Now is the time... To Water

Jesus said to her, “Whoever drinks ……of the water that I shall give will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4:13,14

Today is quite hot and windy and we are in need of some good rain. Fortunately our garden is planted with native plants which tolerate dry conditions but even today some of these were bending their heads in a silent cry for water. I was happy to oblige, not wanting to lose them because of my lack of attention to their needs.

As I stood in the sunshine with the hose for an hour or so my thoughts went to my own spiritual life. I thought about how dry I can get when I don’t ‘water’ my spirit with time in God’s word. Bible reading feeds and nurtures our inner man, and we need to give regular time to reading it, just as we eat and drink to keep our bodies well nourished.

In my early years I did not like to drink water at all. It wasn’t until later in life that I began to drink enough water for my body to function properly. I found that once I had developed the habit of drinking regularly, my body would tell me, I would feel thirsty. Up until then my poor body had learned to adapt to a lack of water.

In the same way, unless we develop a ‘hunger’ for God’s word in our early years of following Jesus, we may not realise that we are spiritually dehydrated. Therefore it is important to develop good discipline in spending time quietly reading God’s word so that we grow in spiritual understanding and maturity. Then when we neglect this time our spirit will remind us that we need to go back to God’s word for more life-giving sustenance. During his 40 day fast in the wilderness the devil tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus reminded Satan that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Spiritual sustenance is just as important as food.

Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman (John 4:14) of ‘life-giving water’ that would spring up within the one who drank of it. This life is the life of Jesus within which we draw upon as we come to him through prayer and reading his word. We need to keep the life-flow going.

If you are feeling dry today perhaps you need to draw near to the well and draw some water to ‘drink’. If you are dry you will certainly have nothing to flow out of you to be a blessing to others. So come aside, spent time drawing water from Jesus’ well.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to recognise when I am spiritually dry. Let me be sensitive to the drawing of your Spirit and take time to refresh myself in your presence. Amen.

Now is the time... To Stop the Thief

Be sober; be vigilant; because your enemy, the devil, roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8

Where we live there are many birds and amongst them are a number of Kookaburras (the ‘laughing’ Australian bird). They are very sociable creatures and happily sit on the verandah railings while we chat to them or hand them tidbits. The latter is not advisable as they may well take advantage, as you will see. Recently our neighbours were enjoying a nice steak on their verandah when a Kookaburra came for a friendly call. He sat awhile and watched them eat. Suddenly spying an area of opportunity, he swooped on a piece of steak. Only my friend’s quick-witted work with a fork averted the loss of the steak. (The bird lived; it was the steak that she speared!)

Peter warned his readers of a similar thief, Satan, who is always watching for his chance to rob us of abundant life; peace, joy, provision, growth, health and all the other good things that God wants us to have as his children.

Have you ever experienced a boost of faith and excitement when you read your Bible or hear a sermon preached? The word seems to just leap at you and touch your heart with hope but no sooner had you left that place; your quiet time place, church meeting, or retreat, and circumstances came upon you to totally rob you of the faith and the hope that had begun to grow within your heart. The strength you had drawn from that word is snatched away and you sink into gloom once more and hopeless thoughts and feelings overwhelm you.

Jesus spoke of the word of God as seed being sown into the various types of soil (Mark 4:13-20). He said that the seed can, if not sown into good soil, fall by the wayside and Satan will come (immediately) and take away the word that was sown in the hearers’ hearts (vs15). It is important to care for the soil of our hearts and prepare it to receive the word (rhema) from God that will build us up. We also have to water it and guard it, just like I have to guard my vegetable garden from the possums and birds that want to destroy it.

We are in a fight for our faith. We have to earnestly contend for it (Jude 3). How do we do that? Jude goes on to say “..building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God…. “ (Jude 20,21). We also need to feed on God’s word (even when we don’t seem to be ‘getting anything’ out of it), and fellowshipping with other believers.

