Lead a Lover's Life

I had the privilege yesterday of being on the door at church whilst two baptisms were going on. These were two adults who have chosen life in Christ.

It seemed that everyone at church yesterday was moved by the "testimony" or life story that was shared by Gavin and Shirley.

There is something that brings people to that kind of decision point.

For some people it is the discovery that there is a spiritual side to life. That we are body, soul and spirit. That our hearts are hungry. Thirsting for the things of God.

We have a free will of course. But God through his son Jesus and through the prophets has invited us to "choose life" instead of "choosing death" - this is about choosing life in the Holy Spirit. Instead of choosing things that kill our spirit.

Some of our Feet for the Street visitors went through the glass door so they could see and hear things better. My side of the door was a bit muffled. So I missed some of what was said.

I found myself remembering an email sent to me by a friend. He sent me the following verses and said that he had felt prompted by God to do so.

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

As we go through life different phrases get added to the interior soundtrack of our lives. Some are the trigger for jokes we have with the family or friends. Silly little phrases that still make us crease up and we have half forgotten when they were first used and why. 

Some have a more useful role as almost "self talk" little reminders and way markers that are good for us.

For me the phrase "Live a Lover's Life" has become a way marker. A sign post for my life. Reminding me to keep on track. To always choose life, to choose life. To put to death the way of hate.

So the above passage is very important to me it is a 'way marker' for me telling me 'go this way follow the way of wisdom!' I go back to it quite regularly and read it and ask myself "am I doing that?" Of course I wouldn't say I ever succeed in loving like that but it gives me inspiration and a point to aim at.

Dear God, help me to recognise the things that are good for me. Help me to find the things and people who can help me. Send your Spirit to teach me love. May I be tender hearted towards other people. Amen

Follow Jesus

I have been a bit quiet again as I am currently preoccupied for the whole of November see www.nanowrimo.org - but I have broken off for some moments to cast my mind back to this passage.

I have been thinking of how Jesus called Matthew out of his tax booth. See Matthew 9: 9-13 (link)

Matthew left his job to follow Jesus. He didn't work out a period of notice. His encounter with Jesus was enough to knock him off the normal course of his life. Bless him, he was a tax collector, in those days fairly despised individuals known for their corruption and for taking an extra cut from those that they were collecting from. It says in the JB translation that he was by the 'Customs House'. This is a mistranslation. He was by his tax collectors booth! This was a portable construction that was set up where he was collecting his tax. All a bit more vulnerable than we at first think. He must have been challenged by Jesus to leave this and also torn. Do I hang on to the money or follow the Holy Man? Well he became one of the twelve - so he must have opted for the life changing option to follow Jesus. What would we do I wonder? What would I do - if the messiah came walking by?

To encounter Jesus at that time was something that knocked people off the normal course of their lives. I believe this was because Jesus personality was so arresting that you had to stop in your tracks and say to yourself. Who is he? Is he for real? What is he offering?

Well what Jesus offers is something that is contrary to the material world's values. The Good News is something for our spirit, something for the inner man or woman. That lifts us up and alters our lives and changes them for the better. To live outside Christianity is to live a life without hope. To live as a Christian implies a commitment to change.

Yes, Jesus comes to sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes to the shock and dismay of the Pharisees, but it is so that he can bring the healing power of God's love. As he says he comes as a doctor into their lives. He doesn't feast with the Matthews of this world to pick up tax collecting hints. He doesn't feast with prostitutes in order to pimp. He is at the feast because he has something of real value to give he is offering rescue. REAL RESCUE..

To the Pharisees he says 'Go and learn the meaning of the words what I want is mercy, not sacrifice.'

The irony is that the Pharisees were sinners too. The difference between them and the others were that they didn't know it. They were too busy looking at other peoples lives to assess their own.

If you look at the passage again you will see that Jesus is ministering to everyone including the Pharisees.

This is why his ministry is so effecting. It speaks to everyone and to us - even now across time. The quote he offers the Pharisees is from the Bible. From the book of Hosea.  Which says 'What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.'

That is interesting isn't it? In OT times they used to try and appease God by killing and burning animals as a sin offering in the hope that this would put them right with God. Hosea says that God doesn't want this kind of material response. He wants us to change so that we love more. This requires a change of heart - are we ready?

Here is a quote from Rick Warren
"No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."

Dear Lord, help me to leave the things I do that are the old way of living. Allow me to follow you. Please give me the spiritual strength in order to do so. Amen

The sea is so wide!

Protect me, dear Lord!
My boat is so small,
And your sea is so big
(Bretton fisherman's prayer)

The above is one of my favourite prayers. I am fond of the short ones that go straight to the heart of the matter.

Debs and I watched Fiddler on the Roof last Sunday. A film that always moves me. The final scene is a definite "ending" as all the lead characters of the film have been driven out of their village. They are leaving mainly on foot. Finally, Terkel looks back and sees the Fiddler playing his tune on the road behind him...

As I watched that ending, this time, a fleeting thought went through my head, how lucky am I that I have never had to journey at short notice into the unknown. Travelling with only that which I could carry.

To be a stranger in a strange land, as Moses was, as so many people are (even now), is a vulnerable scary thing. When we travel we rely so often on strangers. Dependant on their goodwill and hoping to God that they will not show us ill will. Fear is something that people have to deal with. Hope is something that they definitely need to hold onto.

The only way to cope with change is to embrace it. I know it's not easy.

People sometimes have said to me "it's easier for you because you have faith" - it doesn't feel easier but maybe it actually is!

However, even though brought up in a Christian church, I don't consider that I really believed in God until I was given the gift of faith. Yes I do mean given! As in getting a present from someone. I remember someone praying for me, saying "please give Simon the gift of faith"

So I see faith as within God's gifting to give somebody. We need to be bold enough to recognise this. And to ask. A relationship with God is possible.

If we are facing uncertainty then that is the time to ask, to even plead with God. God is our rock and our stronghold, he gives us peace and hope in times of difficulty. Step up to meet him. Be the one to move towards him. As it says in the scripture "when you seek him, when you seek him with all your heart, then you will find him"

Dear Jesus, I pray that I may come to know you. Please increase the gift of faith within me. Bless me today and always. Amen

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you

The Watchman Blog has been silent through out September. To be truthful my thoughts have been elsewhere for a while following a bereavement. But it is time to write again now I think...

The last month has shown me God's capacity to touch our lives even in someone's dying moments. Our God reaches down to touch us when we call to him. He is ever present and ever loving. We make ourselves absent to him sometimes. But that can be mainly through the distraction of every day life but only very occasionally through deliberate intent.

