Capernwray Harbour Community Blog

Following Jesus is not something that automatically happens once you are related to Him. Following Jesus requires a conscious deliberate decision for each step of the way, we never grow out of dependancy on Jesus, there does not come a day when we are fine on our own, when we can manage without Him, because we were never ment to live independantly of Him. We always live out of poverty of Spirit. Sinners saved by grace but needing a Saviour for each step of the way.

Its not about our ability to hear what He has to say, we don’t have to worry that we will miss what He is saying to us, but its about trusting that if God has something specific for us to do He will make it so clear that we cannot miss it, we of course have responsibility for what we do with what He reveals to us. Jesus says My sheep know My voice so rest in that promise, as long as we place the emphasis on ourselves, instead of Him we will live insecure lives, Philippians 3v3 “for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh”

Guidance Is God’s responsibility and He is happy to do it, we never need to worry whether God will guide us or not, in fact we never need to worry full stop, Proverbs 3v5-6, and if we find ourselves off track God will call us back, Isaiah30v21 “Your ears will hear a word behind you,”This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” As we learn to follow His leading and guideing for each step of the way it becomes easier for us to distinguish between right and wrong as we become increasingly sensitive to what He has to say.

God is not just about getting a job done through our lives, He is not so much intrested in what He can do through us He is more intrested in us. God is always looking at the heart 1Sam 16v7 …………”man looks at the outward appearance , but the Lord looks at the heart.”  2Chron 16v9a “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” We are not involved in His service because He needs us but because He wants us. He is about transforming hearts and lives ever increasingly into His image.

Productivity from God’s point of view is progress in our lives on the transformation process. As we look for direction and guidance in areas of our lives, its not a case of getting instruction from God and running with them, but humbling ourselves to bring ourselves back in line with the Master, taking up our cross daily and following Him.

As we learn to follow Him, we learn to make the most of every oppurtunity becoming increasingly sensitive to His conviction, and responding in the quiet places of our hearts with the appropriate response, doing business with God throughout the day.

You cannot put a box around or formulize what following Jesus will be like, or how it will play out in our lives, because He deals with us very personally because He knows us better than we know ourselves. The only formula we can make out of following Jesus is this.  Jesus said follow Me.

Psalm 139:16, “… and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”

I have been blessed with a job that I really enjoy. It was to my disappointment when I looked at the schedule the other day that I only have 18 hours of work this next week. I was starting to calculate the money that I would receive from this paycheque and comparing it with the money I would need. I started to doubt if I was really where God wanted me to be or if I should get a second job or quit this one altogether.

The Lord has graciously reminded me that if He hasn’t given me something, it’s because I don’t need it. Where I am is where God has called me to be so I need to be ALL here. I cannot wish I am anywhere else because if He wanted me anywhere else I would be there. God has placed me right where I am for a reason. So I need to be here. To pour in, listen, encourage, love, to be a blessing in the lives of the people around me. To be a light. This is what we’re called to do. It wasn’t until I got home that night and started reading the book of Philippians that I was reminded of how Paul learned to be content in whatever circumstance he was in (4:11). The Lord also instructs us in Philippians 4:6-7 saying, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus.”

What a great reminder and comfort it is to know that the Lord is guarding our hearts and our minds. That in the midst of chaos we can find clarity, in the midst of stress we can find rest, in the midst of disappointment we find hope, in the midst of sorrow, joy. And in the midst of deception, we can stand firm in Truth. I do not have to be deceived by the world or worldly ways of thinking for Paul goes on to write in verse 19 of the same chapter, “and my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” I do not have to worry about not having enough money or getting enough hours. I can enjoy the time that I have “off” and I can use it to serve the Lord. Just because I have time “off” doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work. It’s not taking time off of life because no matter what we’re doing, it’s still all about Him!

