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Putting paid to the lie

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Image credit: Ian Greig

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:5 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Why should we look to God, at a time like this? Because He is good, therefore He can be trusted, and He makes ways we didn’t know existed

THOSE OF US who have walked with God for a time in this unlikely relationship — Almighty holy God with accident-prone ordinary man — take the opportunity to remind ourselves again that the essential nature of the God we belong to, is that He is good and He is loving — and therefore He can be trusted. Utterly. These verses remind us that He is loving in a way that doesn’t keep a score when we are less than loving in return, and He is still there for us when our trust has proved to be shaky.

These become, not just words of truth but words of praise. Why would we turn to praise at a time like this, when hospitals are struggling and so many have lost loved ones prematurely?

It is because praise is not limited by what we experience or feel, because it is an expression, not of how we are, but of how God is. He is good. He is loving. His kind of love is not fickle or conditional, but something we can rely on as unchanging, no matter what.

If God is all-powerful and over the situations we are so concerned about, and He is good and loving in that supreme power, we want to recognise that He is always working for our good, always attentive to our cries for help, always doing what He does best — saving and delivering. How much of that do we see coming through? How much of a daffodil pushing up do we need to see before we praise His creation of a daffodil?

Praising God for His goodness is also our dismissal of the lie that God sends hardship. A lie that cannot stand up and which is not entertained, a lie that’s exposed and dismissed, has been disarmed. It no longer has any destructive power. It has been named for what it is. And our choice to believe and affirm who God is, and how He is — what He is like — is our best strategy in the warfare against the misinformation the enemy is attempting to spread.

This is a time for Christians to share the hope they have in God, the confident expectation that He will bring us through. Why would we hope that? Because we know Him, and we know He is good, merciful and forbearing of our many faults.

Why would He do this? Because of Jesus. He made a way for us, warts and all, to have a personal and intimate relationship with God who is pure and holy. And to know that He loves us, likes us and enjoys our company!

It is also a time for Christians to rise up with one voice to praise God for who He is, and to declare that we trust Him for the deliverance, and more, that we know He is bringing through the present difficulty. To praise Him, even, for the many who are turning to Him at this time and finding that He is exactly what His word says He is.

To praise God because He is good, and therefore we gladly put our full trust in Him.

Prayer

Lord God, I come to You in deep gratitude for Jesus, His self-sacrifice for me, the deepest possible expression of His love for me, taking my guilt and shame and enabling me to know You — and I praise You.
I exalt You above all and declare again that You are good and that Your kind of love endures forever and is steadfast without limitations. You are able to bring Your good out of our desperate situation and need. You are working Your good plans and purposes where we see signs of them — amazing advances of science giving us good remedies in a tenth of the usual time, and medical professionals finding strength beyond themselves. I praise the answers to our prayers for leaders and all in authority, and I recognise that every good call they make gives glory to You. I refute the lie that there is anything about You which is harsh or discriminatory.
You are Almighty, You are strong and also loving. Everything about You is good, and I declare my trust in You. To the glory of Jesus, Amen.

• For an alternative reflection and prayer, see this post on www.glowweobley.com

What is God teaching us?

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Image credit: Ian Greig

It takes a problem with no clear solution to force us to look at our priorities

Jesus said: “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

John 13:34-35 NLT ‬

Is God listening?

When life throws up a problem and there seems to be no way through, what do we do? Pray, obviously. Perhaps we were already seeking God and we’re just not hearing an answer. And it’s getting more difficult, not less.

One conclusion might be that God isn’t listening — but that lie of the enemy is exposed by Scripture’s overwhelming witness of how attentive the Father is to us, His children.

Or we might, in despondency, conclude that God is just not talking to us.

But if God appears silent, it is for a reason, and love is behind that reason. And so, perhaps reluctantly, we ask the Good Question. I call it that because it is never wrong, never misplaced, never irrelevant. But it’s the uncomfortable one — and so it’s the question we’re reluctant to consider.

Waiting for us to ask

It gives new meaning to the old catchphrase, “I thought you’d never ask”.

What is God teaching us here?

I’m writing this in what may be the grimmest week in the worst pandemic in recent history. We’re all watching the graphs and charts and comparing our region with others, hoping for an improvement.

