The praying church

Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labour. Jeremiah 22: 13

‘Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord.   ‘But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.’ Jeremiah 22: 16 - 17

When we returned to South Africa last month, there was a definite feeling that things had got worse in the nation. I was always quite optimistic about South Africa believing that the relatively smooth transition to black majority rule between 1990 and 1994 was an indicator that South Africa would not go the way of so many African countries.  Now it feels like there is an inexorable slide towards ever increasing violence, strikes such as those in the mining sector, racism and corruption.  The ANC seems to have little regard for the welfare of the people especially the poor.  Social unrest with violence has flared up everywhere, even in the relatively peaceful Western Cape which is not governed by ANC. 

The reason can perhaps be found in the fact that in January to celebrate 100 years of ANC, the party dedicated the nation to their ancestors. Now Christians from all over the country are rising up in prayer and repentance to God. Last Saturday Christians from all denominations were invited to a prayer meeting in the centre of Cape Town to dedicate the Western Cape to the Lord. There are other prayer initiatives all over the country culminating in a national prayer meeting on December 2^nd in Pretoria. As the organisers say, ‘2012 began with the ANC dedicating the nation to its ancestors. May this year end with millions of Christians calling out to God in repentance & prayer to forgive our sins and heal our nation.’

The Bible makes it clear that God is greatly concerned about injustice, oppression, unrighteousness and society’s attitude towards the weak and disadvantaged.  God does not want us taking advantage of others but wants society to look after the poor, needy and those unable to look after themselves. The church is called to lead the way.  All nations have the disadvantaged and there is injustice and unrighteousness in even the most sophisticated democracies. Family breakdown, divorce, abortion, greed, selfishness, corruption and so on are apparent everywhere not just in the less developed nations.

Only God can turn a nation around and the church is the answer to any nation’s needs – not the government and politicians.  Self interest and the need to be re-elected always seems to turn even the best politicians and parties from the path of selfless service to the nation.  The church however is called to serve the nation in which it is placed.  Christians are called to pray for their leaders and bless them unto righteousness.  Prayer is the weapon by which we wage war against unrighteousness, extortion, injustice, corruption, greed and selfishness.

Our nations are facing huge problems at this time and they desperately need a praying church. The people especially the weak and poor need righteous leaders supported in prayer by the church to help them. Our leaders need wisdom, knowledge and insight to solve some of the huge problems they are facing and these will come through a praying church.

 Let us rise up in prayer that God’s Kingdom will come on earth in our nations as it is in heaven. 

 

Stand firm against the enemy

The following blog in no way condones the Anglo / Zulu war nor supports either side. It is merely used as an example of how we must fight our enemy.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world … Ephesians 6: 12

Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand Ephesians 6: 13

I have just visited the site of the battle of Rorke’s Drift fought in South Africa between the Zulus and British in 1879. It was made famous by the film Zulu starring Michael Caine. A small band of British soldiers fought against a large number of Zulus and won mainly because of two mistakes made by the inexperienced Zulus.  The British fought bravely and 11 Victorian Crosses, the highest military honour, were awarded that day. As the British started to face the Zulus, realising they were heavily outnumbered, the clergyman Reverend George Smith allegedly said to them, ‘Fire straight men and the Lord will do the rest.’

The well known verses above from Ephesians tell us how to fight our enemy. Paul first all reminds us who the enemy is and he exhorts us to put on our armour. Then three times he tells us to stand.  We know from James 4: 7 that we must resist the devil and he will flee from us. I Peter 5:9 tells us to resist the devil and stand firm in the faith. We cannot resist him by lying down and giving in nor by running away. Some men at Rorke’s Drift wanted to run away but were firmly told that way was a certain defeat. They must stand and fight – so must we.

The devil is a defeated enemy but he is not lying down yet. He will do all he can to drive division and discord between the brethren. We in turn must recognise his lies and deception, stand firm and fight back.  

Paul tells us we have both armour and weapons. The armour represents wearing both what Christ has done for us and our character and integrity.  The best way to fight darkness is with light. We are told to’ live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth)’ Ephesians 5: 8 – 9. Light always overcomes darkness. If we live in righteousness and truth bearing the fruit of the spirit the devil does not have a foothold into our lives.

We have a shield of faith which we can put up to extinguish the enemy’s lies and most important we have the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This is the most powerful weapon there is. By declaring the truth of God’s Word it exposes the lies. The light of truth overcomes the darkness of lies, discouragement, disappointment and depression.

Too often Christians let the devil walk all over them accepting his sickness, poverty, marriage and family difficulties instead of fighting back with the Word of God and standing in faith that what God says  is true.  We must wear our armour with confidence, put up our shields of faith and declare God’s word as a sharp sword over the works of the enemy in our lives, homes and families. Finally having done everything we must stand.

Stand firm, declare the Word and the Lord will do the rest.

 

Dealing with cynicism

Live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.  Ephesians 5: 8 – 10

From Ephesians 4: 17, through chapter 5 to chapter 6: 9, Paul urges the Ephesians into Godly living. His teaching is very specific, comprehensive and practical and is a wonderful if rather challenging exhortation of how to live. Only some of Jesus’ teaching is even more challenging.

Ephesus was a major centre of commerce with flourishing temple worship to the Roman goddess Diana so the Christians in Ephesus had a lot to contend with. This must be why Paul gave them so much advice on how to live right in the midst of idolatry and a Godless society.  The problems we face in our societies today may not have much to do with worshipping Diana but the challenges are just as real and difficult for the modern day Christian. We too must live as children of the light in our Godless societies and it can be very hard.

In UK one of the major obstacles to Godly living, very prevalent in society is cynicism. Cynicism is ‘an inclination to question whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile.’ Cynicism’s first cousin is scepticism which doubts the truth of something. Cynics tend to look down on the kind of advice Paul gave the Ephesians with a certain amount of derision. People feel it is not worthwhile to live the sort of life Paul was talking about in today’s culture; there is nothing in it for them. Cynics doubt people’s motives so if Christians are kind, loving, generous, merciful and so on cynics are sceptical about why they are doing it. 

Cynicism though is also prevalent in the church and people extravagant in worship or giving or who are enthusiastic about God and his love are viewed very cautiously and as ‘over the top.’ The same love, kindness, grace and mercy are viewed suspiciously as ‘too good to be true’ but that is exactly what God is – too good, kind, generous, loving, and merciful to be true except it is true!

Cynicism and scepticism like unbelief need to be rooted out of our lives. Cynics find it very hard to trust God and to believe that he wants good things for his children because for a cynic there is always an ulterior motive – God must want something so what is this going to cost me and so doubt clouds their minds. However we know the full price for salvation, forgiveness and a life of love was paid by Jesus on the cross and all we need is to walk by faith – hard if you are a sceptic.

The solution is to put out arms of love and trust to God, declaring and believing that what he has said is true and so silence cynicism and scepticism with words of life and faith.

Pleasing God

Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11: 6

I want to please God.  However this is not because I am fearful of displeasing Him. I’m not. If we are worried about displeasing God, it is usually because we fear punishment when we get things wrong but God is not going to punish us even if we are disobedient.  All the punishment for our sin was taken by Jesus on the cross. We do not have to fear it any longer. 

For sure - disobedience hampers our relationship with God but it does not terminate it even temporarily.  God does not want us to walk in sin and he will do all he can to help us repent and ask for forgiveness but not because he is waiting to punish us but because sin is harmful to us and our relationship with him.

Despite all their shortcomings, the only time Jesus even rebuked the disciples was after he had risen from the dead and then it was ‘for their lack of faith and stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen’ (Mark 16: 14). The next reported words though were ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’ In order for them to do this effectively they needed to believe that he had risen from the dead. Their unbelief was stopping this happening.

Unbelief is the greatest hindrance to a powerful, effective Kingdom life because it robs us of faith.  Faith pleases God so to walk with God by faith, we must let God do whatever is necessary to root out unbelief in our lives. 

 Unbelief makes God measure up to our experience and understanding.  If I can reason and understand all that God is doing, he is very small indeed. I am resolved that I will not let my Christian life depend on my experience but on what the Word of God says. If my experience does not measure up then it has to change not the Word of God. If I pray for the sick and they are not healed, then I must persevere till they are, not give up.

Years ago we were not seeing the breakthrough in our finances that we believed the Word of God promises us. We took our wallets, cheque book, cards, bank statements and prayed over them breaking the hold of lack, insufficiency and debt in our lives and calling forth the promised blessings of God. There was not an instantaneous break through but there was a change and we gradually started to prosper. We made our experience line up with the Word of God not vice versa.

I know I have hardly started to experience even a tiny fraction of some of the things in the Bible but I must persevere till I do. I must resist the temptation to give up when it becomes hard and instead carry on till I get the victory. 

I want to please God and so I must walk by faith.

Grace to be gracious

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need Hebrews 4: 16.

Grace means we do not get what we deserve.  We do not deserve God’s love yet by his love and grace he brought us salvation from the wages of sin which is death. Instead of the death we deserved, we were given the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. That in itself is amazing but God continues to pour out grace upon us in our continuing weakness and sin. The verse above assures us of that.  The power of sin has been broken in our lives once we have accepted Jesus’ salvation but we still battle sin in the ongoing work of sanctification. Grace is given to help us in our weaknesses and to get victory over sin. Grace gives us the second and third chance that we do not deserve.

The problem though is that whilst God continues to show us grace, we have great difficulty showing that same grace to others. Have you ever wanted to sort out someone else’s life and sin? Have you ever wanted God to give them what their sin deserved especially if they have hurt you? Have you ever felt they were ‘lucky’ not to get what you felt they deserved?  This is where God wants us to extend the same grace to others that he has given us.  Forgiveness is the greatest expression of grace; God’s forgiveness to us and our forgiveness to others.

Jesus is ‘full of grace and truth’ John 1: 14 and always showed grace to sinners. The only people Jesus got angry with were the religious leaders who were full of unbelief and stubbornly refused to acknowledge the Messiah in their midst. Sinners such as Zacchaeus, the woman caught in adultery, the man whose friends let him down through the roof of the house, prostitutes and tax gathers were all treated with grace and turned from their sin. They were not treated as the Law demanded but with grace and love and consequently they had their sins forgiven, much to the disgust of the religious leaders. They didn’t deserve forgiveness but by grace they got it.   

We too were treated with grace when Jesus reached down to us in love and forgave us our sins. We need to ask God to help us to deal with people in grace just as Jesus does. The world is full of sinners who do not need to be told what they are – they know that – what they need is people filled with the love of God and grace to take them by the hand and bring them to Jesus where they will find the love and mercy they need. People do not need our condemnation and criticism no matter what a mess they have made of their lives. We have been shown grace – let us go and show that same grace to others.

Grace in our strengths

For it is by grace you have been saved.  Ephesians 2: 8

I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 3: 8

We are all very familiar with the fact that we are saved by grace; there is nothing we can do to save ourselves – it is all the work of God and we rejoice in this. However grace is so much more than the key to our salvation which unlocks the door to eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Grace not only saves us but enables us to ‘do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do’ Ephesians 2: 10.  I think there can be a tendency to do the things we are good at in our own strength and then ask for God’s grace to help us in our weaknesses. We know when Paul was battling with his ‘thorn in the flesh’ he found that ‘God’s grace was sufficient for him, for God’s power is made perfect in weakness’ II Cor 12: 9.  However I also believe we need God’s grace to help us in our strengths.

Paul makes plain that he was a great Jew before his conversion and was faultless in legalistic righteousness (Philippians 3: 6).  He knew the law and he persecuted anyone who didn’t keep the law especially these new followers of the Way.  There was no grace! When Jesus met with Paul on the road to Damascus, he didn’t just save him by grace but he used him to write and preach such profound truths that Christians today are still poring over the Scriptures trying to fully understand the revelation that Jesus gave him. The Scriptures were his area of strength before his salvation, yet God’s grace touched this and transformed it into something that Paul could never have attained in his own strength and studies.

God has prepared wonderful works for us to do but we need his grace to touch our lives and transform them in order to do these works for his glory.  Many Christians I know who are used greatly by the Lord, just wonder at what he does through them. They say things such as, ‘I just and stand and watch what God is doing and am amazed.’ It is not false modesty but a genuine sense of wonder that God uses them even in their strengths and the result is something far greater than anything they could do. Their participation is vital but the outcome is divine.

God’s grace is waiting to touch and transform both our strengths and weaknesses so we may bear great fruit for his glory. Ask God to touch those areas of your life which are your strong points and be amazed at what God will do through you – so much more than you can ask or imagine.

Seated in heavenly places

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2: 4 – 6.

I always wondered how we could be living here on the earth but at the same time be seated in the heavenly realms with Christ. It just didn’t make sense. If we look at the preceding verses of chapter 2 it says that we were all dead in our sins, cravings and lusts with no hope of release till God came along and because of his great love, he rescued us.  It was the work of grace; there was nothing we could do to help ourselves or gain any measure of favour with God.

Yet God feels so mercifully towards us that he was prepared to take us sinners, dead in our sins and make us alive in Christ Jesus. We literally have new life, now and forever.  This though is where the puzzling verses come in. Not only have we been made alive and resurrected from death to life but we have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. The last few verses of chapter 1 explain that when Jesus was raised from the dead by the awesome power of God, every power, ruler and authority now and in the future was put under his feet.  He has complete authority over every principality and power and he is seated in the heavenly realms exercising that authority.

God has placed our spirits next to Christ in that place of authority. Our bodies may be busy going about our daily lives on earth but our spirits are seated, not anxious, fretting and worrying but at peace and rest knowing they are seated next to the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. This means we have access to that same authority over every situation in our lives; sickness, poverty, insufficiency, oppression, unemployment, family worries and everything we have need of  is gained because we are sitting next to Jesus.

If you are feeling anxious and worried about life, let the truth that whilst you may be here on earth, your spirit is seated and at rest next to the one who has all authority over everything, now and in the future. His love is for you, his grace has paid the price and lifted you from death to life and now the authority of Jesus over every situation and circumstance is just a whisper away. Lean close to him and hear his loving voice and trust him to bring hope, peace and rest to you right now.

 

Our future inheritance

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.  Ephesians 1: 13 – 14

These are more wonderful verses from Ephesians chapter 1 which are worth a longer look.  I was surprised how often Paul spoke in his letters about the Holy Spirit being a seal, a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. I quickly found 3 other references using almost exactly the same.  This is an important truth that Paul wanted the early church to hear. 

Paul assures us that having believed in the word of truth, our salvation, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. The seal denotes ownership not in a slave and master way but in a loving Lord looking after his own.   The Holy Spirit was also given us a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Now we know that an inheritance is something we receive when someone dies and it is usually something very nice. When my father died I received an inheritance from him which was certainly a great blessing.  

A deposit is a down pavement on something so the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. So what is our inheritance that we have received down payment for? The Bible refers to it as the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 25:34) or kingdom of God (James 2:5) or kingdom of light (Colossians 1: 12).   When we are born again we are able to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3) and we have in some measure access to the kingdom but because of our fallen world it is only a measure.

When we die, we inherit full access to the kingdom and full rights as co-heirs with Christ of that kingdom (Romans 8: 17).  What is more our bodies will be transformed, glorified so we are completely like Jesus (Philippians 3: 21). That is some inheritance!! 

Now that is probably enough theology for one day as I am struggling to get my head around these wonderful promises. However I know that as we let these truths of our future inheritance sink into our spirits; truths that Paul was so keen to try and help the early church understand, it will transform the way we think about life here and now. The more we realise what a wonderful future we have both in this life and the next, the more it will stop us living just for now. It should help us build for a glorious tomorrow while at the same time making the most of every moment and opportunity today.  

Adopted into the family

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1: 3 – 6

These first few verses of Ephesians are just so rich and give us a wonderful insight into all that God has done to redeem his loved ones and make them his own.  Every sentence is full of wonderful promises; he has blessed us, chosen us to be holy and blameless, he has predestined us, adopted us to sonship because he loves us and this is his pleasure and will. It has all been freely given to us through Jesus.

God has taken people living in the gutter of sin, often completely unaware of their real plight and the desperateness of their situation and lifted them out to become his sons and daughters and be adopted into his family. Jesus was God’s son by nature but we are God’s children by adoption. Nevertheless we still have all the privileges of natural sons and daughters of God as well as full inheritance rights.

Adopted children are not second best – they have been adopted so that those who had no choice or chance before could now be treated just as if they were natural sons and daughters and born into the family. In the natural that is marvellous enough. I am sure we all know of children who have been born with little or no chance in life, who have been adopted into families where they have been treated just as if they had been born into that family. They have been given a chance they could do nothing to earn or deserve. It is even more wonderful in the spiritual realm.

We were dead in our sins, destined for a life in eternity separated from God forever and with no hope of being able to do anything about it ourselves. We may have even not been aware of our situation but God, because of his rich love for us, did all that was necessary to rescue us. What a wonderful God!  He took us and made us his own with all that implies. All those spiritual blessings are ours. 

Perhaps we need to start to realise just how much God loves us. This was a marvellous, carefully thought out plan.  God knew all about us but he did not reject us, instead he predestined us which means he had a destiny for us before we were even on the scene to love us, save us and bring us into his family. The cost for God was high – very high – because it cost him the life of his natural son, Jesus, on the cross. I do not think any of us really have any idea what Jesus had to go through to gain our redemption. However I am just so thankful that he did so that today I know I am part of God’s family – holy, loved, righteous and all given not because of anything I had to offer but through his glorious grace which he has freely given us.

Words just cannot express our thanksgiving but we are surely oh so grateful.

Every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ Jesus

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1: 3 – 6

What a wonderful declaration these verses are. God our Father has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. Just stop and consider for a moment what that means. Everything that God has can be yours. All the resources of heaven are freely available to the believing Christian through faith and what is more God wants to use us to bless the world.

The way we access these wonderful blessings is by faith. Faith is the hand that reaches into the heavenly realms and lays hold of the blessings of God for ourselves and others. Faith says ‘God is good’ and then acts on it. Faith refuses to believe that God sends bad things.

It can take perseverance to access his provision but sometimes our persistent asking is hiding a lack of faith. We go on asking yet never receive because we do not really believe we can have what we are asking God for.  How sad when Christians doubt if God wants to heal them or provide for them or when past disappointments, apparent lack of answers to their prayers or a sense of unworthiness hinders them. However instead we must let the word of God decide our actions and not our previous experiences which means we must persevere even when there is no evidence, believing our prayers are making a difference.

There must come a time when we unequivocally settle in our hearts that God wants to bless us.  Too often Christians are just not sure of God’s love for them but it is not to do with who we are but who he is. His very nature is to bless and to give freely; that is the God who has called us into his family. We don’t deserve anything but instead his grace which he has freely given us (verse 6) blesses us with all we could ever need or desire. However he also wants to use us to bless others.  If there are those around us who need God’s love, healing, deliverance, protection, peace, provision, guidance or anything else, we can be the ones to open the doors of heaven into their lives so they can know that God really does love them.

