The unity of the Spirit

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4: 1 – 6

When Paul wrote these words to the church at Ephesus it was in the context of unity in the church between Jew and Gentile.  He was showing them how to live in the unity that God was calling them to.

Never have these words been more appropriate recently than in the UK where the country appears to be tearing itself apart over Brexit.  

Within the Church there are as many different opinions over Brexit as outside and no matter how much we believe we have heard from God, our attitude to those who may differ is vital. Having a condescending, superior, patronising attitude to those we disagree with will only reinforce divisions but the Church is called to live and work in unity. The Church in the land needs to model and show a different way and not join in the highly opinionated, wholesale anger and frustration that is so evident.

God has an incredible plan and purpose for the UK but it involves bringing his Kingdom and his will into the land. Brexit is part of that process but not the destination. The Church has a great calling to rise above the divisions and dissent and focus on the Lord and his designs. 

I don’t think any part of the Body of Christ does not earnestly desire God to move in sovereign power and bring revival to our land. All of us want to see loved ones saved. All of us, I am sure, long for God to breakthrough with miracle working power to bring healing, restoration and reconciliation but for our nation to benefit from this, it requires the Church to arise in unity; to deal with jealousy, personal and selfish ambition, to show love and grace to those we disagree with. The Brexit process is a great learning experience. 

Paul shows us the way. First we must be humble and gentle. That is a million miles away from the worldly sense of entitlement especially to personal opinion that is so prevalent. Being humble means considering others before ourselves, listening calmly even to things we would never agree with and not shoving our opinions, no matter how Biblical, down the throats of others even if they are trying to do this to us.  

Secondly we must be patient, a quality most of us struggle with. We want things now, we want our opinion heard and we get frustrated when others do not see the sense in what we are saying. The key here is prayer. God can change opinions, even our own, in a microsecond with his divine revelation. Asking God to intervene, to show us where we may be in the wrong and to grant us patience with others of different opinions, will achieve far more than half an hour’s carefully crafted argument, let alone ten minutes haranguing. This will help us bear with others in love.  

Finally Paul exhorts us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.This excludes loud arguments, flouncing, huffing and puffing and nasty looks. Instead we must focus our eyes on Jesus, looking to him to and trusting him to work out his plans and purposes for our lives, for the Church and for the nation. 

As the Body of Christ, we have a high calling to pray and bring in God’s Kingdom and will for our nation. But this will only be achieved as we model unity in the Church to the nations.

Father, I pray that you would show us the way of unity, to love those we disagree with and to be one, even as you are one. Forgive us for our jealousies and pride that drive divisions into your body and the nation and help us look to you who loves us all. We declare you have a high calling on United Kingdom. Show us how to participate through prayer and attitude in your plans. In Jesus Name, Amen.

The inspiration of Simeon and Anna

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord Luke 2: 22 

Jesus had been born in Bethlehem as prophesied and eight days later Mary and Joseph went the five miles to the temple in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice in keeping with the Law of Moses. 

In the temple they met a pair of elderly, devout people who had been waiting patiently for the Messiah. Simeon was a devout man waiting for ‘the consolation of Israel’ - the Messiah and he had been promised that he would see him before he died. He rejoiced that this day had come and very accurately prophesied to Mary that ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’  I wonder if Mary remembered that as she watched the horror of her own beloved son being beaten and crucified. 

Mary and Joseph marvelled at what was said but more was to come. The very elderly Anna, a lady whose life was devoted to prayer and fasting also came up ‘at that moment’ and told anyone who would listen that this child was the Messiah (the redemption of Jerusalem). 

I love the patient faithfulness of these two elderly people, devoted to the Lord. They had not given up as the years passed by. They had not settled down to a passive, inactive, elderly lifestyle. They were as fervent in their faith as ever. The Bible is full of the very elderly being significantly used by God; Abraham, Moses, Gideon’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth. So often the elderly laid the foundation for the next generation to build on. 

