What are YOU wearing?

Isn't it funny that as a society we are often lead socially by what we are wearing. When we are younger and trying to socially fit, you tend to go with the look that most suits you  and your personality and then you go to the group that mostly fits that look you are currently wearing.

When I was a teenager (back in the 90's) I remember several social groupings, you had the "popular group" This mainly meant people who had money, either through their own work or their inheritance through their parental wealth. Either way the popular grouping wore designer labels at every event and you rarely saw them in the same outfits a second time. You had the "trying group" this group clearly wanted to be popular but if the truth was told their clothing was clearly the cheaper fashion than their popular friends having slight "knock off" designs so instead of having a fashionable logo on their tops they had a "normal placement" of an unrecognisable logo. I remember you had the group we called "sweaties" these consisted of alternative dress and wear; baggy t-shirts, baggy jeans, liked to hang around skating areas and have chains linked to their jeans and some important item like their keys. You had the "Goths", who if i remember correctly had everything black, clothes, hair, make-up and general accessories. Finally, you had the people who didn't really fit in any of the above grouping but tried to be bias and looked like they joined every group in some sort of way.

Now, I am not overly sure which group I fitted in, I think I was either in the trying group where I tried to be popular with dodgy knock-offs or I was the last group mentioned who tried to please everyone. I am not going to kid myself and say I was popular and I don't think I was a sweaty and definately too bright in colour to be a Goth.

But isn't it amazing that what defines the social setting, defines in someway either your character or the character that you wish to appear to be.

It isn't like it is a new thing either, my dad will quite happily tell me that when he was younger that there was a craze that meant you were a "Mod" or you were "Rockers". Mods would apparently dress in a "modern" dress and would ride Scooters, where Rockers would potentially have long hair, be dressed in black and leather and would ride a Motorbike.

Mods

Rockers

Its amusing to think that there use to be gang fighting with each group, especially when you think that we as a society would be beyond such a thing. But historically William Shakespeare mentioned Gang rivalry, we see in an alternate Shakespeare twist of Romeo and Juliet in West Side Story that there is gang warfare, and even recently you hear off football fighting, against an opposing team or opposing country, where one look at the football top meant that you would become aggressive. Social differences seems apparent to the way you dress, and then what character you must be like.

A friend of mine has bought a new coat, like all new things you try to wear it as much as possible. Which also sadly for the friends around them means that you get to be a little guinea pig to the possible combinations that the new item could be included with. This happened to me recently where I had to see this new coat and see of it presented well with some existing clothes for a morning church service. Strange really when you think of it, as going to church would make you assume that you wouldn't be judged on any social gathering that you are part of. Interestingly though this isn't the first time that being dressed in a certain way at church has cropped up. At my Confirmation service, my Godparents came in support of my progress in faith and they came "suited and booted" in their best clothes, me, on the other hands dressed comfortably as that was the way my home church encouraged. But when i questioned my Godparents, they said they were just "dressing in their sunday best" So as you can imagine when I now invite people to church I "warn" them to dress comfortably, if they therefore decide that they want to dress smartly they can, however, you very quickly see their dress code change on a later appearance within the church. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that I do it. I dress smartly, even though I may be comfortable, I still "make and effort" when I go to church.

Why?

How many coats do you have? I have lots of different coats. I have a light summer jacket, a waterproof fold away coat (or as my mum would say a cagoule), I have a thick winter coat, a coat that I would wear just when I am cold (yet it is lighter to wear than the thick winter coat) I have a dodgy denim Jacket, (that barely comes out) I have a light suit jacket that I wear for special occasions, a blue sports jacket that i would wear on a night out and a body warmer. I think when I counted it was 9/10 coats. Far too many I am sure for anyone, let alone any man.