It is so good to offer to pray for people and with faith filled prayers, confident in our wonderful Father, we can see him bless the lives of others. Faith opens the doors of heaven so we can reach in and take hold of God’s blessings for ourselves but so much more we can connect others with God’s abundant provision.

 

Living in the joy of God's truth

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1: 3 – 6

There are times when words are just not enough to explain the wonder of the things that God has done for us.  These amazing verses which Paul wrote to the Ephesians just cannot really do justice to the enormity of God’s incredible love for us. We need the wonderful revelation from God’s Holy Spirit to bring these words of God’s love to life.

Too often we get through life believing all sorts of things about God and ourselves that are just not true and these lies consistently rob us of the joy that God wants us to live in. Too often when things go wrong or God does not seem as close as he did on another occasion, our first thought can be that we have done something wrong and God is cross with us or something else that is just not true.  We then spend far too much time apologising, repenting and feeling sorry for ourselves but instead II Corinthians 10: 5 tells us to ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’. We must capture these lies and force them into obedience to Christ. God wants us to live in the joy of the truth and not in the doubt and insecurity of lies and ungodly beliefs.

The truth is that God loves us so much that before the creation of the world he chose us. Yes he chose you – stop and consider that truth for a minute. Why did he choose us? Well it certainly wasn’t because of the wonderful people we were or anything we had or could do but because he loves us. He knows all about us and yet he loves us. Even if we get things wrong he still isn’t cross with us as we may be with our children. He doesn’t deal with us that way. Instead he takes us gently by the hand and asks us to look in the mirror and see the sin. All we have to do is repent and ask God’s forgiveness and the wonderful relationship between us and God that he chose us for is restored. Do not believe the lies; he disciplines those he loves (Proverbs 3: 12) in order to renew and strengthen our close personal relationship with him.

My prayer is that God will increasingly reveal to each one of us just how much God loves us and that these words of life will become so real to us that the truth will shine like a beacon of hope completely eclipsing the lies of the enemy that he has sown in our hearts. May the truth cause the lies to wither and die and be a source of increasing encouragement and joy on the path of life.

Psalm 13

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me? Psalm 13: 1 - 2

It is one of the hard facts of the Christian faith that it is the difficult times that produce the greatest fruit in our lives, if we make the most of them. That of course is the dilemma because it is the hard times that are most difficult to make anything out of.  All of our good intentions fly out of the window and every truth that we believe about God and our lives as Christians is tested to the limit in our trials.

A year ago our youngest son, who had been living in America for a year, was getting ready to be married to a very nice American girl in USA and two weeks before the event everything went wrong.  Our daughter in law was having great difficulty getting a British visa and to add to the difficulty the dog chewed her passport making it unacceptable to be used at all. The delay caused by getting a new passport meant she would have no passport to go with on honeymoon. They had spent a lot of money on the honeymoon, applying for a visa and now she needed a new passport as well.

In addition to all this, Hurricane Irene blew up the north east coast on USA wrecking the park they were going to use for the picnic that they had planned for their reception. They had no visa, no passport and it looked like no reception venue and no honeymoon. Everything was awful – it was no one’s fault but why had God allowed it? They were two lovely Christian young people who had been faithful to God and now on the biggest day of their life so far everything had gone pear shaped. Why hadn’t God intervened?  It just wasn’t fair!

They were upset and all parents on both sides of the Atlantic were upset and personally I found it very hard talking to a devastated son who was thousands of miles away. I felt really down and moaned and moaned to God. My attitude was not good but at least I was talking to the only person who could actually do anything about the situation. Two days later I felt so low and quite ‘by chance’ I listened to a song called Psalm 13 by one of the Vineyard bands. The lyrics touched me deeply as they spoke right into the situation. I read the psalm and the last two verses were ‘But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me’ Psalm 13: 5 – 6. The light bulbs came on and with no evidence to support it I declared that I will trust in God’s unfailing love – why?  Because the Lord has been good to me.