I like to be in church, in praise and worship and fellowship, coming away with some good teaching to encourage and challenge me, and the good feeling of belonging and being among friends. And some churches are doggedly maintaining a semblance of their weekly routine, with spaced out chairs, taking your temperature at the door and no singing, perhaps humming behind your mask. And the message? That’s been cut down to a brief ‘do-this-and-don’t-do-that’ homily “in the interests of time”.

Change of priorities

What is God teaching us here? Perhaps, at a time when our priorities are up-ended, He is prompting us to take a good look at what those priorities are. Is keeping the routine going really important to anyone other than the one leading it? What about the pastoral need to be keeping contact with, supporting (and praying with!) those who are anxious, at home — especially those in a higher age range or with health conditions and therefore feeling more vulnerable.

Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

Our relationship with Jesus is personal and individual. It doesn’t rely on a building, a minister, a praise band, an order of service or a sacrament. Salvation is not found in any of these things. Salvation is found in knowing a person we can relate to, who made a way for us to know God: Jesus. So to love people as He loved, is personal and relational. People who are isolated and anxious need personal reassurance and hope from God’s love expressed in the Bible, not the reciting of liturgy.

The drive to keep things going is attempting to find security in routine, as if nothing has changed. But security in anything other than God will always prove insubstantial.

The one thing that never changes, is God’s nature and the confident hope He gives to anyone who takes hold of Jesus and what He has done. This reveals God’s nature as the One who IS love, the compassionate, faithful, forgiving kind.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.

People see how we are before they hear what we say. The witness that reveals what God is like to others, is in how we relate, how we reach out without condition, us sharing God’s love by being there for others.

Prayer

Here’s a suggested prayer to use as the basis for your own:

Lord, what are you teaching me through this terrible time? I want to be close to You, to hear what You say and to be doing what You are doing.

Thank You for Your love for me, shown in the awful reality of Jesus dying on the Cross out of love for me. May Your love so fill my heart that it cannot do other than to overflow it to others You show me or put across my path.

I hear and take hold of Your commandment to love others. Show me who needs a telephone call or a note through the door or some act of kindness I can safely do — that others will know Your love, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen


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A word of hope for everyone

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Image credit: Ian Greig

What assurance can we find that things will turn out OK?

People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you.

Isaiah 30:19 NIV

The good news is that we can do this… and we can also do it on behalf of those of us who are not yet confident.

THIS IS a clear promise of hope. It is about us having confidence in God’s goodness. His willingness to treat us better than we deserve — to be gracious — is spelt out.

But who does this promise apply to?

We may not be of Jewish extraction, and almost certainly not living in Jerusalem.

But if we have believed and trusted Jesus, we ARE the people of God. Isaiah’s words were spoken first to his own people, long before Jesus was born, but they span the centuries. We, as believers, have become part of that promise.

This word of promise does come with a couple of conditions.

One is to belong to God. We do this through trusting Jesus and receiving Him into our hearts as our Saviour and Lord. It is a choice we make, not a dedication others make in church which we do not participate in. It’s a decision that costs us our independence, but it gives us new life which is the start of eternal life. And that new life gives us a relationship with God! That relationship gives us confidence to talk to Him.

That’s hope. Confidence in Him, confidence in being heard, confidence in His goodness.

The ‘asking’ condition is also in there.

“How gracious He will be when you cry for help!”

v.19 NIV

The “when” of “cry for help” means that faith in God, believing in His goodness and generosity, is needed. If we know Him we have confidence in Him. Add to confidence, believing Him, and taking Him at His word — and things begin to look a lot better.

There are two things there, and not everyone finds them easy. Belonging to God may only take an instant, but it is a big decision that might take a bit of working through!

Similarly, the asking is second nature to those who know Him, but others finding their way into that relationship might need a steer. We can all remember needing someone to start us off, to stand in the gap for us.

And that’s the role of a priest — acting as an intermediary: representing us to God, and representing God to us. Now, the interesting question is, who these days are the priests?

The faith of being a disciple of Jesus doesn’t have priests. All that stopped when the Temple was destroyed, in fact it became obsolete when Jesus was crucified. There was an earthquake and a darkness like an eclipse, and the thick curtain in the temple that divided off the Holy of Holies was ripped apart from top to bottom.

