THINK AGAIN

I cannot believe it has been over a month since I posted anything here - feeble excuses such as an awful lot to do over the past few weeks and some really heavy pressures from work. Anyway here goes............

So another Christmas has ended and we now look forward to the New Year and often a new start. I have already planned my blog for New Years eve where I will be reflecting on 2011 and sharing some testimony that I hope will encourage others to move away from their comfort zones and just "trust" God..........

A few weeks ago Tim, our life group leader, told us we were embarking on a new series of studies just working through the Bible picking up key stories, and would be starting with Creation. He asked us to look at Genesis Chapter 1 & 2 and just write down or at least think about how it spoke to us and what it was saying to us (no commentaries or other materials were allowed just Genesis 1 & 2 and a double sided A4 sheet of notes he gave us with question prompts).

My first thoughts were "I know all about that", "I've heard it all before" and "how many times have I read and studied genesis?", and having been a committed Christian since I was 14 years old that is partly the truth. I even suggested to myself that there was nothing new that I was going to learn ahead of the. You are probably already thinking that’s a bit of a "dangerous" thing to say. You are right!

It is very easy to become complacent over what the Bible has to teach us especially when we have heard or read a passage a number of times before, over several years. The arrogance of "I know all this" "I've heard it all before" means that we shut our ears and our eyes to hear what God wants to say maybe for the umpteenth time because we wouldn't listen before or maybe for the first time because we needed that revelation at that moment in time.

So whilst I started with the arrogant stance one of the things I have been taught in 2011 is to actually stop, shut up and listen. (I know the shut-up bit must amaze some of you who know me really well but 2011 has seen me spending some serious time in reflection and contemplation and listening). And despite starting with "I know it all" I decide to wipe my mental slate "clean" and start from "I want to know so much more than I do" position and prepared to spend some time reading through Genesis 1 & 2.

So I printed Chapter 1 & 2 of Genesis out on A4 paper, took Tim's notes, a note pad and during one of our joyful trips to Norwich on pre Christmas shopping with my ever patient wife, I planned to visit the Forum, buy a coffee and spend an hour or two doing my "homework". And I ended up having a fantastic 3 hours working through this, writing up notes, and just spending time reflecting on what Genesis 1 & 2 had to say to me. (By the way Julie, my wife, was fine with this as she was very happy not having me under her feet but also having somewhere she could deposit her bags and have a "break").

So I want to share just a few thoughts, not all because there was simply loads going on and pouring out and being opened up to me, but let me draw out a few. These were either re-emphasized to me so very strongly that day or were revealed for the first time even though I know I had heard everything a hundred times before. Maybe I was just ready to listen. Maybe it was simply time for me to THINK AGAIN

So the first thing I did was read Tim's notes and there was a great piece in them (and I have already asked his permission to pinch his notes) that really spoke to me. He was talking about the Bible and paraphrasing his notes he said "The Bible was written by people who encountered God and through whom God tells the story of faithfulness to really awful but beloved people."

And I am one of those "awful but beloved" people who needed what God gave to us, which ultimately was the gift of saving grace through His Son Jesus and reconciliation into fellowship with Him. Oh and the small matter of everlasting life. (If you are not sure what I mean read John Chapter 3 and verse 16 in the Bible)

So where do you start with the Creation story. Well you start at the start. In fact the first 4 words are some of the most amazing words in the Bible. Genesis Chapter 1 vs. 1 says:

"In the beginning God......."

No preamble. No explanation. No arguments. Nothing.

Just that whenever the "beginning" was so was God. And I think that is absolutely awesome in the real sense of using that word and not the common way it has been reduced to today. I am in "awe" that my God simply "was" and "is" with no limit of time and no limit to capabilities.

Let me continue with some other personal awakenings:

If you have ever wondered about the rights and wrongs of genetic engineering and the cloning of some pretty weird stuff I have seen over the past 20 years or so then I think Genesis has something to say about that (I am not a scientist by the way but I can read!!)

God made vegetation, trees and plants with seed bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. God created fish and other life. God created the birds. And each were producing offspring of the same kind. And God made every sort of animal each able to produce offspring of the same kind.

For me this is clear enough evidence that God intended for species and plants to develop naturally using their own reproduction methodology and not be cross matched through genetic modification in any way. It is also very clear that everything was done with order, with forethought to the future with real strong thought out planning and that this was not some sort of random act.

God had a clear purpose for each and everything that He created and not the least of which was mankind itself.

God understands the need for relationships. God was already in a "relationship" when he created man. Regardless of all other things that God created man was to be unique. Man was to be made in "Our" image!!

ONLY man was made in the image of God, nothing else in the whole of creation carried that honour or privilege. And after creating man and giving man authority over everything He had created God saw that man needed a companion of the same design as him.

