Precious Gift of Faith

 My thoughts have been taken up recently by studied in Peter's 2nd letter, chapter 1. 

It's around 65AD, he's in prison and facing execution for his faith, but still he writes to the Hebrew believers (Paul's mission was to the Gentiles, Peter's more to the Hebrews) about the precious faith given to us as Christians when we come to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. 

Precious faith - a gift from God. 

If something is precious we nurture it, care for it, don't let it out of our sight, protect it. 

Peter talks about how to do this. He instruct us to make every effort to add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love - suggesting we add them in a cumulative way, starting with goodness and working through until we get to love.

This all suggests that we can't rely on Agape love (God's sort of love) being a feeling. We can't sit around until we feel like doing the right thing. We can't treat others according to whether or no we like them. We can't expect to know about God unless we study His Word. 

Why do we do this? Is there any help or do we sink or swim by our own efforts?

We read in this chapter that:

Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. As a result of this, he has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises you can experience partnership with the divine nature, by which you have escaped the corrupt desires that are of the world.

But we still must make the effort as Peter says' "Because of all this make every effort..........."

We have a precious faith given to us freely by our incredible, awesome God. Let us not waste it. 

I close with the blessing:

May grace and perfect peace cascade over you as you live in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 

When you come

 

When you visit Lord, what will it be like?

When you descend like a flood, will I drown?

When you blow like the wind will I be swept away? 

Where is the pattern for what I should do, how I should be?

There is no TV documentary

   No TV soap

      No comic strip

          No one I know

              To tell me what to do, how to be. 

My life is full of learned behaviours.

Which do I choose when the Lord Almighty visits?

If I choose wrongly will he pass by?

Surely not - he’s bigger than that, more holy………… 

So, how will I be afterwards?

Knowing that this shouldn’t matter doesn’t answer the question or quiet my heart. 

So what happens now? 

Do I pray that that you will come? 

When you come all the lies will be revealed ......and I don’t know how much of me is made up of lies.

                          But I don’t want to miss you

I yearn for you 

I long for you........... when I remember you and give you the time… 

But how does one stand in awe? How does that happen? 

Where does wanting to bow down, lie down, kneel down stop being something that I choose to do and start being something that you make me do? 

How much of my reaction will be driven by the human spirit and how much by you?

 I know that when you come your nature will be revealed and,  if the greatest thing is love and love is who you are, then love will prevail when you come. 

You are the light and light dispels darkness – so the enemy might put up a fight but will not prevail when you come. 

You are pure and healing power surrounds you – the sick will be healed when you come. 

You created the laws of nature and you are in control of them - you can change things with a mere thought and cause the miraculous to happen when you come. 

But I hear of the counterfeit… the unholy… the human emotions… things that are not bowed down to you but, instead, are defying your presence. 

I worry that I will be in that crowd and not, genuinely in you. 

So, how should I pray?

          Do I want you or not?

                   Do I need you or not? 

My heart cries out ………………

 

 YES LORD COME QUICKLY

 

 

Worship

 

Worship

Worship is what we do because of who we are, wherever we are....... how do we do it?

It comes from deep down, from the depths of our being.

It’s not something we can study, can’t learn the technique. 

It’s the required response of the redeemed to the redeemer.

It’s the pull of the heart towards the healer.

It’s a raise of the hands towards the risen Lord, it’s the bow of the head and the bend of the knee to our Creator and Sustainer.

It’s the recognition of the One who flung stars into the space He created, and to the one who lit the sun.

It’s stopping to wonder at the intricacies and at the infinite expanses of creation.

It’s bowing before Him

It’s running to Him

It’s dancing with Him

It’s singing to Him

It’s sitting with Him

It’s saying here I am, all of me, I’ve always been yours from the instant you first thought of my design.

It’s being with the One who has always wanted to be with me.

It’s coming home to the One who made it possible. 

Jesus

Be Bold, Pray Bold

 

Acts 4:23-31

The Church Prays

As soon as they were released from custody, Peter and John went to the other believers and explained all that had happened with the high priest and the elders. When the believers heard their report, they raised their voices in unity and prayed, “Lord Yahweh, you are the Lord of all! You created the universe—the earth, the sky, the sea, and everything that is in them. And you spoke by the Holy Spirit through your servant David, our forefather, saying:

‘How dare the nations plan a rebellion,

    ranting and raging against the Lord Most High?

    Their foolish plots are futile!

 Look at how the kings of the earth take their stand,

    with the rulers scheming and conspiring together

    against God and his anointed Messiah!’

“In fact, Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with Jews and non-Jews, met together to take their stand against your holy servant, Jesus the Messiah. They did to him all that your purpose and will had determined, according to the destiny you had marked out for him. So now, Lord, listen to their threats to harm us. Empower us, as your servants, to speak the word of God freely and courageously. Stretch out your hand of power through us to heal, and to move in signs and wonders by the name of your holy Son, Jesus!”

At that moment the earth shook beneath them, causing the building they were in to tremble. Each one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit, and they proclaimed the word of God with unrestrained boldness.

I have just listened to a sermon on this, delivered by Alastair Begg, found on the Truth for Life app (which I highly recommend if you prefer a voice from the UK rather than the US). 

It occurs to me that often we pray for protection, freedom from persecution, comfort, basically a nice life! Is that why the church has become soft in so many ways? If we take the example of these early disciples who had just been released from prison, we should be praying for more boldness to preach the word of God - and hang the consequences!

I have to challenge myself to repeat their prayer, and encourage you to do the same:

"Empower us, as your servants, to speak the word of God freely and courageously. Stretch out your hand of power through us to heal, and to move in signs and wonders by the name of your holy Son, Jesus!”

Then can we expect the room to shake as the Holy Spirit at last has the freedom to fill us and work with us to proclaim the word of God with unrestrained boldness?  

I am a child of God!!!

 NO LONGER A SLAVE, I AM A CHILD OF GOD

My daily devotional asked the question, "Who are you?"

The answer might seem simple at first thought but many of our responses only describe what we do, not who we are. So we might be so-and-so's wife/husband/child/parent; we might say our profession; we might even say what racial-type or skin-colour we are, or we might say what we're good at such as building, baking, mending, singing, writing etc, etc, etc . If we're a christian, we might even say proudly declare "I am a child of God". But even this has it's problems (stick with me on this one).

What does it mean to be a child of God? 

Paul describes it well in Ephesians 1- see it here from the Passion Translation

May God himself, the heavenly Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, release grace over you and impart total well-being into your lives. 

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!  And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.

 For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace —for the same love he has for his Beloved One, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure!

Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of his grace. This superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing within us all forms of wisdom and practical understanding. And through the revelation of the Anointed One, he unveiled his secret desires to us—the hidden mystery of his long-range plan, which he was delighted to implement from the very beginning of time. And because of God’s unfailing purpose, this detailed plan will reign supreme through every period of time until the fulfillment of all the ages finally reaches its climax—when God makes all things new in all of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ.

Doesn't that just make you tingle all over?

Since before time began God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) decided that He wanted me/you to be His beloved child and put into place an eternal plan to make it happen so that we can be together for all eternity. 

But out of love He gives us the choice. Can you believe that? He loves us individually so much that He doesn't force us to choose Him! 

All I can say is "Father, I choose you and thank you Jesus that you made this possible, and thank you Holy Spirit for drawing me close and sticking by me despite all my failings. I can hardly wait to meet you in person".

In closing, if you've not yet caught the excitement, try listening to this song - it might not be your normal choice of musical style (it gets a bit shouty), but it's worth a listen. 

No longer Slaves - Bethel

Every blessing