Prayer

I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.
John 17:15 (NET)

I had a mix of thoughts when I read this verse: firstly, how precious that Jesus prayed in such a way for his disciples: those with him at the time. But his prayer was also for all of us who would believe and receive his gift of salvation down through the ages. My second thought was how good that we can remain in this world and enjoy its beauty that God originally created for us to enjoy.  But on the other hand Jesus knew what it would mean for his followers to be left on this earth....temptation, persecution, heartbreaks, frustrations, pain, grief and trials of various kinds.  That's why he prayed as he did, "that you would keep them safe from the evil one."  Jesus himself interceded for us. Yes, you and me!

Jesus saw the 'big picture'.  He himself suffered much opposition, persecution and ridicule while he walked this earth.  In fact there were times that crowds would have killed him long before his ministry time was finished but God kept him until his appointed time. (Interestingly that time was the Passover, because Jesus was to be our Passover Lamb, the one sacrificed for our sins.  His death was a fulfilment of the old Law, and because God does everything perfectly and according to his plans, the sacrifice of His Son fitted perfectly into the Jewish calendar.)

Jesus knew that his disciples down through the ages would have to endure much persecution too.  In Matthew 10 Jesus spoke much of the persecution the would follow his disciples and he said in 10:24,
The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord."  We know that his disciples had taken that on board because in Acts 5:41 we find them rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for him.

In many of our countries we are not experiencing great persecution.  (Perhaps because we are too silent in speaking out about Jesus and His love for our world, and standing up for his ideals.) However at this very moment there are thousands upon thousands of our precious brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering much persecution for their faith, in prison and out of prison.  Let us join our prayers with Jesus' prayer and pray that God will keep them strong, faithful, courageous and bold, able to count themselves worthy to suffer for His sake.  Pray as Hebrews 13:3 instructs us to pray......
"Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies."

Prayer: Father God, help me to remember to pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering for your sake.  Strengthen them, encourage them, make them bold for you, send your Holy Spirit to comfort them and your angels to minister to them. In Jesus' name. Amen

Distractions

Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.  Luke 10:40

These days I sometimes think that 'distraction' is my middle name.  It's a funny thing but as one ages it seems so easy to get off track with many distractions.  Yesterday I found myself in the garage and wondered why I had gone there!  At the time I was in conversation with Col and he was about to leave (through the garage) and I had actually set out to go to the kitchen.  Oh well!  I start out to do a task and find myself distracted by something else and completely forget what I had set out to do.  I don't think 'my case' is serious or anything to be concerned about.  I just have to be extra intentional about what I do....and keep a sense of humour!

This past few weeks has been full of distractions (good ones), as family and friends have visited with us to celebrate our Golden Wedding anniversary and then we went on holiday in the beautiful Deep South of this wonderful New Zealand.  These distractions have kept me from writing which I feel it is important for me to do because I want to use the gift of words that God has blessed me with so that I can encourage others.

One Bible character that many of us can identify with is poor Martha in Luke 10.  I love to have visitors and I think Martha did too, except that she failed to take time in the moment to enjoy her special visitor, Jesus.  She allowed herself to become very distracted by her preparations and serving.  I can imagine the thoughts that rushed through her head which would have then led to the resentment which caused her to rush into the midst of the guests with an angry outburst.  Oh dear!  Why do we often think food is more important than spending time with people?

Jesus gently but clearly reminded Martha that her sister Mary, who was the object of Martha's resentment at that moment, had gotten her priorities right by sitting and listening to the Master.  There will always be distractions or interruptions to our spending time with God and people but when they come, let's take a quick check on which is the most important thing.  Let's not allow the busyness of our day to rob ourselves of time with God in His word and in prayer, and let's remember to make time for people too.

Prayer:  Dear Lord, just as you chided Martha to check her priorities, would you also remind me when I am rushed and hassled about worldly things, that the most important thing is to take time with you and with your Word which can never be taken away from me.  Amen

Displaced

They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Acts 18:2

We have all been moved in recent times by images of displaced people, refugees of politics, persecution and war.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the enormity of it all and the seeming hopelessness of the plight of many as they are pushed from pillar to post. But we can pray knowing that God often has great purpose in allowing people (and his people) to be displaced.

Such was the case of Paul, Aquila and Priscilla where we find them meeting up in Corinth in Acts 18. Aquila and Priscilla were Jews and probably already Christians since Paul went to see them and then set up business in partnership with them while at the same time taking the opportunity to teach in the synagogue every Sabbath.  This was a great partnership for work and spiritual growth.  Paul was an excellent teacher and he took Priscilla and Aquila with him on a missionary journey to Ephesus where he left them.  Then along comes Apollos who was a Jew who had a thorough knowledge of scripture but had no experience of the Holy Spirit baptism, only the baptism of John (Acts 18:25).  Priscilla and Aquila were in the right place to instruct him further.

