Archives for December 2020

My wife’s mother liked to say that troubles have come to ‘Pass’, not to stay. She used the phrase “This Too Will Pass”. It was her way of propping herself and others up to keep hoping for relief that had not yet come.

Yesterday a similar thought was shared with me about how in our walk with God we go “Through” things, rather than getting stuck in them.

Think about the famous reference to the “Valley of the Shadow of Death” in the Good Shepherd psalm.

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me.” Psalm 23:4

What does the psalm say about our experience of the Valley of the Shadow of Death? It says we go “through” it. “Yea, though I walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death”.

When we come into difficult and testing times we can feel like we are trapped in the desert or in the valley. We may feel we are in that spot for a very long time. People talk of having a long ‘dry season’, or being in a trial for a long time.

God never leads us into a place of difficulty to destroy us, but to take us ‘through’. However our enemy wants us to think we have arrived at our destination, telling us we’ll never get out and somehow deserve the trouble we have fallen into.

If our enemy can convince us to stop and camp in our desert place, or in the valley, we won’t keep moving through it. We are to keep Going Through.

The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. So he wants to take from you your potential and your hope.

“The thief only comes to steal and to kill and to destroy: I (Jesus) have come so people will have life, and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Your enemy wants to make you lose heart, get bogged down, stop pressing through your issues, and believe that God wants you to suffer and never get breakthrough. But that’s not true. God wants you to keep Going Through things – ‘through’ them.

You do that by finding God’s help, God’s grace, God’s peace, God’s power, God’s love at work in your life, and your authority through God to resist the devil, overcome evil, fight a good fight, be led by the Spirit and be the head and not the tail in each situation.

The man who encouraged me yesterday pointed to a psalm about going through things, in order to become stronger and better prepared for our future. The trials aren’t to defeat us but to build us up in stamina to claim God’s blessings and defeat the enemy.

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in you; whose heart is set on moving forward. Who passing through the valley of Baca turns it into a well; the rain also fills the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appears before God.” Psalm 84:5-7

See in those verses that the person is going “through” the valley, because their heart is set on moving forward. By God’s grace the difficult desert valley becomes a place of supply, a well. And there is a store of good things, filling the pools, as resource for all that is to come. They go from ‘strength to strength’.

This is the picture of those who are Going Through. So, in your various situations, you may feel overwhelmed and even defeated, but God is on your side. If God is on your side, you won’t be getting stuck in the middle of your problems.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31

God may well lead you into a difficult time or an unpleasant place, just as the Good Shepherd leads his flock through a dry or dark valley in order to come out on the other side into a place of blessing.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the sight of dry or dark places. They are not your home or the place God is dumping you. They are nothing more than a place to go through to get the better things God has for you.

We see that people become stronger, and their hearts are refined, in the places of trial. We learn important lessons that are good for us. Such as learning to put our trust fully on God.

“God humbled you and caused you to hunger, then fed you with manna, which was new to you, which your ancestors didn’t know, so God could make you realise that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3

“Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10

There are abundant testimonies of those who held on in faith, waiting even many years for God to come through, and who saw the breakthrough and blessing come. That only happens when we set ourselves for Going Through, not just sitting and wallowing in our mess.

So let me encourage you to keep heart. Things may be difficult and things may have been difficult for a long time, but God has not doomed you to the valley or the desert. These are places to pass through. The enemy may have convinced you that you belong in your mess, but that’s not true.

Come to God again and affirm your faith in Him. Agree with God that He has better things than you have tasted yet and choose to ask God for, and believe God for breakthrough and blessing. Take a good look at your desert, your valley and all your current difficulties, then tell God you have made up your mind that with His help you are Going Through.

In Western Culture family can easily be regarded as something of minimal value or significance. Other cultures give greater honour to family connections than most westerners do. We could wonder whether family is as significant as some cultures regard it, or as insignificant as westerners think it to be.

