Risen

The earth was silent that after-Sabbath morn

     As though creation held its breath

             The plan of God about to be fulfilled.

      No soldier set to guard the tomb could – even if he willed

           Stop the mighty act of God

                   As heaven’s power filled that tomb

And Life conquered death, sin’s price paid in full

             Forever – it was finished!

The women came with spices – early risers

         To minister to the One they held so dear.

Talking, wondering, how to roll away the heavy stone

              That had been set to seal the fate, to hold Him captive still –

This One who spoke of things too wonderful to understand.

Amazed, they stopped and trembled at the sight

             Of angels standing guard – the tomb was open wide

Their message clear – He is not here – He is risen!

His work was done

         Though man and Satan thought they’d won

As always underestimating the wondrous ways of One we call

Our Master, Saviour, Lord, Redeemer, friend –

         Holy One of Israel, Son of God

We worship You this day for You are worthy

        Who walked this earth and felt our pain, then paid the price of sin

So we can rise – set free, forgiven – to sing with thankful hearts

                To You our King of Glory.

Radical Love

Our little country at the end of the world had a huge wakeup call just 10 days ago when 50 muslims were slaughtered in their place of prayer by a radical extreme hater.  New Zealand became world news for a time, not only for the heinous crime but more so for the amazing outpouring of love and compassion for the communities that had suffered loss.

Sadly such crimes go on somewhere in the world every day and we have almost become hardened to it, unsurprised at man's inhumanity to man.  We must remember that ".... we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."  Ephesians 6:12.  This verse tells us who is behind these radical haters who make it their business to rob, kill and destroy.  His name is Satan, the devil.  He will play both sides against the other, he doesn't care who gets killed in the process. Hundreds of Christians around the world are murdered on a daily basis in similar fashion.  No matter what ethnicity, when you see such crimes, remember that it is the evil rulers of the unseen world at work.  People deceived, believing, as the Bible already told us, "doctrines of demons", 1 Timothy 4:1.

As we lead into Easter I am reminded of the night that Jesus was betrayed by his friend, Judas who was also deceived by Satan into betraying Him for money which soon destroyed him.  In the Garden of Gethsemane that night radicalism raised its head through Peter, Jesus most outspoken disciple.  In trying to protect Jesus from being taken captive, Peter raised his sword and cut of a man's ear! Jesus rebuked him, reached out and healed the man's ear in an act of radical love. He then quietly faced the 'kangaroo court' that found him guilty and sentenced him to an excruciating death on the cross. Jesus was guilty of nothing but love, His purpose was to reconcile you and me back to God through bearing our sin, past, present and future on the cross.  That is radical love.  He had earlier said that there was no greater love than one laying down his life for another (John 15:13).

As you look at world events you can decide for yourself the source of actions by their 'fruit'.  Whether it be of the sinful nature (flesh), which is controlled by Satan or, of the forgiven and renewed life for those who have received Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord who are then controlled by the Spirit.  "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,   idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,  envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" Galatians 5:19-22

The Holy Spirit will never activate hate crimes.  He inspires radical, forgiving love because that is God's nature.  Follow Him and find joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control all rooted in His radical love.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father please comfort those who mourn the loss of loved ones this day.  Bring them comfort and peace and help me to live in your radical, forgiving love today. Amen

Unbelievable

In the early 1900's Robert Ripley realised he was onto something.  He later became the founder of the now worldwide Ripley's Believe it or Not franchise.  I don't think we have one in New Zealand but I have seen one at The Peak in Hong Kong. Ripley seemed to specialise in finding freakish things that would fascinate a certain side of human nature.

How many times have you heard and said the words "I can't believe it"?  It can be for good things (like winning Lotto, though you probably haven't said it for that reason!), or because you can't believe someone would be so generous, skilful, or even stupid.   I had a dear Korean friend in Hong Kong who often exclaimed "unbelievable!".  We used to tease her.

In reading Numbers 13 and 14 this morning I was struck by the unbelief of the Israelites.  Twelve men had been sent to spy out the land of Canaan (the land promised to them by God).  They spent 40 days checking out the land and found that it was indeed a 'land flowing with milk and honey' (13:27).  They also carried back proof of the bounty of the land, a cluster of grapes so large that 2 men carried it on a pole.  Now that's unbelievable!!

They reported briefly on the bounty of the land then prefixed their next statement with 'nevertheless', (in other words BUT) .....'the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are large and fortified, not only that we saw giants there.'  Two men of faith, Caleb and Joshua, stood up and bravely took the 10 to task.  'Let us go up', said Caleb, ' for we are well able to overcome them.'  But the 10 persisted in unbelief.....They went on to say that they felt like grasshoppers when they saw these giants and that's how we looked to them! (13:33).  They projected how they felt about themselves onto the other people.  How often do we do that? 

The people listened to the fear-filled report and wept.  They refused to believe that God would help them conquer, instead they had a pity party.  Consequently they missed out on the blessing of seeing what God wanted to do for them because over the next 40 years they all died in the wilderness, except Joshua and Caleb and the younger generation.  These were the people who went on to conquer that same land 40 years later!

