Tuesday, 31 January 2012

More of you, less of me please God

The first thing God does in training up Moses to be the leader of his people is to establish who he is.  I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:15).  This name reveals God’s character as the dependable and faithful God who desires the full trust of His people.  Moses was totally lacking in self confidence but God wanted Moses to trust him not himself.  For what lay ahead, Moses had no ability but God had everything Moses would need. 

To reinforce this, God gave Moses three miracles to perform to persuade the elders of the Israelites that God had actually sent Moses. Miracles reveal the power and character of God to unbelieving souls.  The three miracles were turning his staff into a snake and back into a staff; turning his hand leprous and whole again and turning a bucket of Nile water to blood.  All these would reinforce that God had not forgotten his people and that Moses was God’s man for the task. 

Lastly to allay Moses final fear, God sent Aaron his brother to speak on Moses behalf and to stand with Moses in the tricky days ahead. 

At the burning bush Moses was afraid. All he could think about was his shortcomings and failings. The first thing God wanted to establish in Moses’ mind was who he is so that Moses could learn to think more about God and His character and power than about his own weaknesses. The devil wants to constantly focus us on our weaknesses and failings and not on who we are in Christ and His great strengths and deeds. The devil is the accuser and he constantly bombards us with negative thoughts about ourselves which we must resist.  He wants us to return to self worth based on performance and because of our shortcomings, if we do this, we will fail and can become overwhelmed with a sense of worthless.

Instead we need to focus on Christ, his power, his amazing ability to accomplish anything so we walk into our destiny and calling looking to him not ourselves. That way the Kingdom is advanced.  We must believe more about what God thinks about us than what we think about ourselves.  Let us get on with what God has called us to, trusting him for everything we need and for his leading and guidance.









Monday, 30 January 2012

Moses' thankless task

I often think that Moses had one of the most thankless tasks in the Bible.  He was called to lead an ungrateful and constantly complaining Israelites out of the slavery which they hated into a Promised Land that they did not believe in.  
The amazing thing is that as they grumbled and complained their way round the wilderness, Moses had one amazing encounter with God after another.  Moses spent 40 days on the top of a mountain with God.  Moses saw God face to face and Moses also saw God’s presence pass by him.  Moses interceded with God for the nation and changed God’s mind.  Moses seems to have really known God and yet he started out so fearful that he argued with God five times not to have to go and talk to Pharaoh.  He had been brought up in Pharaoh’s palace and lived there for 40 years, yet he was so lacking in self confidence, he was terrified to go there again. 

So what happened?   What turned this fear filled man into one who trusted God to deliver a nation? Moses learned obedience and God took him one small step at a time from fearful shepherd to leader of the Israelites and humble intercessor.   God was working out his plan to save his people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from slavery in Egypt and bring them into the land he had promised Abraham centuries before.

The salvation plan began when the enslaved remembered who they were and started crying out to God.  The first thing needed was a leader and God chose Moses despite all his misgivings about his suitability, God knew he was the man.  

When Moses raised all his objections to God, he did not give the job to someone else.  God answered every one of Moses’ objections till Moses had to agree.  God could have given the job to Aaron with his more eloquent tongue but God had another plan for him and this job was for Moses.  God knew what lay ahead and God knew that Moses would fulfil all that he asked him to do.  He had a plan and slowly and carefully he drew Moses along the planned path till Moses could trust God for what lay ahead.  If God had asked Moses to part the Red Sea on day one, he would probably have run away.  Several months later, Moses so knew and trusted God that he had no problem parting the Red Sea and leading a nation into freedom.  


If you doubt God’s plan for your life, remember God knows the path ahead and he is preparing you for what is to come.  You may feel totally unsuited to what God has called you to do.  You may be wondering when you will ever start.  Trust God and learn to be obedient to his promptings one small step at a time.  God is unfolding his plans and his purposes for your life and he really does know what is best.  He knows the gifts and talents he has placed in you.  He knows what you are like and what he has planned is perfect for you.  Trust him.