God new how important it was for man to be in relationship with someone else. God new this because there was an "Our" involved. Not "my" image but "Our" image and "our" is greater than one. Who was it that the "Our" referred to can be argued and discussed in other pages. Is it the Trinity? Quite possibly. Could God be referring to Himself and angels? Quite possibly. But the key thing is that God already knew of companionship and relationships and knew how important these were, so He provided man with a companion - Eve. Again nothing random with God, all thought out and all bought together beautifully.

I am someone who is genuinely amazed at people who say they are atheists and as a consequence believe nothing outside of the human race exists and therefore we were all bought here by a complete fluke/accident. I think that actually takes far more faith than believing in the Creation story as recorded in Genesis.

I once had lunch at the place where I worked, with an older college who knew I "went to church", without necessarily understanding what I believed or why I went to church. However he proceeded to tell me that all of that was okay for me but that he was an atheist and he didn't believe in any other "power" and certainly there was no "God". So I told him how impressed I was with his ability to believe that we all existed by a complete fluke that just "happened" to have brought everything together. He was quite for a while, I guess a little unsure of what to make of me because I am guessing he was expecting some barrage from me "preaching the word". 

After a while he just asked me to elaborate on what I had said. And I simply explained that I felt it took far more faith from him to believe that the world, the universe, the stars, the birds, animals, all plants, trees, wind, sea, sand, air and the whole of mankind all happened by chance. Where I on the other hand believed that there is a God and that He is very real and the he did create the world and everything in it on it and around it just as the Bible wrote about in Genesis. he just said "mmmm I see..." and that was it.

About a week later he found me and said, "Maybe I am not a full atheist as I can see what you mean about the random acts of everything just coming together, but I don’t believe in your God but I think there maybe something else out there". I would love to be able to tell you that he found new hope in Jesus but I do not know that. It wasn't very long afterwards that he was retired early from his role and left the business and I only ever saw him one more time.

Genesis is truly a powerful book and the Creation story one of the most (if not "the" most) awesome stories in the Bible.

If you think you know all there is to know about it then just have another read and try and remove your preconceptions before you do, and allow God to plant a new seed of revelation in you.

Watch this space on Saturday 31st December for reflections on 2011 - a truly amazing 12 months!!

God Bless

RE-THINK YOUR THINK

So just for a moment stop what you are doing and just think about your day or maybe even your week so far.

Ask yourself (as I asked the same of myself) this question:

“ How many times today, or this week, have you questioned God with why your life is where it is, why things go on around you that you really do not like, why is it that you have things so tough?”

It may be that you have to go back further than this week. The question is still valid and I ask you just to think what was going on when you challenged God with that type of question.

Now it is clearly possible that I am the only one who has ever raised the question of “Why me?” to our Father God. However, I suspect that anyone reading this can probably relate to a time when they have almost cried out “Why me?” and can relate to what I am referring to.

So as I am the one writing this piece no one will be that surprised when I say that I did not have to cast my mind back too far to find myself asking God why it was that I was so hard done by. I have asked Father God why my circumstances (call it “life” if you will) are the way they are for me.

My thoughts around this have really been triggered by my wife coming into our bedroom (where I have my office area and I work when I am not travelling around one place or another) and sat down and just said “Why is life so hard for us right now?” Now when she asked that she wasn’t really aiming at challenging God but more it was borne out of frustration for certain situations we are involved in as a family.

But as I thought of what she said I knew that I had internally asked the same question not that long ago as a bit of a challenge to God, and I have for some time now considered the way I asked that question and the circumstances around it and decided actually I needed to Re-Think My Think (re-think the way I was thinking).

I am not sure that I have completed adjusting the way I think but I certainly have made a start and will continue it on. So I do not write now from a position of suddenly having everything sorted out and in a knowledge that I will never raise that question before God again, but I do think I may begin to answer the question for myself in a different way.

Those of you that know us will know that as a family 2011 has been quite a difficult year. My youngest daughter (not yet 14) spent 8 weeks at the start of the year in a residential clinic for a serious eating disorder. My mother passed away just before my daughter came out of that clinic, and shortly afterwards while I was working in the USA my wife experienced a breakdown. Right now my daughter is continuing to struggle with image, the eating disorder has returned and as a consequence she cannot cope with mainstream schooling and my wife continues to fight her breakdown and is under a number of medical treatments for it.

Have I prayed for God’s intervention in all this? You bet your life I have!! Have I seen breakthrough. Occasional glimpses yes, full breakthrough no. Do I continue to pray – yes I do!! P.U.S.H. Pray Until Something Happens is the saying and I will continue to do that and hold on to that.

