I'm sure over Easter you'll probably read a lot of messages about Jesus and the fact that He rose from the dead on the third day. I'm not going to talk about that which may surprise you a little. I want to share something else that God put on my heart. Before Jesus came to this earth as a man - He lived and reigned forever and ever as the King of Glory in Heaven. Heaven was perfect in every way and the angels that Jesus created to serve loved him deeply and with utmost loyalty. Peace, love, truth and holiness reigned in Heaven. However, there was one angel though that chose in his heart to discard loyalty and coveted the throne of Jesus. Because of pride he exalted himself and led a violent coup to overthrow the rightful King of Heaven and claim the throne for himself. Many of us as humans assume that angels don't have emotions or cannot chose to sin but this is clearly incorrect by what the Bible tells us. One third of these angels also rebelled and followed Lucifer who became Satan the devil. A huge war broke out in heaven of which had never been witnessed before and the perfection of beauty - Heaven's worship leader Lucifer - was transformed into a hideous diseased dragon of darkness and evil.

The war ended with Michael the archangel capturing the dragon and under the command of God hurling him out of heaven with the speed and veracity of a lightning bolt as said in Luke chapter 10. All of the devils angels that chose evil over good we're given the same treatment - exile from the sanctuary. Heaven was once again peaceful and Jesus reign continued in power and glory. Furious and hell bent on revenge the devil knew he'd lost his chance to overthrow heaven and in a rage of resent and bitterness he turned his attention towards something he knew to be of extreme value and precious to the Creator... us. The devil's purpose was simple - to corrupt mankind. He'd failed at corrupting Heaven so he thought he'd go for the next best thing and bring sin and death to us all. Sadly, mankind fell for the trap and sin entered the world. Corruption spread like a cancer and we were doomed to destruction just like the devil himself. People no longer lived in perfect harmony but instead hatred, lust, fear, greed and death now reigned as a plague throughout our existence.

We needed help - badly. We needed salvation from ourselves and the corruption sin had brought on our kind. The Father looked on in Heaven and spoke to His Son Jesus and said "Someone must go and save them...". Jesus replied without any hesitation at all as He knew this was His fore ordained destiny and purpose... "I will go. I will save them. I will be their payment. I will become the doorway back to relationship with you Father." And so it was, the King of all Kings was sent by the Holy Spirit to be born as boy. He lived and walked among us as His earth name Jesus. He fed us, healed us, taught us and ultimately died for us to be the payment for our sins. We call Him Jesus but the angels that knew Him long before He came to this earth know Him for who He truly is... The True King. Here's the part I want to share. In 1 Peter 1:12it tells us of the angels that stayed loyal to Jesus that they "look into the things of salvation and marvel...". You see, these angels only know Jesus in His full glory, power and authority as the King of all Kings and the Supreme Creator of all things. For them, to see Him walk this earth as a vulnerable, humble human being that could be hurt, bleed and die is just preposterous. To them the concept of the King of Majesty that they know and love to reduce Himself to a mere man to serve and help us on our level is absolutely ludicrous. It's complete madness and insanity and makes no absolutely sense at all.

There's no logic in it and no reasoning that can be applied to why someone of so much power, glory and majesty would come and make Himself the container for all the worlds pain, suffering and sin for a fallen race of humans that only hurt and betray Him over and over. But that's just it. You see love isn't about logic, reason or understanding. True and pure selfless love is about choice. We never deserved Jesus to die for us and to be the payment for the sins we committed and the truth is He knows that. What Jesus did for us had nothing to do with deserving anything. It had everything to do with a choice of love. A choice that came with such high a price. Jesus told us in Matthew 26:53 that He had the ability to call 12 legions of His angels to protect Him at any time. The word legion comes from a roman military term which means a collection of soldiers ranging somewhere between 3000 to 6000. So that means at minimum Jesus had on call 36,000 angels ready and waiting to spring into action. Just to give you some perspective... these angels are of such extreme and fearsome power that only two were needed to destroy an entire evil city in the old testament. One of these visited Daniel in the Old Testament and as a result of being in contact with him he was bed ridden for a week. In Matthew 28:4 the entire garrison of hardened roman soldiers stationed to protect the tomb where Jesus lay in came in contact with a single angel and at just the mere sight of him put them in violent convulsions and rendered them as dead men.

