In Their Image: Prayer

Prayer Today, Prayer Always

Jesus prayed a lot. His desire to do Our Father's will is stated time and again in Scripture. Trish and I were very blessed when we met Jesus; the people who introduced us to Him were all praying people, indeed the first places they took us, even before we became believing Christians or were born again, were prayer meetings.

Now I'm finding prayer to be a great refuge; prayer often seems to be the only sensible or practical thing for me to do, really, after trying everything else .. "Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns" (Philippians 4:6 Message¹).

Until a few months ago I was politically active (because I believe that our lovely Jesus is vitally interested in all the affairs of all humankind and all the nations); I served as a volunteer for two politicians; one governing in our Western Australian Parliament (who, after doing great work, sadly lost his seat in the last State election) and one a junior Cabinet Minister in our Federal Parliament.

But. And it's a big "but". So many things now happening here and abroad seem to be beyond rational discussion, beyond the framework of democracy and fair dealing, and beyond the moral and cultural values which for more than 200 years have formed the very fabric of our nation and our world, (though some people often speak as though nothing has changed).

Our customary response of talking or writing to politicians to help them clarify their thinking, (and keep our Governments in line with the policies which gave them their electoral mandate), no longer make any real difference. 

Today our media seem to have much more influence and almost exclusively show the case for their favourite minority opinions which are clothed in the un-truths of political correctness and self-titled "progressive" ideology. "The spirit of this world" (1 Corinthians 2:12; Ephesians 2:2) is having a profound impact in our time.

So, prayer. Prayer is now becoming my favoured "political" activity.

I've been to a number of prayer schools in recent years; they have proven to be a treasure of understanding about God's nature and character, His plans and purposes, and about how the entire cosmos works and where humankind fits in. I found the schools to be a fabulous source of testimonies of God's care for the World, and His love and faithfulness towards all humankind.

While pondering all this I keep coming back to the Creation. Comedians often talk about "why are we here?" Even Stephen Hawking, (a famous atheist), asks similar questions and freely admits that science gives no answers (though he does "appreciate" the "grand design" of the universe). I'm asking the same kinds of thing from the perspective of a committed Christian.

As I read about the Universe in the Bible, I see God displaying great joy and satisfaction with it. It's like when we need something and figure we can make it our self; we think about it and plan, then design, and finally build. Sometimes our end results are really quite good, and when this happens with my projects I'm tickled pink; I see the results as "very good". I think I got this from Jesus, because I'm in His image and likeness!

The final element of the Creation was the people, Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26-27). This creative act lifted the whole work from being "good", to "very good" (Genesis 1:31), surely an exciting and satisfying moment in history.

Our Creator God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, must have been very sure to have added people to what had been just their perfect and loving triune relationship. Before the Creation there was nothing else, only God existed. After the Universe was spoken into being, we were created, in God's own image and likeness, as spiritual and physical beings who are also creative and have free will; it is these attributes which enable us to either follow God or cause trouble! Because we are made so similar to God it is clear that He loves and cares for us very much! “God is love" (1 John 4:8,16).

Question; if the people of this world (with our free will) are going to spiral further and further into mean-ness, division and violence until utter devastation, then why, O why, did our loving and creative God establish everything so beautifully and so symbiotically all those centuries ago? Well, God has a plan and is, in His mysterious way (Romans 11:33), working it out with the help of His participating people, despite the wilfulness of humanity. Prayer is part of this.

Our History

The Creation account in the Bible gives a true picture of how everything came into being. We get to the sixth day and find that human beings were the final element and were not simply spoken into existence (like everything else), but "made in the image and likeness" of Elohim; Father God, His eternal Son, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. We are the crown of the Creation.

God's intention was clear; He wanted humankind to be added to His family as His children, and to be a glorious bride for His Son Jesus, and to rule over and to manage and steward the entire physical world; He gave "dominion over all the earth and .. over every creeping thing" He also commanded: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over .. every living thing that moves on the earth and in the heavens" (Genesis 1:26-28).

We call these first two people Adam and Eve (Adam is Hebrew for "man", and Eve "would become the mother of all the living" (Genesis 3:20)). They will have had an awesome life as they were fully included in God's family and living in an abundant and lovely place with unlimited resources and a fulfilling and assured future.

