Keep burning

Romans 12: 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord

Keeping our passion ablaze can be very difficult.  As I said in my previous blog “zeal needs a fuel” and the fuel is Jesus himself and our persistent pursuit of him.

Too often Christians look for a change of circumstances to keep their passion burning. Their thoughts might run along the lines of if only my husband / wife was a Christian it would be so much easier, if only I could change my job, house, car, school or even church I would regain my passion.  Some Christians go from conference to conference to keep their passion alight. 

But passion comes from the inside not our outward circumstances. We can be passionate people in the midst of the most mundane tasks when we get the revelation Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3: 23 – 24).

 In the day, I was a stay at home mother with four small children and there came a time when I resented this. Our church was hosting one ‘big name’ speaker after another and for various reasons I always seemed to be missing out at home.  One day I was having an almighty grumble to God about this and then very quietly I got the amazing revelation of how God viewed motherhood.  He told me motherhood is one of the highest callings a woman could have. (Please if you are single or cannot have children this does not mean you cannot live a fulfilling and satisfying life.) I thought of Mary, Elizabeth and all the nameless women in the Bible and down the years who had birthed and raised men and women of God. What an honour.

This changed my outlook on my life completely.  No longer was motherhood something to endure till I could get a ‘proper’ job but a God given calling. There were still many times in the midst of the domestic humdrum that I grumbled but now undergirding my life was a sense of purpose that sustained me through even the most tiresome of situations.

God also promised me that if we ever needed a babysitter he would provide and if I was unable to get to a meeting or conference because of childcare commitments, I would never miss out.  Immediately my heart was at peace and God has been utterly faithful to his promise.  My husband and I were even able to go to Uganda for two and a half weeks whilst a wonderful couple in the church took over our lives and children.  I can confidently assure you that 25 years later, I have never missed out on anything by looking after my children. Today it is my privilege to encourage other young ladies struggling with their calling to motherhood to stand firm against the voice of the world that says you can only find true fulfilment in going out to work.

As Simon Ponsonby writes our passion, our destiny and calling come from within not from our outward circumstances. The Westminster Catechism says, ‘Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever’. That does not come from our education, work, relationships or even church. It comes from our relationship with our heavenly Father where we can truly find satisfaction and fulfilment in even the most boring duties.

God has called us to a life of love with him and others. As we pursue him we find that our destiny is not in some mighty ministry or incredible career but in loving our family, the lost, the hurt, the rejected, those we find ourselves around every day. We are there to share God’s light and love with them and our part is to keep the light shining brightly through a passionate pursuit of the one who came as the Light of the World. 

Born to burn

Romans 12: 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord

The church was born on the day of Pentecost in fire. 

Acts 2: 1 – 4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Fire draws a crowd and the fire of God drew the crowd at Pentecost. It transformed a fisherman into an orator who preached with passion and conviction and 3000 were saved. It so inspired those early disciples that they revolutionised their world. They were prepared to die for the one who had died for them.

There are many references to fire in the Bible and most of them have to do with either the presence of God or his judgment.  As Simon Ponsonby wrote ‘If we will not embrace the fire of his love, we will experience it as the fire of his judgment.’

Moses met God at a burning bush – a place made holy by God’s presence so that Moses had to remove his shoes. I believe God placed a spark of his fire in Moses at that encounter that changed him from a timid shepherd into a man who could confront Pharaoh, one of the mightiest leaders of the known world. 

We read in Exodus 11 that after Moses had accosted Pharaoh for the final time ‘Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh’. What had happened to the timid shepherd? The fire of God had changed him.

Many of the rebellions against God and Moses in the desert were dealt with by fire from the golden calf (Exodus 32:20)  to Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16: 31 – 35).

God’s presence was revealed time and again with fire. Fire on Mount Sinai, the pillar of fire that led God’s people through the desert, Elijah and the prophets of Baal and the chariot of fire that took Elijah up to heaven. The sacrifice at the instigation of the priesthood was consumed by heavenly fire as was the sacrifice at the dedication of the temple.

