The Urge to Pray

Praying is a difficult task for many believers, due to the weakness of the flesh and the sinfulness of our hearts.  

But what a re-assurance it is to know that many others having been ‘holding the ropes’ of prayer for us. It is in this way that we battle successfully against the powers of darkness and their evil onslaughts against us.  That's why, and for many genuine believers, praying is so difficult, a struggle.  

Yet, the truly amazing thing is that God, by His Spirit, gives us the urge to pray at different times, and when this happens, we must follow this urge and come before the Throne of Grace in prayer.  At such times, I have found myself having greater liberty in prayer. When you feel the urge to pray, then pray; for this is God’s Spirit at work prompting you to bring whatever is in your heart to Him.

Never postpone the urge to pray when God sends it.  Who knows just what God is intending to do through His servants and children when He urges them to pray. When the urge comes, whatever else you may be doing, pray. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY - and especially when our loving Father urges us to do so.

Preaching Helps With Counselling

Preaching is by far the most important of the minister's public duties. More will be done for more people in that concentrated preaching session that at any other moment. Patterson says, "If preaching is do one properly, it will alleviate the need for a large percent of counselling necessities."Lloyd-Jones, drawing on his vast medical and pastoral experience, argues that the task of the church is not to alleviate the symptoms of a man's spiritual condition until the cause of those symptoms has been isolated and dealt with properly. Counselling generally sees to help people who have problems of various kinds, and this is good so far as it goes; but sometimes the 'successful' counsellor is seen to be the one who can make people feel 'good' after a session. But this is nothing short of criminal, because it removes the only indicator that something is wrong.

But when the word is truly and pastorally preached, needy people will find their problems being sorted out as they attend to that word. Sometimes the charge can be levelled against preacher's, especially in the Reformed Church, that their preaching is too cerebral at times, and not experiential enough. I think there is truth in this charge. The result is that people are driven to look for someone, possibly even their minister, who will help them sort out their difficulties. This is very time consuming, and in itself is not guaranteed to be successful. Well prepared and faithfully proclaimed sermons will do more to counsel people than is often imagined. Preaching is still God's chief way of sharing His Word with His people.                                                                               

God So Far Away.

There are times when Christians feel that the Lord is far away from them, times when He seems so distant, times when your prayers do not seem to get beyond the ceiling.  You’ve had that experience, as we have.  Maybe you’re having it at the present time.

I came across this very challenging statement from Ravi Zacharias: "I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”

If you cannot find God, where did you last leave Him?  When you were last with Him, where did you put Him?  Don’t take these too seriously, but they do have a point, do they not?  If God seems far away from us, it’s not His fault.  Like the fallen axe head in 2 Kgs.6:1-7, to find the Lord you have to return to where you ‘lost’ Him, and you’ll probably find that He’s there waiting for you. 

There's another way of looking at this situation. If God seems far away from you, who moved? You or God? Has God changed His commitment to you? Or have you changed your commitment to Him? These are very challenging questions, are they not?

I think we need to pause and stay with this point for a while.  We tend to read over points like this without stopping and meditating on what they imply for us as Christians.  Stay with this for a moment, and examine your own heart in the light of this truth.  Allow the truth to impact your own soul, and stay before it until it does.  This is called ‘doing business with the Lord.’

Pray On!

It’s amazing how much the Lord teaches us about Himself when we’re faced with an illness as serious as cancer.  He proves His faithfulness in every situation.  He demonstrates that however things appear to the contrary, we can still cast our burdens on Him (1 Pet.5:7), and not be disappointed.  In fact, we feel ourselves being carried along, upborne, and blessed.  He manifests Himself to us in various ways – in normal ways through the kindness and support of Christian people and also, as a testimony to God’s common grace, of non-Christian people.  He also demonstrates His love for us in much more personal ways, as when He draws really near to us by His Spirit and assures us that we are His children by new birth and also by adoption (we’re doubly His!).  During family devotions when He comes right into our room and leaves the unspeakable impression that we have been in the presence of the great King Who is our Father, we know we are His and He is ours (Song of Songs 2:16; 6:3; 7:10).  How sweet are these precious lessons.  What He teaches us in the dark places and in the valleys of life cannot be learned out of a book or even by listening to sermons.

But it’s also amazing how much He teaches us about ourselves – and most of that is not always nice; but it’s needed.  One of the big lessons He has taught us is that head belief will certainly not get an individual through the challenge of a life-threatening illness.  Having all the right words and repeating them will just not ‘cut it’ when faced with the ultimate.  We need more than that.

What we need, however, are the right beliefs that have found their way into the heart, beliefs that have warmed the heart and melted the heart, and beliefs that have motivated the will to give our all to the Saviour.  It is the head that understands (and we need biblical understanding), but it is with the heart that we believe. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom.10:10).

Looked at from another angle, Jesus is our Prophet, Priest and King.  True faith lays hold of a whole Christ.  So true faith is believing Christ as our Prophet, trusting Christ as our Priest and submitting to Christ as our King.  All three must be present otherwise we have ‘faith’ in only a partial Christ – which is no faith at all.  When all three are present, our head, our heart and our will are all engaged in our faith.  And remember, no one who has submitted to Christ the King will live in daily disobedience to Him.

