XV_Enough

XV

Enough

‘Jesus asked them, ‘’Do you believe that I am able to do this?’’ Matt 9:28

A few years back I wrote a long and rambling dissertation on a group of reformers in the 15th century – exciting I know!. This group was appearing in Europe around the time of the reformation when the Protestant Church was born. The great leader of this Protestant movement was the (initially reluctant) minister Martin Luther. As any good theology student would tell you, Luther was the grand daddy of the ‘Justification by Faith Alone’ or sola fide argument. Faith in God, in his grace, mercy, compassion and power being at the centre of our walk with God. It interested me therefore to find this little excerpt from a discussion between Luther and one of his ‘flock’.

‘In Torgau a wretched little woman once came to me and said ‘Ah, dear Doctor, I have the idea that I’m lost and can’t be saved because I can’t believe.’ I (Luther) replied, ‘Do you believe, dear lady, that what you pray in the creed is true?’ She answered with clasped hands, ‘Oh yes, I believe it is; it’s most certainly true!’ To which I replied, ‘Then go in God’s name, dear lady. You believe more and better than I.’ It’s the devil who puts such ideas into people’s heads and says, ‘Ah, you must believe better. You must believe more. Your faith is not very strong and is insufficient’. In this way he drives them to despair.

...Now this is ‘the grand daddy’ of the ‘by faith alone’ argument saying all this. It makes me think that he knew a thing or two about doubt, maybe a thing or two about being under attack too. Perhaps he knew what it was like to feel as if his faith wasn’t genuine; maybe he had felt that others around him seemed to be more ‘spiritual’, more on fire for God than he; maybe he had felt lost in the smokescreen of this material world; or perhaps everyone else seemed to be going for it with God and he felt like he was ‘playing Christian’ rather than being one?

As I look back over those questions I’d have to put up my hand and say, ‘Yep, I’ve felt that way too at times’.

I think a lot of us have been in that place where doubt and low ‘spiritual self esteem’ (if there is such a thing) abound. It usually comes up when big decisions of life/future/work/relationships and calling rear their heads. Sometimes it just comes up when life seems predictable and over-comfortable. Often it’s when we’re faced with the question – Do I really believe God’s got ‘this’ in His hands? If I put my trust in him, will he come through? The question I guess we’ve got to ask if we’re in that situation is – what do we do? Is it a question of trying harder? How much faith should we have?

John Ortberg’s book ‘‘If you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat’’ drew my attention to a good answer to this question, and I hope that if today, right now, as you read, doubt or worry is something you’re facing, that God will encourage and challenge you, as he is challenging me, in this simple response.
‘ Ole Hallesby writes about the father who comes to Jesus to ask him to help him ‘if you can’.

‘If?’ Jesus says. ‘All things are possible to him who believes’.

‘I do believe’ the man says, ‘help my unbelief’

Like most of us, he was a mixture of trust and doubt.

How much faith did he have?

‘Enough to come to Jesus,’ Hallesby writes. ‘And that was enough’.

How much faith do I need? Not a feeling of certainty. Just enough faith to take a step.

XV Looking Up

XV
Looking Up
‘this same Jesus….will come back in the same way…’ Acts 1:11

Think about the disciples who saw Jesus taken and ascending into heaven. True, he had spoken about ascending to his father, but the moment had come! Forty days ago he had come back to them – were they to lose him now? Then, suddenly, he was gone! Confused and perhaps afraid, they looked up trying to see him. There is a medieval painting of this scene and the only visible part of Jesus in the cloud is the soles of his feet!

Then two angels appeared and spoke about Jesus’ return; wasn’t that just what they wanted to hear? But the promise had no time scale! And Jesus had told his followers that they must first receive the promised Holy Spirit and then make disciples in an ever expanding mission? So, he might not return very soon after all. What does this episode say to us? All too often we overlook the Ascension of Jesus and pay small regard to the promise of his return. Why? I wonder if the significance is not properly understood? In these verses, the ascension of Jesus, the promise of his return and the commission to the disciples are inextricably linked.

The ascension or glorification of Jesus marks the completion of his ministry on earth; he has glorified his Father’s name (John 12:23,28) and returns to heaven as the glorified Lord. He will not appear again until the day of which the angels spoke and in the manner of his going, i.e., in glory (Acts 1:9, 3:21, Rev 1:7). Read and ponder these verses which display God’s purposes in redemption on the broadest canvas. There is a third strand to this story – the part played by the disciples. In vv 2-8, Jesus’ last words were about the coming kingdom, their filling by the Spirit and the witness they would spread. In Matt 28, they were commissioned to ‘go and make disciples’. This was impossible without his presence promised to them ‘until the end of the age’ – and at that time Jesus will return. The promise is secure, but when, oh when will it take place?

The last prayer of the Bible is ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. Read these words and assess your feelings – Is there a sense of eager longing? A feeling of concern? A lack of readiness? A fear of the unknown? In Matt 24:42, Jesus says ‘Keep watch’ – the greatest challenge of all.

XV_Communication

XV

Communication
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to there needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29

I don’t know how you feel about emails, with one or two of these popping through your inbox every week but we live in an email culture. If you’re anything like me you come to your office on a Monday morning and there waiting for you are 300+ emails in your junk mail and about another 30 that have found there way into your inbox, let alone the ones you actually have to reply to.

