God's organizer

I had commented that it was unusual that I had nothing in my diary for the month of March and yesterday it became clear just why that was. My older brother has come to a point that he needs a little more care so he is about to move into sheltered accommodation. I was a bit concerned about when this would happen because next week I will be away for a few days and then in April I'm off to New Caledonia for two weeks with a prayer team. You guessed it! Yesterday I received a letter saying that he was being offered a flat in the exact scheme that he had hoped for. The flat isn't actually being officially vacated until Sunday and the elderly lady who lived there was well into her nineties and nothing had been done to the flat in the way of decorating for a number of years. So contrary to the usual policy, the scheme manager has requested that the flat be decorated throughout. This will save my sister and I a lot of extra work. This of course means that I will be able to go away next week and enjoy the 3 day prayer conference without wondering about the situation. It also means that we will be able to have him settled in his new flat before I go off to New Caledonia. The time slot is just perfect. I couldn't have planned it better myself. It really does pay to let God sort out the dates and appointments in my organizer. He does it so much better than I could.

Doing what He wants

I am reading a very good book by David Orton called 'Snakes in the Temple'. In it he explores how Satan has got into the church through hidden idolatry. He talks about the fact that we are all familiar with the idea of doing bad things outside the will of God but that the idea of actually doing good things can also be outside the will of God. He quotes Matthew 7:22-23 'Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; Depart from Me.' Here Jesus is actually saying that even if we are operating in the supernatural we can still be outside of God's will for us. How many of us can even say that we prophesy, cast out demons and perform ANY miracles let alone MANY and yet Jesus says to these people that He doesn't know them. We can do all manner of wonderful things but if God hasn't asked us to do them then we are outside of His will. 'To obey is better than sacrifice' (1 Samuel 15:22) Again Jesus says in the previous verse in the book of Matthew 'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord", will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father...' It made me think really hard about what I am doing and why. I want to make sure that whatever I do is because the Father has asked me to.

The Arts

I met up with a friend this morning to have a coffee. He was telling me about his wife who is working towards a degree in the arts and how God is using this to help her communicate with others about the things that are important to her. She has studied the various aspects of art - painting, collage, sculpture etc and at the moment is into photography. She has found that the various projects that she has had to do have helped her to communicate to others, in class and in exhibitions, about her life, God, her spiritual journey, poverty, injustice and the desperate plight of humanity in its search for meaning and purpose to life.

I began to think of a number of my friends who are involved in various aspects of the arts - painting, drama, writing, film-making etc. and realised again with a certain reassurance that we are all equal in God's sight and that He uses all sorts of ways to communicate to people. Sometimes the visual aspect of art in its various forms reaches people that no preaching, books or verbal interaction can reach. It reminded me of the news report, given by Michael Buerk over twenty years ago, of the plight in Ethiopa that was a catalyst in Bob Geldorf's involvement in Live Aid and the subsequent efforts of many people for the plight of those living in poverty. One image, captured on film can speak volumes.

Isn't God so amazing! Whatever we're into, He wants to use it to bring His message of hope and freedom to a lost world. I'm so pleased that the Body of Christ is beginning to accept the need for the arts in worship and that it's not just about singing and listening to sermons! We need to pray and support more those whom God is calling in this way to reach those who would never go inside a church or listen to what we have to say. God loves the lost and wants to reach them with His love. I pray that God will raise up a new generation of those to whom He has given these giftings, that their lives and unique expression through the artistic media will speak for Him and point many to the Way.

City-Changing Prayer

I have just finished a book called 'City-changing Prayer' by Frank and Debra Green. It's about a prayer network in Manchester that has had a great impact on the community. This morning in church I was asked to give an 'interview' about prayer and what it means to me. I took the opportunity to mention this book (well worth reading) and also promote the Trumpet Call IV to be held in the Birmingham NEC Arena on May 13th where the ideas from this book will be launched nationally. I do urge all who are able to attend to do so. It is a truly inspiring story. Read more about it on www.worldprayer.org.uk and www.citylinks.org.uk

A game of football

Today has been lovely and sunny considering it is January and supposed to be the middle of winter! This morning I was walking through the recreation ground near our home when I saw a group of 7-8 year olds playing football. There were a number of parents watching. I don't know what was more entertaining - watching the children playing football or watching the parents cum frustrated footballers offering their own particular offspring the wealth of their experience. Even a younger sister got really excited when her brother had the ball and was approaching the goal area only to give sighs of disappointment when it didn't result in a goal. It seemed like there were about 2 dozen coaches/trainers/referees on the sidelines, each with their own 'pearl of wisdom' and a desperation to share it.

I walked on feeling cheered to see a number of parents on a Saturday morning sharing a time of healthy pursuit with their children. It makes a change from the usual headlines about the younger generation.