I may have been squeezed till I almost screamed but I could never deny that God had been good to me so I could trust him despite all the evidence to the contrary. I knew all would be well. On the other side of the Atlantic my son’s future mother-in-law was urging them to trust God. Within a week all the situations had been turned around; the sun shone on the wedding day, another reception venue had been found for the picnic, our daughter in law got two passports – one for the honeymoon and one for the visa - and two days after the wedding her British visa was granted.

God is good and utterly reliable and trustworthy despite the circumstances and we will never discover this for ourselves till we have had this truth tested in the fires of adversity. I now KNOW I can rely on God because he has been good to me and even in the midst of difficulties God is still good to me and all his children.

Do not fear the fires of afflictions but ask God to help you walk through them with integrity and honesty, praising and worshipping our Creator who is good and wonderful no matter how hard the road we are walking on. You will bear increasing fruit as you trust him because you will know for yourself the truth of God’s goodness and faithfulness even in the midst of adversity. Cross references:

1. Psalm 13:1 : Ps 6:3
2. Psalm 13:1 : Ps 42:9; La 5:20
3. Psalm 13:1 : S Dt 31:17; S Ps 22:24; S Isa 8:17; S 54:9
4. Psalm 13:2 : Ps 42:4; 55:2; 139:23; Isa 33:18; Da 7:28
5. Psalm 13:2 : Ps 94:3
6. Psalm 13:3 : Ps 9:12; 25:18; 31:7; 35:23; 59:4; 80:14; 107:41; 119:50, 153
7. Psalm 13:3 : S Ps 4:1
8. Psalm 13:3 : S Ezr 9:8
9. Psalm 13:3 : Ps 76:5; 90:5; Jer 51:39
10. Psalm 13:4 : S 1Ki 19:2; Ps 25:2
11. Psalm 13:4 : Ps 38:16; 118:13
12. Psalm 13:5 : S Ps 6:4
13. Psalm 13:5 : S Job 33:26; Ps 9:14; Isa 25:9; 33:2
14. Psalm 13:6 : S Ex 15:1; Ps 7:17

 

Persevering to victory

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19: 29

I was reading something that Joyce Meyer wrote about the difficulties she experienced in the early days of her ministry and how glad she is that she persevered and did not give up. I think we would all say ‘Amen’ to that as the Church would be a poorer place without her ministry and practical encouragement to us all.

The Scripture she quoted was the one above and I remember how relevant that was in our early Christian walk.  God called us to leave the church we were going to and join a new church where we knew hardly anyone. I remember grumbling and complaining to God about this and why was it all so hard and God reminded me of this verse.

Nearly 30 years later I can smile as it all seems so silly now. The things that were so hard then are not hard now and God has been so faithful because as we have faced harder and harder trials somehow things have got easier and easier which sounds so unlikely. However as I think about it with each and every trial that we face we have to draw closer to God and depend on him more and more. As we do that it makes the whole of our life easier because of the greater dependence and trust we have built into our lives.

However the converse is also true.  Imagine Joyce Meyer had given up when things were so hard or imagine we had not been obedient to God and stayed at the church where it was all so much easier. Today we would not have the blessing of Joyce’s ministry and we might still be living compromised lives in the church we were going to having things easy but unfulfilling at one level but not knowing the joy and satisfaction of having pushed through to greater heights in our walk with God.

I marvel that any of us have survived some of the spiritual lows and difficulties that God has taken us through but it is so true that there is nothing we go through where God is not with us every step of the way, holding our hands, encouraging and strengthening us and whispering to us all the time, ‘Don’t give up.’  Jesus showed us that the Christian life may not be easy but it is always worth it. If Jesus could ‘for the joy 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 we too can endure our difficulties so we too rise triumphant to greater glories for him.

Be strengthened if you are facing trials and difficulties and remember it is worth it and if you are in an easier time, thank God and rejoice in his faithfulness and love.