Hold onto that word from the Lord as if your very life depended on it – it does. To walk in the abundant life requires persistence and faith. You can do it because God will give you the grace you need to contend. Just cry out to him when you feel weak and helpless, but whatever you do, don’t let the enemy snatch your ‘steak’!

Prayer: Jesus, Lord and giver of life, thank you for the life you have given me. Help me to contend for all the blessings that belong to me and faithfully trust you to help me through the difficult seasons. Amen

Now is the time... To Be His Special Treasure

Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the nations of the earth; Exodus 19:5

Have you sensed in yourself a need to feel treasured, to feel special and yet that need seems to remain unfulfilled? If you have, you are not alone. God has built into each of his creation, mankind that is, the need for intimacy. He has done this because we are not meant to “do life” alone. We are made for inter-dependency, for intimacy. Family, friendships, and marriage can provide that for us but they are not the only way. Indeed they are not even the best way that we can experience that feeling of being special to someone.

Pursuing a relationship with God, our heavenly father is the ultimate way of experiencing that feeling of being special and treasured. This is the place where our heart can be truly satisfied and nurtured, but there is a price to pay. In any relationship, whether with family, friend, or marriage partner there is always a price to pay in order to have a good relationship. We need first of all to accept each other’s differences, learn to love in spite of them, be patient with each other, and learn to give as well as take; we also need to learn to understand how each other thinks. These are just a few of the many demands for building a good relationship.

God told his people, Israel, that for them to be his special treasure they needed to keep covenant with him – to stay faithful to his commands. To our modern way of thinking this seems rather stringent and dictatorial but this is where we need to understand the heart of God our father, and the difference between the old and new covenants. Under the old covenant there were many rules and regulations. In Deuteronomy 28 we see a list of “Do this and all will be well” and “Do that and it won’t go well for you”. Just like a good parent God set boundaries for his people. He also gave them the 10 Commandments, but he knew they would be unable to keep them. Was he setting them up for failure? No! He was trying to show them that they needed him to help them, that interdependency with him was the way to success.

Out of his love for us he gave us the answer to the problem – Jesus, who came to free us from the slavery to our sinful nature so that we could keep covenant with him. Through relationship with him we are given grace and strength to live the kind of life that will result in us feeling special and treasured. It does require a working relationship with God the father through the indwelling Holy Spirit. As we learn to relate to Jesus in similar ways to how we would relate to a precious friend or spouse, we will reap the benefits of being his own special treasure.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to develop a new level of intimacy with you that will fulfil my need to feel special to someone. Amen

Now is the time... To Cry Out to the Lord

And the people complained against Moses saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord…… Exodus 15:24-25

The story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt gives many lessons and is worth re-visiting now and again. God brought them out from the Egyptian’s oppression and out of great bondage. They did not leave empty-handed as slaves normally would but they came out with wealth, handed over to them by neighbours who were glad to see them go.

It was a great deliverance followed by the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh’s army who had pursued them to their death. In the last verse of Exodus 14 it says, “so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses.” In hindsight we could add, “….for the moment”, because it didn’t take them long to find something to complain about.

They travelled 3 days in the wilderness and had finally found water. Their joy soon turned to anger as they discovered the water was no good for drinking. They were tired, thirsty and probably anxious about their future; this was just too much to bear, so Moses again bore the brunt of their displeasure. But Moses knew where to turn in his dilemma. His immediate response was to cry out to the Lord and the Lord showed him how to make the bitter waters sweet. The answer was ‘just a call away’.

Perhaps you have come through a difficult time and then, just when you think you have the victory all sorted out and the battle behind you, another challenge blocks your way forward, and you are faced with your own bitter “waters”. You have a choice; either you can whine and
complain and find someone to blame, or you can run to the Lord and ask him to show you how to make your bitter waters sweet.