In the New Testament John the Baptist promised that Jesus ‘will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire’ (Matthew 3:11). When Jesus returns it will be with ‘blazing fire’ (II Thessalonians 1: 7).  Our God after all is ‘a consuming fire’ (Deuteronomy 4: 24).

Paul inspires and exhorts us to be people of passion and fire – to keep our zeal alight and to blaze with spiritual fervour.  

Luke warm Christians have been the bane of the Church and never more so than in the Western church in the 21^st century where respectability and political correctness and God-help-us entertainment have infiltrated the ranks.

God is stirring up a fresh generation of radical, burning Christians. He wants believers who will be like John Wesley. ‘I felt ablaze with a desire to go the length and breadth of Wales to tell of the Saviour.’

I love the quote from W E Sangster when interviewing a nervous young man who said that he was not the type to set the Thames on fire replied, ‘I’m not interested to know if you could set the Thames on fire but if I was to pick you up by the scruff of the neck and drop you into the Thames, would it sizzle!”

God is looking for a generation of sizzling Christians whose lives have been burnt up on the altar of his love who are now ablaze with his presence. Zeal needs a fuel. The fuel is God’s presence, daily pursued by people not prepared to be half-hearted or lukewarm but devoted to their Lord and Saviour.

The giants of our day are not going to be overthrown by timid, fearful Christians but by burning Christians. That does not necessarily mean noisy and outspoken.  Quiet and passionate is powerful.

Let’s put some fuel on the fire of our lives and burn with God’s love that transforms our world.

Footnote: I am grateful to Simon Ponsonby and his book on Romans entitled God is for us. I have shamelessly taken the title of this blog from him.

Non conformity

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 2

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12: 2 The Message

It is a very sad fact that the difference between how Christians and non-Christians live their lives is minimal. George Barna conducted a survey in 2000 in USA that concluded there was very little difference in values, aspirations and use of time and money between evangelical Christians and non-Christians.  The former watched the same TV programmes, got divorced and committed adultery at the same rate as the rest of society. It caused uproar but it was in fact sad but true.

Paul understood this in writing to the Christians in Rome who were also battling with not conforming to their idolatrous and wicked world and culture. 

Ancient Rome

The Israelites were constantly conforming to the surrounding cultures with their pagan worship and became unfaithful to Yahweh.

Christians unfortunately too often merge like chameleons into the surrounding culture in order to be relevant and fit in but the Israelites then and Christians today are called to be distinct, radical, a city set on a hill.  We should stand out from the crowd – Jesus did. All the early apostles did and what our world desperately needs are Christians who are different.  Believers who love God and love people – not sanctimonious and self righteous – but people who know they are sinners but also know the grace and forgiveness of God, people who walk in the power of the Spirit and bring the love and presence of God wherever they go. People who God can use ‘to spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him … the fragrance of life’ (II Corinthians 2: 14 and 16).

It is so sad when churches and Christians want to look like the world. Bill Johnson believes the best of everything is still to be revealed – through the Church - the best music, art, books, films, television programmes and so on. The world needs to look at the Church and want what we have – a relationship with a creative, incredible God who has placed his creativity inside of each of us.

Paul also tells us how to achieve this. Offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Romans 12: 1. Every day we place our bodies, our thoughts, our actions, our work, our leisure time, our money, what we watch, listen to and read on his altar. We make each day his. After all

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies. I Corinthians 6: 19 – 20

El Greco's painting of Paul 

If we swim with the culture of the day, we will merge with it. If we swim counter culturally, we will make waves that may upset the religious and social leaders as the early church apostles did but no one could accuse them of merging. They stood out and as a result thousands were saved, healed and set free from bondages.

Lives lived for ourselves are very unsatisfying. Lives lived for God may not be easy but they will be fulfilling.  

In the midst of life there is death

In the midst of life there is death.

