What a Wonderful Idea!

If you live by what I say, you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31b-32)

I was enjoying an early morning devotional time at a friend’s house, and sneaked a look at one of her devotional readings. It challenged me in a new way.

As a grandmother, I often wonder what will be remembered when we are long gone, and our grandchildren will be growing up in the mainly hostile world. Persecution of Christians will be escalating until the Lord comes again. New technologies, differing work opportunities, global travel, all will be much easier, but life in general will not be a walk in the park. As violence and general crime multiplies, and ethics and morals become terms that only the “fundamentalists” identify with, will our children and grandchildren have the necessary spiritual stamina to withstand the burgeoning temptations that will be before them, and cling to the faith we try to instil?

In those far away days when we “oldies” attended school, we had a morning assembly where a reading from the Bible, a hymn and a prayer were the norm, and even though Christianity was perhaps nominal, and understood as a birthright in a “Christian country”, seeds were sown that were later watered with the Living Water of the Lord. (John 4:14) Chances were that those teachings, even if largely ignored in childhood, resurfaced and gave direction to the  many paths opened up in adulthood. Like rays of sunshine, as opposed to dark shadows, thoughts would filter through, and scriptures come to mind, showing the presence of the Holy Spirit in lives that had been touched in the formative years.

Apparently, in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, it was a custom for many women in a part of the United States, to make a “Freedom Quilt” for their son’s 21^st birthday. This would be lovingly stitched, and given in acknowledgment that the beloved boy was now a man, and independent – free of his mother’s restraints. Scripture verses would be embroidered into the patches, in the hopes that wherever he went he would be reminded of the foundational teachings received at his mother’s knee.

What a wonderful idea!

Unfortunately freedom is often seen as a licence to do whatever pleases or attracts, and unforeseen consequences are frequently the result.

With the freedom that Jesus gives, comes self-confidence, spiritual strength, wisdom, peace and joy, and my prayer is that this freedom will be embraced and grasped whole-heartedly.

Words from wise people are like spurs. Their collected sayings are like nails that have been driven in firmly. They come from one shepherd. Be warned, my children, against anything more than these. Ecclesiastes 12:11,12.

Perhaps such quilting is a hobby to consider for younger fingers, which would leave a long lasting legacy of hopes, prayers, struggles and love, to bring warmth and comfort to hearts reaching out for Truth.

Who can find a wife with a strong character? She is worth far more than jewels… She makes quilts for herself… Her children and her husband stand up and bless her … Proverbs 31:10, 22, 28 God’s Word

Where are the hearers of the Good News in Yorkshire?

I was born in Kingston Upon Hull, or ‘Ull on the ‘Umber as Yorkshire folk may know it. The nearest seaside town where we as kids would play, was Hornsea, now the home of my brother and family. A little further away were the popular seaside towns of Bridlington, Scarborough, and Filey. Our next door neighbours came from Filey, and on our trips back to England, many fond memories of those spots have been fostered through the years.

A story in the latest Jericho Walls Prayer journal caught my eye, and caused a distinct desire to make Filey a place to visit on our next holiday in the region.

Pray until there is victory

The story of John Oxtoby’s prayers for the English town of Filey, remains an encouragement to us all. (Praying Johnny; 1767-1830).

Methodist circuit preachers, who usually travelled on horseback from town to town in order to preach the gospel, had a huge influence on villages and towns all over England, and America. These Methodist preachers or ‘circuit riders’, as they were known, followed in the footsteps of those Methodist giants, such as Wesley and Whitefield, and brought great spiritual change to Britain as a whole.

A story is told of an incident in the town of Filey, during the early days of Methodism, after many preachers had been sent, but to no avail. The town was a stronghold of satanic power, and each preacher in turn had been driven out, until at last it was decided to give up the town as a hopeless endeavour. The now famous John Oxtoby, or ‘praying Johnny’, as he was called, begged the Methodist Conference to give the town’s people one more chance, and to send him.