God is love and he commands us also to love, to "live a lovers life" in all purity. Sometimes it seems difficult to love. But the commandment is about us changing our way of life to that which makes us more whole.
Love.

Love nourishes us in our Spirit.

The commandment to Love is a command to live out love in our lives. To love God, to love our neighbour, to love ourselves. Although it is a commandment it is actually "best policy" advice from our creator about how to have a full and happy life. Choose love and you will find joy and peace. Choose hate and you will feel forever jagged. It is a daily choice.

Think about Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) words quoted below :

"If you wish,  you can keep the commandments, to behave faithfully is within your power. He has set fire and water before you; put out your hand to whichever you prefer.  Man has life and death before him; whichever a man likes better will be given him. For vast is the wisdom of the Lord; he is almighty and all-seeing. His eyes are on those that fear him, he notes every action of man. He never commanded anyone to be Godless he has given no one permission to sin."

Peace to your hearts this day!

My prayer is that you may be blessed this day to the core of your being. That God will be evident to you. May you come to know peace. Amen

"I call you friends"

Jesus speaks words that cut through our everyday, thinking and living. Son of God, Saviour he comes out with words that challenge us. Consider these words from the last supper...

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other."

Those words from Jesus really reach me.  They are the extraordinary statement of the new relationship that exists between humankind and God. They are in a way a declaration of love for humankind. After all true friendship is a love.  There can be a stage in a relationship between two people where it changes and grows and there is a dawning realisation that it has moved on to a deeper level. Sometimes it is verbalised "we are friends"  In a similar way this is Jesus speaking out loud, words of friendship" maybe what he and the disciples might have known in their hearts for some time.

"I call you friends" could be thought just a tiny phrase, words to us  hidden away in a longer speech that Jesus made at that last meal that he had with his companions before crucifixion.  But my belief is that it is very important.  The other things that were said at the meal are also important.  But they all stem from, or are motivated by, the friendship love expressed.  Jesus is the tenderness of God expressed in human form.  Jesus fully human yet fully divine is the message of God for all of us.  He teaches us that God is not too far away for us to reach.  And that His command to love (though difficult) is not impossible.  In fact it is the only thing that can make our lives worthwhile.

Of course the next thought is how do we respond to the friendship that God is offering us.  I was thinking about that and remembered a poem by Kahlil Gibran that I have kept in a little notebook for years.

"and let your best be for your friend.
if he must know the ebb of your tide,
let him know its flood also.
for what is your friend that you should
seek him with hours to kill?
seek him always with hours to live."

That is true friendship - being able to share the good and the bad times. To not shut out a friend is important and a test of friendship. I think if Jesus is a friend I should "seek him always with hours to live" - seek this friend Jesus who has commanded me to love!

Dear Jesus, thank you for your words that challenge us. Help me to respond. We ask your blessing on us in good times and in difficult times. Help us to grow in your love, and rejoice in each other. Amen

Face time

It's holiday season and the newspapers take on a different tone. One thing reported this week in the Metro was the research showing how much time people spend with their computer or gadget. The full story is here. The bit that struck me is that males are spending up to twelve hours a day looking  at the screen of their gadget.

They wouldn't spend that much time looking at the face of their wife or girlfriend! Or talking to them.

Yet we all know that face time with the ones we love is important. Face times with our gadgets can be fun, can even be useful, but also can suck away the time we can be using for friends, family and significant others.

As a lover of gadgets I struggle with this too. For example, I was bereft recently when my Motorola RAZR i fell into my shaving water and ceased to function. But I decided a long time ago that human relationships trump time on the computer or in front of the television. In other words if someone wants to come round for a chin wag, bring it on! Don't say to them  "sorry I am busy staring into the face of my beloved computer thingy!" After all our lives are really about relationships, that is where true fulfilment comes.

God recognises that too. Where we spend our time is after all so telling. And God wants a piece of your time too. Because he is a loving God, he also wants a love relationship with you. That doesn't happen without face time. If we allocate some of our time to God a relationship can build.

Strange perhaps to think about that in a holiday season. But right now you have a little extra time. So remember the saying "seek the face of God and live" - you might find a new sense of peace in your life.

For reflection :

 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3 

Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. Hebrews 12:14-15 GNT

Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord. Psalm 27:14 GNT

Are you a gatherer or a scatterer?

I find I have been doing some thinking recently about the way I live my life. As an unfinished human specimen I find I still have to be honed! My Debs can confirm that for you if you like!

In particular  thinking about something that I stumbled across that Jesus said

“Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering."
Matthew 12:30 GNT

Quite a challenging statement that he fired at some Religious nit pickers who had taken issue with him for healing on the sabbath.

I believe Jesus is talking to people with faith and saying if you are not helping him by gathering people into the "Kingdom of God" you are actually dispersing them.

Jesus came in order to build the Kingdom of God. This is not a temporal or physical Kingdom. It is a spiritual Kingdom where God reigns in a spirit of loving kindness.

Maybe you don't know that there is such a thing as the Kingdom of God? Let God speak to your heart on this. Love is not a tangible thing. We cannot touch love. Yet it is the most important thing in our life. Pure, true, honest love is what makes us joyful. God is love as it says in the bible. If we found our lives on a foundation of loving actions we become "gatherers" - by our decisions we become builders.

It is better to build, it is better to bless than to curse

Love builds slowly but can be demolished quickly.

For reflection:

Psalm 94:16 NIV

Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

I have posted watchmen on your walls, they will never be silent day or night

God speaks every day, he didn't create the world and then go silent. He has continued to communicate with every heartbeat of every living creature since. He speaks his message to us in different ways.

Some of his "speaking" is not a literally audible message. But as the Psalm says "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. "

There is a paradox there. But the point is whether acknowledged or denied God's influence continues. The mystery of our continued life is in his hands.

Sometimes we say "I don't get God" or "I can't believe in a creator of THIS world." Yet to stand and look at nature's glory is a wonderful thing. To be a parent and hold a new born baby in your hands is an amazing thing. To know that you have participated in creation is a wonderful thing. Your child has grown cell by cell after it's conception.

The miracle of life needs attribution. I attribute it to a loving God.

Even the circulation system for our blood is an amazing thing. Debs and I are big fans of the American TV series "Mythbusters" - there was one glorious episode where they were trying to test a movie myth and Jamie made a circulatory system to go inside a dummy, so they could test how quickly hypothermia comes on. Jamie did a brilliant job with copper tubing and achieved his purpose but I have to say God's version is a lot neater and lasts a lot longer!