This week two of our friends died. It was rather sudden but at least we know where they have gone. We may be sad to be separated for a while but we know we will be reunited soon.

The disciples on that first Good Friday had no such assurance. Jesus had told them often

enough that he would be crucified and would be raised from the dead but somehow it just hadn’t sunk in. They must have been devastated to see their Lord and Master crucified like a common criminal.

Grief and unimaginable bewilderment must have hung heavily upon them.  Jesus was dead. There was no expectation of resurrection. No eager waiting for the third day. Just despair that all their hopes and dreams had been nailed to the cross with Jesus.

Even when the news of Jesus’ resurrection began to filter through to the disciples they were very reluctant to believe it. Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus came and rebuked them for ‘their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen’.

How patient Jesus was with them. Finally they got it.  The day of Pentecost came and those timid disciples were transformed into bold, brave ministers of the Gospel. Thousands were saved and great miracles flowed through them.

Today, as we celebrate Easter, we have the wonderful assurance that though we remember with great sadness Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and iniquities, we also rejoice that death could not hold the perfect Son of God. He has indeed risen.

When our friends went to be with Jesus, it was not the end. It is the beginning of a new eternal life – that great gift from a loving, patient God to a sinful, rebellious people. I know that our friends are with him because they accepted that gift. Their sins are forgiven, the slate wiped clean and so we know they have gone to heaven.

However that free gift has to be accepted individually by each one of us. There is no other way by which we can enter eternal life with him.  Death may be with us in the midst of life but through Jesus life after death with him is available to all who would call on the Lord and be saved.

All I have needed your hand hath provided

For several days God has been speaking to me about his faithfulness and prodding me to listen to the old hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness.  Although I listened, I did not hear. Eventually I was concentrating enough to hear All I have need thy hand hath provided which sank into my brain and spirit. 

So often our upbringing and past circumstances can continue to negatively affect us years later even after we have been born again into our new life in Christ. I was watching an early episode of Call the Midwife and an elderly brother and sister could never really shake off their workhouse upbringing.  For the Israelites, God may have brought them out from slavery in Egypt in one night but it took much longer to get Egypt out of the Israelites. For years they continued to behave like slaves.

When my husband and I became Christians over 30 years ago, we were in debt and very poor at money management.  Over the years we learned to be better stewards and givers of the money we had but we always seemed to be bumping along the bottom of the pond. We had enough – just. Gradually as we learned to trust God more and more, things continued to improve.

However a few weeks ago, I realised that my old fears of never having enough were still lurking in my heart. In a multi storey car park, I reversed our car into a large pillar. I just hadn’t been looking carefully enough.  There was a big dent on the back bumper and the rear light fixing was smashed. I was distraught.  I knew we could probably afford to have the car repaired but it was just such a waste. Why should my husband or God have to pay for my carelessness?

I kept confessing that God was our provider and even though I now know all will be well and we wont go into debt over this, God wanted to deal with my deep seated fear of not having enough.  Finally the truth of All I have need thy hand hath provided hit home.

God does not want to provide just those things necessary for life nor even for those ‘extras’ that his grace and kindness want to bless us with. He is our provider for everything – including repairs to our car due my lack of attention. I can trust God’s provision for everything because it all comes from him in the first place. As the Matt Redman song says:

We have nothing to give that did not first come from your heart

We have nothing to offer you that you did not provide

Every good, prefect gift comes from your kind and gracious heart

And all we do is give back to you what always has been yours.

Everything comes from God and what we do is spend it, use it or give it. God is not like an expenses account that will cover some things but not others.  God covers it all – the good things, the bad things and the stupid things.  He will constantly help us be better stewards because he can then trust us with more which will bless us and others. That has been our experience but God knew that fear still lay hidden in my heart.

As Joyce Meyer said Fear always tells you what you’re not, what you don’t have, what you can’t do, and what you never will be. God wants us free from all fear so we are free to love and free to give.  It may take a pillar in a car park but God is constantly working to liberate us from the fears of our past.