or let go and follow Him - can I encourage you to take His hand and follow Jesus. There's no adventure found in comfort but each time you choose to follow Jesus your life will be radically changed forever. So don't be afraid, instead consider it a privilege. You are being called to follow by the King of all Kings!

[ Proverbs 3:5,6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ]