Father and child

Too often in the midst of life’s difficulties, it is very easy to lose sight of who we are. Our view of God can become that He is the answer to our prayers and of course that he is what he is.  I need work, finance, healing, breakthrough, help with exams, healing of relationships, a spouse, security, protection, all sorts of things and God graciously answers our requests.

However I believe that instead of seeing God merely as our heavenly provider, what is so much more important is to see that God is our loving heavenly Father and we are his precious, chosen children.

Small children look at their parents and see them as the source of all they need, which they are.  They provide food, clothes, money, warmth, comfort, protection and so on but as they grow older children begin to value the relationship with their parents. Unfortunately the relationship may break down at some point due to the weakness and failure of one or both parties and too often we do not really come to appreciate our parents either till we and they are old or worse still when they've gone.

If we imagine the best possible dad, we don’t want to spend all our time asking him for things.  It would be embarrassing to have a relationship based on our wants and his provision. What we really want is to spend time with Him especially when things are tough.   Only he can provide the comfort and affirmation we need.

It is so much more wonderful is to have a relationship based not on provision but on love and confirmation of our identity as God’s chosen child. We can face a lot when we know who we are and who is always with us.

At this moment I am in the midst of a storm.  I have no idea why or how I got here.  All I know is that life is very bumpy at the moment.  I could spend all my time begging God to get me out or even to tell me how I got here or I can relax and remember who I am and who is in the boat with me.

The ride may be bumpy but I am being held by the strongest pair of arms in the universe. I may feel fearful and alone but I am not.  I am God’s child and he is not going to let me go or let me drown. I am safe with him.

I do not need provision, I need fathering. I need the reassurance that I am his child and he loves me more than I can ever know. 

Shout to the Lord

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.  Psalm 98: 4

One of my all time favourite worship songs is Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech. I watched a clip of her on YouTube explaining when and how she had written that song. She and her family were in a hard place, struggling at many levels especially financially. One morning a tax bill came which they just could not pay.   Darlene says that she told God, ‘I just can’t do this God.’

She didn't give up. Instead she went into the secret place and worshipped God and Shout to the Lord was written.  If you listen to the words of the song in the light of these circumstances, they are extraordinary but she was following in the footsteps of many other believers who have found that worship in the midst of difficult, difficult circumstances brings forth something beautiful.

King David and many others who wrote the Psalms knew about worshipping God, not just in the happy, good times but especially in the midst of great trial. The Psalms, which is where Darlene got her inspiration for Shout to the Lord, is where we too can find help in our times of trouble. The saints who have gone before have left us a rich heritage of encouragement to help us in our times of grief, despair, disappointment, hurt and pain.

As Darlene says she was between a rock and a hard place. Have you been there?  No place to turn except upwards into the arms of our Saviour. There we find all we need. There in that place of confinement true worship is born and beautiful things come forth.

We may not be song or even poetry writers but worship given as a true sacrifice is beautiful in God’s eyes and does something extraordinary in us. It liberates us from our place of difficulty into a place of freedom  even though our circumstances have not changed. As we focus on the one who can change everything, everything changes in us.

Trust is born, faith arises, hope stirs in our souls. Worship given during the good times is amazing. Worship out of the hard times is life changing. 

God is our rear guard

Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house.
But you will not leave in haste or go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,  the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Isaiah 52: 11 – 12

In these verses Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites encouraging them that they will return from exile one day and when they do so, they will bring back the articles from the temple that were taken by the Babylonians.  All this of course is yet to happen; the Israelites have not even gone into exile and yet God is encouraging them that though they will be carried off for their sin and faithlessness, they will not stay in exile forever; they will return.

The phrase I like though is that when it happens, God will be their rear guard. They need not fear being chased and overtaken and forcefully returned to exile.  God will go both before them and behind them.  This thought goes back to the flight from Egypt when Moses led the Israelites out from captivity.  On that occasion, when they got to the Red Sea, the angel of the Lord and the pillar of fire, which had been leading them, moved from in front of the Israelites to behind them. It brought darkness to the Egyptians all night long and light to the Israelites to cross over the Red Sea. (Exodus 14: 19 – 20).

You can imagine how fearful the Israelites must have been. The Egyptians had been their slave masters for hundreds of years. They had a powerful army and the Israelites would only have been lightly armed; nothing that could deal with chariots and horses. There was also the mental bondage; slavery is not just a physical condition but a bondage in the mind. They would have been terrified that they were trapped and that they would either be returned to slavery or worse still slaughtered on the shores of the Red Sea. Yet God protected them and it says in Exodus 14: 30 – 31 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Today God is still our rearguard.  We do not need to fear our past. It will not come and take us back into the bondage of sin, addiction, abuse, guilt or shame. Jesus has set us free and whilst he is going before us into our new destiny, he will also be our rear guard, protecting us from the past.  We can put our trust in him and we will not be disappointed. 

