A friend sent me this link from YouTube by John Bevere. It is well worth watching. he actually talks about the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel, and afterwards when he flees to desert. Really gives you food for thought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M883zMTD-Yo

In my blog Whatever happened to Joy the words of the song performed by Noel Richards had an error. They shoulc read:

“Oh I feel like dancing
It’s foolishness I know
But when the world has seen the light
They will dance with Joy like we’re dancing now.”

“Oh I feel like dancing
It’s foolishness I know
But when the world has seen the light
They will dance with you like we’re dancing now.”

These words are from the Song “I could sing of your love forever” performed by Noel Richards, found on his Warrior album. When I want to spend time focusing on God, I often play this album and another favourite of mine, Dangerous People, also by Noel Richards. I find they help me stop and direct my focus towards Jesus. I was driving to Brisbane this week and had the music playing in the car. When it got to those words it occurred to me that I didn’t feel like dancing and I wondered why not. There has been so much happening in my life, I had come from a high a few weeks ago of praying fervently for someone and knowing God had acted in their life but then I was confronted by the evil of this world to which I don’t belong (John 17:14) and realised there is so much more to do. It reminded me of my blog on the discouraged prophet, which was pretty much how I have been feeling. If you read 1 Kings 18 you will see that immediately prior to Elijah fleeing, dispirited, into the wilderness, he had stood on the top of Mount Carmel and done what the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah had been unable to do. He called down fire from heaven to light the altar to God. After this the drought that had afflicted Israel was broken. This was a pretty amazing experience, yet it immediately preceded a period where Elijah felt unable to go on. So what happened?
Jezebel and her evil happened. Elijah returned to Jezreel and received death threats from Jezebel. After a great witness of God’s glory, Elijah came back to earth with a thump when he encountered the evil that is present in the world. If you keep reading 1 Kings you will know that eventually Jezebel met a very unpleasant end just as God said she would. But Elijah, in the exhilaration of the moment, lost sight of God and His promises and His power and control over history and became scared. He lost his joy and his perspective on things. He did what most of us do. He looked at the problem from the perspective of one looking across to the problem instead of from the perspective of one looking down from heaven.
We all do this and we all need reminding to change the way we look at things. To focus on God and the victory we have in Jesus instead of on our own strength. In my blog on mending our broken dreams I suggested reading the psalms to find the countless references to the struggle to understand why evil people always seem to do well while the godly suffer. As I said then, the answer is always to praise God and acknowledge that all people face God eventually and nobody escapes the consequences of their sin. We have to trust, no matter what the circumstances.
So how do we get that joy back? Joy, along with praise,  is a conscious choice we make. Then we have to find the way to live that Joy. Every person has their own way of doing that and you must explore the ways that suit you. For me, it is listening to some favourite praise songs, songs of victory and songs of great focus on Jesus. These help me to slow down so that I can then read and meditate on the Bible. This allows me to align myself to Jesus so that we can walk together and I can experience the Joy of all that my Savour has done.

For those who feel they are being persecuted for their faith I suggest reading the following Bible verses then read my blog. 1 Peter 3:13-15 and Isaiah 54:17
This blog is late because I set out to write on John 6 but got diverted by something that happened to my family earlier this week.
We are Australian and there are certain activities that form part of our culture. Halloween is not one of them. However, cynical multinationals in their bid to increase their profits have set out over the past 10-15 years to spread Halloween observances around the world. I watched the Dutch culture, with its celebration of a Christian martyr in November, on St. Martin’s Day, being corrupted by Halloween with its celebration of evil. Returning to Australia I have discovered that many rudderless people with no faith and a willingness to consume, therefore lining the pockets of the directors of multinational corporations, have started taking their young children on Halloween visits throughout their neighbourhoods. Halloween does not form any part of my Christian faith and I find this pagan festival distasteful. Many people share my views. This year it has turned nasty with our house, among many who do not observe Halloween, being egged. The fact that someone in a car, under cover of darkness, in other words a cowardly adult, did this, makes it even more horrible. I can speak of intolerance and the ugliness of intolerance in an increasingly multicultural world. I can speak of how this is not how Jesus would behave, but these people do not believe in anything but consumption. But something more alarming has come to my attention. Many Christians posted on their facebook walls words expressing their distaste of the celebration of evil at Halloween. Many faced negative comments because of this and then withdrew their posts and apologised for their intolerance!! Talk about being ashamed of Jesus! (see Mark 8:34-38).
So let me get this right. What is happening in our society is that it is OK to observe Halloween, to mention Buddhist and Moslem festivals and so forth, but it is not OK to observe Christian festivals, especially the Christian facts behind Easter and Christmas. It is OK to mock God and to speak out against belief in Jesus but it is not OK to mock or speak out against other ‘faiths’. So are we all puppets of satan? We are pressured to conform, to not be intolerant and speak out in favour of all faiths (except Christianity that is). But if we refuse to wear the mark of the beast, in whatever form it takes, we are treated to high levels of intolerance (Revelation 13:11-18). So if you are a Christian are you just going to sit there and take this? I leave you with the words of Jesus in Mark 8:34b-38 NIV to consider prayerfully.
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.