This lesson was reinforced to us during this period of challenge.  How true it is.  And how necessary it is when we come to pray.  Praying with the mind only is not enough; nor is praying only with the heart, or with the will (however that may be done!).  That’s why we need that knowledge of God that comes only from the Bible.  But if our hearts are cold when we approach the Lord, then of what use are right words?  And if we are not motivated to surrender our all, our life, to Him, then the mind and heart roles are redundant.

Remember what old John Bunyan said: In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.  Make sure your prayer comes right from your heart.  Charles H. Spurgeon added: “Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.”  So be deeply encouraged, and pray on.  Let us come as whole persons to a whole Christ and we’ll see even greater things happen.

               Are we weak and heavy laden,

               Cumbered with a load of care?

               Precious Saviour, still our refuge;

               Take it to the Lord in prayer.

               Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

               Take it to the Lord in prayer!

               In his arms he'll take and shield thee;

               Thou wilt find a solace there.

Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God

If you would like a Gospel tract that you can give to someone for whom you are praying, then visit this website where you can download for free this leaflet.

Perhaps you find it difficult to speak to people about your Saviour and afraid that you might not get the right words to speak. Well, this little tract will help you spread the Gospel in an easier way.

Tell others where they can get as many free copies as they can use - the supply is endless. Got the Gospel out to the whole world, and be the means under God of bringing sinners into a right relationship with Christ.

Good News At A Time Of Bad News

If you get word that you have a bad disease like cancer, ought you to be worried? Many get this ‘bad news’ on a daily basis. Just sit in a cancer clinic for a while and you’ll see patients going and coming constantly, young and old and middle-aged. They are anxious, fearful, worried. What the consultant will tell them will change their lives. 

We sat and waited in such a clinic, and saw two ladies as they were coming out from the consultant; one whispered to us, “Bad news,” and the other left in tears. They were clearly shaken. Our hearts went out to them.  Should they be worried?

Well it all depends upon their relationship with Christ. Nothing else matters. Does someone getting such unwelcome news know Christ personally as Saviour and Lord? If they do, then ultimately there is nothing to worry about. All must die, but we do not know when or how we will leave this world; but die we will. Therefore, the urgent need is to be right with God. 

What is death? Some think it’s the end. Well, it’s not the end, for one thing. It is the end of life in this world, but it is not the end. It is the end of suffering in this world, but it is not the end. People foolishly say, “It’s good for them; their suffering is over at last.” But people who talk like this do not believe that ‘this world is not our home, we’re just a-passing through.’ We are going somewhere because the soul is eternal, it lives forever, and it does not die. So the real ‘you’ does not cease to exist when you leave this world of time. You are going somewhere after death.

Some think (wrongly) that all go to heaven when they die. All Christians go to heaven when they die, but only Christians. What is a Christian, then? A Christian is someone, a sinner, who has realised his lostness, guilt, godlessness, rebellion against God, opposition to Christ and the Gospel, his lovelessness towards Christ, and repents of his sins. He sees sin, maybe for the first time, as the ugly thing it is, and flees from it to Christ the Saviour of the world. And this God-provided Saviour receives all who come to Him in faith (Jn.6:37).

Death is not ‘termination’; death is ‘separation.’ It is what separates us from this world and all that is in it. For those who are not Christians, death separates them from God in His redeeming, sin-bearing love, and separates them unto the judgement of hell forever. When we die we do not cease to exist. We ‘pass on’ to another existence.

Now the good news in this situation is that we can know before we die where it is we are going to. The Gospel of Christ tells us that we can be sure of our destiny after death. That we are going to die is a fact; it’s God’s appointment (Heb.9:27). The big thing is where we are going to when we die. It is the Gospel alone that gives us this knowledge.

The Gospel tells us some astounding things. It tells us God has provided a way for hell-deserving sinners (for that is what we truly are) to be with Christ forever. It tells us that the big thing that will keep us out of heaven is our sins, and that God has found a way whereby our sins can be removed. We can leave this life with all its pain and suffering and uncertainties and go to be with Him forever. The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John.1:9).

When Christ died on Calvary, God “laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” (Isa.53:6). That means that your sins were carried away by Christ in His death. The price of your forgiveness has been paid in full and God’s holiness has been fully satisfied. He can now look on the sin-bearing Christ and pardon you.

How is this pardon received? By putting your trust in Christ alone. Turn from your sins, and trust Christ to save you. Receive the mercy He freely offers in the Gospel, and rest upon Him alone for salvation.

He has promised “never to leave you nor forsake you.”  He will be your help in time of trouble. You have Someone on Whom you can cast all your burdens, and He will bear you up. And He’s waiting to be merciful to you when you call out to Him.

‘Bad news’ reminds us that we are going to die. It also paves the way for the ‘Good News’ to bring us light and hope and new life. It is there for the asking. Seek it now and go on seeking until you get it.