Here is a story about someone who sent an email to the wrong address, so when sending emails remember to put the right address in the “To” section!

A Minnesota couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out from a particularly cold winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they had spend there honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of the hectic schedules the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida a few days earlier, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked in to the hotel, and there was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However he accidentally left one letter off in her email address and, without realising sent the email. Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston a widow has just returned home from her husband’s funeral, he was a minister who had a heart attack and died. The widow decided to check her emails, thinking she might have messages from relative and friends. After reading the first email she screamed and fainted. The widow’s son rushed into the room and saw the computer screen on which read…
To My Loving Wife, Subject: I’ve arrived!! Date: January 2008
“I know you’re surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you’re allowed to send emails to your loved ones whenever you like. I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. I’ve very much looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine.
Love……
P.S It really is hot down here!”

Sometimes we get caught up in the world of electronic communication with emails, facebook, msn, writing people emails and messages when we actually need to talk with them.
All God wants to do is sit and talk, like close friends do, like a husband does with his wife, like a parent does with their child.

May we be intentional in our communication, because at times, when friends are not so close around us, communication becomes distant. May we not take for granted the friends we currently have around us, so therefore stick close to them, watching out for them, as God watches our for you.

XV_Talent?

XV

Talent?

‘I was afraid and so went and hid your talent in the ground’ Matt 25:25

You’re probably familiar with the parable of the talents. In it the Master entrusts his 3 servants with ‘talents’. ‘Talent’ meant large sum of money, but it’s a good word to consider. Upon his return from a trip the master learns from each of his servants what they did with ‘their talent’. Two of them have used what he gave them and returned with more than they started with, they have done well and he is pleased. One has buried his talent, he has done nothing with it and the master is furious.
This story was re-written hundreds of years later by a theologian, and in it his 3rd servant spent all his money on drink and high living. For the theologian, these kinds of sins, rather than mere laziness, seemed more ‘worthy’ of the master’s scolding. However, looking at the original passage tells us something else. The master didn’t scold the servant for attacking his character (‘I knew you were a hard man’ v24) or binging, his rebuke is for wasting his talent, wasting his gift, burying it, letting the potential go unrealised.
The servant says ‘I was afraid’. Isn’t it so often the case that ‘fear’ is the cause for sin? How often do we let fear get in the way? How often does it hold us back? How often does it keep us boxed in and contained? Fear causes me to falter. Fear causes me to keep the deepest things to myself, fear causes me to go so far with God or relationships, but then to withdraw, fear causes me to doubt myself and God, fear causes me to wait for someone else to volunteer before I raise my hand, fear causes me to stay safe rather than take a risk, fear causes me to stay in the boat rather than walk on water.
In Luke 2 v10, the account of the birth of Jesus, the angel says to the shepherds, ‘Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, today...a saviour has been born’.

See, when Joy is there, fear has to leave. The angel say’s ‘Don’t fear, because Joy has come’, Jesus is born, the saviour is here, a reason to celebrate! When Joy turns up at the party, fear has to leave and go home.
In church the other day someone said faith was spelt r.i.s.k. Perhaps we do need to accept that there is always going to be an element of risk when following God and using his ‘talents’. Mary took a risk when accepting the Angels message; the shepherds took a risk when they made their way from the hillsides, leaving what they knew, to follow God’s call. I’d hazard a guess that the two servants in the parable were taking a risk when they invested or handled the money the master had entrusted them. In all these cases, there was fear, but...how great was the reward? What joy did God give them for stepping out? Had not God had Mary in his hands all that time? And the shepherds as they travelled and gave what little they had? This much is true -> we all have a gift. We have all been given talents for God’s glory. We have been made by the Father and therefore have all been given unbelievable potential, a part to play in furthering God’s Kingdom. We are not called to be Billy Graham or Matt Redman but only ourselves. The person God made us to be and who God died to redeem. What do you think?

XV_?

XV

?

Who do you say I am? Matt 16:15

Are you direct in talking to others? These words of Jesus show that he was prepared to give a direct challenge. Talking with Jesus must have been quite a scary experience; he had an ability to cut through reasoning that did not stand up to his penetrating insight. Do you remember the attempts made by the Samaritan woman to divert the conversation away from personal issues?

It was no accident that the incident related in Matt 16 took place near Caesarea Philippi. This place had been the centre of Baal worship in earlier years; the Greeks later made it a centre of worship of Pan. In Jesus’ day there was a temple, built on a hillside by Philip, to honour Caesar as a god. Against that backdrop, is it not amazing that Jesus, the wandering rabbi, raises the question ‘Who do you say I am’? It was as if the whole area, if it had a voice, might say ‘This is where you find god – in the fertility rites of Canaanites, or by the sensual worship of the Greeks or in the dominating force of Rome, declaring that Caesar is Lord. All three had a common aim – to draw God’s people away from the worship and service of the one true God. There is a total distinction between the worship of God and that offered to Baal, Pan and Caesar.