God can use you right where He’s placed you if you let Him! It’s okay to work or to not work if this is what He’s called you to because if it’s Him calling you to it, He will be there, He’ll work through you and His righteousness will be produced. You don’t have to wait for that perfect moment or situation to be a witness, to shine a light. Never wait to live!! Live where He’s placed you. Taking time “off” or working “too” much will not make you loose the excitement of Christ in your life, unbelief will. Expect Him to work! Be excited about the work that He is doing and is going to do! “…abundantly beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…” (Ephesians 3:20) He’s preparing you, equipping you for the task you’ve been called to. He’s walked before you and He walks with you preparing each step for you to take, each decision for you to make. He’s in control of the details! He cares about the details. What will you miss out on as you try to fight for control? As you refuse to surrender? If things are done in your timing? There’s a reason for your waiting. There’s always a reason. He doesn’t waste His time. You were created to live. So live, right where you are.

Ephesians 3:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

‘’Therefore beloved…be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation…” 2 Peter 3:14-15

The other day I was reading through 2 Peter and this verse really stood out to me. The first thing I noticed were the words being ‘diligent to be found by Him in peace.’ I have experienced times of being found in His peace and times of the complete opposite; being in turmoil. His peace passes all understanding, it brings contentment in a way that nothing else ever can. As I walk in His plan and purpose for my life I know that I need to be diligent to choose to rest in Him and He will give me the amazing gift of His Peace. This is not always easy, in the busyness and events of each day it is easy to lose sight of why I am really here – for His glory. That is why Peter uses the word ‘diligent,’ it is a continual choice, something we have to make ourselves do, it is not our natural tendency. God wants to give us His rest in each day as we choose to rely on Him, knowing that He will give us all that we need for the day ahead.

The second thing that God reminded me of in this verse is His patience. This made me smile, as I look back and can see that even though I have not always been obedient to Him, the Lord has lovingly continued to lead, guide and discipline me. He is my salvation, without Him I would not be here today. I am so thankful for His patience in my life, for His all-knowing, all-pursuing love that is the same for each one of us, yesterday, today and forever.

Being a mother of a 21 month-old boy, life is pretty much absorbed in toddler preoccupations at present. When Silas gets up in the morning, he and daddy have some father-son time while Ted feeds him breakfast and then heads off to work. After that, it’s play, walk, play, snack, play, lunch, play… then nap! Then play, supper, play, PJs, bottle, story…and bed!

I absolutely love being a mother, and thank the Lord so much for the wonderful opportunities (and challenges) that Ted and I have of coaching Silas through toddlerhood and ultimately life. But one part of my walk with the Lord which has been suffering lately is spending quality time with Him and in His Word because of the distractions around me. Just as I have been writing these few lines on my first blog, Silas has run up to me at least 3 times, wanting a hug, a snack and his Potato head from the toy box! So I have to search my heart and ask myself where my priorities lie? In Colossians 3v16, Paul says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” How can I be teaching and admonishing my son with all wisdom if I am not anchored deeply and richly in God’s Word? This has been a challenge to me, because I don’t want to spend my parenthood making right decisions from a world’s perspective, but which are completely foolish in the Lord’s eyes. My discipline of setting time aside to read the Bible and letting the Word dwell in me will not only affect me and my relationship with the Lord, but will also influence people around me.

So here I go for today, I want to let the Word of Christ dwell in me … not superficially, and enough to “get-by” on, but richly…

I’ve been encouraged and admonished recently in Ephesians, by the reminder of Christ’s completed work of making us new creations in Him.  The whole book really talks about it, but in Eph 4:24 specifically it says we have already been given the “new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”  Nice!
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But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to diligently press on with God ourselves.  Paul also reminds the Ephesian church that they need to deliberately “lay aside the old self” and “put on the new self”.  He tells them, “now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (Eph 5:8).”  It’s like he’s saying, “you are a new creation, now be who you are!”
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I also think of those verses in Philippians (2:12-13), “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”  God is the one at work in us to live lives pleasing to Him, but because God does it we are to do it.  God’s working is not a reason to sit back and “let Him” do it all, it’s a reason to be deliberate about working it out ourselves - in faith that He will do it!  Our “new selves” are there and ready to be “put on” because Christ has completed His amazing and merciful work, but we must choose to “put it on”.  And that’s what Paul is exhorting the Ephesians to do!  And giving lots of practical instructions about what the “new self” looks like too.
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So, the encouragement is:  The new self has been created.  We are children of Light!
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And the admonishment is:  I need to deliberately choose to walk that way.