The LORD Is My Shepherd

The great Baptist preacher of nineteenth century London, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, wrote the following words on Ps.23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd." “What condescension is this, that the infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a Shepherd! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great God allows himself to be compared to anything which will set forth his great love and care for his own people.”

Isn’t that lovely? The Lord’s deep humility is seen in His becoming the One Who shepherds us, pastors us, Whom is “our Shield and Defender.” He places Himself between us and danger, and fends off the enemy. He leads us to where our souls are fed and nourished and restored. This is the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for us (1 Jn.3:16). We sing with Philip P. Bliss, “Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”

Our hearts ought to know no reserve when we praise and worship such a Redeemer. And His Father, and ours, allows Himself to be compared to a lowly shepherd, one who loves and cares for the sheep. He understands our needs, you know. The care He has for His own children, for you and for me, should be the subject of our never-dying praise and gratitude. Our hearts should be enlarged with the holiest worship of such a great Shepherd. As His sheep, we are owned by Him; if we were wolves or goats or wild animals, then we would have an altogether different owner, one not nearly so loving and kind. He owns us; we are not our own; we were bought with a price – the precious blood of Christ (1 Cor.6:20). Our Owner sets great store on us, views us a precious in His sight, and takes great delight in us.

Brothers and sisters, we belong to Christ. And the One Who is our shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us cultivate this sense of total dependence on Him for everything, yea, for life itself. Spurgeon remarks that the sweetest monosyllable in this verse is the word My. The LORD is my shepherd.

Can you say that? Do you know Him as your shepherd? Has He become your shepherd? Have you trusted Him personally? Are you living for Him? Is He your everything, and is He your all? Have you come to Him and asked Him to make you one of His sheep?

If you have, then you will know that He loves you, cares for you, watches over you, leads and guide you, and has your best and eternal interest at heart. Whatever your present circumstances might be, the LORD is with you and by His Spirit lives in you. The words are in the present tense, which means that these things are true for you at every moment and in every circumstance. Did you realise that? At this very moment in your life’s experience, the LORD is with you. You are under His loving and constant care.

When living with cancer, there are few truths that are more precious to the Christian believer. When everything seems to be blackness and gloom, to look up to this wonderful Shepherd is the greatest privilege of all. When you wonder what is going to happen to you, and whether or not you will live or die, this Psalm is the God-provided antidote. When you question what will become of your family and loved-ones, you turn your eyes to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and cast yourself on Him. Why? Because He cares for you (1 Pet.5:7). Jesus Christ cares for you! He is more than able to supply all your needs both now and forever. That’s our hope and stay amidst life’s troubles.

Care for the Family

How very important when a family member or spouse is suffering from cancer and undergoing the treatment for this disease that they are given every support they need. It is incumbent upon husbands, for example, to be there for their wives at all times. The sheer level of emotional support they require is incalculable, and they will depend greatly on their husband to provide that support.

Just as “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen.2:18), so also it is not good for the wife to be alone, especially when she has been traumatised by news of serious illness, or whatever the specific situation might be. Similarly, children, regardless of their ages, need the support that only father can give; and they must not be deprived of that. What dereliction of responsibility that would be if the husband and father were to neglect this parental and matrimonial duty and responsibility. 

I sometimes wonder if husbands are aware of the deep emotional and spiritual needs of their wives and families at a time of trauma. Perhaps the husband is so caught up with his own situation that he gives precious little thought to how his wife and family are feeling, or even coping with the situation. Yet he can spend more time with others whose needs are not ass great. This is a Christian duty that has great potential for spiritual benefits for all concerned.

I heard of a Christian husband whose wife has cancer, and is not handling it very well, going off on his sporting activities when he would have been better to have stayed with her. I know that when the time is right, carers need a break from their responsibilities and to re-charge their emotional and spiritual batteries again. But in the early days of cancer or whatever caused the trauma, is essentially a traumatic situation, and his place is with his wife and family.

When a husband undertakes at his marriage to “love his wife” and to do so “in sickness and in health,” (that is, in good times and in bad) when she suffers (from cancer), it is his privilege as well as his duty to fulfil this vow in the most practical of ways. To demonstrate his love for her at such a time is a great witness to the love of Christ for His church (Eph.5:25). For her to be abandoned in such circumstances is nothing short of criminal. She needs him, and he must be there for her and for the children.

I remember reading about what Prof. E. M. Blaiklock did in order to make up for the time he hadn’t spent with his son who had become most wayward in his living; he took many months off just to spend quality time with him. He placed his parental responsibilities before even his academic career. 

When trauma strikes, it hits the whole family; no one escapes, regardless of who is the primary sufferer. Trauma can be a lonely and isolating experience. But God has set the solitary in families (Ps.68:6), for it is not good that men or women or children should be alone.

Cherish your family; value who and what they are; appreciate them because they hurt, too. And they also need your nearness. 