This was the planned role of humankind, to have dominion and to care for the universe. But then came the Fall when Adam and Eve desired to "be like God and know good and evil" (Genesis 3:5) and chose to eat of the forbidden fruit. Humankind immediately lost its "glory and majesty". Adam and Eve had given their "rule and authority" to the serpent, to Satan, who immediately became "the prince of this world" (John 14:30). Sin had entered the world, and sin separates humankind from God (John 15:6)

Jesus Came To Redeem Us

Centuries passed. God made Himself known to people and covenants were established, He chose Israel to be His people. But sin remained in the world.

Then our loving Abba Father sent His Son Jesus to rescue us. It is so good that God gave us four Gospels in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We can read and study the accounts of Jesus' life and works and the events of those days, the years that Jesus lived as a human baby, boy and man (Luke 1:1-4).

"You know that [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5).

"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

When Jesus was crucified on the Cross at Calvary, He, the only sinless person (Hebrews 4:15), paid the price for all our sin. All! Sin and death were defeated, as was Satan. Every Christian can now live in the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:22; 5:17), for eternity (Romans 5:21). Hallelujah!

"And you [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins  in which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God]" (Ephesians 2:1-2 Amplified).

When Jesus returns to the earth our present era, (of victory, but also sin and trouble), will end. Already Satan is defeated; Jesus took back the rule and authority the first Adam had given away (1 Corinthians 15:45, Matthew 28:18, John 10:18, Ephesians 1:18-23). He then gave it to us, His disciples through the ages: [Jesus] replied "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you" (Luke 10:18-19).

Now Jesus is seated next to Father God in heaven where He intercedes (Mark 14:62) for every one of the 7½  billion people on the earth!

Intercession

To "intercede" is to stand in the gap for someone or for a situation, to mediate, to represent. Jesus constantly intercedes between each one of us and God (1 Timothy  2:5).

Each Christian has been accepted as a child in God's family (John 1:12, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:19, Romans 8:21). We are given Jesus' righteousness (Romans 10:4) and have direct access into God's throne room (Ephesians 2:6). Jesus is no longer here on earth to do His work for the Father, so He asks us to pray for people and situations on earth so that His redeeming work of 2000 years ago can be applied to those people and situations today (John 14:12, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). He asks that we be His hands and voice and feet as we participate in His work: 

"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

This is why prayer is so precious and so satisfying. It unleashes what Jesus has already accomplished!

"Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest" (Hebrews 3:1).

John Wesley said: "God does nothing on the earth save in answer to believing prayer". 

What Does The Bible Say?

I'm not sure I've ever studied prayer as a whole-Bible¹ subject before; it's really exciting as I see afresh the scope and depth of our Lord's desire for us to pray, and the level of participation He desires from us in the care of all 7½ billion of us now living on planet Earth, and the nations and the natural environment.

My study showed a great many verses from across the whole history of the Bible times, many biblical authors, and all the activities of humankind. Here are a few that I find particularly insightful and inspirational:

Prayer Makes God's Power, Wisdom And Healing Available Everywhere:-

"Our God is near us whenever we pray to him" (Deuteronomy 4:7).

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

[Job to the Lord] "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted" .. [The Lord to Job's friends] "My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly .." (Job 42:2,8).

"You who answer prayer, to you all people will come" (Psalm 65:2).

"In [Jesus] and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence" (Ephesians 3:12).

The Spiritual World Has Precedence Over The Physical:-

"For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,  [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ [the Messiah]" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Amplified).

"Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:11-12).

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26).

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV).

We Are To Emulate Jesus Who Prayed Often:-

"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,  your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven .. '" (Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus' words).

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44, Jesus' words).

"At that time Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children'" (Matthew 11:25).

"Jesus went up on the mountain by Himself to pray" (Matthew 14:23).

"Then Jesus said 'Sit here while I go over there and pray'" (Matthew 26:36).

"Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing'" (Luke 23:34).

"So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me'" (John 11:41).

"Jesus .. looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you'" (John 17:1).

"Jesus said, 'My kingdom is .. from another place'" (John 18:36).

(We are now citizens of Heaven! (Philippians 3:20)).

It Is God's Will That We Pray:-

"As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you .. " (1 Samuel 12:23).

"His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 3:10).

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Jesus asks Us To Pray As Participation In His Life On The Earth:-

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans 12:11-14).

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Prayer Is A Primary Weapon In The War Against The Spirit Of This World:-

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44, Jesus' words).

"What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us" (1 Corinthians 2:12).

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Prayer Is Integral To Our New Life In Jesus:-

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people" (Ephesians 6:18).