So, how does God view family connection?

The simple answer is: God Takes Family Seriously.

Prime example is the family curse passing to all humanity through Adam. The Bible records Adam eating forbidden fruit, at the start of human history. The sin was committed by Adam, and Adam was judged. If ‘family’ held no significance then Adam’s sin would have no effect on any of his descendants.

Sadly for us, as Adam’s descendants, God’s curse on Adam belongs equally to us. God cursed Adam’s life to end in death. So too for us. God said Adam would return to dust, and so do we. God said the world would be cursed with decay and thorns and thistles, and that includes the world we inherit from Adam.

This primary example is followed up multiple times in the Bible, showing God’s blessings and God’s curses transferring to children and grandchildren, down through multiple generations.

Consider Noah, who found favour in God’s eyes. The global flood of Noah’s day wiped out all the people, and thus all the families except that of Noah and his three sons. No one alive today is descended from any of those who rejected Noah’s preaching.

God’s blessing on Abraham is alive today, thousands of years later, in the Israelites.

Note too that God judged whole nations based on the family connection. The prophet Obadiah prophesied destruction of the nation of Edom. The reason was based on family. When Israel was invaded by Babylon the Edomites gloated and assisted Babylon, out of their ill will toward Israel. However Edom and Israel were ‘brothers’.

“Because of your violence against your brother Jacob, shame will cover you and you will be cut off forever.” Obadiah 1:10

How was Edom a brother to Israel? Edom descended from Esau, the older brother of Jacob, who was named Israel. However many centuries had passed since those two men lived and Edomites were an entirely different culture to the Israelites. Yet, God remembered the family connection, seeing them as brothers.

So, as I have said, God Takes Family Seriously.

In the broadest sense, all humanity is related, as descendants of Adam and also of Noah. Whatever our size, shape and skin colour, we are a brotherhood of man, a family of mankind. We are held accountable before God for how we treat our family.

We are warned not to treat our parents badly. It’s one of the Ten Commandments, but other verses speak of it as well.

“Honour your father and mother, so you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12

“Cursed is he who treats his father or mother with contempt.” Deuteronomy 27:16

God blesses families and those blessings pass down the generations.

“Though one support another, the wicked will not be unpunished: but the descendants of the righteous will be delivered.” Proverbs 11:21

“I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your seed after you.” Genesis 17:7,8

“I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.” Psalm 37:25

It is a wonderful thing to be born into a family that is blessed, since God’s blessing comes on you automatically.

And all this shows that God Takes Family Seriously. So consider how you think of family. Have you developed bad attitudes toward your parents, siblings or children? Do you have relatives you resent or despise? Have your treated your family members badly?

God holds you accountable to have due regard for your parents, brothers and sisters, children, descendants and wider family. You can pretend you are not related to them, but God remembers the family connection and God takes it seriously.

And God heals families. He even looks for people in damaged families who will bring God’s grace into the family to heal the generations. This is noted in God speaking of one who makes up the break in the wall.

“I sought for a man among them, that would make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30

I urge you to ask God to check and to heal your attitude toward your family. Repent of any wrong or hardness of heart. Ask God to guide you to know any areas where you need to lift your game.

And from this moment on, be determined to bless your family and generations, remembering that God Takes Family Seriously.

I recently caught up again with Frank Clissold, the Lightning man, from Queensland. Frank was struck by lightning a few years ago and suffered two years of serious debilitation, including limited ability to speak and his walking reduced to a shuffle. Frank was nearly 80 years old when this happened and his wife, Ruth, struggled at watching her husband endure such terrible limitation.

Frank and Ruth began to press in for more of God, including watching Christian preaching on television. In his morning devotions Frank came across a verse that spoke to him.

