Reflections

The Prod to Prayer

The question often arises in the minds of God's children: Why does God allow so many problems to crowd into my life? Why does He permit me to face such severe pressures? There are many answers to this question, such as He permits things in order that our characters might develop, or that through the irritation finer qualities might emerge in our spirits, but the main reason why God allows problems and difficulties is that they become a prod to prayer. It is so often our need that drives us to the Throne of Grace, in fervent believing prayer.

New Zealand (so  am told) is the home of more flightless birds than any other country in the world. The Kiwi, Kakapo, the Penguin and the Weka Rail. These birds , say the scholars once had wings, but they lost the use of them because of the fact that there were no dangerous animals to keep them on the alert. They had no necessity to fly and hence had no ability to fly. The cost of their immunity from fearsome and dangerous beasts was the power of their wings.

It might well be the same with us, were it not for the fact that God allows problems to crowd in upon us. The dangers we dread, and the problems we shrink from, are the invitation from heaven to expand our wings in the Spirit. If earth offered all that we need then we would be no greater that superior beasts without a thought above the clouds. But God allows difficulties to crowd our pathway and trials to come upon us to remind us that earth in itself does not contain everything we need. We need Him.

Reflections

Lovest thou Me?

When Jesus Christ was about to leave this world He placed His affairs largely in the hands of one man - Simon Peter (John 21:15-17). Now that, you must admit, appeared a very daring thing to do, especially as Peter had not proved too trustworthy in the past. Yet Jesus did not hesitate to do it.

Before handing to him the tremendous responsibility of holding the keys of the Kingdom, however, there was something about which Jesus wanted to be sure, and so taking Simon Peter aside He asked him a thrice-repeated question . What was it? "Peter are you familiar with the principles of public speaking?" No. "Peter do you understand the technical details of my religion?" No. "Peter are you able to handle the financial matters relating to My Church?" No. What was it then? It was this. "Peter do you love Me?" And that brothers and sisters, is the core of Christianity. 

It is fascinating to watch the play upon words here, for two Greek words come into focus in this passage. The word Jesus used in His probing question was Agape- Lovest (Agape) thou Me? Peter's reply, however, was  couched in the weaker Greek word Philio- meaning friendship. But if Christ was to build a Kingdom He needed more than loyalty from Peter - He needed his  complete and unqualified love. The third response Peter made included the the word Agape - "You know that I love you (Agape)" - Peter was now ready for his new responsibility in opening up the gates of the Kingdom of God at Pentecost. But this is not just a scrap of history, for Jesus is still standing on that shore looking straight into your eyes and asking that same question  "Do you love Me?" What is your response? Agape or Philio?

Reflections

"I Don't feel Like A Quiet Time!"

We need to develop a healthy spiritual appetite, through daily prayer and the reading of God's Word - the Bible. However the question to consider is this: Do we have to wait until we want to pray and read God's Word, or do we do it whether we feel like it or not? The answer is - we do it whether we feel like it or not.  

 The Christian life is not simply a belief in certain doctrines but a discipline in which we move beyond creeds - to deeds. The deed is really the creed - the thing we really believe in enough to put into practise. We do not believe in what we do not  practise. Those who go from week to week without establishing  a daily discipline of prayer and Bible reading are severing themselves from the very life by which they grow.

"But how," you ask, "do we go about changing our feelings so that we want to pray and read the Bible?" Firstly, examine your heart and see if there is anything in your life that needs to be corrected? Is there some sin or spiritual violation that needs to be put right? If there is, then attend to it at once. The old saying that "sin will keep you from prayer, but prayer will keep you from sin" is right. Secondly, recognise, that there is nothing you can do to change your feelings.  You cannot, for example, say to your heart - "feel happy", for the power to change your feelings lies beyond your will. What you can do, however, is to exert your will so that you keep your Quiet Time, and as you expose your thoughts to God in prayer and through the reading of the Word then your thoughts, opened up to God, will soon bring about a change in your feelings.

Reflections

Filled with the Spirit

The great preacher , C.H. Spurgeon , pointed out in relation to the text 'be filled with the Spirit' Eph.5:18, that it is not simply an experience to be enjoyed but a command to be obeyed. In other words, if we are not filled with the  the Spirit then we are disobedient Christians, and in need of some serious heart searching and self-discipline.

The term 'be filled with the Spirit, as is so often pointed out, is in present continuous tense, and rightly translated reads, 'be being filled with the Spirit.' We are not to think of the fullness  of the Spirit as something we experience at some given moment to last us for the rest of our lives. It is a

daily ongoing moment dependency on the Spirit's power in our lives  to flow through us and out of us wherever we are and wherever we may go. It is this daily drinking of the waters of the Spirits that neeeds (in my opinion) to be emhasised in today's Church for far too many believers tend to look to  some experience they received in the past, instead of relying day by on a fresh supply of the Spirit to fill and flow through their lives.