We are so concerned that we have the right outfit or the correct coat for certain social situations, or public displays, we are almost fearful to wear the wrong thing at the wrong time. What we are wearing what we are allowing others to presume about our character by the things that we wear. I mentioned early that my dad was telling me about Mods and Rockers, and when questioned my dad would proudly admit that he was a Mod. So potentially following what my dad was telling my he would be "cool" and would be wearing the latest thing, the most modern thing to wear. Wow, I can't imagine my dad being so self concsious about what he wears. Especially when you see the outfits that my dad wears now!! Being a man in his 70's he has a "unique" fashion sense. He will quite happily wear tracksuit bottoms of any kind "Oh, they're just for comfort, easy to move, can get dirty and I don't mind working in them and sweating a little" (Nice Dad....Purely nice!) But with these tracksuit trousers on he will wear a 1950s style t-shirt or jumper, which clearly you can see he has had for the 40 plus years, that he clearly thinks suit him. Again on questioning his response will be "Well you always want to feel that you look good!"........and the worst thing here is he will tuck these into his tracksuit bottoms (which just for an extra mental image he has slightly too high up his torso) Now for the topping to this glorious outfit off, are clean, hard, and always sparkling black work shoes, something you would expect to wear with a suit. "Well son you never know when you need to look smart"

(This is NOT my dad...He would actually kill me if I put a picture of him up...This guy amused me though and I think helps with some visualisation!)

So a man who potentially was dressing to fit into a social group called Mods, who would dress to look fashionable and be ahead of the times, now wears "Shoes that you would only wear with a suit, polished and sparkling, a pair tracksuit bottoms that are pulled quite high up his torso, with an old fashioned t-shirt tucked well into his trousers. Now, as I stated early I don't think I have great fashion sense, I even think I have made some blunders, but seriously Dad!! My Dad no longer cares about his appearance, he would rather now just fit in to any scenario and not worry what he looks like, as potentially in his head he fits perfectly in to any social situation. But how great is it that my dad doesn't live in fear to be so conscious about what he is wearing? My father doesn't wear the coat of fear or social pressure any more. When you look at him, you may judge him as a crazy old man, with at times no sense. Well if truth be known, that kind of rounds my dad up to a Tee. But I look at him and see love and kindness that is also associated with such men, I look with envy that he has broken these social chains. He is not limited by that choice any more.

I think about several verses in the bible.

Matthew 6:25;
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

OR

Matthew 6:28;
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

OR

Luke 12:27;
Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

We get told time and time again that we shouldn't worry about what we wear, and to just be aware that we are loved, loved by God. Yet we all still do it.

When we prepare ourselves to dress a certain way, to fit in to what society seemingly see us as, we are dressing to present OUR character or at least what we want people to see as OUR character. But are then presenting to the world a very limited view. It always makes me smile when I think about The character Indiana Jones, when we see him teaching in the classroom we seem him looking like a steady english university professor teaching boring Archaeology, then the next time we see him as a fairly robust cool adventure hunter with a hat and a whip.

Dressing in the original pretence limits are views on what and who we are, when we should only be concerned with allowing ourselves to grow in God not restrict our growth with what we believe.

We are warned of this:

1 Peter 3:2-5;
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

Allowing God to dress us doesn't mean that we need to walk around Naked either, before anyone says anything. It means allowing Him to dress us in better things, things that will show our true character.

We can read in Proverbs 31:25;
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

We can be clothed in Strength, we can be clothed in Dignity, and being so allows us happiness, allowing God to dress us clearly allows to become a better character. Is this a one off verse that I am holding on to? No, of course not see below:

Romans 13:14;
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

OR

Job 29:14;
I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.

OR

Galations 3:27;
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

OR

Colossians 3:12;
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

There as you can see there are many different ways that we can get dressed, dressed by God, wearing the things that He wants us to wear, the things that can reflect Him and truly show OUR character. We can change our look to fit who we are called to be, who we actually are, God is not dressing us or shaping us for the now, the current fashion, He is shaping us for the future. God doesn't want us to worry, He doesn't want us to "wear" worry, He says it clearly in the verse above in Matthew and in Luke about do not worry. He doesn't want us wearing that.

I know that I wouldn't wear my thick winter coat in the height of summer, when it is blazing Hot, would you? No? I doubt anyone would wear a coat that would burden them, that is heavy on them, that doesn't suit the climate and more importantly makes us uncomfortable. We wouldn't do it to ourselves, and God definitely doesn't want us to do the same. Do not wear worry, take that coat off, strip yourself and allow God to help dress you. God didn't design us to be limited, especially to be limited by things that we are creating for ourselves. Don't clothe yourself with something that you don't want to be wearing, or seen wearing, don't allow yourself to just fit in socially.