The joy of the cross

.. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

I am sure we are all familiar with this well known verse and when I read it my focus has always been on persevering and running a good race like Jesus. I have never really thought before about the joy that Jesus experienced or focused on as he endured the cross. It seems impossible for Jesus to experience or anticipate joy when facing the cross.

I believe that is because we only focus on our side of the cross; sinful man saved by a perfect Saviour. Wonderful though it undoubtedly is, the perspective of the cross from God’s viewpoint is quite different.

I do not know if you have ever enjoyed a relationship or friendship that was just wonderful but then it went wrong. For some reason, the relationship was broken and you no longer enjoyed the fellowship that you once had. This can cause grief and an enormous heaviness of heart especially if the one you no longer have fellowship or relationship with is a son, daughter or other family member.

God created man and woman to be with him, to walk with him, to love and be loved by him and the relationship went wrong, it was broken.  God yearns to enjoy that level of fellowship, friendship, relationship again with Man.  God loves us; the pain of separation caused by sin must be intense. I would hate to lose relationship with any of my children or grandchildren and I would do anything to try and restore that relationship.

In some infinitesimal measure that must be how God feels.  Jesus was prepared to do anything to restore relationship with sinful man – anything – including giving up his glory, confining himself to being a man and then dying the sinful, shameful death of a criminal in order to deal with sin and its consequences once and for all. He didn't do it because he had to do; he did it for the joy of seeing fellowship restored with his precious people. 

The joy God feels in restoring relationship is intense. He knows we will be together for eternity. He can love us face to face and he knows the joy we will feel in being able to see and love him face to face forever. The joy of having us as his children overwhelms God’s heart.

Not convinced?  Look at Song of Songs 4:9, Zechariah 3:17, Psalm 17:8 (apple of his eye), Exodus 19:5 (treasured possession) to name but a few. Just imagine Jesus taking you in his arms and dancing around with you, full of joy that you are his. ‘It’s finished!’ he cries, ‘nothing can ever separate us again.’

It was the joy of restored relationship that took Jesus to the cross. I believe that with thankful hearts, God wants us to revel in that joy and  rejoice in God’s love. 

A sense of belonging

There is a Hillsong song that says, ‘Jesus I believe in you, Jesus I belong to you. You’re the reason that I live, the reason that I sing with all I am.  A sense of belonging is essential to each one of us for our identity, security and general well being. We get this sense of belonging from the people and places around us. 

As Christians our sense of belonging should come from our identity as children of God. This is strengthened by our Christian family of friends and church. The family is God’s plan for people, both naturally and spiritually. It is in our natural family where we initially forge our greatest sense of belonging. The same is true in God’s family but it is when the family breaks down, either in the natural one or in the church that some big problems can occur.

It is when we feel let down, hurt and rejected by parents, brothers and sisters or in the church by our Christian friends or leaders that our sense of belonging to these invaluable institutions begins to unravel..  We may then exchange our family or Christian sense of belonging by finding  people and communities who have not hurt us. This situation is always made worse in churches by the feeling that Christians shouldn't behave like this; that they should know better.

I am sure we can all think of people who have left the church or even backslidden because of what a Christian or a church has said or done.  It is heart breaking when this happens. These people have found greater love and acceptance from the world than from Christians and the church.

However, when the church loves, honours and works together in unity and always tries to deal with difficulties it becomes a very powerful family and individuals have a strong sense of belonging and identity. When churches then try and work together across denominations or even nations, the sense of belonging it engenders can help people feel they are working together for something much bigger than themselves or even the locality.  As Psalm 133 says, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! … For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life for evermore.’ God blesses unity.

The church is at it most effective in outreach when we show love to the world based on love within the local church and even more love across churches. Jesus said, ^‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’(John 13: 35). 

When the world looks at a church full of saints who have such a strong sense of belonging both to God and one another that instead of complaining and criticising one another they love and honour others, then that becomes extremely attractive to unbelievers.

A sense of belonging is so important to each one of us. If you don’t feel you belong either to God or the local church, ask him today to help you understand why, to forgive any who have hurt you and to forge the strong bonds of love and unity with others that will help you feel the love and acceptance that a child of God should have. 

