Archives for April 2020

A few days ago I hosted a meeting at my home where we sang worship songs, reflected on some Bible truth, shared about ourselves with each other and enjoyed supper. Nearly an hour after the scheduled closing time someone checked the time and realised how late it was. They said, “I had no idea time had gone so fast.”

That’s also true in the bigger scale, where months and years of our life can slip by almost unnoticed. It’s not that we’re asleep. We are busy doing things, meeting challenges, filling our days and nights with various activities. Yet we can lose track of the passing of time.

Those times when we suddenly realise how much time has passed are good times for reflection. It reminds us that we only have a short while on this planet. After that we get to stand before God and account for what we have done with our life.

“It is appointed to men to die once, and after that to face judgement:” Hebrews 9:27

Death came on all humanity when Adam ate forbidden fruit. God’s curse came on Adam, and transfers to all his descendants.

“In the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground; for you were taken out of it: for you are dust, and back to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19

I have noticed how people seem to be most productive when they have to meet a deadline. The impending date stops them wasting so much time and keeps pulling them back to the task they have to complete. So, keep in mind that you have a deadline – with emphasis on the word ‘dead’.

And, whether you like it or not, that deadline approaches quickly, because Time Flies. As one man put it, “I looked around and found I was already an old man.” It is quipped that, “Old age is the most unexpected thing in life.”

However, I’m not wanting to focus on old age here, but the opportunity that time gives you. Your childhood speeds through quickly. Your years at school are limited. Your youth doesn’t last. Your babies grow up quickly. Your husband or wife ages soon enough. Your dreams only have a few decades to be pursued. Your energy will not always be available.

With that realisation in mind we are advised to be diligent. Seasons come and go. There are times that are suited to some things and times that are suited to the opposite outcomes, as Solomon explained.

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time of birth and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.” Ecclesiastes 3:1,2

Wise people recognise the importance of making the most of the moment. The Bible calls this ‘redeeming the time’, as in getting full value out of it.

“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15,16

Wise people know to be diligent, rather than wasting time and opportunities.

“Lazy, slothful people don’t even cook what they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find.” Proverbs 12:27

In life, then, diligent people advance while those who waste their time end up in limited circumstances.

“A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” Proverbs 10:4

“The lazy person wants things but gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent person is fully satisfied.” Proverbs 13:4

Let me remind you that Time Flies. So make the most of the opportunities God gives you. Most importantly, make the most of the opportunity to know God, and to live by faith in Christ, loving God, living as Christ instructs, being active in church and ministry to others, praying, worshipping, witnessing, instructing others, and allowing the power of God to impact you and impact others through you.

Make the most of the time you have with those you love. Your marriage can be better, and you can be a greater blessing to your children and extended family. You can build better relationships and you can appreciate and enjoy your connections more than you do. If you only take time to be more attentive to those things.

You can find more of God’s peace and blessing too, if you would only focus more of your time and life on God and the wonderful streams of His blessing.

You can bless more people, if you only take the time to notice the needs around you.

You can enjoy greater contentment and satisfaction, as you give more of your cares to God, rather than burying yourself in your own efforts to get ahead.

There is a time for everything, and this time, this season in which you are alive on the earth, is the time of choice. The time to choose to live for God with all that is within you and to enjoy the wonders of God in your life, every day and in every situation.

I urge you to make those things your life’s focus, and to keep in mind that Time Flies.

We are all born ignorant and much of life is spent learning and discovering things we were previously ignorant about. I point this out because people often feel embarrassed about their ignorance and some are insulted and persecuted because of what they don’t know.

Being ignorant is absolutely normal. The most informed people are actually more ignorant than they are informed. I am ignorant of Mongolian culture, Peruvian politics, surviving decompression, analysing lunar soil, finding water in the desert and the baggage retrieval system at Heathrow.

I also can’t graft trees, audit accounts, perform an autopsy, make sushi, list the rivers of America or read Latin.

Some years ago a missionary friend asked me to talk with his teenage daughter who was being bullied by friends. She was taunted because of things she didn’t know and reacted by being angry at her parents. I agreed with her that she didn’t know the things her friends asked her, but I suggested she ask them if they could speak Spanish. She could, and there were many other things she knew from her world travels that they were ignorant of. Realising that, the girl turned her attitude around and realised she was not as ignorant as those who taunted her.

It is a shameful thing that people are made to feel bad about their ignorance, since it is such a universal experience. Let me repeat that the most informed people are actually more ignorant than they are informed.