Who do you say that I am? The question has deep significance in 2008. The direct challenge put to Peter and the other disciples is, in turn, directed at us. As in Jesus’ day, there is no shortage of opinions about Jesus – a great teacher, a prophet and so on. BUT, you are faced with a question to which what ‘they say’ as an answer is irrelevant. Imagine that you are in the bodily presence of Jesus right now (and you would probably be overcome in prostration) asking YOU the question that you cannot brush aside. It is one of the most significant questions to be faced in life.

I can imagine that some of you will reply that you believe in Jesus; good, but Jesus reminded his hearers that demons believe and tremble. This question goes deeper, I suggest that if this devotional achieves what it should, then the whole context has to be read and pondered. The revelation to Peter that Jesus of Nazareth is Messiah means that from this point on, Peter is no longer a free agent but, as the following verses tell us, he is to follow in the path of suffering and death. There is no other way.

This revelation of Jesus to Peter in not ‘by man’ (cf John 1:13) and is directly from God (and we might add by the Spirit, the one sent to reveal Christ to us). If, as you read these words, you feel that their full significance is diminished in any way, seek a fresh revelation of the Holy Spirit who has been sent to show us who Jesus is.

XV_Comfort

XV

Comfort
‘May your unfailing love by my comfort’ Psalm 119 v 76

I was at the annual Delirious? Christmas concert the other day, an awesome night, interspersed with weird costumes, revamped Christmas carols and passionate worship. I had heard the band’s new album was called ‘kingdom of comfort’, this immediately made me think about the verse from 2 Corinthians 1:2 ‘praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort...’.
Well, although this is a truly awesome verse and one that shows the great grace and love of our Father God, this was not what the album title was referring to.

We heard of how the band had travelled to places like Cambodia and India, how they had met children in rubbish tips and seen people living so far below the poverty line they were utterly shocked and broken by the experience. Encouraging us to think about all we had in the west, in England, all our abundance – especially at this time of year, the title track of the album was played, with these lyrics ringing out....

‘see me falling down...there will come a day when all this will fall away....see me falling down..save me from this kingdom of comfort where I am king...from my unhealthy lust of material things...save me...’

I find that at this time of year we sit in church or in meetings and talk about how materialistic society has got. I shake my head and say ‘but it’s all about Jesus’ and bemoan the increasing PC culture that seems to shake every aspect of Christ out of Christmas. We now have ‘happy holidays’, ‘seasons greetings’ and that coca cola advert where all their lorries are driving through the snow bringing us our coca cola as the trademarks of Christmas.
Yet for all my head shaking and theological grumbles – I know that I’m just as much to blame. I still find myself wanting, expecting, needing ‘things’ this Christmas. I find myself in this mindset that having that i-pod, or that computer, or that thing for my car or that new album, or just...a...little...more...money....will somehow make things a bit easier........a bit more comfortable.

When God came to this earth as a baby, there was nothing comfortable about His arrival. Born to a virgin in a society that would condemn a birth out of wedlock, arriving in a cold and windswept stable, being a marked ‘man’ before his birth. There has been a great inaccuracy in our Christmas cards nostalgic rendering of this event.
I think the bottom line is this -> this Christmas we have a choice. As a friend has often said, if we take Christ out of Christmas we only has MAS = Minus A Saviour.

I think we all need to decided whether this year we will be participants of ‘the kingdom of comfort’ where our needs are met in ‘things’ and where we’re ok and comfortable with our lot....or whether we are going to choose to be sons and daughters of the ‘God of all comfort’, finding our joy in Him and being part of the Kingdom of Comforters, bringing Jesus, bringing light, to others this Christmas and beyond.
God Bless and Merry Christmas

XV_G.L.A.R

XV

G.L.A.R

‘for the law was given through Moses; ...

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ John 1:17

I recently read these words below in Philip Yancey’s book ‘What’s so Amazing about Grace?’ and was struck by the overwhelming power and unfathomable nature of this thing called ‘grace’......see what you think....
‘’...Grace makes its appearance in so many forms that I have trouble defining it. I am ready, though, to attempt something like a definition of Grace in relation to God. Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more – no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries and divinity schools, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less – no amount of racism or pride, pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.
There is a simple cure for people who doubt God’s love and questions God’s grace; to turn to the bible and examine the kind of people God loves. It tells of a murderer and adulterer who gained a reputation as the greatest king of the Old Testament, a man after God’s own heart. And of a church being led by a disciple who cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus, And of a missionary being recruited from the ranks of Christian torturers. I get mailings from Amnesty international, and as I look at their photos of men and women who have been beaten and cattle-prodded and jabbed and spit on and electrocuted, I ask myself; ‘what kind of human being could do that to another human being?’ Then I read the book of Acts and meet the kind of person who could do such a thing – now an apostle of grace, a servant of Jesus Christ, the greatest missionary history has ever known. If God can love that kind of person, maybe, just maybe, he can love the likes of me.
I cannot moderate my definition of grace....because the bible forces me to make it as sweeping as possible. God is ‘the God of all grace’ in the Apostle Peter’s words (1 Peter 5:10). It means that I, even I who deserves the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God’s family.
The world runs by ungrace. Everything depends on what I do. Jesus’ kingdom calls us to another way, one that depends not on our performance but his own. We do not have to achieve but only follow. He has already earned for us the costly victory of God’s acceptance....’’
If I’m honest, I’m selfishly writing this devotion as a letter to myself because this is a message I need to hear again today. God’s grace is a force we can’t contain. His grace is like a river it consumes and covers, flowing over all of us, drenching and enveloping us. But what is our response?? Graham Kendrick was once asked to define the art of leading worship, he simply said ‘be a worshiper, be a servant and be yourself’. Love God, serve his people and be the person he created you to be. This is our response and our calling.
The enormity of what Jesus did only sinks in when I realise that he did it for me. We have much cause to worship, for as one of my favourite songs goes...‘Grace Like A River, is flowing down, on you and me’