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2).

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns" (Philippians 4:6 Message).

"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all" (1 Timothy 2:1).

Prayer Awakens Spiritual Awareness In Those Prayed For:-

"You who answer prayer, to you all people will come" (Psalm 65:2).

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world .. I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:6,23).

"They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man [Jesus] really is the Saviour of the world'" (John 4:42).

Happily, I'm again full of hope. It's good to know that our identity is in Jesus, and that He and Abba Father are constantly working (John 5:17), they have a goal. We are all inexorably moving towards the glory shown on the last page of the Bible:

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon'. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen" (Revelation 22:20-21).

We don't know how long this will take. Right now it looks as though it will be a long time, but nobody forecast the very sudden fall of the Berlin Wall or the, also sudden, break-up of the Soviet Union, or, more recently, the murderous aggression of Islam against the whole world. Christian history shows that the first two of these events were preceded and precipitated by much prayer by united and obedient Christian believers. So our God gives us hope for all the current world threats and problems:

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

"Faith and love spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel" (Colossians 1:5).

"Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love" (2 John 1:3).

Bless us all. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.

Footnote 1- Bible Translations

We have many Bibles in our house including:

New International Version (which I use most often)

New American Standard Version (which Trish uses most often)

Amplified Bible

New English Bible

English Standard Version - a free copy is on my phone

Good News Bible

The Message Paraphrase

King James Version

J B Phillips New Testament (mine is a signed Revised Edition 1972!)

I also refer to a recent edition of the Nestle Greek language bible which uses the Greek from the Ancient Near East (rather than modern Greece), and a number of great student’s tools to help me wrestle with passages in this original New Testament language that I’m really chewing hard on.

I’ve found that every English Bible version contains errors, so (I hope) I am always ready to be corrected in my understanding. Some things which I’ve heard in dozens of sermons over the past 30+ years are just not in the Bible! At Bible college we were taught to ask: “What does the text say? What does the whole of the Bible say? What would readers and listeners make of this text in Bible times?”

There are also a myriad of other teachings and teaching aids available, many of which are freely available on the Internet. I try to always read these in the light of Scripture.

The Bible is the living Word of God (1 Peter 1:23), and the Word is Jesus (John 1:1-5), so we can faithfully expect Him to speak directly to us from His written word. This is the prophetic working in us, and is to be expected and encouraged (1 Corinthians 14:1,3).

Bless you. Amen.

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Praise Jesus.

Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus and The Kingdom of Heaven

"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Jesus spoke these words, in teachings called the Beatitudes, as He taught His disciples how to pray to Father God (Matthew Chapters 5,6,7). God's Kingdom was often spoken of by Jesus, more than 70 times in the Bible. He called it both "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Kingdom of God". The first mention was by John the Baptist when he was proclaiming that Jesus was coming:  "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1:15). I've always understood the words "at hand" to mean that if you can put your hand on it then it is actually here. Truly good news!

It was Jesus Himself announcing the Kingdom that caught my attention; Him being here on Earth is what brought the Kingdom to us. Since I learned about being "born again" (John 3:3), this has always been associated, to me, with the Kingdom of Heaven, (John 3:3), and with the knowledge that that was the moment when Jesus came into my heart, by His Holy Spirit, and began to dwell with me. We are told that we are "new creations" (2 Corinthians 5:17), "citizens of Heaven" (Philippians 3:20), and no longer "of this world" (Colossians 2:20, Romans 12:2).

The intimacy of this relationship is exciting. No other faith or religion has a god who is in intimate relationship with his (or her) people. Most gods are very distant and untouchable (and often angry), and many demand much sacrifice and absolute obedience to their defined religious practice. The rock and roll group Abba sang: "The gods may throw a dice, their hearts as cold as ice" (Abba: Winner Takes It All); I feel that many regard all gods like this.

But Christianity is not like that at all; it is intimately relational and voluntary, we are brought into God's family as sons and daughters; God becomes our Abba Daddy, and Jesus becomes our brother! We all behave differently with our natural family than we do with even the best of our friends; God wants us to be like that with Him. Most Christian practice is required by the different denominations or local church congregations, and these rules are not supported by the New Testament. Religion offended Jesus (Matthew 23, Luke 3:7). Christians have been set free so they can be free (Galatians 5:1)!

