No Laughing Matter

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The wait for Sarah, the wife of Abraham, to get pregnant was long and stressful. Abraham had received various promises from God that he would have a son and that he would be the head of many nations, but Sarah knew ‘she was old and well advanced in years and past the age of child-bearing.‘ Genesis 18:11. So when she heard the visitors announce ‘about this time next year your wife Sarah will have a son,‘ Genesis18:10, she laughed quietly to herself. Nothing was going to happen. But God had heard the silent laugh and said to Abraham ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’ verse 13. This knowledge of God made her afraid and then she lied to make matters worse. ‘I did not laugh,’ verse 15.

There is a question we can ask ourselves. Do we believe there is a limit to God’s power. that there are some things He cannot do? When we think of someone we know, do we think it is impossible that they could ever make a confession of faith? Such thinking will restrict our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person. We ask, why spend our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person, who is too stubborn to yield to God? We must not restrict God’s powers and abilities. In Jeremiah 32:27 we hear God ask, ‘Is anything too hard foi me?’

The Difference of the Cross

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May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

We are again in the season of our national elections and are bombarded with literature urging us to vote in a particular way. Every party makes promises which, should they be elected, they would find difficult to keep. Each candidates wants us to put a cross against their name.

It can be confusing especially when we feel our cross will make little difference. Thousands of people will be voting and their cross can cancel out ours. Surely we can feel that our cross is insignificant.

But a cross which is not insignificant is the cross of Jesus Christ which brings salvation and newness of life. It is unique and momentous, bringing life where there was only death. Every soul since the time of Christ’s death has been affected by that one single cross.

So as we place our election cross, we hope to improve the lot of fellow mankind, all the while remembering the most important cross of all, the cross which saves our souls and has the power to save the whole world.

Watering the Soul

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‘He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields it’s fruit in season. And whose leaf does not wither.’ Psalm 1:3

In England we don’t really know what true drought is like but sometimes we do long for more rain. I’ve just ordered another water butt for my garden. Even in April my existing one does not seem enough as it is becoming empty so early in the year. What a gift from God rain is! As dry days follow rainless ones, God’s plants become stressed and slowly die.

When the rain does come, plants slowly revive as they drink in the life-giving moisture, flowers lift up their heads, bushes look heathier and all nature seems to sparkle. Birds join in the joy as they sing their hearts out. We need the rain to survive.

Our souls can become spiritually dry without attention. Slowly things can start to fall apart in our lives. We lose direction and make the wrong choices which leads further down dangerous routes. Then by God’s grace, times of refreshing come. We are able to drink deeper. Our lives get back on track as we learn more of God’s will for us. Like the plants we can shine for Him. We need to be more like the person who said he never prayed for more than fifteen minutes but he never went for more than fifteen minutes without praying. What a high standard!

Hospitality

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‘If Jesus came to my house and knocked upon the door, I’m sure I’d be more happy than I’ve ever been before.’ In this delightful little book written in rhyme by Joan Gale Thomas, the small boy dreams about a visit from the boy Jesus. If Jesus visited him in his home the small boy would share his toys, his fears and make Him a cup of tea.

He realises that Jesus cannot visit him but he can help others, by taking flowers from his garden to the old or sick. He can share his toys with other boys and girls.

I love inviting people into my home, giving them a drink and maybe sitting in my sunny garden. I want the walls of my home to become drenched in prayer as with my visitors we can pray together.

But many of my friends are not now fit enough to visit me, I live on a slight incline. That is when I can visit them. I may be able to go to their homes and offer to do a small job for them. Sometimes I can visit them in hospital, hospitals can be very lonely and frightening places.

Occasionally my hospitality can only be a smile to a person in the street. Daily I pray for more opportunities to practice hospitality. The last verse of Joan’s book says ‘But I can go to His home and kneel and say a prayer, and I can sing and worship Him and talk with Him in there.’

Doubt

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‘Are You the one who is coming or do we look for another. Matthew 11:3

John the Baptist had baptised Jesus, seen the dove and heard the words of the angel. After this baptism John had stepped out of the limelight. Jesus was now centre-stage. Now that John is in prison, he is fearing rightly for his life. Largely forgotten by the world, John was beginning to have his doubts.

‘Are you the one who is to coming,’ he asks, ‘or do we look for another. ‘ Matthew 11:3. No wonder he was now beginning to doubt.

And there are times when we too doubt. Maybe we have lost our job and finances are difficult, our friends are dying and our own lives are in danger through persecution. The worry and doubt floods our minds. Our hearts cry out, Is it true, does God care for us? When we doubt we can turn to the psalms, David often cried out to God. He suffered more than we, but by putting has trust in God he was able to say ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.’ Psalm 23:1. In fact he left a whole host of psalms to give us comfort.