I quite happily listed all the different coats I own above, but as a child I had two. My summer one and my Winter one. I look back and laugh now as these coats became my everyday coat for all occasions, it didn't matter where i was going or what I was doing they were just my coats. It's a bad habit in some ways, because without the correct guidance by my mum I would have just expected to wear my winter coat all the way through into summer. This nasty habit has carried through into my adult life. When something bad or negative happens I shove that coat on. I put that coat of sadness, fear, negativity or self doubt, whatever it may be and I wear it, I wear it and take to whatever occasion that I am apart of. But what I need to be doing more is looking up to my parent and asking for guidance, asking for help to take that coat off, is it time to be dressed more appropriately.

In Isaiah 61:1 and the Isaiah 61:3 we see:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Each time we see that if we allow God to dress us, allowing the Spirit of God to be on us will change and turn the situation around. Allowing God to dress us might not create us to be the wealthy people in possessions but people will look upon us and see good, and they will see the goodness that God provides for us in our lives, He will make us Rich in spirit, Rich in Him. When things are difficult, when we are in the poorest moments, where we seem poor and low, it clearly tells us to praise, Praise God and allow Him to guide us and dress us as we will become Rich, we will become rich in him and allow him to turn our lives around.

Who wouldn't want to have good things in their lives? Who wouldn't want to be dressed by God and be ready in all situations? To be easily read bby others because the way we are dressed in Goodness rather than limiting ourselves to fit in with what others expect?

Dress well, dress in God and be comfortable in the situation you're in, as this will allow us to be good for God, ready not as a plain canvass for God to paint on, but a canvass that is stretched for growth to produce a better painting.
　
　
　
　
　
　

What happens when you die? Part 2

So continuing from my previous post.

Who would not like to have a home of his own, a place where he and his family could feel safe and secure? Having a house of their own remains a mere dream for them. Under Kingdom rule, the desire of every resident to have his own home will be fulfilled, for it was prophesied through Isaiah: "They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage." (Isa. 65:21) Yet, having a home of their own is not the only prospect but teh security that comes with it. There is always the worry that the home can be lost through some financial reverses or that burglars may visit, or even fire and water damage.

How different everything will be in this thousand year reign of peace and love, in Gods loving rule. The prophet Micah wrote: "They will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble." (Mic. 4:4)

In the process of creation, God had several things in mind for us, He made humans last, and for humans to work with a purpose. God stated his specific purpose: "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth." (Gen. 1:26) Adam and Eve, and eventually all humans, were created and instructed to have dominion over the animals. Is it really possible for humans to have all the animals in subjection and to be at peace with them? Many people are very close to their pets, such as dogs and cats. So we should not be surprised when we read in the Bible that peace will come to prevail between humans and

animals.
(Read Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:25.)

Because of the tragic events, small and large, that befall us, beit sickness, diesease, sinfall acts by others, mankind is sorely in need of comfort and relief. That is what the Thousand Year Reign will bring to its subjects: "(God) will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore." (Rev. 21:4) As wonderful as it is that mourning, outcry, and pain will be no more, God’s promise even includes doing away with mankind’s ultimate enemy, death, created by Satan the devil. It has been an invincible enemy, the inescapable end for sinful humans, the source of immeasurable sorrow and grief. (Rom. 5:12, 14)

The Bible points to the time when "as the last enemy, death is to be brought to nothing." (1 Cor. 15:26) Two groups can be mentioned who will come in line to benefit from that. For the "great crowd," who live now, it will be possible to survive into the promised new world with unending life in view. For the billions who have already been snatched up by death, it will be possible to experience a resurrection. Can you imagine the joy and excitement when

those in the former group welcome back the latter? A close look at some of the resurrection accounts in the Bible can give us a foretaste of what it might be like.—Read Mark 5:38-42; Luke 7:11-17. Think of the expressions "they were beside themselves with great ecstasy" and "they began to glorify God." If you had been present on those occasions, perhaps you would have felt the same way. Indeed, seeing our dead loved ones come back to life through the resurrection will produce in us a marvelous sensation of joy and exhilaration. Jesus said: "The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out." (John 5:28, 29) None of us have ever seen such a thing take place; it will surely be one of the grandest of "the things unseen." Though the grand blessings are yet unseen, keeping them clearly in mind will help us to focus on what is truly important and to avoid being sidetracked by the fleeting attractions of the present system of things. (Luke 21:34; 1 Tim. 6:17-19)

This will help us to keep these thoughts in our minds and hearts. The apostle Paul did just that in encouraging his fellow Christians. He took them, so to speak, all the way to the close of Christ’s Thousand Year Reign. Try to imagine the full significance of Paul’s words found at 1 Corinthians 15:24, 25, 28. With this, lead a better life knowing that good will come with you having a loving and faithful heart, and don't just rely on the fact that you're going straight to heaven because you repented on your death bed.

