Lost at sea, Ephesians 1:17-21

I’m not sleeping well at all so apologies for the inconsistency. It’s 3.20am and I just put down some prayer, in conjunction with the lovely people that are all praying for me during this irritating time. Feel like I need my inhaler! But this heaviness that has been dragging me down for weeks just took a dive off a cliff so let’s go bruh.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:17-21 NIV)

The book of Ephesians is just filled with so much encouragement and spiritual advice. It’s foolproof, you can pick any chapter and you’ll feel better by the time you’ve got to the end. In those few verses significant themes to the Christian are brought up: wisdom, revelation, trust, relationship, hope. It’s just awesome. It reads like a prayer, I’d even recommend perhaps treating it as one.

The Christian walk is largely full of ups and downs. You have these great highs where you’re in the spirit and you’re filled with His perfect peace or joy, because at the end of the day communion and worship are what we were made for. On the other hand, when we fall out of the habit of praying or when we encounter discouragement God doesn’t promise to just magic everything better. We can feel frustrated, panicked or despondent when it feels like our walks are stagnating. When you find Christ or experience miracles you feel this euphoria, but even when we continue looking at His word we may not feel as “on fire” for The Lord. Things just don’t match the momentum and that’s hardly encouraging.

In those moments draw near to Him. Pray for contentment, peace, renewed hope in Him. In these times we can really learn what it means to just trust in God and relinquish our attempts at controlling situations. We can consciously choose to submit to His will or rebelliously draw away from Him into sin. And for all the glamour the world gives to sin: it is a lonely lonely place. You will not be the only person who is false with people, you’re not the only one feeling guilty for watching porn, but when we even consider bringing these things to God we can shy away from it. We present excuses instead of going to the Father who only wants to renew our hope in Him, to better our relationships with Him. It feels like it’s really easy to trip into sin, but once you’re there – how do you get back?

Frustration is generally defined as negatives emotions resulting from a lack of control. I couldn’t sleep. It drove absolutely nuts. As a consequence I couldn’t read, write, I wasn’t patient with people or that nice. The more helpless I got the more frustrated and so on, and I didn’t bring it to God. In fact, I compromised myself by putting myself in the way of temptation to doubt, to idolise other things, to concern myself with issues far less significant than growth in my Father. These verses are all about hope and spiritual growth.

We can’t do everything, and every now and then someone may give you scripture on that being ok. But if you’re not in the right mind frame those words are going to fall on deaf ears. So pray to The Lord He will “enlighten” the “eyes of your heart” (1:18). So much of our roles as Christians is dependent on willful reception. We have to choose to accept Jesus’ truth and salvation. We have to choose to overcome things like forgiveness by consciously appealing to God to help us to see and love His children as He does. Through such experiences we can really grow spiritually if we consent to it. If we ask God to intervene in the chaoses that we create for ourselves, we re-align ourselves with the promises and confidence of a life lived for Christ. We are called to lives of “glorious inheritance” (1:18), (by now I’m assuming you get the point of the gospel). But so often we allow the world, our flesh, to temporarily hinder us from that truth. We see no way out. The curtains fall and we feel helpless, as if we don’t know that all we have to do is choose to lift that drape.

God ain’t helpless. He isn’t going to struggle to manage not forgive your mistakes. “…his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand”. That’s the God who will see you through periods of stress, discomfort and frustration. As we appeal to Him more we learn to reside in simply assurance of His sovereignty. We don’t have to know everything, but the God we belong to possessed the power to revive Jesus Christ from death! Our God is omnipotent. Whatever demon, whatever size that you are battling – they are no obstacle to the Father. The only thing that the Enemy can do is to try and trick you into believing otherwise. This won’t always be clear to us, so I really pray for revelations in those who read this. That God will really point out those blunders to you so that you can recognise the lies for what they are and regain the upper footing.

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

Live in Love, John 15:13

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

Over the next few weeks social media is going to be inundated with eulogies lamenting the loss of a great man. I ardently hope that these are posted with sincerity and lead those who know little of the man to read up on the transformative power of his passive resistance. The world I was born into was a world post-segregation, post-apartheid, post-women’s suffrage. This is only due to the work of countless men and women that laid their lives down that the future may be one of greater justice, peace and opportunity.

We must do more than recollect. We must be be willing to act and sacrifice for those around us, to illustrate true love which covers a multitude of sins (1Peter 4:8). Mandiba had a great calling on his life, people often note how long he spent in prison. But I don’t think we give the gravity of that sufficient consideration. He was separated from his wife for almost thirty years, he didn’t get to see his children grow up, his will for equality saw him isolated and continually threatened with death. It is unlikely that our lives will bring us into such similar predicaments, because our predecessors have paved the way. But do not make the mistake of lamenting the world’s loss and not being changed and empowered by it.