A lot of the reason I write this blog is because I am trying to learn to listen to God's creation and what it has to say to me. And also learning to listen to what God has to say in other ways to me.

For example I believe that the Bible is God breathed, inspired with his words for us. So there are insights in it to guide us. Another way that God influences me is through coincidences with scripture and also discussion of it with friends and family. Quite often these "coincidences" occur where the same passage comes to my attention in different ways in the same week. It can be that they crop up as much as three or four times. When that happens I feel that God has a point to make and I need to listen!

That happened with Isaiah 62:4-6 NIV

No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah ; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married.  As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.  I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord , give yourselves no rest,

and with Isaiah 64:8-9 NIV

Yet you, Lord , are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord ; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.

Both these passages spoke to my heart and reminded me of things that I needed to be aware of and actions I needed to take. Slowly God takes us on a journey.

Watchmen shouldn't be silent by the way! They are to be there on the ramparts watching the winnowing of the Spirit and ready to cry out "Our God saves." We are in new and different season of the Spirit and if we pay attention to the things of God we should be preparing. I know God has made it clear to me there are some things he expects from me.

This is what he seemed to say to me the other morning, I feel it is for others too.

"Extend your boundaries oh faithful ones. Listen to the Lord, ask him to show you who to speak to. Ask him to bless your actions and speak through you in the power of his glorious name. Listen to his voice - let him guide you into the path of righteousness. Let your sins fall behind you like autumn leaves in a fast flowing stream "

Please test my words in your heart.

May Jesus,  lead you by the hand to receive healing and wholeness. And May God bless you in the name of the Father,  Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen

Marsh Warbler

Let me tell you about the Marsh Warbler. John and I were on one of our birding trips and we were going down one of the less trodden paths on the reserve. Something made us stop and take note. From one bush was coming all this bird song... A seemingly impossible amount of birds in the reed bed. It took us a while to understand what was going on. One bird, a little Marsh Warbler, was mimicking the voice of other birds. John counted that it was imitating eight other identifiable bird songs as well as it's own. But amongst this amazingly there was unidentifiable song too. Possibly from Africa.

We were on this spot for about an hour and half. Listening and enjoying the performance but also trying to see the bird itself. We were finding it impossible to get a clear view of this rare little fellow. Eventually, in desperation I said a little prayer along the lines of "I don't deserve this Lord but please let us see him" - shortly after a chaffinch came in and dive bombed the Marsh Warbler and it broke cover and sat on a branch for a short while singing his heart out. Enough time for us to confirm identification. Then he disappeared. Great joy!

On the way home we were chatting. We were saying persistence and patience had paid off. We were on that spot for quite a while, at least an hour and a half, and got passed by a few other birders. Me being me said to John, prayer is like that. We sometimes give in too quickly. We don't spend enough time waiting for the Lord to show himself like that. It's true we need persistence and patience in prayer too. And humility is a factor, honest humility, God is good, bigger and better than us. When we acknowledge him as father he will bless us.

The other thing that struck me is, like the Marsh Warbler we disguise our real voices sometimes. To hide maybe, or to protect ourselves, but we should really allow our real voice to be heard. I wanted to hear the real song of the Marsh Warbler too. I am not sure I ever did. God wants our real voice in prayer. We need to be vulnerable to God. It is Yahweh who is - I am not the great "I am" God is the one who deserves to be honoured.

Dear Lord, thank you for our everyday lives. We thank you that you are the God of both the ordinary and the extraordinary. Bless us please again today. Amen

Husbandry

Mmm so do I dare write about this stuff? I feel prompted to do so but surely this way danger lies!

So, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary last weekend. We had a lovely trip away to the hotel we spent our honeymoon night in. The hotel is a former vicarage in lovely grounds. The owner cooked us a lovely meal. The following morning as Debs got ready to go down to breakfast I found myself watching a program on Fruit Trees. They interviewed a man about the national collection of apple trees. They aim to have at least one tree of each variety. He was a mature man and gentle in his speaking. But he had a confidence about his speaking. I was struck when he referred to his work, which has been going on for many years as "Husbandry." I thought to myself then as he said it - I must think about that.

I grew up in a home where our father was absent. So I don't have an observed understanding of what a husband does. It means that I have missed some of life's lessons.

Husbandry is such a rarely used word these days I thought I would look it up. It turns out that it is an agricultural word about the judicious use of resources to get better crops etc. I am guessing that the better farmer, orchard keeper you were, the better husband you were to your wife in terms of provision.

God himself tells Israel "I have been like a husband to you" - so I find myself thinking about the last year and asking myself what I have learnt about being a husband.

A husband is there to bless his wife. To stand with her in life's storms as well as life's joys. To laugh with your wife as well as to cry with her.

Husbandry is also about making good use of the resources of the marriage for your joint mission. I am not just talking about material resources. I am also talking about spiritual gifting. God has given Debs and I complementary spiritual gifts. When we find our ministry niche as a couple we will be a blessing.

The husband might be required to be mission leader, vision holder, Holy Spirit fire starter. Debs is content for me to lead on some things and I know she leads better on others. We believe in mutual submission. Faithful love and as the song says "we are better together."

We are a House of Prayer in obedience to God's will for our life.

Debs and I keep short accounts. That is we don't let things fester when we argue and we forgive each other quickly. "don't go to bed mad - stay up and fight!" as the saying goes.

It is a year since our Australian Beach blessing (a week after our marriage). I will add a link below to what Kev Budge said at our blessing in Caloundra.

God showed me this today - Psalm 37:8-9 NIV "do not fret—it leads only to evil.  For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land"

We are called to life in all it's fullness. To embrace it with joy.

For reflection:

They say a couple relates to each other in the following five ways

Social
Sexual
Spiritual
Emotional
Intellectual

Which ways do you fit your partner? Is God calling you to do anything different today?

Dear Lord, please bless our lives and our love, make both more pure. Give us again the joy of your presence. Amen

Collision course

Our bird feeder is quite near the side of our house. We have been visited daily by a little chaffinch who has been visiting the feeder. At 6am yesterday, bless him, he took again to his favourite activity of dive bombing our Windows. He is the only bird doing it and we have got so used to him doing it that we know that the tap, tap, tap sound is him again and so sometimes will lurch out of bed to look at him. So we have learnt from his behaviour. He however has learnt nothing from these collisions beak first with our double glazing. They must be painful for his little beak. 

