Elaine in Melbourne

There’s always more grace in the world than sin. Sometimes we tend to focus on all that’s wrong in the world and forget that God’s grace abounds all the more.

So choose to be a positive voice in amidst all the negativity, shining forth God’s light.

Sharing of 2 Kings 3:15

· contemporary equivalent of the minstrel – those serving in the creative ministry

· Elisha received the word of the Lord only when the minstrel played

· as those serving in the creative ministry, we should expect the hand of the Lord (His word and miracles) to move when we serve and minister

· need to be specific and persevere. God wants to raise our expectations.

3 Prophetic Pictures

1. A deep well filled with refreshing water, and people gathered around it, desiring to drink of the water. However, they cannot drink the water until someone draws it out for them

o this is the role of creative ministry – drawing water so others may drink

o cannot underestimate the thirst of the people who come for church services

o some may literally die of thirst without the living water

o however, in order for us to be able to draw water for others to drink, we need to first make sure that we are drinking the water everyday

o otherwise we’ll perish and cause others to perish with us

o we need to be nourished so as to be able to nourish others

2. A dog with a lockjaw, not letting go of that which it is holding fiercely onto, no matter how it is battered

o we need to be people who will NOT let go of God’s presence, no matter what

o this is the sort of TENACITY that God wants us to have in worshipping God no matter how battered we may be in the course of the day

3. A twig (fragile and easily snapped) and a huge branch of a magnificient tree (seem invincible)

o c/f John 15

o God wants us to be the huge branch

o important to ABIDE in God all the time and not just during quiet times

o Proverbs 3:5 ‘in ALL your ways acknowledge Him…’

o God wants us to be more aware and dependant on Him throughout the day

o there’s nothing in our lives that He’s not passionate about because He’s passionate about us

Worshipping God when life is hard (c/f the Desert Song)

· God delights in praise that we give when we do not feel like it at all or when we are hard-pressed on every side

· These are people who, although are overwhelmed by troubles, are more overwhelmed by the beauty of God

· c/f Paul and Silas worshipping God in prison (Acts 16:22-34)

· how did they feel, being jailed? yet their response was to worship God

· led to transformation, as the jailer, the very one who locked them up, and his family received salvation in Jesus’ name

· what would this mean in today’s context? that even as we choose to respond to oppression / unfairness / persecution with praise, even the very persons opposing us will be saved

· c/f Daniel’s 3 friends who refused to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image and their response at being thrown into the fiery furnace - “if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of the blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, let it be known to you, O king, THAT WE ARE NOT GOING TO SERVE YOUR GODS OR WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE YOU HAVE SET UP”

· the Psalms can be said to be ‘praise in the (seeming) absence and presence of God’

· our praise makes a way where there seems to be no way

· God want and is able to use us even when life is tough

· and when life is tough, we worship until there’s wholeness, we press in further to God

· Hebrews 12:1-3 and James 1:2-4 (mirror each other in the focus we are to put on Jesus who focused on the joy before Him)

· often we pray, asking God to make us more like Him

· we can only get the character of God in the very situations that need God’s characteristics, such as patience with trying situations, love for difficult people, etc

· when we are refined by fire, our beauty can shine forth

· many times the challenges we face can be answers to prayers to be more like God

· so don’t give up, give UP (to God)