In Jesus

The many "in Jesus" and "in Christ" scriptures have long been a huge help to me; they show that we're included in Jesus' Kingdom and His life. I try to work hard at being a good person but know that I only partly succeed. It was once prophesied over me that I "march to the beat of a different drum", I don't fit in very well and won't accept what I feel is not right. And I've always been upset by injustice (and there is always a lot of that about). But knowing that Jesus lives in me helps enormously; He is such a lovely person and a wonderful brother!

Here are some of the "in Jesus" scriptures I've come to love:

"In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me" (John 15:4).

"My prayer is .. that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me" (John 17:20-21).

"I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me" (John 17:23).

" .. you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)

" .. For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people" (2 Corinthians 6:16).

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession " (Ephesians 1:13-14).

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.  For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:6,10).

"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

As Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven He often spoke in parables. He told stories beginning “the kingdom of heaven is like .. ". Invariably the stories revealed fairness, truth, freshness, justice and consistency. There are not fads there or trends which change over the years. Heaven is ruled by the same Triune God who created our amazing bodies and families and ecosystem and universe. Many times Jesus tells His hearers that the Kingdom of Heaven is near; also that "the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3) and "those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake" (Matthew 5:10), and those who are "born again" (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23) already belong there, it's our spiritual home!

There have been times when Jesus in me, or in Trish, has been just so apparent. Things will happen and words will be spoken which, in the natural world, would not happen or not be said. People who were woodenly against God's intervention in their lives will suddenly relax and see a whole new world-view; this does not happen by the force of our personality or by the wisdom of our words, we know that it is supernatural, spiritual. John 7:38 says: "out of [our] belly shall flow rivers of living water", the living water comes from the life of Jesus within us. We are operating beyond the physical or the "spirit of this world" (1 John 5:4) and in line with our new citizenship with Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven (Ephesians 2:19, Philippians 3:20).

One time, when I was on a mission trip to India, our team visited a remote village. We had been warned to be very careful as many of the men of this village were devout Hindus and may respond to our presence with violence (in India there have been many attacks against Christians in recent years, even Western visitors). Well, we had to walk past a number of these men several times, they were in an open air temple right by the road. 

They knew who we were. I could see them looking at me as I passed and saw respect in their faces. In their culture they were highly regarded as men of god. I saw that they were looking at me, also a man of God, though not of one of the many Hindu gods, but of the God Jesus, who is often seen in India as a God of love and of healing. Christ in me could be seen by these spiritually aware men. Instead of a kingdom clash there was an acceptance of Jesus, King of Kings, and His Kingdom, and of me, Jesus' ambassador (Ephesians 6:19-20). I felt perfectly safe there; we saw miracles of healing.

Our Destiny

It is really lovely to know that our destiny includes eternity in Heaven. If you are a born again Christian and are asked: "if you die tonight while you sleep, will you go to heaven?" you can confidently answer "yes"! We live in a certain hope because of Jesus' life and work.

Today you may have many troubles. I am horrified when I think of the Christians in those places where ISIS is causing such devastation .. (Who gives them all their guns and bullets? Can't their supplies at least be cut, captured or stopped?) These Christians are people of the promise (Ephesians 2:12-16), just like us, yet their lives right now are perilous and painful. We may say "God is good" when we are comfortable and safe, they can only say it by faith. It is so inspiring to hear or read testimonies of those who have been in dire circumstances; Jesus is very present to those whose faith is in Him when trouble is near.

In our family there are a number of problems which Trish and I do not know how to solve. We only know to pray for revelation or a way forward and to persevere in Jesus by His Spirit (1 Timothy 4:16, Hebrews 10:36). We know that we are Kingdom citizens.

I've heard so many testimonies of people in very difficult circumstances who have said that knowing that they belonged to Jesus, and that somehow he was "at bat" for them and "watching their back", made all the difference between total despair and being able to press on despite everything. Trish and I have talked about this and we feel the same way. Every day there are moments or events which bring God's peace to our hearts, which fill us with the certainty that Jesus is still ruling and reigning in the world.

Besides, we've read the last page of the Bible, and know the ultimate outcome, it is glorious and we're already part of it!

"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come'! And let the one who hears say, 'Come'! Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17).

"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen" (Revelation 22:21).

Yes. Amen! Praise you Jesus!

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Amen.

Kingdom of Heaven: History

A Different Kind Of Post

This is different from my other PsalmsOfJohn.com posts in that it’s more an opinion piece about the world and its history in my 73 year lifetime, than it is about Jesus and how blessed all Christians are to be included with Him in His Kingdom.