Don't be afraid if God seems to be moving you on.  Sometimes employment dries up or diminishes.  This happened to us in 1994 and we found ourselves in Hong Kong.....for 13+ years.  It was a wonderful season in our lives and we never would have gone if things hadn't taken a downturn for us.  

Take heart, be encouraged, He has a plan, so allow yourself to be fitted into his plan.  Remember Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you a hope and a future."  We need to be brave and trust God's faithfulness and let it be proven in our own life.

Having said that, do remember those who have been displaced from their homes and lands at this time.  Pray that God will reveal Himself to them through people they meet in their plight.  Pray for those working to relieve suffering and hardship.  Pray for God's light to shine and His truth to be revealed to hearts that are wondering "Why God?"  Sometimes suffering and shaking, insecurity and great need are what it takes to make us open to receive God's Truth.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus please reveal yourself as the Lord and giver of life to those who find themselves in difficult situations at this time.  Help their hurting hearts to find peace as they hear of your great love for them and their families.  Bless those who work among them and for those who don't know you, please reveal your truth to them too.  Amen

Is it Legal?

....Jesus said to them,"Is it legal to heal on the sabbath?"  Matthew 12:10

Recently I received a fine for speeding.  Yes, a camera caught me doing 55 kph in a 50 kph area.  I usually set the cruise control but obviously I forgot on this particular day.  It's only my second ticket in my 55 years of driving because I know that rules are for the safety of ourselves and others so I am generally a law-abiding person.  But everybody makes mistakes!

When Jesus healed the withered hand on the sabbath he did not make a mistake.  He was making a statement. A statement that he made a number of times which stirred up the religious leaders to such anger that they plotted to kill him.  Why would he deliberately break their laws when he clearly stated elsewhere that he came to fulfil the law? (Matthew 5:17).  He was making a point.  His point was that they had changed lawfulness into legalism.  I heard a preacher say recently that legalism is evil.  I didn't hear the second part of his reasoning because I missed the program but I can see here, in the story of the man with the withered hand, what he probably meant.  Legalism takes pride in rule-keeping, and we see clearly what the result of legalism did.  It persecuted and finally killed Jesus.

God gave the law for our good, for our guidance and the protection of ourselves and others.  It was a law based in love; love for God and love for others (Matthew 22:36-40) .  The priests and the Pharisees had added a multitude of other rules and regulations around God's Law which made it burdensome and it lacked love and compassion. We see that so clearly in this story.

Years ago we got caught up in a very legalistic church for some years.  The worst thing was that we got blinded to the truth of God's grace.  When we left that church we lost every friend we had in that church.  They would have nothing to do with us. That is a fruit of legalism.  We had not left our faith in Jesus, we moved straight into another church, but these people believed a lie that was founded in legalism and control.  I am glad to say that in later years we have happily resumed loving relationship with some who have left that church.

For those who seek to sincerely represent Jesus Christ and his message, the question must not be "Is it legal?" but rather "Is it loving?"  Love doesn't deny or compromise God's truth as we see from Jesus' life', it is not weak and wishy washy but neither is it hard and condemning.  It is vital that the Body of Christ portray the love of Christ correctly because the essence of the One we worship is love.  God IS love.

PRAYER:  Lord Jesus, help me to continually examine my heart to ensure that the love of God resides within me and overflows to those who need to know you.  Amen

Prison to Praise

And I said, “This is my anguish; But I will remember .......  Psalm 77:10 

If you are going through a miserable time wondering if God is there for you, please take time to read the whole of this psalm's 20 verses.  This poor man was having a miserable sleepless night, no doubt rehearsing all his troubles and totally wondering where God was in all of it,  he could not understand why God wasn't answering his prayers, he felt rejected, he wondered whether God would ever answer his prayers again, he asks "Has God slammed the door on compassion?" (Vs 9 NLT)

At this point he made a decision....to remember what God had done in the past.  He remembered his faithfulness, that he is mighty and awesome in power and so on.  I would like to say that this psalm comes to a happy ending but it leaves us in mid air.  In a way that's good because it reminds us that we are left hanging for quite awhile sometimes in our difficulties and it takes more than one night's prayer to see an answer.

What I wanted to look at here is the decision the psalmist made to change his thoughts from fear of God forsaking him and leaving him in his misery, to thoughts of remembering God's faithfulness in the past.  When we do that something changes in us and our fear is replaced with faith and our hopelessness changes to hope.  In 1 Samuel 30:6 we see David in a terrible position surrounded by grief but he made a choice and he "encouraged himself in the Lord".  No doubt he turned his thoughts towards what God had done in the past, what he had promised in his word and through the prophet.  He set his mind on a positive course.

I am not talking about "think nice thoughts, positive thoughts and it will all work out" type of thinking which we hear a lot about today.  I am talking about God-centred, God-honouring thoughts centred in His truth, the Bible, in his character and his faithfulness to his word. These are the kind of thoughts that have a foundation in something of substance, not just an airy fairy hope.