God was showing that in Jesus, that separation has ended. All believers in Jesus can know God personally.

So the faith that follows Jesus either doesn’t have priests — or, in another view, it has literally billions of them. Every true believer, in fact. The Bible describes believers as living stones of a new kind of temple, and as royal priests of a new kind of priesthood where Jesus is the Great High Priest. We all have that duty to represent God to those who don’t know Him, and bring them and their needs before God until they can do it themselves.

Our verse said: “He will be gracious if you ask for help… He will respond to the sound of your cries.”

So, as those who know Jesus we exercise our priesthood by giving a lead, praying the kingdom of God over all our neighbours, family and friends until we can get them doing it for themselves.

This is for us, ordinary believers, with no titles, no robes and no special distinction. We are just those who love the Lord because we know His love, and who call to Him every day and know His answer. This is what Jeremiah foretold:

“Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Jeremiah 33:3 NIV

And as Jesus said:

“In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Very truly I tell you, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.”

John 16:23 NIV

We go through Jesus to talk to Father God. We can ask Him to help us. And we ask for that help, for others we are helping to find their way into the kingdom.

LINK

For a suggested prayer based on this verse, go over to this page on http://glowweobley.com

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Prayer doesn’t drive everything, but it does drive what is good

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Image credit: Ian Greig

What is the point of prayer?

Verse

Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

1 Timothy 2:8 NIV

Good News

As believers, our prayer carries authority, especially as we align ourselves with Jesus and with each other. In the world, agreement is difficult, but the Holy Spirit leads us into agreement with Him — and with others who are praying.

Reflection

The context of this verse is about believers praying for those in civil authority or leadership. The section starts: “I urge, then… that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for… kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives…”

This is regardless of our perceptions of their beliefs or faith! Hardly any rulers in Timothy’s world had believed in Jesus.

This draws a picture of a partnership. They hold the responsibility for action on the ground. But we are given the responsibility for spiritual intervention in the heavenlies, so we — I hesitate to use this word but will say it — have a duty to bless them with guidance and wellbeing.

The Church of England, the established church in My part of the UK, has its set prayers for the Queen and royal family.

Parliament in Westminster begins every sitting with Speaker’s Prayers in which MPs of Christian faith, divided politically, intercede in agreement for God’s guidance in the day’s business.

We have plenty of opinions about the ministers, advisers and health service leaders in the present crisis. But how ready are we to talk to God with words that harmonise with other believers’ prayers, and bring the help those figurehead people would ask for, if they knew how?

Christians praying for scientists and medical profession leaders this year, have sought God for a way of stopping coronavirus spreading, and treating those with severe symptoms. And successful, tested vaccines are now being distributed. What couldn’t be done in less than ten years, has been achieved in ten months. Effective treatments have been developed, mortality rates have dropped and hospitals have withstood the strain.

We have more influence than we might think — greater than those we see on television, answering questions and proposing protective measures. We can talk to the ultimate government in heaven and know that our voice is heard there.

“Politics”, when we say we “don’t like all the politics”, is our word for disputing attitudes. They are so destructive of church and community. Anger rises up when people disagree, and especially when they are fearful.

However, praying, spiritually-agreeing Christians are the antidote to what the devil feeds on.

Jesus said: “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in My name, there am I with them.

Matthew 18:19-20 NIV

The context is politics! Or disputes, anyway. The principle is wider. This is what we do because it just works. It pleases our Father. Our Jesus-centred agreement is like an invitation to the Holy Spirit.

Those who are elected, or appointed, are given the power of decision-making. And we nod and agree with others who say, “Good luck to them with that!”

But we don’t believe in luck, we believe in divine authority and heavenly wisdom.

And we are the ones who know how to ask for that. We are the ones who can get it for them.

Take away

Keep on praying for wisdom and blessing those in authority — perhaps especially if you don’t like them very much! Blessing those we may perceive as enemies is a particularly powerful spiritual strategy, and we have God’s grace to do this.

LINK

For a suggested prayer and also a video based on this verse, head over to this page on http://glowweobley.com