When Wonder is less than full!

‘May the ‘Wonder’ of God fill you today! When we let the ‘Wonder’ get leeched from the soil of our understanding we are left with the 'right' word and posture, ie. that ‘God is wonderful’, but lack the conviction to back it up! Too often I have felt a fraud when using superlatives about God without having waited long enough in ‘Sabbath rest’, abiding, drinking, in order to comprehend and commune with the One whose Glory and Grace puts the 'Wonder' back into my day. When I do, I notice the sparrow who has found a home, the lily of the field in splendrous array, my working takes on Wonderful-purpose and my life becomes liberated from mundanity and fatigue to Wonderless living.’
JS

'Dragons Den' God moment?

OK so you are mildly but not wildly interested by the title, anything to get a few readers, no, I'm serious, I had a moment the other day watching the Dragons Den that I can only describe as a 'God moment'...
A young lady, aged 24, appeared before the snarling, fire-breathing dragons, all ready to devour another 'wanna-be' entrepreneur'ling! What bright idea had this one come up with?! What followed stunned me and reminded me so much about Father God's heart, stunning, absolutely stunning...
The young lady gave a humble 'pitch' seeking investment of £65,000 for 15% share of her enterprise. She had developed a healthy alternative to ice-cream, a dairy free frozen yoghurt type product that would also be accessible to many people seeking a healthy alternative. She had appraoched Tesco, the supermarket giant, and had been given great encouragement by orders promised to her. Her presentation was simple, her sincerity shone through. The Dragons seemed stunned. In a 'Susan Boyle' moment you could sense impending cynicism just melt away on a wave of admiration that manifested in awed silence and open-mouthed amazement. The questions came gently, somehow mirroring the momentum of admiration that instinctively they felt for this young lady, 'Had anyone helped her on the project?' 'Surely she had not done this all by herself, had she?' The humble retort was affirmative. She had worked two and a half jobs as a single Mother developing her business sideline in her 'spare time'...Three Dragons made her an 'offer' and she ended up leaving the Den with her 2 preferred Dragons and the dream deal in the back of her pocket. Stunning! They had looked beyond her frailties, her lack of experience, the fact that she was a young single mother, her lack of pedigree, and saw the awesome resonance of potential being pursued, the innocence of a young one who believed almost naively that the impossible COULD happen. Here was an underdog who was actually getting a break.
I felt emotional and shed some tears as this encounter unfolded. Its amazing how an event like this can produce such a depth of emotion in us. Where did the tears come from? I know instinctively this was a response that came forth as a result of experiencing something so much like our Father's Grace! Have your ever noticed how emotional you feel in a 'Susan Boyle' moment? How honour stirs something deep within you that you know instinctively is from a 'higher agency', something transcendant that raises its head above the mundanities and ordinaries of life.
I thank God today for a God who favours the underdog. A God who wants to bring dignity for shame. A God who sees the treasure buried deep within us and allows us pass through the furnaces of life to bring forth pure gold. A God of opportunity and second chances. Do you know Him?

Dream of a man hanging on a cross

In a few weeks time I am looking forward to catching up with a good friend now back residing in his native homeland in Nepal. I will be visiting some friends and churches there and speaking at a Youth conference in Kathmandu.
Chandra was from a Brahmin background. Despite this status in the 1990s he was forced through economic circumstances to migrate to Northern India and seek employment. He ended up as a labourer breaking rocks, a laborious back-breaking task necessary in Indian labour intensive road construction. During this period Chandra had a recurring dream. In the dream , he saw something he had never seen before, what appeared to be a man hanging on a wooden structure - a cross. Chandra sought guidance from a Hindu guru through whose knowledge of spiritual matters he hoped he would get some kind of interpretation for the dream. The Sadhu's response was that this was the 'Christian god' and his advise was to journey to Mussoorie, a hill station in the Himalayas, known for its Christian presence, and to seek out advise and information there. Chandra did just that and continued his working as a labourer breaking rocks by the roadside. This is an amazing story of God's leading and Sovereign plan! What happened next is that Chandra met our dear friends there who gave him the answer he sought about the meaning of the man hanging on the cross fully and properly explained to him for what it means. Many people know about the cross Jesus hung on but not enough realise the full significance of it. Christ became a substitute, a penal sacrifice to atone for the sins of anyone who will believe in Him and receive Him as Saviour. He did for us what we cannot achieve by our own merit.
Chandra received this gift and became a new believer fully experiencing the new life and Grace in the Holy Spirit. He is now married with children and has preached this same Gospel to many others. He has now begun, raised up and handed over 2 vibrant churches, travels in support of similar pioneers as himself and is now back in his native Nepal doing the same again, pursuing the next chapter of his life, living simply, humbly but 'dangerously' for God. I look forward to seeing Chandra as he journeys on...
JS

No Franchising

I don't want to be part of a movement or church that franchises God's Presence....