I was inspired to write about The Kingdom of Heaven, then felt very strongly to write this too as a companion piece. I am a volunteer for two conservative politicians, members of our State and Federal Parliaments; my positions on many matters are carefully thought out and represent me as a septuagenarian husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather and Christian. But.

Trish, my lovely wife of 35 years, says that when I start talking current affairs and world history I just rattle on with all my pet stuff. So, if you don't like history, or if you disagree with my approach or my conclusions, or if you find it all boring, then please 'click' onto something else .. you are very welcome to not read it. I don't really want to seem controversial or boring ..

I find it painful to watch the news (because I feel that not much of it has value as news, and that much of what is presented is terribly biased). I see the world we live in as being in a mess with most in authority focusing on side issues:

§    The wealth of the world is being concentrated into a tiny minority (between 1% and 8% of the world's people (depending how you count it), and this is quickly growing worse. Democracy is supposed to work in the opposite direction!

§    Middle class people almost everywhere are losing their economic stability and position; their ability to buy houses, educate their children, have adequate health care and retire comfortably. Most of the unions which used to protect the workers have had their teeth pulled and are largely ineffective, those remaining strong tend to lean far to the left and cause damage to their societies.

§    Criminals, particularly in the drugs, arms-dealing and slavery industries, seem to have almost total immunity from detection and prosecution.

§    The finance industry is still being run by the same group of known criminals who caused the Financial Crisis of 2008, when millions and millions of people lost 25% or more of their pension funds and worse. These executives and administrators are supported from the highest levels of their governments. They make millions, even billions, while ordinary people are no longer able to reliably save for retirement. We are warned that similar crashes are now likely to occur from time-to-time.

§    Terrorism is increasing throughout the world despite big efforts by western nations, where previously-impossible-to-imagine reductions in civil liberties are being implemented.

§    There are now millions and millions of refugees (many of whom are really economic migrants), mostly from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Many are fleeing through countries where they could find refuge, to totally different cultures in Europe and the West, that most plan never to assimilate into, and where they know there is generosity of heart and lots of money. Until recently, people immigrating to a new country willingly became culturally aligned with it (without losing their unique ethnic flavour). Often now the immigrants want to re-make the society they've moved to, to be like where they're from.

§    We see potential destruction of the traditional family with a father, mother and children; these social changes are coming to more and more countries and are always accompanied with losses of freedom-of-speech and freedom-of-religion (despite promises to the contrary).

§    World-wide, there are continuing increases In Anti-Semitism and Anti-Christian rhetoric, persecution and violence, these events are rarely reported, and the perpetrators almost never prosecuted.

§    Widespread and pervasive political correctness seems to dominate the media (and they have the microphones, cameras and printing presses!) where lies are spoken as truth and those who disagree are ridiculed, excluded from debate and, increasingly, are being criminalised. Now is a time where people are sent to jail for having a belief, or speaking objective truth; it's like Soviet Russia and East Germany in the 1950s and 60s! And it's here in our lovely Western, erstwhile Christian countries. This is utterly anti-God-of-the-Bible!

Note:

As I was working on this piece our Prime Minister was deposed and replaced by one of his senior ministers. It was a knife-in-the-back takeover, which even some journalists regard as disgraceful. This happened in a conservative Australian Government! I feel completely gutted and am still unsure about how I should respond.

You can see why Trish gets tired of my talking about this. It's all so depressing. She's been hearing me for years as my understanding becomes clearer. But praise Jesus who has already come to save us, and to bring healing, joy and fullness to our lives! He’s the author and finisher of our faith, the source of our certain hope in the future.

Me As A Child

When I was at school we did lots of British history, and Commonwealth history too because we are in the British Commonwealth. I quickly learned that kings and lords, dukes, barons, earls and squires had almost limitless authority and were tough, hard men; many had gained their lands and position by violence or craftiness, or their father or grandfather did. They spent most of the year in their fiefdom looking after their properties and fortunes with no-one looking over their shoulder. They could tell the parents of a young person that their child must come and work here or there; or that they must marry such and such a person, regardless of the young person's feelings. At will they could order young men into their military forces. Tough, hard men; willful, greedy.

My early church memories were coloured by these history lessons; all the scriptures which talk of "King" and "Lord" reminded me of English kings and lords .. tough, hard men. It took a while and a few miracles and deep expressions of love from Christian people before I could see that Jesus' Kingdom is radically different from all the others!