Each person venturing into the world will face their ignorance. Hopefully most of us are at least trained in manners and some basic social skills. Our greatest danger is not our ignorance but our refusal to be taught and to overcome any ignorance that gets in our way.

Often westerners are arrogant toward foreigners. I have heard people say that foreigners need to learn English. English speakers tend to think others should learn English but they don’t have to learn the other person’s language. That’s arrogance.

I once saw a sign in Europe that said, “If you speak three languages you are Tri-Lingual. If you speak two languages you are Bi-Lingual. If you speak only one language you are English.”

My wife and I learned years ago that it is a blessing to those from foreign countries to find us trying to learn their original name and some words from their culture.

Refusing to be taught is arrogance. Ignorance is normal. Arrogance is unacceptable.

Arrogance is what tells us our own way is right. It keeps us going the wrong way. It keeps us from opening our eyes and enriching our lives.

I recall flying into New Zealand on my first trip outside Australia. As we flew low over the capital city, Auckland, I compared what I saw with what I knew from Australia. I decided, in my arrogance, that the houses were inferior. At that time a quality Australian home was made of brick, but the Auckland houses were almost exclusively clad with timber. Soon after my arrival I informed a local that the homes were of a lower quality than Australian homes. He politely pointed out to me that Australia does not experience regular earthquakes and so brick homes are fine there.

That put me back in my box, so to speak. Over time I realised that New Zealand homes were fine and the standard of living was as good as anyone could want. But earthquakes made it useless to build in brick.

I was arrogant and proud, to even think to insult someone else’s way of life. I was also ignorant of the facts. Ignorance was excusable, but my arrogance was not. I had no right to an opinion about something I didn’t understand.

That was the beginning of a lot of learning I have had to do as I travelled through many countries and encountered cultural ways, foods, customs and structures different to what I grew up with.

In my arrogance I assumed the world was measured by what I knew from childhood. But as it turns out most people on the planet live differently to the way I grew up. My experience doesn’t set the benchmark.

The worst kind of ignorance, however, is being ignorant of God and what God has revealed to us in His word. And the worst kind of arrogance is thinking we don’t need to humble ourselves before God.

Whether you travel the world or live in one village all your life, you can’t afford to be ignorant of God and you certainly can’t afford to think you know better than God.

I urge you to open your heart and your life, to remove ignorance of the ways of God and to abandon all arrogance that you somehow know what is true. Open your heart to God and begin to learn His ways. Humble your heart to abandon all forms of pride and arrogance when it comes to the things of God.

Keep a beautiful heart before God, and never fear your ignorance, because Ignorance is Normal.

I grew up with various discomforts working inside me. I was very self-conscious and readily embarrassed, even though I wanted to be in the spotlight. I was insecure and carried a sense of wrestling my way through life. I carried a lot of pride, and that made me readily ashamed if I made a gaff.

During my teenage years my family enjoyed a time of spiritual awakening, through the Charismatic Revival of the 1960’s. During that time I sensed God speaking to me and moving me toward freedom on the inside.

I struggled with that journey into freedom, mostly because of feeling insecure about trusting God to set me free without hurting me in the process. I had a whole bunch of things to unravel and clear up in my inner life, unseen by others.

Wonderfully God led me to enjoy a great deal of freedom. Along the way I began to recognise the difference between being bound up on the inside compared to having what I dubbed a ‘Free Spirit’.

I created a humorous scenario in my mind to contrast my feelings of inferiority and insecurity with what it would be like to be wonderfully free on the inside. I imagined what it would be like to have one of the school bullies approach me and say, with a sneer, “You’re an idiot!” A person who was damaged on the inside could be totally intimidated by such a confrontation. But a person with a Free Spirit, free from inner issues of fear or shame, could step up to the bully and say, “You’re not supposed to say that. We’re keeping it a secret.”

A person who is free on the inside isn’t embarrassed, or ashamed. They aren’t worried about their appearance or reputation, but are focused on getting on with life, and serving God. They won’t care if there are people who don’t like them, because that’s probably true for everyone. You can’t please everyone all the time.

They won’t live in fear about their future, confident that God has wonderful plans for them, even if the path is uncertain at times. They won’t be afraid of other people, since they are complete in themselves and not finding their identity by the approval of others.

I journeyed toward that kind of freedom. It was a slow process for me, because I was locked up in many ways and because I didn’t have anyone assisting me through the process. I had to let God speak to me, and then respond appropriately, which I was often reluctant to do.