Sunday, 29 January 2012

I am an ambassador of Christ

Paul twice speaks of being an ambassador for Christ.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God (II Cor 5:20)

Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should (Ephesians 6: 19 – 20)

An ambassador is someone sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country.  Most countries in the world will send someone to other countries to represent their interests.

We are now citizens of the Kingdom of God.  When we became Christians we changed citizenship from the world ruled by the devil and we became God’s children and citizens.  However we still live in the world, which is no longer our home, but is where we live for now.  Our home is in heaven.  God has called us to be his ambassadors in the world; to represent his interests to everyone he brings across our paths. 

We who have received reconciliation to God are now called to the ministry of reconciliation; to implore everyone else to be reconciled to God – to no longer be separated from God by sin.  Christ has reconciled the world to God through his wonderful death on the cross and resurrection, dealing with sin forever.  We must bring this message to the world. 

This wonderful reconciliation is all God’s initiative but he seeks to use each one of us to reach out to whoever he brings across our path with the life saving news of God’s love for each one of us.  Let us too like Paul pray that we may fearlessly declare the Gospel.  

Saturday, 28 January 2012

God opens prison doors

 Joseph faithfully served in prison a long time.  He was 17 at the start of his story and 30 when he came out of prison (Genesis 41:46).  For nearly 13 years he was either a slave or in prison and neither were his fault.  He had been sold as a slave by his jealous brothers and was in prison because of a lying, scorned woman.  Joseph would have been justified in thinking God had forgotten him and that everyone was blocking his God given destiny. 

No one can block God’s destiny for your life if you trust God.

God was taking his time in working out his plans for Joseph’s life.  It was ‘some time later’ that Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker joined Joseph in prison and ‘some time later’ they had their dreams.  Nevertheless, Joseph interpreted their dreams making sure they both knew that the interpretations came from God.  Naturally he asked the cupbearer that when he was restored to his former position he showed kindness to Joseph by mentioning him to Pharaoh and getting him out of prison.  The cupbearer forgot all about him.

Imagine Joseph’s anticipation that he maybe he would soon be out of prison.  The cupbearer was restored to his old position just he had predicted - yet nothing happened.  No royal pardon.  Imagine his disappointment as day followed day. He must have wondered if God had forgotten him as well as the cupbearer. Two years passed and Joseph must have thought he was never going to get out of prison and if his dreams were just that, dreams.  

Then one day, a day no doubt that started like any other, Joseph got the call.  He started the day in prison and ended in the palace as second in command only to Pharaoh.  No man made the promotion.  It was God and God alone. 

For the rest of his life Joseph would know that his days, his times, his destiny were in God’s hands and his hands alone.  Nothing and no one could shake or shape that destiny.  Therefore when he was reunited with his brothers many years later he could say with confidence, ‘It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then it was not you who sent me here, but God.(Genesis 45 5 – 8). 

God alone releases our destiny.  No one can withhold it if we trust him and we cannot speed it up or slow it down.  We may have to wait years like Joseph who spent 13 years as a slave and in prison learning how to run a nation in times of plenty and in famine.  Abraham was an old man when he became the father of nations.  Moses was 80 when he started his ministry and spent 40 years learning to shepherd a people by shepherding sheep.  David spent years, even after he had been anointed king, having spears thrown at him and living as a fugitive to learn how not to be a king but to serve God faithfully.

If you are living your destiny, serve faithfully.  If you are waiting for your destiny to be fully released, serve faithfully.  God is working his character and gifting into you for what is ahead.  Honour those over you and God will honour you. 

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Freedom in prison

From the minute Joseph entered Potiphar’s house as a slave, the Bible says that ‘The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.’ (Genesis 38:2)  Joseph served faithfully and well and everyone could see that the Lord was blessing him and Potiphar.  Potiphar trusted Joseph with everything in his household and Joseph was learning valuable life skills for God’s destiny for his life. 

God’s plan was that Joseph would be second in the land of Egypt, with only Pharaoh over him. He would need to understand, amongst many things, about Egyptian life and culture which I am sure he knew little about.  He would need to know how to run a nation and he started off by learning to run a household.  What the devil had meant for harm, God was using for good. 

