Archives for March 2020

Have you ever found it hard to concentrate? Do you keep distracting yourself from what you’re trying to do? Have you ever had it where random thoughts leap into your head and take your mind off what you were thinking about?

Often when helping people I find it hard to keep them focused on a question I asked or the issue at hand. I have often seen people distract themselves or trip up their thinking by sideline issues that seem to come rushing into their mind.

When I see that happen I realise the person is likely being attacked by Saboteur Thoughts, thrown into their mind by the enemy to keep them from thinking clearly and dealing effectively with their issues.

There’s a saying that goes, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”. What’s funny about that is how easy it is to run off onto sidetracks or tangents of marginal issues.

I have had the privilege of being on a number of committees over the years, at a community and professional level. It becomes very frustrating in those situations when someone brings up a red herring or sideline issue that abducts the focus of the group and wastes precious time. I have seen whole meetings abandoned because of such disruption.

Even among professional people it is not uncommon for someone to want to hold the floor for a while about their favourite subject, or just to be the centre of attention for a time.

Committees usually have a purpose and an agenda to follow. So being dragged into sideline issues stops the committee achieving its purpose.
Similarly in your life, there are things that are important, among many other things that have no great significance. If the enemy can create in you a pattern of distraction and staying away from important things then your life will bog down in insignificant things.

I remember many years ago that when I took time to read and study the Bible or to pray about things, I would very likely find myself completely distracted by random musings. I would end up wasting the time I set aside for spiritual discipline. I would also find myself getting drowsy and struggling to concentrate. However, as soon as I decided to give up and do something else I felt alert and awake.

I eventually realised that pattern and decided to actively pray against the enemy keeping me from spiritual things. I quickly found myself able to study the Bible and pray for extended time, without the old pattern of tiredness or distraction.

Think of it like a football match where you are keen to get to the ball. The other team, however, keeps running interference, tripping you up, blocking you or pushing you off course. All those distracting thoughts that rush into your mind while you are trying to explain something or think something through are like players on the other team, rushing at you to keep you from getting where you are heading.

The mind can be a battleground and an arena of competing and compounding thoughts that crash into each other without anyone around hearing the struggle. That’s why at times people come out with the most unexpected things, or maybe take a course of action no-one knew they were thinking about. It can also be why some people struggle to answer questions or to define their own thoughts.

When I first started working with Chinese people I was struck by having to wait for answers to quite ordinary questions. In time I figured out the problem and asked if I was right. My Chinese friends agreed that their culture was so full of protocol that they had to think carefully about how they responded to people. Since I was a Pastor I was to be treated with respect, but at the same time I was ignorant of Chinese cultural considerations so I was likely crashing over their sensibilities in a way they struggled with. While I waited, a little impatiently, for them to respond to a question, their mind was racing through all the filters to find out the appropriate way to answer. Once friendships developed those cultural barriers were overcome, but that experience alerted me to the kind of mind-muddle some people have to live with.

I have also seen people whose emotions storm into their thinking and trip them up. This is specially so if I am trying to help them work through an issue that has high emotional value, such as broken relationships. The person will start to give me an explanation, but then pause, feeling some emotional wave sweeping over them. They then focus on those feelings and lose track of what they had started to say.

The Bible recognises our mind-muddle and mind battle issues and speaks specifically about taking thoughts captive, virtually catching them with a rope and holding them down.

“Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” 2Corinthians 10:5

God has given Christians authority to use the name of Jesus when battling the enemy and his strategies. A lifetime of muddled thinking and distracting thoughts can be transformed when we learn to take thoughts prisoner and gain control over them. We can keep ourselves on target and on topic, and we can dispel those thoughts and emotions sent against us to run interference.

If you suffer from the problem of Saboteur Thoughts then use a prayer like the one I am about to share with you to block the invaders and to keep your heart and mind on track.

“In the precious and powerful name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I take authority over those thoughts, emotions and invasions into my heart and mind that keep me from being focused or distract me from what is best for me. I bind the enemy strategy of distraction and invasion and I take all the thoughts that come against me as captives, and I make them bow the knee to Jesus. I choose to be led by the Spirit of Almighty God, and to think the thoughts of God, and to follow the wisdom of God, according to the Word of God, so I reject and break the power of all distractions and interference that might stop me doing those things. I declare this in Jesus’ wonderful name. Amen.”

May you quickly become the champion over all those Saboteur Thoughts.

