Mick Mooney's Blog, page 10

To be fearless by faith

What if living by faith is not so much about believing in something, but fearing nothing? What if we dared to be fearless, how free would we be? As free as Jesus wants us to be I’m convinced. But to be fearless … now that truly does take faith!

Enter The Kingdom Of God Like A Child, And Enjoy How Colourful It is

I was watching my baby daughter play recently, and I noticed that all the toys were multi-coloured. In fact, everything we buy her is multi-coloured. There is a good reason for this, and that is that babys are fascinated by colour, they really enjoy looking at things that are colourful. It’s not just the toy that makes playing fun, it’s the joy of seeing all the colours that are part of the toy.

As I was thinking about all this, I was also preparing dinner for my wife and myself. It was a salad. As I looked into the salad bowl I was suddenly struck by how colourful it was. Red tomatoes, brown mushrooms, yellow corn, green leaves, black olives, white onion… and then it struck me…

My heavenly Father is offering me, his child, the same thing I offer my baby daughter. He’s offering me the chance to enjoy colour. God wants my life to be colourful, and he has even created all of creation to make it possible not only for me, but for every single person on earth.

But, you know, we don’t think of ourselves as children. Oh no, we’re the adults. We’ve got better things to do. More important things. More urgent things… which led me to my next thought.

Maybe when Jesus said unless you become like a little child you’ll never enter the Kingdom of God he was not talking about some future salvation, he was talking about being able to enter into God’s joy, into God’s reality of love, into all that is God – into God’s rest. Into the reality of God’s Fatherly embrace.

Maybe becoming like a child is not to earn some place in heaven, but to enjoy our place on earth. God is not waiting for us in heaven. God is with us. This is the wonderful reality of the gospel. God is with us. Right here. Right now. And God is not a tyrant or a task master. God is our Father, and a wonderful Father at that.

You know, he’s created the world to be enjoyed, but we’ve got to rewind a little. We’ve got to slow down a whole lot. We’ve got to act like my little baby daughter, and enjoy the simple beauty of things that are colourful.

Slow down. Look around. Be like a child, you’ll really start seeing God’s everyday gifts to you when you do. I guarantee you’ll be amazed at just how colourful life truly is.

There’s enough for everyone. Don’t hold back, love outrageously.

When we slow down and remember how much love is within us, we find ourselves filled with the urge to love like crazy. We’re inspired to love like there’s no end to it. We want to love, for we remember that the King of heaven is at home within us.

We are not meant to strive to love; rather, we are called to rest in the truth of what is already inside us. Love is there. Love is there is such a large quantity if you dare to let the eyes of your heart see it, it will awaken you. It will consume your thoughts. It will inspire your daily actions.

Love is within you; share it, for there is no end to it. There’s enough to give away. There’s enough for everyone. Don’t hold back, love outrageously.

Jesus was a reckless lover of people

Jesus was a reckless lover of people, and he refused to bow down to the religious expectation of loving from a distance. He was up close, real, and embracing. He touched the lepers, he drew close to the prostitutes, he invited the scoundrels of society to dinner. He was hated by the religious not for this theology, but for his love, for his love was not made up by words he spoke, but by the life he lived.

Here’s What Jesus Really Did At The Wedding Of Cana. Can You Accept It?

Okay, here’s the situation.

Jesus goes to a wedding. His mother’s in charge of catering. Everyone is having a good time, a really good time actually.

So good, they’ve actually drunk the bar dry. There’s no more wine left! But everyone is having so much fun, and Mary doesn’t want to be the party-popper for not ordering enough alcohol.

Jesus is at the wedding.

He knows what is going on.

He knows everyone has been drinking – a lot.

He knows this, because his mother has come to him asking him to do fix the problem; they are all drunk, so much so they have polished over ever bottle of wine, and they haven’t even got to the speeches yet!

So, here’s the thing. Jesus knows the people are drunk, he’s well aware of this. He knows they’ve had too much to drink. So, what does he do?



This may shock you, it may make you very uncomfortable, but I’m just going to say it.

He filled up 6 stone water jars, each holding about 120 liters of water, and prepared to do a miracle. And a miracle he did do.

He turned the entire 720 liters of water into 720 liters of grape juice – and he told all those sinners to sober up!



Party’s over!

This story was officially approved by the What Would A Pharisee Do? Foundation.

Yes, Jesus Is With Us … But Do We Act Like It?

One day Barry the good Christian was riding his bike when he bumped into Jesus. It was quite a shock at first, but he was excited to hear that Jesus wanted to spend the day with him. What luck, to have God actually with him.

First thing he did when they arrived at his apartment was stand in front of Jesus for 25 minutes and sing love songs to him. This. Was. Awkward.

After worship Barry informed Jesus it was now time for them to have communion. Jesus smiled, stood up enthusiastically and asked where the wine was. This. Was. Awkward.