Church unity

This week we are thinking of church unity and different churches are holding prayer meetings each day. This morning I went along to the Methodist church for what I thought was going to be a prayer meeting for church unity. We had a half hour service beginning with a hymn, then a Bible reading and comment from the minister and ended with another hymn. We said the Lord's Prayer and the Grace. I had planned on going to the Church of England on another occasion during this week but discovered from an Anglican friend that it will be a normal weekday communion service. So I'm having second thoughts.

At the service this morning, those there were my 40 year old Anglican friend, myself and the other 15-20 people were all very mature Methodists (even older than me!) It just seems that for some people Christian Unity means that we are happy to have people from other denominations in our services and we are happy during this week to attend a service in another denominational building. After this week then everyone will go back to their respective boxes until next year. One elderly lady put it so aptly at the end when she came up to me and said 'Welcome to our church'. I felt like responding: 'Your church?' but didn't. After we got outside my friend and I had quite a discussion about 'church' and 'unity'. She said that people in her church don't understand when she says that she is only there until God tells her to go somewhere else.

I just thanked God that over the past years He has changed my own attitude to denominational christianity and continue to pray that He will reclaim His church. And if that means closing all the church buildings in the process then so be it!

'Father shake your people out of their sleep!'

God can use you

I read the following in a Christian magazine the other day:

The next time you feel that God can't use you, just remember ...

Noah was drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Moses had a stutter
Gideon was afraid
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
The disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
Zacchaeus was too small
Peter denied Christ
Timothy had an ulcer
Lazarus was dead

No more excuses please!

Another Quote

Another quote from 'Houses that change the world'

Religion is what man makes out of God; Christianity is what God makes out of man. Christianity therefore is no religion. It is a living relationship with a living God. The moment Christianity becomes religion, it dies.

What it's all about.

All day I have been hearing people say, 'That's what Christmas is all about!' They are referring to - children laughing, family, the spirit of Santa Claus, things of the heart, a 'weepy' film, giving and receiving presents, food and drink etc etc. All good things in themselves but they've all missed the point!

I wish for all a really, truly happy Christmas in knowing and experiencing the immense love of God expressed in Jesus.

What is church?

I am busy reading the book 'Houses that change the World' by Wolfgang Simson. Just about every page has something worth quoting. Here is one about how we have distorted what the original New Testament Church was meant to be: 'The Bible absolutely does not teach us to say that a holy crowd gathering on a holy day at a holy hour in a holy sanctuary to participate in a holy ritual performed by holy men in holy clothes for a holy fee is a New Testament church.'

I'm sure there'll be more quotes to come!

What's the difference?

I have a number of friends who recently have opted out of congregating in a place we usually call 'church'. Like so many of what are termed 'emerging church', they want to connect with God without all the religiosity and system of 'doing church'. A couple of days ago I heard of one such couple who had invited another similar couple to Sunday lunch and as they were talking it was suggested that they start a 'house church' and that one of them could be the leader. It seems to me that they haven't left church at all. They are simply doing the same thing in a house instead of a specific building we call a church. Meeting together is good and necessary - we are told by Paul not to stop meeting together. But to call that meeting 'church' even if it is in a house and to appoint someone as a leader doesn't seem to me to be any different from what they have left except it may be smaller in numbers. I feel the enemy is so clever at making us think that we are planting a new kind of church but so soon we fall back into the old system of doing things. When God says He is going to do a 'new thing', that means 'not like anything we have known before'.

Oyster Catchers

During our visit to Scotland, another lady and myself were surprised to find Oyster Catchers searching for food when it was late afternoon after the sun had gone down and the sky was dark. We commented on this to a local, who incidentally works as a Park Ranger, and she explained that Oyster Catchers and other wading birds, unlike other birds, do not feed according to the time of day and in daylight but need to eat when the tide is out. (Quite logical when you think about it!) They watch the movement of the tide and live their lives accordingly.

Earlier, one of the team had mentioned how she had only once managed to see the tide actually turn. At that moment the sea stood still before then beginning to recede. It would have been so easy to get tired of watching for the moment, become distracted and then miss the all-important moment after all the waiting. The Oyster Catchers reminded us that we need to be constantly watching the signs of the times to make sure we don't miss what is happening around us.

Scotland

Last weekend I travelled to Scotland with a prayer team from the World Prayer Centre. Our visit lasted 5 days in all and God really blessed us and used us for blessing to others. The worship was awesome!!! One afternoon the team were alone in the building having a time of prayer. We began worshipping and this lasted for about 5 - 10 minutes. Then almost as though we had been directed, we all stopped and there was absolute silence for about three quarters of an hour when God just surrounded us. We had begun all of us postrate on our faces before Him but when we finished we were all lying on our backs just resting in Him. What a soaking in His presence!!! He spoke to us in many ways - pictures, words of prophecy, social interaction, prophetic acts as well as worship. We left feeling that it was the first visit of many to that place. AMEN!!! SO BE IT!!!