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And we know that when we do we will have victory because God is at work in us to do it and after all, the new self in Christ is ready to be “put on”!
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“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph 2:10)

“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.”  Psalm 121

A number of weeks ago a good friend and i spent a couple of days exploring rock climbing spots on Vancouver Island.  The thing about most rock faces that are good climbing is that they require some sort of a hike to get to it also called an approach. This one particular huge rock face had a very steep approach climb that was a little out of my comfort zone but because of the excitement of our discovery it didn’t bother me at all going up.

Our exploration of this climbing spot required us to find a way to the top of cliff to drop our ropes down from. Born and raised in Manitoba in prairie country this next little hike to the top took my nervousness to the next level.  Did I mention that the friend I was on this adventure with was born and raised on the side of a mountain in Austria and spent the last number of years as a forester on the sides of steep mountains. Needless to say he was naturally just hiking up while i was progressively falling behind because of apprehension and not to mention exhaustion. Finally at the top, rewarded with an amazing view overlooking a lake, we find the spot where we plan to anchor our climbing gear.

We weren’t very hopeful of this climbing spot so we regrettably didn’t bring our climbing gear with us so it was back down to fetch our gear.  Climbing down seemed to just widen the already huge gap between our mountaineering skills. I’m not sure but I think my Austrian friend made it down then waited a while, thought I got lost, then hiked back up to find me. Find me he did, stumbling and struggling down this steep slope we climbed only moments before.  Every step I took down my feet seem to slide out from under me so I compensated by putting my hands down to help stabilize my self. We he came back to find out why it was taking me so long to get down he shared with me a very valuable tip in descending a steep mountain. He said you must plant your foot, commit to the step and put all your weight on it.  Every step down the mountain must have all your weight transferred on your stepping foot to prevent it from sliding out.  This is the same principle in our relationship with Christ if we don’t place our faith in Him (trust in Him - put weight o Him) we begin to slide.  Christ is the only thing that is stable, solid, trustworthy, true and we need to put our weight on Him.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  Prov 3:5-6

Hello to everyone out there. So as you have probally gathered my name is Ben Ellershaw and I am currently spending my summer in sunny England, its my first time back in England for a while as I have just compleated two years of study at Capernwray Harbour Bible School. I wanted to take this oppurtunity to share a few thoughts that God has been impressing on my heart since returning to England.

So after spending two years as a student at Capernwray and last summer working on the domestics team, I now know upon know that Jesus Christ Himself is the Christian life, I can’t live His life for Him, He does not want my help, rather my surrender, and anything I do that is sourced in me, has its orogin from me will not please Him. “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom 14v23b) because we were never ment to live that way, we were designed to live in dependancy on the Creator, anything other than that is wrong (sin) because its not how we were created to live.

Since coming back to England there has been and will continue to be oppurtunities to share what the Lord has revealed to me while I have been at Bible school, and that of course is great, and definatly a blessing, knowing that in giving away to others we find ourselves receiving from the Lord, (I am not talking of prosperity gospel as it is often called) but the spiritual principle that as we give away to others God will indeed look after our needs.

As I have already stated these are great oppurtunities, but I dont want to substitute these oppurtunities for enjoying Life, experiencing Life, each day should be a day of learning the secret Philippians 4v12-13. I don’t merely want this to be a Life that I tell people about, or a theory I know in my head, but I want to learn to experiance Life in all its fulness that is always available to us, and always on Jesus terms. I want to learn each day how it plays, allowing all of Jesus who lives in me, to live His life through all of my humanity, and that’s life eternal ( John 17v3).

This is why I have chosen the title from Ezek 47, Ezekiel is asked the question “Son of man have you seen this” not asking Ezekiel if he had seen the river that could not be forded but have you seen this in your life, the water that flows from south of the altar v1, that begins to flow when we surrender our lives to the One who is the Life. John 7v38 Jesus said “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Before coming to Bible School I was in different outreaches that obviously involved telling people about Jesus, but I didn’t really know the One that I was telling them about, I dont want to kidd my self and others that I am being spiritual, but actually be spiritual, allowing the Spirit of God to work in and thru my life, and to know Him, because when we really see Him for who He is then we have good news for a world in desperate need of it, and that includes me, a sinner redeemed by grace, but still needing a Saviour for each step of the way.