The good news is that there is never any need for us to face our challenges alone; our God is always available, Psalm 34:15b says that his ear is always open to our cry. We just have to ask him how we should handle whatever arises. James 1:5 says, “If anyone lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” That is God’s promise for whatever situation we face.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that I can run to you in my troubles and in my joys. Help me to avail myself of your great wisdom and not to try to ‘go it alone’. Amen

Now is the time... To Be Pruned

…..every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2

The view from our loft bedroom’s dormer window looks out to the generously wooded French countryside and the ridge of a forest in the distance. The open double-glazed window allows the birdsong to drift in – along with the muffled barking of dogs on the neighbouring farm.

What has really taken my attention though, is the Deodara Cedar tree a few metres away from the window. I can only see the topmost branches but they look rather like a ragged, lopsided, multi-armed scarecrow leaning forward and waving in the gentle breeze. This is not the type of tree to be pruned and its “Raggedy Ann” appearance has a certain appeal to the creative side of my nature. However, the other part of me that likes uniformity would not want to plant this tree in my own garden. Hence thoughts of pruning come to mind!

There is a time for pruning in our lives and then the Master Gardener comes to trim or even to do a major cutting back, whatever is required at that time. In the garden the time for pruning is when the fruit bearing or flowering is over; when the sap stops flowing in the trees and the flowers have all died. This is the time of dormancy or rest for the plant; time when it recovers from the energetic activity of the season past and prepares for the season to come.

In my life I have experienced many times of pruning and they have often felt uncomfortable until I learned to recognise their purpose and to understand that these times of rest and recovery do not mean that God has no further need or use for me, but rather he is preparing me for the next season of fruitfulness. In John 15:2 it says that he prunes every branch that bears fruit that it may bear more fruit.

Perhaps you are in such a season right now, wondering if your usefulness is finished. No, my friend, so long as you walk this earth God will have his purpose for your life as you give yourself to him each day. It may be to minister to a friend, a neighbour, family or stranger, or it may be to minister only to the Lover of your soul. The latter often gets overlooked in the busyness of life. To spend time in his presence is the most precious thing we can do for God, and is so necessary for restoration of our soul. Use your pruning time to draw near to Him.

Prayer: Lord God, lover of my soul, I give myself to you this day to do with me as you will. Help me to be content with doing as much or as little as you allow this day. Amen

Now is the time.... To Develop Character

…..and we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. Romans 5:3-4

I have been reading again the story of Joseph’s reunion with his brothers who had sold him into slavery in Egypt many years before (Genesis 37). What a man of character Joseph turned out to be. But how did that happen? Through much tribulation, perseverance and hope.

As a youth Joseph had a dream about him being in a place of power and authority; a dream that was given by God, but for a future time. Before the dream could become a reality Joseph had to endure many hardships. He was rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongly accused by an employer’s wife, imprisoned and forgotten…… until the appointed time! Through it all Joseph developed a solid character and a humility which gave God the glory that was due to him (Genesis 41:16).

Tribulations – challenging, difficult, painful times are often God-given opportunities to develop our character in order to prepare us for His purposes, as we see was clearly the case in the life of Joseph. Though persecuted, ridiculed and cast out by his brothers, Joseph maintained an attitude which allowed the favour of God to rest upon him. Even in prison he was given a position of trust. He was a man of humility, with a willing spirit to serve and this did not go unnoticed by those around him. For him to be this way I truly believe he must have trusted that God had a future and a purpose for him, even in his darkest days.

Finally his dream of long ago became a reality and he found himself in a position of high authority in Egypt, his brothers bowing at his feet (Genesis 45). When he revealed his true identity to his brothers it was not with recrimination but he comforted them with, “But now therefore do not be grieved and angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life……. and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

Perhaps you are the first believer in your family or amongst your friends, and find yourself persecuted or at least viewed with suspicion, if not ridicule. Can you glory in the difficulties knowing that there will come a time when you will be given the opportunity to bring deliverance to those you love? Now is the time to develop patience and character and wait for God’s appointed time. He will not disappoint you.

Faithful Father, thank you for calling me into your kingdom of light and love. Please help me to follow Joseph’s example and keep a forgiving and faithful heart so that I can be found pleasing in your sight. Amen