Stirred up

10 OCTOBER 2017, 06:45 ... 'As an eagle stirs up its nest...so the Lord alone led him' (Deuteronomy 32:11-12 NKJV) In the quote God is likened to a mother eagle. When it's time to fledge the chicks the mother eagle stirs up the nest. One preacher, Bobby Gas - points out that the mother eagle even withholds food in order to get her young to dare to leave the nest! Is it true that God sometimes appears to be holding back so that we wake up and have the courage to fly from the nest? Give us a hunger in our hearts Lord. A hunger that drives us into the "more" - let us hunger for your word! For your love! Let us hunger to lead people to you! You are never truly distant. We distance ourselves from you sometimes. Wrestling with your demands. All you want is our attention! Our love!

Prayer for Healthcare in Ipswich

Below is the opening prayer that was used for Saturday's meeting to pray

Welcome prayer
Thank you to all that have taken time out to attend this morning, I pray Gods richest blessings on you all as we seek him, are thankful to him but mostly appreciate he is the king of kings and Lord of Lords, full of grace and mercy as we are reminded in Psalm 145:8

Remembering as the beautiful worship song we have sang of late “it is his breath in our lungs so we out our praise to him”
All that we have, all our knowledge, skills and abilities is not ours but God’s and in his great wisdom he gives them to us to use.

A bit like the parable of the talents, we can bury our skills afraid to use them just in case, but be the brave servant who took the talents and made it more, did not consider the risk but whose goal and objective was to please and honour his master. Matthew 25:14-30

You may be a health care professional, patient, family member, technician, no matter what your calling in life Gods wants to give you more but only if take the risk, step and do what God has called you to do. You may be a wife, mum, husband, son, God has positioned you for a purpose and for such a time as this. We see every day how much the NHS is in trouble, our schools, our government and there is no quick fix but this I do know and this I have every faith and confidence that our God is still on the throne and he got this !!

I love the story of Esther, she went from obscurity to a woman that saved her nation, one of my favourite versus
is Esther 4:4 “for such a time as this. Esther knew Gods’ calling was not without risk but she also knew she needed support to do what she was going to do. She called a time of prayer and fasting. So today, God has put us together to pray.

Remember God doesn't recruit you without a calling. God calls everybody to use the gifts and the passion that they
have, it is hard to follow God’s calling so do it with much  prayer and support.

Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls us to is the place where our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Let us reflect upon and celebrate the vocation of the healer.  The role of the healer in the life of a community is
an ancient one indeed.   For as long as there has been illness and disease among humans, there have been those
moved to compassion at the suffering of their neighbors—those who have desired to ease the pain and cure the sick.  Today we give thanks for those women and
men who have found their greatest joy in service to one of the world’s deepest hungers: the hunger for healing and
wellness.

As we open our time of prayer, let us listen to the words of scripture, celebrating the deep connection that our
ancestors in the faith perceived between God and those who choose to minister to the unwell.

Update

I was walking to the station this morning. It's a 30 minute walk so I often listen to the Daily Audio Bible as I wander. I hasten to emphasise that is because I am a sinner and not a Saint. I need to orientate myself first thing or the day goes badly. Anyway I was happily listening to the 1 Samuel being read and getting into it... When without touching my phone the player swapped over to a sermon from the Elevation Church in Australia. Not a live broadcast but from a Sunday. The guy starts to preach.

To begin with I was irritated and thought grumpily I had better swap back to Samuel. But the guy said he was preaching on "why there is suffering" and at that point I thought I had better listen to it.

I made some notes. They are not very perfect and I am sure he said other stuff also - I might add a link and listen again. Especially if God wanted me to hear it I need to get every drop from it.

It spoke to my heart about the daily struggle between being the good version of ourselves or the bad version. I haven't been plotting evil as such - but sometimes it gets harder to see clearly what we are doing and we start going down an unfruitful route.

1. John 16.33  ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ and from elsewhere where it says "nothing can separate us from the love of God"

2. No bad decision is beyond redemption. Sometimes we say "what's wrong with me" * do note Paul was right with God yet he suffered.

3. Isaiah 48.10 "the refiners fire" is like wearing active wear -when we are suffering everything in our lives is revealed. Every blemish in our life! - he used quote from J L Packer "God hates the sins of his people, and uses all kinds of inward and outward pains and griefs to wean their hearts from compromise and disobedience. Still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to himself."

4. Romans 8:28

I will tidy this up later and add a link to the sermon. Judge for yourselves...

By the way the J L Packer quote feels like a driving lesson for my life....

Have a beautiful day!