I am no Better

I am no Better

The world judges by its own laws and standards. The world judges by its own opinions regardless of Gods laws and opinions. Neighbours judge each other and gossip their poisonous opinions. Even Christians and churches do likewise.

Yet in Gods eyes not one of us is any better than any other - not me – not even you.  ALL of us are sinners in need of a saviour – all have fallen short of Gods standard for us. It doesn’t matter to God how close we get or how far short we fall. We all fall short by one margin or another.

The only difference between any of us is that some accept their salvation and some don’t.

But still we judge each other. I am not talking about judging in a discerning manner. I mean we pass judgement and heap condemnation upon others. Yet in Gods eyes we are just as guilty. Despite the world’s opinions, there is no such thing as ‘very guilty’ or ‘slightly guilty’. It is quite black and white with no grey areas or blurred edges.

Our main problem seems to me to be that we deem some things as ‘slightly worse’, or ‘worse’, or ‘far worse’ than others. We impose our thinking upon, even over, God’s thinking. Our sense of justice over His. We prefer our own opinions to His.

We all tend to forget that one day we will all stand before the Judgement Seat of God. We will all answer for our shortcomings. I suspect that the cross-examination in God’s court may be somewhat different to our expectations. He might ask us, “Why did you .....?” but I think it far more likely He will ask, “Why did you not ......?” He will say, “I gave you these gifts, what did you do with them?”, or, “Why did you not use them?” He will say something like, “I called you as a prophet, why did you not prophesy and why did you become an evangelist?” “He may even say, “I gave you great wealth, why did you keep it to yourself?” “I sent people in need to you – why did you turn them away without a thought or word – with nothing?”

That will sort the sheep from the goats

You and I, brothers and sisters, are not one jot better nor worse than anyone else – we just do different things with what God has given us. We act differently – partly through choice and our own decision, and partly through lack of teaching. We need to be out there, Jesus’s hands, his ears, eyes, and mouth, carrying His love to all we meet such that they want to know more about Him.

No matter what we may think, His judgement of us is all we really need to be concerned about.

Reining-In

Reining In

I was just thinking again about Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” I thought of a younger friend who I hadn’t heard from for a week or so. I called him and he said that God had told him recently to pull back a little – to rein in as it were – and to spend a little time with Him – listening – drawing closer to the Fathers heart. Good confirmation for all of us I think.

What happens when we ‘rein-in’? It’s like when we sink into a hot tub. As the hot water envelops us we sigh, lay back, and just relax. We let go of the world for a few minutes while we just lay and soak. It is exactly the same with God. We enter into His presence, we feel the comfort and sigh, we relax and just begin to soak in His presence and love.

It’s a holy chill-out session and it is precisely what Psalm 46:10 is all about.

We get alone with Him and we simply give ourselves over to His love and His presence there with us. It can be anywhere too – even in your car when driving long distance. Walking in the woods. In your quiet room – your prayer closet. In the middle of praise and worship sometimes I find myself dancing with Jesus – relaxed and just enjoying His company. If on my own, soaking music can help – and it can cause me to nap too – but I am sure the Lord uses even that nap to input to my spirit.

Being still and knowing He is God is not hard to do, but we have to make the time for it. In the middle of your hardest working day, if you can find five minutes to enter the Lord’s presence it will not be time wasted. He is waiting, longing to spend time with you but, being the gentleman He is, He doesn’t force it. Rather He waits patiently for us to approach Him. It is like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, as soon as we ‘appear’ on His horizon – approaching Him – the Lord runs towards us, arms wide in love and welcome.

If you want to bring a smile to the Lords face then spend time in His presence. He wants a Father/son/daughter relationship with every one of us. How many brothers and sisters miss out on this because they don’t even realise it is possible. If you get a great new app on your mobile phone, you tell everyone. Tell everyone about Gods “Be still” app. It is totally free, brings wonderful benefits, and lasts a lifetime.

What more do you want? Rein-in a bit today – the Lord is waiting for you right now.