Years ago there were some books written by Merlin Carothers called Prison to Praise and Power in Praise and they gave a powerful message which I remember to this day.  We can get out of our prison of misery by turning our hearts to praise and thanks in affirming that God is faithful and he does hear our cries and we can trust that through our misery he will do a good work in us, (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:  Faithful God, thank you for the reminder that I have a choice to focus on my problems or to remember your faithfulness in times past and stir up my faith to believe you for solutions by encouraging myself in your word.  Amen

Attitude

"...they all complained saying, "Look, this man has gone to eat with a man who is a sinner." Luke 19:7

An item in the news recently was of interest to us as reasonably new residents in NZ.  The Inland Revenue Department is considering making it compulsory to submit a tax return.  That's an interesting concept for we have mainly lived in countries where submitting a tax return was a requirement.  Colin had submitted one last year (which turned out to be to our benefit), and was surprised as how easy it is to do it online.

Anyway.....the point I am getting to is really that tax collectors have generally been unpopoular since early times.  In Palestine in Jesus' time they were doubly unpopular because 1) they were collecting taxes for the Romans who ruled over the land and 2) they were often cheats and took extra for themselves.  Such was Zaccheus, a man not blessed with height, but one who was so eager to see Jesus that he climbed a tree along the roadside to get a better view of him.  Never for a moment did he think that Jesus would see him and his life would be changed that day, but he was a man to whom salvation was on its way.

For those of us who have heard this story since Sunday School days and sung the song about him, we know that Jesus looked up and said, "Come Zaccheus, I'm coming to your house to eat!"  So accustomed as he was to rejection from his fellow man, that acceptance from this controversial man called Jesus took him by surprise and did something to Zaccheaus' heart.  He changed, gave half his money to the poor and committed to repay monies he had wrongfully taken - fourfold!  All the religious people outside could do was complain that Jesus could eat with a sinner.  Their attitude would ensure that they would receive nothing from Jesus.

It is so easy for some of us to have a wrong attitude towards people we don't agree with, especially those who have a reputation for doing the wrong thing.  Yet Jesus' attitude towards Zaccheaus shows us what can happen if we show God's love and acceptance to them.  Let's allow God's grace and unconditional love flow through us to the unlovely.  It may be that God is drawing them to himself and just needs a vessel to use.  Let's see potential for change in everyone and write no one off as beyond help.  God's unconditional love is life-changing.

PRAYER:  Lord, forgive me for the times I have neglected to see potential for good in people.  Help me to tune into your Spirit and allow your unconditional love flow through me to those who you are drawing to yourself.  Amen

Wisdom

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My son(daughter) be wise and make my heart glad.  Proverbs 27:11

We all want our children to be wise and to make good life decisions.  We often offer them more wisdom than they want.  Sometimes they listen and heed us but more often they probably think we are weird or just not up with the times and don't understand, so they go ahead and follow their own wisdom,  what they think will work.

But what about us?  God's vast wisdom is available to us freely (James 1:5), do we seek him, our heavenly Father, when making life decisions, even small ones, or do we lean on our own limited wisdom? That is quite an important question to ask.  One of my favourite verses is found in Proverbs 3:5-7 and it says this, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you the path to take."   It's pretty clear advice to God's people.  So often we don't do that because when passion is involved we can make some really poor choices.

Earlier this year we were thinking about how we wanted to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We thought a European river cruise would be great but then we saw the struggles going on in Europe  with refugees etc and we decided against it.  HOWEVER, we recently received a brochure from one company offering really good deals, we got excited, even went to the travel agent and began to lock some things in, but we did involve God.  We prayed that God's wisdom would prevail: if details all fell into place over the weekend we would go ahead, if not, we would cancel.  Well, details did not fall into place and we cancelled.  We were a little disappointed, until two days later terrorism reared its ugly head again, this time in Belgium, and we felt glad to have followed God's wisdom.

In reading details surrounding Jesus' trial we see clearly how passion can cause people to make very wrong decisions. They put Jesus before Pilate who found no wrong in him but sent him to Herod to make sure.  Herod found no wrong in him and sent him back to Pilate.  He put it to the crowd, "I find nothing worthy of death has been done by him.  I will therefore chastise him and release him.  .....And they all cried out at once saying, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas." Luke 23:13-24.  Three chances were given, three choices made...."crucify him".

In their passion they chose Barabbas, a terrorist; one convicted of insurrection against the government  and murder.   They chose instead to crucify Jesus, the most innocent man of all time.  Yes, we know God's hand was in this to bring about our salvation but it is a clear example of how passion can cause us to make very crazy decisions.

Will you choose to commit your decisions to God and follow his wisdom to make his heart glad?

Prayer:  Father God, forgive me for the times I have gone my own way, relying on my own wisdom.  Help me to remember to hold things loosely and ask your wisdom in life decisions. Amen