Finding a Safe Haven.

John 6:16-21

When evening came His disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

“Why is God so selfish?” my friend cried in frustration. “How long must I go on giving Him praise and worship, and trying to be as good as He expects me to be, when all the time He just watches, and doesn’t give an inch?”

Shocked though I was, I tried to put myself into her skin, and perhaps many of us, if the truth be told, have thought along those same lines when the storm is raging, and we feel we can’t bend any more, but must surely break.

Sometimes the Lord allows us to get into situations that we feel He could have prevented.  Then He tells us that His ways are not our ways, and neither are His thoughts our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8) What we think is feasible and right, may be great for us then and there, but what would it do for us in the light of eternity? We are naturally lovers of ourselves; the most spiritual of us would have to confess that though we proclaim our submission to God’s will in our lives, we hope that it will not be uncomfortable, or painful, or degrading! We are conscious of our own selfishness, but couch it in other words.

Here, we see the disciples setting off on their own, in the gathering dark, without the Light of Life with them. They rowed in their own strength, fighting the raging wind, pulling against the elements. They strained to reach the other shore – to do what when they got there?

Do we, too, decide to go off on our own? Do our own thing? Do we desire to assert our independence, and our “right” to some pleasure, or ploy? Have we our own agenda, wanting to satisfy cravings for something that in our hearts we know would not meet with God’s approval? Do we covet possessions or position, in an effort to pander to our inherent pride? In short, do we move away from God to give ourselves a brief respite from the holiness He wants of us? And then, when the storm strikes, do we try to get out of trouble with panic stricken strokes of bargaining, prayer, confession, and professions of faith, falsified by our hypocrisy?

Oh, we of little faith! How wonderful that Jesus yet loves us enough to come to us. He will even walk three and a half miles on water, or more than six kilometres of tossing waves, to rescue us. There is of course the “if” and the “but” which we need to remember if He is to guide us to the shore.

The disciples were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them, and surely wondered if it was really He, or their imagination playing tricks. Was He going to rebuke them? Was He going to watch them drown?

When He said, “It is I; don’t be afraid,” can you imagine their relief? Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and to have Him join them in that tossing, turbulent situation, with the sails flapping, the wind howling, the rain lashing, the moon and stars hidden in the clouds. Then they wanted the comfort and strength of that Presence they knew so well, but that had been sadly missed in the storm that had overtaken them. And immediately when he joined them, they reached the shore to which they had been heading. The struggles ceased. The haven was reached, with Him.

But now, this is what the Lord says - --- “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the water, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you ----“ Isaiah 43:1,2

The Father Heart of God.

Knowing God stems from an ever deepening relationship with Him – a walk beside Him allowing Him to choose the direction. Of necessity it involves surmounting hills and rocky terrain, through storms and heatwaves, across rivers and in darkly shadowed valleys. Even in verdant meadows are the dangers of stepping in cow clap! But it is worth it all! Walking with God entails recognising where He is at work, and seeing His pain when others are invited but turn down the invitation.

Through the years I have recognised occasions when He has allowed me to experience with Him His Father heart. I have felt the pain of rejection, and He has helped me through. I have seen the results of disobedience and the consequences of deliberate sin, watching in horror when wrong decisions have been made leading to further problems, and felt the agony of having to stand aside, and watch.

When Jesus, (the personification of God, and the One who helps us understand what Love is) hung on the cross, His mother and others who loved Him had to stand by, and watch. What we call heartbreak is a common feeling for God. He could have programmed us to be good little clockwork people. He could even, like human parents, have pushed and prodded us to achieve the right results; and then punished our disobedience. But he didn’t. He allows us to make decisions and then live with the consequences. And in His Father Wisdom, He still works in every situation to bring good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 That is beyond what we can do. Sometimes we have to sit and watch mistakes being made, (especially when the children are grown and way beyond our jurisdiction), and do the biggest and best we can do, pray! Pray for God’s Will to be done, and know that in His answer will lie that unshakeable truth of His Love.