Heroes In Battle

Another thing. My Dad was a war hero in World War II. He and two of his brothers went off to fight. My Dad was a navigator on bombers, so he guided his pilot to the place to be bombed and he pulled the bomb release trigger (we have one of these amongst his treasures). After many bomb runs his airplane came down in France. The crew were all captured by the Germans and were being sent off to POW camp when he saw an opportunity and escaped, running flat out through the local French crowd. The French Underground helped him get back to England; it took many months, he had to learn the language fluently and fit in where-ever he was. Dad observed some German installations which he ultimately reported to the Allied Command; this proved to be very valuable for the planning of the invasion of France and saved many, many lives. Dad was given an MBE medal by King George, a very high honour.

When I would compare this with Jesus' trial and execution, I could see that His Father God had made a big sacrifice; but my grandfather did too, he could have lost three sons! It took me years to see the big difference between Dad's and Grandpop's sacrifice and Jesus'.

Hope Crushed

When John Kennedy was President of the USA he brought fresh and massive hope to the world, especially among my (then) younger generation. His assassination was like a huge sand-bag falling on all our heads. What is now known as a cover-up over his death was strongly suspected then and we felt a devastating loss of confidence in the world leaders who were left, who let this happen, and who had previously presided over so many terrible world events. We believed that JFK was going to get the world moving forward in a more fair and honest way.

History today may look on those Kennedy years with a jaundiced eye, (we now know things which we did not know then, and today's morality is much different). Our perceived reality was that the two big world wars and the Great Depression were over and the countries most affected by the second conflict were recovering well, even booming. Science, which was learned during the wars, was being applied in industry with many new materials and products. Economic theories in vogue in Western governments (really, the opposite of today’s supply-side economics and globalisation), were aiding the expansion of those countries and their middle classes. Free or affordable education was available to virtually everybody, and there were heaps of jobs. Young people could persue the career of their choice, (where now, many kids seem to study what is most available to them, then take whatever job they can get); I see vastly less job satisfaction among workers today, and greater burnout and unemployment.

Character

Just a couple of generations ago, character in a person was regarded as one of his or her greatest assets. When you applied for a job or a University place you would get a character reference from the most important person you knew; this made a real difference in your application.

When leaders proved to be of weak or of poor character, (mostly by taking what was not theirs, or lying, or cheating, or taking bribes, or by sexual misbehaviour), they would resign from their position, embarrassed; they were recognised as having failed because they showed poor character, that they could not live to a high standard.  

Now people say, "O that's my private life, it has nothing to do with my work". Not true. We are now largely governed and managed by people who believe that greed is good, and power at any cost is good; an iPad in one hand and a dagger in the other! Morality in business and government has fallen low, (and in sport too).

Times Of Change

My parents' generation did things differently than their parents, and were thought to be quite radical. But my wartime-babies-generation picked up and flew with so many new ideas; these were largely fueled by the concepts of teen-agers being a separate socio-economic group, and the arrival of the birth control pill. The (fast-growing) advertising industry discovered that teens and young adults had their own tastes and spending power; this opened up huge new markets which were dictated by ever-changing fashions and trends. The introduction of the birth control pill (which was probably intended for married women), meant that suddenly there was unprecedented sexual freedom for singles. All this was world changing for us, in every way.

Earthly Kingdoms

Our earthly kingdoms looked pretty good in those times of rising affluence, education and social freedom. The Church meantime was bogged down with middle- and upper-class (often hypocritical) expressions of morality and behaviour from two and three generations previously; its leadership presented a lifeless picture of church life, and they clearly disapproved of young people's freedom with money, with their clothes and fashions, with their music and dance, and especially with their sexuality!

We strongly felt this disapproval! My perception as a young person then, and now as an older Christian family man, is that the Church largely dropped the ball since the early 20th Century. Christians are to be salt and light in their communities; I did not learn this until the 1980s (Matthew 5:13-14).

From a solid and respected position of spiritual, social and moral leadership, (such as we see in the New Testament), the Church became an afterthought to national and world affairs; most Western people forgot that human beings are spiritual first, then body and soul.

Many scientists are also in such a place of denial about this, they do not recognise the spiritual world at all. For decades many, many denominations and independent Churches seem to have been inward-looking, just going their own way; this despite Jesus’ strong admonition for us to be in unity (John 17:23) and to look outwards.

