Legacy

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children Psalm 103:17

Legacy was the big buzz word of the London 2012 Olympics by which it meant that the organisers wanted something to live on after the Games that would be an inheritance to the nation.  Everyone hopes that good sporting facilities and an increased desire by people to participate in sport will last long after the happy memories of the Olympics start to fade.

I believe legacy is also very important for us as Christians – that we do not just live for our lives but that we leave something after we have gone to heaven that will bless those coming after us.

We are on holiday in Wales and one day we briefly passed some women who as they went by us were singing away. One of the men with them said to us rather apologetically, ‘Revival has come.’ It is the sort of remark that would never be made in England because we have no recent history of revival unlike the Welsh. The 1904 Welsh revival is still in the collective memory over a hundred years later so when people are singing happily away it is a natural thing to say that revival has come. That is legacy.

An Anglican clergyman Henry Lyte wrote the hymn Abide with me three weeks before he died of TB in 1847.  I wonder if he knows that it is still sung regularly today and especially at FA Cup Finals and would he be delighted that 165 years after his death his hymn was used in the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games to movingly commemorate the 7 / 7 London terrorist bombings?

Jarrod Cooper wrote that of the 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards, the famed 18th century revival preacher, 100 became preachers and missionaries,100 lawyers, 80 public officials, 75 army and navy officers, 65 college professors, 60 physicians, 60 prominent authors, 30 judges, 13 college presidents, 3 United States senators, and one a vice-president of the United States. 42% of his descendants made a significant contribution to society.

One of Edwards’ contemporaries, Max Jukes had 310 descendants who died as paupers, 150 criminals, 100 were drunkards, 7 were murderers, and more than half of the women were prostitutes.

God talks a lot about generations in the Bible and passing on the blessing to thousands of generations.  The Bible is filled with examples of God blessing people because of the actions of their godly ancestors.  We all leave a legacy; the question is what sort of legacy will we leave? I am very conscious of the legacy that has been left to me both individually and spiritually. My desire is that both as individuals and as a Church, we make a difference in our area of influence and leave a blessed legacy that others can build on.

 

Fflad y Brenin

Today we went to Fflad y Brenin, a Christian retreat centre in the heart of South Wales. It is so remote that it is astonishing that anyone would live there let alone have a retreat centre there. Yet not only is it a house of prayer it is also a ‘thin place’, a Celtic Christianity expression for a place where the presence of God is very close and real.

As we drove along increasingly narrow and windy roads, the rain lashed down in torrents and soon the road through the valley was running with water like a river. The directions were good and we found the signboard at the bottom of the very steep drive. At the top of the drive the views over the hills and down into the valleys are stunning. The rain continued to pour and we rushed into the safety of the room for day visitors and were given a cup of coffee. The views from here were just as stunning. 

Fflad y Brenin is the subject of a book by Roy Godwin called The Grace Outpouring and is a wonderful account of how God called people to build this house of prayer and of people meeting with God in this remote and beautiful place. The sense of God’s presence is real and yet understated. It is easy to find him if you reach out to him but I suspect it is also easy to ignore him if you choose to do so. The hungry heart is guaranteed an encounter though I found it was not what I expected. God has his own agenda to love and discipline as a loving Father does and he uses every opportunity that he can. I wanted to meet with God but God had some important business to conduct with me. Privately we dealt with some issues and chastened yet loved, I feel the better for it.

God’s plans for our lives and his love will never let us consistently persist in wrong attitudes. He loves us too much for that. Painful though it can be, His purpose is never to humiliate or discourage but to free us to climb to ever greater heights. He wants the best for his children and sometimes that means loving correction. To leave us to continue in our pride and presumption will merely mean greater pain and difficulty in the future that will hinder us and hurt others.

God always wants to do us good and his plans are so much bigger and better than ours. He does not want us stumbling over poor attitudes no matter what their source. He wants us to climb over our stumbling blocks blessing and honouring others even if they are not blessing and honouring us. If we are to fulfil God’s call for our lives then dealing with others in love and humility is essential.

