Packing God or Leaving Him Behind??

Holidays

We are coming up to that time of year again, when thoughts turn to the Summer Holidays or Vacations to our American friends. In many households there is much excited planning going on. The family is looking at places to go while they are away in a different place – probably a different country. Mother and father are busy getting everything ready – clothes, books, tour guides, maybe even foods – all need to be prepared, and packed ready for the great journey often undertaken for holidays.

Kids are busy reading up all they can about places to go or they are busy piling all their “absolutely essential” toys ready to take with them. Cameras are stocked with batteries; phones are set for “roaming” – the colloquial term used by phone companies for charging exorbitant amounts for making AND receiving calls ‘abroad’.

God is usually put on a bit of a back-burner while the family goes away. Only in quite a small number, I suspect, is God taken away with the family for a holiday.

“Holidays” is a word derived from Holy Days in old English. A Holy Day was, and still is, a day set aside by the church for special events like Christmas and Easter, or Pentecost and Advent. Special days were set aside in memory of specific saints – like St Stephen’s Day, or even national saints days like St George’s Day, St Andrew’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, or St David’s Day here in the UK. It was a Holy Day when very little or no work was done and the people celebrated, usually in or around the church, the memory of a saint or another Christian religious feast day. “Holiday” is a short step from Holy Day as it really was a holiday day even as we understand it today.

So, what happened to God in our Holy Days and in our holidays? The church still has Holy Days but very few people indeed ever bother to celebrate them as they normally fall on a set date which, by virtue of there being five work days to two weekend days, normally fall on a work day. Only the great traditional holidays such as Christmas and Easter are really celebrated nowadays – perhaps Pentecost as well? Even then, there is very little God in them and a vast amount of what the Bible terms “Mammon”.

It is the same with family holidays too. Mammon rules and God is put back into virtually last place – if He is given any place at all. So this year, my wife and I are celebrating our first holiday together. We have been offered a wonderful little place to stay in a stunningly beautiful part of England. It is a place of retreat, rest, and recuperation where we have options and choices to include or exclude God as much or as little as we wish. We choose to take God with us and make Him a central part of our holiday. We choose to take Bibles and CD’s with us so that we are never much more than a few moments away from His wonderful presence. Yes, we want to explore this new part of our country together, but we also want to explore it with God. We want to seek Him in the beauty of His creation and in the quietness of the light summer evenings as well as in the history of the area to which we are going. We want to make every day of this holiday a Holy Day, given to God to guide us where He wants us to go; to see what He wants us to see; and to hear what He wants us to hear.

We are genuinely really looking forward to spending time both alone together and with God. It’s only a few short days, but hey, the benefits will be out of this world. So we are busy preparing frozen foods, cameras, washing clothes, CD’s, even a CD player to take with us. But oh the joyful anticipation of what God has for us is the greatest excitement imaginable.

I wonder how many others have that same anticipation; the same hopes and prayers for their holidays.

How about you ??

Where is the Love

Hatred, Bigotry, and Disunity

Mark 9:38-42 (NKJV)

Jesus Forbids Sectarianism

“Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. “

Even as early as this, before the church had begun, Jesus knew there would be sectarianism – or different groups believing different things with a different spin on “their” group to make it both unique and “the only true group”. We call this denominationalism today.

I have been watching FB recently and the hatred and venom being spewed out by “Christians” is astonishing.  I am not surprised by the lack of unity. I am not surprised at the attacks on Christians and Christianity – these were all foretold by the prophets, and Jesus warned us about them. No, very little of what is happening is a surprise. The surprise is in the “internal” vehemence and brutality; in the hatred and contempt; in the total lack of respect for another’s views. The total lack of love.

Yet Jesus forbade this very thing. He prayed for ‘complete’ unity. In John 17:21 He prayed, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Even so, that which I see on FB grieves the Lord immensely. It is against everything He stands for and spoke about. No wonder the Church is in such disarray at this time. No wonder folk look at the church and wonder what all the fuss was about. We are no different, and in some cases, even worse than anything the world offers.

Jesus only left us with two commandments – to love God and to love one another. Can we not at least try to show a little more love? Certainly we must show less hatred, less grumbling, less murmuring, less disunity, and less arrogance in insisting that “we are the only way”. NO – Jesus is the only way, no-one comes to the Father except through Him.

I will confront hatred and bigotry whenever I see it. I will not be silenced by anyone’s name or position. Where there is sin, I will politely point it out. If that doesn’t work, I will go public in my questioning of the attitudes displayed. I will not sit in judgement of anyone – that is between them and God. However, I will not have hatred and bad-mouthing on my timeline – not from anyone. I will do the only things in my power to do – expose and block. Most only keep doing it because they get the reaction and resultant attention. Ignore them and they will stop soon enough.

When God Speaks

What, where, who, why, and when?

These five short questions What? Where? Who? Why? and when? have always appealed to me although I have often wondered why the apparent synchronicity? They sound like the sort of questions children fire at us don’t they?

I was just sitting, minding my own business, when along comes the Lord and He’s in a chatty mood. “What you doing?” “Nothing much Lord” “Good, I want to plant something in you to pass on to all the folk you pass things on to.” I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but God speaks to us in our own vernacular – our own colloquial language – He uses words we’ll understand. “Yes Lord” I reply, pulling myself back from my day-dreamy stupor and  into His conversation.

“Sometimes I ask you to do things  Sometimes the enemy, pretending to be Me, asks you to do something.” “Ah but, Lord, I know your voice.” “Yes you do, but Satan is the best mimic in the world!” He paused, allowing this to sink in. Then He said, “Even when you are sure it is me speaking to you, you should test it – ask me questions – make sure you understand me.” This is when the five, one-word questions came up. What, where, who, why, and when?