Barry informed Jesus very nicely that communion was actually done with grape juice, as this was the biblical way, and Barry always followed the Bible. Jesus seemed to roll his eyes, but Barry wasn’t sure. Jesus then asked what they planned on eating for fellowship. Barry produced two tiny pieces of a cracker.

When Jesus asked why they were drinking grape juice out of a shot glass and holding a tiny piece of cracker, Barry decided it was best to ignore Jesus for a moment while he enjoyed communion. For Barry, it was a great moment of connection. Meanwhile, Jesus was still asking where the wine was.

Next he sat Jesus down as he wanted to share a 3 point sermon with him about how to live a better Christian life. Jesus asked if they could have a simple conversation instead. Barry laughed, thinking Jesus was joking. After 10 minutes Jesus actually fell asleep. Barry falsely assumed he was simply in deep meditation about the anointed message, and so continued for another 30 minutes. At the end, he politely woke Jesus up.

After Barry was sure Jesus was awake and listening he became very serious as he began his altar call. He asked Jesus, very convincingly, if he wanted to accept himself into his heart. In fact, he kept on asking with increasing pressure until Jesus raised his hand, upon which he prayed for Jesus to receive his salvation. Barry was very proud of himself – just wait until his prayer group heard about this!

After Jesus got saved by Barry, he was given a form to fill out all his contact details. Once he got all his details, he strategically walked Jesus towards the door. It seemed that Jesus wanted to hang out for longer, but why? They had already done everything important to the Christian fellowship experience.

Barry gave his best Christian smile, inviting Jesus back at the same time, same place the following week. Jesus, however, didn’t understand his nice Christian smile actually meant ‘It’s time for you to leave now’ and so he remained standing there, explaining that there was still plenty of time left in the day to hang out. This. Was. Awkward.

After Jesus finally got the hint and left, Barry sat on his couch, exhausted. 90 minutes with Jesus, he was convinced, was enough for one week.

Short story by Mick Mooney. Mick’s debut novel, God’s Grammar is out now on Kindle for just $2.99.

You May Grow Up, But To Our Heavenly Father, You’ll Always Be His Baby

Something amazing happened when I became a father. I realised my daughter not only is my baby, but she will always be my baby. (My mother now laughs and says: ‘see, now you understand why I still think you’re my baby!’) It’s a wonderful thing, to know my baby will always be my baby, even when she grows up to be a wonderful woman.

It got me thinking about my other ‘babies’ in my life. These are the things a care deeply for, and nurture them like a baby, trying to bring them to life. Currently one of my babies was born yesterday. I’m talking about my debut novel, ‘God’s Grammar’. It has been about 3 years in the making, with a pretty huge spiritual and emotional journey in-between. And now it is born! My baby is in the world . . . but, I already know, it won’t be my baby for long. Now that it’s born and out there, I’ll soon start to focus on my next book, and that project will become my baby. Just like when we start looking for a new house, new car, new job, new whatever.

Things can be our baby for a limited time, but our children are a gift from heaven, for they really do remain our babies forever.

It got me thinking about God. How he has had so many projects (creating the universe, for example) that I’m sure he was very passionate about, but when he created mankind, he did so in his image. He did so because perhaps he didn’t just want another project to be his baby, he wanted to create children that could be his babies forever.

I’ve come to realise there is a huge difference between projects we are passionate about and consider our ‘babies’ and our children who really are our ‘babies’. This realisation is also really important to understand in regards to our relationship with God.

Never forget the truth. You’re not a project to God, you’re his child. You’re his baby. And no matter how big you get, to your heavenly Father, you’ll always be his baby.

I mentioned in this post my debut novel ‘God’s Grammar’ is now available. It out on Kindle for just $2.99. Details about special bonus giveaways are below. You can also read some reviews here.

How My Vision Meant More To Me Than The Voice Of The Holy Spirit

Confession 9. For full list of previous confessions click here

Visionary church leaders are not bad guys, they are just obsessed with their vision. Unless you’ve been in the position of leading and rallying a large group of people around a grand vision, it’s hard to understand the pressure involved in ensuring it is always moving forward. A vision requires momentum. Always momentum. And this momentum comes not by rest, but by work – and lots of it.

My grand vision had so much machinery attached to it, and so much hype, that if it was not constantly moving forward, then it was moving backwards. This, I can assure you, was a terrifying possibility for me, for if my vision went backwards, the hype would lose its shine, the people would see it wasn’t working, and then what? They might look for a better vision. They might look for a better leader. They might—

No, there was no room for ‘they might’ . . . it needed to remain ‘I know’. If I didn’t remain in control, the whole thing was in danger of falling in on itself. So I was always determined to present myself as the leader who knew. Yes, I knew everything. I knew what God wanted, I knew what God didn’t want, and I knew my vision was God’s will. Anything that went against my vision was not of God. Even, as I realize upon reflection, if it was God himself who was against it.