Tenderness and the Traumatised

How much spiritual and emotional damage can be done by those who do not have pastoral hearts, whether ministers or not! When believers are undergoing the afflictions of this life, they need great tenderness from God’s professing people. Pious platitudes are worse than useless, even though they are true. Inexperience in pastoral matters can do great damage to souls. I am reminded of what Jesus said of Himself quoting Isa.42 that “a bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench” (Mt.12:20). Gentleness is needed when dealing with broken people.

Not all those who are called “pastor” are pastors at heart. They seem, rather, to use the pastoral office for self-promotion and self-gratification. Such ‘pastors’ become aloof from their people and when called in for help, are way out of their depth when it comes to providing it. Their approach is to squeeze this disruptive pastoral visit in as well as possible to fit their busy schedule because they have far more important matters to see to than caring for members who are in spiritual difficulties.

Sadly, the ministerial office is ready made for self-gratification, etc.

But there are genuine pastors in churches and there are Christians who have a genuine pastoral heart, and they are gems. Thank God for them all, and pray for them.

But in the cancer scenario, ministers must exercise great care when it comes to implementing the American idea of testimony-giving in church services. This can also demonstrate the insensitivity of ministers in their zeal to promote the Gospel. These men seems to have a panel of testimony-givers they can call upon to tell their stories, and often no thought is given to those sitting in the congregation who are being torn to bits because of what they are going through in their own families. This is reckless, and ought not to be practiced  Christians feel the need to get up and leave such services, and others made a conscious decision to turn off when such people were speaking.

All the end of the day, in cancer cases, and in testimonies, no two cases are exactly the same. Just because one Christian has experienced certain situations does not mean in the least that you will find the same. Testimonies are highly individual and subjective things, and as such can do extreme damage to tender hearts that might be present and listening. Also, many testimonies are more like life-stories rather than up-to-date witness statements about what the Lord has done and is doing in a person’s life.

Great care must be taken in church situations when dealing with broken hearts, and everything must be avoided that will further traumatise those who are seeking spiritual help.

In The Presence of the Lord.

We had one of the most memorable times with the Lord this morning when we had our daily readings and prayer.  The reading was about body, soul and spirit, and the writer was drawing a parallel between these and a house.  The body he compared with the kitchen where we prepare our food to sustain life; it’s where we care for the body in this world.  Above this was the soul, the part of man that we give some attention to, but not really very much.  The top storey was the spirit, the place where we meet with the Lord in private.  This is the place that we know about, but only visit now and again.

This resonated with us because we knew that there was much truth in this parallel.  We spend too much necessary time caring for the body and its needs, but not nearly so much caring for the soul and its needs; certainly not as much as we ought to caring for the spirit and its need of communion with the Lord.  The embarrassment comes when we think about the real spiritual communion with the Lord; this is where conscience strikes and we feel guilt and unworthiness – not a bad thing in themselves. 

But we got down to prayer, and we found ourselves being lifted up into the most blessed place – the place of intimate communion with our Lord and Saviour.  This morning we met with the Lord.  We knew we were in His presence; we knew that He has come down again into our living room and had met with us.  We just knew it.  There was a “deafening silence,” a silence that could be felt.  God was near and we could almost touch Him.  Not physically, for God is a Spirit, but we did touch the living God.  It was wonderful.

And in that meeting with the living Lord, Margaret’s headache disappeared.  I don’t know for sure how long we spent in that blessed company, but we did know when we had finished our praying that we had met with Christ.  We did not want to flinch, or move a muscle.  Even the dog was utterly silent and at peace.  The very phone did not ring.  We were in the place of intimate personal communion with God.

When we finished praying, we spoke with low subdued voices.  We knew we were in the presence of His Majesty.  We both knew independently that we had experienced something unusual, something profoundly spiritual.  Margaret said that she would not have wanted to miss this for anything.  I agreed with her.  It took her illness and our family circumstances to open us up to what God could do.  She said that for years she had sung those lovely Gospel hymns, but they hadn’t meant that much to her.  Now they mean the world to her.  They are charged with meaning and power and life.  God had opened her eyes, and mine, to see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the familiar words with which we had been brought up. 

We sat and meditated, and thought and prayed.  God was there with us by His Spirit and we were with Him.  I said to Margaret that so precious was this time with the Lord that I could envisage God sitting on His heavenly Throne smiling down on us.  We were enjoying Him – man’s chief end.  But even more amazing was the fact that He was enjoying us.  There was peace between us, a real and deep sense of reconciliation.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Margaret’s headache had gone, and we praised Him for that.  But her back pain was still there, and we praised Him for what He could do.  I can remember a time when I knew I was going to where I would be mauled by evil people, but I went there singing praises to the Lord most high, and came home singing praises to his great Name.  That’s what grace can do. 

Oh, what a wonderful morning this was.  You know, I pity those who have had a smooth run through life for they do not know what they are missing.  How mechanical their prayers are, how correct, how formal, how measured!  And I wonder just how far they reach!  But when you are cast upon the Lord only, my, what a difference that makes to us.