“I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord” Jeremiah 30:17

Frank felt the verse speaking to him personally, so he went out to try walking. He managed to shuffle past three houses and turned around, feeling terribly limited by useless legs. He stopped and said, “Lord, this is ridiculous!” Suddenly his leg moved freely and his foot straightened. Within moments he was walking freely and was so impressed he began to run. He then stopped and began jumping on the spot. He was healed. He hurried home to tell Ruth and she was impressed that he could speak clearly. A large lump on his cheek, from the lightning heating a metal plate in his face, disappeared and he was perfectly well.

That was a wonderful healing and it confirmed to Frank that God’s Word is absolutely true and that receiving it as God’s Word to us releases God’s power.

To make the miracle all the more wonderful Frank experienced another injury about six months later. He was under his car, as an octogenarian home mechanic, tightening a bearing. Suddenly he felt something snap in his lower arm, near the elbow. He felt excruciating pain and knew he had done serious damage.

His regular doctor was away so Frank saw a relief doctor who ordered a scan which showed Frank had severed a tendon. He was told it would take six months to two years for the muscle to fully recover.

Frank reflected on the verse that spoke so clearly to him earlier and he noted that it talked about wounds, or injuries.

“I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord” Jeremiah 30:17

That prompted Frank to ask if this new injury would be included in that promise. He remembered that the verse talked about multiples – ‘wounds’ – not just one injury. And this is the key to what I want to point out. Frank could have decided that the Bible didn’t relate to his new injury. But Frank asked, “Does the reference to injuries include this one?” He came to the conclusion that God’s promise of healing included healing this new injury. He settled that in his mind and said to himself, “This new injury is one of the wounds God will heal”. He suddenly felt the strong pain near his elbow move down his arm and out his fingers.

That surprised and delighted him so he tentatively used his arm and found it moved easily. He reached up and scratched the back of his head. The arm worked perfectly.

When Ruth saw Frank’s arm out of the sling she was concerned, but Frank assured her God had done yet another miracle in his body.

The next week Frank saw his regular doctor for an annual check up. The doctor felt the strength of Frank’s grip and pulled on his arms to measure strength in each limb. Frank’s arms held so tight the doctor almost pulled him off the bed.

Then Frank asked his doctor to check the medical report from the previous week. The doctor was alarmed, realising the recorded injury meant the doctor should not have even touched the arm. Frank told the doctor the same God who healed the lightning strike had done it again.

Frank’s experiences are a simple testimony to the process each of us can follow. We press in to God, hear God’s Word and allow it to speak to us. When we see promises in God’s Word we have opportunity to believe it is for us, or put it aside and assume it won’t be any good.

When we choose to believe God’s Word we release into ourselves the blessings God intends to give us.

That’s how we get each of God’s blessings. If we don’t believe God will forgive our sins we will not ask for forgiveness. If we don’t believe we can have new life in Christ we will never ask for it. If we don’t believe God cares about us, we will not press in for His love and grace.

When we realise from God’s Word that God has provided payment for our sins through the blood of Jesus, and that God wants to adopt us into His family as His children, and that God has wonderful plans of new life for us, we can take hold of those things.

Then when we see the promises of peace and joy, healing and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can ask God for those things and receive them into our life.

Our faith in God’s Word is the active key in receiving anything from God. So, friends, I urge you to seek God, and to read God’s Word and to put your faith in what God has said and promised. And I urge you to enjoy the wonders of eternity here in this life as you live by faith, daily Applying the Word of God.

Has anyone ever told you to “Cheer Up!” ? You may have seen the unhappy side of something, and frowned, while someone else can see the bright side of things. They tell you not to be disheartened.

Maybe they have a solution, or can see an upside that balances the negatives.

Jesus told His disciples to “Cheer Up” when He had given them some challenging news.

“In the world you will have trials: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

He didn’t say “Cheer Up, because there won’t be any trials”. Jesus said there would be trials. The “Cheer Up” was because in all those trials we have Christ on our side and He has overcome the world.

The Apostle Paul said “Cheer up” to a shipload of men who thought they were going to drown. They had been at sea in a storm for days when Paul told them they would be safe.

