Archives for October 2020

Many spiritual truths are like opposites kept in balance. It is easy at times for Christians to take their favoured truth out of balance with other truth. For example, there is a tension between the Fear of God and being in Relationship with God.

If Fear of God is taken too far then God is not a loving Father but a judge to be feared. Yet if Relationship is taken too far people can presume to get away with just about anything, without respect for God’s standards.

We see similar tension between opposites with faith and works, authority and submission, accepting our lot and claiming more from God.

Your challenge in life is to keep truth in balance. You will do that by accepting the whole counsel of God, not sticking only to your favourite themes. You will also do that by being open to the Holy Spirit and allowing God to keep leading you, as a shepherd leads his sheep. Remain teachable, and keep reading the Bible and growing in your understanding.

Beware those teachings that shut you down spiritually, such as with fear. Beware elitist teachings that suggest you come into a superior place compared to other Christians. Keep in fellowship with God and with the wider church community, especially those who live their faith in ways that reflect spiritual power in their lives.

Let’s take a moment to look at the contrast between the Fear of God and God’s Grace.

There are abundant examples in God’s Word of people who were quite severely punished for not being careful to follow God’s instructions. Moses, the meekest man that ever lived, and God’s great miracle-working leader of the Children of Israel, was judged for disobedience.

In the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites God told Moses to get water from a rock by speaking to the rock. Previously God had told Moses to get water by striking a rock. This time the idea was similar but the instruction was different.

“Take your rod and gather the assembly together, with your brother Aaron, and speak to the rock in their sight; and it will yield its water, and you will bring to them water out of the rock: so you will give drink to the congregation and their animals.” Numbers 20:8

However Moses struck the rock, twice. For that he was judged by God and denied the right to enter the Promised Land.

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe me, to honour me in the sight of the children of Israel, you will not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” Numbers 20:12

That shows how much we are to pay attention to what God is saying and be careful to obey and honour Him.

Another example is that of Ananias and Sapphira who gave money to the church but kept a portion for themselves. Their sin was in lying to the church. For that they both dropped dead.

“Peter asked, How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Here come the men who buried your husband and they will bury you too. She instantly fell at his feet and died.” Acts 5:9,10

The Fear of God was well and truly prompted by that event.

“Great fear came on all the church and on all who heard these things.” Acts 5:11

Before you become too impressed with those who promote the idea of us doing whatever we want, remember Moses and what happened in the early church. God is not to be trifled with, but to be honoured and obeyed. We are to live in fearful respect for God.

Yet we are also to relate to God as Father. Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father in Heaven”. God said we are to be like our Father in heaven.

“Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Jesus displayed the character of the Father through the account of the Prodigal Son. The Father waited and watched for the son’s return and ran to the son and reinstated him into the family.

“Bring the best robe and dress him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Kill the fatted calf. Let us celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found! So they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:22-24

If God was only a God of judgement that son would never be welcomed back into the family. However, God’s holiness and justice are balanced by Mercy and Love.

God is Judge, but He is also Father.

God gives us ‘grace’. We are saved by ‘grace’, despite the punishment we have earned.

“By grace you have been saved through faith” Ephesians 2:8

God’s grace frees us from the penalties we deserve. We have a wonderful freedom, as God’s children, to come freely into God’s presence.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

Yet for all the freedom we have by relationship with God as our Father, we are still to live in the Fear of God. We are not to use the new freedoms we have as freedom to do what is evil or self-serving.

“You, brothers, have been called to liberty; only don’t use this freedom to serve your human desires, but by love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

By faith in Christ we are freed from our sins and brought into wonderful relationship with God as our Father. That is transformational and amazing. With that we are freed in great measure from our failings and weaknesses and the punishment we deserve. However, we are still to live in the Fear of God, honouring Him and submitting to Him, recognising His will and His way and walking in the paths of righteousness.

We are not freed to do as we please and expect God to give us plenty of rope.

Over time you will feel God’s correction and rebuke and your sense of the Fear of God will be awakened. At other times you will feel God’s amazing love and the healing acceptance He has toward you. Your life falls between the Fear of God and enjoying God’s grace.

So, may you respect the full counsel of God’s Word and may you learn to live powerfully by Faith, in the Fear of God.

How do you see God? Who is He to you? You probably know the right answer, but in your own reality, deep within yourself, who do you see God to be?

We know God is God! That He is all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, and loving. We know He is creator, saviour and lord. We know He will judge the earth and He holds our eternal destiny in His hand. We know He is the God of the Bible, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But to each of us personally, when we relate to God, we approach Him according to our own idea of Who He is.