Church-initiated Persecution of Gospel Ministers in Northern Ireland

Recovering from something as traumatic as cancer and its very demanding treatment is a challenge, and patients need as much support as they can get. Family is always a great  source of support and comfort, as are friends who call and help with food, etc. 

Yet, it is noteworthy just how little it takes to upset the equilibrium that has been enjoyed.  Satan is always looking for an opportunity to attack, and sadly there is no lack of springboards from which to launch such attacks.

What some people will not believe or accept is how many times the “Christian” church is at the forefront of attacking Gospel ministers.  “Oh, the church would never do that,” they say in defense of their own denomination.  “The minister must have done something very wrong for our church to remove him.” 

Well, on that point they are quite correct.  These men have preached the Gospel with power and passion, which very thing the churches do not want.  And they have applied Gospel principles to and within their congregations, another unwanted church commodity.

Today’s liberal and anti-Gospel churches are still removing Gospel-preaching ministers from their charges, while they leave the ‘good churchmen’ to get on with their lives, not to mention their ministries.  What are ‘good churchmen’?  ‘Good churchmen’ are those who never disturb the consciences of their hearers, never question their professions of faith, never expect their faith to be seen in everyday life, never ask uncomfortable questions of the church, and never question the spirituality of the church.  They just turn a blind eye to religious formalism and outward respectability, and as long as the church is functioning “as it was in the beginning, is now, and evermore shall be,” all is well. 

But once God’s transforming Gospel arrives in such churches, it is as if all hell is let loose – against the minister and those who support the minister because he preaches the everlasting Gospel.  As Dr John Stott calls it, the Gospel is Christian Counter Culture.  It challenges everything, particularly those whose religious and eternal well-being are dependent solely on a mere profession of faith.  Such people imagine they are genuine Christians and are regarded as such, why?  Because the church’s eldership accepted them as Christians, so they must be Christians.  And woe betide anyone, minister or otherwise, who raises any questions as to their spiritual standing. 

And remember this; the persecution of Christian ministers does not only happen in far away lands like India, Pakistan, China, etc.  It is happening right in front of our eyes.  And do you know what makes this particularly heart-breaking?  God’s people in these churches stand back and refuse to challenge such treatment of the servants of Christ, thus implicating them in what their leaders have done to Gospel men.  It shows just how little they care for the Gospel after all.  Why do they do this?  Because their ecclesiology is essentially Roman Catholic, and by that I mean, whatever the church does is right, infallibly right. 

Thank God for those ministers who, out of love for their people and for Christ and His Gospel, are prepared to challenge a religion of mere words.  Formal religion is useless when faced with death, and we have discovered the reality of a living faith in such a situation.

Two ministers have already been put out of their charges by their respective denominations, one has been forced to resign to take effect in about five weeks time, and another is on sick leave because of “work-related stress;” he joins some 35 other ministers from one denomination who are off on similar grounds.  Congregations are divided right down the middle, and in most cases, this is over the Gospel, a most unwelcome commodity in many churches today. 

This happened to me twenty years ago, and it is still happening to Gospel ministers today.  And when your wife is suffering from cancer and hears about the re-enactment of such evils by churches, it does nothing to help her in her recovery.  It brings back bad thoughts of what was done to us by the church.  You don’t need me to tell you what kind of churches they are that throw out Gospel preaching ministers, do you?  If these churches loved Christ and the Gospel, they would treasure the servants of Christ, not toss them aside as you would an empty packet.  Because these are Christ’s chosen vessels for the propagation of the Gospel, those churches and ministers will have to answer to God for the evil they have inflicted on God’s men.

Now this kind of situation needles both my wife and me.  It causes anger to arise within us, and takes us back to the days when we were going through such church-inspired persecution.  In fact, it re-traumatises us.

Please pray for these persecuted ministers of the Gospel in this land where we are told that peace and reconciliation reign.

Levered From This World.

Sometimes you think, don’t you?  And sometimes you think it’s necessary in God’s plan that we are levered away from our dependence and attachment to this world.  You’d think that God has to make us decay physically in order to get us to focus our minds and hearts on things eternal.  It is true that the Lord has to take away from us the things we have been engrossed in that we could then give our efforts to meditating on the future life.  He has to take us away from that which is perishing and which will perish so that we concentrate our hearts on that which can never spoil or fade (1 Pet.1:4,5).  He has given to us a living hope by Christ’s resurrection, and has brought us to “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

The very mention of an inheritance suggests that it is concrete, real, actual, something tangible.  Is this the “new earth” wherein righteousness dwells?  Is that our inheritance?  Or is it God Himself?  Perhaps it’s both.  Perhaps our inheritance is God the King of the new earth.  But whichever it is, the tent we live in on this earth will be dissolved and we will be clothed with immortality.

A Christian can be in good form, yet the body decaying.  Isn’t that simply amazing?  A Christian’s spirit can be rejoicing, yet their body shutting down gradually.  A believer can glory in the Lord, yet be wracked with pain. 

Puritan Richard Baxter’s (1615-1691) words ring true:

Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if Thy work on earth be sweet,
What will Thy glory be?

