steve penny » Eternity

Wind waves

Steve Penny — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:30:24 +0000

Sitting at Mooloolaba at 5.30 in the morning and watching the sun announce the new day to all and sundry. It dawned on me that God causes the new day to arise for all, without regard for rich or poor, male or female, saint or sinner.
The rising sun announces to all that His mercies are new and fresh each morning.
The new day announces the power of new beginnings by God’s grace.
The new day announces that yesterday’s sorrow and defeat is where it belongs – in the past.
The new day announces that all of heavens fulness is available to them who believe.
And most of all the new day announces that our Lord and Christ is the risen Son of righteousness with healing for all.
Wow! And that is just the first moments of a new day – I wonder what other acts of kindness and grace will unfold throughout this new small slice of eternity.

DREAMS ARE GODS PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

Steve Penny — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:08:31 +0000

DREAMS ARE GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

Our creator connects with us through dreams and visions.

Fulfilling your destiny is simply finding God’s plan for your life and fulfilling it.

Ultimate fulfilment – and ultimate futility are twins.

They are almost identical except for one distinguishing feature.

Ultimate fulfilment is marked with eternity and reflects the bigger picture of God’s plan and purpose in everything it says and does.

Ultimate futility is marked with self-focus and only sees the immediate small picture of life.

The Bible addresses this when it says, “what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.”

Get the big picture that always includes eternity, and life will have a whole lot more meaning and purpose.

Joy comes in the morning

Steve Penny — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:43:59 +0000

Joy is always associated with new experiences and new beginnings. The morning is the beginning of a new day – which is another little slice of eternity wrapped in time. Never let your night extend into a new day. Everyone has a few nights of darkness and despair in life but if you learn to leave them behind at dawn – you will find your days filled with joy. Joy comes in the morning. This is an infallible God promise to all of creation. I have birds outside my bedroom window that start rejoicing every morning even before the sun comes up. They announce the new day with unrestrained rejoicing. If nature can do it so can you. Practice welcoming the new day with thanks and praise to God and soon you will find the joy that God promises comes with every new day. You don’t have to go looking for it as the Bible promises that it will come to you. You simply have to create the anticipation for the arrival of joy.
Remember – joy hangs around in the company of two other friends. Their names are – Love and Peace.
Get these three into your life and everything changes.
Love – Joy – Peace.
Love the life you have and the ones you are with. Just make up your mind that what you have – and who you share it with – is worth loving.
Seek to be at peace in all things. Commit to keeping your peace on the inside. If you can live peaceably with yourself you will be at peace with others.
You work on loving your life and keeping the peace – and joy will come to you every morning.
Hey when joy turns up – she is ready to party. Then life becomes a sequence of sweet daily encounters.
Make sure you find your joy again today. She sure makes life interesting.

The window of freedom

Steve Penny — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:51:42 +0000

I am sitting on the 19th floor of my hotel looking out to sea at the Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for such a long period of time. His years behind bars must have seemed an eternity to him and certainly appeared without hope. And yet one of the most haunting of all his paintings is one where he portrays the view he saw through the bars of his cell window. He was able to look back toward His beloved South Africa and see the outline of the mountains of Cape Town. His island prison looks to be only a few kilometres out to sea and yet the gulf of divide during the horrible years of apartheid must have seemed uncrossable. But to me the great story of Nelson Mandela is his vision. He continued to look through the tiny window of his cell and see a vision of his Africa of the future.
Remember there is no prison cell that can contain and restrict vision.
There is no regime that can crush the passion filled spirit.
There is no crisis that can stop the progress of a man or woman filled with hope of a better tomorrow.
To Nelson Mandela we owe a great debt.
He demonstrated to the world – the power of hope.
And then when change came and his hopes began to come to pass – he excercised the grace of forgiveness to all those who had opposed his dreams.
The island on the horizon looks so insignificant – yet to me it stands as a beacon of hope declaring that anything is possible – if you can just truly believe.

MAINTAINING A PERSONAL SENSE OF MISSION

Steve Penny — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:22:34 +0000

What makes you get up in the morning?

What keeps you going through the day when things aren’t working?

What motivates you to keep pressing on toward the dreams you have inside?

Let me tell you what it is!

It is a sense of personal mission.

People with a sense of personal mission outperform all others and usually achieve their lifelong dreams.

Let me tell you what mission is all about.