Many people, including Christians, keep seeing God as judge. That’s a healthy perspective in view of the ‘fear of God’. When we fear God we reverence Him and know we have to submit ourselves to Him and be careful how we live. The fear of God is the foundation of wisdom. If we don’t fear God we will act foolishly.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Proverbs 1:7

Respect, reverence, honour and obedience are wonderful qualities. Every person in authority wishes those they care for held those attitudes.

However, God is much more to us than an authority figure to be feared.

Some people live in a fear of God that is unresolved. Where there is no relationship the one we fear will judge according to the code of conduct we are to follow. Where there is relationship as well, the authority will seek ways to relieve their subjects.

It’s a tricky balance every parent has to deal with. We expect obedience and respect from the children, and we certainly require instant obedience as a way of protecting them from harm. We may have to be stern and firm in our discipline to teach the heart of the child to submit to our authority. But we do that because we love them and want to establish them for successful and fruitful life.

If the child is too casual with us they will disregard our instructions, missing the heart training and the protection our authority provides.

If they are too fearful, they will miss the fact that we are their parent and we love them and want the best for them.

So Christians can come under a wrong fear that blocks their realisation of relationship with God. God may rebuke them, and God may require them to change their ways, but not because He is a demanding tyrant. Instead it is because He knows what is truly best for us and He wants us to live in His eternal blessings.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had developed an idea of God, based on the Old Testament law and their own experience of getting away with evil. They became very religious about the rules and rituals, not to please God but to prove themselves among themselves as qualifying in their community.

Yet they also did things that suited themselves and served human craving. Their lips said all the right things, but their heart was cold toward God and they lived for themselves, within a religious framework.

Jesus came on the scene and began doing things from a different perspective. He didn’t care for the religious traditions. He didn’t care to win the approval of man. He didn’t care for the religious order of the day. He brought a revelation of God as a loving God who is intent on blessing people, with truth and practical miracles.

Jesus came and taught truth to all the people, not just the religiously qualified. He spoke that truth with authority and practical application. At the same time He readily healed the sick and cast out demons. This was an amazingly practical and wonderful blessing.

Jesus said He was revealing the Father to the people.

“He who sees me sees him who sent me.” John 12:45

“He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father?” John 14:9

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He started by defining the nature of our deepest relationship with God. He said, “Our Father”.

“In this the way you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Matthew 6:9

If we are to respond to God as Judge then Jesus would have taught us to pray, “Almighty God, maker of Heaven and Earth”, or “Most Holy God, Who is to be feared”, or some other authority focused start to the prayer.

Instead Jesus taught us to come to God as our Father.

So let me repeat the questions I started with: How do you see God? Who is He to you?

Can you and do you come to God as your ‘Father’, or do you come to Him as if He is an angry Magistrate, or the School Principal? Or do you come to Him with total disrespect, as if He is someone to be treated lightly?

Consider that Jesus revealed God as ‘Father’ and taught us to come to God as our Heavenly Father. Whatever else your religious training or your own ideas have come up with, you need to discover God and relate to God as Father.

You can only do that if you have placed your faith in Christ, been forgiven of your sins and been born again as God’s Son. So make sure that’s cleared up first. Then come to God and explore what it is to call God ‘Father’.

I suggest you take time today to sit quietly in prayer and pray to God as your ‘Father’. Then ask God to reveal to you some of the depth and wonder of that relationship. The Holy Spirit within you not only calls God ‘Father’, but ‘Daddy’ (Abba Father). As a child in God’s arms you can relate to him as an infant child relates to their Daddy.

If you find you can’t approach God like that then ask God to reveal to you the ideas or teachings that block you from the sweet intimacy that is yours when you have the God of all eternity as Your Father.

Our spiritual condition is as changeable as our moods or the weather. So we need to plan in advance the way we will deal with our own changeableness and the random issues that come up to distract us.

Years ago I coined the phrase ‘Pre-solve by Resolve’, which points out that when we have settled a matter we have pre-solved all the uncertainty or potential distraction that would otherwise have come up.

I find myself having to stop and check why my mood or heart have moved away from a strong stand with the Lord. I am not always aware of the little distractions, or niggles that lure me away from a place of faith or peace. When I find myself anxious or distracted I realise I have strayed from a place of trusting God or resting in Him.

So here’s a way for you to regularly check how you are going in your daily life with God. Take stock of whether you are Wrangling or Resting.

If you feel you have to wrestle with issues, or you are agitated and frustrated, you are wrangling with things. Wrangling has a two-fold danger. It suggests you are not relying on the Lord and giving your troubles to Him, but it also suggests you are trying to deal with the problem in your own strength and your own wisdom.

Remember the fault of the children of Israel. They abandoned God, who is the fountain of living water, and dug out for themselves their own supply.

“My people committed two evils. They forsook me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13

That brings a curse on people, for not trusting God, but trusting human resources.