There are times when we have to take a stand for ourselves or what we believe. That stand may simply be by speaking up our thoughts, or expressing our decision. In some situations, however, we may be in for a fight to be able to stand up for what we believe or choose.

When dealing with dominating people, or people determined to push their agenda, or processes and systems designed to steamroll people, it can be quite a challenge to take a stand at all, let alone to be sure we have done it properly.

In past decades assertiveness training has become popular, for those who feel they are disadvantaged by pressure from others. We have had the popularisation of ‘boundaries’ as a way of pushing back against people who trample onto our territory. Workplace unions explored lines of demarkation, to determine which trade was responsible for what and ensure people are appropriately compensated for what they do.

With the landscape muddied by messages about standing up for ourselves, being our own person, having clear boundaries, demanding what we want the way we want it, being an individual, resisting old fashioned ideas of submission and respect for authority, along with increases in abuse, insensitivity, selfishness and the like, it is good to take time to explore the Right Way to Stand.

The Bible teaches us to Stand. The Apostle Paul recognised that as Christians, we would have to stand for righteousness and for our faith, while others would oppose us. In some cases standing for our faith led to beatings, persecution and martyrdom.

“Stand firm therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

“Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.” 1Corinthians 16:13

“Therefore take up the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

Since ‘standing’ is a Biblical concept we should expect God to have provided wisdom about the right way to do it. And that’s what we find.
The Apostle Paul tells us to stand, in Ephesians 6, then goes on to list the armour we need when we stand against evil, including the devil and those who oppose our faith.

“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Ephesians 6:14-18

Let me summarise that for you, and get away from the metaphor of armour, since that might be distracting. Paul is instructing us to take our stands on the basis of truth, righteousness (right living), peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God, plus prayer.

To help you see applying that in normal life let’s take a random example of a youth who has come to faith and is opposed by a parent who dislikes Christians. Let’s assume the parent is aggressively assertive that the child immediately give up their faith and their interest in religion. The youth wants to keep standing for God and for their faith. So what is the Right Way to Stand?

Paul says we should maintain truth. This is different to those who might suggest the youth lie to his parents about his activities. Paul does not advocate deception.

Paul also advocates righteous living. Becoming angry and aggressive toward the parent, which might be natural for some, is not righteous living. Becoming resentful, belligerent, argumentative, pouting, manipulating or the like is far from being righteous. We are to stand with the breastplate of righteousness, which suggests our right living has to come from our heart (which is protected by the breastplate), not just an appearance of good things.

Paul also points to peace. The gospel brings us peace with God and is meant to lead us to peace with others. Paul advises elsewhere that, as much as we are able, we are to live in peace with people.

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.” Romans 12:18

Next Paul speaks of faith. When we are in a tight spot our deliverance comes from God, so we need to have faith to put our challenges in God’s hands and wait on Him for His deliverance. Solomon advocated trusting in the Lord, and his instruction in Proverbs has led to a cute prompt you may have heard – “When in trouble and a fix, turn to Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6

In looking to the Lord we look for His salvation, or rescue. God has a way through things, even if it’s a hard road. He may ask us to suffer, or He may make us wait for His answer, or He may use us to impact the hearts of those who oppose us. Whatever God does we need to trust in His salvation.

We find God’s guidance in His Word, so we uphold the Word of God as we endure trials. We allow God to work patience in us and all kinds of good things, even through the opposition. We keep looking to God’s Word for guidance and comfort, not compromising what God says.

And we keep on praying. We keep crying out to God for deliverance and for God to work in the hearts of those who oppose us.

That is how Paul tells us to stand. Whether you are up against people or governments, facing rejection or abuse, subtly opposed or resisted with force, you are called to stand for what is right and what is true. However that isn’t a call to become a radical, rebel, subversive, or objectionable and evil person.

You are called to stand, and so according to God’s Word learn The Right Way to Stand.

In case you haven’t caught on to this yet, we are not all perfect. In fact, none of us are perfect. In fact, all of us are imperfect. In fact, the very best of us do imperfect things often enough.

If you are a touchy, titchy person, you will have plenty of things to be upset about. If you are a ‘huffer’ you’ll have plenty of things to huff about. If you are a gossip, you’ll have plenty of things to gossip about. If you are a corrector of manners, you’ll have plenty of things to correct. If you are fault finder, you’ll have plenty of things to fault.