And too, the failure of churches to deal with pedophilia and other sexual sins among their ministers and leaders is an ongoing international disgrace, today many people hold the church in disrepute, or regard us as totally irrelevant.

Today

Now the world seems to all want to follow in the lifestyles of entertainers, sports stars and celebrities; the media encourage this at every turn. Much of the church has followed the world and has become corporate, highly focused on money and success, with glossy presentations indistinguishable from media events and entirely led from the front, with a growing awe of celebrity.

At the same time governments now seem to limit their interest to finances, entertainment, sports, celebrities, and wars; but not much to us, the ordinary people, us folk.

Good News

Not withstanding all this bad news, Jesus’ church is growing, in some countries it’s growing very fast (particularly in Iran, China and some South American and African countries, despite heavy persecution). Here in Australia, I see many young Christians leading sincere and committed lives, quite out of step with their peers. Christian radio stations are booming, both in total audience and in number of broadcast points! Typical Sunday church attendance is much greater than all attendances at all the football codes on any weekend! Many ecumenical Christian groups and events are forging unity across cities and the world. There are many, many people seeking our God, Jesus, and finding him in His people, and following Him!

Hallelujah! Praise Jesus.

"[Jesus'] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with perseverance, and perseverance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:3-8).

Praise Jesus that He always brings hope. Amen

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Amen.

Grace Trumps Sin 70x7

Sin Is Just Lawlessness On A Personal Level

In our local church sin is still an OK subject for discussion. People recognise that sin is still a very present aspect of their life (Romans 7:14-25) and we are ever-so-grateful that day-by-day the sin is dealt with and that year-by-year there is less of it. Some people compare this to peeling an onion; you take off the outer skin and it's gone, but there is another layer there waiting to come off, and another after that ..

Seventy Times Seven

Fortunately with Jesus as our Saviour God, He will peel away more than “seventy times seven" layers of sin (Matthew 18:21-22), and be happy about it. His happiness comes from our repenting and this comes from our knowing that we're loved and accepted into the family of God, and this translates as faith. The sin comes from living in the world; from the "spirit of this world" (1 Corinthians 2:12, Ephesians 2:2).

A favourite Bible verse for me is Galatians 5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free .." I absolutely know this to be true for me.

Jesus wakens our spirit so we know to avail ourselves of the power and liberty of repentance and asking for forgiveness, this makes room for us to be free. A conference speaker once spent three days talking about his restoration from a terrible fall he had taken. He was a leader in one of the big world-renowned churches; whatever he did was so bad he had to resign from all his roles. The church was gracious enough to continue his salary and to work with him to re-establish himself as a Christian, a husband and a father. He learned to "keep short accounts with God"; to quickly respond to his conscience by repenting and seeking forgiveness when he found himself in any kind of lawlessness. He concluded that there is no trivial sin that we can just let slide because nobody cares about it. All sin is offensive to God and is in opposition to His rule and lordship. The fact that we're not an axe murderer and don't rob banks counts for nothing if we sin in another way, and we all do (Romans 3:23). This guy had a big impact on me, I've never forgotten his counsel: "keep short accounts with God"; I daily work towards living so.

Sin comes from Satan. He was one of God's great angels who chose to set himself above God and to subvert His rule. Satan mostly uses people as his instruments in the world, he even got the first humans, Adam and Eve, to persue his evil goals which brought about the great Fall. This caused separation of humankind from God; before that Adam and Eve were on intimate terms with Him, they worked with Him during the day and fellowshipped together in the evenings; I bet they called Him "Abba", as Jesus does. Sin brought a massive change: separation, guilt, shame, even death (Romans 6:23, Proverbs 10:16). Sin can only be paid for with blood (Ezekiel 3:18). Jesus gave His blood for me, for us all.

Here are some of the sins we see in the Bible, Jesus said: "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come - sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly" (Mark 7:21-22). 

Paul wrote about the godless: "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, coveting, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no loyalty, no love, no mercy" (Romans 1:29-31). 

I guess axe murders and bank robberies are included somewhere here with all the other mean-ness and wrong we are tempted to do (Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:23).

Some ways I see sin at work in the world are with globalisation of businesses where they are now more powerful than sovereign governments; they are rapacious in the marketplace and with their employees; they avoid paying their taxes, (though their advertising always shows them as "good neighbours" to all). 

Slavery too is now a profound evil and a vast international trade; there are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. Today slaves do not grow cotton and sugar, they are mostly used for sex (endless rape) and make their "owners" millions, probably billions.