A. MISSION IS - MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS

- There is no room for selfishness when you are captivated by a true God mission in life.

- True mission is all about making life better for others.

B. MISSION IS - MOTIVATED BY SELF BELIEF

- So many people are waiting for something supernatural to happen before their dreams become a reality.

- Jesus said WAIT UNTIL

WHAT IF GOD IS REAL?

Steve Penny — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:41:32 +0000

WHY I BELIEVE.

Recently we conducted a panel in our church to address the subject,

FAREWELL MICHAEL JACKSON

Steve Penny — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:51:21 +0000

Sadly the world has lost one of its truly great POP stars.

The legacy left by Michael Jackson’s music is immense and appreciated by millions worldwide.

Jackson made moves that have now become mainstream in so many music stars routines.

His music helped shape a generation who now mourn his loss with genuine heartfelt sorrow.

IT IS THE PROPER time right now for the world to honour one of the truly creative legends of our current era.

NOW IS NOT the time to delve into Jackson’s dark side which has been widely published across the world’s media for years.

NOW IS NOT the time to look for smoking guns in the cause and process of the stars death.

NOW IS NOT the time to unearth hidden rumours and stories of a life not perfectly lived.

IT IS THE PROPER TIME to mourn with the family and feel the pain of the passing of another human being into the forever realm.

IT NOW BECOMES GOD’S TIME to judge and reward accordingly, irrespective of the world’s view and response to Michael Jackson’s life.

IT NOW ALL BECOMES CLEAR to Michael Jackson.

We are created for eternity with God and the way into Heaven is through believing in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.

MY PRAYER for many years has been that Michael Jackson would find Christ as His saviour and friend, and if so, will now be welcomed into God’s amazing heaven with open and loving arms.

NO ONE WILL know what took place in the last hours of Jackson’s life – only God.

IN THE MEAN time let’s continue to pray for the living – the family members and fans – that they may be comforted in this time of loss, and turn to a God who loves them completely, and who wants them to spend eternity with Him in heaven forever.

Farewell Michael Jackson.

Steve Penny

WHAT WILL WE LEAVE BEHIND?

Steve Penny — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:19:50 +0000

ONE HOUR AND FORTY TWO MINUTES

On September 11^th 2001 we watched horrified as the twin towers of the World Trade centre came crashing to the earth.

It had taken over eight and a half years for the nation of USA to build what has become the symbol to democracy, freedom and prosperity.

However in one terrible act of terrorism and hatred it took just one hour forty two minutes to raze it to the ground.

Imagine being caught on the floors above 100 with no way of escape and just one hour forty two minutes to reflect on what you had built with your life.

There are three questions that we should all ask of life if we wish to build something that can outlast us.

Have we built something that will benefit others?

Too many people in life are living for themselves instead of giving their lives to build something for others.

Cynics, knockers and bludgers would all have a hard time answering this question of life.

When it is all over, will there be anything left for the benefit of others?

Have we loved our family and friends as much as we could?

Every phone call coming out of the Twin Towers was passionately telling a loved one of unending love.

With just minutes left in life, does that family feud really seem that important, or the business challenge that kept you apart, or the hours away from children; it truly is no longer that important.

Have we made our peace with God?

There was a saying in the trenches of world wars past;

IT HURTS TO GROW UP

Steve Penny — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:02:04 +0000

GROWTH BRINGS PAIN

I remember lying in bed as a young child unable to sleep because of the severe pain in my legs. My mum told me it was growing pains and that one day they would stop.

Unfortunately she was wrong. Oh yes! The growing pains in my legs stopped as I grew older, but the growing pains of life have never stopped.

In fact one of the major reasons why people find it hard to grow up is because of the pain associated with growth.

Growing up demands change and with the change comes pain.

It hurts to stop playing with toys and go to school.

It hurts to stop being a self- focussed individual and get married and take a partner into your life.

It hurts to stop spending your money on fancy toys and fast cars and begin to purchase a family home.

It hurts to change the way you live to help put your kids through a good education.

It hurts like mad to control your emotions and forgive others when they have done you wrong.

It hurts to stay married when things are tough and misunderstandings occur.

It also hurts to look beyond the now and to try and see the bigger picture of life and eternity and make long term decisions.

Growing up really does hurt, and so next time you are going through a tough period in life, just remember what my mum used to say,