These are not the fat little cherubs with golden harps shooting love inducing arrows as many of us had been led to believe by modern day myths and contemporary art. These are beings of amazing power given to them by their King that fail to be described by our narrow language and intellect. Their job is to serve their King and they are loyal to Him with a love and duty we simply cannot understand. So imagine that day as Jesus - the King of the Angels - hung on that cross bleeding, suffering and dying painfully and slowly for a race of humans that never deserved such a sacrifice. Imagine those angels watching from Heaven... waiting and itching to jump into action for their King full of fiery love, devotion and passion for Him. Waiting for Him to just mouth those words...to request their assistance. They would have been there in a heartbeat to serve and help Him and it all would have been all over in such a tremendous way. The world we know to be would most likely ceased to exist at the presence of so many of these beings. That is their very purpose - to serve and protect their King. But He never called for them... All they could do was watch the absurdity that was the King they loved dying in immense pain when He held such power and authority to change everything by just a word.

These angels must have asked the question and most likely still do to this day... "Why?... Why would He go so far for them...? Why would the King do this...?" The answer is simple. It cannot be explained by logic, reason or intellect. The answer is love. That is why He did what He did. He chose love for us. I pray for youtoday that God opens your eyes to His amazing, relentless, irrational and astounding love for you. What to the angels seems like madness - to us is called redemption. He chose you because He loves you. This is our King! 

Well today is officially Easter here in Australia. You know what I love the most about Easter? The fact that its origins are directly and undeniably pagan yet my King came and reclaimed it for Himself and for our redemption to the Father in Heaven. Talk about a hostile takeover hey :) By dying and coming back to life over Easter - Jesus completely and totally railroaded it's origins and rewrote the history books to make it all about the salvation of mankind and His power and authority as the King. He is the Ultimate Reclaimer. In His act of death He made the captivity that held us as slaves since the beginning His own captive. The most ferocious, blood thirsty, man-eating hounds of hell are now led on a lead and told to sit and stay by my King like little puppy dogs. That's the power He holds - the power of restoration. The keys to death and hell now belong to my King! That day the tables turned and not only was it the greatest victory won for mankind - it was simultaneously the most immense loss suffered by our enemy the devil. My King died for me and showed me the true meaning of love. Sacrifice. He won the war that day... and not just by a small margin - it was a complete and total annihilation! A victory so vast, so extravagant, so dominant and so all-encompassing that it was embarrassing to our enemy and all his ranks. My Jesus still holds all that same power to reclaim blind, broken salves to be shining, bold sons and daughters of His Kingdom. He hasn't lost a drop of that power since that day and as a matter of fact He's coming back to finish the war one day in even more power and authority... but this time He reclaims everything that belongs to Him. Have an awesome Easter because we have an awesome King who lives and reigns forever and ever. This is Jesus... the Saviour of the World!  

Hey, I wanna share something today that really changed my faith and my walk with God and I believe it will help you too. Jesus said many times "the last will be first and the first will be last...". He also said He wants us to pray and believe just like how little children trust and follow their parents. Little children don't try to do it on their own because they know they are just tiny little people who in reality aren't strong enough or wise enough so instead they run to and cling to their parents to help them. Jesus wants us to do exactly the same. This is what I wanna share... I've been in church pretty much most of my life. I wouldn't say I was ever the squeaky clean altar boy but I did know how it all worked. I learned the system well. I knew all the "church speak", all the Amens and Hallelujahs, I could recite lengthy passages of scripture at any time, I knew all my dogma, doctrine and theology inside and out. I could explain almost any book of the bible in its respective context. I knew all the prophets, the Pentateuch and could recite the entire book of Proverbs at verbatim.

