Standing on Grace

Ephesians 6:11-12 “And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.”

Certain Native American tribes had a rite of passage for their teenage boys. At age 13 a boy would be blindfolded and led to a certain spot in the woods. He would be forced to sit down while the men of the tribe returned to their camp. The boy would be required to sit all night with his blindfold in place. He was forced to listen to the frightening sounds of the night. Once he felt the warmth of the sun as it rose in the east, he was allowed to remove his blindfold. The first thing he saw when he removed it was his father sitting across from him. The boy's father would sit with him all night, protecting him from the animals of the wilderness, yet he was not seen by his son.

I love the way the Eugene Peterson paraphrases these verses “…..take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials.” 

The armour of God in which we take our stand, is not some inanimate suit of steel it is literally God-armour but it doesn’t mean that we can avoid standing firm when danger threatens.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this about God’s protection in such situations. “There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared. It is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment. Wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of almighty God. Not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.”

All powerful and protecting God, I know you never leave me. I also know that you can defeat the devil. I ask for you to equip me with everything I need to overcome the temptations of the devil. Fill me with the wisdom of the Bible.  Give me confidence. Surround me with wise counsel. Give me the resilience to stay the course. Amen.

Standing on Grace

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”

It’s almost if Paul is giving the Corinthian church a five finger faith exercise, keep alert, stand firm, be courageous, be strong and do all this in love. 

When he was appointed as the pastor a church in Cambridge, England, in 1783 Charles Simeon was delighted. The people of the church did not share his joy. Many of the prominent members of the church opposed his convictions on reaching the lost with the gospel. To show their displeasure they locked their pew boxes during the service and left them empty so that those who came to hear Simeon preach had to stand or sit in the aisles. Eventually God began to work, and Simeon’s ministry had a powerful influence on the nation of England and the world through his efforts to encourage missionary work.

During the dark days of opposition Simeon wrote: “In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience.... It was painful indeed to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought that if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would on the whole be as much good done as if the congregation were doubled and the blessing limited to only half the amount. This comforted me many, many times, when without such a reflection, I should have sunk under my burden.”

Opposition does not mean that we are doing things wrong—often it is evidence that we are doing things right. If we allow ourselves to be deterred from doing anything unless we have complete approval, it is certain that we will never accomplish anything of value. Rather than being discouraged by opposition, we should take comfort in God’s loving faithfulness and keep on doing what is right.

Heavenly Father, thank You for another day of life. Help me to be vigilant and to stand firm in my faith. I pray that you would give me courage and strength to face whatever comes my way today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Standing on Grace

Psalm 93:5 Your statutes, LORD, stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days.

One preacher recalled an illustration his father used many years ago. He said he once had an old hound dog that would howl all night at a full moon but in spite of the loud protests by the dog, the moon did not change or go away. No matter how much people may protest the idea of God or the validity of his word, he does not change nor does his word. God is forever and his word is always truth.

The word statutes comes from a Hebrew word that speaks of an ordinance that supports or confirms. So, far from being a negative or restrictive law, the statues of God are there to enable we his people to stand firm and to do so in the realm of holiness.

Holiness sounds scary. It doesn’t need to be, but to the average person it is. Our tendency is to say that holiness is something for the cloistered halls of a monastery. It needs organ music, long prayers, and religious-sounding chants. It hardly seems appropriate for those in the real world of this century. What words come to mind when you think of holiness. It’s almost as though holiness is the private way of life for a special group of monks, missionaries and martyrs. But nothing could be further from the truth.

True only God is holy, just as only people are human. God's holiness is God's Godness. To speak of anything else as holy is to say that it has something of God's mark upon it. Times, places, things, and people can all be holy, and when they are, they are usually not hard to recognise.

One hymn writer starts each verse of his hymn with the phrase, “take tie to be holy” perhaps taking time to stand in the Holiness of God is something that we practice.

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.

Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;

And run not before Him, whatever betide.

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,

Each thought and each motive beneath His control.

