A little late to the party on this one, but I saw somehing today that made me think.

The death of Hugh Hefner, the founder of the Playboy empire has been reported in one of two ways, depending on where you get your news and editorials.

The major news channels in the UK have described the man who was one of the principal architects of the social revolution as a success. At the time of his death he was worth millions of dollars. His influence reached far and wide across the globe.

Hefner himself is quoted as saying “I was like a kid in a candy store. I dreamed impossible dreams, and the dreams turned out to be beyond anything I could possibly imagine. I’m the luckiest guy on the planet.”

On the other hand, I have found articles berating him, citing him as the main cause of the breakup of social structures, marriages and decency. In these articles (mainly on respected “Christian” sites) there seems to be a general hatred of the man. They hold him solely responsible for the destruction of family values and the objectification of women. One article only brought one scripture to bear on the subject – 1 Peter 2:11 – “Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

Don’t misunderstand me – I don’t disagree with the verse. I know only too well how difficult it can be to guard your mind, eyes and soul in an age where everything is available at the click of a mouse.  I just wonder if maybe we have missed something of the message of Jesus as we strive to make sure we have ticked all the boxes.

I wonder if maybe Jesus would have spent time with Hugh. I wonder if Jesus would have loved Hugh. Not condoned his behaviour, or his publications – but Hugh the person. I wonder if Jesus would have asked Hugh what it was about his experience of church that made him want to run away and not to have anything to do with it, or with Jesus.

I’m pretty sure that’s what would have happened. And when Jesus spent time with people, loving them, unconditionally, without judging them (even though He had every right to), perhaps they would take a different path. I don’t think Jesus would be glad Hugh had died, and we shouldn’t  either – it should break our hearts. Another soul lost – one more that never knew the love of Father God, that knew peace beyond understanding.

Personally, I don’t think that the depravity of mankind is the construct of Hugh Hefner. I think the depravity of man started many years ago, in a garden, with a choice.

The choice of whether to let God be God, or to try and be god ourselves. I think when we don’t let God be God, when we remove Him from the equation, we will try pretty much anything and everything to fit the God shaped hole the is left. Nothing else will every fill that hole.

If I’m honest – I quite like part of the Hefner quote near the beginning of this blog. He said that he dreamt impossible dreams, and saw these impossible dreams become reality.

As Christians, we are told in Ephesians 3:20, that God can do superabundantly more than we dare ask or think (infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes or dreams, according to His power that is at work within us. (AMP)

What are your dreams? Perhaps you wish that things like Playboy (and significantly more graphic) things weren’t so accessible.

Perhaps you dream to see the NHS transformed, to see sickness vanish at a word.

Maybe you just want to be able to find the right words at the right time to change a situation, to speak life where there is death.

Superabundantly more – I dare you to dream big!!

I saw a headline the other day on a satirical website. It read “Power of God waits in foyer until chorus of ‘Holy Spirit’”.  The article went on to talk about how the worship leader of this particular church didn’t realise that you had to actually welcome Holy Spirit before he would come in and interact with us.

All a bit tongue in cheek I know – but it got me thinking.

Our experience may not be that far from the headline. How often do we go to church, and find it is around song number three before we begin to “feel it”. We need a couple of good rousing tunes to get us into the mood, then we “welcome Holy Spirit”, and then He can get on with changing us.

The truth is Holy Spirit is already there. If you are a Christian, you already have Holy Spirit living inside – and you were designed to leak.

What many of us fail to realise, often because we have been brought up in church, and know the ‘lingo’ is that worship doesn’t start when the music starts.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. – Romans 12:1

I understand that there are pressures and difficulties in life – but I’ve found that actively doing this each day really does make a difference.

And I am convinced that if we arrive at church tomorrow, already worshipping the God of the universe, then we won’t have to wait until song three for something amazing to happen.

Post truth seems to be a popular phrase these days – the concept that you can cherry pick your facts to fit your world view. I really struggle with this because I believe there is only one truth. You don’t get to decide what is true. Something is either true or it isn’t. 