The devil then ‘attacked’ Joseph again using Mrs Potiphar.  The devil hoped he would either give in to the sexual temptation and be discredited or be wrongly accused.  He resisted the temptation but Mrs Potiphar wrongly accused him and he was thrown into prison for something he had not done.

We do not know if Potiphar asked Joseph for his side of the story when his wife accused him. Either way he believed his wife.  Remember there are always two sides to a story and always find out the other side before making your mind up.

Twice now Joseph was at the mercy of other people and ended up in less than desirable circumstances.  The first time he went from being a favoured son to being a slave and then he went from being a favoured slave to being a prisoner.  Both times the devil tried to steal his destiny and his favour but no one can steal God’s favour from your life unless you let them.  Again Joseph could have been embittered, angry and resentful and again he rose above his circumstances and feelings and served where he was.  But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder.  So the warder put Joseph is charge of all those held in the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there.  The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (Genesis 39: 20 -23)

God did not place Joseph in prison to teach him the character and life skills needed to become second in Egypt but God used the circumstances to teach him many valuable lessons.  God may not have instigated your circumstances; they may be from the devil or from men’s evil plans but God will use everything to do you good if you let him.  There is nothing he cannot turn around and God is with you and God’s favour is on you. 

Joseph may have been in prison but he was not a prisoner – he was a child of God on whom God’s favour rested.  Joseph did not let the circumstances imprison him to other’s people’s plans.  He walked free in the favour of God in prison and God blessed him and all those around him. 

Today do not be a prisoner of past or present circumstances and what other people or the devil has done to you.  Be free in Jesus.  In the midst of your circumstances walk free as a child of God.  Resist the work of the devil, forgive those who have hurt you, bless them and ‘and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’ (Romans 8:28)

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Freedom from slavery

Joseph learned many things whilst working as a slave in the house of Potiphar.  He had come from his father’s house which was a place of great favour.   Jacob had given him the coat of many colours to show everyone he was his father’s favourite.  That coat and his father’s favour had been stripped away by the brothers and now he was a slave in the house of an Egyptian far away from his family.

Joseph may have been made a slave but the way he worked for Potiphar showed his heart was not enslaved.  People that are slaves inside and out behave like slaves.

  • They have no passion, no vision and no personal direction. 
  • They have no rights.
  • Everything is done out of a fear of the consequences.
  • They live under obligation
  • They are always fulfilling other people’s purposes.
  • They have little sense of personal destiny.
  • They have no freedom of any sort; personal, financial.
  • They have little ability to choose
  • Their owner has to provide for them. 
Joseph was not like this at all.  Genesis 39: 1 – 6 says ‘The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.  When his master saw that God was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that Potiphar had both in the house and in the field.  So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had, with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.’

Joseph could have gone off to Egypt full of grudges, grievances, rejection and unforgiveness for what the brothers had done to him.  His attitude could have been that he would do the minimum required to get by because it was not his fault he was a slave.  If he had, he would have been a slave forever.  Instead he rose above the things that sought to enslave him (past hurts, rejections and mistreatment by others) and learned some essential life skills necessary to fulfil God’s destiny for his life.  He did not know God had planned for him to be second over Egypt and to save his family.  He only knew God’s hand was on his life and that if God was going to raise him to greatness, as his dreams suggested, then he must do the best he could in the situation he was in.

Are you enslaved today by your past and what other people have done to you?  No matter what your situation you can be free in your heart.  Free from hurt, free from rejection, free from grudges and grievances, free from unforgiveness.  God is with you and if you make the best of your circumstances and serve with the best attitude you can, God’s blessing will not just be on you but on all those around you.  Serving is done by choice, slavery is forced upon you.  Be a blessing, serve today and walk in freedom from your past into the great plans God has for your future. 

Monday, 23 January 2012

Shutting the mouths of the lions

I am sure we are all familiar with the story of Daniel in the lions’ den found in Daniel chapter 6.   Daniel had been taken into exile by the Babylonians. He and some other exiles had found favour and risen to prominence in the land both under King Nebuchadnezzar and King Belshazzar.   When the Persians invaded Babylon Daniel continued to play a prominent role in the administration of the country.  King Darius had appointed 120 satraps to rule over the kingdom with three administrators over them to make sure there were no financial irregularities. Daniel was one of these administrators. 
Daniel did so well that the King Darius planned to put him over the whole kingdom.  How did Daniel get to such a position?