XV_Instead

XV

Instead

‘A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair ….’ Isaiah 61:3

I love this passage for many reasons. First of all, because it sets out God’s purpose in bringing salvation through his anointed servant -> who comes to restore the broken relationship between people and their God. The words of Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth identify him with the servant: ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ (Luke 4:18).

In their historical setting, these verses are a powerful reminder that God’s plan will not be defeated. It might look as if it was all going bottom up, but even if the people were rebellious, they were still precious in God’s sight. Looking back across their history, the only explanation for their continuing place in God’s purpose was that there was a plan that they had not understood. Is this why we read elsewhere in this book of Isaiah the promise – ‘my righteous servant will justify many’?

There is a repeated word ‘instead’ in this chapter. It occurs in v3 (x 3) and v7 (x2). When a word occurs this often, it indicates something important. The link in each case is to the year of jubilee, which happened in OT times every fiftieth year. There was a release from debts, property reverted to its original owner, servants went free and even the land had a rest! Blowing a trumpet marked the beginning of this tear of thanksgiving. Although the literal observance of jubilee does not happen today, Jesus announced a jubilee for all humanity, in which the mourning, despair, shame and disgrace of the human condition is taken away and instead we are given a crown, oil, a spirit of praise, an inheritance and everlasting joy. Picture language, yes, but wonderful pictures.

This is where we came in! Praise should mark those lives where formerly there was despair. We can only praise God in the measure that we value what he has done for us. So, be honest, and ask yourself, how do you measure up? I do not think that we are just talking about singing and praising God in church or even in the bath or the shower! It seems that it is more of an attitude, something that we ‘wear’ as the verse says. There is an old song whose first verse runs:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, In every part with praise
That my whole being may proclaim, Thy being and thy ways …

Is that my prayer? Is it your prayer? If answered, it could bring hope to our world, full of despairing people, who do not know the ‘instead’ that Jesus could bring them.

XV_Together

XV
Together

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue

but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

About a month ago I was stood at Heathrow Airport waiting to pick up my work colleagues who had just traveled back from Australia. I arrived early so not to miss them coming off the plane and would enable me to have enough time to chill out, and be ready for them coming through the gate. I positioned myself right up by the barrier so they could see me as soon as they came through.
Time ticked on and lots of other people were coming through the gates.
I sat back and watched as people came through the gates, and frequently as soon as people caught the eye of a loved one, their eyes would open up, a great big smile would appear and some of them would run over to greet there loved ones.

It was a priceless reaction when people saw loved ones for the first time. They were hugging and wanting to know if each other were alright, but this was genuine enjoyment that they were reunited, that they were together again.

‘Love Actually’ for me has one of these moments where the film is drawing to a close; where a little boy called Sam knows that a little girl called Joanna, who he has a major crush on, is leaving and all he wants to do is see her.

Against all odds on a busy day at Heathrow airport, after running past security guards, jumping over them, then having security guards run after him, he eventually sees Joanna and calls her name. “Joanna…Sam says” “Sam…Joanna replies” “I thought you didn’t know my name, Sam asks” “Of course I do replies Joanna”. Sam has been caught up by the security guards, so says to Joanna “I’ve got to run”

Upset, the security guards take him back to his dad, thinking it’s all over, knowing he might have missed his chance.
Joanna appears at the gate and walks over to Sam, simply just to give him a kiss on the cheek.
Sam is made up, and jumps in to his dads arms.

The sweet innocent love that this child has is one that God has for us. Like Sam, I can imagine God would do anything just to see us. All God wants to do is see us smiling, to walk beside us, to have a relationship with us. The beginning of 1 John 3 opens with “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” You and I are children of God, where we can reach out a hand and be met with a hand of security, strength and sheer greatness.

In Gods eyes you are perfect, and he doesn’t want to hold anything back. We are the ambassadors of Gods love, so it “with actions and in truth”. So wherever you are, sat at work or at home reading this, pause and reflect on the love God has for us knowing that he wants to give you a great big hug.

XV_You

XV

You

‘You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted

from nothing into something’ – Psalm 139 v13-16 (the message)

It will come as no surprise to readers that I don’t know much about babies.

Despite being a teacher, my knowledge and experience with the youngest of the young is woefully poor. Still, I know that as I look at that picture, I am not on my own when I say that I know nothing about this child. I don’t know if it’s a he or a she, I don’t know what their name is, what this child’s life is like now, what kind of person they are – I don’t have a clue!

God knows though.