So as I have pondered my “lot” and cried out “woe is me” I have looked around at the circumstances of others and had cause to say “Thank You God, there but by Your grace would go I”

I look at a friend with a daughter just 16 years old fighting a very aggressive cancer and going through extreme chemotherapy, stem cell surgery, being constantly sick, not knowing what the future may hold, but being two of the strongest and bravest people I have ever met. I and many people from varying churches around Norfolk continue to lift them up in prayer (they do not attend any church at this time and I do not know their spiritual standing) as we know Jesus can, and does, heal all independent of their faith. There is somewhere that I can truly say “There but for the grace of God………………….”

I have friends who have recently experienced a horrendous situation within their family involving a vicious attack on one of their family members, resulting in hospitalisation. Again somewhere where I can say “There but for the grace of God………………….”

Just a couple of weeks ago we had a Suffering Church Sunday where we set aside time to consider those people in this world that are persecuted simply because they are Christians. People who know that, just by standing up for Daddy God, means they could be put to death. We may all think the country we live in is marginalising and attacking Christians but very few who read this are facing the risk of death for their faith. Could I do that? I honestly don’t know, as much as I would like to think I could say “yes”. Again somewhere where I can say “There but for the grace of God………………….”

And I am not using that phrase glibly or in disrespect for the circumstances those people are in, I am just genuinely expressing that it is by Gods grace that I am not facing those hardships.

So even though when I look at what is happening in my family it is hard, at the end of the day these are the people I love the most, but actually I can see how God continues to protect us and pour out blessings on me.

Think about that for yourself when you ask God why things are so hard. I have said before in another blog that we are told we will be “overcomers” and that God has overcome the issues of this world:

“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.”

John 16:33

         

“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith”.

1 John 5:4

“Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that  Jesus is the Son of God”.

1 John 5:5

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, (evil spirits) because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world”.

1 John 4:4

John 16 actually tells us that we will face trouble, hardships and problems. It’s fairly simple. We cannot be overcomers if there is nothing to overcome.

So I have seriously taken this on board, and whilst I am not stupid enough to say that I welcome hardships or want to see my family or friends hurt or suffering in any way, I do want to be an “overcomer”. I do want to know what it is to defeat the problems faced and I do want to receive victory through Jesus Christ and therefore I am learning that these tough times are ways in which I can be taught these things.

Let me just share something else.

2011 has been personally hard. But it has also been a time of spiritual growth of deeper and greater understanding of who daddy God is and the things He has in store for me and the things He has anointed me in and anointed me to do, and I have learnt to find the confidence to be willing to step out boldly, to take a chance on looking silly or maybe that is other people seeing me as silly when they perceive I have something wrong. It has been about learning more and more to listen to what He is saying to me and reacting to it and not just saying “Oh that’s nice”! Let me just put some specifics behind that, not to boast or anything like that but to do what this blog site was set up for – to encourage:

Every week I am entering into deeper places of Worship and I have an absolute assurance that that is the anointing He has given me and that has been made clearer than ever before in 2011. God has now opened the opportunity with the help of the Leadership Team at my church to drop “activities” I have been involved with, all good and all serving the church, but not what I have been anointed to do, something my brother made even clearer to me today and now focus on my area of anointing.

A network of Christians has been revealed to me at the company I work for and we now join for a weekly prayer meeting every Wednesday morning. We cannot all always be there, either in person or on the conference call, but the time is set in our diaries and we are collectively praying for our colleagues and situations at the same time wherever we are. It has been a real blessing and there has been a bond created that was previously not there. I have been blessed this year to find a new brother in Christ as a result of this who has prayed for me and my family and just become a great blessing on me – thank you God and thank you Peter – you know who you are!!

I have been blessed with now “hearing” Daddy’s prompting and stepping out and acting upon that. The truth is He was always prompting me but I just didn’t listen. And some of the circumstances have not been within my normal “comfort zone” but I have been so encouraged when receiving confirmation that my response to a prompting of the Spirit has been absolutely on the mark for the recipient of the action I then take. It is so very exciting and I eagerly look forward to hearing more of His prompting.

Finally I have travelled through time!! Or time stood still for me. YES REALLY. I will blog this in full separately but many people have heard about this already and know the story. I know some have "pinched" it and used it in something they are speaking about. It’s amazing. It’s impossible. It happened. It was ALL God!!

All of these things have happened during a year when, as I started by saying, circumstances have been tough. But whereas previously I have called out “Why Me” I have changed my view, and am learning, even when it is so very hard, to say “thank You my Father”.

So be encouraged that even in your toughest times father God does not stop wanting to bless you and encourage you and to strengthen you.

So will you start to “Re-Think Your Think”?

God Bless

Our True Identity In Christ

I was reading something in Ephesians last night and was very briefly considering my identity before Father God and the things of my earthly life that may have affected the way I see God and how I see myself before Him.