But if you are any of those things, you are a person who doesn’t know how to Give Grace to People. You are an ungracious, fault-finding, judgmental person.

In simple, practical terms, giving grace means cutting people some slack, accepting their imperfections and overlooking them. It means not being too demanding of others, recognising that each of us is also imperfect, so we give grace in the same way we need others to give it to us.

Let me note here too, that if you point out other people’s faults, or become annoyed by them, or think less of them because they are not perfect, you have stepped into the realm of ‘judging’ others. 

Jesus personally warned us not to do that.
“Do not judge, or you will be judged.” Matthew 7:1
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37

[I looked at the problem of judging others in an earlier post – 30. Judge Not]

I often note my own limitations and how much I need people to give grace to me. As a pastor and itinerant preacher I am often in situations where people approach me to discuss one thing or another. Those people often assume I remember who they are and what we talked about the previous time we met. I probably offend many people simply because I am not good at remembering people, or names, or things I have discussed with people or prayed with them for.

When people begin telling me their story, often when there are others waiting for me to get to them, I can struggle to follow the person’s incoherent ramble about details not at all relevant to what they want me to help them with. I might easily jump in to clarify what I think they are saying and find I have missed the point that is more important to them. I wonder how many times people have felt miffed that I wasn’t listening, when I may have felt they were taking too long to say what didn’t need to be said, and keeping others from being helped. Hmmmm.

I find that people give a lot less grace to others when they are tired, or feeling under pressure, such as by a deadline. I expect there are many more frayed nerves and hot tempers on the approach to a pressure moment, than there are at a back-yard party.

There are many people who are not of ‘good will’, having their own axe to grind and carrying unresolved issues that make them somewhat obsessive over certain things. Those people tend to be toxic wherever you take them. They need specific help and will probably never accept the kind of advice I am giving here, until they have been healed and set free.

I am sharing these thoughts for those who are of good will; people who have some control over the way they react and behave. I urge each of you to make a specific point to Give Grace to People. Giving grace is much like loving others, which we are commanded to do.

I know that some of you are very direct and somewhat intolerant. You may be so distracted by someone else’s habits that you are agitated by them. You’re the sort of person who will go to someone and say, “What you do really bothers me and it makes me think very little of you, but despite all that I’m giving you grace.” Hmmm. That’s not what giving grace looks like.

Truly gracious people don’t need to focus attention on themselves. They realise that life is not about them and how they feel or what their internal reactions to people and things might be. They know they are to love the other person, even if that person is unlovely. They know they are to bless and not to curse. So it’s not important that they signify to the other what it is that bothers them. It’s not important to bring attention to their own thoughts and feelings.

However, that does raise the problem of people whose actions are inappropriate or who need to be given guidance about some issue. Maybe they smell bad, or talk too much, or fret, or are wasteful, or rude. There could be a myriad reasons why someone’s actions are not up to standard.

In such situations your starting point has to be ‘grace’. If you are resentful, offended, repulsed or similar, then your attitude has become a problem and any attempt you make to help the other will be spoiled and tainted by your own reactions. Start with grace and find grace in your heart for the other. Care about them and see any correction of their issues as a genuine attempt to bless them, not your attempt to show you are more genteel or live to a higher standard.

It may well be that some people won’t take counsel or that you are not the person to assist them. In those cases do what you can to help them, but let your commitment to give grace be the focus.

Note that your personal standards are part of your own problem. Many of us hold specific standards because someone drummed them into us. At times others have mocked or taunted us over our lower standard and we have lifted our game, but at the same time begun to pour scorn on others who are where we once were. It is said that people who give up smoking can be quite intolerant of others who smoke.

And here’s the punchline for those who won’t give grace. Failure to give grace spawns evil roots in your heart, mind and life. Those roots are of a wicked plant called ‘bitterness’ and the roots tend to permeate your whole life and spoil your interaction with others, causing you to be offensive and to lose out as a result.

Note the Bible warning about bitterness ….
“Pursue peace with all men …. Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God (failing to receive it and failing to give it to others), so that no root of bitterness will spring up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:14,15

Like it or not, you have no alternative but to live a life in which you constantly Give Grace to People.

From time to time most people probably wonder what their future holds. They may wonder when things will change and what hope there is for the improvements they wish for. This is especially so for people who don’t like their situation and who desperately wish for things to improve. Sadly, however, people are more trapped in their present circumstances than they might want.