Truth just is. 

George Orwell once said “the further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” One just has to watch the news to see how true this is. People identify as all sorts of things, and no one is allowed to dispute it because each of us get to define our own version of truth. 

I think truth is really important. I was chatting to a friend a couple of days ago and the subject of truth came up. When it comes to my faith, I want to know the truth – and once found, I want to share it with others, so they can know the truth too. My desire to be right doesn’t always come across in the way I intend (not everyone feels the love behind my sharing) – when I have hold of a truth, I can get quite evangelical about it. The conflict arises when others have found their own truth. The problem is we can’t both be right. 

I want to be right – not in a “I’m better than you” sort of way, but in a “this Christianity thing is really important and if I’m sharing it with someone I want to be sure I am sharing the right thing, not some near truth. 

Later that evening, I got to thinking about something Jesus said in John’s gospel. . “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31-32

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always taken that to mean the pursuit of knowledge (about the right things) would bring the freedom Jesus was talking about. I mean, if you study hard, read lots, listen to lots of clever preachers, you have to be free from all the confusion of not knowing things. I’ve spent large parts of my life studying, striving for that freedom that I knew would come if I just pursued truth just a little bit more. 

The issue is that when I do that,  I don’t feel free. Every time I think I’m there, someone suggests something else that I need to learn and the cycle starts again. 

I don’t believe that Jesus wants to tie us up in knots like that – so maybe I’ve missed something. 
I think maybe the answer comes later on in John chapter 14, verse 6. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

Jesus says here that He is the truth. 

And the life. 

And the way.  

I wonder if The Way to real Life, meaningful Life, Life that lasts (eternally) is through knowing The Truth. 
My more recent life experience is that this is true. The only real freedom comes from knowing Him. Books are great. Listening to sermons either “live” or as podcasts useful, but nothing beats spending time with the one who made you, one who has plans for you that are “beyond what you can ask or imagine.” 

The beauty of this is that I still get to study. The difference is that now I am searching for Him, not searching for information about Him. It’s a journey – I hope you’ll join me on it – I guarantee it’s worth it. 

And that’s the truth. 

 

 

When a fruit tree grows it only reveals its true identity when the fruit is produced. Until that point it is simply a tree. The fruit starts small, and, as long as the tree stays connected to its roots, receiving the correct nutrients the fruit will continue to grow and mature until it is ready to eat.
We have an apple tree in our garden – we always try and eat the apples before they are ready – and it is never a good thing. They need to be left to get bigger and sweeten. We can taste the potential – we know they are going to be good – but they need to be left for a while.
If left alone, the tree will eventually drop the fruit – it will enrich the surrounding ground, but little else. Our apple tree usually produces more apples than we can pick, or eat (and the wasps usually have a few too), but many of them end up creating an ‘apple carpet’ at the bottom of our garden.
If a tree is properly cared for (we try, but gardening really isn’t our thing) the fruit is picked and consumed – others benefit from the goodness.
Notice that the tree itself doesn’t eat the fruit – it is for the benefit of others.

So it is with the Spirit filled Christian. Attached, plumbed in to the nutrients of the Word, local church and Holy Spirit, the fruit that only comes from Holy Spirit begins to develop. Young at first, we will quickly mature and produce good fruit.

But just like the fruit tree the fruit isn’t for our consumption.

Being connected to people I think is really important – otherwise the fruit we are producing goes to waste. How can we demonstrate the fruit of kindness and gentleness if there is no one around to be kind and gentle to?
Don’t let it fall to the ground, ‘uneaten’, stay connected to the source, produce fruit, and lots of it, and sweeten the community you are a part of.

 

 

 

 

Stella Plage 9/8/17

We had arrived in France on holiday, unpacked the car, and headed down to the seafront. There was a beach to be played on, and if I played my cards right, some frites from a takeaway nearby. It was early evening, but still light.