I have been greatly blessed to have had an earthly father who has taught and guided me well, and lived and lived out the Christian faith for most of my life. He has taught me so much about being faithful to God, to God’s calling, of how to honour those around us set apart in leadership, and also how to lead the people of God and to love those we would rather just walk away from. He has also taught me how to recognise within myself where I may be wandering away from the correct path and how when I have made mistakes to get myself back on the road God calls me to travel on.

And I was (she has passed away now) as equally privileged to have a mum that taught me and demonstrated to me heavenly values, and a strength and depth in our faith and our daily walk with God. She showed how to love, how to forgive and how to honour another persons ministry and support and be part of that.

And I have a younger brother, Chris, who leads the Christian life by example, stepping out in faith to follow the calling of Daddy God and who now lives as a full time ministry doing amazing miracles and not least changing lives by brining many people to salvation n Christ. This from a guy who if you had looked on the outside you would see a non academic builder and carpenter and not a teacher of ministers and church leaders, an apostle, (well the writing was on the wall with the carpentry, wasn’t another famous teacher a carpenter too? J) a leader himself within his church fellowship, and now a very real inspiration to his older brother (that’s me by the way) and those around him and those he comes in contact with.

I thank God that He “Does not choose the equipped but equips those that He chooses”!!!!

Anyway back to my ponderings on identity.

As I was reading through Ephesians I came across a piece in my bible (it is a “study bible” with lots of additional notes and commentary) that talked about “Our True Identity In Christ” and I want to share that here by writing out exactly what it had:

We are justified (declared righteous)                                   Romans 3:24

No condemnation awaits us                                               Romans 8:1

We are set free from the power of sin that leads to death      Romans 8:2

We are sanctified (made holy) in Jesus Christ                       1 Corinthians 1:2

We are pure and holy in Christ                                           1 Corinthians 1:30

We will be given new life in the resurrection                        1 Corinthians 15:22

We are new people                                                           2 Corinthians 5:17

We are made right with God                                              2 Corinthians 5:21

We are one in Christ with all other believers                         Galatians 3:28

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ             Ephesians 1:3

We are holy and without fault                                             Ephesians 1:4

We are adopted as Gods children                                        Ephesians 1:5, 6

Our sins are taken away, and we are forgiven                      Ephesians 1:7

We will be brought under Gods authority                                      Ephesians 1:10, 11

We are identified as belonging to Christ by the Holy Spirit     Ephesians 1:13

We have been raised up to sit with Christ in heaven              Ephesians 2:6

We are Gods masterpiece                                                   Ephesians 2:10

We have been brought near to God                                     Ephesians 2:13

We share in the promise of blessings through Christ             Ephesians 3:6

We can come boldly and confidently into Gods presence       Ephesians 3:12

We are members of Christ’s body, the church                       Ephesians 5:29, 30

We are made complete in Christ                                         Colossians 2:10

We are set free from our sinful nature                                 Colossians 2:11

We will have eternal glory                                                  2 Timothy 2:10

I am sure there are many other references that could have been used for this and other areas not included but WOW…………………

I have highlighted a few that when I contemplate them they start to make my brain spin.

I so often look at my faults, about what I do wrong and allow them to be a barrier to the potential that I could be if I will let God work through me. If I then look at the fact that “I am His masterpiece” and “I am holy and without fault” then oh my word who am I to block Gods path.

So I wanted to share this, and I am going to continue to consider these things, and I know one thing above all else………..

I AM A FRIEND OF GOD!!!

If I have nothing else being God’s friend is more than anyone could ever dare to hope for but through Jesus Christ that is exactly who I am.

God Bless

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE

As I have quietly sought God’s guidance on a letter of encouragement that I want to write to two people going through some of the most difficult times imaginable, I have not been able to find the right words to say, and so I have continued to wait upon Daddy for clarity of thought and word. (If you can just ask Father God to provide me that clarity when you pray I would really value those prayers right now).

However, He is good, and always wants to reveal and teach me/us more and He has set my mind to thinking in other areas this weekend and once more I share the thoughts I have had here.

This weekend has seen so many towns, villages, cities and private households gathering together to celebrate November 5^th, Bonfire Night. And of course the night would not be complete without the lighting and release of several thousands (if not millions) of fireworks.

And for just that split second they light up the night sky with different shapes and patterns, different noises and different colours. But all of that is just for the briefest moment in time………….whoosh and it’s all gone for another year till we buy some more.

The firework exists for one thing and one thing alone. To be lit, launched, and to explode, in fantastic colours and patterns, nothing else, just that.

A firework that is brought from the shop and remains in what I am sure is very bright and colourful packaging, is absolutely and totally useless, and will never fulfil the potential it was designed for.

You can place it on the shelf in your room and you can look at it every now and then and think “Yes, that is a fine looking firework, and it is meant to provide a wonderful burst of colour when we let it off”, but you just leave it there on the shelf.

