Divine Favour and 2012

Happy New Year everyone! It is a new year and with each new year comes new ideas, new commitments, new challenges and new opportunities. As we gaze off into the future most of us will either view it through the eyes of faith or the eyes of fear. We will either see potential and perhaps the making of a new dream to pursue or we can see it more like a nightmare and fear what could be coming, what could happen to us, to our jobs, our families and our personal lives. Some of us will seek to make resolutions to lose a few pounds or stop some other bad habit. But, unfortunately most of us end up joining the ranks of those who fail within a few short days or weeks of the new year’s start. But here is an interesting question. If someone came along and asked you, “What is the one thing you pray about the most? What would be your answer? Safety, health, prosperity, children, parents, unsaved loved ones, future mate? What is it that you tend to bring to God more than anything else? Recently I was reading a book about prayer called “The Circle Maker”, it is an inspirational writing designed to fan into fame our prayer lives. If you feel your prayer life could use a lift as you approach this new year I highly recommend it to you. Mid way through the book the author Mark Batterson is writing about the promises that are found in the scriptures that God makes to his people. He believes that by conservative estimates there are more than three thousand promises found throughout the pages of the Bible. He rightly believes that however many promises there are, that in Christ all of these promises were fulfilled. It is therefore also true that in Christ and through faith in Christ that we come to posses these promises as our own. His question is: How many of these promises have we prayed with full assurance that God will answer? His suggestion is that we must commit ourselves to reading the bible as a promise book and a prayer book at that same time. He writes on page 95, “While reading is reactive, prayer is proactive. Reading is the way to get through the bible; prayer is the way you get the bible through you. As you read the Holy Spirit will quicken certain promises to your spirit. It’s very difficult to predict what and when and where and how, but over time, the promises of God will become your promises.” It was during one of these reading/prayer times that he stumbled across a passage that would become for him the prayer that he prays more than any other prayer. It is found in the blessing that Moses gave to Joseph as they were about to enter the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 33:13-17. In verse 16 Moses declares the blessing of the “favour of him who dwelt in the burning bush”. This is what Mark prays for often and for pretty much any and every situation he finds himself in; the favour of God. The divine favour of him who dwelt in the burning bush! Could I make a suggestion to you on this first day of the year 2012? I would suggest that you follow the example of our brother in Christ Mark Batterson and begin to read/pray scripture. I would also suggest that praying for God’s favour is something that all of us are meant to do in whatever situation we find ourselves in. May the favour of him who dwelt in the burning bush rest upon us as we enter 2012.

Inspiration

Monday nights at our home is almost always packed with young people squeezed in around our dinner table feasting on some delicious meal that my wife has somehow put together in the midst of all her other activities. Most of the time our guests are the friends of my daughters, who have come to enjoy Monday Night dinners so much so that even when our girls are not home they still show up. On a few occasions we have invited an extra guest to come and share their story with the group which has proven to be quite an inspiration to these young men and women. This past Monday a new game came across our table which included a stack of cards with a series of personal likes or dislikes and best or worst experience type questions. One of my cards had this written on it, “What is the most inspirational story you have recently heard and tell it.” At first I wanted to simply tell the story of Jesus and move on but as I thought about it I had to admit I have heard so many inspirational stories in my life not to mention all the heroes of the Bible that have inspired me, it was hard for me to choose one. My wife pointed out it had to be something I had recently heard and so I told the story that had a strong influence on my life a couple years ago that is known as the The Heavenly Man. (you can read his story online at http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=QJy7zunxfhIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Heavenly+Man&hl=en&ei=SsXnTv6bAqzSmAWkypSeCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Heavenly%20Man&f=false )

Anyway, yesterday I stumbled across another amazing and inspirational story about a woman named Esther Ahn Kim. I will simply copy it from a book I am currently reading called “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan, a book I highly recommend to you. “It was during WW ll and the Japanese occupation of Korea that Esther’s journey of faith really began. She refused to bow down at the shrines set up in every corner of her country and was eventually imprisoned for six years from 1939-1945. Knowing she was destined for prison for refusing to bow down to idols Esther began to prepare herself both physically and spiritually. Each day she would find and eat food that was decaying, knowing that was what she would be served to eat in prison. The discipline she demonstrated is humbling, how many of us would choose to eat rotten food? While preparing for prison she memorized more than 100 chapters of the Bible and many hymns because she knew she would not be allowed to keep her Bible. She spent countless hours seeking God through fasting and prayer. These times of fasting and prayer and scripture reading lead to great clarity and she was able to surrender her fear of being tortured to Christ.” Esther did not just survive her horrific experience in prison she turned it into a thing of glory. Many lives of her fellow prisoners were touched by the love of Christ demonstrated over and over again in acts of selfless love. She brought healing to their hearts and gave them hope. Her faith in Christ brought many murderers, swindlers and outcasts and even hardened prison guards and corrupt government officials into faith in Christ during her time there.