21st century Gideon: an allegory Part 4

They then called on all Christians across the land to rise up and defeat the powers of darkness that ruled in their localities. The Christians called out to God for deliverance and proclaimed his goodness and mercy in all their major places of government, power and influence.  There was no hiding place for the powers of darkness.  Everywhere they tried to go, there were bands of Christians proclaiming the wisdom, majesty and glory of God and they were consigned to the Abyss. 

One group from a large and influential Pentecostal church was upset that they had not been asked to help sooner.  They had gone out as asked and defeated the major forces of evil in their area which were also badly afflicting the nation.

 

‘Why didn't you call us out earlier so we could have helped you?’ they asked.

 ‘What have we accomplished compared to you? You have overthrown two great forces of evil in the land.  What are our accomplishments compared to this?’ the pastor replied.

The large Pentecostal church was mollified at this and promised to pray for the pastor and his little band as they pursued the remaining evil forces.

They pursued these powers of darkness like freemasonry and witchcraft to their home towns and cities.  They asked the Christians and church goers in these towns and cities to help them in the overthrow of these forces. 

‘We have been pursuing these demons for ages and are tired, hungry and thirsty.  Will you join with us in the fight and give us something to eat and drink?’

 But the Christians and church goers said, ‘Who are you that we should help you?  Who says the powers of freemasonry or witchcraft live here?  When we can see you have overthrown them as you declare, then we will help you and give you sustenance.’

So the pastor and his band went and surrounded one of the religious centres in the city where the forces of evil had gone home to roost. They proclaimed again the goodness of God, his might and majesty and the powers of darkness sank into the abyss. Some of the symbols of their activities and ownership of the buildings fell to the ground as they were defeated. The Christians took them as spoil to show those who had opposed them.

They went on to another city where again they were given no help.  This time they went to the high places surrounding the city and again proclaimed the might and majesty of God.  The powers of darkness fled terrified into the abyss at the sound of the proclamation as they realised judgement was upon them and all the wicked, evil things that they had caused to have done in the land.

The pastor and his band returned to the city that had refused to help them. The people there looked amazed at the symbols that had fallen from the walls and furniture of the buildings.  The Christians and church goers of the city admitted they had been wrong and asked God and the pastor to forgive them. They turned to the Lord with fresh enthusiasm, many were saved and many more healed of their infirmities.

Then Christians across the land, realising that the powers of evil were overthrown and weak, went out and about declaring the goodness of God to all who would listen.  Many repented of their sins and were baptised. The sick were healed, the blind received sight, the lame walked, the deaf got their hearing back and wham bam, the dead were raised.

The land enjoyed peace again and the Christian heritage that had been lost was restored to them.  Christians were sent to the nations to bring the Gospel, healing and peace.  Many turned to the Lord and great was the revival in the nation.

21st century Gideon: an allegory. Part 3

Now the Houses of Parliament were not far from where the 300 Christians had gathered.  During the evening the Lord told the pastor to go to the Houses of Parliament and he would hear something to encourage him and help him overcome his fear.

Now the people in Parliament had become strong in opposing God and his ways, aided by the forces of evil which had congregated there in great numbers. They continued to pass laws that were opposed to the will of God and which were very bad for the land.  The pastor arrived in the Central Lobby just as a man was telling his friend his dream. The pastor overheard their conversation.

‘I had a dream that a huge fireball hit the middle of the chamber of the lower House of Parliament scattering us all and setting fire to the building.’

His friend who was a wise man responded, ‘That sounds like God is going to bring judgement on this house for all the wicked laws we have passed and all the evil things that have happened here.  We have not listened to Him. The Christians are going to get victory in this place.  The hand of the Lord is with them.’ 

When the pastor heard this, he went away rejoicing and praising God.  He returned to the 300 and said, ‘Get up.  God is giving the powers of darkness that rule over this land into our hands.’

So they got up and went to the Houses of Parliament. The pastor divided his 300 people into four groups, each with a candle in a jam jar, a piece of cloth soaked in paraffin and the word of God in their hands.  He gave each group some proclamations to declare. 

The groups went and surrounded the Houses of Parliament.  One group went up onto Westminster Bridge and surrounded the Clock Tower called Big Ben.  One group went along side the railings by Westminster Hall and another went and surrounded the far end of the building.  Finally one group was given permission to go into Old Palace Yard because they said they were Christians come to pray for the government. The police did not think they would cause much trouble as it was evening time and although there was an important debate going on, they reckoned they were only Christians and what trouble could they cause?