Until the day you remove it from the packet, light the fuse carefully, stand back and let it “go” it will never achieve the purpose and potential that was planned for it.

As I pondered the firework quite a number of thoughts came to me regarding the subject of “light” and how my observations of the firework may have something to do with living and walking the Christian path.

Are we not sometimes like that firework?

Light To The World

We all look great in our “church”, our exterior is just perfect, but when we are inside those four walls (or however many walls you have) we are fairly well “hidden”. The church is a “safe” place, dare I even say our “comfort zone”.

Jesus never said to us believe and be baptised and organise meetings inside buildings you can call churches.

Do not misunderstand me. A corporate place of worship is absolutely fine and should be an integral part of our Christian walk. Somewhere where we meet together for fellowship with other believers setting aside some time corporately to praise and worship our Father and receive teaching and encouragement and refreshing. All good!

But the call Jesus placed on us was so much more. Let me just share a few examples all related to “light”:

          Ephesians Ch 5 vs. 8 & 9 “For once you were full of darkness, but now

you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true”.

Luke Ch 11 vs. 33 – 36 “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house”.

John Ch 3 vs. 21 “But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see God at work in what he is doing”

Matthew Ch 5 vs. 14 – 16 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father”.

John Ch 8 vs. 12 “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life”.

So once we have discovered the light of God’s mercy in our own lives we are called to be a light to the world. A dark place that has turned it’s back on the true light that faith in Jesus provides.

I am sure you all know that when a match is lit in a darkened room for the time the match is lit the darkness goes and is replaced by light. Where light is darkness simply cannot be.

So we really need to decide what we are going to do with the light that is inside each one of us.

We can stay in our comfort zone, and remain safely protected by the walls we build up around us to keep “the world” out. We may be lit (we may have accepted Christ as our Lord and Saviour) but that light remains hidden form the people who need to see it, those people who do not yet know of the love of God for each and everyone of them. In fact it is just like the firework, in this fantastic packaging but never going to do anything because we leave it safely tucked up inside that packaging.

We must step out and take what we have been given to those outside our protective walls. And whilst for those called to do exactly that in lands outside of our own, for most of us that actually starts in our own homes with our own families, then onto our own neighbours, villages, towns and counties. It’s so close to home that we rarely see it.

Recently our minister put a notice up over the doors that lead out of our church building, a message for each and every one of us “Now you are entering the mission field” – How True!!

If we still remain in our comfort zones, behind those four walls we will be even more like that firework and we will never reach the potential we have and we will never achieve the plans that God has for us.

How many times have you been encouraged by a fellow brother or sister when they tell you they think you have a real potential for worship leading, prayer ministry, teaching, preaching anything……but we do nothing about it, just continue along as we have done every single day, not changing anything we do, and therefore never reaching our full potential, never really grasping all God has for us, like the firework, we look great and the potential is there we need to get out of the packet though!!

          Jeremiah Ch 29 vs. 11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the

Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future

and a hope”.

John Ch 14 vs. 12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father”.

If we are ever to grasp the plans He has for us and achieve “even greater” (WOW if that doesn’t blow your mind I am not sure what will – “even greater” than Jesus did WOW!!) than our Saviour achieved then we have to break out of the package we have built up around us.

We need to let the Holy Spirit light the fuse and release us into the darkness and allow the light that He has placed within us to shine forth. we need to allow the Holy Spirit (unless we allow Him he cannot do a work in our lives) to fill us and keep refreshing us. The lighting of the fuse is just the first step. We ned to continually be refiled with power and energy that comes from Him and keep that fuse/flame lit in our hearts so that we can seek after His calling and chase after and receive the plans He has for us and truly reach the potential person we were originally designed to be in Him.

And finally here is where we can be (and are) so different to the firework. The firework has a few seconds where its colours shine out and it makes beautiful patterns.

The light of Christ does not burn out and does not fade. It remains strong and firm at all times. And it remains with us at all times. We must simply step out, get unwrapped, light the fuse paper and go out into our families and neighbourhoods and just let Gods light shine through us.

Foe me, in the words of the chorus:

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

Let shine, let it shine, let it shine!!

What about you??

God Bless

MEETING AN ANGEL!!

Today I brought a cup of coffee in Norwich, and took it out to a man outside Top Shop, and gave it to him.

I had done this three or four times before, asked how he was doing, purchased what he was selling and walked off.

He sells "The Big Issue"

Today I actually "met" Simon for the first time. We stopped and we engaged in conversation for 15 or 20 mins.