This weekend we remember how that truth was played out at Calvary. No heartache we can suffer, watching our children, and loving them through every chapter in their lives and living with their decisions, can come near to the suffering of God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and Mary, the mother.

It all started in the first Garden, that place of beauty and perfection, where the first man and woman lived in harmony with God, their Creator Father. Evil slithered into the Garden of Eden, silently intruding into paradise, waiting a chance to insinuate lies into the faultless communication of God the Father with His first created children, Adam and Eve, They were innocent, devoid of sin until the serpent satan challenged the pride he first instilled into them, then used to break them. “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4,5

It’s typical of satan to instil into open minds a feasible half-truth. Yes they would recognise good and evil, but too late to retain the good and refuse the evil! Conscience was born, and choices multiplied. And so their progeny was condemned to live under God’s condemnation, “…for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19

For the first time, blood was shed in order that nakedness could be covered, and Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, with no way back.

Centuries passed while Father God watched His children fall into ever greater sinfulness. In Noah’s day, it was so bad that God decided enough was enough. The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. Genesis 6: 5,6

After the flood, and a fresh start, God’s heart must have been hopeful. Patiently He watched, and waited, and saw the cycle begin again. He had not destroyed the source of evil, the satanic agenda to win the world to wickedness, but He had a plan. He called a man named Abram, and guided him into a life of faith. Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6

The Nation of Israel was born. And into that nation, many years later, came the Redeemer, the Saviour of mankind, Son of God, and Son of Man. Father God’s plan was reaching fruition. But it was a plan fraught with pain and agony, with obedience and determination, as infinite love triumphed over persecution, misunderstanding, torture and ridicule.

Redemption began in another Garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, when evil tried another tactic by confusing self-righteous minds into giving a death penalty; a death penalty in the cruellest form, for accusations with no evidence, and against the wishes of the judge. Yet the decision of the people was upheld; people whose minds were clouded and who had listened to the lies of the deceiver instead of listening to and accepting Truth, personified.

Yet that was part of the plan. The Father God knew what would happen, He had watched His children sinking further into the depths of pride, self-righteousness, distrust, and self-service. He knew what the outcome must be. Father and Son, back in the Kingdom of Heaven, had agreed that blood must again be shed, but this time to right the wrongs of Eden. The first blood that was shed was to make garments to cover nakedness. This blood would be shed to pay the price for all that had been unleashed in the first garden, and this blood would be used to wash guilty stains away.

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. John 10:17,18

The agony of the Cross is over but the Father Heart of God still agonises over His children, wanting them to listen, learn from His Word, and receive the eternal life given through His Son.

Have a wonderful Easter remembrance of the Son’s obedience to His Father’s Heart.

Great Expectations and Great Disappointments for Impossible Dreams.

Sometimes I wish I could give me a good shake, and after that I would like to shake up some of the folk I know. But we can’t change ourselves; - only God can do that as we submit to Him. Even less can we change others, and again, only God can do that, but not on our instruction!

Perhaps my intention to write a Blog at least 3 times a week was an impossible dream, and perhaps being disappointed with me is a natural outcome, but I still have Great Expectations as to what God will do in me, and even through me, because I have laid urgent requests before the throne of His Grace.

Some of the recent distractions have been concern for others, and Proverbs 14:10 comes to mind. Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.

We can try to empathise; we can try to advise; we can offer support and sympathy, hands on or off.  We can rejoice and give praise, or join in commiseration. Words, or acts of comfort can do much, but can’t change minds, or mind sets. Only God can do that, and He responds to prayer, in His time.

Proverbs 14:13 is a reminder of our mixed moods. Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.

But aren’t we made for ups and downs, like the troughs of waves. Without the movement of waves, movement of what is on and in the waves is also stopped. It is good to be on the crest, but to rise from the trough again entails effort. Not to make the effort could lead to drowning in the depths of depression or doubt.