I would rather wait, preferring to invite fellow journeymen in life to partake of delacacies at the table of the One I have already dined with. This invitation though is not a marketing exercise, rather more about a tale of wonder. Less about what I have to say and more about the soft whisper that speaks loudly of a private and compelling affection.

From Journal, 25/6/10

The Will To Do God's Will

"So Jesus answered them, 'My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority'" John 7v16-17

There is a simple reality in the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus as Christ and Saviour.

Unless the orientation of the heart of the person hearing the truth is OPEN to finding God's will, there is an inability and more importantly an UNWILLINGNESS to respond to Him. That is why Jesus deliberately spoke in Parables, the truth of which were hidden from the proud. No amount of pressure, force of personality or any other human means will work to break this down. Arguments, persuasions, apologetics, pleadings will all fall on 'deaf ears' until the heart opens, like Snowdrops in early Spring sunshine, to the necessity of God. So, saint of God, present God and His Gospel as reality and truth, then wait, wait for the Spirit to blow, wait for God to do what only HE can.....to turn a heart away from self-preoccupation toward a higher calling - the 'will to do God's will'.

The good news is that God HAS gone ahead of us, He IS turning the hearts of men toward Himself, He has appointed many for salvation, we cannot do it without Him, nor were we ever meant to. God has gone ahead of us!

Take His hand

The commonly spoken mantra 'Seeing is believing' is understandable when the visible realm is the sole arbiter of a persons perception of life. Christ though, followed the theme headlined by Abraham centuries earlier, 'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe' A life of trust is about learning to lean on the Person of God through the storms and routines, through plenty and lack, living beyond what our senses and sensibilties perceive, reaching out for the hand of the invisible God. As such, 'Believing is Seeing' brings us to true North, the Holy Spirit and God's Word the magnetic field, Father and Son cheering us on, along with a great cloud of witnesses who have finished their race..

So we say we believe, good stuff. Its worthwhile remembering though that even the demons believe in Christ, though they quake at His Presence and are driven out in His Name! 'Saving faith' is about understanding that we cannot save ourselves, indeed this instinct to self-determinate has been the barrier between us and God. Jesus' date with the cross paid and opened a way for the possibility of our reconciliation with God, it was costly beyond measure and will never need to be repeated, complete, offering a doorway into His Kingdom and a whole new way of living, but have you taken hold of that invisible hand?

'Inheriting faith' (faith for living, maturing, taking possession of promises God has made to His sons and daughers) continues the theme of 'Believing is Seeing' There are many warnings in the Bible about unbelief that comes from a 'sinful unbelieving heart' that lapses back into self-determination and has caused many people's hearts to grow cold. Inspite of their position at the Father's table, the 'old ways' prove troublesome to walking with and 'dining' with God in His Kingdom...

Here are a few suggestions prefaced by an important statement. 'To inherit all that is bequeathed to us as sons we need to align ourselves in a life that is compatible to our destiny'

* Thought life - a famous book told us we 'are what we eat', nothing could be more true of our brain food! God's Word has proved innumerable skeptics wrong and speaks truth into our minds and hearts. Jesus rebuked illogical thinking, cut across traditions and sacred cows, so that people could know the truth and the truth would set them FREE!

* Conversation - do we speak what God's Word teaches us? Its so easy to read something at 9am that brings LIFE and then by 9.30am be speaking and conversing to friends from a 'glass half-full' (or empty) position. What we confess with our mouths is important. It becomes a declaration of truth in the face of circumstances that is very powerful.

* Prayer - in communication with God, our prayers need to align with the revealed will and plan of God. His character and attributes are the foundation for His will and we receive fresh revelation and impartation as we spend time with God and experience, yes experience, His Presence. 'Give thanks to the Lord for His Love endures forever' was a song sung before and after battles we read of in the Old Testament. As a friend said to me recently, 'This is the anthem of a generation that take possession of their inheritance!' Powerful stuff, ponder and meditate on this and may it become a constant in your prayer life, not for mindless repetition but from a position of revelation of its awesome truth!

Is your lifestyle compatible with your destiny? Are you sowing into it? If Believing is Seeing, then 'Seeing' will involve us thinking, speaking, praying and living a life aligned increasingly with the Lord...take His hand today and watch what happens next!