By nature, I like to be a people-pleaser. From a human perspective, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing - I like to avoid confrontation, make people happy and live in harmony with those around me. But at what cost? The Lord has been challenging me in this area…

It is so satisfying to flesh when I know that people like me and praise me for what I have done, but that can lead to the trap of seeking man’s approval and forgetting about God’s approval. In my reading from today, these words from Jesus stood out to me: “I do not accept praise from men (…) How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (John 5 v 41 & 44).

Saying “no” to someone or something that I know the Lord doesn’t agree with/ serving people in the secret, without letting anyone else know about it/ being unpopular because of standing up for the Truth… takes a lot of courage and dependance on God. I realize daily that I cannot receive His approval or please Him by my own efforts, so I need to allow Him to live and work in and through me, changing my heart’s desire from being “me-centered” to being “Him-centered”…

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, “for even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.”

It was a year ago this weekend, same place, same time, same reason. It’s youth retreat – my brother is here, my friends are here, from the outside, it doesn’t really seem any different then the preceding year. Why then does it seem so different for me on the inside? Thinking to last year’s youth retreat, I remember not really enjoying myself. I was struggling a lot with identity, I was jealous of the people around me, jealous of the people who were affected by the Holy Sprit and jealous of the people who they confided in. I wanted to be apart of the body, I wanted to belong, I wanted to play a visible role in the work that the Lord was doing. I was sitting on the bleachers last night when I started wondering why this year was so much different then last year, why this year was filled with so much joy, peace, and contentment. Why was I not struggling to fit in, to be apart of the body, why was I not jealous of the people around me? As I sat there pondering these things, I could not believe it took me a whole year to figure this out. I finally realized that last year I was seeking an experience of the Lord. I wanted, I desired to have an emotional encounter with Him and I specifically wanted it to take place in my brother’s life. I wanted to come out of the weekend giving testimony to what I saw the Lord do to transform my family but the problem was, I was so focused on what I wanted God to do that I didn’t see what He did do in the lives of those around me. Instead of looking at all the broken people falling on their knees in surrender and seeing the work of the Holy Spirit, I just saw people to be jealous of. I saw things that I didn’t have, things that I wanted, a story I wanted to tell. I have come to acknowledge that the reason why I saw these things was because I was so focused on myself and I so desired the “spiritual high” that I missed out on so many opportunities to get to know God better.

God showed me as I sat there the other night contemplating these things, that walking with the Lord isn’t about having an experience with God even though we do get to experience Him. The walk is all about knowing Him and finding sufficiency in this. When you are seeking an experience with the Lord, it is just another thing that can be used to get through the dry times. When living from “spiritual high” to “spiritual high” we will never be satisfied because instead of focusing on who God is, we focus on what we can see God doing or what He can do for us. We are blessed to be apart of the work of the Lord and we are so blessed to see the work that He is doing as well but some times God chooses in His infinite wisdom, not to show us all that He is working on and there are times when to us, it seems like He’s not doing anything. So, if we choose to live on a series of “spiritual highs” then when we don’t see God at work we hit a bottom. Since we’re focused on the experience that we can have with the Lord, we’re no longer seeing things from His perspective but from a fallen perspective. We need to see things from His perspective! The truth is that God is always at work. When we trust and rest and seek the character of the Lord, we no longer need to worry about or focus on the fruit because we have hope. We can have a trustful expectation that the Lord is at work whether we can see it or not and He is faithful to complete the work that He has started – there will be fruit. When we know the Lord, we can be content and complete in Him knowing that all things are sourced in Him and in Him lies all that we need to enjoy life, and peace, and rest. We can enjoy fellowship with Him and we can learn from Him, receive instruction from Him.