I hope you have found a little inspiration from this tiny bit of Esther Ahn Kim’s story. May God forgive us for our complacent, comfortable, and complaining style of life. May he give us a new passion and strength to demonstrate selfless acts of love over and over again, without fanfare or need for praise to the Glory of God our Heavenly Father.

Succeeding at What Doesn’t Really Matter

Recently I read a statement that made me pause. I found it in a quote from another book called “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. A book I would highly recommend to you for good solid devotional type reading. In it he quotes Tim Kizziar who writes, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter”. As I pondered this statement the truth in it seemed to echo Jesus words in a powerful teaching he once gave attacking the attitudes and mixed up priorities of the religious leaders in his day. In a series of verses found in Matthew 23 (vs 13-29) that start with the words “Woe to you teachers of the Law and Pharisees…” Jesus says some of his most harsh words ever recorded. At one point he says in vs.24 , “You blind guides! You strain at a gnat but swallow a Camel.” In other words they had become experts at succeeding at things in life that really did not matter!

It sent me on a search of my own heart wondering what things I was succeeding at the really don’t matter and conversely what things I was failing at that really do matter. As I reflected on what I believe the scripture teaches are God’s top priorities I set out my top priorities and measured to see if they are even remotely close! For example in Matthew 23 Jesus makes these little statements that reveal what is of value to him. “The greatest must be your servant; Whoever exalts themselves will be humbled and whoever humbles themselves will be exalted; You neglect the more important matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness.” Am I willing to take the low road, to actually serve others for their benefit and not my own? Am I willing to actually humble myself, put others needs before my own, listen to what others are saying without condemnation or trying to push my pearls of wisdom on them? Am I more worried with the way things look, more concerned over my reputation than what is actually going on inside my heart and doing the right things? Am I more troubled over defending my rights than the rights of others? Do I love to receive mercy from others yet find myself being stingy with mercy when it comes to exercising it towards others? Am I more worried over my own comfort and my level of enjoyment over being faithful and true to my convictions?

Ultimately it needs to be asked am I committed to the things that Christ is committed to. As individuals and as a church are we committed to what really matters? Are we succeeding at things that don’t really matter at the expense of things that really do matter? These are healthy questions to ask ourselves on a fairly regular basis and make the necessary adjustments in the power of the Holy Spirit. We must be determined to stop straining at gnats and swallowing camels.

This week the calamity that is unfolding on our coastline near Tauranga has been difficult to accept. The impending doom that looms over the beaches, the majestic coastline and of course the birds and fishes is maddening to say the least. The livelihood of so many people who depend on this area for tourism, food and recreation will be seriously affected and will be for a long time into the future. But not only those who live along the coastline will suffer loss, there will also be the loss incurred by the owners of the goods on board the ship, those who own the ship and also those responsible for this terrible tragedy. The captain will suffer fines, demotion and even face possible termination from his career over this accident. It seems as though nobody will win from all this except perhaps those who are contracted on to salvage this shipwreck.

The cry all week long has been “why hasn’t somebody done something?” over and over again and in various ways the anger and the sadness and the frustration has been pouring out. It is something that no one wants to see and yet at the same time no one can stop from watching. Time is not our friend in this case. It marches forward, hour after hour, as wave after stormy wave beats against the ship threatening to tear it to pieces. There are so many procedures, so many dangerous tasks, and difficulties involved in getting the oil off the ship as well as the containers from off the deck that it is slow and treacherous going. And all we can do is watch this drama play out to its completion. Very sad indeed!

However, shipwrecks out on the ocean can also act as an excellent metaphor for what can happen in people’s lives as well. We use the expression, “They shipwrecked their lives.” when we are describing someone who has gone off and done something naughty and got caught. “Shipwrecked” can be used to describe someone who has given into a vice like drunkenness or addictive gambling, lost their life’s saving, sometimes even their families and often their jobs. They have shipwrecked their lives.

The Bible also uses this metaphor to describe someone who does not hold fast to the faith and live it out with a clear conscience. In 1 Tim 1:19 Paul writes, “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.” The apostle Paul was no stranger to being shipwrecked. It happened to him three times in his life and he even spent a night and a day out in the open seas before being rescued (2 Cor. 11:25). These frightening and awful experiences were not something that he would have taken lightly and so for him to use this metaphor is serious stuff. By not taking the teachings of our faith seriously, by living contrary to what we know to be true from God’s word, by ignoring our conscience or making excuses for our wayward behaviour, we put ourselves in a position to shipwreck our most precious faith. As you watch the drama of the shipwreck Rena unfold reminding us of the awfulness, the frightfulness, and the tragic loss that a shipwreck is, may it cause us to pause and consider our lives of faith. Is there another shipwreck on the horizon? I pray not!