This has been going on in my week of listening to God about the future. It made me think have there been times in my life where I have been like that chaffinch. Repeating behaviours or actions without drawing any conclusion as to whether they were good for me, even though sometimes they hurt more than banging a beak against glass!! I think, to be truthful, yes at times I have been like that chaffinch. So that set me thinking on the whole area of how do I live my life?

At a logical level it makes sense to humanly concentrate on the things that build me up or fulfil me. 

There is a quote in the book Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks which captures what we sometimes realise - "There's nothing more than to love and be loved.”

To me to give and receive love is what makes the difference between a life well lived and one of despair. And that also having love in my life enriches our Spirit. 

It may not be fashionable to acknowledge it but we are also spiritual creatures. as well.  We have our bodies and our mind and we have a spiritual life which needs nourishment too. 

I am still ploughing on with the book Undaunted by Christine Caine but have had to slow down in case I miss something important. I did however get as far as this phrase  "choose to trust the Creator of the universe, the one who hung the moon and placed the stars and fixed the sky." 

I choose life, I choose love, I choose as Christine says "to trust the creator" - I hope you can too. I invite you to share something that gives me strength.

For Reflection:

"whoever loves is a child of God and knows God" 1 John  4:7 GNT

"there is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear" 1 John 4:18 GNT

Our loving father in heaven, sometimes we have to go  back to your feet to learn. Help me to receive your knowledge and your gifts for my life. Amen

(above is a photo of the Chaffinch - we couldn't catch him on camera colliding with the glass!  This is one of his perching looking in moments)

Be still and know that I am God

I am not writing a blog this week. Standing back and pondering the above, seeking guidance about the future.

Psalm 46:10 NIV

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The poor

The Lord hears the cry of the poor;blessed be the Lord! Psalm

Looking at his disciples, he said:  “Blessed are you who are poor,     for yours is the kingdom of God.
Luke 6:20 NIV

The second quote is from Jesus and part of a longer passage.

Here was a man whose words were like fire.

Even now Jesus words can penetrate our comfortable world and challenge us so that we can dare to be different.

Here is a man who presents to us an altered perception of what it means to be living the human life. Here is a man whose words can make us question our existing value system and drag us out of our introspection.

Jesus trades in paradox. We start to listen to him and when we hear him say "BLESSED", "POOR", "KINGDOM OF GOD" in the same sentence we begin to question what he could possibly mean.

The Good News translation even says "Happy" instead of "Blessed "How can poor people be happy? How can the hungry be satisfied? In a way the beatitudes are one of the most frightening passages that Jesus teaches. Because what he says invades our life. We spend most of our lives working hard to feed our family, clothe them, pay a mortgage, buy a car (and of course be a success in the process) and yet Jesus comes close to us in today's gospel and says "alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now."

It is not something that we should explain away or dilute. Jesus words are addressed to us all at an individual level. To each one who listens they are a challenge. They are a challenge to our hearts and directly to our interior lives. Jesus is prompting us in a very direct way to change the orientation of our lives, so that we put the God who Is Love first and everything else second. He is inviting us to have spiritual integrity and part of having this is to be able to detach from material possessions so that they no longer own us.

You could also say that Jesus words are addressed to us so that we change our hearts from stone to compassionate hearts of flesh. This invitation is from a Jesus who wants to usher in the new reign of God. A lot of the teaching in the gospel of Luke is about the "Kingdom of God" and how to bring it into our lives. Jesus expects his followers to be "yeast" in society, to have integrity. Changing society by their very presence. If our hearts are in the right place then this starts to happen. Christians are not called to be passive. If our faith does anything for us at all it should stir us into a more pure kind of love which isn't at all selfish.

...and yes then the beatitudes start to come true. We are happy (or happier) when we change and live by the gospel.

Of course we are only human and will struggle with temptation and even fall back at times. But what we need to watch is that the direction of our lives is going the right way. That is towards God and towards each other and not the other way... We need to set our rudder straight. Set our love straight. Set our integrity straight and head for the goal. Then rich or poor becomes irrelevant. I remember a good friend reminding me that we pray daily for our food in the Lord's prayer "give us this day our daily bread"

Dear Jesus, I have so much help me to know this and to live fully as an heir to the kingdom. Amen

Avoiding the dragnet of evil

Put at its starkest level sometimes Christianity is about the struggle between good and evil. The struggle between love and hate. And the choice between what helps us and that which harms us.

What has provoked those thoughts in me is rather randomly last Thursday I put my toe in the water of the book of Habakkuk. The same day I started to read Christine Caine's book Undaunted. Both books gripped me and started me thinking along the same lines.

To be a follower of Christ rather than just a believer means that we are called to an active opposition of evil. You could term it spiritual opposition but it can also be said that we are called to a direct opposition of evil where it is manifest in our world. Bear with me please and follow me to where I go with this.

First Habakkuk. I put my toe in the book thinking I was just going to read a passage but had to read the whole of the short book in order to try and understand it. I found myself thinking about a description that the prophet uses, "dragnet of evil, " he warns us that we are like fishes in the sea and that we can be unwittingly caught up in that dragnet of evil. Sucked into evil without at first being aware of what is happening. The dragnet can plunge towards us and before we know it we can be deep in the net with our tail flicking in panic.

I have come to realise that the main times that this happens is when we come into contact with the off-shoots of organised crime or institutional and corporate sin.

We have to allow the scales to fall off our eyes and to be aware that these "dragnets" reach our local communities. Our first response should be to say "no" to their products ourselves and teach our children to. That's a definite no to soft drugs, money lending, counterfeit goods, heroin, pimps, pornography. If they can't sell their products they lose the incentive to be in your neighbourhood. All these products are produced through coercion in some way and to deliver the product a human has suffered. Even if the first fix was free.

The link to Christine Caine's book Undaunted is that she brings, as her witness to us, a meeting that she had with some young women who had escaped human trafficking. The account is very moving and should be of concern to us. She explains why she started the A21 campaign in 2007.

For reflection

• Does the dragnet of evil come near to me or someone I care about?
• Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?  You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.  The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.  Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.  Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? Habakkuk 1:13-17 NIV
• Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,  yet I will rejoice in the Lord , I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV
• Be under obligation to no one—the only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the Law.  The commandments, "Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else"—all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." If you love others, you will never do them wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law. Romans 13:8-10 GNT

Dear Lord, open my eyes. Purify my heart and my intentions, free me from pressure to do things I don't want to do. I want to freely dedicate myself to seeking your peace and your love for my life. Amen

My Lord and my God

Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus replied, “You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:24-29)

The full version of this passage is here. It has some very strong messages in it and can be a turning point for us in our understanding of Jesus.  Thomas actually put his finger into the wounds of Jesus. This quelled his doubt. Just before this Jesus had said to him ‘Peace be with you’ and then ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’

It emphasises for us that there has been a physical resurrection, that Jesus literally got up after being dead and that he walked about. Something seemingly impossible for someone who had been wounded and killed so thoroughly, but to God everything is possible.