The psalmist paints a picture of God’s understanding of us in Psalm 139; I think it’s one of the most beautiful psalms to God in the bible. In it he talks about how God saw us being made, how he had every day of our lives written in his book even as we were being formed. How deeply and completely he knows us.

He watched us as we were sculpted...bit...by...bit. He knows us completely. Totally. Inside out.

When God looked at me, like I look at that child up there in the picture, he knew all the things that were going to happen to me. He knew what kind of person I was going to be, he knew what passions I would have, what difficulties I’d encounter, what longings I would have. What my life would be to him.

He knew all of these things and before I’d even drawn my 1st breath he had made his mind up about me, about all of us. It’s often hard to get our heads around this, when we think of all the ways we fall short. But knowing all that lay ahead, he loved us
Them
Him
Her
Me
You

John 3:16 says ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only son’ that we might be saved through him. We know that one well don’t we? Sometimes I think we know it too well. I often let it roll off my tongue and slip out of my mouths without really knowing what it means. Knowing what it truly means today to be loved by someone so much that they will die for you.....you as you are....you today.

The Psalmist knew this loving God intimately. He stood in front of his creator, confident in Him and said ‘here I am, an open book, I’m yours, test me, speak to me, lead me on’. He knew that through God we have all been made from nothing into something. Jesus’ sacrifice shows us just how much God valued that ‘something’. I love the words of Martin Smith when he wrote ‘God didn’t screw up when he made you...He’s a Father who loves to Parade you’.
Your Father God made you. He cherishes you, He always has. He made you to be you. He has plans for you. He loves you.

XV_Contentment

XV
Contentment

‘Keep your lives free from the love of money –

be content with what you have’ Hebrews 13:5

I can imagine that the first reaction of some of you may be ‘I haven’t got any money’! But look again at what this verse says about being free from the love of money – that is a very different position. You would have to be quite old to remember a pop song called ‘Money is the root of all evil’ – what it said was wrong then and it is still wrong. However, this confuses lots of people. But, there is a problem that cannot be disguised. In the UK recent figures for the outstanding debt on all types of credit cards is £1.3 trillion. It is so large as to almost unbelievable.

There is no pulling of punches or mincing of words in the passage we are looking at. It would take a very long time to unmask and discuss the attitudes and mindsets of the generation in which we live. How many are truly content with what they have? It is blindingly obvious that many are discontented and imagine that if only they had that plasma screen TV or a car which makes them both an object of desire or want a better set of widgets than the Jones family next door – the list goes on. Do these things (that is what they are) bring contentment?

For some such desires can become high priority and the consequences for their lives and those near and dear to them are disastrous. J John puts it neatly as he usually does; we live in one of two tents – content or discontent. Discontent is very close to coveting and that is a commandment we break at our peril.

The balance is, I believe, to be content and cultivate being content as a real positive in our lives. Close to the end of his life Paul reminded Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain. This will be a corrective and a balance to the tendency we all encounter to place too much value on the things we have and any money that God nay have entrusted to us. It is a sobering thought that we arrived in this world with nothing and we leave it taking nothing with us.

Is the standard set out here too high? We are human and we do have the ability to get it wrong. What I want to argue is that an outlook on money, which springs from a desire to celebrate what we have received, can replace our natural mindset. The chorus ‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one; and it will surprise you what the Lord has done’ may be old, but has a truth we do well to ponder repeatedly.
Perhaps this is a way forward. Ask God to remind you, if you have forgotten, what he has done for you. The best of all is that is that God is with you – isn’t that a cause for being content?

XV_Patience

XV
Patience
“...be patient with each other, making allowance for each

other's faults because of your love” Ephesians 4:2

Patience seems to be a word on my mind a lot.
No matter if it's work or in my personal life God always seems to be saying, “Be patient!”. Oh how I've come to not like those words at times. “I want it now!” I yell, but God again replies, “Be patient”. I know that patience is one of the seven mentioned in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But why then is it so difficult?

Have I just missed that one out and got six (some would argue I have less)? Did I miss that talk at church that taught me how to be patient? I wish there was an easy fix method but unfortunately it involves us to do something....love. Not only love for God but love for those around us, at work, at church and at home.

How often has God wanted you to be patient? What did you do? Did you wait....or did you rush in and get stung and then wonder what happened? It may sound like a Sunday school answer but waiting on God in prayer can help us a lot. Actually waiting for the answer though, not just saying the prayer! In Bill Hybels' book 'Too busy not to pray' he has an amazing little poem to help us remember what to do in response to prayer:

If the request is wrong, God says “No”.
If the timing is wrong, God says “Slow”.
If you are wrong, God says “Grow”.
But if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says “Go”.

If the timing is wrong, God says “Slow”. He says, “Not yet, it's not part of my plan for it to happen now, trust me”.

The next time you're struggling with a friend, family member or colleague remember these words from Ephesians 4:2, “...Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love”.

Take a time out, pray, pray for them and most of all love them.

In the words of the theologically accurate boy band Take That, 'Have a little patience'

XV_Gift

XV
Gift
“…but this happened so that the work of God
might be displayed in his life” John 9:3

What would you do you if money was not an issue, if you could financially support yourself and others? If you didn’t have to think about when the next pay cheque was coming in, or what bills were going out this or that month?