I knew how to sound spiritually mature when I prayed and knew what sort of behaviour to show in front of people to get their empty approval. God describes a type of people in Isaiah 29:13 as "Drawing near to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me..." The cold hard truth though was this... that was me. I did all the lip service but my heart didn't belong to God at all. I gave Him part of my time, some of my intellect and even some of my money but the thing He wanted the most - I withheld. He wanted my love - which only came from my heart - and I made sure He never got near that. That part was mine. Here's the thing that God showed me that really changed me. I visited a girl once who was living with her boyfriend in a pretty run down part of town. We knocked on the door and when she let us in her boyfriend frantically cleaned up the coffee table because He'd been cutting up drugs on it with a credit card. The boyfriend made himself scarce and then the girl started talking to us about how she wanted to leave her boyfriend and get a job and her own place. She felt hopeless, trapped and with no future.

All she knew was she didn't want to be in that place any more. You see, this girl had horrible things happen to her as a little child by people she should have been able to trust. Things that should never had happened let alone even be talked about. Even sadder was that the same things happened to her again as a teenager. Because of what had happened to her and the pain and suffering that had caused she now believed the lie that she was worth less than what God said of her. This girl like me also spent all of her childhood years in churches so she knew the deal and how it all worked. The thing was she'd been treated by the church as dirty, tainted and a hopeless case. Because of that treatment she no longer felt welcome at church and tried to find her place with some of the worst offenders of society. Now here's the amazing part... What she said next to us really stuck with me. She looked at us in the eye and said "Can you please pray to God for me that I get this job?" I knew when she said this that what she was really saying was this "I don't feel I'm good enough to talk to God - so can you please talk to Him for me and ask Him to have pity on me because I really need it..."

We prayed for that girl but I know for a fact that it wasn't my prayer that did anything at all. God heard that girls heart the moment she opened her lips and voiced those words "Can you please pray for me...?" That day I saw the same faith the Centurion in Jesus day had when He said to Jesus "I know who you are and the authority and power you hold. I'm not worthy for you to come into my home but please... just say the word and my servant will be healed..." What I wanna say is this. That girls heart taught me far more about prayer to our Father in Heaven than 20 years of church ever did. Needless to say that girl got the job she needed and today is and awesome mother of an amazing little boy and lives in peace in a great place by the ocean away from all the darkness she used to be a part of. Can I encourage you - cry out to God for what you need just like this girl did. He cares deeply for you and loves you and always hears. He never ever turns away from a broken and humble spirit. The sacrifice He seeks from you isn't more service to Him. The thing He wants the most is your broken heart and the shattered pieces of your life. Why? Because He loves to restore His children. If you'd also like me to pray for you I'd be honored to do so as your brother in Christ. If you'd rather remain private you can contact me using the links in my bio. God values you so highly, so much more than you could ever imagine. I pray today that He unlocks more and more of that value in you. You are worth more. 

Jesus said "All things are possible to them that believe". Stop for a minute and think about that. This is the One that created everything out of nothingness. The One who spoke all we see, feel and touch from simply the absolute power and authority of His Words. The One who made all the rules and all the boundaries. The One that spoke absolutely everything into existence. And He says "All Things..." not "some things". So, what if the catalyst is us? What if the link to making it possible is simply believing? What if He truly wanted us to take what He said literally? Total and complete belief without even the smallest shadow of doubt. The ramifications of it are truly earth shattering. And He even said that part too... He said "If you have faith you can say to a mountain to move into the sea and it will". What if He wasn't kidding around? What it He wasn't speaking in riddles or something we have to water down with endless theology so that it is no longer possible in our science and logic based western world?