To help us believe this we have the witness statements of those that saw him. John the author of this gospel is one of the disciples that met the risen Lord. We can say as St Paul says in one of his letters "We don't rely on made up stories" and it is evident that he made close enquiry into this when he first became a Christian as he says elsewhere "I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the scriptures; that he was buried, that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the scriptures; that he appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterwards to all the apostles." Paul knew most of these people and his summary is the result of careful enquiry. 

The resurrection is the essential proof that Jesus is the Son of God. If there is no resurrection there could still be doubt. We might say as the centurion did that "Jesus was a good man" but because Jesus rose from the dead we can go far beyond this and say Jesus is the Son of God that only God could snatch victory from the closing jaws of sin and death.

The reading also speaks powerfully about the suffering of Jesus. As any nurse will tell you there is great intimacy in touching the wounds of another. It excites compassion in the most stony hearted of us. Thomas must have felt that in touching the wounds of Jesus. WE can imagine with some certainty that Thomas was dissolved as he saw at close sight what Jesus had gone through. No wonder Thomas said to Jesus "My Lord and my God."

What is important to remember also today is that Jesus gives the disciples the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms them from fearful timidity, after all they had been described as "cowering," into people who can boldly share their faith. The Christian faith is about people whose lives can be transformed. When invited God's Holy Spirit comes into our life - He stands by us as our advocate and strengthener.

.... I pray today for all readers of this blog, wherever we are in our faith may we be strengthened by what we have read, let us be inspired by Thomas words and say to Jesus "My Lord and my God."

Significant encounter - Jesus at the Last Supper

If you had fore knowledge that you were going to be killed you would feel a distinct unease, you would reconsider how you used your last hours wouldn't you? Your life would all of a sudden be in sharp focus.

Luke and John's gospel account of Holy Thursday give us insights into both the humanity of Jesus and into his God understanding of what was going on. Fully human and yet fully divine he was subject to human emotion and human fear whilst also knowing what was before him. I am not sure we can understand at  all what that felt like but we can empathise with the fear.

He uses his last hours before his arrest 

• to celebrate the passover feast and within the framework of that Jewish ritual to institute the gift of communion among his followers. A gift that encourages us to be united. But most importantly a New Covenant "sealed with my blood and poured out for you."
• He uses his last hours to have a long conversation with his disciples. What he said is a bit like a last will and testament in that he talks of the things that are most important to him so that we as followers can be faithful to his vision. The fullest version is recorded in Chapters 12 through to 18 of John's gospel and talks of radical things. such as what it means to have a servant heart, how God is making friends with humankind, what it means to be part of the vine and then he "prays that they may all be one"
• Jesus washes the disciples feet. An extraordinary act of humility. “You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am.  I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another's feet.  I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you.  I am telling you the truth: no slaves are greater than their master, and no messengers are greater than the one who sent them.  Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice!"
• His meal is shared with the twelve, two of whom were betrayers. We tend to think only of Judas. But  Peter's denial is predicted although he subsequently seeks forgiveness and is then  forgiven 
• He reassures his disciples and promises them that the advocate, the Holy Spirit will come.
• Finally  when the meal is over Jesus spends some time alone in the garden of Gethsemane.  In crisis  both ritual and meditation are things to hold onto.

When we think of the enormity of those last hours of Jesus before his crucifixion and read the words recorded in John's gospel, we are so challenged. Are we true disciples or are we like Peter or Judas?  Do we betray the gospel through lack of courage like Peter? Or sell out the gospel like Judas?

To understand the mind of Jesus go to John Chapter 12 and read. Jesus can challenge you again today just as he did his disciples.

“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in him who sent me.  Whoever sees me sees also him who sent me.  I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.  If people hear my message and do not obey it, I will not judge them. I came, not to judge the world, but to save it.  Those who reject me and do not accept my message have one who will judge them. The words I have spoken will be their judge on the last day!  This is true, because I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has commanded me what I must say and speak.  And I know that his command brings eternal life. What I say, then, is what the Father has told me to say.”

Come let us go up to Jerusalem!

Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.  He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;  they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. Luke 18:31-34 NIV

Shortly after  is the start of a journey for Jesus which will lead to his death and resurrection.

But it starts triumphantly, the crowd rapturous, waving palm branches "the whole crowd of disciples joyfully giving praise to God"

A journey that in some eyes can be seen as a demonstration of how fickle we can be as humans. They say "a week can be a long time in politics..." but in the Spirit led life of the Son of Man a week was the difference between the excitement and adoration of the crowd, and them baying for his blood.

If we run with the crowd we can be very contradictory! We need to be independently minded and led by the mind of God. Not swayed and washed around by the tide of human opinion.

For example in the readings for the procession it says that as Jesus entered Jerusalem the crowds that processed with him were all shouting:

  "Hosanna to the Son of David
  Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!
  Hosanna in the highest heavens!"

When the people who were already in the City saw this they started asking, "Who is this?" The answer was,"This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Yet, as I said we know less than a week later the crowd turns on Jesus and cries out for his blood.

There is a message for us in this. Political leaders like Pilate are pragmatists and like to go with the crowd.  Although they may try and influence and move opinion, ultimately for them the majority opinion rules.  The crowd shouting "Crucify him" about  Jesus, swayed Pilate.

I think that the message for us is that we should be sure to listen to God's voice and let it be present in our lives.  God does not speak in a strident way and we need to discover how to let his truth filter into our hearts so that we are people who are constant and in tune with the will of God in our lives.  If we are like this we will be able to stand firm in our faith and stand in the "truth of God" which is present in our faith and not to lose sight of it.  When we are in the "eye of the storm" we will be able to hold onto what we have already discovered to be true and not be blown off course and lose sight of God's insight into our situation.

The irony is that in their procession with the palms the crowd had correctly identified Jesus' ministry.  They give him honour and called him a prophet.  Remember they said "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee".  A prophet is one who speaks God's truth into a a situation (to people) allowing  God to have a say in the affairs of men. They treated him as a King too! And that is true he is the King of a spiritual Kingdom of God.

Christians are called to be Kingdom Builders.

One of the psalms says of God "indeed you love truth in the heart" and elsewhere it says, "wear your integrity like a blanket."  I think that this means we should be taking care to be so anchored in God that when we are in the crowd we can still keep sight of what God wants in our lives.