But sin is close to home for all of us, like privilege where the rich and powerful, and their children, get the best jobs and the best education opportunities, and bullying where the strong pick on the weak (but only when they are sure they won't be caught).

Political correctness is everywhere in our societies, particularly in the media; lies are spoken as truth while truth is ridiculed and called a lie (Isaiah 59:14-16, Jeremiah 9:5). Words like "inclusion" and "tolerance" are used to cut people out and denigrate them as haters and beyond acceptance; these people are often then persecuted for their beliefs and that is the opposite of freedom of speech and tolerance. All this is sin, it all shows a lack of love, or even care or respect, for our neighbour. You probably have your own list of present day sins which is as sad as mine, and also seemingly impossible to combat, except in our-self!

It is important, as it always has been, that we live our lives in truth and justice (Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:23), and that we use our every influence to encourage our leaders to improve things at their level. Our silence is our consent to the wrong that we see in our communities!

Forgiveness

Forgiveness comes from Jesus. One of God's unchangeable (immutable) qualities is that He is just. He cannot tell a lie or do a wrongful deed; "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 4:16). He wants the same for us; indeed we are made in God's image and have inbuilt knowledge of right and wrong and a desire for justice. This is our conscience. Since the Fall every person's conscience has been awakened (Hebrews 10:22).

Jesus Rescues Us

To bring humanity back into right relationship with Himself, God sent His firstborn Son Jesus to shed His blood and die for all sin for all time. Jesus is more than a man, He is God who came to Earth as a human being; one of His names is Emanuel, "God with us". He's the only person to have lived a sinless life, so His is the only blood able to pay such a huge price. It was an amazing act of humiliation and courage for Jesus to submit in innocence to prosecution and execution. We often hear of war heroes; I used to equate this kind of sacrifice with Jesus' death. But the outstanding thing about Jesus is that He was raised from the grave, defeating both death and sin (Romans 8:2). This was a great victory from which we benefit every day.

Jesus ascended to Heaven and now rules and reigns and will do so for ever! Jesus victory brought in the New Covenant where His sacrifice pays for our sin, by grace, and we can reckon ourselves as righteous and live free (Romans 5:17, 6:11, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 2:24). It is God's desire, and His plan, that as many as possible live in right relationship with Him and with one another, indeed His desire is that "none should perish" (John 6:39).

This is really profound. God gave fully of Himself so that we could live free .. It's a pretty sweet deal; that someone you've just offended should give you forgiveness just because you ask for it! This is our God. He's called the God of grace, and of love, peace, kindness, justice, family .. We can always rely on Jesus to come and help us when we ask.

Grace Trumps Sin

Grace is what brings the changes; we haven't actually done anything to earn forgiveness or release or a new chance at a life, free from guilt and shame. It is a gift from Jesus for us, for every person, so that we can be re-united with Him as was His plan when He brought life to the Creation.

Do you remember when you became a Christian that you felt "different"? I've heard people say that they "feel lighter", or that everything "looked clearer", or that now they knew "they belonged to someone", or that they could now "realistically hope" .. Well it's all true. Our spirit is quickened, given new life. The most important of our three components, spirit, soul and body, is now beginning to work correctly and this influences everything in us and how we see everything around about. We truly do "become a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Amazing. This is God's grace at work in you and me.

So for us Christians this all works by faith; faith in Jesus and faith in His Gospel which is the good news about his victory over death and sin for us. My faith is that I believe what Jesus tells me through His Word, the Bible, and through His actions and His Father's Kingdom responses. My testimonies, and those of hundreds of others, show me that what is said about God and Jesus is true. I believe in miracles and in the power of prayer because I've seen them in action time and again!

It's so simple really. We recognise and acknowledge our sin and ask God to forgive us, and He does, immediately and forever! Sometimes we may think our sin was so bad that we do not deserve forgiveness, or that God couldn't possibly forgive that sin. These are wrong thoughts and will cause us to carry the weight of sin which is no longer there. Sure, we'll remember how rotten and hurtful we have been, this will help us to improve our behaviors in future and our relationships with others. We also learn to forgive our-self.

Scripture makes it very clear; we are "free to be free" (Galatians 5:1)! We are not free because we are perfect, but because God makes us righteous in Jesus (Romans 8:2, Acts 13:39).

Thank you Jesus, " .. the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). 

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's” (Psalm 103:2-5).

Amen.

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Praise Jesus.