These are the great truths that believers hold on to. Or to put it in another way, these are the great truths that hold on to the believer!  These hold us like a buckler, a belt that holds everything else in place.  They give us stability in our lives.  They are the sheet anchor of our souls when the gales blow and the waves engulf us.  These are God’s provision for us as believers.  Oh, “how good is the God we adore!”  

Adversity and Illness - Are These Blessings?

Adversity and illness can be the best teacher one can ask for, and I have found this to be true.  Indeed, what this teacher tells me is not always pleasant.  He faces me up with uncomfortable truths that strike the conscience with a force that is devastating. 

One of those truths concerns how Christians live while everything is going fine.  Their living is almost by rote.  They worship by rote; they pray mechanically; they serve God because it is their duty to serve God; they attend church because it is what is expected of them as Christians.  They read the Bible because that’s what Christians do; they pray for the same reason.  They attended evangelical meetings because it is their duty to be there.

But if and when they sit down and ponder what it was they were doing all these years, they may be in for a great surprise.  To help you grasp this, let me ask you, as Margaret and I have asked ourselves, was your heart in what you were doing?  How deep and real was your love for Christ?  Was it just a mere profession?  Did you really look forward to meeting with Christ in the Word and in prayer, or were these things done mechanically?  

Was your religion a religion that was done without thinking?  Was going to worship the Lord of all the earth something you did unconsciously?  Was it just your habit to do so?

These are very uncomfortable questions to address.  For when you are faced with a potentially life-threatening situation, such religion is utterly useless to anyone. And the really frightening thing is that so many church people are depending upon their mere church involvement to get them to heaven.  So long as they believe the right things, go to the right church, be seen with the right people, use the right language, little else matters.  But this is all vanity. 

When I think as a minister just how little heart there was in my service, I cringe.  When I consider how many things were done just because someone else expected me to do them, I tremble.  When I recall how many empty prayers I prayed, I feel ashamed.  When I recall how often I read the Scriptures without even thinking about what the Lord was saying to me, I fear.  I fear that so much was done because it was the practice to do them.  I simply followed tradition because it was tradition not because it was biblical. 

Looking back, I am glad that circumstances changed and God brought me to where I and Margaret are at today, because in the past we missed so much.  We were not really touched by other people’s hurt, their problems, their situations.  Oh, the bane of ministerial professionalism.  What a blight on the Church of Jesus Christ!  I am sure the gracious Lord had to teach me these lessons that I could not or would not learn elsewhere.  There is no place like the furnace to burn away the dross from a Christian profession. 

The great English Puritan, Richard Baxter (1615-1691) wrote the words of this mighty hymn (the last five verses):

If life be long, oh, make me glad
The longer to obey;
If short, no labourer is sad
To end his toilsome day.

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
And he that to God's kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.

Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if Thy work on earth be sweet,
What will Thy glory be?

Then I shall end my sad complaints
And weary, sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
Who sing my Saviour’s praise.

My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him.

Do these words warm and thrill your hearts?  See the humility of Baxter as he submits to God’s sure providence.  Let us imitate him in these things, and we, too, will be greatly encouraged to walk the pilgrim path with joyfulness and hope.

Loneliness - Is There a Solution?

Loneliness is not a nice thing.  I remember being away from home on my own on a study tour, and feeling very alone, isolated, cut off.  It’s just not nice.  Especially when things do not always work out as you would have hoped.  Friends all gone and feeling very alone. 

Christians also feel very alone at times, but for them it’s usually a temporary thing.  Christians have Someone to Whom they can turn at any time and in any circumstances.  Jesus told us that He’ll not leave us like orphans after He goes, but will send another Comforter (Jn. 14:16, the Holy Spirit) to be with us right throughout life in this world.  And when Jesus said He would do this, He kept His word, and the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost.

Just one important thing to note: if anyone does not have the Spirit of God living in his/her life, s/he is not a Christian.  To have the Spirit of Christ living in you is to be a Christian.  Every Christian has the Spirit in Him.  But have you?  Is Christ living in you by His Spirit? 

What a comforter He is.  It is Jesus Who baptises, or fills, us with the Holy Spirit, as the Scriptures clearly teach (see Mt.3:11; Mk1:8; Lk.3:16; Jn 1:33; Ac.1:5; 11:6).  This is something He does.  And when He comes to us and floods our hearts with His grace and power, then we know that we are not alone anymore.  To have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who is given to us (Rom.5:5), is what sets Christians off from the rest of the world.  The Spirit has been given to us.  Do you realise that?  Do you realise Who it is that is dwelling in your heart?  God the Holy Spirit.  That means that you will never be left alone permanently.  He is not only with us but is in us. 

Friends, I say these things in order to stir up your hearts to know that Christ lives in us by that same Spirit.  And it is the presence and power of the Spirit of Christ Who helps us to pray.  When our praying is nothing but groaning in the very depths of our hearts, then it is that the Holy Spirit interprets our groaning and presents our praying groans perfect before God the Father.  God loves groaners, not moaners.