We pray as we start Holy Week that we will be able to focus on what God is saying to us at this time. That he will be present to us and that we will find new meaning in our faith.

We are blessed to be living in a time when our faith can be set to "expectant" - they say "May you live in interesting times" - well Jesus means to challenge your preconceptions and your contentedness with a life that is bitter tasting to him. Why would you accept a life that is second best when you can become a son or a daughter of "the living God"

Dear Lord, strengthen and renew our faith this Easter, may we be challenged by the enormity of the journey that you took from Palm Sunday to resurrection. May we understand that there is a place on that journey for us too. Bless us O Lord, may we surrender our complacency and come to know you as you really are! Amen

I want you to know

When I was 17 or 18 and found my way back to going to church. One of the things I learnt pretty soon was that God expected me to be very ecumenical in my heart. That's a fancy way of saying I understood pretty soon that God works across man-made boundaries.

A lot of my early bible study was led by the Holy Spirit. And my thinking has been formed by three statements:

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 NIV

The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3.8

" no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12.3

Jesus instructed my heart to respect anyone who professed that Jesus is Lord. To try and listen to what the Spirit is saying across boundaries.

To understand that the letter to the Hebrews is right when it says:

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end.  He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. After achieving forgiveness for the sins of all human beings, he sat down in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power."

I want you to know what I know in the core of my being. That when you accept Jesus as your saviour your life is changed. Changed for the better.

You may feel "poor in Spirit" but Jesus says to you right now - "blessed are the poor in Spirit because they shall inherit the Kingdom of God"

The Spirit is waiting to renew you.

Let Jesus have a foothold in your life and it will be changed beyond all reckoning.

Dear Jesus, accept me as I am. I am weak but you are strong. Help me to surrender that which is not of the Kingdom of God. Amen

⅞

Create in me a clean heart, O Lord

We are well into Lent and I haven't mentioned Psalm 51 yet. Something must be wrong!

It is the most beautiful Psalm of repentance. The musician Michael Card recorded a version of it. The refrain to his song being "create in me a clean heart, O Lord"

The Psalm is one of repentance. The writer expresses sincere sorrow to God for the things in his life that hold him back from being closer.

The things that hold us back from God prevent us from being intimate with him. Sometimes we, or I, characterise these things as sin. But I wonder sometimes if that makes me believe foolishly that I am subject to an external force that makes me do wrong. Whereas in reality it is quite often down to me what has happened. Either through something I have done or, sometimes worse, something I have failed to do.

Sin is to miss the mark. Sin is unlove. To fail to love when we should. To hold back from loving. The consequences in our life of sin ranges from totally derailing it, to a minor diversion. But even a series of minor diversions can lead us far from where we want to be.

Where is God in this? He is our loving father and like any father worthy of the name, he wants us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. He wants us to bring our failure to love to him so that he can forgive us and heal us. In God there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

If we ask God to forgive our sin he will do so. Even when we struggle with besetting sin, repeat temptations, that we just can't seem to defeat on our own. God is here amongst us in our mired world. If we cry out to him he will answer. He will teach us to love.

These words are for myself as much as for you. As the Psalmist says "create in me a clean heart, O Lord!"

For reflection:

Psalm 51
1 Corinthians 13

Dear Lord, help me to believe in you. Help me to deal with the things that hold me back from knowing you. Amen

Restorer of ruined houses?

On 16th November 2001 I was on holiday in Sydney and whilst wandering around the harbour area I found a lovely and enchanting garden. It is called the Chinese Garden of Friendship.  It is enclosed and an entrance fee is charged but once you are inside it is an enthralling place. It is very peace inspiring, you can walk around and find different themed gardens. I spent quite a long time there and towards the end of the afternoon whilst sitting there I began to wonder how this garden got planted.

I found out that it was planted out of the desire of the Chinese community in Sydney to make a gesture of friendship and forge a bond between the people of China and Australia.

The site they acquired is a one hectare block. It turns out that this beautiful garden had been planted on what was once a derelict area of of demolished buildings.

That set me thinking. Somebody had the vision to take derelict land and make it into something beautiful. They had to believe in the vision, know it was possible, and then put their muscle and resource into it.  I wonder how many times in my life I have seen something or some relationship that is derelict and thought that there was no hope of change.  No hope that things could be different. Maybe this garden is the evidence that things can always be different. We need the vision to be able to see this for ourselves. We need the grit and determination to put this into practice. This garden was achieved on human terms and ability. They may have prayed as well.  But just imagine what we can change in our own lives and those of others when the vision comes from God. Just imagine what happens when God adds his grace into and onto our plans.

I want to return to  a chapter in Isaiah that we looked at before. There is a promise in that chapter about restoration. And about the part that we can have in it. God talks about us becoming "restorers of ruined houses" and "breach menders". This is a way of saying that with God's help we can find that things can be better and different. No matter how derelict things have become.

Here below is the promise I am inviting you to think of.  Please read it. I ask God to bless you as you read it. I wish you well.

"The Lord says this: If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness,
and your shadows become like noon. The Lord will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places.

He will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.

You will rebuild the ancient ruins, build up on the old foundations. You will be called ‘Breach-mender’, ‘Restorer of ruined houses.’"

(this was previously published by me on www.diakonia.clara.net which is now defunct!)

The Lightship

It has been quite a varied week. Monday we found ourselves in Cardiff - where we had to be for an early appointment Tuesday morning with UKBA.

A friend of mine used to say to me "sometimes the main thing isn't the main thing" and I think that was true of this visit. We thought Debs and I, that the whole visa thing was the whole reason for being in Cardiff. It turned out not to be.

We spent Monday with Mavis and Colin who live in Cardiff. We had a lovely supper with them and then a chat and a pray. The chat was quite wide ranging, about angels, about prophetic ministry, about the Pope's decision that day (12th February 2013) to stand down from his ministry. God is stirring up the whole church across all denominations. His prophets have been speaking. And I believe his winnowing fan is out over all his followers. Some will leave their churches and give up the practice of their faith, to others God will make himself clear. Their eyes will see him afresh or for the first time.

The companionship that Mavis and Colin shared with us was a blessing to us both and it continued the next day. After the visa stuff was with great relief sorted out we met again.

God prepares things a long time in advance. He wants us, if we have the capacity, to join in with the delivery of his plans for us and others.

Here is an example:

The lightship Helwick LV14 was built and commissioned by Trinity House in 1953. It was brought to Cardiff Bay in 1993 and restored to create a floating Christian Centre.