“Be of good cheer: for there will be no loss of any man’s life among you, only loss of the ship. Overnight the angel of my God stood by me, saying, God has given you the lives of all who sail with you. So, men, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it will be just as I was told.” Acts 27:22-25

Being of good cheer, feeling positive about a situation, comes from seeing the upside in the challenge. It is not from the idea of having it easy, but of coming through the situation positively.

I recall talking with a newly-wed couple who were discouraged by tensions between them. They had doubts about the future of their marriage. I pointed out that such tensions are normal, since two different people have to adjust to life together. I also pointed out that tensions are very valuable in helping us become the person God wants us to be, since we see our selfishness and limitations and have to find God’s grace.

That changed perspective cheered them up and set them on a much happier experience of married life. They weren’t rescued from their tensions, but they understood the benefit they could derive from working through those tensions.

The best news, the thing that can cheer us up the most, is to know that we are right with God. This was the focus of another “Cheer Up” message from Jesus.

“People brought to Jesus a paralysed man, lying on a bed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2

Jesus announced a wonderful spiritual benefit for the man, that the sins he had committed were forgiven. The man may have thought he was paralysed as punishment for sin. The word that his sins were forgiven spoke deep into his life.

The religious types scoffed at what Jesus said, so Jesus also healed the man, who got up and walked. Yet, I suspect he was most deeply touched by the fantastic news that he was clean before God, forgiven.

Through history people consoled themselves with the truth that spiritual benefits were coming, after they endured this life. African natives who had found faith by Dr Livingstone’s preaching were among those captured by slave traders and shipped to America. They had no hope of rescue or return to their villages and homeland. So they found strength reminding themselves of eternal salvation in heaven, waiting for them when the ordeal of this life was over.

Negro spirituals celebrate crossing the Jordan, symbolic of leaving this life for heaven, and being caught up in Elijah’s heavenly chariot to “carry me home”.

As Christians, with God on our side and with eternity as our reward, we can endure all manner of challenges, knowing God is at work within us, and that God will bring good out of everything, and also that the issues of life will soon be forgotten as we celebrate being Sons of God in heaven for eternity.

Another time Jesus said “Cheer Up” was when He came to His disciples in the dead of night, walking on the water. They saw a figure coming toward them in the gloom, and were terrified.

“They all saw him, and were troubled. Immediately he talked with them, and said to them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.” Mark 6:50

Here they were facing something outside their experience, filled with uncertainty and fear. Those who sailed the Sea of Galilee all their life had never seen such a thing. They had every right to be anxious and troubled.

So, what was it that cheered them up? It was the realisation Jesus was with them, and that the strange thing was the work of God, not some ghost or demon.

It is wonderfully cheering to discover that in all the bizarre and troubling things of life, God is right with us, and He is working through these moments, whether it’s a shipwreck or trials in our marriage. We might be taken way out of our comfort zone, or feel like we are facing death, but to realise this is God at work, and God is right at hand for us, we can have great comfort and cheer.

So friends, in all those disturbing and challenging situations you face right now, recognise that God has promised to be with you, and never to abandon you. God is at work and can work good out of all things. God is delivering you spiritual blessings that surpass all the trials of this life, but He also offers you His protection and angelic help in life’s situations.

Take stock of that and choose to settle your heart in faith in God, and Cheer Up!

The Bible promotes the idea of people working together, since that multiplies their effectiveness. So the ideas of community and partnership are well supported in the Bible.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if one falls his companion can lift him up. But pity the one who falls without another to help him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9,10

“Five of you will chase an hundred, and an hundred of you will put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.” Leviticus 26:8

Yesterday I caught a sweet thought about having God On Your Side that I’d like to encourage you with.

While having others around to support us is a wonderful benefit, and our cumulative efforts multiply our effectiveness, yet there is another dimension of partnership that I find quite delightful.