My prediction is that the future for most people is filled with ‘More of the Same’.
More of the same frustrations.
More of the same limitations.
More of the same fears and anxieties.
More of the same social context.
More of the same relationship issues.
More of the Same!

Before you get too depressed about that, let me throw in this disclaimer. ‘More of the Same’ is not God’s plan. God provides for wonderful and radical transformation on an ongoing basis, with our lives moving forward from one degree of glory to another. 

Since mid last century (to the best of my knowledge) Christians have delighted in a bright chorus titled ‘From Glory to Glory He’s Changing Me’. I recall singing this chorus with thousands of others, rejoicing in God’s power to make wonderful difference in our lives.
You can find links to the chorus online – including: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpJ4u0QbQwc

That chorus is based on the writing of Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2Corinthians 3:18

So don’t despair as I continue talking about the problem, since there is a wonderful alternative through Christ. However, let me get back to discussing the problem of being trapped in our current reality.

One reason why we are likely to suffer ‘More of the Same’ is that we get into ruts in life, doing the same things over and over again, reacting the same way, following the same instincts, even when they don’t work.

It is often noted that one definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome’. What you do will tend to lead to the same outcomes each time you do it. So if the outcome you get is not what you want, why in the world do you keep doing it? Probably because you are in a rut in your thinking and in your personality.

I spoke recently with a wife who is unhappy about her husband’s secrecy. She wants to know more about his movements and what he does with his money. When she can she raises these questions, which he refuses to answer. He often stays away for long periods, without ever explaining where he has been or what he was doing. Even though her past interrogations didn’t produce any result, guess what she feels compelled to do the next time she has opportunity. She is so desperate to get an answer she will keep asking questions, even though they only drive a deeper wedge between her and her husband.

That kind of instinctive behaviour is toxic and it keeps bringing about the same results.

Some of you are likely distracted by that example, thinking the wife deserves an answer and we shouldn’t take the husband’s side. But I am not taking anyone’s side. I am simply pointing out that her strategy isn’t working. She would be so much better off if she could find a strategy that worked, rather than persisting with what has never worked yet.
She keeps doing the same thing and expecting a different result! That’s not wisdom!

What about you? Do you persist in doing the same things, hoping for a different result? If things aren’t working then don’t keep flogging a dead horse. It isn’t going to come back to life and win the race.

Women tend toward nagging, to make things change. Men tend to shut down, or to become domineering. Youth can become sullen. Some become workaholics, while others turn to various forms of self-medication. Some resort to ‘retail therapy’ while others go looking for new relationships. Whatever pattern people have chosen tends to be their go-to option over and over again, and it keeps giving them the same unhappy results each time.
So their future is filled with ‘More of the Same’.

Here is a tell-tale sign that you are stuck. If you had the solution to your situation you would have used it already!
If you are still stuck, it’s because you don’t have the key or the workable strategy to move forward. So you will keep doing the only things you can, things that don’t work and never worked in the past. If you had a better option you wouldn’t be where you are.

At this point people should realise a couple of key insights.
Firstly, you can’t save yourself. If you could you would have done it already. Whatever is trapping you is something that has to be overcome by help from outside yourself. The most powerful help comes from the Lord.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1,2

Your key is to put your faith in the Lord and to throw all of your problems onto Him.
“Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” 1Peter 5:7

When you make Jesus your Saviour, asking God to forgive your sins and make you His child, you are not only forgiven and born again, but you become God’s child. As God’s child He can take responsibility for your problems. Like a caring dad who steps in to sort out a mess made by the child, God takes on that roll and will own your issues and fix them.

You can give up doing the same old ‘same-old’. You can stop trying to invent a new solution, and let God bring His amazing power and grace into your situation.

However, you might well find that you still tend to pick up the problem and fuss over it, even going back to the same things that never worked before. This is because we are people of habit, and we are programmed at some fairly deep levels.

Your repeated processes, those things that never worked and yet you still do, come out of things like fear, pride, shame, grief, bitterness, anger, jealousy, resentment and other deeply rooted issues in your life.

So you need more than just to give your problems to God. You need to allow God to start changing you deep within, from one degree of glory to another. You have given place to sin and to selfishness, pride, anger and lust, and you have been bitten by hurt, shame, scorn, defeat, anger, bitterness, and the like. No matter how much you determine to change, you can’t change yourself. You need the work of the Holy Spirit in your life to set you free, maybe even issue by issue, of the multi-threaded patterns woven into your life.