This morning I came across a quote I'd written in an old Bible years ago......."There is no strength in unbelief." George MacDonald. Now that's worth pondering.

Has God encouraged you to believe him for something?  Don't let doubt and unbelief rob you of the blessing of seeing how God is able to work things out.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, forgive me for not believing that you are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or even think.  Help me to believe.  Amen

Sheepdogs!

This morning I was studying a beautiful photo in a devotional book that sparked some random thoughts about sheepdogs.  If you are up for random thoughts read on!

The photograph was of an alpine flock in a paddock close to the chalet and surrounding sheds.   Drenched in the glorious glow of the setting sun the sheep graze quietly, minding their own business. Two sheepdogs on the outskirts of the flock look towards the camera, watching the intruder, it's definitely not the farmer for he can be seen in the background.  This is a professional photographer (judging by the quality of the photo), and the dogs are on the alert.  It got me thinking about sheepdogs.

I am in no way qualified to write about sheepdogs and so am open to correction.  My knowledge of same is drawn only from watching sheepdogs at work on a sheep station around Lake Wakatipu and also on our wonderful TV programme called Country Calendar.  Not comprehensive for sure but what I have concluded is that sheepdogs are wonderful and clever creatures, obedient and loyal to their masters with ears tuned to his signals, and they work well under good direction.  They move the flock in one direction, literally barking out their orders and keeping the sheep in line.  In confined spaces I have  even seen them walk across the backs of the sheep to get from one end of the run to the other.  

Now not to put too finer point on this I wanted to liken good sheepdogs to good leaders, particularly as they relate to churches and ministries.  A good leader is tuned to the Master's signal. He is ready and listening.  He knows the different signals (whistles) and understands what to do accordingly.  He is really a guardian of the flock, guiding them and guarding them, keeping them together and heading in the direction the Master wants them to go.

A good leader is loyal and obedient to his Master.  Dogs can teach us so much about loyalty.  They seem to be loyal to their masters, even the cruel ones.  However cruel masters shape the personality of a dog and in the same way self-serving and ungodly leaders shape the personality and self worth of their followers.  In Philippians 3:2 the apostle Paul likens poor leaders to dogs......."Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved."  

Leaders can also walk all over their 'flock' but this is not the way of leadership that Jesus taught.   "Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.   And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." Luke 22:24-26.

When searching for a photo for today's post I came across the one above which made me laugh, but I need to talk about it.  Sometimes our leaders are like this poor sheepdog.....buried in the mob and at the mercy of their congregation.  Just as leaders should not walk all over their people, the people should not overwhelm the leader and walk all over him.  Leaders are called leaders because they are meant to lead.  Let's give them space to spend time hearing from God so they can lead well. Also let's be thankful, supportive and encouraging of our good leaders, forgiving when they make mistakes, praying for them always.  Be alert for the 'not so good' leaders and don't fall into their trap.  

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, thank you that you give us clear guidelines in your Word about what a good leader should look like.  Help me to be discerning and prayerful in this regard to ensure that I align myself with leaders who are obedient to you.  Amen

Good Leadership.... & Bad

Photo: Grant Stirling

Five days ago a fire sprang up in Pigeon Valley, a heavily forested area about 25 minutes south of us.  It is thought that it was one of those coincidences, the nasty kind, that the fire may have been sparked by heavy farm machinery.  As we have watched and waited I have been so impressed by the leadership of the Tasman region; mayor, civil defence, fire department, volunteers and now the Defence Force.  All have worked selflessly and tirelessly for the good of others.  We have had 22 helicopters and 2 fixed wing aircraft battling the fire and then yesterday another fire quickly took hold close to the city and many more homes.  Quick action and diversion of these precious resources brought this under control.

As I write, there are a number of families in evacuation centres wondering when they will be allowed to return home.  Fortunately many homes have been miraculously saved.  There is no rain on the forecast but we are praying that God will graciously send some unexpected rain on our drought stricken area.

Meantime high in overseas news is the plight of Venezuela. Inflation at a million %.  We can't even begin to imagine it. The people hungry, the hospitals lacking medicines. people desperate. A convoy of aid has arrived at the border and President  Maduro is refusing to allow aid in because he is deluded, and determined to hold onto leadership in the face of opposition. He certainly doesn't look underfed and is no doubt keeping his cronies in the military well looked after so that they support his stance. He certainly would not seem to have the good of the people on his mind.

In my Bible reading I have been following the journey of the children of Israel and Moses' leadership of this grumbling and faithless bunch.  God had given them great and amazing signs of his presence with them, great promises that he would not fail them yet they preferred to look back (through unrealistic eyes) at how good it had been in Egypt.  Moses was a reluctant leader, yet this is what God had prepared him for throughout his life.  Moses thought God was making a mistake because he wasn't great at public speaking, so God said "Okay, I'll send your older brother Aaron with you to be your spokesperson BUT, I will tell YOU what he is to say. Aaron was not given the leadership.  As I read today in Exodus 31 and 32 I saw why.