It had clearly been raining earlier in the day though. There were puddles on the road, it was windy, and dark clouds filled the early evening sky.

The clouds were multiple shades of grey – almost like they had been piled and layered up on each other – the ones in front the darkest as they had many layers of clouds behind them.

Right in the centre of my view though, the sun was beginning to break through. The heat was evaporating the murky light caused by the clouds. Where this happened, blue sky was visible, but the thing that really caught my attention was the area where the sun had broken through. The brightness, intensified against the grey, revealed bright white clouds above the greyness. Although small in area, the light was dazzling, almost blinding.

It got me thinking………the sun is always shining, even when we can’t see it.

It seems to me that there are two reasons that we might not see the sun.

First, and perhaps the most obvious is that there are clouds in the way. Clouds often build up over time, but sometimes suddenly as a result of a strong wind, blowing them in, blocking the sun.

Whether they arrive quickly or over time so we just don’t notice, they are rarely a welcome addition to our experience of life. There are not many of us who like grey overcast days, with threats of rain.

The second reason that we don’t see the sun is that it is shining somewhere else. Either we are simply in the wrong place, or it’s the wrong time.

As I looked – I saw this as a great analogy of the Christian life. How often do clouds of doubt, stress, trouble fill our skies? Building up over time, we miss the fact that the brightness of the Son shining over us is slowly being blocked out.  We find that life is getting on top of us, that there isn’t anything good happening any more. The fact that the build-up has been gradual means that it has become “normal”, and we can stop looking for the brightness anymore.

It can get very frustrating when we think that God is “over there, blessing them – but doesn’t every seem to come here anymore.” Why does it seem that all the stories coming out of Cwmbran, Bethel, HTB or Hillsong never seem to happen where I am? Why do I have to go to Newday or Soul Survivor to see God move in power.  What are they doing differently to me?  Are they better than me? Do they deserve more than I do? And so the clouds of doubt continue to stack up.

Do you get bitter and upset because it isn’t happening where you are (perhaps it used to, but something has changed), or are you excited, and want to rush off on a pilgrimage so you can say you have been there. Maybe something will brush off on you and you won’t have your personal or corporate clouds anymore. My experience is that this works for a bit – and then the clouds and doubts start to form again – slowly at first, but in time all brightness has gone. You are then left with a choice, do you run back to where the Son was shining or figure out a way to live with the clouds.

I guess the first and most obvious question we must ask ourselves is have “I done something to cause the clouds to form? Have I taken my eyes off Jesus, focusing on something which may even seem worthwhile, but isn’t actually Him?” I might be throwing all sorts of energy into church – but if I am pursuing program over Him I am missing the point. If I am doing what I have always done, because I’ve have always done it without asking Him if it’s what He wants – I won’t see the blessing He has for me.

Do these “other” places and people not have problems? If they do, how come they don’t seem to struggle to see Jesus the same way I do?

Ephesians 2:6 says “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” If that is true (and it is), the I should have a completely different perspective on clouds. I sit above the clouds, seated where the Son is shining from. It’s not that the clouds aren’t there, but I see them from heavens perspective. From my heavenly seat, there is only the blinding light of Jesus. I can focus purely on Him, without worrying about the clouds that come to block my view of Him.

Bill Johnson once said, “Faith doesn’t deny a problems existence, it denies it a place of influence.” You see, clouds exist for all of us. Those who are experiencing the Fathers blessing right now also have worries and cares. The difference is that they don’t allow the worries and cares to shape their lives. They have faith in one who exists above the clouds – surrounded by bright light of Jesus.

Life can be tough, problems, hurts and worries will be a part of all of our lives. We need to navigate life keeping our focus on Jesus.  He is the one who calms the storm (Luke 8:22-25). He is able (and willing) to calm our storms.

Focus on the Son – and the grey clouds won’t look grey anymore.

 

 

I’ve been looking through some old journals.