In chapter 1 we read that all Daniel and his friends did was separate themselves from the chosen others by their Godly living. God then caused the officials to show them favour (1: 9) and God gave them knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning (1:17).    God asks that everyone of us does what we know to do to the best of our ability and he will bless our lives abundantly.  Having got to the highest position in the land, Daniel did not sit back and relax but continued to seek and serve God even when it got him into trouble.

The satraps and other administrators were not happy about Daniel’s promotion and tried to find grounds for charges to be brought against him without success. They then sought to discredit him by using his greatest strength, his relationship with God, as the means of his downfall.  
All the royal officials persuaded the king that anyone who prayed to any god except the king for the next 30 days should be thrown into the lions’ den.  The laws of the Medes and Persians that the king made were written down and were unbreakable and applied to everyone, with no exceptions.  

When Daniel learned of this, he continued to do what he had always done, prayed (giving thanks) to God three times a day from his window facing towards Jerusalem.  Daniel did not panic or run to the king, he took his case to the courts of heaven.  

This is such a wonderful lesson for us. When things go badly awry and especially when we have done nothing wrong we need to take it to God not complain to anyone who will listen.

Daniel’s accusers knew his routine and a group of them went and found him praying. They then ran to the king to tell him that Daniel was breaking this new law.  The king was greatly distressed and did all he could to save Daniel but his own law was irreversible and irrevocable. The king had to agree to Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den but he said to Daniel, ‘May your God whom you serve continually, rescue you.’   He even had to seal the stone of the lions’ den so there could be no rescue bid.  
If the king had been able to rescue Daniel, everyone would have praised the king but through God's amazing miracle of deliverance, the whole nation turned to God. 

The king was so distressed that he did not eat or have entertainment that night nor could he sleep. At first light he was down at the lions’ den calling out to Daniel to ask him if God had saved him.  Daniel’s answering call must have been the greatest relief to the king. ‘O king live forever. My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I done any wrong before you. O king.’  The king was overjoyed and when they lifted Daniel out they found no wounds on him.  

Like Daniel we can trust God with our situations not just when we have no choice but in our everyday lives.  Daniel lived in a godless and violent nation and yet he served God faithfully and trusted him to rescue him when no one, not even the king, could save him.  His trust was not misplaced.  As a result of God’s deliverance from certain death, the king ordered the whole empire to ‘fear and reverence the God of Daniel (6:26).  The king was amazingly transformed and came to faith as a result of the miraculous deliverance of Daniel.  


Hopefully you are not facing a lions’ den in your life but take heart that God will answer your faith filled prayers and will shut the mouth of any lions sent to devour you.  You can trust God completely – he is able to bring deliverance from any situation – even the ones that no one else can fix – and his favour rests on you today

Saturday, 21 January 2012

This will be a sign to you

When Jesus was born, an angel told the shepherds that, ‘a Saviour has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger’ (Luke 2: 11 – 12).  Then, just in case an angel appearing with a message was not enough, suddenly the heavenly host appeared singing praises to God.  That got the shepherds on their way! Then when they saw that what the angel had said was true, they told everyone about it. 

The Bible is full of signs and wonders.  Noah was given the rainbow as a sign of the covenant that God would never again flood the earth and that the seasons would follow on one after another. Abraham was told to circumcise the men and this too would be a sign of the covenant.  Fearful Moses was given signs to help him persuade the Israelites that the God of their fathers had not forgotten them. Then both the Israelites and Egyptians wondered and marvelled at the signs God did as he released his people from bondage. No one was in any doubt who was the Lord.

Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Eli, Samuel, Saul, Hezekiah and many more were given signs to show God’s working.  Then Jesus came full of signs and wonders and taught his disciples to do likewise.  Signs can be incredible things and reveal marvellous miracles but signs are just that – signs.  They indicate or point to something else.  A road sign is not the destination – it points to the destination.  Even a town or city sign is not what people come to see but shows they have arrived.  They then look at the place and its attractions or find the person they have come to see.  No one goes to a place to look at a sign. 