Why was this bad? Because often God is not interested in momentum. Often he wants the opposite. He wants his children to stop, to rest, to relax in his presence. He wants his children to know they don’t have to slave for him, working tirelessly. The voice of God, I now realize, was often going against my vision, calling my church members to slow down, to stop with all the tireless ministry, to listen to his calm voice calling them into rest.

Here is the biggest problem with trying to lead a church community with a grand vision: If any voice, even the voice of the Spirit, endangers the forward momentum of that vision, those voices are treated like an enemy. I remember one of my main reoccurring sermons was called, in one variation or another: “Don’t give up!” It when something like this:

“ . . . the voice of the enemy, the voice of the world, the voice of your flesh, will be trying to get you to give up, to stop with your ministry, to stop attending so many church services, to stop giving to the work we are doing here . . . but when you hear that voice, you say ‘get behind me! I will continue, for I have faith, and will continue to work for the glory of God’. . .”

Sounds pretty powerful, right. I was a great speaker, so you can imagine that it even got the crowd quite worked up . . . so what is the problem? The problem is, without realizing, I most likely had preached that message against the leading of the Holy Spirit.

How many times was God comforting someone in my church, telling them to let go of all their ministry service and come back to a quiet place with him to be refreshed with his Father’s love . . . only for me to say that God would never says that. Only to condemn them for daring to believe God would say anything opposed to the momentum of my vision. Sad. So sad. What God said to Pharaoh in Egypt, rang true for me too:

“Let my people go!”

But for the longest time, like Pharaoh, I refused. Like Pharaoh, there was just too much to do, too much to build, too much to accomplish. And to do all that, I needed workers.

So am I against vision for the church community? No, I’m not. But if we want to come around a vision, I believe it has to be the vision of Christ’s finished work, it has to be a vision of rest in him. I think if we want a vision, it needs to be a decentralized vision, not a single man’s vision, that only the Holy Spirit is in control of leading. I think it can work if the vision revolves around the desire to love, for love is something Scripture says we can build each other up in. And that to me is the only thing really worth building.

For full list of previous confessions click here | Visit the story’s facebook page

NOTE FROM MICK: Hi everyone, some great news! My debut novel, God’s Grammar, has been released on Kindle today for just $2.99. details are just below, including bonus giveaway details.

The Christian Version Of The Modern Day Greatness Debate

When we read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we find that many members of the church were divided among themselves. Their division originated out of their arguments over which preacher they should follow and which one they felt was the greatest. He explained to the Corinthians that their focus was on the wrong person.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

Paul explained that no man, no preacher, including himself, was crucified for them, but Jesus was! He reminded them that they should not be trying to uphold the greatness of Paul, or any other leader in the body of Christ, but the greatness of Jesus. He said this because he knew that if the church was focused on the greatness of the preacher (or a ministry, or a denomination or anything else within the Christian framework) then they would always be divided, but if they focused on the greatness of Christ they would once again be united in love.

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Luke 22:24

Which one of us is the greatest? This question is most probably one of the driving forces behind division in the body of Christ today. Is our denomination the greatest? Is our church the greatest? Is our preacher the greatest? Is our ministry the greatest? The problem with this perspective is that it ultimately focuses the attention on ourselves, highlighting in our own accomplishments, efforts and spiritual superiority. The result is a confidence in our works, instead of what we all should joyfully have: a confidence in the finished work of Christ.

What the disciples needed to learn, is the same lesson we also need to learn—it is not our greatness that should be our focus, it is Jesus’ greatness. Our focus is not meant to be our good works and how we are more ‘spiritual’ or more ‘on fire’ than other Christians; our focus is meant to be on Christ’s perfect finished work that he accomplished for all of us upon the cross! (And what a glorious boast that is!)

When we can take our eyes off of ourselves, and fix them once again upon Jesus, the result is glorious. We actually start having the desire to know our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of any program or particular movement. Our faith stops being about ‘the programs we are in’ and starts to be about ‘the Christ we are in’! We feel the bond of peace with all who have a love for Christ.

When Christ is our focus then our heart’s desire can finally become a reality: The body of Christ being perfectly united in love. It is our awe of Christ and seeing the fullness of who he is in our lives that brings unity, and the Holy Spirit also gives us a supernatural love for each other.

The truth is we don’t need to try to prove our greatness in the kingdom of God; rather, we can rest in the truth that from God’s perspective we are already great because we are his beloved children. Nothing could be greater than that, and, by the grace of God, that is what we are

This is an excerpt from my book: “Look! The Finished Work Of Jesus”

God’s Grammar: My Debut Novel. (Bonus Giveaway Details + More)

Next Tuesday is the official launch date for my debut novel: God’s Grammar. It’s been a long time in the making and I am super excited to see it being released.

To celebrate I’m giving away some awesome bonuses to everyone who buys a copy in the first week. These bonuses include two audio books, one full-length album plus of course the novel itself, and all of this for just $2.99. Yes, that’s right, just $2.99. (First week only)

If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list, you can do so below. I’ll be sending an email with full details on Tuesday. Very exciting times. Stay tuned!

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