I came across a reflection on Isaiah 62:6-7 that I wrote a few years ago. I had forgotten I had written it, but in the light of the sort of things I have been meditating on recently it was a timely reminder. Most of the following is a complete re-write, but the essence of the initial thoughts remain.

On your walls, O Jerusalem,

I have set watchmen;

all the day and all the night

they shall never be silent.

You who put the LORD in remembrance,

take no rest,

and give him no rest

until he establishes Jerusalem

and makes it a praise in the earth.

 

If ever you wanted a clear instruction to keep praying until God does what He has promised – here it is.

As I sit here writing this my mind wanders back to when I was (much) younger, of nagging my mum for things. I would ask and ask and ask – often several times an hour. Being of a Scottish extraction, I have little doubt that at times she would respond with “Oh gie me peace!”. I’m also pretty sure that at times, that response would be accompanied with the very thing I was asking for.

Now, as a father, I recognise that very process – an incessant request, resulting in me relenting, simply because I want peace and quiet.

The whole point of the nagging was to get something I wanted. And (often), the only reason I got what I was asking for was to get me to be quiet. The only reason I felt free to ask was because I knew I was loved.

God wants us to be the nagging child, the one constantly pulling on the clothes asking for sweets.

If the people were to see Jerusalem re-established, the people were to give the Lord no rest, to keep on and on at Him, day and night, 7 days a week, for as long as it took.

Israel was in exile – but God had promised that Jerusalem would be rebuilt. Things would get back to how they were. Normality would return.

It wasn’t here yet – but it was coming. If the people would only pray. Constantly. The danger was that they would simply accept things as they were. To roll over. To begin to conform to how things were, not how they could be. God had given them a vision; would they chase it?  Could they own it? While they were in exile, there was only one thing that would see that vision become a reality. Were they prepared to do it?

 

I believe we have been given our own vision. Something to chase after. Something that God wants us to pursue. For each of us, this will look different. We all have different dreams. I think it is reasonably safe to suggest that they can all be summed up within the prayer that Jesus taught us – “His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

I don’t believe that Jesus would have told us to pray it if it wasn’t possible. Sometimes we see heaven come in a heartbeat. We pray, heaven comes. Sometimes, our vision, our dream needs persistence before we see breakthrough. If God has given you the dream, and you haven’t seen it yet – don’t give him any peace, until your breakthrough comes.

For me – it is healing. I long for the day that I can walk in the assurance that those I pray for are healed every time. When I first started to pray for people, God gave me a vision to pursue. I knew I was to heal the sick, just like Jesus did. To see Heaven touch earth. I was to pursue diabetes and metal.

Both have touched my life in different ways. Metal is relatively easy to pursue. If it’s there it is generally doing a job. If it goes, great, if it doesn’t, no harm done. Diabetes is a bit more complicated. Often the people I pray for with diabetes are young. If they aren’t healed immediately not only do they have to continue to live with diabetes, their faith may take a serious hit.

Should I stop praying for them? Should I stop pursuing the vision that God has given me? Should I stop asking God for breakthrough?

I want to keep going – to see heaven on earth, now. I want to see more on the now, and less of the not yet.

I intend to keep praying until it happens.

Do you ever look at giants of faith and wish you could be like them. Maybe you just have a friend who just seems to say the right thing at the right time to the right people and sees God do amazing things? It’s very easy to start measuring yourself against them, and beginning to feel very inferior.Maybe you try and copy their style, words and actions.

Do you succeed? Does it make you feel better about yourself? Do you feel more comfortable with you?

I have done all of the above in my time. And I have felt very inferior. I have felt that I was only acting at this whole Christian thing. The problem with copying someone is that when they are no longer there to copy you either have to admit that it was all an act, or find out who you really are.

God started to speak to me a while ago about me. He assured me that he loved me as me. He wasn’t impressed when I was trying to be someone else. And because he loved me as me, he had plans for me. He knew me, and how I ticked. My strengths and weaknesses. My fears.

The danger with trying to emulate others is that when they are gone, you need to find someone else to follow – and all that change can be painful.