There is a marvellous increase in signs, wonders and miracles today.  God is healing people, setting them free, releasing them from bondages and we must seek to be used by God increasingly in this area.  But the signs are only indications that God is at work.  They show that the Kingdom of Heaven is amongst us.  They are not the destination.  Jesus is. 

The religious people in Jesus’ day wanted more signs to help them believe but no matter how many signs they had, their hard hearts would never believe.  They didn’t need any more signs.  They had the one the signs pointed to standing before them but due to unbelief they could not see that.  Those that looked at the signs and saw the Messiah came to saving faith.  Those that looked at the signs and asked for more, never came to faith.

Let us eagerly pursue more signs, wonders and miracles not as a destination in themselves but as an indication that God is amongst us, loves us and wants to reveal himself increasingly to a hurt and broken world.  Let God use you today to show his love through signs and wonders that many will come to know that the Kingdom and the King is amongst us. 

Friday, 20 January 2012

I am redeemed from the curse of the law

 This truth can seem quite removed from us in our lives in the 21st century.  The law and its requirements are not part of our everyday life. For the new Christians in the 1st century in the churches in Galatia, they were still trying to earn their salvation through observing the law.

Paul was not impressed with them and called them foolish and reminded them that their salvation was received by faith not by works (Galatians 3:1).  He reminded them that those who relied on observing the law were under a curse (3:10) but thank God, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (3:13).  He made sure that they remembered that no one is justified (made right with God) by observing the law but by faith (3:11). 

You may be confident that you are not receiving your salvation by works but by faith but there is one more important point to look at.  Paul says in Galatians 4: 4 ‘God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.  So often Christians are justified by faith and yet never receive the full rights of sons. 

The older brother in the story of the prodigal son was like that.  When he complained in anger to the father about his generosity to the younger, prodigal brother he said, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.  Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends’(Luke 15: 29). He was a son of the Father and yet he had never received the full rights of a son because he had tried slaving for them and earning them by his own efforts. 

Our full rights of sons are not earned – they are received.  It is not by our own efforts that we receive them but by God’s wonderful love and grace.  So often we think we must do something; pray, read our Bibles, witness (all of which are marvellous things) in order for God to love and use us more.  God loves us completely already; you cannot earn any of it. We must stop looking at our Christian walk as a series of achievements and instead see it as a deepening relationship with our loving heavenly Father.   Let us receive the full rights of sons – children of Almighty God – with all the blessings that entails.


Thursday, 19 January 2012

Love that is lavished on us

I John 3:1 says, ‘How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!   And that is what we are!’  God’s love for us is lavish, extravagant, unrestrained.  It is not just unconditional and never ending; it is excessive and over the top.  That is God’s love for us. 

However John continues in his letter to exalt God’s love but at the same time he keeps slipping in that because of this great love, we must love our brothers. In 1 John 3:11 he says, ‘We should love one another.’  Then in 1 John 4: 11 – 12, ‘Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.’  

It is easy to love God because he loves us so extravagantly.  He is always there, never gives up on us, never leaves us or gets frustrated with us or our weaknesses.  He is forgiving, merciful, kind.  Loving our brother or our neighbour as both the Old Testament and Jesus exhorted us to is much more difficult.  It requires that we show some of the same attributes that God shows to us; grace, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, love and perseverance.  The difficulty is that we may have to show these qualities in the face of hostility, anger, unkindness, unforgiveness and sometimes unfairness and misunderstanding.  This is much harder.

The punch line to showing brotherly love was Jesus saying, ‘A new command I give you, Love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples if you love one another. John 13:34’ That is the hallmark of children of God; not that God loves them and they love God but that out of the love of God, they love one another.  What a testimony to the world.  Christians loving one another!  People will truly see that as we love one another, we are God's disciples.

Today let us seek to love one another even when we are not loved back. Let the love that God has lavished extravagantly on us overflow to those around us.