Simon is his name (that may be obvious from the above sentence, but I am clarifying that this is the first time I had really engaged with him), and he told me about his life over the past year. A "victim" of tough economic times, and the downturn of the UK Fishing industry in particular, he worked on various sea fishing trawlers and had just re located to the West Country to a new company and after 3 months of working for them the company went bust. The house he was living in came with the job and as a consequence he was out on the street. He has slept in doorways, under the stars with a blanket ot sleeping bag for cover, in various tents, and rarely on the odd sofa. He was fairly up beat and overjoyed today as he had just secured the rental of a small flat.

Simon has been trying to gain employment for the whole of his homeless period, however with no fixed address employers have been reluctant to say the least, to offer employment no matter how qualified he may be at the job. If people like Simon cannot find a job they cannot affors a place of their own, if they don't have a place to call "home" then invariably they cannot get a job. And that is The Big Issue. No pun intended but that is why that magazine exists. Not so you and I can feel good that we dipped into our pockets for £2 and gave it to some poor person on the street. But to try and enable these people to earn some sort of income to try and raise enough money to get accomodation to geta job.

If you had asked Simon 12 months ago about being homeless he would never have even contemplated it as a possibility.

So this is not a political rant over the rights or wrongs of our systems in the UK, or over rich vs poor. It is maybe just a call out to not so readily walk past the Big Issue seller in your street, but just give them a little support, it could be you or I one day.

The experience reminded me of how I met someone who has become a good friend, Daniel Harrison. And I relayed part of this story to Simon today, but I want to share it with you in full and want to encourage you about engaging in converstaion with strangers:

HAVE YOU MET AN ANGEL LATELY?


Hebrews 13 vs 2 says "Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it"

Have you met any angels lately? Was he or she in a white robe? Was there radiant light all around them? Did they have large wings made of feathers?

No okay well neither have I........................................but I met Daniel.................he is one of God's angels but has no wings and does not have a white robe...............let me share......

October 16th 2008

My wife and I had a rare day off together and decided to go shopping in Norwich, one of our favourite "local" shopping areas. We had no children around us (all at school or work) and someone else picking them up from school, we thought we might start getting one or two bits together for Christmas. Now that may look a bit early (October 16th) but we have 6 children to think of so tend to start around this time if not sooner..............anyway...............

We walked through the shopping area and walked towards Top Shop where outside was a girl selling the "Big Issue". I always tend to buy at least one when I am in Norwich although my wife never buys any at all. However, I started towards this girl to go and buy a copy and then just felt a prompt (that’s in my head not physically) not to buy a copy from her so I carried on walking.

We were walking together and I was looking in various shop windows and as we were walking along I lost contact with my wife (Julie) and for a moment lost site of her. As I scanned round there she was with this bloke in a blue jacket and a black woolly hat and black fingerless gloves and she was chatting away and buying a copy of his big issue. Now that was the first strange thing the fact that she was buying something she would never normally buy. As they were talking (and as I was walking towards them) I could hear Julie telling this bloke how angry and upset she was.

Let me give you a bit of background here. Several weeks before we had been walking through Norwich and as with any city we saw some people begging for money or sleeping rough. My wife had seen one lady, whom at first she thought was a man, sleeping in a doorway in the middle of the day. She gave her some money but was very upset by what she saw to the point of feeling quite angry and is seeking someway of doing something (she doesn't know what but she is sort of searching on this issue) to try and help people like that. Then on Sunday 28th September a man had been killed after going to the aide of a man and his girlfriend who were being beaten up by a gang of youths (the man and woman were believed to be homeless).

So back to this man and the Big Issue - I came across and joined the conversation. Julie was telling him how upset she was and how some people didn’t really deserve to live after they did what they did to the chap who was trying to help others. The Big Issue seller just had a smile on his face all the time. It was strange and I really found I couldn't help but want to smile with him but I couldn't for the life of me think why as the subject of the conversation was pretty unpleasant.

He looked at Julie and said "I know it was a really bad thing to happen to those people but you know I think God would have been there holding there hands, and whilst He couldn't stop it He was trying to comfort them and be with them through the ordeal".

Now that really isn't an answer I expected to hear let alone from this Big Issue seller. I had paid for the Big Issue but at this point I didn't want to leave.

He said, "I'm a Christian and I have been since I was 17. Things are a bit tough right now but God still looks after me".

Julie and I looked at each other and both turned to this chap and invited him for coffee.

We went to a coffee shop not too far away and took Daniel for coffee and some cake.

We spent the next two hours in the company of one of the most amazing people I have ever met.

We were so alike. Both of us came from the same area in Essex. Both of us were born in 1962, I on March 2^nd and he on April 2^nd. He had recently gone through a divorce and that was the reason for him being homeless. He was in a flat but only until the end of October when he was going to be kicked out again. He attended a church in Norwich and we found we both knew some of the same people.

My wife and I listened to the things he shared with us and the time flew by.

He volunteered at a drop in centre for anyone who just wanted a chat and the night before no one had turned up so the three people who led it, him and two others, held a time of prayer.