“The Lord says, Cursed is the man which trusts in man, and relies on human effort, and whose heart departs from the Lord.” Jeremiah 17:5

So if you are wrangling you are not only missing God’s support and help, but you are likely bringing a curse on yourself. That curse might be seen as you constantly fail to solve the problem, digging yourself deeper into strife or debt, and finding that issues compound in your life.

You can stop wrangling with issues when you commit them to God and learn to rest in Him. Rest is a fruit of you trusting God. If you are sure everything is under control you can breathe easy. You don’t have to be tense, fearful or agitated.

Remember the blessing on God’s sheep, lying in green pastures, beside still waters, not afraid even in the valley of the shadow of death. (see Psalm 23)

That describes those who are at Rest, not Wrangling.

Resting is a great way to prove your faith. We are told that if we have faith there will be evidence for it. There will be things we do (works) that show we have faith. If we don’t have any evidence (works) then how can we prove we have faith?

“Faith without works is dead” James 2:20

“You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith on its own.” James 2:24

Resting is a ‘work’ of faith. Wrangling is a ‘work’ of our self-reliance and failure to trust God. What ‘work’ is seen in your life?

Faith is your key to all the good things God has for you. You receive from God’s storehouse of Grace by putting your faith in Him.

“By grace you are saved, through faith” Ephesians 2:8

If you wrangle, and try to solve your own problems, you are not using faith, so you don’t get any of God’s grace to solve the problem. When you put your faith in God and trust Him, you open God’s storehouse of grace and the grace you need, the grace that will save you in that situation, is released to you.

So ‘Resting’ is really important as the ‘work’ of your faith. You come to a place of confidence that God is on your side and God can and will solve the problems for you. You commit your cares to God, and then Rest in Him. You do all the things He asks you to do, but not because of fear or trust in your own planning and strength, but in simple obedience to God.

I find the Wrangling or Resting test a quick way to check if I am in the right place to receive God’s blessings. I may find that I am tense and concerned. I stop to ask why I am feeling that way. There may be some challenge or workload hanging over my head. There may be some unresolved issue threatening to be a long-term challenge, or to get worse. Whatever the source of my unsettled feelings, such as fear, insecurity, feeling overwhelmed, or the like, I realise my need to place my faith in God. I realise that I am holding the problem instead of giving it to God.

“Cast all your cares onto him; because he cares for you.” 1Peter 5:7

If I am holding the problem I will have to wrangle, wriggle, struggle and strive. If God is holding the problem then everything is fine. All I need to do is follow God’s instructions and do what He asks of me, confident He will get me through.

Friends, you are already people of faith, having put your faith in Christ for eternal salvation. So continue to put your faith in Christ and to rely on God as your source and saviour. And as you journey forward keep check on whether you are Wrangling or Resting.

Have you ever felt like there were too many things demanding your thought, emotion or time? We can be overwhelmed by too many things to do and too many demands competing with each other.

The demands of work, sickness, being around agitated and demanding people, demands from authorities, having to pick up someone else’s workload, and confronting new situations can all cause us to be overwhelmed.

But we can also be overwhelmed just by a storm of thought and emotion within us. Having to handle heavily emotional issues, feeling powerless, dealing with fears, rejection, hurts, abandonment, guilt or similar intense personal issues can drain our internal resources.

We are not without hope even in such intense situations. We are not the first to feel this way. People in the Bible and people great and small in every generation know what it is to feel powerless and overwhelmed.

King David, the mighty warrior, yet felt overcome at times.

“My spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is distressed.” Psalm 143:4

“My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat my food.” Psalm 102:4

“Reproach and scorn has broken my heart, and I am overwhelmed: and I looked for sympathy, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” Psalm 69:20

The Prophet Jeremiah felt overwhelmed, yet not for his own problems, but for grief at what was going to happen to his people. He warned them to return to God but they would not. And, as a prophet, he knew the evil that was soon to come on them and it deeply grieved him.

“My heart is crushed because the daughter of my people is being crushed. I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.” Jeremiah 8:21

Jesus also faced the feeling of being overwhelmed, as He faced the sheer horror of crucifixion and His confrontation with satan, death and hell. On the night He was betrayed he went aside to pray an anguished prayer to God.

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Mark 14:34

So we can be overwhelmed for various reasons, including our own troubles, but also our grief for others. Many a parent has felt great pain and been overwhelmed with concern for a family member’s troubles.

So let’s see what wisdom God’s Word holds about facing such terrible situations.

The most important thing we can do is cry to the Lord and cast our cares onto Him.

“Lord, I cry to you from the end of the earth, whenever my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am.” Psalm 61:2

That’s what Jesus did as He faced His anguish. He went to God in prayer.

God can give us peace in the face of extreme difficulties and challenges.