A common Christian prayer is for God to give us the ability to see people as He sees them. What greater contemporary example than the man we mourn tonight? After almost twenty seven years of imprisonment, he looked his persecutors in the face and forgave them with a sincere heart. He saw them for members of the same human race and appealed to shared interests, love and humanity. May we strive to follow the evident example of a life lived in applied scripture.

In Mandiba, in the members of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in the suffragettes we have seen what it is to love through sacrifice; to face persecution and give up comforts that others may flourish. This may manifest itself in a number of ways in your life, please do not shy away from it. We are called to live in love. Always be willing to stand for what is right, to listen to the will of your Father and love with your whole heart.

God bless and keep you always and we just pray for comfort for the many families around the world dealing with loss at this time x

“Faith requires that we endure what God has set before us to endure, and that we trust Him in the process…I am not a strong man in and of myself, but knowing who God is in my life gave me the strength to endure the unimaginable.”

Marvin Sapp

A fist, a box and a flower, Isaiah 43:18-19

‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ (Isaiah 43:18, 19 NIVUK)

Or “it is our head noise that ruins the present” (Graham Cooke). When I was in church yesterday I saw the distinct picture of a tightly formed fist. It opened really slowly to reveal a transparent box with no visible opening. But inside was a blossoming rose. I shared this with church but I think it is much bigger than the confines of Onslow Sq.

Due to past experiences we can really close ourselves off to people or the possibility of God making major changes in our hearts. Our friends and family may think they see more, but sometimes we can be really great actors and even they don’t know. Or sometimes we just don’t allow them an entrance to see or help. We think we’re fooling everyone, but we’re not even close to fooling Him. He sees that delicate, beautiful, colourful part of us. He sees the love, good and creativity that we house and He calls it into being. He says “I made you with all of these great qualities, but due to unfortunate circumstances you’ve closed these off to the world. Share them. Tell anyone and everyone you find of them, because I gave you them to build up the body of Christ, to share in love and strength with one another.”

I was reading a book today and came across Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844-1924). As a teenager she experienced God telling her to move in ministry. The man that she married didn’t believe in female involvement in ministry and five of her six children died whilst they were still young. In desperation, she turned to the Bible and discovered some of the awesome women of God like Esther and Mary. One day she prayed to God saying “Lord, I can’t preach. I don’t know what to say and I don’t have any education”. God gave Maria a vision in which she saw Jesus who told her to “tell of the glory and love of Jesus”. So she did. She preached, prophesied and healed the sick. Often she fell into trances mid-speech, her gift of healing was so great that she was twice charged with practicing medicine without a license !

“Let us not plead weakness; God will use the weak things of the world to confuse the wise. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. Should we not honour our high calling and do all we can to save those who sit in the valley and shadow of death?”

So often we can hear words like this and think about their relation to other people, but not ourselves. God is always working on us, growing us, changing us. Really think about how this may apply to yourself. We can all learn something from Maria. Sometimes we say we’re not smart enough for things – culturally, she wasn’t educated to minister, she was the wrong gender and a disobedient wife, but God used her in amazing ways. The blood of Jesus granted us freedom from fear, addiction, guilt and so much more but we can drag insecurities, hurt and guilt from our pasts into our presents, severing our ability to seize the futures that The Lord sees for us.

If we’re honest we either forget or struggle to accept that we are the bride of The Lord, that He loves and delights in us. I’ll leave you with a few verses from the beautiful Songs of Solomon:

“My beloved responded and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along.
For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtle-dove has been in our land.
The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!” (Song 2:10-13)

God bless and keep you always x

The Word, 2Timothy 2:9

“And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.” (2Tim 2:9)

The second epistle to Timothy is thought to be the last one ever written by Paul as he faced execution. Written to a dear follower with whom he held a close father-son relationship, it is full of tenderness and the wisdom of someone who had lived a long and purposeful life.

Paul was not being melodramatic, he had experienced multiple arrests, persecution and criticism for his teaching of the Good News. Having gone from a position of power, preaching had signed the certificate of execution that was to see Paul beheaded under Emperor Nero. Think about the prison system today, not a pleasant place but they have access to running water, toilets and food, do you think this is how a thorn in the side of the Jewish leaders and Roman Emperor was going to be treated? But look at that second sentence!

No matter what they were going to do to Paul, or Philemon, to John, James, Stephen “the word of God CANNOT be chained”! God is the Truth, the Almighty, the Creator. The history of Christianity is littered with men persecuted for their faith, but it is a continued history; men experiencing revelations of God’s grace, mercy, love were, and are, compelled to spread His teachings regardless of what they may face. “He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News” (1:10). In Turkey, in China, in Vietnam, the Middle East, you have people lovingly distributing bibles, putting on bible study classes for anyone who wants to know who Jesus is. They could suffer like Paul, who knew he was suffering like Jesus, because death no longer contained any power. If you know that persecution or threats on your life for truthfully preaching the Gospel will only take you to live in the Father and Son’s glory, it’s hardly something that would put you off of evangelising.