Simeon and Anna are a source of inspiration for us. They had been waiting for years to see the fulfilment of their dreams, not just for themselves but for their nation. They hadn’t given up nor had they doubted and they were not disappointed. Their hope was placed firmly in God. 

Perhaps today you have been waiting for years to see the fulfilment of your dreams – the salvation of a loved one, a healing, a miracle or for revival and a great outpouring of God’s love and miracle working power in your church, community or nation. 

At the start of a new year, may we, like Simeon and Anna, not give up but with fresh faith believe again that God is working on our behalf, that he has heard and is answering our prayers.

‘And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not’ 

Galatians 6: 9 KJV

Growing to maturity

..until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13

Have you ever been with a baby who is yelling their head off trying to make you understand what they want?  You know exactly what they want and it may be what they need but at that particular moment you cannot, for very good reasons, give them what they are demanding. Today we were driving home with our granddaughter and she was hungry but we couldn’t stop; she would just have to wait till we got home. She couldn’t understand that and you could see in her eyes that she did not know why we were not responding to her very obvious demands. 

Sometimes we can be like this with God and we go on and on at him and he knows exactly what we want or even need but for very good reasons we cannot have it. I remember the story of a church in USA which was desperate to put an illuminated big red cross on the top of their church. They felt this was a great witness to the Lord in their area and they prayed and raised money and eventually after great difficulty they were able to put up their illuminated red cross. They felt they had overcome all difficulties and been victorious. The next day the local airport contacted them and demanded the cross be removed immediately as it was a serious hazard to aircraft taking off and landing at the airport. Sometimes there are very good reasons why we do not get what we want.

There are times for overcoming but there are also times when we need to stop and ask God if there is a reason why we are not getting what we want or even need. It takes maturity to wait or even to realise that not getting something can be better for us in the long term.  God is not playing games with us. He will tell us if we will not be getting what we are asking for or have to wait for it. His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:9). It all comes back to trusting God that he wants to give us good things but like all good parents his idea of good and ours may not be the same and his timing and ours may very often be different.

Today if you are waiting for something, stop going on and on at God. He knows. Instead start thanking him that he will provide everything you need and a lot of what you want but in his timing. You can trust him. His way really is perfect

Clothed with compassion

Jesus had sent the twelve disciples out on their first mission trip without him.  They came back full of excitement of all that they had seen and accomplished in Jesus name. Even the demons had fled!  Jesus invited them to come away with him to a quiet place for a de-brief and for some rest. 

As an aside - isn’t it interesting what value God places on rest? We place such value on work and achievements and little value on rest. But at the beginning God rested on the seventh day after the work of creation and this must be our model too.  We need to learn to take a proper rest and have a different day once a week to frame and shape our week.

So having taken the disciples away to a quiet place on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, who do they find when they get there?  The very crowd they were trying to get away from!  It is at this point that most of us would turn the boat around and try and find somewhere else and quickly.  Jesus though saw the crowd and ‘had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd’ Mark 6:34

Jesus' compassion at moments like this is truly amazing.  He and the disciples needed some down time, some rest but Jesus saw the greater need and his compassion rose.  It says in Matthew that he taught them and healed their sicknesses.  He saw their need – to be taught – but he also saw what they wanted and needed – to be healed.

What is even more amazing is that having taught the crowd and then healed their sick, he fed them.  The disciples requested that Jesus send them away to get food but Jesus instead fed them with the five loaves and two fish.  He had time for another miracle. No matter what was going on Jesus had time for those in need.

There are times when we feel we will never have even a gram of the compassion of Jesus. We feel just too selfish but God wants to work in our hearts and with his amazing love, win and woo us to better things than we could ever think or imagine. Let us pray for greater compassion for those people or situations that we find difficult or those we feel we have no time for. Let God’s compassion clothe us.

‘Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, let us clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’ Colossians 3: 12. Compassion is seen as a garment that we need to put on. It will cover our shortcomings and clothe us with the likeness of Jesus.  Let us encourage ourselves to ever greater depths and heights of compassion and let us have time for those in need.