I am reminded of comments by Screwtape, a senior demon, in his letters to nephew Wormwood, a junior (“The Screwtape Letters” by C S Lewis). He has explained that because Wormwood has seen his “patient’s religious phase dying away,” this is no cause for celebration. Humans go through undulation in every department of their lives, - interest in work, affection for friends, physical appetites, all go up and down. Periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty. He goes on to explain the tactics of the Enemy, (God) by pointing out the difference in their desires. While the demonic forces want to absorb the human’s will into their own, and assimilate them, God wants a world full of beings united to Him, in lives qualitatively like his own, but yet distinct.

“And that is where the troughs come in,” he writes. “You must have often wondered why the Enemy [God] does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most unmitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them or assimilate them, will not serve.”

As Screwtape continues his assertions, he concedes that God gives protection to His children in the early days of their commitment, but sooner or later He withdraws  a little, “if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs – to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the kind of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best.”

Does this make sense to you, as it certainly does to me? It is most certainly in the down days that one clings more passionately to the Rock, and is most grateful to The Anchor preventing us from being swept away.

Screwtape  confirms that the more the demonic forces can interfere with the will of humans, the better, but is insightful in his closing words. “He, [God] cannot “tempt” to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

Keep on keeping on, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and remember with me, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

It comes to pass – The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17) In His time.

A man, blind from birth.

John 9:1 As He went along, He saw a man, blind from birth…

Blind from birth. Can you imagine it? In my darkest fears, I would dread losing my sight. Perhaps this is because I have seen beauty, have learned to read and write, know colours, have watched a sun rise, and a sun set in different locations, and have sensed the magnitude of God’s creation all around me.  If I had not known these things, how would life be? Drab? Colourless? Flat? Yes, I could learn to read Braille, and perhaps come to understand in  a limited way something of colour, and height and depth and distance and perspective, and beauty that I would read about. Nevertheless, my inner vision would be incomplete, to my way of thinking now.  Under the circumstances though, it would be complete as far as my mind could understand.

How can we relate this to spiritual blindness?

We become Christians – how? By acknowledging our sinful state and our need of a Saviour. By believing that Jesus paid a price for us! We accept that in faith. We receive Him and ask that He take over in our lives – in fact that He would be Lord of our lives.  Consequently He begins a work in us, and we become less while He becomes more, as He reveals more of Himself through the working of His Holy Spirit. The more He works in us, the molre we understand.  Like t5he alphabet, we progress from:

A – Acknowledging our need.

B – Believing that He meets that need

C – Confessing our

D – Dependence on Him and

E – Expecting His

F – Forgiveness of our sin, by

G – Grace, gibving us His

H – Holy Spirit to

I – Indwell us, bring us

J – Joyfully into the

K – Kingdom of God.

L – Love, seeded from the Father

M – Moves our hearts, and motivates us,

N – Nurtures love in us,

O – Opening doors of opportunity and

P – Pointing us in preparation.

Q – Quietly giving us a quest to

R – Repeat what we have learned

S – Seeing others receive Salvation and

T – Teaching them hitherto

U – Unknown truths about the

V – Victory available in Christ;

W – Wonderful release from bondage

X – through the Cross of Christ.

Y – Y? Because He loves us and wants us to join Him in His Kingdom work and to gain the crown, and live with Him in Heaven! He who has begun a good work in us will bring it to completion – to

Z – Z – end, Completion in Christ Jesus our Lord, and then – Every eye shall see Him, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Sadly, for some it will be too late! They thought they coluld see, but is was only in their own mindset, incomplete, and unwilling to healed! For the rest? Fulfilment. Promises kept.

No more blindness. SIGHT!!

John 9:5. Jesus is the Light of the World.

V39. The blind will see, and those who (think they) see, will become blind.