The Word compels us to go that extra mile for others because that is exactly what Jesus did for us. Our futures contained only death but in His perfect sacrifice we are given a completely new, joyful, holy life after physical death! The Word of God cannot and should not be chained because of all that it contains. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (3:16-17).

Three closing points:

Firstly, your actions can lead people to know the Word of God. People are sceptical, but when you reflect God’s mercy, peace and joy, it opens up channels for people to get to know how the Good News has changed your life. No one’s expecting you to recite the Word of God in its entirety.

Second, scripture is about and inspired by God! It’s not homework, it’s an opportunity for us to know God better and help others to do the same, our home is with Him, our spirits feel at rest in His presence, and getting to grips with the Bible is a great way to come into that. As Christians we recognise God as this awesome being, but can then be picky with following particular teachings. Cut it out. Look at everything in its proper context, that you may understand it better, not because of the warning that Paul gives two chapters later. “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear” (4:3). Sound familiar?

Thirdly, God does not need you to do an ad campaign for the Word or for His Son. Now I don’t mean this literally, things like Alpha are changing people’s lives because they catch their attention on trains and buses. What I mean is that you don’t have to tell people the nice bits of the Bible, or butter them up so people will like what they’re hearing. It’s the Truth not the Pep Talk. “God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone” (2:19). The Word of God is that, it is God’s guidance to His chosen, not there to be adapted or watered down but to be understood and instructive.

God bless and keep you always x

Unfair, Habakkuk 1:2-4

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralysed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.”
(Habakkuk 1:2-4)

Sometimes we can pray for particular things and not see those change in the way that we expect or in the timeframe we want to see them. “You do not come to save”, “You do not listen”. Habakkuk wasn’t frustrated because he’d prayed about getting a new job or working on a friendship, His people were struggling and their future looked pretty bleak. He was praying for His nation in the face of looming disaster and he wanted an explanation.

Habakkuk is one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. He saw that his people were far away from God and going to fall to the Babylonians. So he went to God….and He complained.

He knew that the punishment of the Jews was righteous for many had turned from God after numerous chances. That is pretty much the Old Testament after all: God creates man, God gives them bountiful gifts, they throw it back in His face, they realise life without Him is not that great and go back to Him, He is merciful, they throw it back in his face again and through wise men and prophets He reveals the gift of the Messiah because they keep messing up. So Habakkuk saw that God was “perfectly just” (1:13) in punishing and correcting the Jews for their sin, but the Babylonians were a “cruel”and “violent” nation, “notorious for their cruelty” (1:6,7). He felt it unfair that the “wicked [should] destroy people who are more righteous than they” (1:13).

Whilst it’s unlikely you’ve echoed this point in the same language, you’ve probably said something similar. “That person’s so lovely, it isn’t fair that they are suffering like this”, or “How can HE be doing better than SHE is, he’s a horrible person?” We recognise injustice in the everyday, the woman who gives everything she can to others but barely has for herself. And then we see their foil, the consultant whose bonus could secure ownership of her home or help support a GOSHCC initiative but instead splashes it on drinks, greed and hedonism.

Your prayers don’t have to sound pretty or be worded perfectly, Habakkuk implored of God to reveal to Him HOW such injustice could go on? And God responded. Twice.

God doesn’t work on our time scale. Why would He? If you could choose between seeing things one step at a time or the past, present and future simultaneously, which would you choose? God encourages Habakkuk to wait on Him, to trust in Him because a change gon’ come (sorry).

“Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples. “But soon their captives will taunt them. They will mock them, saying, ‘What sorrow awaits you thieves! Now you will get what you deserve!”

The greedy oppressors will secure their death through the very same actions that made you aware of the seeming injustice in the world. Remember that your God is just.

Living by faith, is living in confidence that your God is always in control, that you will never be helpless because He orchestrates everything, and always for the good of His children. In trusting God, a person can look beyond the unpleasant exterior of things into God’s deeper purpose and find the strength to live no matter what they may see or experience. We don’t know the future but we belong to a God who exists outside of space and time, who sees all tenses as they occur, in Him we can trust fully.

A few months ago a friend told me to write down something to the tone of “by the grace of God I am happy, filled with the joy of the Lord” and wait on Him and see it come to fruition. You know how that went 😎. Wait patiently on the God who delivers His children, who sacrificed His only son to account for all of the wrongdoing which was leading us straight to death. We don’t know and understand everything but the Omniscient One does.

God bless and keep you always x