At a prearranged time, the pastor sent a simultaneous message to all 300 mobile phones. There was a ringing and bleeping and musical tones which was very unnerving for the police and any unfortunate person in the vicinity.  This was nothing compared to the noise that erupted at that moment.  Everyone of the 300 shouted at the top of their voices ‘For the Lord Jesus Christ and Britain.’  They put their paraffin soaked cloths into the jam jars and smashed the jam jars on the ground and caused hundreds of small fires.  They then, with one loud voice, proclaimed the goodness of God and his justice and righteousness in the land.   

Everyone in the debating chambers was terrified, believing the House of Parliament to be under attack. They shouted for the security guards to come to protect them.  They rushed into the chamber and assured the house that it was only Christians causing a commotion and those in Old Palace Yard were ejected by the police.

Then the Member of Parliament who had had the dream asked to tell it to the House. He told them about the fireball hitting the chamber and how he felt it was the judgement of God for all the evil laws they had passed.  The members of Parliament were frightened and their eyes opened to the possibility that they had offended God with their wicked ways and passing of godless laws.  They fell on their knees in repentance and asked the chaplain to pray for them all.

Meanwhile the powers of evil that ruled over Parliament were terrified at the Christian commotion. They turned on one another believing an even bigger demonic hoard was attacking them.  They put each other to the sword and those that were left fled to go to their home place or to find somewhere quieter to inhabit and possess.

The Christians meanwhile turned their proclamations into intercession for God to be merciful to their government and to the people of the land.  

21st century Gideon: an allegory Part 2

Then the angel of the Lord came to a small church and said to the pastor, ‘The Lord is with you mighty warrior.’

And the pastor said, ‘If the Lord is with us why are such wicked things happening in our land.  Did we not have mighty outpourings and revivals in the past but now God has forgotten us and gone to Africa, Asia and Argentina.’   

And the angel of the Lord turned to the pastor and said, ‘Go in the strength of the Lord and take back Britain from the enemies’ hands.’

‘But Lord,’ the pastor of the small church said, ‘how can we save Britain?  We are too small and weak.  No one listens to us anymore.’

The Lord answered, ‘I will be with you and you will overturn all the works of the evil one.’ 

The pastor said, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it really is you.  Please raise someone from the dead as a sign of new life in your church and this land?’

So they went and found the body of one of the congregation who had recently died and brought it to the Lord. 

The Lord said, ‘Worship me and do not look upon the dead woman.’ 

So they looked at the Lord and praised and worshipped Him.  Whilst their eyes were focussed on the Lord, he stretched forth his staff, touched the dead woman and life returned to her body.  The people praised and worshipped the Lord with renewed faith and energy, confident that the Lord could do anything, even deliver Britain from the hand of the enemy and bring new life to the church and land.

That night the Lord said to the pastor, ‘Go into the centre of the city, to the main square and there make a bonfire of all the things the people worship.  So the pastor led  his church into the city centre. There they made a bonfire of televisions, DVD’s, CD’s, computer games, magazines, books, posters, football scarves and programmes, even computers, laptops and tablets. 

Then in the morning, the people said, ‘Who made this awful mess and has burned this pile of stuff?’ 

They investigated and found it was the pastor and his small church.  So they went and beat on the doors of the church and said, ‘Bring out your pastor.  We want to sort him out for burning all the things we hold dear and are important to us.’

The elders came out and said to the crowd, ‘What are you getting so worked up about?  If all these things are so important and marvellous, surely they will survive?  Let them contend for themselves and then we will see who is the greatest, these feeble things or God Almighty?’

The pastor sent around to all the churches in the city and surrounding area to gather in the local football stadium.  Then he said to the Lord, ‘If you will save Britain by my hand, please cause all the seats in the stadium to be wet but the grass dry.’  And that is what happened.  Every seat was soaking wet but the ground dry.    

Then the pastor said to the Lord, ‘Do not be angry with me.  Let me ask you one more thing.  Let the grass in the stadium be wet but all the seats dry.’  That night God did so. All the seats were dry but the grass wet.’

Early in the morning with all the people from all the churches gathered in the football stadium. The Lord said to the pastor, ‘You have too many people for me to deliver this nation from the powers of darkness into your hands. I don’t want you boasting that it was your prayers and your ideas that delivered Britain but the hand of the Lord. Tell the people that anyone who feels frightened and intimidated by the mission, or who really doesn’t think this is their thing may go home.’

So two thirds of the people went home.  But the Lord said to the pastor, ‘There are still too many.  I will separate them.  Let all those who have brought their Bibles stay but all who did not bring the Word of the Lord go home.’

So the pastor went amongst the people separating those that honoured the Word of the Lord from the rest.  Three hundred had a Bible and the Lord told the pastor he would use these people to save Britain.