V41. Being blind, before He shines His light into darkened minds, is an excuse, but once He has been revealed, then guilt is evident as lack of belief.

Purim to Passover

Last month the Jewish nation celebrated the feast of Purim, a commemoration of a significant time in Jewish history, when an attempt was made to annihilate the Jews in Persia, modern Iran. This month the Passover feast is celebrated, while the Christian celebration is of Easter, when the crucifixion is recognised as the price paid for our redemption.

I’m not sure what sparked my interest, unless it was my previous writing on living under the circumstances, when I continued in my notes about the circumstances under which two women lived: Vashti and Esther.  Here were two women living under heavy circumstances who made choices that not only affected their own lives but those of countless others.  Laws were changed because of their refusal to stay under the circumstances.

Vashti, as the Queen of Persia, wife of Ahasuerus, or Xerxes ,in the Greek chronicles, was summoned by the king to parade her beauty before his drunken guests at an ongoing party. Now here was a king who ruled over 127 provinces, from India to Sudan. Rich, powerful, proud, and to be feared, he had spent 100 days showing his military power, general wealth and the abundance of his kingdom to hundreds of officials and visiting gentry. Now, after 7 days of heavy drinking, when the general rule was to drink as much as you like, when and where you like, the king decided to show off his wife’s beauty.

Imagine being married to the most powerful man in the empire, and feeling secure in such a position of opulence and influence. Then to be summoned, like a girl off the streets to appear before a crowd of drunken revellers; it was more than her pride would tolerate. The refusal to comply though, cost her her crown and her comfort. Never again would she enjoy the intimacy of her husbands company, and her banishment was to be an example to other wives who refused to submit to their husband’s commands.

Circumstance upon circumstance, but Queen Vashti’s decision paved the way for another queen with another choice to make. Esther, living in a humble home under the care of her cousin, Mordecai, was selected for a Beauty Pageant, the prize being the king! That circumstance involved a year of beauty treatments, but they paid off – she won!

Wonderful, until the crisis came. Her people would be killed, unless she intervened. Intervention would necessitate an interview with the king, but entering his presence without being called for could be tantamount to suicide. Knowing what we know of what happened when the previous queen crossed the line of convention and displeased the king, under Esther’s circumstances, what would we do? She chose to enlist the help of the people. She asked that Mordecai would request a fast to be undertaken by all the Jews of Susa.

(Because the book of Esther in the Bible does not include the Name of God, I take the liberty of presuming that a fast must have been for a purpose of prayer, and to whom would those prayers be directed if not to Elohim, Creator and Judge of the universe.)

Then, risking her life, Esther sought audience with the king. She climbed out from under, and won the lives of her people.

Now, what excites me, is the relationship between Purim and Passover, which I discovered in my digging deeper time. The date that Pur, meaning the lot, was cast to Haman, when he presented his plan for the extermination of the Jews to the king, was the 13th day of Nisan. Nisan is the first month of the Hebrew calendar, dating from the time of the Passover, when the firstborn of the Israelites were protected from the plague prior to the Exodus from Egypt.

The day when Esther went in to see the king would have been Nisan 15, which meant that the Jews of Susa fasted during Passover that year.

I found this information in the web site of derek4messiah and I quote another gem from the Jewish readings over the feast.

Passover Haggadah: “Not just one Pharaoh rose against us to exterminate us, but in every generation did they rise up to exterminate us, and each time the Holy One Blessed Be He has rescued us from their hands.”

Both Passover and Purim occurred outside the land, in Egypt and Persia. Both involved the near extermination of the people of Israel. Moses and Esther both appeared before kings to rescue their people. Pharaoh’s army and Haman both perished.

Just another encouragement to us all not to live under a burden of circumstance, but celebrate that in Jesus there is no circumstance so heavy that He cannot help you out from under!

Be blessed this Easter time, and remember the relationship between what we celebrate as Easter, and what the Jewish nation celebrate as the Passover. Keep in prayer the nation of Israel as they continue the battle with those who wish to destroy them.  

