One day every knee will bow at the Name of Jesus. Why? Because of who He is. The Undisputed King of all Kings. The Lord of all Lords. The Beginning and the End. The Creator, Sustainer and provider of all life. Friends and enemies alike will all drop to their knees in reverence at His Majesty and in the presence of His full identity revealed. On that day all will know who He truly is... The Son of God and the King that reigns forever and ever! † 

Ok, so God's put this on my heart to share and in order to do so I'm going to have to be pretty blunt. Firstly, we are all in a war. Whether you like it or not doesn't change the fact that we are at war. The war doesn't stop because you decide to be a pacifist or dig a hole and hide your head in the sand and think only about pink bunnies and rainbows. Take one look around you and you'll see that death, disease, depression, suicide, greed and corruption is rife in this world. Just turn on the radio or the evening news and it's impossible to miss. Fear reigns in this world. This world is badly broken and desperately in need of saving. As a matter of fact, that's precisely why Jesus came - to save us. Now to clarify what I said earlier about war - the war is an unseen war - a spiritual war. While this war is unseen, it's effects can very much be seen in the world we live in. Paul the Apostle talked about this in Ephesians 6 saying "we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against powers of darkness that rule this world..." As people who believe in Jesus we need to constantly remind ourselves that our war is NOT with people.


It's not a war of racial intolerance, it's not a war of territory, its not a war of controlling others. This is the part that God wanted me to really focus on. In this war we are called to be salt which brings taste and life to a bland, empty and dead world and in turn prompts them to ask the question "why are you that way...?" We are also called to be light in the darkness which put simply means we are meant to be a contrast to what the world looks and sounds like. Were called to be living truth that points people to Jesus who sets us free. Please don't misunderstand me, this isn't about a dress code or a pretty little Christian uniform that identifies us with a movement or denomination - it's far more to do with your heart and what people see in you when they come in contact with you. So how do we fight then? Well, Jesus gave us all that we need. He said "Don't return evil for evil". Put simply, when someone does something really bad to you, resist the urge to run your mouth and bury them in a barrage of insults and accusations. Jesus said "pray for your enemies and show them love...". One of the simplest ways of showing love is exactly what Jesus said above "Don't fight back".


This doesn't mean you become a doormat, that your value decreases in any way or that you aren't allowed to say "no". Jesus said that our "yes" should be "yes" and our "no" should be "no". Not "yes" is "maybe... but the truth is I don't want to" or "no" is "i don't know...". There's nothing wrong with being clear and deliberate. In fact you're doing yourself and everyone else a favor by being up front. Don't concern yourself whether people like your response or not - that's entirely up to them. Now this is the part that really needs to be said... As believers in Jesus and ones who are called to be salt and light to this empty and dark world we should never, EVER use the weapons of our enemy. I know you're probably thinking "but I would NEVER do that..." Don't be so sure. Before I go on I want to lay down something that forms the basis of what I believe about God. God is love. God always gives a choice. When you read the Bible you'll see many conditional phrases such as "If my people humble themselves..." and "If we confess our sins...". The word "if" is a conditional phrase. It denotes choice. What this means is this - the choice is yours.


God never makes anyone do anything. He's more than happy to help us if we want to take His hand of love but ultimately the choice is up to us. If that wasn't true then the whole world would have been saved simply by Jesus dying and coming back to life. But the whole world isn't saved like that... We are saved by making a choice to believe in Jesus through faith. Our enemy the Devil on the other hand is the complete opposite of God. He always tries to remove choice by coercing us to do what he wants using deception, manipulation, temptation and fear. OK, so back to the enemies weapons. The leader of the enemies forces is Satan the Devil. Now, he's been around for a long, long time. He knows humans like the back of his hand. He knows our behavioral patterns, what we like and what we don't like. He knows that as humans we're very predictable and he knows how to push our buttons to get a reaction. He knows we are inherently prone to pride, lust, greed, fear and all things evil. Why? because of what happened in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Because they sinned, evil flooded through humanity like a virus. Passed on through generation after generation.