Father, I am in awe as I stand before Your holy splendour! You alone are worthy of worship and honour! You invite me into Your presence to give myself as an offering so that You might transform me by Your holiness. May I shine with Your holiness as You shape me into the image of Your Son, Jesus, so that I might be a living reflection of His character. Amen

Standing on Grace

Exodus 14:13-14 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the LORD that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again. The LORD will fight xfor you, and you can be still.”

So far this month we have consider running and walking with God as disciples of Christ.  This week we will look at what the bible says about standing. Richard St. Barbe Baker a biologist, botanist and member of the Bahá'í Faith, said, “Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward. Bend to the winds of heaven. And learn tranquility.”

Standing firm as a disciple of Jesus should not be equated with lack of movement or idle passing of time but as part of what it means to be centred in Christ.

When there’s an earthquake, big buildings sometimes collapse while other buildings stand firm. They go through identical tremors but the response is quite different. We talk about standing firm because we should make sure that when the inevitable tremors of life come our way, our faith does not collapse — that it should stand firm at that time.

We perhaps should ask, “What is it that we stand for?”

The word standing is really a “sort-of” noun, not a verb such as “stand up” or “sit down”. As a Christian, at this moment we are standing in God’s grace, yet we are probably seated. Our “standing” refers more to our relationship to something or someone rather than our physical position or posture. This is why Moses says to his people and perhaps to us, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today:

Heavenly Father, when the storms of life are raging, when my enemies seem to multiply with every passing day and there seems to be no way to turn, help me to be still, knowing that You are God. Help me to stand in quiet dependence upon You. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, to abide in His love, and to trust His Word. I know that Your grace is sufficient for every occasion and that You have promised never to leave me nor forsake me. Help me to stand still and see the salvation of my God today. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.

Running the Race

 

But let me run loose and free,
    celebrating God’s great work,
Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God,
    there’s no one like you. Psalm 35:9-10

This verse gives another aspect of what it means to run the race. It’s something like when we see lambs in spring begin to run around the fields as they discover they are free to enjoy their environment. It’s also like when children celebrate their freedom from study in the classroom as they enjoy running around the playground.

There is also a sense in our spiritual lives, even though our physical legs will no longer allow us run around, yet in our hearts we can see God’s work and feel an elation that we need to express.

Billy Bray, the renowned Cornish preacher, found religion after hitting rock bottom (almost literally).  He was a poor miner and a riotous drunk and it was a near fatal accident at work that stunned him into thinking about his life.  Quite suddenly and to the astonishment of those around him he found God and became a preacher for the next 43 years.

But the main reason that Billy Bray is still remembered  is that he was renowned for breaking into spontaneous singing and dancing in the middle of his sermons.

He would say “He has made me glad and no one can make me sad. He makes me shout and no one can make me doubt…”

In fact as well as his happy feet, Billy also became renowned for his enthusiastic little sayings:”If they were to put me into a barrel, I would shout glory out through the bunghole!”.

When someone told him that they were less than impressed with his singing voice he is said to have replied:   “God would just as soon hear a crow as a nightingale. I’ll sing all I want to sing and if I shut my mouth, my feet would still shout. Every time my left foot hits the ground, it says ‘Amen!’ And every time my right foot hits the ground it says, ‘Glory’ and I just can’t help myself.”

In our world where the media delights in negative news perhaps as followers of Christ we need to take a leaf out of Billy Bray’s life book.

Heavenly and Most Gracious Father, I come before you in prayer, to magnify and glorify your precious name and to give all the praise, honour, and glory you deserve. I humbly request your overflowing blessings upon our lives that I might run loose and free, celebrating your great work, with every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God, there’s no one like you.” Amen

Running the Race

“Jesus said, “Do not worry about your physical well-being. People who don’t know any better run after all the things they want, but your Heavenly Father knows your needs. Run for his kingdom and his righteousness then everything that you need will be taken care of.” - Matthew 6:32-33

What things do you run after in your life. This is a similar angle form yesterday’s thinking on goals we want to achieve. As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”  Nothing could be closer to the truth.  But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.