What if He was just wanting us to listen, believe and speak in total trust and obedience as little children? I'm here to tell you He was speaking the absolute truth. I had Chron's disease as a teenager - a disease with no known cure - yet I was healed by a simple, humble prayer of faith in God. I had severe depression and nearly lost my mind - another disease with no known cure - yet now I am totally and completely set free and was made a new creation by the power and authority of the Name of The King of all Kings. I've seen loved ones that suffered with violent allergies and food in tolerances completely healed and now they can eat anything they like - all because they humbly obeyed what Jesus said in the Word of God. I've seen electronics that were completely fried worth tens of thousands of dollars come back to perfect working order and go on to run for years later as a result of nothing but a petition to my Father in Heaven. I've seen many times the impossible proven possible by my God. I'm not here to boast - because it has nothing to do with me - it's all to do with childlike faith in the Name of Jesus.


I know what you're thinking... "but last time it didn't work...". I tried to believe and failed. What if there's part of the equation that was never meant to belong? What if ego, reason, logic and understanding has absolutely nothing to do with it and actually harms your faith? Think about it. Proverbs 3:5-6 says not to rely on your own understanding because it's tainted and flawed by this narrow earthbound existence. What if God wants you to believe in what you can't see, can't touch, can't hear and can't understand? It sounds like complete madness doesn't it? Well, there have been others mad enough to abandon the reasoning of this world and embrace the knowledge of the Holy before... There was an age when a boy was mad enough to stand up to a fearsome death bringing giant - and see the impossible happen. There were times when men were mad enough to sing to God while locked in an underground prison - and see the true power and salvation of their God. There were times when women were mad enough to say "If I can only touch just the corner of His robe I'll be made whole..." And she was.


God is looking for those same mad men and women to again throw logic and reason to the wind and say "It's time - I choose to believe!". God uses what we call foolish to confound the wisdom of this world. The voice of the Holy Spirit whispers to those who are asleep saying "Awake O sleeper, rise from the dead..." Can you hear Him? Can you hear His call? He's waking up the sleepers... Will you stay asleep and stumble on for the rest of your life in this bland, terrestrial plane? Or will you come alive and know the truth about whats really going on? It's time to arise. It's time my brothers and sisters for our eyes to be truly opened. Just like Psalm 107:2 says - It's time the redeemed of the Lord told their stories. It's time to hear His voice and wake up... It's time the Truth lives and breathes in us.   

There are a lot of things competing for your heart in this day and age we live in. Especially in the western world, our lives can very easily be filled with constant entertainment, communication and stimulation. These days our lives are often so full of so much "stuff" yet so much of it really hasn't got there by our conscious choice and so much of it doesn't really hold merit to be there in the first place. A lot of that stuff just ends up there along the path of life as things happen. Good things happen as well as bad things and we as humans adapt and react to these times accordingly. We shift and change depending on whether we feel things are going our way or not. Some days we are ecstatic and soaring above the clouds because of our achievements, possessions or happiness from the company we keep - other days we're a low as a snakes belly because of tragedy and loss that's befallen us. Here's the thing, God never intended us to be like that. He never wanted us to be like leaves blown in the winds of life. Instead He wants us to be like a strong tree - planted, established and growing from a life giving source just like Psalm 1 says.

I sadly lived a lot of my life not caring or valuing my heart at all. I didn't believe what I was told as a very young boy from the Bible that the things you let in change you and I decided to do and try things my way. The truth was whether I believed it or not - the things that came into my life did change me - and most of the time not for the better. I allowed so many things into my life that harmed and eroded my soul. So many things that robbed my health, robbed my sleep, robbed me financially, robbed my relationships but the saddest of all...robbed my relationship with God. The hard truth is this - life isn't easy. There are times when things will go great and everything falls into place and there's nothing wrong with that at all - as a matter of fact God only wants to help us and bless us. But the undeniable truth is we live in a very broken world full of pain, sadness, greed, suffering and sin. And none of us can get down the path of life without being touched and changed by the effects of this world. No matter how nice you are and how pure your intentions may be - people are going to hurt you. Why? Because everyone out there is hungry and needs to the filled and desperate people go the desperate measures.