Somebody had the vision for that. They had to hold onto it whilst finding others to share it and maybe even other people to restore and tow the boat to its intended location. It has no engine!

Now all these years later it is moored in the regenerated area just near the Welsh Senate in Cardiff Bay.

For me it was a little reminder of how God has the plan and we can't see all of it. In my thinking he just wanted that boat near the Welsh Senate but in order to achieve it he had to move someone into action before even the referendum was taken.

Debs and I are so pleased her visa is sorted out for the next 30 months. I am glad that the only appointment we could get was in Cardiff. She will tell you I kept plaintively saying beforehand can't we get an appointment in Croydon? It may sound a small thing but the whole trip turned out to be a blessing when I thought it was going to be distinctly otherwise. We need these blessings on our journey through life.

There is other stuff I could say - for example God really wants me to study Galatians 5 & 6 (ask if you want to know why I know) - stuff we said about angels.

For reflection:

What is God wanting you to prepare for him?

Dear Jesus, we seek time with you - help us to learn at your feet. Help us to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit. Amen

Remember the rock from which you are hewn ..

I have been having trouble this week choosing what to write about. Well actually the trouble has been to try and choose between two different passages of scripture that speak to my heart. And then, "the penny dropped," and I realised that they are actually connected. So here goes! To avoid confusion I will give you both passages first.

“Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good.” Romans 12:9 GNT

and

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn" Isaiah 51:1 NIV

I think these days we are hungry for authenticity. So much about our culture and politics is so fake and superficial that we long for the genuine version of something. We want people we can trust around us. People who "get us" and  don't undermine us. I think the first passage is a call to arms to remind us that if we want this from other people we need to be like that ourselves. It's no good expecting one standard from them and being flakey ourselves.

The word itself "Love" is elusive in meaning. When we use it it can have four or five shades of meaning, But for our love to flourish, as it is meant to, God wants it to be deeply anchored in what is good. We need therefore to keep him in sight trying to to let his love rule our lives and our behaviours.

It isn't easy and we must be realistic about it and acknowledge that every now and then we will fail and people we know quite well will also fail. By holding onto "the good" we see beyond our failures and acknowledge that the human heart is born to be noble. The good in people mostly outweighs the evil they do. As it says in the gospel of John "the light is stronger than the darkness."

Of course sin by it's nature is wrong. We are however called by Christ to love the person who sins. We can love them without condoning or "agreeing" to their sin.St Thomas Aquinas says - "To Love is to will the good of another" - to keep treating people with goodwill in difficult or perplexing circumstances is a sign of God's kingdom of love being built in us.

To give us strength to do this we look to the rock from which we are hewn. We are cut from the rock of God, the sure rock who saves us! A rock that is steadfast in whose cleft we can shelter when the storm comes. Not a crumbly rock! Because it is good quality rock that we come from it can take a while to quarry us. God is a rock of love ... from which more love can be quarried. 

Dear Lord, strengthen and purify my love. Lead me into your kingdom of love. Let me be real with people, whole hearted, sincere, loving and teach me how to eject evil from my life! Amen

Forty Years, forty days or forty seconds?

I have an Android phone and if I download an App for it I am happy if it downloads in forty seconds. My expectation is set at that level by modern technology. In the early days of computing our expectations were much lower. It could take hours to download new software and even then it could sometimes crash and the whole process would have to be started again. The expectation nowadays is instant results. But it is not that long ago that we had to work harder at all things. I remember hearing on the TV, on "Who Do You Think You Are?" About a couple whose relationship had started as pen friends during the war. They exchanged a letter a week with each other and some of the letters even got lost between the war front and home. Their friendship and love had to blossom into romance and eventual marriage with these inevitable gaps in between hearing from each other. I am not sure we could easily do that nowadays. But if something is good it is worth waiting for isn't it? The experience of waiting can promote a greater degree of understanding.

Now we are all probably in either a love or hate relationship with God. I have met very few people who are genuinely indifferent towards him.

He is an amazing God it is true, yet at the same time enigmatic and elusive. A God of mystery who sometimes makes himself very clear. Sometimes we just don't get him however hard we try. Some spiritual writers talk about a Dark Night of the Soul which can last for years, where they cling almost to their belief and memories of a merciful God, like those two lovers clutching their photographs, waiting for him to speak again.

Moses spent forty years as a shepherd before God spoke to him and called him. Maybe he needed that time to prepare himself to be open enough for the task that God had assigned to him. Or maybe it took forty years to develop the ability to hear the Lord.

Jesus spent forty days in the desert before he began his ministry. During the forty days the devil tried to distract him from starting his ministry by tempting him. The desert became a war zone between Jesus and temptation.

It seems that God sends us love letters all our life, sometimes they get intercepted between the war front and home and so we never get to open them or understand them. The ones we open - we sometimes understand and appreciate. Sometimes we write back and have an enthusiasm on our heart for a few days. Other times we think "that's nice" and put them to one side thinking we will reply later.

God is the "gentle invader" of our life. Seeking always to start a relationship with us, without forcing the issue. Because for love to be real it needs to be freely given and not forced. Sometimes we just can't see who or what is good for us. God is good for us! He heals us and makes us whole. He invites us constantly but our intentions and our hearts go astray and we can't answer. But still he calls us into relationship.

I realise I have spent a lot of my life blowing hot and cold for the Lord. But that has changed. I am seeking his face, his love in my life, his healing, his plan. Because I have discovered in my detours that, in fact , he is the ultimate good that I need.

No compromises any more, my yes will be yes, my heart is being converted - will you allow Jesus to break through your defences? May I be a man after your own heart. But it will take more than forty seconds. Possibly more than forty days. But if I listen it will be less. You at last have my attention Lord. Teach me to listen.

For Reflection
But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 NIV


Dear Jesus, I want more of you in my life. Help me to let you in. Keep fear out and let me know the love of God in a new way that makes me more compassionate. Amen

a year later .. on loss and finding

I find myself in a reflective mood. My blog was a year old this week, and also this week, God has been speaking into my life and the life of friends. Some are dealing with hard times and some dealing with moments of deep joy or inspiration. It makes me realise that nearly always our hearts are pulled in two or more directions.And there are regrets too! For a few years I had the privilege of being in active ministry of diakonia in a parish, that taught me something of the truth of St Paul's words "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Romans12.15.NIV - some days the two experiences could be had within what seemed like a few seconds of each other as people arrived at the door. It makes me realise that God holds both the pain and joy of human life in his heart at the same time. The extremes of our lives and our loves are all exposed and known to him. His unquenchable love holds us close.