Certainty in Great Uncertainty

The icy blast of winter descended upon us this week with snow falling in places that hadn't seen snow in some 40 plus years. There were even reports of snow in Auckland which had never seen snow at all. The white stuff falling from the sky caused a wide range of responses from people. Some went out and played in it while others admired it from the warmth of a cozy room. Some bravely tried to travel in it, while others just decided not to and stayed home waiting for it to be safe to travel. It created havoc for our emergency services who had trouble getting enough staff to come in and then had trouble getting to people who were in need of their assistance. The news of snow in uncommon places and cities made its way around the world as news agencies, looking to get a scoop, deemed this unusual event newsworthy and spread the word. At the very least the snow and cold weather that we experienced can simply be added to a steady stream of many unusual events in New Zealand’s recent past. Altogether these events have served to keep reminding us all that we live in uncertain times. Uncertain weather patterns, uncertain earthquakes, uncertain tornadoes, uncertain economic times, uncertain job futures, uncertain family situations, uncertain health issues, uncertain churches, and uncertain personal times. What do we do when we face uncertain times, when our lives are full of uncertainties? Yes, we fret, we worry, and our stress levels go through the roof. Some crumble under this heavy load of uncertainty and seek a way of escape, and others stand tall in the face of it by putting a positive spin on the events hoping to make it through, while others just try to ignore it hoping it will simply go away. Thinking back to the tragic days of the Christchurch earthquakes and its many aftershocks one person stood out as a calming, inspiring individual during those dark and uncertain days. In spite of his own personal loses Mayor Bob Parker was able to guide that city (and even our country) through those deeply uncertain times with tremendous grace and skill. Bob Parker would be the first to admit his own failing and shortcomings but even with these he did a pretty good job. If Bob Parker who has faults of his own, has no power to change anything, and yet was able to bring a sense of certainty during seriously uncertain times, how much more, is our heavenly Father able to guide us, protect us, comfort us, strengthen us and bring a solid sense of certainty to our lives during uncertain times? In fact, one could argue that the only thing that remains certain at all times is our sovereign God. The scripture does not promise that our circumstances will change, it does promise that we can embrace them knowing that God is at work in them. I recently read that it is in those darkest moments, when it seems God is inactive, he is actually most active. He is always active, always at work, seeking his followers to keep an eye out for him and his activity and join in, especially during dark days. While all of life may be in upheaval and uncertain our heavenly Father is not, he is certain, he is Sovereign, and he has the whole world in his hands. We can take comfort from this and trust him in the midst of life’s uncertainties.

I Just Went for Pizza

The past few weeks I have had this internal debate going on with the Lord. It mostly centres on why I am still here in New Zealand and pastoring this particular church. For about 4.5 years now, we have poured our lives into this little fellowship, hosting evangelistic style meetings, using tools such as ALPHA and the UNDERSTANDING CHRISTIANITY series. We've worked on discipling and motivating people through small groups and had some delightful times of prayer in our Prayer Pinnacle Meetings. The group is a wonderful mix of South African, Indian, Chinese, Fijian, Solomon Island, Kiwi, Canadian, Filipino, and American, a lovely group, dedicated and passionate about their Lord Jesus and faith in him. But since we have come the church has gone from about 45-50 down to 20-25 and while personal spiritual growth is happening, numerical and financial growth is not happening at all, in fact it is shrinking! We came with a vision to see hundreds of people from all over the world raising their hands in worship together. We came to assist the International Christian Centre in the dream of gathering the nations for this purpose in this massively multicultural city. We have not seen this come to reality. I do not believe we have mistakenly come here, that somehow we missed what the Lord said to us or took a wrong turn as we followed the master. I do believe we are meant to be here, and minister here and bring the gospel to this dry and thirsty land. However, I have not seen as much fruit as I believe we should have seen by now.
Anyway, yesterday I went to get pizza. While i was sitting there waiting an Asian man came in and few minutes later a tiny African lady came in to wait for her pizza. Finally, my name was called and I went to the counter, the tiny lady moved to the counter quickly and shyly mumbled something that I thought sounded like "don't give up on your dream". I thought she was speaking to the guy behind the counter but then she turned to me and said what sounded like the same thing. I laughed and grabbed my pizza and headed home. While sitting in the car waiting for the light to turn green thinking about what I thought this lady had said to me, I decided to spin the car around and go back and ask her if that was what she had said, and if so, why she had said that. I went back and thankfully she was still there. I motioned to her to come outside and asked her if she had said what I thought she had said. She told me that she was a Christian and that while she was sitting there, God told her to tell me "Don't give up on your dream'" She continued, "He is right behind me, he is there, he knows what I am going through and that I should hang on to the dream." She said that she had done this kind of thing before and only gotten mocked and silenced by those who she said it to, so she stopped. But when she looked into my eyes, she saw kindness there and decided to go for it. When I told her I was a Christian as well and a Pastor she was sooo excited and filled with joy that she had obeyed what the Lord had told her to do. I thanked her for her bravery and that her message couldn't have been timelier for me. This kind of thing has happened to me before, about 4 or 5 other times, where God has used a complete stranger to send me a message. Her words it seems have attached themselves to my mind and heart. I went to bed thinking about them and woke up early with them on my mind. I will ponder them for the next few days and lay them out before the Lord to be sure they are from him. Mmmm, all I had done was go for pizza!