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

I am part of the royal priesthood

 This wonderful declaration of truth comes from I Peter chapter 2.  In verse 5 it says, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  In verse 9 Peter continues, ‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.’   

I love verse 9 because it puts together that we are not just a royal priesthood but first of all we are a chosen people and also a people belonging to God.   The reason we are part of the royal priesthood is that God has chosen us. Just stop and consider for a moment that God has chosen you, yes you, with all your faults and failings, weaknesses and difficulties, he has chosen you.  You have the highest calling to be part of the royal priesthood.  You belong to him and you are called out of darkness to declare his praises. 

Declaration is not gently and quietly whispering our praises.  Declaration is speaking aloud, boldly and with confidence that God is awesome, marvellous, worthy of our praise.  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Almighty God. We are called to declare that. 

Those who are part of the holy priesthood are also called to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God.  In the Old Testament the priests offered animals as sacrifices to God.  In Hebrews it says that when Christ came as high priest, he entered the Most Holy Place in heaven not with the blood of bulls and goats but by his own blood (Hebrews 9: 11 - 12).  God does not want our blood, so what is a spiritual sacrifice?  Paul tells us, ‘to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.’  It is us – our bodies, our lives, our talents, our resources – all of which come from God in the first place – that we offer to God every day.

Today let us not ask God to bless our day but ask God how we can be part of what he is doing today.  God is doing marvellous things every day and he wants to use each one of us to be part of that.  So let us offer ourselves today as part of the royal priesthood to be a pleasing, acceptable sacrifice to God.

O Lord, today I do not ask you to bless my day but I want to be part of what you are doing.  I offer myself to be used by you to be a blessing to others, to represent you to the people I may come across today.  Please give me your wisdom, your words, your insight so I may be a Godly blessing wherever I go. In Jesus name.  Amen

Monday, 16 January 2012

I am being prepared for greater things in the days ahead.

 I am sure we are all familiar with Jeremiah 29:11, ‘For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ God spoke these encouraging words when the Israelites had been sent into exile and were probably wondering if they would ever go back home or if there was any hope for the future. Even in that situation God had good plans for his people.

In the same way, God really does have good things lined up for each of us.  Any parent wants the best for their children.  They invest all they can in education, training, character formation, helping them develop every skill they will need for the future.  They help their children develop their gifts and talents and teach them the skills of life and how to handle situations that may come their way.  Earthly parents often do not have much idea of what the future holds but they do their best to guide their children to be the best equipped they can be for what might lie ahead. 

If we then who are imperfect, who have limited resources and knowledge, will do that for our children, how much more will our loving heavenly Father who has all the resources and is omniscient (knowing everything) lead and guide his children into the future.  We can trust God to know what is best for us and he does know how to get us to our goal.  We can trust God with our destiny confident that he knows each of us intimately, knows our gifts and abilities and how best to use them.

It is important to have confidence in the future while enjoying and making the most of today.  It is even more important to be confident about the future if today is not going well.  If we sink into thinking that tomorrow may be worse than today and that all our tomorrows are destined for a steady decline into mediocrity and failure, depression will quickly grip us. God uses everything, the good and the bad, our successes and our failures to draw us deeper into his love and his plans. Everything that is happening today may be being used in preparation for what is coming in the future. 

If God really does have wonderful plans for our lives to give us a hope and a future, then whether today is a good or not so good day, we can be optimistic knowing that our loving heavenly Father holds our hands and our future.  Greater things await us.

Saturday, 14 January 2012

I am free from condemnation

 Paul says in Romans 8:1 ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’.  Why? ‘Because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.’ 

Before we became Christians we were like prisoners on death row condemned to die.  The wages of sin is death and we are all sinners so we had to die.  Thank God that Jesus came and took our place and died on the cross for us and released us from that condemnation.  In John chapter 3 Jesus told us that God did not send him into the world to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17).  Jesus himself assures us that if we believe in him, we are not condemned (John 3:18). 

We feel condemned when we focus on our sins, failures and shortcomings.   We feel inadequate and insecure, that others are better than us, that we are not worthy to be loved or receive blessing.  Instead we must focus on Jesus and his unconditional never ending love and acceptance. Jesus will never condemn us. He will never criticize us. He came to give us his abundnat life.