One of my biggest fears was that at some point someone would figure out that I was simply a pretty good imitation of someone great. That I was simply pretending. The one that I was most fearful would find out was Father God himself.

Psalm 139:15-16 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

But He told me that he already knew all about me. That He loved me, and what I thought I was me putting on a pretty good act was genuine relationship. That the words he was putting in my mouth were words from him – not simply recited.

But the best thing was that I didn’t have to imitate anyone else. In fact, it would be better if I didn’t. He wanted me to be me.

And He wants you to be you. He loves you. He has plans for you. He wants you to fulfil these plans by you being you, not someone else.

This song by Will Reagan and United Pursuit has helped me. I pray it will help you.

I don’t want to ride on somebody else’s passion

I don’t want to find that I’m just dry bones

I want to burn with unquenchable fire

Deep down inside see it coming alive

Help me find my own flame

Help me find my own fire

I want the real thing

I want Your burning desire

Do what only You can do

In my heart tonight,

There’s no better time

There’s no better time

There’s no better time

There’s no better time

Peter and John were just going abut their normal business. Meeting in the temple, praying etc.how would you feel if you got prevented from getting to where you “needed” to be?

The man was carried each day by his friends / family. Were they tired of doing this? Was he a hindrances or a means of making money? Why didn’t they ask Peter & John for his healing? Were they more comfortable with the status quo? 

 Are we? Do we just get on with things or do we actually want them to change?

Peter was fully aware that he possessed power. No money – but what he had would enable the man to earn money himself. God is interested in the whole person – he treats the person not just the symptoms.

Note that it wasn’t Peter that healed the man. He did in and through the name and power of Jesus.

There is power in His name to break every chain!!

Peter knew that he had authority over the same things that Jesus did.

Why?

Who was with them?

Pentecost and the tongues of fire was very recent. Peter had been walking in the power of Holy Spirit since then.

Who are you?

Who is living inside you?

Who is desperate to get out and touch the lives of those you come in contact with?

Also note – the gospel followed the miracle. The signs and wonder are great – but there is a reason for them. People need to meet Jesus
– lets make sure do. 

A brief study on the names of the garden of Eden, and the rivers that flowed from it (based on Genesis 2)
Genesis 2:10-14

EDEN – Pleasure

PISON – Increase

GIHON – bursting forth

HIDDEKEL – rapid

EUPHRATES – fruitfulness

Eden was a place of Gods pleasure. God saw that it was good, and He said that it was good, and it was good.

Was Eden the finished article? Yes.

Was Eden the place where mankind was meant to stop? No.

Eden was certainly finished. If it wasn’t, I don’t believe that we would have seen God resting on day seven. If there was still work to do, I believe that God would have still being creating.

Eden was finished, but Gods plan for mankind was far from over.

Names are very important in the bible.

I don’t think there is any coincidence that we could read this as “Out of Gods PLEASURE” there a RAPID INCREASE of FRUITFULNESS BURSTING FORTH.

Gods plan for creation was never to abandon it. He wanted mankind to walk with Him in relationship and out of His pleasure, see fruitfulness. I think His plan was not so much for that fruitfulness to be a gradual thing over time, but for it to be something that happened suddenly, in ever increasing measure. Think about a river, especially some of the worlds greats, with rapid white waters and great power. There is no way to stop the water. As it pours out from its source, there is an endless supply of that power and flow.

So it was meant to be in Eden. As Adam spent time with God, as he walked with Him in the cool of the day, a rapid increase of fruitfulness was supposed to erupt from him, as he fulfilled the creation mandate to fill the earth and subdue it.

At the fall, Adam relinquished his authority to Satan. Jesus has allowed us to take that authority back, because we have Holy Spirit living inside us, we operate with His authority.

It is time for us to return to Eden, return to being in the centre of Gods pleasure. To allow Him to flow through us, rapidly, surprisingly, increasingly. And it is in doing so that we will see the fruit which Jesus talked of in John 15.