I have found the difference, the difference is that this year, my identity is placed in the Lord and instead of seeking and experience of the Lord, I am seeking the Lord and as I walk in the truth of who He is I see Him working in and through my life and even when I cannot see Him directly at work in my life I am still satisfied in Him because only He can truly satisfy me. When I am walking in the truth of who He is, I can look at others and see the work that the Lord is doing and instead of being jealous, I get to rejoice in the Lord and how great He is. I get to be encouraged and privileged to be apart of the body of Christ and I get to have confidence in the fact that God is faithful and when I abide in Him the fruits will be righteousness and fruit will be produced. Not by my good doing or any efforts of mine will this fruit be produced and it’s not because I deserve it, but by His majestic power, mercy, grace and wisdom. It is by His love and His sufficiency that righteousness will spring forth like a well of living water. The best part: the source of the well will never dry up! The question: will I continually choose daily to remain in the Source? to trust in the Source? to rest in the Source?

Hebrews 4:11 “therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest…”

Proverbs 3:5-7

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

Being asked the infamous question of what I want to do next, what I want to do in life, what my goal is, I have found only one answer. Ultimately, my goal in life is to seek the Lord and wherever I am, is just the context that I get to seek Him in and the context to let my light shine. It’s a process and the journey to perfection is life long but I can be confident that the Lord has gone before me and He will never leave me, He will forever remain sufficient. I have come to realize that as long as my perspective remains on Christ’s sufficiency, I can rest and enjoy all the work that He’s going to do. When I keep my eyes on the Lord, remembering that it is Christ who dwells in me, things that come up in my life are no longer things that I have to do or get done but the context for God to amaze me with His astounding power and faithfulness once again. In the process of a task being accomplished there could be so much to complain about, whether it’s people not working together, or people not getting along, or deadlines speedily arising but when I focus on who God is in this task and all that He promises it changes the whole situation. It’s not about getting the job done for the sake of being done. It’s not working for the break or for the pay cheque or the appraisal of man. It’s about working whole-heartedly for the Lord, to honor the Lord and to share light and life with the ones who will be influenced and affected by the task at hand. It’s about demonstrating God’s character and working with a happy heart, loving others and ultimately serving the Lord. Knowing now that each job I am required to do is a chance to give a testimony of Christ, instead of being frustrated with people not working together.  There is an opportunity to humble myself and sacrifice my “rights”, instead of being irritated with people.  There is an opportunity to love and serve and instead of being anxious about deadlines, there is an opportunity to watch God work and pull things together in His perfect timing. God is never late. I’m often just impatient. If I’m not resting in and surrendering to Christ’s authority and ability to work in my life in the core of all that’s going on, then everything I say I believe makes me a hypocrite. What I say I believe has to be what I live out in my daily life. It is truly about His deity in terms of my humanity

I have come to realize that with this perspective, Christ is released from the box that I way to often try to place Him in and He is free to work in and through and around me and my life and I get to stand in shock and awe of His amazing power, faithfulness and love that He delights in giving and demonstrating. I don’t have to live the cliché life – graduate from high school, go do university, start a career, get married, have children, retire, die. Even though I do want these things, I get to live in freedom, I don’t have to know what’s next because I know who is leading me, who has a plan for me and my life. A plan that is beyond all I could ask, think or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) A plan where I am free and safe in Christ and I get to live an exciting life, a life that may seem like a waste of time and money, a waste of energy and investment to the watching world. To the world it will look like foolishness but God will use the foolish to shame the wise and He will use it all for His glory and His good. The work of the Holy Spirit is for the glory of God alone. If I try to focus on what’s next, I will be prevented from reaching my potential in my relationship with God because at this point, my perspective has shifted and Christ is no longer the object of my focus. My life won’t be exciting because I’m living it. It will be exciting because Christ is living it through me. I don’t expect life to be easy. I daily struggle with keeping Christ my focus and keeping in perspective my inadequacies. I struggle with seeking Him daily, spending time with Him, and surrendering to Him, trusting and resting in His faithfulness and His timing. There will be trials and there will be persecution, the good news is rarely easy and often inconvenient but God is faithful to complete the good work that He has started in me. Even though I don’t know where things will lead, I can trust my leader.

Isaiah 58:11

“And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”