Knowing God's Will for us.

Knowing Gods Will

New Christians are always being urged to ‘press in’ and to ask God for His Will for us. How are we supposed to know this? How is any new Christian supposed to ascertain what are, ostensibly, the most important questions for his or her future.

There are two important questions to ask today. There comes a moment in every Christian’ walk with the Lord when we each ask ourselves, “Am I in God’s will or not?” This is usually followed by, “How do I know this?” So, how can we know that we are in God’s will and plan for our lives? Put another way, how can we know when we are not in His will?

The answer is not always what you expect.

When we are IN God’s will – Uncertainty almost always reigns until we have confirmation of everything and until His peace comes.  There seems to be only few places that remain within our own comfort zone. Nevertheless, we seem to have that peace about the situation no matter how bad it looks to us.

When we are OUT of God’s will – everything seems to be going either very well or very badly – there seems to be no middle ground. We have little or no peace, yet we are comfortable and within our own comfort zone. Generally, we seem to have little or no rest, we seem to strive the whole time.

None of this is to say that the opposite of any situation I have painted here is not true either. It can be extremely confusing. So – it seems to me that there is only one way of ensuring that we are, and that we stay, in God’s will, and that is through listening prayer. We ask then we listen. Then we test what we hear and finally we are obedient to what we believe to be God’s word. His peace comes and we are settled – even if we are, like us at present, way outside our comfort zone.

His peace – that peace that passes all understanding – is everything. And to receive that, we most often have to be in and stay in God’s will for us.

Shouting Stones

Even the stones will cry out

Luke 19:37-40 “Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,  saying:” ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Science is wonderful. More and more stories from the Bible are being verified by forensic science and by archaeological evidence. Whilst we cannot ‘prove’ this statement, we do have evidence, very serious evidence, that nature shouts God’s Glory. A few years ago, an earnest scientific magazine did a recording of a whole year in the life of a mountain – you know – one of those huge piles of rock and stones. They played the resulting recording back speeded up a few thousand times and apparently it sounded like a symphony orchestra. If that’s not rocks crying out then I don’t know quite what is.

The point is this, as Jesus Himself said, if we don’t praise God then the world, and all that is created in it, will do so. Mountains sing. Forests make music. Rocks praise God. Birds sing; crickets chirrup (it is sometimes called stridulating); butterflies carry wonderful colours;  flowers scent the air; wolves sing; fish fly  – the list goes on. All these things we accept as part of nature are also cries of praise to their creator.

They all do these things with total abandonment – no embarrassment, no shyness, totally abandoned in their worship of their creator. So why can we not be like them? Some call it civilisation. We are too civilised to be totally abandoned. I call that disobedience. We knowingly disobey God when we decline the opportunity to worship Him because if we don’t then the stones and rocks will do so. They do already. Sometimes we are the only created beings in the whole of creation who do not worship Him.

Yes He has given us choice. Yes He knew that by doing so some would disobey. Yes, many more than we all realise have chosen not to praise Him, not to thank Him, not to worship Him. We call them ‘the lost’. I nowadays call them ‘the not yet Christians’ because the day is coming when that will change.

The fact remains that if we will not cry out, if we should remain silent, then even the stones will cry out their praise and worship to their creator God.

First C miracles - again today?

Shaking, Healing, and Speaking

When was the last time this happened to you? Acts 4:31“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

My knowledge is limited but I can only recall one other such incident recorded for posterity and that was in the Hebridean Revival in the late 1940’s. On that occasion, similar to the occasion in Acts, when the people finished praying, the house in which they were meeting was shaken – and then the revival started.

There are a couple of things that happened in the first century that I would like to see happening again and again in these days. First, is the shaking of the place of prayer. This is definitely not the shaking “of all that can be shaken” mentioned in scripture but the specific shaking mentioned in Acts 4:31.

The second thing I would like to experience is healing at the passing of a shadow. In Acts it is recorded that people were brought out so that “Peter’s shadow might pass over them” and heal them. We anoint handkerchieves and cloths today and they bring healing, but I have not heard of anyone being healed when a persons shadow passes over them.

What presence Peter must have carried. Where are the evangelists and healers who carry such a presence today. Where are the men of God, so fired up by the anointing upon them and the Spirit within them, that demons flee their presence. Yes, we may have seen it happening in Africa and other places, but never in the West, never in Europe or America. People like Heidi Baker and Nathan Morris have seen this all over the world – but not here as far as I know.