The rain eased off sufficiently for us to walk down to the cross set high on a rocky outcrop on the edge of a steep hill overlooking the valley. People had laid stones and rocks there signifying laying down their burdens and there were notes and prayers to God disintegrating in the rain.

Ffald y Brenin is a very special place and even as we drove away after our short visit, the presence of God lingered on. Our lives had been touched and changed and at this place of blessing where it is so easy to meet with God, He had graciously blessed another hungry heart.

Enjoying our calling

⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! ⁹ Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. Numbers 16: 8 – 10

Numbers 16 tells the awful story of one of the greatest rebellions against Moses and the Lord as the children of Israel journeyed through the desert. Korah and his family joined forces with some men from the tribe of Reuben and 250 leaders to assert that all the Israelites were holy and could offer incense to God just as Aaron and his family did.  The tragic thing is that Korah’s family had one of the most privileged positions because as Kohathites they had the honour of moving and caring for all the holy things of the tabernacle including the ark of the covenant. No one else was permitted to do this – it was an honour but for Korah and his family it was not enough. They wanted to be priests as well. This tragic rebellion ended in Korah and the Reubenites and their families all being swallowed up by the earth and the 250 who wanted to offer incense as priests were all consumed by fire.

As Christians today we are all priests unto Almighty God which is a wonderful privilege and by the precious blood of Jesus, we can offer our bodies as living sacrifices and offer praise and worship to our Lord and Saviour. We have no need of intermediaries but can draw near to God in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:22). It is a wonderful thing to be able to do.

However, we too can wish for ministry, position, influence that is not for us. Each one of us has a unique call on our lives and we must realise the honour it is to serve God in this way. My main calling is to be a mother both in the natural and spiritual way – hence my blog name. However it took years for me to realise the privilege of this especially when our children were young and opportunities outside the home were few. I resented being stuck at home and wanted so much more.

Some people implied that they were far too intelligent and motivated to be content to stay at home with the children as I was doing and therefore by inference I was neither intelligent nor motivated. There was also a season when our church was having one well known speaker after another and I always seemed to be stuck at home with the children. I resented this as well but God told me quite firmly that if I ever needed to be at a meeting I would have child care and if I did not have any child care then I would not miss out on anything. God’s word is true and many years later, I can confirm that God has been utterly faithful in his promise. I came to realise how important being a mother is and what a high calling I had been given to have the honour of raising children. It laid a foundation in my life that is bearing much fruit to this day.

Whatever God has called you to do, especially if it is not very glamorous or prominent, do it with your best heart and attitude. No one knows what the future holds but God is laying down a foundation in your life on which he will build something that only he can do. In years to come you will look back and see how God used those times of service for his glory. Whatever God has called us to is an honour because we are serving him so let’s serve faithfully.

The walls came tumbling down

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. Numbers 13: 27 – 28

I am sure we are all familiar with the story of the 12 spies sent into the Promised Land to scout it out. They saw what a wonderful place it was flowing with milk and honey just as God had said but they also the powerful people and the fortified cities. 10 of the spies, full of fear, persuaded the Israelites that they could not take they land despite Joshua and Caleb’s assurance that with God on their side, it could be done.

No doubt the 10 spies looked at the fortified cities and remembered the towering walls of Egypt and their life of slavery. For them it meant disaster and failure, an obstacle too big to overcome but they were looking at the cities and themselves instead of their God. They forgot the ten amazing plagues and how God completely routed the Egyptian army whilst leading them safely across the Red Sea on dry land. They forgot how God provided water, manna and quail for them to eat. All they saw was an insurmountable problem. 

Forty years later, another generation also saw the fortified city of Jericho but they knew who their God was and what he could do. They had not grown up in slavery; they had grown up in the desert and were keen to get into the Promised Land. In order to do this the fortified city would have to be defeated. They learned that looking to God, being obedient by praising him and towering, fortified walls would just collapse at a unified obedient shout to the Lord of hosts.  They didn’t have to fight but they did have to overcome fear – fear of looking stupid, fear of it ‘not working’, fear of failure. They trusted their miracle working God and they were not disappointed.