God had called Moses aside to give him further instructions, his faithful off-sider Joshua went up the mountain with him.  When they were gone many days Aaron's leadership was tested and he failed.  The people came asking for leadership.  "We don't know what's happened to Moses.  You make us gods to lead us on." Aaron was quick to oblige, taking their gold jewellery and fashioning a golden calf for them to worship.  This was the man appointed by God to be priest of the Most High God!  How could he so quickly turn away?  His actions caused God's anger to be stirred, people to die and Aaron to lie when questioned by an angry Moses.  

Moses was a good leader.  Yes, he was angry and he threw down the precious tablets of the law that God had written with his own hand.  But Moses not only confronted the situation but he prayed for God's mercy on the people (Exodus 32:11-14) and God changed his mind about destroying the people entirely.  God had offered to make a whole new nation from Moses' line.  A proud and selfish leader would have jumped at the chance but Moses had a heart for his people.

The Bible encourages us to pray for our leaders and those in authority (1 Timothy 2:2). "Pray for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence."  In this way we can influence the kind of leadership we have.

Prayer: Father God, thank you that we can live in peace and security under leaders that care.  We pray that we will continue to have leaders who will govern and lead in ways that allow us to continue to worship freely and spread the good news of your love.   Amen

Where Is God?

I confess to being a bit of a 'news freak'.  Recently I heard someone say that they don't watch the news because it is so depressing.  Unfortunately not watching the news does not make the bad stuff go away, it just keeps us in happy ignorance of the true state of things on planet earth.  It leaves us feeling comfortable, and unaware of the great need there is for us to pray.

Why pray?,  you might say.  Where is God?  How can he let this stuff happen?  Why do people have to suffer, be oppressed, be enslaved, die in senseless ways?  It's just a hopeless situation, God doesn't seem to be answering anyway.

If you read the book of Psalms in the Bible you will see these same questions were being asked thousands of years ago.  However, the writers of the psalms were men of faith and they often answered their own questions.  In Psalm 115:3 the psalmist answers the question "So where is their God" with the confident response, "Our God is in heaven."  Job 34:21 says "God watches how people live, he sees everything they do."  

Yes, he is there watching and grieving, just as he did before the great flood.  He sees it all; the depths of depravity, the pain of oppression, man's inhumanity to man - all because man has ignored God's guidelines for living in this world.  We have set God aside to our own great detriment.  But it's not like we haven't been warned.  Can you imagine how the world would be if we heeded Jesus' words "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you." Mark 6:31.  

This world was given over to Satan's rulership from the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve decided to disobey God.  Sin wasn't taken care of in the flood.  Noah was found to be the most righteous man around so he and his family were entrusted with starting over but the sin streak was still alive and well.  Jesus called Satan 'the prince of this world'.  It's his handiwork we see in the chaos of our world..... and it will get worse before Jesus finally comes to rule and reign with his people....those who have chosen to believe and follow him.

When Jesus spoke of the things that would come upon this world in Luke 21 he said, "But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."  The only way to do this is to actively believe and confess faith in Jesus Christ and live in his righteousness. There is no other way.  Then you will know where God is? 

Prayer: Thank you Father God that you have not left us without hope.  Help me to be one who prays for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen

What Are You Hearing?

I am very thankful for my hearing and, when I take time to think about it, I am amazed at the mystery of sound and how we receive it.  Just a few little delicate bones in our ear receive and interpret sound. We certainly are wonderfully made.

Although I confess to being a lover of quiet, I cannot imagine a world without sound.  This morning, as I sit writing, the sound of a garden trimmer in the distance breaks my peace, then there's the occasional passing car, the sound of voices in the street, the doorbell, and a chirping bird. Every sound different, yet recognisable......amazing!

There are so many sounds that fill our world, some strident, some soothing.  Sound is an essential part of life but lack of attention to the right sound can also bring death.  I am thinking particularly about a death that occurred on a railway crossing last year because the person had earphones and was so caught up with his music that he didn't hear the warning sounds of the coming train.

Sound can be our friend and our foe.

In the same way that we need to listen to warning sounds, we need to be careful about the words we hear and take on board.  Words can be bring a positive sound to our ears of affirmation, love, assurance of our worth, or they can bring the negative sound of criticism, rejection and judgement. Listen to your own words and make sure they speak life and love to the people around you.  If they don't, take a look at what might be the reason for your own negativity.  Perhaps you have grown up with parents who didn't affirm you and so you feel worthless about yourself.

The good thing is that we can know the total acceptance of our loving God who wants to speak words of life, comfort, encouragement and healing into our lives.  If we become a student of the Word of God and receive His truth about ourselves, we can replace the negative sounds we have listened to and become one who also knows how to encourage and bless others with our words.

Finally, find positive people to hang out with and learn from them.  Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.".  He also said, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."  Those rivers of living water will bring forth positive life giving words that are needed to counteract the tidal wave of evil and corruption that prevails in our world today.  Will you be a fountain of life-giving words to those who need to hear them?  Connect with Jesus the source of life and be a world-changer in your corner of the world.

Prayer:  Jesus, forgive me for the times I have beat myself up because of the lies I have believed about myself.  You are the life-giver.  Thank you for the love you continue to show to those who will hear your sound.  Help me to allow your life-giving words to heal me and then flow from me.  Amen