A 'must read' book

This evening I spoke to my sister on the phone. She has recently stopped attending church services. Partway through the conversation she said that she had been loaned a book that is really speaking to her and helping her to realise that she isn't mad and that she's not the only one who is going through this change of attitude regarding church. Of course she did know this but we still need reassurance, even though we know. She started quoting from the book and I felt I had heard it before. Then she told me the title - Houses that Changed the World by Wolfgang Simson. I realised that I had come across this on two blogs recently -Sarah (see my links)wrote this near the end of September and Diane (also in my links) commented on it in October. This one is definitely going on my Christmas wish list.

Hallowed evening

I've just returned from being with a group of friends praying for our young people. Tonight, known as Halloween, a group of about 30 young people aged between 13 and 18 went around the various districts of our town Truth and Treating. Unlike most who do Trick or Treat, our young people instead of knocking and asking for a treat, actually give a treat with a Bible verse stuck on the wrapping - hence Truth and Treat. This, by the way, was their own idea!

This is their way of coming against Satan in the opposite spirit. A group of us met at church to pray for them while they were out. Others have a similar idea when children knock on their doors - they give a treat with a verse of truth.

Last year some young people from a neighbouring town came and joined our young people. This year, instead of coming here, they have gone around their own town doing Truth and Treat. We are praying that this will become bigger each year so that our town will be known not for 'Trick or Treat' and where children dress up as witches but will be recognised for 'Truth and Treat' where our children and young people are clothed with His Spirit. Why not suggest this in your church and your town for next year? Let the body of Christ rise up and declare the truth of His word.

Why didn't you do something?

Yesterday in the news we heard of Prince Charles's concerns about the environment and the future of our planet and said that he wouldn't like to hear his grandchildren ask him 'If you knew about this, why didn't you do something?' That stuck with me.

I, like many, are concerned at this time about the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill that the government is determined to make law. Recent news is that the House of Lords has rejected it as it stands and have made a number of amendments but the Home Office have said that they will not accept these amendments. It's just that sensing the possible outcome if this bill were to be made law, I would hate the future generations to look at me and ask 'Why didn't you do something?' For further information see www.christianconcernforournation.co.uk.

If the bill does becomes law then our freedom to express that Jesus is the ONLY way to God will be curtailed and there will be persecution if we try to defend our christian beliefs in public or try to evangelise. Some might think that this is a way of the Church being re-defined and that through persecution the real Body of Christ will come out of this. I just feel that I need to pray that God will be in control of this situation according to His will for our nation. That this nation will find and live out her God-given destiny in the world.

I discovered the following while reading a church magazine today. Thought I would share it.

Disturb us, O Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves;
When our dreams have come true,
Because we dreamed too little.
We arrived safely,
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, O Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess,
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, O Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push us into the future
In strength, courage, hope and love.
We ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus.

Attributed to Sir Francis Drake, 1577

Mercy

I have been thinking a lot lately about God's mercy. He is so patient and merciful. As humans we are patient up to a point but when we tell someone the same thing over and over again, there comes a moment when we say, 'That's it. I'm not going to bother any more. What's the point, they don't listen anyway.' Yet God always seems to give us another chance, just in case this time we do listen.

Today we had friends for lunch and the conversation was about many who had left congregating with a set group of people in a set building but met God in other ways. We were commenting how many of them had tried to challenge the leadership on issues and practices within the church system and in the end felt that they had to leave so that they could explore other ways for themselves. It seemed that nothing would change the minds of those in 'authority' within the church set-up. The thing is that we realised as we were talking that just as one group of people left, another group seemed to take their place in challenging decisions made. Again the comment was that God is so merciful He never gives up on the chance that maybe this time they will listen to what He is saying to the churches.

This morning I read again something that I had read a few weeks ago:
Judgment + Love = Mercy, Patience and Forgiveness

We deserve His judgement but because He loves us what we do receive is mercy, patience and forgiveness. What a wonderful God!

His vision. Whose plans?

I was at a church meeting last evening and much of the conversation was about plans and objectives. Someone quoted the following from Rick Love:

Where there is no vision the people perish.
Where there is no plan, the vision perishes.
Where there are no resources, the plan perishes.

The first line is biblical - from the book of Proverbs (ch 29:18) but then the other two lines are added which are not in the Bible. To me it just seemed that we so often take God's vision and then apply OUR plans. We take the vision from Him, 'Thank you very much God for that lovely vision you gave us' and then do what we want with it.

He is in control

Recently our town football team has acquired footballers from South America. One of them speaks very little English. Someone who knows that I lived in Argentina for 10 years, phoned me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I would be willing to help out. You know when you feel obliged to do something but at the same time have a sense of unease about it? - well that's how I felt. I agreed but then sort of hoped it would never happen. It wasn't the helping out that was a problem, it was more the sense of commitment that I wasn't happy with. I just sensed somehow that it wasn't something I should be taking on. So I said 'sorry' to God for agreeing to something I wasn't sure I should be doing and asked Him to please work things out for me. Today I received a phone call saying that my willingness to help was much appreciated but other arrangements for English lessons had been made with the local college. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm always amazed how God just seems to change situations.