We too may have fortified cities standing against us by which I mean problems that look insurmountable or situations that seem all locked up. It may be unbelieving family or friends and it feels like they will never get saved. It may be problems at work or even in church which seem as if they will never change. It can be in a host of different situations but the solution is always the same. God – our miracle working God.  There is nothing than can withstand our God and his obedient people. Absolutely nothing. We need to ask God for the strategy to see these insurmountable difficulties overcome and the walls will come tumbling down.

God of all hope

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15: 13

Hope is as essential to our lives as the air we breathe. Without hope, life begins to shut down and close in. For the Christian, hope is not an optimistic wish for future things but hope is a trust in the goodness of God; that despite the circumstances, God is good and will bring forth good things.  

Most Christians, I am sure, would agree with this but for some there can be areas of our life where hope has died and when that happens it is as if we close the door to any further hope in that area to save ourselves from future disappointment. There are many areas where this could happen but some examples are being single, childlessness, bereavement and grief, separation and divorce, church life and ministry, unemployment and failure. So often it feels like hope has been dashed and in order to function, we put our lost hope and disappointment into a room and close the door.

However God does not want us to have closed doors in our lives as they can lead to further difficulties and a bitterness of spirit. The only way to keep the door open on our deep hurts and disappointments is to establish in our own lives that God is good and has good things for his children. As Steve Backlund says, ‘hope expects and knows that things will ultimately work out in a good way.’

Whatever has happened is not because God is punishing us. God has not stopped loving us and God does not want to teach us a lesson in a negative sense. Some of these past hurts may have come about because we have made poor choices or even sinned. God wants to bring healing and hope again into these areas.

Today if fear is gripping your heart and you dare not trust God in an area where you have lost hope, start with this declaration and prayer:

God I trust you because you are a good God and want only good things for my life. I am so sorry if I have in any way caused these difficulties but I will not blame anyone for what has happened. I forgive any who have been instrumental in what has happened including myself. Today I choose to believe that you will bring good out of this. I open the door of my hurt to your healing love and restoration and I receive your hope. In Jesus Name Amen.

 

 

 

Everbody likes a compliment - Abraham Lincoln

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. I Thessalonians 5: 11

When I first became a Christian, I was completely unable to say anything nice to or about others. My heart was so hurt and rejected that to say something complimentary about another was as difficult as walking on water. I could neither give nor take compliments. If someone complimented me, I was immediately suspicious of their motives and even if I deep down knew that their compliment was genuine and merited, I was embarrassed because I had such a deep sense of unworthiness.

I had been brought up in a highly competitive school environment where only the successful got commended. There was always someone better than me at everything and most were better behaved as well so a great sense of worthlessness pervaded my life. To compliment others was tantamount to admitting defeat and that others were better than I was and unworthiness also breeds an atmosphere of resentment and cynicism so saying something nice about others was a complete anathema for me.

Over the years though, I have learned to give and take compliments even though I still find it hard to receive them. Things changed because I had a good friend who always responded positively if I asked her about something. Her answer was always, ‘Yes’. That sounds like someone else we know!! (II Corinthians 1:20) I realised how negatively I always answered, how grudging I was and how there were not many nice things on my lips. I resolved to change.

It took some time but I tried, though I did not always succeed, to genuinely compliment or say something encouraging if possible.  This not only builds others up but it changes us on the inside. Genuine praise and encouragement given to others softens us and changes the atmosphere around us. People do not like to carp and criticise around an atmosphere of encouragement.

Yesterday someone said to me that they never got a compliment and didn’t know how to handle them. That is so sad. We all need to grow up in a positive environment.  I had to learn to say nice things to my children even though I felt no one ever said anything very encouraging to me which was probably not true, bearing in my mind my negative outlook on life!