So what do you do when you've only wanted to help someone and all they did was slap you in the face? What do you do when you only spoke love and truth and the reply was accusation and lies? What do you do when you stood up for good and true to protect others only to feel the cold steel of a dagger in your back from those you should be able to trust? In that day there's going to be a war for your heart. You see, there are many things that want to take up permanent residence in your heart but they can't just get in there by themselves. They need a reason. So when that person attacks you or that horrible atrocity occurs do you let Hatred walk through that door? Do you invite it in and draw from its power to make you stronger for the future? Do you let Fear start to form you and change your behaviour and responses towards people to prevent it happening again? Do you allow Pride to become your strong defence - your hiding place so no one can reach you? Do you allow Shame and Regret to blanket you in darkness in a vain attempt to hide the pain? Yes, there are many things that want to live in your heart but there's only One thing that you can truly trust to keep you safe, to heal you, guard you and teach you. It's the love of God.

The Bible tells us that God is love and love is of God. Love... it's such a strange concept really huh? So what is love? Is love a box of chocolates? Is love a dozen roses? Is love being in the arms of someone who's attracted to you you? Those things are great and sure can be outward signs of love but I believe that true love can be summed up simply in one word... "sacrifice". True and pure love doesn't seek its own gain, it isn't loud or boastful, it doesn't harm or take but instead heals and gives. And this is what it comes to down to... sacrifice. Those days are gonna come and the opportunity for all those horrible things to make a nice little home inside you are gonna be right there waiting by the door. It's up to you if you are willing to sacrifice your pain and let love come and stay instead. I know first hand on the outset that hatred, fear, rage, lust and greed may appear so much more powerful than love but let me paint you a picture. Dogs will bark over and over and bare their teeth at the first sign of a fight - but a lion only needs to show his presence for his authority to be known. Love is that lion. It has nothing to prove and knows it's authority and place.

Trust and believe that the love of God is more powerful and God will surely show you it to be true. I can honestly attest that pure and true love conquers all. It was God's love that reached me and roared with such a ferocity that all my demons fled in fear. God is love and nothing can oppose God. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2 that we are vessels - whether we are used for good or evil is up to us. And just like dirty dishes can't clean themselves neither can we ever hope to clean up our act by ourselves. The answer is to simply go to Jesus who has the ability to wash us and make us clean and fit for use in the His hand. I'm so thankful to God that spoke the value to me I so badly needed and opened my eyes up to the things in my life that were causing me so much harm, sorrow and pain. He alone helped me to change for the better. I tried for many years to make my life better but to no avail - only through Jesus did things truly change and only through His power did they stay changed. It was when my pride and my ways died - that hubris and ego went to the grave - that Jesus and the life He always intended for me finally came into being.

Jesus taught us the "overflow concept" in Luke chapter 6 that what comes out of your mouth is from whats been built up in your heart. If your heart is filled with hatred, manipulation, violence, fear, lust, greed or other dark things then it's only logical that's going to be what comes out of your mouth. But if you choose to make your heart a place for God's love to reside, to cultivate and grow, to teach and guide you - then that's precisely what people will see come out of you. They will see God in you and in all you say and do. Whatever has filled you the most is what will overflow. Your heart is of extreme value and priceless in the eyes of your Father in Heaven - so choose love. Because God loves you.   

[ Proverbs 4:23 - Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. ]

This is something I failed at a lot in life and had to learn this the hard way. God tells us to guard our hearts and who we let into the closest intimate parts of who we are because of its immense worth and also the fact that it will determine the very course of our life. Sadly, not everyone out there has the best and pure intentions for you. Many have learned the evil power of manipulation that once you have someones heart in your grasp you can turn it to your will whenever you want and get people to do just about anything. The solution to this isn't building high walls to keep people out, becoming cold, distant and suspecting of everyone. Instead, the solution is to have a source of wisdom that knows the heart of others even before they speak or act towards you. 