On his way thither, someone enquired of him whence he was going. “To Filey,” he replied, “where the Lord is going to revive His work.” Seeing the town from a hilltop, Oxtoby’s feelings were so intense that he fell upon his knees under a hedge and wrestled, and wept, and prayed for the success of his mission. A miller, who was on the other side of the hedge, heard a voice and stopped in astonishment to listen to it. He heard Oxtoby say, “Thou munna make a feal o’me! Thou munna make a feal o’ me! (You mustn’t make a fool of me!) I told them at Bridlington that Thou was going to revive Thy work, and Thou must do so, or I shall never be able to show my face among them again, and then what will the people say about praying and believing?”

Oxtoby continued to plead with God for several hours. The struggle was long and heavy, but he would not cease. He made his very weakness and inefficiency a plea. At length, he rose exclaiming, “It is done, Lord. It is done. Filey is taken! Filey is taken!”

He walked into Filey, arisen straight from the ‘Mercy-seat’ and started to sing as he walked through the streets: “Turn to the Lord and seek salvation.” A crowd of hardened fishermen flocked to listen. He preached with unusual power and hardened sinners wept, strong men trembled, and while he prayed over them they fell to their knees, and cried out for mercy and found it. When God’s children pray, He answers and does what He promised.

My heart aches for the country that sent out so many missionaries in the past, but now needs the message themselves. Pockets of Wonderful Churches are a real blessing to find, and we rejoice when we can enjoy good fellowship with Bible believing worshippers, but in general when we visit England we find more atheists, agnostics, and scoffers than receptive ears for the Good News of Jesus Christ.

As an “eccentric” who has “got religion” it will be a pleasure to walk around Filey, and find someone who understands my lack of religion, but echoes my living relationship with my Lord and Saviour.

Jesus said, You will hear of wars and rumours of wars. Don’t be alarmed! These things must happen but they don’t mean that the end has come. Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All of these are only the beginning pains of the end. … Many will lose faith … there will be more and more lawlessness, most people’s love will grow cold. But the person who endures to the end will be saved. This Good news about the kingdom will be spread throughout the world as a testimony to all nations. Then the end will come. Matthew 24:6-14 (God’s Word)

I looked up some statistics and found that the Joshua Project says that of 105 people groups in the UK, 29 are still unreached! That means that out of a population of 62,083,000 27.6% have not yet heard.
A Christian country or one that is losing faith?

By God’s Grace!

One thing I love about Bible reading is that the deeper one goes, the richer the yield. It’s like the Diamond Fields, where I used to live. The top layer gave some interesting stones, like agates, and quartz, sometimes rubies or chalcedony, but deep down were the diamonds. Even in their uncut state they would shine amongst the gravel in the sorting trays, reflecting the light of day, and gleaming, waterless, in the melee of multi-coloured pebbles.

Shortly after I wrote about Ruth, and the other characters Elimelech, Naomi and Boaz, in the Biblical love story of redemption, I was asked to speak at a United Churches Ladies meeting. No problem, I thought, in sharing on something so close to my heart. But speaking is a far cry from writing! For a start, it must be audible – and I have a Yorkshire accent. It must be alive, not boring, and everyone knows the story of Ruth. Ah well, there was plenty of time to add some oomph to what I had written, so I wrote down the basics, and read it back to myself to check on the time it would take to read about my 4X4. Four chapters, four characters, and if I linked four truths and four historical facts we would have a mnemonic of RUTH. Relationships, Understanding, Truths and History.  

A piece of pie, I thought, until I heard myself! That is always a mistake! I sound like I have a mouth full of plum pudding, sticky plum pudding, and I usually tell myself not to listen to myself, just go for it! Too late! If I was listening to a talk like that, I would wonder which part of the woodwork I had climbed out of. So out came my spade! This is my trusty digging tool, which involves prayer first of all, plus putting all the books together that I can find about my subject. Then I pop along to my favourite store, The Bible Centre, and see what else I can find. Then I check out the Internet, and what with Google, Web ferret, and all the other search engines, I check out things like Levitical Law, Levirite marriage, the times and methods for reaping the Barley Harvest, and general history for the times when the judges ruled. Ugh, very similar to our times! Lawlessness, immorality, robbery, violence, no ethical accountability. Everyone did as they saw fit.  Quite simply, history repeats itself. So I linked my information with warnings about the increase of lawlessness, the scoffers and false teachers who Jesus warned about and looked at what we may expect in the coming days.