Sometimes, we find ourselves chasing after the things that we think we want instead of what we need. When you spend too much time focusing on the wrong things, you tend to lose sight of the things that might be right for you. We have to stop chasing the wrong things if we’re going to grow.

There may be things in your life that you’re chasing that are no longer benefiting you. You have to stop chasing those things so that the things you need to grow have a chance to catch up to you. This also means that you have to be patient.

I know sometimes you don’t want to wait for the right things to find you, but trying to force something to be right isn’t any better. It is much better in the long run to be patient.

During World War 1, Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen was a famous German fighter pilot. Most people don’t recognise the name Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, but they do recognise him as the nickname that was given to him during the war – the Red Baron.

During WWI, Richthofen shot down 80 enemy aircraft, more than any other pilot. He was called the Red Baron because the airplane he flew was painted bright red.

On April 12, 1918, Richthofen was chasing after a Canadian fighter pilot and in the chase flew his red airplane too far into enemy territory and was shot down. Eye witnesses said the Red Baron had been flying way too low, and was probably so mentally involved in chasing after the other pilot that he never realised he had flown into the enemies air space, which cost him his life.

Many Christians are the same way. We get caught up in chasing after the things of this world, and before we know it – we’re way too deep into enemy territory and we get shot down spiritually.

I suppose the message to take away form this devotional today is, “be careful what you chase after.”

Dear Heavenly Father, too often I have allowed worry and fretful fears to overtake my heart and mind, which causes my faith to falter when I should be looking to You and remembering Your never-failing faithfulness. Thank You for the simple truth in the Sermon on the Mount, that God knows all my needs and will never leave me comfortless. Help me to always remember that if You feed the birds of the air and clothe the flowers of the field so beautifully, You will most certainly take care of Your children, who have trusted Christ for salvation. Help me to keep the eyes of my heart on Jesus and not on the circumstances of life - in Jesus' name I pray, Amen

Running the Race

“I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.” - Philippians 3:12-14 The Message.

It is interesting how often the apostle Paul speaks of the Christian in athletic terms. But notice that he doesn’t count himself as a professional athlete but as a Christian who professes Christ.

I read this experience of a relatively new minister, I let him tell his story in his own words, “Not long after I got out of seminary, I decided I needed more training. So, I applied for a pastoral residency position at one of the largest churches in our denomination. As it turns out, the selection committee asked me to come travel to their church for an interview.

When I got there, they took me out to eat at a really nice restaurant. There were about nine or ten other people and me. And they must have asked me as many as a dozen questions, but I only remember one. "What goals do you bring to this program? What do you want to accomplish here?"

I almost choked on my food -- which is one reason I don’t like to do interviews over a meal! I’m ashamed to admit this to you, but I didn’t have any goals. I guess I thought they would set the goals for me. In any case, I had never thought explicitly about goals, so I didn’t have an answer to the question. I felt foolish and unworthy of this group’s attention.

I was to meet with them again the next morning, so that night I worked as hard as I could inventing goals. I mean, I just made them up. When we were together again -- this time at the breakfast table -- I must have had some ten or twelve goals. The day before I had none; now I had too many, way too many. 

For whatever reason, the committee invited me to take up the residency in any case. One thing I learned there, starting that day, is to formulate as clearly as possible in my own mind is what God’s purpose is, whatever I’m doing. And over the years since then, I have tried to make sure I had some idea of God’s intention for what I am doing in his name.”

Dear Jesus, 

You have freed me from my past, even the last hour when I failed you.  I no longer have to be paralysed by guilt and shame over my sins.  I am free to look ahead without concern about my past catching up with me.  Instead, I am bold to love those I have hurt by being honest and apologetic when I see them.  I am bold to love those who are difficult to love because I know you will change their future through my love.  I can have amnesia about all things behind me and simply focus on loving you and people.  What a joy filled life this is.  You really did give me life to the full.  

Amen

When you want to go back and relive your mistakes picture Jesus standing in the way saying, "Turn around and enjoy your future."