All Your Eggs & Only One Basket

Eggs and Baskets

There was a very popular saying when I was a kid. It seems to have died out a bit now but it is still an appropriate piece of advice in almost any situation. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” was the little bit of homespun wisdom that almost everyone used – especially if they didn’t really know what else to say! It’s a wee word of wisdom that Christians could do well to heed today.

In times ranging from even slight stress right up to heart attack territory, we seem to be very prone to grabbing the first almost viable solution and becoming reliant upon it. Sad thing is that the first ‘viable’ solution offered is often more self-reliant or other-people-reliant than God-reliant. God is not our first port of call. Prayer is a standby solution rather than first line of defence. Instead, we put all of our reliance on a somewhat nebulous ‘promise’ from a third party who may or may not fulfil.

Now, what does Gods Word say about this?

2 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Exodus 15:26 “For I am the Lord who heals you.”

Jeremiah 29:11 ”For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Mark 16:17-19 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;  they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

And most importantly -

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

God’s Word is enough. Don’t put all of your eggs in man’s baskets – put them instead into God’s Word and His promises for you; for all of us.

Power and Glory

Power and Glory

1  Corinthians 2:1-5 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

In the first days of the church, the Apostles came not with fine words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. When they spoke healing, people were healed. When they spoke to demons, the demons obeyed. When they spoke at all, the power of God’s Holy Spirit was manifest in that place. When people were baptised in water, they came up out of the water speaking in tongues and prophesying.

What have we done with all that?

We speak wise theological words and people fall asleep – bored. We pray with little expectation for healing rather than speaking it out and folk are unchanged. We avoid talking about demons at all and the subject of deliverance is met with disbelieving looks.

What a sorry plight we have grown into. Out of all the faith, hope, and zeal of the first church, what a disappointment we would be to them. I just heard a very relevant comment, “Why are politico’s not afraid of the church? Because the church is going to meetings and not coming out in power.”

For those among you who think the power and the glory have disappeared, I have news for you. God has not changed one iota these past 2000 years. It is we who have changed. We have watered down our gospel message and with it our faith and belief in God’s promises. It is time for the church to once again “not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

It is time for us to apprehend once more the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

More Gems from Dry Bones

More Gems from Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37 tells of the prophet entering a valley full of dry bones which, after prophecy, stand up as a complete living and breathing army, ready for battle. So many of our churches are similar “Valleys of Dry Bones”. Full of people who look like Christians, maybe sound like Christians too, but who are but a skeleton shadow of the real thing that Jesus commanded us to be.

Our churches are full of those who talk a wonderful talk, yet who are fearful of walking the same walk – for whatever reason, be it fear, apathy, “someone else’s job”, or whatever. They speak the words of God with great conviction, but lacking any kind of commitment. They talk endlessly of what we “should do” without ever intending to include themselves in the planning committee.

These then are Ezekiels modern Vally f Dry Bones. An entire army, huge in number, reasonably trained, yet lacking any real motive for plundering the enemy’s territory. They are not self-motivated, so they need to be leader motivated. But the leaders are worn out from so long leading a blind, unarmed, and altogether defeated army who either cannot or will not get motivated into believing their own strength and power in Jesus Name.

Go to any church and look around. You will see this toothless army all around you, sitting in self-satisfied, maybe smug sanctification, still believing there is nothing more to do. Yet in amongst them, there sparkle a few gemstones – those just waiting for the chance to arise and show Jesus to the whole world. These are they who have never lost the joy and freshness of their salvation; those who will exhort and inspire the body of Christ back to their original calling. These are they upon whom a determined and resolute leader can call to prayer and to arms in the Name of Jesus.

These are the foundation of the army of dry bones who may well take us into the promised land called “revival”. These gems in amongst the dry bones; these faithful few; these men after God’s own heart. They will not let their hope die or even dry out. They will keep their lamps filled and ready for action for when the Bridegroom sounds His call to arms to protect and defend His Bride ready for the wedding feast.