So, if we want our prayers to be effective, we must seek the filling of the Holy Spirit on a day by day basis.  Jesus said, you remember, “Without Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).  Maybe much of our difficulty in prayer lies in the fact that our relationship with God is merely a formal one.  Perhaps we have been trying to ‘do’ Christianity in our own strength and without seeking His enabling.  Maybe we are all much too self-sufficient for God to bother with us.  Pride in our Christian faith leaves us untouchable by God.  If we don’t need Him, He’ll not bother us.  That seeks eminently fair, does it not?

So let us ‘get real’ about Christ and His service.  Read through the book of Acts and see there what the normal Christian life actually is.  There you see the church throbbing with spiritual life.  Is your church like that?  Is it truly a New Testament Church?  Is your Christian experience a reflection of that of the first believers?  Or have you rationalised your spiritual deadness by saying that we are now living in ordinary days whereas the days of the apostles were extraordinary?  Are you buzzing with spiritual life and vitality and is your church the same?  Is your church so alive spiritually that if Paul was here today he would feel compelled to write to your church a letter like the one he wrote to the Corinthians in an attempt to curb excesses?  Is vibrant spiritual life a problem for you and your church?  Praise God if it is.  Or have you settled down to a spiritual life of mediocrity and believe that to be the norm?

These are disturbing questions that bring conviction of sin to us.  But we must put right what is patently wrong in our walk with Christ.  The Christian life is not meant to be ‘ordinary.’  Had that been the case, the first believers would not have been persecuted, imprisoned, or martyred.  The early Christians were full of the Holy Spirit, full of joy, of power, grace, love, assurance; and we were meant to be like them.  Now there’s a challenge.

Praying Aloud - Is This a Problem Today?

Did you ever wonder why you find it difficult to pray out loud?  Ever wonder why you cannot pray aloud while others can with ease?  Do you think you’re not a Christian because you cannot pray aloud?

Some Christians think like this, and you could argue that this does point to a spiritual problem.  There are Christians who have never once prayed aloud, either in a prayer meeting or even at home. 

But here’s what we have found: there’s nothing like deep, real, pressing, life-threatening trouble to get you a-praying.  Margaret never prayed aloud in any prayer meeting, and only once at home when she was faced by a particularly trying situation.  But that was it. 

Now, what was it that got her a-praying?  Cancer.  Can you understand why she thanks God for her cancer?  It got her meeting with the Lord in a way that neither of us knew before. 

You see, God has His own way of getting us to take our Christian lives and profession seriously.  When He really touches us, we’ll pray.  Remember when Saul was converted on the road to Damascus?  How did the disciples know he really was a Christian?  They said, “Look! He’s praying” (Ac.9:11).  Prayer is the cry of the living child of God.   Prayer is how the child of God communicates with his/her heavenly Father.  It is how we enjoy communion with our Lord. 

But look.  Be very careful when you say you can’t pray aloud.  God has His own effective ways of getting us a-praying.  We can take either the easier way, or be faced with a much more difficult way.  But either way, the sheer blessedness of communion with our Saviour is worth it all.  To be in His presence, and know it, is a rare blessing.  To know that you and the Lord are actually speaking to each other – He through his Word to us, and we in our prayers to Him, is a blessing not to be missed.  To sit silently in His holy presence is both an uncomfortable thing and an encouraging thing.  To know “the love of Christ being poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who is given to us” – well, the only thing better than that is heaven itself (Rom.5:5).  To be filled “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet.1:8), well, that’s amazing.  You just cannot describe what it’s like.  Words fail you.  It is so magnificent and awe-inspiring that language proves useless to tell what it’s like.

And when God visits you in some such way, then you’ll know spiritual delights that you never thought it was possible for you to know and experience.  

Marriage Again

Keep Marriage as it is.  That's the basic message of this short video on marriage.  Click here to watch it.

Minister to be Ministered to.

You might be wondering why I spend so much time and effort in preparing these ‘sermons’ for you, but there are two very good pastoral reason why.  

First, I am so painfully aware how great a battle prayer is, so those who pray need to be encouraged and challenged in order to keep them on track.  If their prayer is to be intelligent, it must be informed about the current situation, which, as you know, can change from day to day, at times from hour to hour. 

Second, I am seeking to minister to myself in order to keep my spiritual fires burning brightly.  Prayer is when you really enter the battle-field with the devil, and the forces of evil, and he will contest every step you take in approaching the Throne of grace.  I, like you, find prayer both a delight and a challenge.  There’s is simply nothing to compare with having an audience with the King, and know you have been there.  For too often when I pray, it is merely words and little heart.  It is so true: a hearty prayer without words is better than a wordy prayer without heart.  Mere words just do not cut it.  So I need to be reminded of the very basics of prayer, and be taught that “there is a wicked spirit watching o’er you still, and he tries to tempt you to all harm and ill.  But you must not hear him though ‘tis hard for you to resist the evil and the good to do.”  How frequently I fall at this hurdle.  So these updates minister to my sinful heart as well as to yours.

More About Marriage.