A programme on Channel 4 called The Secret Millionaire has made these questions pop into my head. This programme is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, yes extra ordinary things. These secret millionaires have acquired money, and are currently in a position to invest into other people.

I watched as stories unravelled about people in difficult circumstances, not worrying about themselves but wanting to care for others. These are the people who really prefer to give than to receive. A young mother names Sabrina, who 8 months pregnant was on a week day afternoon helping a student paint their flat because she wanted to, not because she had to.

Until the secret millionaire Gill started talking to her in a local café in London’s east end, Sabrina lived in her mothers 2 bedroom flat for a long period of time, supporting her children because Sabrina preferred her income to go to others less well off than herself. Gill thought it was now time to invest in Sabrina, and support her.

Reading John 9: 1-12 Jesus comes over to the man who is sitting, begging at gate beautiful, when Jesus stops, and simply says, “Go, and wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

Now this man probably didn’t know what to do, but after obeying the commands he sight was restored and completely transformed his life. Once he was blind, but now he can see.
Jesus gave this man the gift of sight, which for him was one of the greatest gifts of all.

We can see this very evidence in Sabrina, who, with the help from Gill, transforming her life and gave her a better future, for Sabrina, this extra help was one of the greatest gifts of all.
Watching this programme has, and I hope it will for you prompt to consider, who we may be able to support, through friendship, time, dedication and even financially.

May you pray fully consider this and may God be placing signs in front of you that are noticeable. For these secret millionaires their lives have been transformed as well as the lives they have impacted

XV_Remembering

XV
Remembering …
‘What do you mean by these stones’? Joshua 4:6

If your first reaction to these words is that I have ‘lost it’, read on!

I believe that by pondering these words that God can give us fresh insight. I wonder if you have somewhere special that has particular memories for you? Perhaps when you revisited you will remember either a sense of wellbeing or an unhappiness as dark memories began to gather like storm clouds. Whatever remembering may involve for us, it may be like crossing a stile on a walk; you might look back at where you have come from, but ahead is a different footpath and fresh direction as you journey on with God. It is important to move on. We were never meant to live in the past, but memories of the past should be balanced by hope for the future.

In scripture there is often a strong link between God doing something amazing and the place where it happened. How many times were God’s people called on to remember what God had done in the past in giving deliverance, sending food, providing water, guiding across a trackless desert, to name but four? The tragedy was that so often they forgot. What about you? The tragedy of those words ‘They forgot …’

In your own journey are you strengthened or brought down by something from the past? If the latter, bring it to God in confession and ask Him to take you across the river and into a new place. The story from Joshua marks a break point in the people’s journey.

Crossing Jordan might seem like a repetition of crossing the Red Sea, (of which they would have heard, but not experienced – the parallel is drawn by Joshua). Crossing over now was their new experience. Entering into the land across the Jordan was the first stage of their claiming the long-promised inheritance. The waters of the river were stayed just as long as the priests and the ark stayed in midstream for their crossing. Special stress is put on the stones as a memorial of the staying of the river, which was in spate. To cross the river unaided was inviting death; but the presence and power of God in the middle of the river brought a safe passage. The stones speaks of life out of a place of death.

What would following generations make of this? By listening to the story of that great day handed down they would learn about it – but how to remember? That is why they had the visible and tangible reminder.

Isn’t that why we have a remembrance of God’s saving act in Christ? We have bread and wine as visible signs of what God has done through Jesus’ cross, resurrection and defeat of death – ‘the waters were stayed’. The sting of death has been drawn and we long for the day when ‘the last enemy’ will be finally destroyed. Till then, remember Him.

XV_Mighty

XV

Mighty

‘I have come to call not those who think they are righteous but those

who know they are sinners and need to repent’ – Luke 5 v32

So Jesus and the disciples are walking in the fields. It’s a Sabbath day and as they go along they start pulling off some of the heads of grain, rubbing them together, and munching on them as they walk and talk. Suddenly out of nowhere the Pharisees jump out (perhaps from behind a bush...?) and accuse them of breaking God’s law by ‘harvesting’ on the Sabbath. You can see what’s happening here. Jesus’ response is classic.
First he asks them ‘have you never read the scriptures?’. These are the heavyweights of the Torah - the top authority on the scriptures. These are people who would have had the torah, the histories, psalms and prophets memorized by the age of 14. And Jesus asks them ‘have you never read in the scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves...’. Now if you’re the disciples, the moment the Pharisees appear your thinking ‘oh man...we’re busted!’. Yet here Jesus is standing up to the Pharisees narrow interpretation of the law, their yoke.
But there’s something else going on as well. Turning to Chronicles 11 v11 we see what Jesus is referring to. David, we know, as the disciples and Pharisees would have known, was the most famous and blessed of Israel’s kings – but what about his companions...?
In Chronicles we learn just who these guys are...’Joshobeam the Hacmonite’ (great name!) the leader of the three and mightiest warrior among David’s men...’Eleaza son of Dodai’ victorious with David at the battle of Pas-Dammim.....’Benaiah son of Jehoiada’ -> whom on a snowy day went down into a pit and killed a lion! ...‘Cos we all like to kill our lions on snowy days.
So as Jesus stands between the Pharisees and his disciples, who in the story is He representing?... ->David ....and so who is he comparing the disciples with?..........->the mighty men.