God's World Wide Web

I read a story somewhere about a young man who was in a war situation and his platoon was coming under heavy attack from the enemy. He and his comrades had to retreat in defeat, with the enemy giving chase. Somehow the young man was separated from the rest of the platoon, and he came upon a rocky ledge containing a cave. He crawled into the cave, crying out to God to save him and protect him from his enemies. He even tried to bargain with God, and said that if God saved him, he would serve Him for the rest of his days.

In despair he looked up and saw a spider beginning to weave its web at the entrance to the cave, and in bitterness of heart, he thought, “I asked God for protection and deliverance, and here I get a spider”.

Soon he heard the sound of the enemy coming closer, as they scoured the area looking for those in hiding. He knew they would kill him if he was discovered, and he crouched fearfully, waiting to try a last ditch desperate attempt to surprise the enemy and perhaps save his life. One soldier with a gun walked slowly towards the cave entrance, and the young man’s heart pounded madly as he awaited the inevitable. As the enemy moved cautiously towards the entrance, he noticed the spider’s web, and backed away, calling to a comrade, “There can’t be anyone here. They would have had to break this spider’s web to get in. Let’s move on.”

Apparently the young man later made good his promise and became a preacher and evangelist, but though I don’t know his name, I am grateful for his story.

You see I have a spider called Spud. He’s not live, but he has been used many times in stories to my grandchildren, explaining how a web is so strong and powerful that it can hold more than it’s maker’s weight. If we had the ability to spin a web, it would be stronger than steel and the web God weaves stretches into eternity!

Every spider’s web is distinctive, and an entomologist would be able to recognize the species of spider from the type of pattern in which the web is made. Apparently the identifying characteristics would be read something like a fingerprint!

The web God weaves reveals His character!

Like links interspersed in a chain, God weaves His web between people and situations, and countries and continents; between kings and commoners, and between the prosperous and the persecuted; between tribes and races, colours and creeds. He weaves with what is indestructible, and with that which no man can withstand. Man can turn from wisdom, and become foolish. He can lose wealth and health yet refuse advice. He can place his trust in his own opinions, and accept or deny consequences. He can argue, accuse, condone and compromise; he can lead his life under all sorts of false presumptions; but no matter where he may try to hide or retreat, or deny the existence of anything or any body that does not fit within his own imaginative capability, he can not withstand the power of God’s,- woven in love,- world wide web!

God’s Word assures us that it is not His will that any should be lost. Those who come to Him He will in no wise cast out.

The young man who was saved later wrote a comment that shows God’s control over all things.

“Where God is, a spider’s web is as a stone wall. Where God is not, a stone wall is as a spider’s web”.

3 Points to Ponder

Power                                      

Persistence

Productivity

Power. A web is powerful, strong. To achieve its purpose of holding the spider’s prey, it is able to hold far more than the spider’s weight.

Prayer is our way of approaching God’s power. God’s power is supreme. He is able to hold, and to keep from falling, and to present those He holds, spotless before the glorious presence of the Lord, without fault and with great joy---.

Persistence. Break a web, and the spider will persistently start over again, patiently reconstructing until it has achieved its purpose, building the web in a strategic place where prey can be captured.

To achieve its purpose, prayer needs to be persistent, as well as proclaiming the will of the Lord in its subject matter. Prayer is part of our communication with our Lord, and dependent on our relationship with Him. Our relationship with Him brings us into a greater knowledge of His Person, and His will for His people.

God is persistent in His call, - “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Whoever hears my call, and opens the door, I will come in---”

In the power and persistence, the end product is achieved.

Productivity. Productivity in prayer is also dependent on the power and persistence of the prayer, and the power and persistence of God, in order that His purposes and plans can be fulfilled.
The fruit of the Spirit – the “produce” of a Spirit filled life - now that is productivity.