That source of wisdom is called The Spirit of God. He is our comforter, our guide but also that voice of warning when danger is present to guard you from unnecessary harm. He protected many in the Bible and He's still very much doing it today. He speaks, guides, teaches and warns because of His immense love for us. His voice is quiet, calm, clear, deliberate and it always speaks in absolute authority. Everything He says is a direct echo from the heart of your Father in Heaven. Pray and ask God to develop your spiritual ears to better understand, hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit and He will lead you in the paths that God has for you. 

David said it perfectly when He penned Psalm 143:10 "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!"

Skating the jetty over a freakishly beautiful green sea like out of a movie. God's amazing work of creation is all around us so be sure to get out there and enjoy it and tell Him thankyou for such an awesome job. That's why He made it so well - for us - His children! Have an awesome day brothers and sisters :) You are loved.

Hey, Can I share something with you that God showed me a few days ago? I was in my car driving and I have an audio Bible randomly mixed into my music play list so that every so often I'll get a different chapter come on. After jamming to some solid tunes John 21 came on through the speakers. Not sure if you'll know what I mean when I say this but there's times when the Bible comes on and of course it's always awesome and I learn stacks from it - then theres these 'other' times... It will come on and it's like my whole world slows down, everything else around fades and my focus becomes pinpoint and I'm hanging off every word said. I know it's God saying to me "I've got something really important for you so listen up". It doesn't happen all the time but when it does I value it so much. So here's the deal, John 21 came on and its the story of the disciples out fishing after Jesus had died. To give you a little bit of a back story, Jesus had been crucified and died and the disciples were all pretty sad and discouraged by it all.


They started to question whether any of this was worth it anymore now that Jesus wasn't here. They had feelings of grief, sadness, loneliness, loss, anger, regret and shame piled on them by their enemy the Devil. So the disciples decided it's probably best we go back to doing what we were good at before Jesus came along - fishing. At least they knew that fishing worked and they could make a humble living from doing it and just slide off into the shadows and live a quiet life. Sadly for them, the fish weren't on their side that night and were all having a big party on the other side of the lake. So the disciples of Jesus spent the whole night slaving away with heavy nets in the cold and the dark and caught absolutely nothing at all. Imagine for a second how these guys would have felt. Complete failures I'd say. Their Savior and friend was dead, they felt alone and abandoned and they couldn't even get the one thing they thought they were good at to work. OK, now here's the good bit. As they're nearing the shore they hear a voice call out "Friends, have you caught any fish?" The disciples answer despondently "No....". The voice calls out again "Throw your nets on the other side of the boat and you'll catch some!" The disciples grumble and think to themselves.. "who does this guy think He is? Were seasoned fishermen and we know what were doing..." But their curiosity and that still small voice saying "go on... give it a try... one more time on the other side..." gets the better of them.


They throw in the nets and little do they know the guy on the beach is the One who made every single fish this planet contains and they listen to His every command. Party relocation. Now the fish party is right there, on that side of the boat. The disciples first feel a few tugs in their net, then a surge and then it feels like they've caught Leviathan himself! They put every single ounce of strength into pulling up the nets into the boat but its simply impossible. The sheer number of fish just can't be brought up above the surface, the only answer is to tow the boat and the nets back to shore. Immediately they knew the signature of this handiwork, it could only be the Master. It could ONLY be Jesus. They were so discouraged and exhausted from working hard all night long and getting nothing yet now their boats lay on the sand with nets full of thousands of wriggling fish flapping in the gentle waves. Now here's the bit that brought tears to my eyes. They land on the beach, amazed and dumbfounded at how their morning had now worked out thanks to Jesus and this is what He greets them with. A warm glowing fire, some bread and fish already being cooked. Just stop for a second and think about that. The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth and every single living thing has just cooked you breakfast. Breakfast made by Jesus, the King of all Kings - the Lord of all Lords.