.If you’re one of the disciples you’ve just gone from ‘Man we’re busted!’ to ‘......yeah......I could take a lion if I wanted!’. Jesus thinks I can be like that? Jesus thinks I can be one of the mighty men?
Jesus is showing just how much faith he has in these simple, flawed and very human followers of His. People like us. Despite all their imperfections – their sin – Jesus sees more in them than others would.
In a world where we often find ourselves attacked, or see our self confidence rising and falling like a rollercoaster – these words are of genuine comfort. I know that I doubt myself; I know that I question why God should be interested in me, after all my failures and all my shortcomings. Yet Jesus stands in front of me, in front of us and says ‘he/she/you/they are kind of like the mighty men...I am the King...and they’re my crack troops...they’re my loyal followers....they’re my companions’. Maybe today, right now, you could pray that you would know that, and maybe if you do, pray for a friend who doesn’t know it.

XV_Change

XV
Change

‘The spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will prophesy...

and you will be changed into another person...’ – 1 Samuel 10:6

Recently I read these words once again and have been unable to get them out of my mind. It has struck me forcibly how much they say to us, although first spoken centuries ago. Perhaps it is because these words are saying so much about us? Do we see what God wants to do in us?
The idea of change can provoke strong feelings of resistance. On the other hand, people look to lifestyle gurus (of whom there seems to be no lack) by reading their books and attending seminars promising life change. Can the advice ‘Change your life in a minute’ be taken at face value? Change like a chrysalis changing into a butterfly! Been there, tried that? The fact that there are so many would-be counselors may only reflect our inner desire to be different.
How do you feel about your life at the present? Have you tried to make changes which like New Year’s resolutions have not lasted? Has this left you with a sense of frustration? In the quiet as you ponder these things, ask God to speak to you in reassurance. Ask him to remind you of his purpose that one day you (and all Christians) will be changed beyond our present understanding.
What does the quotation above say to us? The person addressed is promised three things. The Spirit of God is sent to begin the process of change. As a way of bringing change, it differs from any human solution because there is an external power at work. When we read Jesus’ promise that God our Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him, we who live today can claim that same gift of the Spirit.
For a few moments, reflect on the Spirit and his power. A power beyond our natural experience –his coming into human lives produces change. The wonder of what he does is that it has a transforming effect that may begin quite suddenly but which continues as a process – ‘we are being changed’. Seen on an apron – be patient God hasn’t finished with me yet.
The sign that God is changing something on the inside might take you outside your comfort zone. You may not think that you could ever operate in the area where natural abilities take second place in order to let God speak through you; remember that the promise ‘you will prophesy’ was new for this man. This gift is one of nine that accompany the coming of the Spirit and seek God to find out what he wants to give you. Rather like a present left unopened, we may leave on one side the gift God has given us.
It is time for change.

XV_Chopsticks

XV

Chopsticks
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. - John 14:18

Everyone takes their seats, the hustle dies down and a gentle hush is all that can be heard in the great auditorium. The anticipation mounts up as they audience all decked out in their finest clothes wait to hear one of the worlds greats. This piano player is something to be experienced ....he’s an artist.
The grand piano sits there gleaming under the stage lights, alone, waiting for the master pianist to come and make it sing. The concert in New York has been sold out for 6 months, this is a big deal. Towards the front is a lady, sitting next to her is her nine year old son in a tuxedo. He’s been complaining about his piano lessons for some time now and his mother is hoping that hearing the great Ignace Jan Paderewski, the master pianist will motivate him to enjoy his own playing.
However as Mike Yaconelli puts it ‘you can dress a nine-year old in a tuxedo, but he’s still nine!’. This boy is getting impatient and restless in his seat...suddenly he’s up on his feet...making his way towards the stage...
His mother, earlier distracted now realises what is going on, she calls after him but he’s already decided to go for it. Clambering onto the stage in front of the packed auditorium he approaches the great Steinway piano and settles himself onto the seat...the stunned audience watch as the boy starts to tap out his version of ‘chopsticks’ onto the grand piano...
‘Get him off the stage....this is outrageous...where’s the boy’s mother?!’ cries the audience.
The ushers start moving towards the stage just as Paderewski is coming out of his dressing room. Seeing what is happening his grabs his jacket and makes his way onto the stage. The audience has no idea what is going to happen next...slowly...totally unnoticed by boy, Paderewski kneels down by the piano and whispers in the boy’s ear ‘don’t stop...keep on playing...you’re doing great’. And with that he puts his hands around the boy to the piano and starts to accompany him with a concerto based on ‘chopsticks’. The two play together, all the time Paderewski whispering in the boy’s ear ‘don’t stop...you’re doing great!......’
When we look at our lives and the things we strive towards - the tune we play can sometimes look a bit muddled, a bit messy and a bit off key or out of tune. It’s easy to compare ourselves to others who seem to be playing a better tune than us. When I think of God and the wonder of his melody, I wonder just what my little tune on my little piano must sound like! Jesus said he came so that the world might know the Father so that we wouldn’t be orphans, on our own, playing that tune by ourselves. He came so that we could know our true Father by our side as we play out our tune. Today, whether things are going great or you whether you just don’t have a clue and feel you’re way off the page and you feel like giving up – know that God has his arms around you, that he is playing along with you, helping your tune soar to the heavens.
We are not alone. Wherever we are. Whatever’s going on. Even at the hardest times.