Getting to the end of reason

Abraham and Sarah both laughed at God's reaffirmation of His promise that in their old age they would bare a son and through Him blessing would come to the nations, fulfilled ultimately in the Messiah. The situation was absurd to them. Daft.

Nevertheless, God fulfilled His promise to them and Isaac was born to them at an age reserved for Great Grandparents! This for me, is one of the most powerful and encouraging accounts of God's covenantal nature in Scripture. Absurd it may seem but God we must remember is super-(above) natural!

Then the most unexpected and agonising part of the story unfolds in God's instruction to take Isaac, the child of promise, to the mountain (Moriah) and offer him as a sacrifice (he didn't know this at the time but this prefigures the atoning sacrifice of God as Father sending His only Son to the cross) How understated to read these accounts from a page! What agony of soul must have prefaced and been felt on this long walk?! Abraham's obedience, even in this extremity, was not required. God did not want this sacrifice, he loves children!

The thing that has been grabbing me this past week is this, can we just BELIEVE God - period? Is our belief based on probability factors, what happens when all seems lost - what left then to believe in? Nothing unless we are 'fully persuaded'. God wants His children to BELIEVE...
The Book of Hebrews sheds light on this further where it states,

"Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death". Hebrews 11v19

Abraham got to the place, beyond incredulity and laughter, where he really and truly BELIEVED in and trusted God. Romans tells us that he was 'fully persuaded' that God had the power to do what He had promised - however absurd! Less reasoning, more believing and resting and leaving God's work to God. This was a major shift, worth the pain.

Abraham's 'journey in faith' is an extreme one but he is the 'father of us all' in terms of faith. It seems that faith beyond reason is the foundation God desires to build on. Today, as you hear this word, may you realise that no matter what your situation looks like, however absurd or laughable, there is a place of rest and certainty beyond reason that is utterly reasonable.
Any comments??

Winter that doesn't want to leave?

As I write snow is falling hard in the longest, most persistently cold winter I can remember. It got me thinking....If after pleading with God to take you out of a situation (like waiting for Spring?) is it possible that He wants you to be as you are - for now, to experience hope and peace in the midst of chill, and then to distribute it to all the others who can identify with you in the same situation? It doesn't mean its forever! Strength in weakness speaks volumes of an inner Grace, often louder than words. Ever spent time and effort in feverish intensity of effort to position yourself in the brightest possible position in life or any season (especially Winter!)? Could it be that as we try to place ourselves in strength God spends time repositioning us in weakness? Have we missed something? Is there a deeper agenda here than external comfort and internal control? Its only in the vulnerable place that we really need Him, that we truly learn to reach out for the anchor (hope) of ours souls and allow faith to grow from seed to harvest - no matter what the chill of our spiritual environment...Any comment?

Believing is Seeing

Put yourself in old Abraham or Sarah's shoes....no heir as indicated and promised by God, bodies 'as good as dead' (love the descriptive language of the Bible!) and the fertility prospects of a eunuch!Three options were open to Ab and Sarah. One, believe God and wait. Two, wait as long as you can stick it and then make your own plan (sound familiar?). Three, just give up and settle for whatever 'the cards' are dealing you!!
Abraham and Sarah eventually arrived at non-negotiable believing via a journey in 'the flesh' making pragmatic haste through Hagar, the servant help to Sarah. To criticise this lapse in faith and patience would be harsh knowing our own frailties as we do, but interestingly God EXPECTS us to believe Him ('And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him' Hebrews 11v6)

The world that we live in abides by the mantra of 'Seeing is believing', this walk with Christ is such that His order is reversed to 'BELIEVING IS SEEING'!

Over some years of pioneer mission and ministry in the Indian-Sub Continent and Ireland, I have to say that I have found that the rational mind has little to do with my ability to stay on track through 'Faith and Patience' and avoid 'Hagarisms' and stay moderately sane!! (ask Ali for confirmation!!) So many circumstances we face(d) contradict the desired outcome and Promises of God's New Covenant in which we 'stand'. Hindu tradition, extreme poverty, idol worship, traditional, nominal and institutionalised 'christianity', materialism, apathy, hedonism, moralism, relativism, self-sufficiency, to name a few. Trying to 'manage outcomes' ( a la Hagar/Ishmael) in our own strength just does not work and leads to problems. God has initiated His love toward us in that while we remained in a 'lost' condition He died for us (on behalf of us) This is the Grace through which we 'enter' and by which we 'walk'. Will we dare to believe?

Having done all, God calls us to continue to stand and to really believe, to know that He is FOR His children and to defy logic and circumstances - which can have no solid basis for ongoing belief. The rational mind is at emnity with believing, trusting faith, the faith of a child who knows that Father God won't let His kids down!? Any comments??