He knew exactly how the disciples would feel - tired, hungry, lonely, afraid and worried for their future. Jesus tells them to sit and eat and just relax. Enjoy His and each others company and rest. Seriously, How good is Jesus? What I wanna say is this. That same Jesus that was there for the disciples is there for you too. He cares about every single little detail of your life. Your struggles, your worries, your fears, your sickness, your pain and your loss. There's not a single thing about you and your life that Jesus doesn't have immense value and care for. He wants you to trust in Him despite not being able to see ahead because He holds your future in His strong nail pierced hands. You see faith is just that - trusting in what you don't know and can't see as Proverbs 3:5-6 says. If you had it all mapped out then it just isn't faith. Lastly I wanna share a verse written by a guy who really knew what he was talking about. He was one of the guys that night who felt lonely, sad, worried and discouraged yet the very next morning he shared what I'd say was the best breakfast he'd ever had in his life with the King of all Kings.


His name was Peter and later he wrote 1 Peter 5:7 "Throw all your cares on Jesus because He cares for you". Peter knew first hand how much Jesus cared for Him and Jesus cares in exactly that same way for you too. He wants to help you in everything you do. You are never a failure in His eyes. You are never too dirty. You are never too lost. You are never too far gone. You are never forgotten. You are only a perfect target for His amazing love, grace, mercy, restoration and redemption. Call out to Him and He will be with you and save you. He loves you deeply. 

While you may feel far off and that you're the only one around for miles - know the truth that God is near to all who call on His Name. He will hold you up with His strong arms. You are loved. (Psalm 34:18 - The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit) 

Hey I wanna share something that God did in my life that really changed me. As a matter of fact it's probably the single biggest thing God has ever done that changed me the most - and trust me when I say He's done a LOT in my life. He saved me and gave me a home in heaven when I was 8 years old, He's healed many of my diseases including Chron's disease and depression, He's healed loads of broken bones and kept me alive countless times on various motorbikes and other crazy vehicles, He's provided so many times and often when it came right down to the wire - but that's not what He wants me to talk about. Today God's asked me to share something very powerful that changed my relationship with Him forever. I hope, pray and believe that this will help others out there that were like me that wrestle with this too. What God has told me to say is simply this "You are worthy". This is quite a controversial topic with Christians and I've found it quite common to be a theme in a lot of songs and prayers to God saying "we are not worthy..."  and I have to say I completely disagree.

Before you dismiss me as a madman, stay with me and I'll explain why and the reasons may surprise you. Firstly, I came from a broken home. My Dad left when I was only four and my childhood is scattered with memories of financial stress, insecurity and constant hate fueled war between my parents. Even sadder was that their backgrounds weren't any better - they were much, much worse. Both sides held horrible secrets of abuse, neglect, depression and death. So my parents could hardly be held to blame - they suffered just like me and I was born into that very same cycle of hurt. As a result of the immense pain, rejection, shame and fear that came from that type of upbringing I developed an incredibly low sense of self worth. I was unable to give love or receive love. In my mind I somehow reasoned that if so much pain and suffering had happened to me - then logically I must be flawed and my worth must be very low. You see, I figured that if people hurt me, manipulated me, abused me and neglected me it has to be because they know my worthlessness and are responding to it. What I'm here to tell you today is this. I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong.

What I'm here also today to tell you is this... my life was set up like that for a reason. The reason was simple. My enemies job was to make sure I never woke up and knew the truth - because if I did they were in deep trouble and I might tell others. To explain this better God gave me an example but first I want to share a verse with you. It's one of the most common verses ever quoted. John 3:16. It says this "For God so loved the world that He gave..." Now think about those words. It says because of God's love it prompted an action from Him to give His son to save us. If you open your heart you'll see that its saying "I value this world and all it's people enough to save them. I see them as worthy to receive My love..." Think about it... If it's true that we aren't worthy then God wouldn't have bothered to expend His love to us. He certainly wouldn't have sent His only Son to die for us that's for sure. So that means He knows something we don't. He knew we were worth it. Worth dying for. The example God gave me is this. Picture on the ground a diamond - a BIG diamond that's a good inch by inch in size shining in the sun.