They had each prayed that they would meet a Christian who was struggling and needed encouragement. Oh WOW that was so my wife who was finding things really tough. Daniel spoke with her for ages, the smile never leaving his face not even when he talked about having nowhere to go at the end of the month.

When Daniel nipped to the toilet I told my wife I was going to buy a Big Issue from the lady by Top Shop, and she told me that she was going to do the same but something had stopped her.

Well when Daniel came back we exchanged email addresses (he accesses the internet at the local library) we shared a prayer together and gave each other a hug.

After that meeting we didn’t want to shop anymore and didn't. We just went home and talked about Daniel and what had just happened.

We saw him again the following Saturday and now it was like greeting an old friend. He was there selling his Big Issue and I got some of the guys we were with to buy him out so he could finish his day early.

The third time I met Daniel face to face was over a year later - after contact through email - when I attended his wedding.

Julie and I have met Daniel and AnnMarie on several occasions and they are both an exciting encouragement. So very positive in everything despite (or maybe because) things being tough. Daniel has his own window cleaning round in Norwich and is working daily to bring money in for the family and we email and Facebook regularly when we cannot meet up face to face. 

So - when you walk through your town and there is a Big Issue seller there and they are really annoying and asking if you would buy there magazine, think twice before you walk by.

You may just meet a Daniel!!

God Bless Steve

THE POWER OF HANDS

On Thursday evening I was taking what has become a fairly regular flight back from Schipol Airport, Amsterdam Holland, to Norwich in Norfolk England. For this trip I was sitting in row 17 - an aisle seat - that is at the very back of the aircraft and as this was a small Focker 70. As the engines blocked the rear windows I wasn't really able to look out at the nights skies during the short 30 min flight home.

As I sat in my seat I looked down the length of the cabin and observed the stewardess speaking to her colleague. I had no way of knowing what she was saying, and I certainly cannot lip read, but I was fascinated by the amount of hand gestures she made during what was clearly animated and happy conversation (she laughed a lot) and it got me to thinking.

I am not sure there are many (if any at all) converstaions that I have where I do not use my hands in some way. And I am sure that is probably true for everyone. We use hands to emote anger, compliance, frustration, sympathy, hate, love, disspaointment and celebration. They say nothing at all yet they say so very much.

I stayed focused on our hands and our use of them and turned my mind to thinking how Jesus used His hands whilst He was here on Earth.

Apart from the one incidence where He "cleared the church" of money lenders and traders who had defiled the sanctuary in favour of personal gain and profit, and so He turned over the tables; obviously using His hands, in what could be described as anger, at all other times He used His hands for positive and powerful means. This is how it rolled out for me:

• He used hands to feed the hungry - He took the five loaves and two fish and broke it all up and fed the 5000 gathered to listen to Him
• He used His hands to heal people on numerous occasions
• In His early years he would have used His hands in practical ways as the son of a carpenter
• He used them in prayer
• He used His hands to break bread with His freinds

So He used His hands in practical and spiritual ways. And as always He should be our pattern for how we live. We can add to the list the lifting of hands in praise and worship as we are called to do in the Psalms and I am sure during the times when Jesus would spend time with His Father He would have lifted His hands too.

There is real power in the way we use our hands. So we need to ensure that we are using our hands for the benefit of others wherever possible and not for our own benefit. Let us persue the pattern that has been set for us by Jesus, our example.

Oh and He used His hands for one other thing too..................

He stretched His hands to the left and to the right, and as they drove in the nails He was saying "I love you this much"

Blessings

WHO WILL ANSWER

Revelation 3 vs. 20 says: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends".

There is a famous painting depicting Jesus standing before a door with His hand raised simply knocking. I am sure you have all seen it at some time.

You are also likely to know that the picture is not significant because of the character of Jesus in it, or because of the artist that painted it. No, it is the door that is the significant thing in the picture. From the outside there is no handle and therefore Jesus is unable to open it.

And when I hear people talk about that picture, or even about the verse at the top of this post, that inspired the picture, I hear them talk about Jesus knocking on the door, the heart, of one who does not know Him and then use it to talk about Jesus coming into someones life for the first time, when that person gives their lives over to the loving Father and becomes a Christian.

Well that is all well and good and the "picture" as it is is fine. We have a loving God and He will not force Himself onto anyone and therefore it is the individual that must open "the door" and allow Jesus to "come in" rather than Jesus opening a door and stepping "in".

However this particular section of the book of Revelation was written to the church at Laodicea. So this was not written to those "outside" of the family of God, rather I would say that it is directed towards those who are already in that "family", who are already Christians and part of His church. The verses before verse twenty have some hard things to say. Paraphrased they talk about a luke warm, tepid, church just content to chug along  doing their own thing and not focusing on what God had called them to do. Content to invest in the riches of the world around them rather than in the riches of the Kingdom of God.