What happens when you die? Part 1

I was recently asked what happens when we die, do we go straight to heaven. I didn't think we did, b ut didn't want to give a bad anser, so I did a study on it and this is what I have come up with.

A Change, a revolution, it is coming, things will change for all of us.....Well some point in the near future at least. The Bible has many prophecies which help to confirm this fact for us, by reading many of these prophocies we see in Daniel and also in Revelations, we can conjour up some idea.

The apostle Paul tries to encourage us to "keep our eyes . . . on the things unseen." Yes, we need to bear in mind our reward of everlasting life. As the context shows, Paul wrote these words to encourage fellow believers, followers and Christians to focus on the happy outcome of their faithful course. When we see this written, many now a days concentrate on the idea that being good and soley good will mean that they get to go to heaven. Many churches still teach the doctrine that if you are good and believe in Jesusw and you subsequently die you go to heaven and if you are bad and you die you go to hell. That always seems very straight forward and due to that we see that many people wanting to focus on the happy that Paul mentions think and believe they are going straight to heaven. But teh Bible I believe contradicts this view point in places.

Why is it so easy to teach part of what the Bible teaches, when all it does is spread misunderstanding, although I can see that by doing so it would also help them and therefore othersx to cope with trials and persecution (2 Cor. 4:8, 9, 16-18; 5:7.) Paul’s admonition contains an important principle: To keep our hope firm, we must look beyond the things that are immediately before us.We need to focus on significant events that are still to come. (Heb.11:1; 12:1, 2)
(1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3.) In the letters we see that he mentions the coming of Gods day, the lords day. Saying that in between this stage to the day of armegedon that a change and a revelution and will ultimately come. After all false religion and interpretation has been stopped or even as teh Bible states "destroyed", God’s servants will still be found "dwelling in security" and "without wall." (Ezek. 38:11, 14) Knowing in advance about this attack on God’s people does not make us overly anxious. Rather, our main concern is, not our own salvation, but the sanctification of Gods name and the vindication of his sovereignty. In fact, He declared it for more than 60 times: "You will have to know that I am God." (Ezek. 6:7; see footnote.) Hence, we look forward with interest to the fulfillment of this concept brought to us in Ezekiel’s prophecy, trusting that "God knows how to deliver people of godly devotion out of trial." (2 Pet. 2:9) Meanwhile, what should we be doing? Does this mean that in teh time between now and that day we can do what ever we like, because we have a possibility for redemption later. How many times do we hear teh phrase its ok, I'll repent and find faith in God on my death bed?! What we want to do and I believe should do is use every opportunity to strengthen our faith so that we will be able to keep our integrity to God no matter what tests we may face. We should pray, study God’s Word and meditate on it, and share the message, the good news that we have been taugh with others. By doing so, we keep our hope of everlasting life firm. (Heb. 6:19; Ps. 25:21)

So what then, does God have in store for Satan himself? Satan will have to witness

from beginning to end his entire organization on earth being wiped out. Then, he himself will become the focus of attention. The apostle John reports what happens next. (Read Revelation 20:1-3.) the "angel . . . with the key of the abyss"—will seize Satan and his demons, hurl them into the abyss, and keep them there for a thousand years. (Luke 8:30, 31; 1 John 3:8)

So what are these thousand years?

As, what I believe I see myself as, an active Christian although I have read about these thousand years I have never been taught anything about them.

What is "the abyss" into which Satan and the demons will be hurled? The Greek word abys·sos used by John means "very or exceedingly deep." It is also translated "unfathomable, boundless," and "the infinite void." Thus, it is a place completely out of reach of anyone except God and his appointed angel, who we saw above as teh one who held the keys "with the key of the abyss."