The Lord explained that He would rather we ask some questions and get it right, than assume we have heard correctly but get it wrong. Also, He really doesn’t mind if we check it out a couple of times to make sure we have heard Him and not the enemy.

What – what is I have to do? Make sure the word you have is right. Test it against the Word of God and if it doesn’t line up then you know it is not from God. But also check it out to ensure you know exactly what He is asking you to do – and do no more and no less – just do what He asks.

Where – where do I do it? This may seem un-necessary but the Lord may not want you to do or say whatever He is asking in the middle of church in front of a lot of people. Use your common sense. Ask for the ‘where’.

Who – who is this for? First rule – get the right person. Oh dear – can you imagine giving a corrective word to the wrong person.

Why – why do I need to do it? Sometimes we will know why and sometimes we won’t have a clue. Sometimes God will reveal His reasons to us – other times we just have to trust Him and, as my favourite advert says, just do it.

When – when should I do it? Ah – now timing is usually critical but God’s timing is perfect. It’s no use saying to God, “OK, I’ll look for the opportunity.” If you stay “tuned in”, then God will tell you very clearly when to act. I remember a time in Wales, some years ago – but that’s too long a story for now. Suffice it to say that God’s timing was perfect and brought great comfort to a dying man and his family.

Finally - Was that you Lord? Oh, precious people, whatever you do, try to ensure that it was God speaking to you. Test it thoroughly. If I have a word for someone or for some situation, I usually write it all down then leave it for three or four days. If that word is still on my mind then I am usually pretty certain it is from God but I always check again first. Then I give the word.

But when all is said and  done – when God asks - JUST DO IT.

Time to Stir Ourselves

Stir it up

Apathy in the church may be its greatest enemy.

Gossip in the church may be its greatest enemy.

Murmuring in the church may be its greatest enemy.

Finances in the church may be its greatest enemy.

Immorality in the church may be its greatest enemy.

Smug sanctimony in the church may be its greatest enemy.

It doesn’t matter one tiny little jot where the greatest enemy of the church lies – it is time to stir ourselves up and FIGHT.

Where are the prayer warriors? Where are the watchmen? Where are the fearless leaders and soldiers? It is time to take the battle to Satan and declare to him not how much grief he is giving us but how BIG and great our God really is.

Of course Satan knows how big God is but he has always told us how small and insignificant, how powerless, how defeated God is. The problems started when we, the church, started to believe him. Why on earth do you think that, today,  Christianity is under such ferocious attack by so formidable a foe.

It is time to tear down the centuries of tradition that speak of us as a defeated and defenceless force. It’s time to declare the victory of Calvary – Satan was defeated, once and for all time at Calvary. Yet we have lost our belief in that. Satan has robbed us of so much – and we have just whimpered and let him do it.

STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT.

It is time to man the barricades and repel the enemy. It’s time to raise the victory shout loud and clear for the entire world to hear. It’s time for the watchmen to be on 24/7 alert. Jesus is coming again soon – and I for one want my lamp to be lit and ready for Him.

So – sound the battle trumpet. Enough of Satan’s lies and our foolish acceptance of them. Declare Christ’s victory – enforce Christ’s victory – Satan must repay seven times that which he has stolen. Put him under your feet and claim every victory.

Christ victorious our cry. Yes Lord \o/

Local Prayer

Local Prayer

I have a suggestion for you today – but first a true story. A church in America once decided on a local prayer initiative. They sat down and randomly selected a page in their local phone book. They ignored the left hand page but for a week they prayed for every person on the right hand page by name. Then they systematically called every number on both pages and asked whoever answered if they would like prayer for anything – having first explained who they were and why they were calling. The result was extraordinary. Of all the people they called who they had NOT prayed for, they received mainly an abrupt “No” or worse – sometimes quite a bit worse. However, of the people for whom they had prayed, only two refused. The others were all grateful and received prayer willingly.

Prayer for your locality works. It not only works, it works better than we could ever realise. So when a local prayer initiative was presented to us we readily agreed to give it a try. This was not our own idea but the idea of a ministry and retreat centre in Wales.  If you like the idea, I can put you in touch with the ministry – costs are minimal – just message me on FB with an email address please.

The idea I am suggesting is very simple indeed. Recruit a small group, perhaps four or five people or couples in different areas of your town. Each person or couple needs to select FIVE people or families in their own area, road, or block. They do not need to know these people except that they are local to their area.

The prayer group then, individually and together, prays for all those on their own list for FIVE minutes a day, FIVE days each week, for FIVE weeks. That is five minutes IN TOTAL – one minute each. OK, so sometimes you take a bit longer. You do not pray for their “problems” but you pray BLESSING into every aspect of their lives that is wholesome. The prayer group meets weekly for an hour to discuss progress. At the end of five weeks everyone selects five more people or families to pray for – or they can keep their first lot, or mix and match new and old. Each couple or person can also set up a group in their own area if they wish – the object is to eventually cover the whole town, street by street, in prayer and blessings.

The results we have seen have been absolutely amazing. Salvations, healings, bad feelings resolved, neighbours becoming almost friendly again, children stopping running riot all over the place. The testimony goes on and on. You are praying BLESSING on to every person for whom you pray. You bless their home, their legal and wholesome work, their health, their friends, and their family – as well as their relationship with God. You are pouring blessing into their lives.

This is a different way of praying using the authority Jesus gave to us. It is a different focus seeking to promote the positives rather than praying about or against the negatives. We are seeking only to bless the people around us. It doesn’t matter if they are Christians or not, nor whether or not they go to our church. We are blessing the Kingdom as well as the individuals. Bless people from your local prayer initiative and watch how your prayer affects their lives for the better.

Try it. We have some example prayers of our own for you if you would like them too. Some CD's and a booklet are also available from the ministry.