He is whispering like a Father to His child ‘don’t stop...keep playing....you’re doing great’.

XV_Speed

XV
Speed
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other
and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 3:12

A young and successful executive was travelling down a neighbourhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared.

Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic.

"Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop...." With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother, "he said "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger.

Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the pavement toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:
"Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!"
God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts.

Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.
We all try to take life at 100 mph, in the fast lane, racing along, knowing that if we get there 5 minutes earlier the whole situation will be better, whereas if we hold back, slow down, we will probably get there as quickly, but less stressed.

May we consider the words above, how God looks down on us with love, and may our love flow out for each other.

XV_Mist

XV
Mist

‘Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift of grace

leads us to being made right with God’ – Romans 5:26

‘I willingly have become what I unwillingly find myself to be’
These words from St. Augustine, written hundreds of years ago are not comfortable words. I’m speculating, but I wonder whether looking back at the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve mulled over words similar to those above, ‘How did we let ourselves get into this situation?’....’how did we get led astray and let anything get in between us and God...?’ If you’re like me – i.e. flawed – then you may well have asked those questions of yourself at times.
I read somewhere that the reason the stories in the bible resonate with us so much is because they are our stories...it happened then and it happens now. I doubt I’m the only to have read a story like the Genesis account and seen myself in it. I think that that is because Adam and Eve’s story is our story.
I know that I have lived that story out. Things are going great, life is good, God is blessing me, we’re communicating, I can see Him, draw strength from Him, and I can see the landscape of His world and my place in it. But then slowly...something enters my mind...something comes along in my day that knocks me off course, gently leading me away from the path I was on...it whispers in my ear, catches my sinful heart and watches as I run eagerly in the opposite direction to God. Adam and Eve don’t seem too far away now.
It’s like a mist slowly descending around me. It obscures the way ahead...things aren’t so clear any more...my defences seem weaker, my judgement is clouded, short-sightedness and fear replace faith and patience. Do any of these feelings sound familiar? Have you been there? Is that a story you’ve lived out?
What does Jesus say in this situation? When the way ahead is cloudy, when we can’t see him face to face, when we’re worried that we might be overcome with temptation or fear?
Praise God for giving us His word, for it gives us the simple loving response. In Hebrews we are told that ‘this High Priest of ours (Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin’ (Hebrews 4v15). Jesus faced it all. He knows what it is like to be human, to be fragile, to be tempted, to be tired, and surrounded. He also knows that God is bigger than all that.
But there is more to come, as Hebrews goes on to say that we can ‘boldly come to the throne of our gracious God...for there we will receive his mercy, and we will find Grace to help us when we need it most’.
What an invitation! What words of comfort and hope! What better answer could we have hoped for?! This grace God offers through Jesus can shine through the oppressive clouds and storms of life; the light of the cross’s victory over sin can blast through the mist that seeks to overwhelm us – God’s love is stronger! Oswald Chambers said that ‘the cross of Christ is the supreme evidence of the love of God’. Today, wherever we are, let us absorb that promise, believe it and know that this redemption, this free grace, this glorious truth is also our story. How does the song go...‘Amazing Grace...how sweet the sound....’

XV_One

XV
One

‘Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ 2 Cornithians 4:16

How much time do we spend looking at ourselves in the mirror, making sure we look good, and that we are ready to go out and meet people, when really we should be taking more time to look on the inside making sure we are spiritually ready to go out and meet people.

We spend so much time talking about keeping our bodies fit, but spend little or no time making sure that our hearts are kept in good spiritual health.

We rely so much on everything going right in order to keep us in a cheerful mood but the Bible tells us to “not lose heart” when everything around us seems to be “wasting away.”
I remember reading about a girl’s volleyball team in a small rural village that had achieved an unbelievable winning record of 65 games. What was so incredible about the success was that the school had only 18 girls in total and 16 of them were on the volleyball team.

Although it was one of the smallest schools in the state, it won the volleyball championship for three years running. Then, after 65 victories, they were eventually defeated.

The local paper reported the defeat with a large headline. Then, two days later, another headline appeared in the small paper “Team Rebounds with a Winning Streak of One.”
The key to not “losing heart” is making sure that we understand and believe that even in defeat we can be renewed in Christ. Defeats come and go in this life and that will never change.

Yet, for us Christians, defeat is one of those things that we strive to manage amidst the expectation that even in disappointment, we are victorious in Christ.

We Christians should always be on the rebound. When one foot is hindered in defeat, the other should already be moving on; looking for that “winning streak of one!”

Do we look for that winning streak of one, or do we think that that is not possible? How can you have a winning streak of one? Sometimes we look at things way off in the future, when we should be really paying attention to the things right in front of us. It is good to have a balanced mix of looking up to God, looking out to others, and looking in to ourselves.
If we persevere we will not only have a winning streak of one, but more and more. “So therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)