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

Can You Be Duped?

In today's world it has become increasingly difficult to discern between truth and lies.  This was brought into sharp focus for me by a TED talk posted on Facebook recently.  (I will post the link to it at the end of this blog.) It shows how easy it is to be fooled, (read deceived), by the technology that is now available.  This technology can generate lifelike images of real people and put words on their lips that they have never said.  The creator of this technology is so concerned about its possible misuse that he is in process of developing a platform that will discern between real and fake that he hopes will be made available to the public in the future.

This should raise huge red flags for us.  We tend to believe whatever the media puts before us with whatever slant they want to put on it.  It can depend upon which news we watch and the political leanings of that particular channel.  We are probably aware of propaganda which is used in countries such as China and North Korea to mention just two, but are we aware that we can too easily be influenced by subtle twists in our so-called 'free' countries?  'Fake news' has become a new buzz word since Donald Trump coined it.  We tend to laugh that off, but I am becoming increasingly cautious about just 'writing off' such claims as ridiculous.  The media can slant things by only telling the part of a story that fits their purposes.

If we are to be serious about knowing truth we need to dig deeper and listen to people who bring another perspective. Unfortunately some of those who desire to seek out the truth and publish it are being shut down on some platforms in the USA - YouTube and other media outlets.  Interesting!  

I am not saying that we should believe everything that is said 'behind the news' either.  But we need to hear both sides in order to make a truly informed opinion.  Sometimes we need to just hold both loosely and wait and see.  

How can we guard against being deceived?  Two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, his young protege, in 2 Timothy 3 about what would be happening in the last days and one of the things he said is  'But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.'  That infers that the deceivers will believe that they are speaking the truth.  Because they are convinced they are speaking truth people will believe them.  In 2 Timothy 3:13 Paul goes on to instruct Timothy on how to avoid being deceived......'But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.'

I believe that we are most certainly living in the last days; there are too many things converging which the Biblical prophets have spoken of for me to think otherwise.  If you want to know and understand truth you need to know the One who is the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.  It was lies from seemingly righteous religious leaders that plagued his ministry and finally put him to death on a cross.  We live in far more subtly deceptive times than Timothy did.  How will you guard yourself?  If you choose to trust your own wisdom it will fail you.  Only the wisdom and truth found through in the Word of God and faith in Jesus Christ will keep you from being deceived.  It takes humility to admit the need for wisdom outside of ourself.  Are you up to it?

Prayer:  Holy and wise God, help me to seek your wisdom when faced with decisions to make,  and plant in me the desire to seek truth through relationship with Jesus Christ and through the understanding of your Word.  Amen

https://www.ted.com/talks/supasorn_suwajanakorn_fake_videos_of_real_people_and_how_to_spot_them?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

The Great Gift Exchange

Christmas is over!  One of the news items on Boxing Day (apart from the sales), is how many unwanted gifts are put up for exchange on various internet sites!  An incredible number of gifts given yet unwanted and now up for grabs for the bargain hunters, and people hardly blink an eye at this.  Many of the gifts are expensive electronics pieces.  I'm sure the customer service counters at shops have also been busy handling exchanges.

It makes me think about why these gifts are unwanted.  We have all been in the position, I'm sure, of not knowing what to give.  Some people in our family are incredibly good gift buyers but I am not one of them.  I love to give but I am not observant enough to know what people need and like. Charity gifts have become a very practical and easy way out of that bind, while blessing the needy.  

Many people put a lot of thought into gift buying and others just 'throw money at it'.  The latter is probably where a lot of the unwanted gift syndrome occurs.  Also it's very difficult to buy a gift for someone who has everything.

This great gift exchange got me thinking about a different kind of exchange that God offers to those who will receive the greatest gift of all.....the Lord Jesus Christ.  It was a very costly gift but did not involve money.  It was a life laid down to bring reconciliation between sinful man and a perfect God.  Followers of Jesus are offered these things:

He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted

and to proclaim that captives will be released

and prisoners will be freed. 

He has sent me to tell those who mourn

that the time of the LORD’s favor has come, 

and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.

To all who mourn in Israel, 

he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,

a joyous blessing instead of mourning,

festive praise instead of despair.....

                                                                        Isaiah 61:1-3

That looks like a great exchange to me....

if  you have a broken heart you can find comfort in Jesus

if you feel you are caught in some kind of prison he 

offers you freedom

if grief has overtaken you he brings hope for a great future

for the ashes of disappointment he will give you beauty and peace

he can turn your mourning into praise.

Receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ is the best gift you could ever receive, and if you have already done that make sure you walk in all the benefits that go with that gift. Leave behind all that is negative and destructive in your life as we say goodbye to 2018. Enter fully into the abundant (full to overflowing) life that he has promised you. 

Prayer:  Father God, thank you for the good things I have learnt this year, help me to remember them but please help me to let go of the things that hold me back from fully receiving the blessing of the abundant life you offer.  As I enter 2019 may I more truly receive all that you offer me.  I ask in the name of Jesus Christ who died to give me life. Amen

Chosen for A Great Event .....God's Way

Mary– a young girl, not noteworthy, except to God.....for her faith 

            and humility….

            Chosen to be the bearer of the Son of God.

Joseph–  neither learned nor a prince…a humble carpenter 

               Chosen to be the earthly father of the Son of God.

Elizabeth– a woman pregnant for the first time in old age.....
                   with the one who was to announce the Christ to 
                   the world...

                  Chosen to be the first to announce the unborn Child’s

                  destiny to His mother.

Bethlehem – a small, insignificant town in Judah…….  

                      Chosen to host the arrival of the Son of God.

A baby - helpless and dependant……

               Chosen to embody the God of the universe and 

               experience every facet of life as we do.

A stable -  not a palace, not even a simple room in an inn……

                  Chosen to be the birthplace of the Saviour of the 

                  world.

A manger – the feeding trough for animals……

                     Chosen to be the bed for the One who would feed 

                     thousands with his words and his miracles.

                   

Shepherds – simple men minding their flocks – not religious 

                      leaders…..

                      Chosen to be the first of mankind to see the 

                      Messiah.

Wise Men –from Gentile lands afar and of different faith– 

                    not priests  from the Holy Land.  

                     Chosen to bring prophetic gifts to this holy Child.

Prophets -  Simeon, an ordinary but devout and faithful man; 

                    Anna – an old praying widow.

                    Chosen to be the first to welcome the Saviour 
                    and Redeemer of the world to His holy temple.

Nazareth – an obscure town, we are told, out of which 

                    nothing great was expected.

                    Chosen as the hometown for Jesus Christ, 

                                            Son of God

                                                   King of Kings

                                                          Lord of Lords.

God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.  And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important; so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God.  

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NLT)