The third installment on Marriage Minutes is now available.  I think the evidence against re-defining marriage is overwhelming.  Do you know what is happening in other countries where same-sex marriage has been legalised?  What this short video to find out more.

Additional information may be found by clicking here. Decision day is not far away, so Christians are called upon to pray earnestly that God might defeat this corruption before it becomes law.

The Barrenness Of A Busy Life.

One thing I have been well aware of (and its something I have observed more in the breach than in the observance) and that is "the barrenness of a busy life." 

Satan works us so hard that we do not do the very spiritual exercises that are needed. 

The church also plays into this because she does not want us to be "men of God" in any real and effective sense.  So, she puts us on all these committees and commissions with the very purpose of keeping us off our knees.  She invites us here and there, all to keep us from fellowship with the Lord.  And into the bargain, we become all puffed up with pride and entertain thoughts of how good/great we really are, when in reality we are just unprofitable servants.  How much we crave and pursue popularity with men, and neglect being in the special favour of God. Our hearts are so sinful and wicked.

The church knows, in the words of Robert Murray McCheyne, that "what a man is on knees before God, that he is and no more.  A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God."  The last thing in the world that the church wants is a holy minister, a minister who is living close to the Lord.  What a handful such a minister will turn out to be.  He is living close to Christ, so he knows things about the spiritual state of the church that the church does not want him to know.  And what he knows he speaks.  And when he speaks these things, the church goes immediately into defensive mode, and behind backs, resorts to underhand ways of silencing such a holy man of God.

One way she does this is to keep him very busy with needless activities.  Keep him 'serving the wider church,' and you'll keep him off his knees before God.  Keep him as busy as possible, make him think he is indispensable to the future of the church, get him to see his activity as promoting the Gospel through the church, and you've got him.  Distract him with 'all kinds of everything,' especially church things, and he'll be no bother to a spiritually look-warm church.  Appoint him to represent the church at foreign conferences, and he'll soon get big ideas about himself.  Talk nicely to him, and bring him to see what a 'good churchman' he is, and you've nobbled him.

How many good evangelical ministers have been nobbled in just that manner.  How many spiritual wrecks litter the church.  The church has been, and is, very successful in keeping the Gospel in its place, and that place is not at the front of church life and service.  And in so doing, she has neutered many good Gospel-preaching ministries.

Oh, the barrenness of a busy life.  Flee it like the plague.  Don't yield to its mesmerising appeals.  It's a killer. It is Satan's tool to destroy your effectiveness in Christ's Kingdom.

On His Majesty's Secret Service

You will have noticed James Bond (007) themes coming through these posts, and I've done so for the very good reason that film titles were suggestive of Gospel ideas that could be used  to present Christ and His goodnews to a lost world.
This title is no different.  There are three ways of looking at this none: (i) we could concentrate on God's secret mission in the world where those He will save may not know it yet, but God is working out His eternal purposes in their lives and circumstances. (ii) There are Christians who see themselves as being involved in this secret mission in the world, yet tend to be 'silent witnesses' to Christ. (iii)  Believers are an integral part of God secret mission in the world, a privilege that we do not fully realise. So let me make a start.

His Majesty, the Lord Jesus Christ, owns this world; He made it ex nihilo (out of nothing), and He sustains it by His powerful Word.  He cares for it in every aspect of its being, and cares about what sinful people are doing in it.  Sometimes He shows Himself but more often He works silently and not noticed by the vast majority of people.  He is engaged in His secret service.  Providentially He is working constantly, unnoticed, unobserved, mysteriously.  As you read this, you may not believe it, but it is nonetheless true.  Have you ever thought about the strange   Things that have happened, maybe even happened to you, have left you wondering what is going on.  That is God working out His secret purpose.  And if He is doing that outside of you, then He may well be doing a similar work in your heart.  He is drawing you to Himself by the invisible cords of His grace.  He speaks to you through the things that happen and also by His Spirit.  He loves you and is working to bring you to Christ.

Are you a Christian?  Then you are involved in this secret service of King Jesus.  He has you as His fellow-workers in the world, working to bring in His Kingdom.  His work is done through His Word, the Gospel.  He has placed you in your particular place to be His witness; that is, to speak of Christ as and when you have opportunity.  Being a 'silent witness' is to be no real witness at all.  "Go for and tell..." Jim Seddan's missionary hymn demands.  Are you telling what the Lord has done for your soul (Ps.66:16).  Be a vocal witness to God's saving grace in Christ.  For through your vocal witness, others will hear of our wonderful Saviour.

As a Christian, you are integral to God's work of mission in the world.  That is not to say that He cannot work without means, but He usually does.  Perhaps you think you are just a church member and that the responsibility for outreach is the minister or the elders.  True, but you too have been called to be a witness to Christ.  You're attitude ought to be, "I'll speak for I cannot keep silent," as one hymn-writer puts it.  Speak out for Jesus while it is still the daytime for night-time comes when no man can speak.  There is an urgency about His Majesty's Secret Service.  Darkness is coming, and for some it is already here.

Speak up for Jesus, or shut up!