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.