Can you imagine all the good that a loving and compassionate ruler could do for its subjects in one thousand years? Wonderful events await the unnumbered "great crowd" the loving and faithful of heart survivors of "the great tribulation," which will bring a total end to the present wicked system of things. (Rev. 7:9, 14).God’s Kingdom will take progressive steps to undo all the damage done to humans and their home, the planet Earth. The Thousand Year Reign will bring about the fulfillment of the heartwarming promise that was given by God: "I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart." (Isa. 65:17)

What a lovely and truly wonderful thought.

I'll contiune to discuss this in part 2, if you have any other thoughst comment or message me, would love to know your views.

Self-esteem: Part 1

I thought I would write a few blog post about self-esteem.

I have a few rationale and irrational self-esteem issues, these although not an individual mental health problem does in fact contribute already occurring issues. Trying to turn and improve  on your self esteem and at the same time limit the negativity that contributes to your self esteem is incredibly difficult. This therefore is what I thought I would discuss.

I believe that every one holds certain thoughts and opinions about themselves, particularly when concerning the type of person that the are or at least believe that they are. This is usually then coupled with how much you value yourself, making the combined problem of self-esteem issues.  Doctors, counsellors and other therapist will say that it is possible to change this view of yourself, this is what I will try to explore.

I watched a while back a Derren Brown programme about luck. This programme was trying show the in "trick" was to convince people that their positive reactions to things increase a positive luck and negative responses will create a unlucky person. Self-esteem plays a massive role here as if you honestly believe that you are unlucky, or have low self-esteem that "negative energy" you will then concentrate negativity that focuses on your weaknesses and all the mistakes you make.

I often do this, something bad will happen and I will beat myself up over and over again, usually until the next negative thing happens. It is a horrible feeling and it is often difficult for me to think otherwise. We have all been in that relationship where when you argue with the person that you love all the little negativity thrives through your lips about the little things that bother you, because it is easier to focus on the reasons why you are bad, and these arguments usually starts because your stressed and feeling tired, worn down and ultimately having low self-esteem, you take that one criticism and run with it into an argument. It is easily done, and although I sit here writing about it, I still have the tendency to role the negativity thoughts in rather than the positive. You never click out of the thoughts thinking "oh they made me this lovely cup of tea this morning, spontaneously, that was lovely" or "they bought me flowers because they saw them and thought of me" Holding negative thoughts about yourself or from a previous event lowers your resilience and your ability to brush things off and cope with the stresses of day to day life.

Positive thoughts and compliments are easier to throw aside and this is what should change. Think about the positive things we have in life and be grateful for them.

So what can you do?

Well the first thing I believe is to focus on what you think are the negative influences in your life  and try to iscolate these from your day to day activities if you can. But most of the time you can usually find that the negativity is something you experienced through a "tramatic" experience as a child. When something happens that reminds you of these significant experiences, you expect teh worst and are likely to react badly. Creating a never ending circle of negativity and low expectations that push to the forefront of your mind.

You could have been exposed to physical, emotion or sexual abuse that then makes you insecure where your reminded by rejection or negativity in that particular area. You could have been bullied at school or made to feel like the odd one out or just generally having a trauma that causes isolation of loneliness.

If  you can recognise what is wrong then you can look at trying to correct it. If you identify with a few of these then you will start on the one that seems less daunting, something plausible to tackle. Set yourself a challenge that you realistically think that you can achieve. Start with something easy, small, but which will still show meaning for you. Tell others about what you are trying to do, so others can witness your achievements, and then although I know that it is difficult but accept their praise to you. Then when you do it once, then do it again, conquering all the small things that will help turn some of your negativity around. Whilst doing this remember to try these four things:

1: Stop comparing yourself to others and their achievements.
2:Get into the habit of saying positive things to others and then to yourself.Thinking positively in difficult times, trying to find the silver lining in the cloud. (I know it is difficult and gets tedious, but try it)
3:Accept others positivity to you, and try to take their compliments to you. Spending time with positive people will help you feel better.
4:Don't put yourself down, look at every activity as a benefit to yourself or others. Being helpful and considerate to others will help you to acknowledge your own positive qualities.

I know trying to tackle these things are hard, I often know the right and correct things to do, and yet i still fall into the same traps time and time again. I will start tackling one of my weakeness ( Allowing the little "off the cuff comments to hurt me") and in the meantime I will also do the four points I listed above. I will let you know how I get on and try to show you some features that might help you along the way. Comment if you find this useful and let me know how you get on!