Do You Hear Me?

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Peter and the other disciples were so intent on claiming that they would never fall away that they didn’t really listen to what Jesus was saying. They were busy justifying themselves. Even if others disowned Him, they never would. Furthermore there were arguments as to who was the most important disciple!

These denials and self-centered attitudes occupied all their thoughts. If only they had really listened, they could have saved themselves so much heartache. They would not have been so grief-stricken when He was crucified. But they just were not listening. No-one questioned or registered when He said ‘After I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Jerusalem.’.

Peter would later remember Jesus’ words where He had predicted that he would deny Him three times. The realisation after he had done so, brought anguish to his heart, But he hadn’t really listened to Jesus but no-one picked up the words

How often are we like that? Jesus speaks to as, or we read it in the Bible, or we hear the words in a sermon. Then we don’t really listen or we forget. We could save ourselves so much pain and sorrow. The Bible tells us many times ‘Do not be afraid.’ Yet we still fear. Jesus says ‘Follow me’ and then we go our own way. Listen to Him, He has the words of wisdom and comfort.

Wiped Clean

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The white board on my study wall was full of out of date messages. With my finger I started to remove the unwanted information. As I swiped my finger along the surface before long every message was gone; I had a completely clean white board again.

As I woke up this morning I thought about the day ahead. In my mind it was completely unblemished, but I knew that soon I would be making mistakes, saying unkind things or being completely selfish. My unblemished day would become mucky and spoilt. I would litter the day with mistakes, omissions and forgetfulness. The prospect of a perfect day would be scarred by my worthlessness.

Then I imagined the finger of God. It was obliterating all my dirty smudges. The whole white board of my life would soon be clean, back to it’s pristine whiteness. Back to the condition he wanted it to be.

‘What shall wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus.’ by Robert Lowry

Every day God gives us all a clean slate and we then mess up and spoil it, but by the death of Jesus, we will become ‘white as snow again.’ This is what God wants for us.

Wars

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‘You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed.’ Matthew 124:6

I’ve just been to a lecture on the Wars of the Roses that occurred between roughly 1453 and 1471. I was amazed at how many wars were involved, both large and small, with significant loss of life. It occurred to me that most of them were caused by people seeking power, money or land. They were wiling to kill and plunder just to get what they wanted.

Then I thought about the situation in the world today. Again there are a significant number of wars raging. There is fighting and destruction in so many countries. Human-kind does not change, we are still wanting power, land and dominion. Leaders are willing to fight, kill and destroy just to get what they want.

True dominance belongs only to God. All countries and dominions come under His domain. Countries that declare war, will themselves be defeated by other countries attacking them. Little or nothing is achieved by war, except loss of life, land, livelihoods and prosperity. Starvation is increased as crops are not tended, the standard of living goes down and the economy of the country is destroyed.

If only the world and its people would remember that every source of power belongs only to God. He alone has the right to rule the whole world

Edith Cavell

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‘Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’ Hebrews 12:1

Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse who was born just south of Norwich in Norfolk. Before World War 1 she was a matron of a nursing training school in Brussels. When the war commenced she tended and saved lives of soldiers from both sides, German and Belgium, without discrimination. She also helped 200 allied soldiers escape from the then occupied Belgium.

Eventually the enemy caught up with her and in spite of an attempt by the British government to save her, she was executed by firing squad on the 12th October 1915. She was only 49 years old.

In her honour the British allowed her a state funeral in Westminster Abbey; she was the first commoner to be afforded this honour. She is now buried in Norwich Cathedral near where she was born. Her faith was firm right up to the end. In her final words she confessed to the chaplain, Rev Horace Graham, ‘they have all been very kind to me here. But I would say standing here as I do in view of God and eternity, I must have no bitterness towards anyone.’

Hot-Headed

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‘Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost’, they said and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ Matthew 14:25-27

We can imagine the scene, a ghost-like figure actually walking on the lake! Then when Jesus reveals Himself, Peter impetuously calls out, ‘Lord, if it is You, tell me to come to you on the water.’ After Peter jumps into the lake he takes his eyes off Jesus who stretches out His hand to take hold of Peter’s hand and save him. He is now safe.

For us to have the same experience we don’t have to plunge into freezing water, life throws up enough problems of its own. It is when we take our eyes off Jesus that we run into trouble. Jesus said, ‘Do not be afraid.’ I sometimes think that as human beings we are programmed to worry. But why do we worry when worry achieves nothing. It only makes the situation worse. We have medical tests and then worry about the results, which we can’t alter anyway. We think of every bad scenario but still nothing changes.

There are so many times in the Bible where Jesus, a prophet or apostle tells us not to worry. God has control of every situation. He knows the answers.