Finally, I want to experience something of what happened at Pentecost when each of the listeners to Peter’s speech heard it in his own language. What an amazing event. Everyone in the crowd saying things like – “Do you hear that? They’re speaking my dialect.” “Yes – its the same for me too. My home dialect”. “Wait a minute – aren’t these guys uneducated fishermen?” “This is something else. We’d better listen to them.” What an incredible moment for the apostles too – to see the power of the Holy Spirit at work for the first time. Oh – I’d love to see that gift in operation in these times.

I feel strongly that the Lord is calling us to be more like the first century church. Having a vibrant expectant faith. Almost trembling with excitement and anticipation of whatever may be about to happen. Really knowing that Holy Spirit is about to do something special. Something house shaking. Something specially healing. Some communication spectacular.

Lord – prepare us, get us ready, and then send your Spirit in power.

Oh WOW \o/

A Place for Us

There’s a Place for Us

Anyone remember a singer in the 60’s – PJ Proby? Great voice – questionable stage presence and performance. Made a smash hit here in the UK out of “There’s a place for us” from the great musical, West Side Story. The song reflects the story of two people, lost within their own world, rejected by both sides, and with little hope of anything ever going their way. “There’s a place for us – a time and a place for us – peace and quiet and open air . . . . . “ Two lost souls simply searching to find out where they belong in a world that threatens to engulf them. Fear, dread, and concern for each other, grips them as they seek their ‘special place’.

Many folk, even some Christians are like that today. Non-Christians seeking their place in society, they wander around, lost and not particularly happy, waiting for life to give them a break. Christians maybe the same or even seeking the right church where they can feel at home, maybe even loved, and welcomed.

Well, allow me to tell you all, there is a place for you. A place in both God’s kingdom, and in a church probably quite close to you. For those who don’t yet know Him, Jesus is just waiting to be introduced so that He can show you a better life than you ever dreamed possible. It won’t be without its battles – but Jesus never promised that. However, it will be a life where your focus concentrates on Jesus and how He can help you – probably with the help of other Christians.

For Christians, new or established, finding and settling into the right church is always a serious decision. Too many ‘baby’ Christians are told to ‘find a good Bible believing church’ or some such well-meant advice. How can they do that when they are new to the area and know few or no other people? But that’s by the by, and eventually most people find a church where they are comfortable.

The whole point is that, for every human being that ever was, is now, or will be at some point in the future – there is a place for you. A place in God’s kingdom and a place in a church here on earth. A place in society with a meaningful existence – in, but hopefully not of, the world.

Just sayin’ – that’s all.

Missionaries

Missionaries

What is a missionary? “A person sent on a religious mission, esp. one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.” I like that definition – the word ‘especially’ means ‘but not exclusively’. If I use a little literary license, a missionary is one sent on a religious mission , especially one sent to promote Christianity anywhere. That, then, must also include ‘here’, wherever here is. If a missionary is sent to ‘promote Christianity’, then surely he is simply an evangelist.

You may wonder where all this may be leading? Well I think the word missionary is virtually redundant in the light of evangelism. Billy Graham was a missionary although he was better known as an evangelist. Reinhard Bonnke is a missionary, although he too is better known as an evangelist. So, I suppose, we should ask what exactly is a Christian evangelist. Again using a little literary license, an evangelist is one who bears witness to Jesus Christ by reason of preaching the Gospel to those who do not yet believe in Him.

So that’s why Jesus said, in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Emphasis mine) !!!  With this definition, surely, we are ALL witnesses, or evangelists, or missionaries. This shines a whole new light on us as Christians. We are all called to witness – Jesus said so. He said that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us that we shall witness to Him “to the ends of the earth” – or in all the world. That was “when”, not “if”, by the way.

All of us receive power and become witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. That’s interesting. In the days of the first church, this would be when they were baptized. Repentance and conversion was followed almost immediately by baptism in water. Several records of the time witness to the fact that upon being baptised in water, new converts received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and came up out of the water speaking in tongues and prophesying!!

Now why doesn’t that happen these days? Why do we have to baptise, then teach all about these things, and then pray for them before anything like this happens?? Rhetorical question. We have lost something since the apostolic age. I think Peter, John, and all the rest of them would be amazed at the way we do things now. Amazed and probably appalled by our lack of faith and expectancy.

Missionaries weren’t trained then commissioned then sent out. They were simply sent out in the power of the Holy Spirit and they learnt on the fly as it were. As Paul said to the Corinthians, he came to them with no training, no wise and profound words, but simply with the power of the Holy Spirit and the signs and wonders accompanying.

We could do with some of this type of ‘missionary’ today – couldn’t we?