We will make mistakes, we will fall short but these should not bring condemnation.  Instead they are a learning point, an opportunity to grow.  When we fail, do not slide down into despondency and self pity but instead focus on Jesus and ask him to help you next time. He will show us how not to make that mistake again.  Even if it takes many times, God is patient and the Holy Spirit is waiting to help us no matter how long it takes.

If others condemn you by pointing out your failings and shortcomings, do not receive the condemnation but forgive them and release yourself from their condemnation. 

Jesus died so we can walk freely by the Spirit.  Do not let condemnation blight your walk – look to Jesus and he will guide and help you in your weaknesses.

Friday, 13 January 2012

Do not worry

 When Jesus was teaching what we now call the Sermon on the Mount, he encouraged the crowd not to worry (Matthew 6:25 - 34).  Jesus was dealing very specifically in this situation with material needs but he also told them  not to worry about tomorrow which covers a lot of situations.  As humans our default setting has a tendency to be ‘worry’.  We worry when we do not know what to do in a specific situation.  Worrying feels like we are doing something. If we worry we may get a solution.   If we don’t worry it feels like we do not care, that something is not important if we don’t worry.  We feel guilty if we don’t worry. 

It was not only Jesus who told us not to worry, Paul wrote to the Philippians to not be anxious about anything – that’s comprehensive!  

The reason Jesus and Paul told people not to worry is that worry is like a cancer that eats into our souls.  It destroys our peace of mind, emotions, bodies and spirits.  As we worry we become further and further disconnected from God as we wrestle with our problem and try, often in vain, to find a solution. 

The antidote to worry is also very clear in the Bible. ‘Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you’ (I Peter 5:7) and ‘do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ Then see what happens, ‘And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6 – 7)

Worrying is the worse thing we can do in any troubling situation.  Peter says to cast it or throw it at God.  Imagine a fisherman casting his line into the water.  He doesn't place it or drop it, he casts or throws it.  It is the same with our anxiety or worry - don't just give it to God or drop it in his lap but cast it on him. Why? -  because he cares for you and he has all the answers and all the provision you need for this day.  Jesus told the crowd their loving heavenly Father knew their needs and would be their provider. 

God has everything we need – healing from sickness, deliverance from addiction, provision of all material things and my experience is that God does not just give us what we need but also some of the things we want too.  Do we need work or have a problem at work, a house, freedom from debt – our heavenly Father will provide all we need as we trust him. 

As we trust God, Paul encourages us that the peace of God will come and guard our hearts and minds.  God's peace will help us to stop worrying.  So today, stop worrying and tell God all about it, cast your cares on him and trust him to come up with the answer you need. 

Thursday, 12 January 2012

I am beloved of God

 There is a lovely verse in Deuteronomy when Moses was blessing the tribes just before his death, which says of Benjamin:

Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,
For he shields him all day long,
And the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

Benjamin was the youngest of Jacob’s sons, born of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel who died giving birth to him.  There is no doubt Jacob loved Joseph and Benjamin Rachel’s sons more than the other sons.  When Jacob believed that Joseph was dead due to the trickery of the other brothers, Benjamin became even more precious. 

However this verse speaks not of the beloved of Jacob but the beloved of the Lord, the one the Lord loves.  The truth is each one of us is ‘the beloved of the Lord’.  The Lord adores each one of us.  Each one of us is favoured by God – each one is his favourite.  In itself that does not make any sense!  How can each of us be his favourite? Favourite implies more love for one than another. 

Each of us is loved equally and totally.  Each one of us is at the top of God’s affection.  There is no one who is loved more than you are – so each one of us is his favourite and he treats each one of us like that.  You are his favourite.

Let this wonderful truth sink into your heart and let it change the way you feel about God and the way you feel about yourself.  Those who are God’s favourites cannot be worthless, unloved, rejected.  You are in the very centre of God’s amazing, unconditional love and nothing you do or do not do can change that.  Thank God right now for his wonderful love and meditate on this fact that you are beloved of God.