Chatting yesterday on the phone with a good friend I found myself saying again "God has been saying a lot to me since I moved to Ipswich, but I honestly think the truth is really that I have started listening to him again and that before I came here I had stopped listening." This led to a whole conversation.

Our God is super abundant! Sustaining and maintaining the universe each day by his powerful word. His continuing love is there for each one of us whether we choose to turn to him, or ignore, or disbelieve in him. God knows the very ebb and the very flood of our tides of our enthusiasm. And the riverlets in between.

So a review of the first year!

The call (read)

The most unusual "Stag" or "Bucks" weekend in the history of mankind! (House of Prayer) and (Iona)

Marriage! Yep I got married to an amazing woman

Two Mini Series

* Live by the Spirit
* Live by the Spirit - Prayer
* Live by the Spirit - Time Spent in the Word
* Live by the Spirit - Asking
* Live by the Spirit - Give Up Judging
* Live by the Spirit - Forgive
* Live by the Spirit - Our Father

* Guide Us Lord
* The Plan for Your Life
* The Plan for Your Life (2) Listen
* Take Action to Change

The tipping point - 2 blogs nobody challenged
* Tipping Point and Year of Grace - maybe they  were too Catholic!

Writing these have helped me to grow in faith, at times it has felt like being in a tumbler drier "for the Lord" and at others, in a washing machine with a block of cement. But the Lord hasn't finished with me yet! So you will hear more from me. What did I lose and what did I find? I lost a bit of my iniquity and found a spiritual inheritance.

He has his "Child Ipswich" in his sights! The dew of the Holy Spirit is awaiting his command to fall on this place. Listen you have understanding!

May the peace of Christ be present in your hearts, may he lift your soul, may you learn what it is to shelter in the shadow of his wings. Amen

Amos

I have been spending a bit of time with the prophet Amos lately. A prophet who could, in many ways, be speaking to our generation. A while back I took one of his passages and rewrote it into modern equivalents...

"Listen to this you who trample the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the world, you who say next month we will make a fast buck on the stock exchange. With insider dealing we will buy low and sell high, swindling the shareholders and the market. Also at the same time we can exploit the world labour market and pay pitifully low wages to people from another country who make shoes for us and then sell them here for seventy quid. If we are smart we can even sell the off - cuts to the fools. But Amos says I will swear by the pride of Jacob, God will not forget anything that you do! "

He challenges me to think again about God's attitude to the poor. The Psalm very clearly says "the Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be his name."

The pharisee within us might say that the poor are always with us. And use that as a comfort blanket so that we do nothing. But God's love should break through that and challenge us to "hunger and thirst for justice" and to be an advocate for the poor, who are unable to pay for their own food let alone their own advocate.
In modern Britain the politicians are quietly busy dismantling the work of the social reformers. Some of this might be justified. After all we have books to balance and bankers to satisfy. But we need to be careful that we don't make it all a money equation. The soul of the country needs to be invested in too. What is Britain known for these days? In our gentleman's clubs are we known only as "heroes of the wine bottle" - should we be better than this?

It seems that more of the poor sleep on our streets in modern Britain. Is that how we want to be known?

Dear Lord, help me to realise the harvest that my own actions will have on other people. Call me away from being insular and into a love relationship with God. Sow the seeds of peace in my life. Amen.

Can the Holy Spirit move you?

Can the Holy Spirit move you? Oh wow oh yes! Without the Holy Spirit my life would be drab. It is the main animator of my life in Christ.

I wonder did anyone see the discussion of this on The Big Questions on BBC1 Sunday 6th January? It was good to see a friend Michelle Moran there on the telly with two other Christians with experience. They were all from different Christian backgrounds but the one and same Spirit of God had moved them.

It was an interesting, thought provoking discussion but annoying because participants are never allowed to finish their points. This comment applies to both sides! If there are sides on a question about truth like this.

To me it is a spiritual reality or spiritual dynamic that God will allow his Holy Spirit to "move" you.. In fact much of the motive power of the Christian church comes from the working of the Spirit. It is the author of all healing and the secret ingredient of all evangelisation. The inspirer of the ordinary person just as much as the prophets, evangelists, teachers, servants "of the Lord" - also the same Spirit must I think have inspired the various Jewish Old Testament authors. Breathing God's truth into scripture.

- It inspired King David's dance of praise when his Mrs told him off.

- Moses got the ten commandments through listening to God's grace working.

- Paul wrote the chapter on love (1 Corinthians 13) under the influence.

-Pentecost day itself!

Oh my! Thank you God for sending your Holy Spirit daily into our lives. Thank you for your loving kindness, so great, so lovely, so tender, so heart warming. Thank you for changing my heart from stone to flesh through the Holy Spirit.

This same Holy Spirit can be renewed in your life for the asking. When we call on the Lord times of spiritual strength are possible. Equipping us for our daily lives.

For reflection:

John 14:15-17, 19-21 GNT

"If you love me, you will obey my commandments.  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever.  He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you.
In a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me; and because I live, you also will live.  When that day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me, just as I am in you.
"Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me; I too will love them and reveal myself to them."

The bird feeder

I was sitting yesterday eating my breakfast and watching the birds coming to the bird feeder. It was quite funny to watch their behaviour. The younger or smaller birds won't feed while the bigger ones are around. Although they might try a quick and sneaky peck while the bigger bird isn't facing them. Even the bigger birds have their own order. The female blackbird gives way to her mate. If the collared doves are around all the other birds vanish. I don't know if this is learned behaviour on the birds part or whether it is instinctive. So far I haven't noticed birds pecking each other at the feeder. The suet treats and other beneficence come from Debs and she is happy for any birds that want to, to just help them selves.

My thoughts then drifted off into human life. I was thinking that sometimes I hold back from doing things because someone I perceive as better is around and I think they should go first as they are better. Sometimes I hold back because of the throng. In families there can be a definite feeding order. And the youngest can be fed first. My friend Veronica told me that at parties sometimes, when the food might not be enough, the word might go out from her mum "family hold back" - that meant the visitors had to be allowed to grab the grub first.

In God's Kingdom things work differently in my experience. Everything is available for everyone. God has no favourites and his abundant blessing is available in full measure to whoever wants to come to the feeder. No one is better than anyone else. All welcome! We need to turn off our inner voice that says someone better than me should go first. And to understand that in Christ Jesus we are all made worthy. Our inheritance is there waiting for us as soon as we realise it.

Dear Lord, help me to accept your invitation for my life to be transformed. Amen