I looked at the earthquakes we have experienced, and the famine that is being experienced in so many countries right now. How many people, like Elimelech and Naomi, are looking for a new land where their family can be fed and sheltered? How far would they have to walk? Only the more affluent can afford transport like cars, taxis, busses, trains or planes, none of which were available for Elimelech, Naomi and their two sons.

But hey! Moab could be seen from Bethlehem.  The hill where Bethlehem stands is not much further than a whistle blast away from the hills of Moab, about 30 miles, or 43 kilometres. The distance they were travelling was more the distance from God, than distance that could be measured in miles.

And so off they went to live in the country of Moab for a while. Elimelech, meaning “My God is King”, Naomi, meaning “pleasant”, Mahlon, meaning “sickness” and Kilion, meaning”death”.

Well, I was hooked on research! I ask you, would you name your kids like that? It seems that in many Biblical stories the names are given to characters to give richer meaning to the accounts.

Perhaps from the piles of books, reams of notes, and wealth of new information, I will bring out more for my blog readers! But I sure had to cut out a lot to get down to the version I shared today.

My prayer was that like poverty-stricken gleaners, seeking knowledge and insight from the harvest of God’s Word, we would be granted fresh insight on this well known book of Ruth. I am told new food for thought was given, and I continue to pray that God will be glorified as we dig deeper into His Word.

May we find ever more gems and may we be blessed as we walk the path set out for us by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Time and tides of thought.

I was always amused at the comment, “Where does time go?” because it seems an unalterable fact of being, that time flows in units of 24 hours, into which we are expected to put +- 8 hours to rest and recuperation. It seems so simple. Why then, is there such a battle to fit in 16hours worth of good, worthwhile input?

In the past couple of weeks, my thoughts have run on a visit from Jehovah’s Witnesses – shame two ladies who did not want to pray with me, or to read any materials I offered, yet they expected me to spend time on their literature – and various insights on Bible characters. I am busy working on a talk on Gleanings for our times from the book of Ruth, and, as always happens, what one thinks is known fades into near insignificance when deeper research is put to work. Then there have been a couple of studies on lesser know Bible characters, out of which came “What’s in a name?” when we examined the story of the nameless little slave girl who was instrumental in sending her master to Elisha for healing. And a favourite term when shocked or amazed, “Jumping Jehoshaphat” became personalised in a study of that character - without the jumps!

There have been happenings and incidents, thought provoking situations, and people filling the hours with insights and lessons so that time has rushed  like water over a waterfall, splashing into a vortex of activity.

One passage that has crept to the fore so often though is one that is slap bang in the middle of Jeremiah’s discourse on Israel,  ( and I am watching closely the affairs of this beleaguered nation.)

Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the father’s sins into the laps of their children after them.  

O great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. Jeremiah 32:17-19

All my thoughts are zoning in on the ways in which our God works. No matter what we do, or how we react to circumstances around us; regardless of the choices we make and the plans we form; over and above our beliefs and hopes, dreams and intentions, our God reigns. He is sovereign, and He sees all, working in every situation for the good of those who love Him – whether in this life on earth, or in its continuation in Heaven!

You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:6-8

I love people, and see so much potential in the young, but – oh what a pest of a word – but - I wish  many more would examine the important things in life and make sure of their destiny. Perhaps I must stop here, because my thoughts are tumbling over themselves again, and my heart aches for the lost and unsure. Folk who have crossed my path, and caused delays and distractions, unaware of their impact. May they know that God is God, and we are not!