A missionary friend, Geoff Holland, bravely went into troubled parts of Africa to encourage the Christians. He faced many dangerous situations and had amazing experiences.

One day his vehicle broke down in Africa on a remote dusty road, on his way to speak at a meeting. His driver went to a nearby village and found that parts would take many hours to get to them. Geoff committed the situation to God.

Soon after clouds of dust appeared as a cavalcade of cars approached. Geoff stood out among those standing on the side of road, as the only white man. Suddenly the cars slowed and stopped, a door opened and Geoff was invited into the main vehicle. He found himself sitting opposite the President of the country. It seems they assumed Geoff was with the UN, or something similar and gave him the courtesy of a lift to the next city. No one else spoke English, so the two men travelled in silence, the President working on his documents and Geoff preparing his preaching messages. The car passed effortlessly through check-points and congestion.

Geoff was dropped in the next city and found the conference on time. For those few hours of travel with the President, Geoff was in a sort of partnership with him. 

Geoff, who should have been stuck on a dusty road, waiting in the heat for car parts, was given prestige treatment with the most important man in the country.

So that’s a benefit of partnership not readily recognised. Consider the person being given a tour of a factory by the Manager. That person has no right to even be in the building, but in that temporary partnership with the Boss he can go to places other employees aren’t even allowed to go.

Consider someone trying to get into a building where the security detail won’t let them in. If a senior executive were to meet them and escort them into the building, that partnership would open doors otherwise closed to them.

I recall a man telling me about how he got to watch a big game. Tickets were sold-out and there was no way for him to get into the game. However, he found a catering company that would employ him in one of the business lounges overlooking the ground. By that ‘partnership’ he not only got into the game, he watched it from a prime vantage point.

If we partner with one with greater standing and authority than us we benefit from being in their wake. 

We get to go where they can go and engage with things they are invited to.

In a sense junior employees of a company are in partnership with the business. When they go somewhere on company business the company name and reputation allows them to be treated with respect and privilege. They are not acting on their own account, but as a ‘partner’ of the business and its dealings.

You might be the junior partner, or even a humble assistant, but you are part of their entourage and that opens doors for you that you would otherwise never get through.

So, with that picture in mind, consider what might happen for you if you are in a divine partnership with God On Your Side. Imagine being in God’s entourage, able to go where He can go and do what He can do. Imagine the doors that would open to you if you were acting as God’s associate.

What’s more, you would have the resources of God to back you up. We see that several times in the Bible when God fights with or for God’s people.

“One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised.” Joshua 23:10

Moses, an eighty year old shepherd from the middle of nowhere, could step into the throne room of Pharaoh and demand things, because Moses was in partnership with God and had God on his side.

Prophets could speak to kings, nations, rulers and powerful people, not based on their own authority, but as those who spoke on God’s behalf – in partnership with God.

On your own account you have no significant authority on the earth or against the spirit realm. But as God’s child, in partnership with God, and as an ambassador for Jesus and the Gospel, you have great authority. You can rebuke the devil and have him flee from you.

“Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Partnering with God, Elisha knew what the Syrian king talked about in secret.

“The king of Syria was enraged and called his servants, asking, Show me which one of us works for the king of Israel? A servant replied, None, my lord O king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedchamber.” 2Kings 6:12

As God’s children we are all in a very special partnership with God, as God’s sons. We are in partnership with Christ, as His brothers, and we are in partnership with the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit lives within us. So God is on our side.

We have eternal truth in God’s Word, eternal salvation through Christ’s blood, God’s unlimited wisdom and power through the Holy Spirit, divine authority on the earth through God’s calling on our lives and many instructions about how to reign in life and do the work of God’s Kingdom.

There is no limit to what you can become, what you can do or what you can achieve as you live out your privileged life, teamed up with God. So, my friends, may you be blessed and encouraged as you stop and consider who you are and what you can do because God Is On Your Side.