A Christian who is filled with the Spirit, in the sense it is described here, will have every compartment in his heart completely open to the Spirit's residency and presidency. And what will be the result? Probe the context and you will see. Your home, your business and your Church will all feel the effect of it when your life is being filled with the Spirit of God will never stop giving as long as we never stop receiving.

Reflections

The cause of Anger

As we submit ourselves to the rules of the Kingdom-that of joyful submission to all God's commands, and an eager acceptance of His perfect will-we discover that those rules work for us in powerful and positive ways. But what happens if we resist this law of the Kingdom? We then have to face the consequences, and those consequences find their expression in anger and impatience.

Have you ever considered what it is that drives Christians to be angry and impatience? It happens whenever we lose sight of the fact that all things work together to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose (Rom.8:28). Once we become aware of the fact that as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ,, we are God's personal property and that He will never allow anything to happen to us unless He can use it for good, this conviction becomes the Cosmic Loom on which all of live is woven. If we do not surrender to this fact then we will respond to life in negative ways, by becoming angry, frustrated and impatient.

A pastor had his heart set on a certain appointment and when he did not get it, his wife became embittered and ill, and died shortly afterwards. He himself became so spiritually upset that he left the ministry. Resentment  and bitterness combined to kill the body of one, and the ministry of the other. When we respond to life with a simple trust that God will never allow anything to happen to us that will not work out for our good, then anger and impatience will disappear from our hearts as surely as the morning mists are dissolved by the rays of the rising sun.

Reflections

Christ or Circumstances

If we do not allow ourselves to be led by the Lord then we shall be driven by our circumstances, or by the people who surround us. When the Israelites rebelled against God  and refused to follow Him, then God informed them that He would not travel with them. Moffat translates Ex. 33:3 in this way: "I will not go with you. I will send an angel in front of you". Religion became a secondhand affair in which they were led by an angel, rather than by direct contact with God.

When we lack a living vital contact with God through His Son Jesus Christ we tend to turn to things we can see, rather than depend on the invisible but reliable wisdom that supports the universe. Some Christians turn to the stars for guidance, but it is sheer materialism to believe your life is determined by lumps of matter floating in space. It is a sign of inner collapse when someone who professes faith in Christ draws their inspiration from a daily horoscope rather than from a vital contact with God through His Word. Instead of facing the facts of life in the Spirit and power which Jesus Christ gives to all those who are His, they turn to the stars to determine their destiny, only to find that instead of being led into sure ways, they are led into a swamp.

We must regain the sense of being led, for if we are not led by God, then we will allow ourselves to be led by anything that comes. We Christians must work from principles, not pressures, and experience a vital daily contact with God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I say again: We will be led either by Christ or by circumstances.

 

Reflections

Does God Guide Us?

Many people outside the Church find it difficult to believe  in Divine guidance and are puzzled by the quiet confidence of Christians who claim that the Almighty God is interested in the tiniest details of our lives. They read what the astronomers say about the vastness of our universe, and learn that the planet on which we live is just a tiny speck in the bewilderingly exhaustless profusion of suns,stars and system that go to make up this mighty creation, and they ask: how can the Creator be interested in the insignificant details of our lives?

Because of God's revelation in the Bible we dare to believe that He cares for us, loves us, and is vitally interested in the way we go. The Psalmist rested time and time again on the simple fact that God was guiding him, and knew from experience  the secret whispering of Gog within his ear.

The truth is God has a plan for every life. When He made you He made you different from every other person in the universe. He has not made anyone like you and and never will again, for after He made you He threw away the mould. You are unique, and have a unique contribution to make to God's world, and so the one supreme business of life is to find God's plan - and live it. Most people go through life  with no central plan that holds them together giving meaning and purpose to their existence. They live a hand-to-mouth existence of opportunism. Hence when they leave this world they leave nothing but a blur.

Reflections

For me He Died

Once when John McNeil, the famous Scottish preacher, was addressing his congregation in Edinburgh, he began his sermon in a captivating way. "Can anyone here tell me who knew best the meaning of substitution during the trial and death of our Lord?" he asked. "Was it Caiaphas? No! Was it Annas? No! Was it Pilate? No! Was it Peter? No  Was it John?No! It was none of these!" Then into the breathless silence created by his arresting introduction he thundered, "I'll tell you who it was - it was Barabbas! Barabbas! Barabbas!"

And that is quite true, for standing by the Cross, Barabbas would have realised more keenly than anyone else the personal nature of Christ's death. Jesus was in fact dying quite literally for him, Like Paul  he could have said. "The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me". But John adds more to this and goes on to say in effect, "This man loosed me" (Rev 1:5 Revised Version) The Authorised Version renders the verb in this sentence differently. "Unto Him that loved us and washed us", it reads. Both translations are admissible, and both are useful in helping us understand the thought.

But think of the term "washed" and listen to D.L. Moody's comment on this phrase; "Christ might have washed us first, then loved us afterward, but He didn't, He loved us before He washed us. That is the sheer wonder of our Lord's redemption. Anyone would have loved us after we had been washed. He loved us before.