So when verse 20 comes along Jesus is speaking to people who already "know" him. He says He wants to do what friends do, invest time in getting to know us and sharing his time with us. The passage talks about Him sharing a meal with the church.

To often we keep God locked away in a small box somewhere, and that "box" we have closed shut and only you and I can open it. We need to remove the walls we have built up between ourselves and Daddy God and spend some time really getting to know Him like real friends would want to do. We should be throwing that "door" wide open and welcome Him in with open arms, and embrace all that He has in store for us.

Verse 22 at the end of that section emphasises even more that this passage was to those in the church rather than those outside when it says: "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches".

I have learnt, and I am still having to learn, to remove those barriers I have, not enough time, too busy "doing" things for the church, family commitments (although extremely important), and just other stuff we all put in the way. I have "opened the door" because I want to get to know Him like I want to get to know my close friends. I want to be intimate with Him so I know what he is going to do before he even does it, isn't that just how friends are. I think so.

So I ask at the top in the title "Who Will Answer"?

I will.

Will you??

Blessings

REFLECTIONS (The Final Piece)

Purpose And Unity

So the final part of my “reflections” following the Prayer For Revival meeting I attended last Monday (October 10^th) I would like to continue with these thoughts:

One thing that stood out for me and was amazingly brilliant was the clear unity and purpose that those people gathered in Norwich stood for.

There is a hunger and desire to see a restoration for the people of our county brining them into the family of God.

The biggest picture of that unity shone out when all the ministers who were at the meeting representing so many different churches all stood at the front ahead of offering some ministry time.

As I looked at them (there must have been 30 or 40 I guess) I realised that I do not think that would have taken place as short as 12 months ago.

For me it shows a new and exciting chapter in the life of the church family in Norfolk and I believe there are exciting times ahead for us all and they start now!

Amen.

REFLECTIONS (Continued)

Credit Where Credit Is Not Due

Continuing my “reflections” following the Prayer For Revival meeting I attended last Monday (October 10^th) I would like to continue with these thoughts:

During the meeting it was called out that we should rise up and take back that which the devil has taken from us!

Now I am all for entering into spiritual warfare and standing firm on the promises of God knowing that God has already defeated the devil by defeating death, and certainly as God’s people we need to reclaim the ground that belongs to Him.

However, as I contemplated this on Tuesday morning (11^th October) and also reflected on things I had previously heard through teachings, sermons, Bible studies and during my own (sadly infrequent) quiet times, I just wondered whether in fact we as a God’s church are too quick to give “credit where credit is not due”. In fact are we giving too much credit to the devil when he has not earned that credit? Let’s stretch this out a bit:

·        The devil is not omnipresent – he can only be in one place at a time

·        He is not all powerful and can only carry out one act at a time (although I accept he may use some of his fallen angels – his followers – to act for him)

·        And something brought home to me recently – the devil is not all knowing – he does not know what may happen in the future and knows as much about the future as you and I

So quite frankly I do not think I want to be giving the devil too much credit, if any, for “taking” the ground away from the church of God.

Rather I raise the question as to whether God’s church has been so complacent in the UK in particular (but other areas too), so laid back, protected, unafraid and unchallenged, that actually we have simply allowed the Christian values and viewpoint be watered down, washed away and totally diminished within our societies. So rather than the ground being taken from us, I put it that we have just sat back and allowed it to be taken.

Oh but, I hear you cry, no it’s not us it’s the government of today, of yesterday, it’s the interference of the European commission imposing rules and regulations upon us.

Well some of that has happened but as we are the electorate, then we have allowed these things to happen by not sounding out a loud enough voice standing up to be counted for what we believe in and not taking a stand against the erosion of God’s values.

This is not a “political” blog, it is purely my reflections, but we need to be making a stand against the removal of biblical standards in our society, in our schools, we need to re-learn the value of respect, of caring for our neighbours, not the society we have become which focuses on “me”, “I want it now”, “what do I get out of it” as principles and philosophies.

We all have a part to play in shaping our society, of supporting the Christian candidate when he or she does stand, so that Christian influences can be part of our government. And those candidates have stood. And I wonder how much support they received from their own people, (the church), how many nights of prayer did we have, how much fasting did we do? Isn’t it more likely that we simply wandered down to the voting booths placed our “X” in the box and returned to watch TV? (The truth is I know that’s what I did L )

Do we do enough to prevent God’s values being eroded away? I certainly do not think we have in the past. So before we credit the devil for something please let us look at what we as the church have not done and therefore what we have allowed to happen.

We need to reverse the flow away from God and I believe the prophecy on the Churches from Norfolk and the promise of revival will require us to introduce God’s values into all that we do, everywhere we do it and not just on a Sunday morning behind closed doors.

Blessings