As God healed me and my wounded heart, as I learned to forgive others and myself, I found I had a much more positive outlook on everything and everyone. That does not mean I go round heaping praise on all and sundry but I do try and say good things about people and situations.  So many people are desperate to have someone say something nice to them and we have the God of all hope and encouragement in our hearts. Let’s transform our worlds with positive words of strengthening and encouragement to those around us. I can assure you that as you do, you and the atmosphere and world around you will blossom.

Not open to negotiation

¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2: 11 – 12

One of the things most noticeable in today’s society is the fact that truth is debatable and moral values are open to negotiation.  It is hard to know if this is worse than in times past but nowadays everything is open to personal opinion and debate. No one accepts what anyone says and in Britain in particular everyone’s motives are treated suspiciously.

The laws of the land are re-interpreted to suit our convenience and exceptions are made to the rule. For instance the speed limit can become the starting point of negotiating what speed I drive. Everyone knows that if caught, the police add 10% to the speed limit and then a few more miles per hour to cover error and the speed limit goes up from 70 mph to 80+ mph as I was confidently told by someone the other day. A child when told to eat their food or clean their room immediately begins to open negotiations by which they will start to do as they have been asked. A parent’s word is not accepted until they have explained why something should be done and unfortunately parents too often go along with this procedure.

If a parent’s commands and the laws of the land are open to negotiation, then God’s laws will also become debatable. Of course we live under grace and all sins are forgivable but as we see above, we do not live under grace so we can sin freely but so we can say no to ungodliness.

God gave the children of Israel a comprehensive list of laws and commandments for daily living. They had come out of slavery in Egypt and had no idea how to live as a nation. The laws  must have seemed burdensome at times.  We know there was quite a bit of grumbling and complaining by the Israelites and downright rebellion. However God did not give his laws to be difficult, overbearing or to lord it over them.   The law was given to show what sin is (Romans 7:7) so that God’s precious children could live in right relationship with their heavenly Father and one another.

In the same way parent’s need to get to grips with the rules of the family and instil them so everyone can live together in harmony and love. We also need to respect the laws of the land we live in as good for us and society not as a starting point for personal adjustment. God’s laws are not onerous but there for our benefit which is why Jesus said, ‘If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love’ (John 15: 10).  Let’s help one another live in God’s love by living Godly and upright lives and by doing what he has asked us to do without quibble or negotiation.

Bulls eye prayer

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1: 9 – 11

Prayer is one of the quickest topics to get you on a guilt trip. I think everyone feels they should pray more but I don’t think it is matter of more prayer but better prayer.  I was just thinking of some countries that are doing well and some that are not and I wondered about both the amount of prayer and the quality of prayer for those nations. Sometimes I think there may be plenty of prayer but is it hitting the mark?

I believe God wants us to consider ‘bulls-eye prayer’; prayer that really hits the target.  I don’t know about you but I can very easily start rambling and losing concentration especially when praying by myself. So to keep myself on track I like to use the Bible as my prayer guide by which I mean that using the Word helps me focus on God’s will for that person or situation. 

The Bible has some great prayers like Paul’s one above which I like to pray over my family. There are other marvellous Paul prayers in Colossians 1 and Ephesians 1 and 3. The Lord’s Prayer is of course the best and if we use it as a guide rather than saying it by rote it can open so many wonderful avenues for prayer. It really is comprehensive.

The Psalms too, when personalised, make wonderful prayers. For instance, ‘The Lord is Bill’s shepherd; he shall not be in want. You make Bill lie down in green pastures, you lead him by still waters, you restore Bill's soul.’  As you pray this over family and friends and consider your prayer it can help you come to real faith that God will move powerfully in their life. Faith filled prayers are powerful prayers. I have a bit of psalms for all sorts of family members and friends.

Proverbs chapter 3 is a great prayer for youthful sons or grandsons and, believe me, this one is a life changer. This is because ‘The Word of God is living and active’ (Hebrews 4:12). It transforms lives.

It is really good to chat to God throughout the day but if you are struggling to pray, find some Scriptures to pray over those situations on your heart. It helps us to focus and I believe helps us hit the target with our prayers. Be encouraged because, ‘the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5: 16). Our prayers do make a difference.