However, that doesn’t mean we will be immediately delivered. We may well feel pain and anguish until a situation is resolved. Sometimes we may feel we are constantly crying out to God, relying on His peace, moment by moment.

God promises that the season will pass. We may have to struggle through a difficult night, but joy will come.

“Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

“Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing the precious seed, will surely come again with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.” Psalm 126:5

God promises us joy in the end. This life and various circumstances may weigh heavily on us, but God will reward us with a joy that lasts forever.

“The ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy on their heads. They will receive joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 35:10

We have the example of Job who endured terrible grief, but it was only for a season. In the end he was more abundantly blessed than he had been at the start.

If you are overwhelmed, call on the Lord, as David and Jesus did. Dump your anguish onto Him. Cry out to Him for deliverance, or at least His strength to endure this season of challenge.

And look forward to the promise of joy coming in the morning. And even if you have a life of challenge and grief, as Jeremiah, the ‘weeping prophet’ did, know that your reward of abundant joy is ahead for you.

I pray that each of you will be impressed with the goodness of God and with the sheer abundance of His promises and blessings for you, if ever you feel Overwhelmed.

As a Christian you have become a residence for the Holy Spirit of God. God dwells in you, by the Spirit. And Jesus also provides a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life as well. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our life changes who we are and how we encounter life.

Let’s look at some of those changes.

You are born again, by the Spirit of God, so your own human spirit comes alive and you are from that moment on God’s Son.

“Flesh is born from flesh, but spirit is born of the Holy Spirit. Do not marvel that I said, You must be born again.” John 3:6,7

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God” 1John 3:2

God now lives within you, as Jesus promised.

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.” John 14:23

“I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, so he can abide with you for ever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16,17

Note that the Holy Spirit will ‘abide with you forever’. You are now no longer alone, because God, by His Holy Spirit, is living within you. You will never be abandoned or left on your own.

“Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

Not only do we become God’s Son by faith in Christ, but the Holy Spirit within us is called a spirit of adoption. The Holy Spirit prompts our relationship with God, as people adopted into God’s family. You will find something within you appreciating and even hungry for exploring being God’s child.

“You received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry to God, Abba (Daddy), Father.” Romans 8:15

The presence of the Holy Spirit is a life-giving presence in our life. We are told that the Spirit makes alive (quickens) our body.

“But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit gives you life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10

“If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.” Romans 8:11

We are also given power by the Holy Spirit in us. This is the great promise fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come on you: and you will be witnesses about me” Acts 1:8

The Holy Spirit is also a deposit of the many glories we will receive as our spiritual inheritance. As God’s Sons we inherit all God leaves for us. The first taste of that inheritance, the token to confirm what is yet to come, is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13

“God has also sealed us, and given the earnest (deposit) of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2Corinthians 1:22

“Now he who fashioned us for that purpose is God, who also gave us us the earnest (deposit) of the Spirit.” 2Corinthians 5:5

All the glories yet to be enjoyed in eternity are sampled for us through the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Holy Spirit also functions within us as an encourager. Jesus described the Holy Spirit’s work in us as that of a comforter, or assistant, coming along side us to enable us to do things.

“I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16,17

The Holy Spirit is also signalled as enabling us to put aside evil and be made holy in our life and thought. This is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

“Sanctified by the Holy Spirit” 1Peter 1:2

As well as that the Holy Spirit is able to uphold us in situations where we don’t even know what to pray.

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.” Romans 8:26

The impact of having God’s Holy Spirit in our lives is awesome and amazing. We actually become a temple for God’s Spirit. That puts great responsibilities onto us and brings us amazing blessings.

“Do you not recognise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1Corinthians 6:19

All the blessings of eternity, yet to be enjoyed, are sampled for you in the Holy Spirit in your life. The gifts and fruit of the Spirit, plus being led by the Spirit, praying in the spirit, seeing into the spirit realm, being directed by the Spirit to holiness and wisdom, while being comforted and ministered to by the Spirit and knit closely to God the Father by the Spirit’s inspiration, are all aspects of what you will enjoy in eternity. You get to enjoy all that and more right now, through the Holy Spirit in your life.

That’s why it is so important for Christians to be spiritual and not worldly. If we do not receive more of the Spirit, but live in worldly distraction, we miss all those wonderful blessings.

We are instructed to continually ‘be filled with the Spirit’.

“Be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18

Friends, you are blessed more than you realise by the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit in your life. You receive the Holy Spirit when you are born again and Jesus offers you a Baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is a rich array of significant graces offered you through the Spirit, making it important for you to keep on being filled with the Spirit and living by the Spirit, not by your human instincts.

May you fully enter into what God has given you in the person of the Spirit and may you continue to enjoy being changed By The Spirit.