Now if you were walking along and saw this diamond sitting on the ground you would surely pick it up because you know it's worth. You wouldn't even have to be a jeweler to know that this thing sitting there is worth a stack of cash. Now imagine that for many years no one did spot the diamond and it got dirty, it got covered in mud and kicked about the place. It no longer gleamed in the sun like it was meant to... but the truth is it's still a diamond and it's still worth loads and loads if only it could be restored. What I want to say is this... we are those diamonds. Some of us have been to Jesus and have been restored, some are still yet to find Him and His grace. Here's the important bit though...the diamond cannot define it's own worth. It's simply impossible, it must be valued by a reliable external source. A diamond is simply a stone - albeit a precious stone - but no matter how hard it tries it can't call out and tell others it's worth. A diamond also cannot define the worth of other diamonds irregardless of whether they have been restored or are uncut with rough edged.

A diamond can truly only be valued by a master jeweler, someone who knows these precious stones extremely well inside and out. Someone who has the eyes to be able to refine, restore and polish an uncut stone into a precious and rare jewel to be displayed before all. What I want to say is this... it's impossible for you to define your worth. You simply don't have the eyes for it. It's impossible for us to make an accurate statement as to whether we are worthy or not based on our extremely limited life experience, knowledge or treatment from others. You absolutely must have a reliable external source and there is only one place that can give you an accurate, constant and unbiased scale of your worth. It's called the Word of God. In a nutshell it's what God says about you. So lets see what He says hey. Psalm 139:14 says "I am fearfully and wonderfully made". That's pretty clear to me and sounds like a lot of worth just got dumped on you! Romans 8:17 says "because we have believed in Jesus we are co-heirs with Christ". That makes us full royalty by adoption! John 1:12 says "If we believe in Jesus we become the children of God". That makes us family!

There's so many more I could quote but lastly Jeremiah 29:11 says "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and for good says God". If you look at the word "worthy" its easy to see it comes from the root word "worth" - so that means for something to be worthy means it has been deemed to have worth. Now I want to make this plain and simple because that's what God did for me. He met me and told me this "Mark, you've been wrong about a lot of things. I need to show you the truth". And He did. All my life I spoke words over myself having no idea how powerful self cursing can be saying horrible things like "you're a failure, you're a loser, you're ugly, you're worthless, you'll never be anything..." The voices echoed inside me every minute of every day and I was forced to speak them out. Well... I was wrong. Those words were lies. Jesus opened my eyes and now I know better than to get my worth from what I think, say or do. My worth comes from Him alone. It's because of what Jesus did for us that makes us worthy. And because of what He says I am worthy. Because I call on Him I am worthy of His help.

Because I seek Him I an worthy of His favour. Because I follow Him I and worthy to be called one of His own. Because I believe in Him I am worthy of His love. And it was His radical, unmatched, powerful and earth changing love that saved me just like in Psalm 18. Please be careful of the words you speak about yourself because they hold immense latent spiritual power - far more than we can ever understand while we live down here on Earth. The Bible says that death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21) - so speak wisely and be nice to yourself. The only thing that should come out of your mouth should be for building up (Ephesians 4:29) - and that includes words spoken about yourself. If you are like I was and you feel that your worth has been damaged by those around you that have treated you badly can I encourage you to seek the Master. Seek Him with every single part of who you are. I can't tell you how He will do it but I can promise you this... if you seek Him you will find Him and you will know the truth. And once you know the truth, you will be set free from the lies about your worth.

God loves you so, so much more than you'll ever know and I pray today that somehow these words find a way to break inside those high walls, deep into your heart and begin to unlock and awaken the truth of your immense and immeasurable worth in your Fathers eyes. The simple truth is this... You're worth loving, worth helping and worth saving. You are Worthy.