I was encouraged by several Bible verses that assured me God was in the business of making people free and whole on the inside.

“He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:3

“A bruised reed He will not break and a smouldering piece of cloth he will not stamp out.” Isaiah 42:3

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7

“Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul prospers.” 3John 1:2

“He sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release from darkness to the prisoners” Isaiah 61:1

I did not want my soul, the inner part of me, to be broken, crumpled and incapacitated. I wanted to be whole and strong and free. I knew that God is in the business of bringing such freedom, so, over time, with all my insecurities, I allowed God to work on the inside of me.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2Corinthians 3:17

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

“With unveiled faces we see the glory of the Lord, and are transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2Corinthians 3:18

My journey into freedom was delightful and it led me to put together a summary of the path God led me on, which I call the Steps to Release. You can find various elements of that in my various writings.

Let me assure you here that God is in the business of setting people free from things that haunt and bind them on the inside, including things no-one else even realises you suffer from. God loves you, just the way you are, even with your weakness and failure, and with all the unpleasant things inside your life.

God is keen to breathe His Spirit into your life and start unlocking things that have kept you bound. You don’t have to be a prisoner to fear, insecurity, shame, misgivings, or anything else inside you.

Open yourself to God right now and ask Him to move into your life by His Holy Spirit and start you on the wonderful journey to become Free on the Inside.

God is Spirit so He is not visible to the human eye. The whole spirit realm is invisible to us. We are limited in what we can perceive, because we only see material things. So the whole idea of ‘seeing is believing’ or ‘if I can’t see it then it doesn’t exist’ is quite foolish.

The fact is that the spirit realm, including God and heaven, is more real than our natural world. Our natural world was created by God in the spirit realm, so we are inferior to that realm. It is arrogant and somewhat stupid of us to pretend that the material world is the only world, or the real world, or the most important world in which we exist.

Throughout the Bible spiritual things, that are more real than the material world we know and trust, were made visible to our eyes in different ways. Let me remind you of some ways people have been made aware that something spiritual was happening.

On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church visible fire appeared then divided and rested on the heads of the disciples. There was also a sound, of a rushing mighty wind, and the disciples began doing something outside their natural ability, speaking in languages they had not learned.

When Jesus was baptised the Holy Spirit came down from heaven onto Him and it was made visible in a form of a dove.

When Elisha’s town was surrounded by enemy soldiers his servant panicked but Elisha prayed that God would open the young man’s eyes. Suddenly the young man was able to see a huge angel army surrounding the town, showing that God had the advantage, even though it was not visible to the natural eye.

When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to prove the reality of their God he set up a challenge where the God who responded by sending fire from heaven would be the true God. The prophets of Baal cried out to their god all day long and nothing happened, but when Elijah called on God fire fell from heaven and burned the offering, the altar and all the water Elijah had poured on it.

Balaam’s donkey was able to see an angel blocking Balaam’s path, but Balaam could not see it. God opened his eyes and he realised the donkey had saved his life when it veered away from the angel.

Many people were visited by angels, while others had dreams, or were spoken to by prophets sent by God.

Times when spiritual things are revealed to human perception can be called ‘manifestation’, or making what is otherwise not seen manifest (apparent). The Bible recounts many times and many ways when that happened.

So we should not be surprised when such things happen. They are more likely to happen in places and at times when God is moving and when the enemy is at work. During times of Christian revival, on the mission-field, during times of spiritual renewal and when people are praying against the enemy’s work, bringing God’s Kingdom, then evidence of God at work will be more apparent.

There was a great deal of manifestation during the three years of Jesus’ ministry. Miracles and healing revealed His power and authority. Jesus explained that when He cast demons out of people that revealed the Kingdom of God had arrived.

“If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20

When men came to arrest Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, they fell over under the power of God.

“Jesus stepped forward and asked them, Who are you seeking? Jesus of Nazareth, they answered. Jesus said, I am He. When Jesus said, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground.” John 18:4-6

When God poured out the Holy Spirit on the Disciples at Pentecost, birthing the Church era, the ongoing manifestation of the Holy Spirit was for the good of the believers. The Apostle Paul explained that to the church in Corinth.

“To each is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good.” 1Corinthians 12:7

Paul went on to list the Gifts of the Spirit. These gifts were found in all the churches, among all the Christians, and they revealed the wonder of God’s Spirit being part of our ordinary lives. When these gifts were seen in the church and among the believers it encouraged them all, since it was for their common good.