However, don’t despair. This is what God delights to do. The Word of God, the Blood of Christ, the Spirit of God, God’s Truth, God’s Love, and much much more, are in place to work God’s works in your life, to transform you on an ongoing basis.

So cry out to the Lord, and keep pressing in to Him. Ask Him to connect you with all the wonderful fountains of His grace (the wells of salvation and the streams in the desert) that He has prepared to ensure your freedom.
And as you do, look forward to becoming free from More of the Same.

It is absurd that Christianity should use as its abiding symbol what is nothing short of a torture device designed to cause an agonising death. The Cross was used by the Romans to terrorise people into submission. There was nothing nice about slowly bleeding to death on this Roman curse.

And talking of Curse, the Cross was effectively a tree: a wooden structure holding a body aloft. God pronounced a curse on all those who are killed by being hung on a tree, so anyone hung on a cross qualifies for that curse.

“If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” Deuteronomy 21:23

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone hanged on a tree.” Galatians 3:13

It must confuse people of other faiths that Christians seem so ready to identify themselves with a Cross. Yet for us, as we delve deeper into our faith, the Cross takes greater and greater significance. So much so that our life is one of ‘Living the Cross’.

Let’s reflect on the two main dimensions of the Cross, firstly, that Christ died for us to pay for our sins, and secondly, that we are called to die to self and live for God, having put to death our desire to live for our own purposes.

It is a wonder beyond human comprehension that the God of all eternity, our Creator, should decide to take on a human body and be put to death on a Roman Cross. That God would pay for our sins at all is incomprehensible, but that He should do it in this most macabre way is all the more amazing.

“Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:8

It is almost as if God wanted to state His love and commitment to us in the most startling way. Jesus only had to shed His blood, to pay for our sins. He was falsely accused and killed for wrongs He never committed. The one who was Just paid with His life for all those who were the Guilty ones. That’s it. But why then die in the most horrific way?

The Cross, then, signifies a love and a commitment and a salvation that is beyond comprehension. We should shake our heads, as it were, every time we think of the Cross, in sheer amazement at the sacrifice that defies human understanding.

Beyond all that, however, is the personal application to our own lives. Jesus taught that those who follow Him should be ready to live as if carrying their own cross every day.

“Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27

“Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:38

“Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

Note that taking up your own cross is linked to denying self. Putting ourself first is the natural instinct of human life. Self-preservation in all its many forms (physical, emotional, mental, relational, social, etc) is what we do before we even realise it.

Christ, then, calls us to have a complete change of heart, not just to put our trust in Him, but to embrace a whole new reason for living and breathing. The new reason is to live for God, actively dying to all our own instincts and selfish wishes, on a daily basis.

Note the way historian Dr Luke records Jesus’ words about taking up our cross. Luke notes that Jesus talked of taking up our cross on a day to day basis.

“Then Jesus said to all of them, If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Jesus is not talking about one grand decision that seals the matter for all time. Jesus taught that the action of taking up our cross is one that we do day by day, issue by issue, situation by situation. It is a matter of ‘Living the Cross’.

So the symbol of the cross is truly a profound summary of Christianity, not only in celebrating God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice to save us from our sins. Also to define the new life we live as Christians, not living for ourselves any more, but living for God, following Christ, in active denial of self interest.

There are a myriad practical expressions of Living the Cross. It could include giving up our comforts or our favourite pastimes, to be available for others. It could include making life choices based on what God wants, not what we want. It could include responding as Christ instructs, rather than as our human nature might dictate, such as by forgiving, loving and blessing people we would rather reject.

Living the Cross sounds like a death sentence. In one sense it is, but there is great promise in this call to deny ourselves. Jesus taught that if we try to save our life, keeping on putting ourselves and our wishes first, we will lose our life. It will become unsatisfying and not deliver the benefits we are trying to achieve. But if we give up our life, dying daily as Jesus taught, then we actually find our life and find ourselves living with delight and fruitfulness that is so much more wonderful than all those other things we could chase.

“Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25

Living the Cross sounds negative, but it is the key to truly living. Those who climb off the cross live a death of futility and dissatisfaction, while those who lose their life, taking up their cross daily, find what real living is all about.

If you haven’t been doing it already, I challenge you and call you to begin right now to be ‘Living the Cross’.