The devil knows he can use this bloodline curse of corruption to bend us to his will if we give in to him. This is why Jesus was born from a virgin, it means He broke the line of sin and didn't come from the male bloodline that has corruption and contamination right through it. In the Bible Jesus is referred to as "The Second Adam". He is the new beginning. So we have two sides in this war. Good and Evil. Jesus is the commander of the good, true and the light. Satan is the commander of evil, deception and darkness. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 10 that "the weapons of our warfare are not physical, but mighty in power to destroy the enemies fortifications..." Our weapons are Love, Truth, Peace, Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness, Prayer, The Word of God and many others that God provides to His soldiers who fight for His Kingdom. The Devil's weapons are Fear, Hate, Lust, Rage, Greed, Deception, Manipulation, Witchcraft, Murder plus many more that wreak havoc on God's great world. What God wants me to say is this... As soldiers in the army of light, don't pick up and use the enemies weapons while you're on the battlefield.


The Devil will make sure that those weapons are always nearby and available but as the Bible says "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you..." Resist the urge to return hatred when someone throws mean and hurtful words in your face. Resist the urge to fight back when you're provoked because Jesus promises in Exodus 14:14 that if you don't fight - He will fight for you. Resist the urge to manipulate others for your own gain - remember God never removes choice and we are called to be like Him. Using deception, manipulation, intimidation or domination to get what you want is picking up a dirty, black evil sword on the battlefield and thinking you can still fight on the side of good. It just doesn't work. So how do we fight then? The answer is surprisingly simple yet extremely profound. We fight using love - the most powerful enduring weapon there is. God is love. Love is God. The simple heart test when were about to jump into the ring to fight is this... Is it love that's motivating me? 1 Corinthians 16:14 says "Let everything you do be done in love". If the answer to this heart test is yes, then you have God with you and for you and there isn't anything that can stand against God.


But it's it not love that's your motivating force and it's pride, greed, fear, lust, anger or anything else that's not from God then your enemy is going to use that weapon in your hand against you as soon as he gets the chance. So how does love fight? Love is selfless. Love is kind. Love is bold. Love is strong. Love is fearless. Love is passionate. Love is sacrifice. Love doesn't count the cost it counts the lost. Something extremely powerful that God revealed to me a few years ago was this. He showed me a vision of a gigantic sword wedged into the ground. It's scale was absolutely massive. I'd never seen a weapon like this ever before. God told me to pick it up but as much as I tried I couldn't even budge this enormous blade at all. I used up every ounce of strength and yet couldn't even move it an inch. Exhausted and puzzled I told God "I can't move it at all let alone pick it up!". He told me to read the sword. Above the hilt was inscribed in ancient text four letters in red. I couldn't read it at first until God opened my eyes and taught me the meaning of the letters. The letters were the name of God but also the name of love. What God told me next explained everything.


This is what He said "Mark, you can't hold, grasp or control love... instead let it control you..." This time I walked up the sword and slowly reached out a single hand to the hilt, eyes closed and praying "Use me... Control me... I give myself to you God..." I opened my eyes and saw the cords that were wound around the hilt unraveling and now winding themselves around my hand and up my arm like a whirlwind. Then in an instant the sword that I couldn't even budge at all before sprung out of the ground and clung to my hand. Weightless, perfect, synchronized yet unimaginably vast and powerful. I understood now... You can't possibly think or dream to control God - no - you must let Him control you. "This is how you fight" God told me. So today, you're going to presented with conflict - it's just the reality of life. The choice is yours as to what weapon you use... There are many to choose from. Some good, some evil. But the best one you could ever hope to use is... LOVE. Surrender to love and let it use you. God loves you.

[ 1 Corinthians13:13 - So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love ]

Don't give up... Trust Him. He will make a way. Just keep following His voice... † 

First of all I just wanna say thanks to all you guys who are praying for me while I'm sick. You guys are seriously so awesome ! Thanks for being the family of God. Another thing I wanna say is how much it encourages me when God prompts me to put up a prayer request pic like I did a few days ago and all the requests come in while I'm still at work and don't get a chance to reply until I get home... The part that really makes my day is someone asking for prayer in their time of trouble and then another complete stranger replying to them before I even get the chance to with genuine care, love and the heart of God telling them that they're praying for them! That kind of heart is nothing short of awesome. And I know if it makes my day then our Father in Heaven just has to have the biggest smile on His face to see His little kids caring for each other like that. Last thing, just to encourage you... Don't fear the trials that come in your life. They're made to test you, expose weakness and to prompt you to develop even more reliance on your Father in Heaven. So boldly move forward even if it hurts because Jesus walks with you. And who better to have by your side than the King that faced death, totally conquered it - then came back for us! Have the best day guys :)

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. ]