It is the same today. When we hear of people healed, prayer answered, powerful truth spoken into a situation, the enemy exposed and overcome, miracles, prophetic dreams or visions, and so on, believers are encouraged.

At times the manifestation of God at work seems strange to us. Back in 1801 strange things were recorded at the Cane Ridge Revival in America. In outdoor gatherings of over 20,000 people God moved powerfully.

Eyewitness Moses Hoge recorded how, “The careless fall down, cry out, tremble, and not infrequently are affected with convulsive twitchings. Sinners dropping down on every hand, shrieking, groaning, crying for mercy, convulsed; professors praying, agonizing, fainting, falling down in distress, for sinners or in raptures of joy!”

Thousands of people fell as in a faint, including those who came to mock and scoff and even those who were riding away as fast as they could.

While that sounds bizarre, there is no doubt that during almost a decade of these meetings God was doing a powerful work of revival.

When spiritual things become exposed in some way, so we can see or sense them, there are a number of reactions. One is that we get to see into the spirit realm around us and get a glimpse of what God is doing. Our faith can be built up and we can respond with godly wisdom.

At the same time many find such things scary. The disciples were often scared when strange things happened. However, each time Jesus told them not to be afraid.

Another outcome should be that we become encouraged to step deeper into the things of God, reminded that the spirit realm is real and that God is Lord of all. The most important experience of life is to be right with God so when we step out of this life we step into a glorious eternity as God’s child in heaven. May you be blessed and encouraged as Spiritual things are Revealed.

Christianity gives a lot of attention to blood. In fact, God gives a lot of attention to blood. God links blood to life and also to our salvation.

The Children of Israel were commanded never to eat blood because the life of the animal is ‘in the blood’.

“The life of a creature is in the blood” Leviticus 17:11

“Be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.” Deuteronomy 12:23

God’s people could only be made right from their sins by the blood of an animal. Since the life of the animal is in the blood, blood was used to get forgiveness for people. If there was no blood there would be no forgiveness and no removal of sin.

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make an atonement for your souls upon the altar, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.” Leviticus 17:11

“According to the Law nearly everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22

There are two specific ways we can apply blood to our lives today, and neither of them involve us killing an animal. We don’t have to make sacrifices like the Israelites did, because Jesus became the sacrifice for us.

“It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.” 1Peter 1:19

Jesus became God’s Lamb, to pay the price for our sin with His own blood, which Jesus gave for us when He was crucified on the Cross two thousand years ago.

“We have now been justified by his blood” Romans 5:9

“In Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are brought close by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13

The first way we apply Christ’s blood to our lives is to put our faith in Christ as our Saviour.

“God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People become right with God by believing that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.” Romans 3:25

By putting our faith in Christ as our Saviour we become sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus, even though we don’t see it. God sees us cleansed and forgiven from our sins because Jesus’ blood has paid the price for our sins.

“Our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22

These things are spiritual, so we can’t see them with our human eyes, but they are very real and powerful nonetheless. In fact, that unseen sprinkling of Jesus’ blood is vitally important to allow us into God’s presence.

Imagine a line of people being inspected at heaven’s gate. Most of the people are spattered with the blood of Jesus, making them fit to enter God’s presence. So imagine what it would be like for someone to arrive with a bunch of references to prove how good they are. They present all kinds of proof that they were an ideal student, kind and thoughtful, volunteering for community causes, and doing good wherever they could.

The inspector, however, only looks to see if the man has been sprinkled with blood. Sadly there is no sign of blood. Despite all the references and all his good deeds, the man is not made righteous by those things and is unfit for God’s presence.

So that’s the first application of Jesus’ blood in our lives. We don’t see the blood, but God does. And it’s the only thing that makes us right with God. Each of us needs to put our faith in Jesus and ask God to forgive us, through the blood of Jesus.

The other way we can apply blood is revealed in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. We learn there that God’s people overcame the devil by using Jesus’ blood.

“They triumphed over him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” Revelation 12:11

When the enemy tries to mess with us we can call on the Blood of Jesus as protection. Christians often pray something like, “I claim the Blood of Jesus over me.” Just as the blood of a lamb protected the Israelites from the Angel of Death in Egypt, the Blood of Jesus on our lives protects us from evil.

“The blood will be a sign for you, on your houses. When I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” Exodus 12:13

The only way to be right with God is with the Blood of Jesus. And that blood also protects us from the enemy’s attempts to mess with our lives. So the most important thing you can learn to do in life is to become good at Applying the Blood.