Worthy of dishonour

Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonoured on behalf of the Name. Acts 5:41 HCSB

"Worthy of dishonour"

Think about that for a while. The kingdom we are a part of works on very different principles to the world! When we are consumed for the honour of his holy name we will be less preoccupied with our own promotion and recognition. There is glory to be found for God's name even in the most humbling of circumstances.

[Originally posted to Facebook 08/02/18]

Freedom of speech

“Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Acts 5:25

If it is the work of the Spirit to cause us to speak, it should not surprise us that it is the strategy of the enemy to try to keep us silent!

However, as always, his plans will backfire. The persecutions and imprisonments that the enemy threw at the church only served to cause the message to spread.

This is how we overcome the enemy. By taking that which he tries to impose upon us to silence us, and using it as a springboard to speak all the more!

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 12:11

It's important to understand that "the word of our testimony" is more than just a short account of something good God did for us in the past! "Testimony" here is in the sense of a witness giving testimony to what he has seen. It is speaking the words that the Holy Spirit came to empower us to speak, that we might be his witnesses. We overcome Satan by refusing to let any of the weapons he forges against us rob us of the word that the Spirit has placed within us to sow.

Much of what he have in our New Testament was written by Paul while he was imprisoned. (What an own goal for the enemy that was!) But what was true for Paul is true for us also...

If a man is free to discharge the word of God that is within him then he is not truly a prisoner to anything!

[Originally posted to Facebook 07/02/18]

Empowered to speak

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said... Acts 4:8

Acts 3 and 4 are most obviously an account of the power to heal. But there is something else that struck me, that runs not just through these two chapters but the whole of the Acts narrative thus far...

The power to speak.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. Acts 1:8

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak... Acts 2:4

Here again. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he spoke.

Being filled with the Spirit makes you speak. Jesus described receiving the Spirit, in John 7, as streams of living water. But it is interesting the direction he focused on. He didn't say receiving the Holy Spirit is like streams of living water flowing into your heart from above, but, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

The Spirit does not just give us supernatural words. Those are the spirit-filled utterances that most people think of. Jesus promised that he would give us powerful and appropriate words in our own language too...

And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11-12

I think the takeaway for today is pretty clear:
Be filled with the Spirit... and speak!

[Originally posted to Facebook 06/02/18]

Unity and Anointing

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Acts 2:1

It strikes me that the first miracle on the day of Pentecost was not the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but the unity of the church!

Although Jesus after his resurrection was content to appear to different groups of his disciples at different times, it seems that when the Spirit was to be poured out from on high, God was waiting not just for the right date on the calendar, but the right expression of completeness and harmony on the earth.

There is something about unity on the earth that has always provoked a response from heaven. On occasion it is in the negative sense as at Babel. But most often it is as it says in Psalm 133: it commands his blessing.

Many in this day are looking to God for another great outpouring of his Spirit. I believe in the heart of God he is first looking for another great expression of unity in his people. He is longing to fulfil the great priestly prayer of his son, that we all might be one, just as he and the Father are one. It is this expression of unity that will provoke him to pour out a powerful anointing from on high, from the head to the corner of the robes, touching every part of his earthly body.

Make no mistake, this is still a great miracle. In some ways it is an even greater miracle than rushing winds, tongues of fire or supernatural languages. It cannot be achieved by the administration or natural efforts of man, but must be a work of the Holy Spirit. It's just we do not need to wait for another outpouring on high. The Spirit who will accomplish this already lives within us, as he does within all our brothers and sisters whom our common Father longs to unite us with.

Ezekiel first had to prophesy to the dry bones. They first had to come together, bone to bone, joint to joint. Then he could prophesy to the breath, and God poured out the Spirit from on high to raise them up as a mighty army.

So I believe it will be in these days.

[Originally posted to Facebook 05/02/18]

Heaven and Earth

"Galilaeans, why stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in just the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven." Acts 1:11 (WNT)

Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, tells us that we are to fix our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It is interesting then that immediately after the ascension the disciples have an angelic visitation apparently telling them to do the opposite!

So which is it? Should we be focused on the heavenly realities where Christ is seated and with him our true identity and positioning, or on the earthly realities where there is still so much need for us to engage and continue the works that Jesus began.

To my mind, it is like asking which end of the battery most needs to be connected. The answer is of course both! You only get power when you have a connection between the two. So the most important one to focus on is the one that has come loose! We are not to be so taken up with the world and its activities that we forget our true identity and become no different, but neither are we to be so engaged with heaven that we forget we have been positioned down here for purpose!

Jesus told his disciples that he was going back to heaven to prepare a dwelling place for their coming. But that's not the end of the story, because after the resurrection they also learned that he was leaving them on earth to prepare a dwelling place for his coming!

If our eschatology is correct we will understand that these two events are actually one and the same! We are not waiting to be taken up to heaven, nor passively waiting for Jesus to return to earth. We are actively bringing forward the day when heaven and earth meet and the dwelling place of God and man becomes one.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.'" Revelation 21:1,3

[Originally posted to Facebook 04/02/18] 

See the empty tomb!

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. John 20:1

I don't know if it ever occurred to me before, but it struck me this morning: the stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out, but to let the disciples in!

If Jesus, after his resurrection, could appear behind locked doors, and if he could pass through his grave clothes leaving them neatly folded where they lay, then surely he could have passed through the stone as well.

So the angelic moving of the stone is a divine invitation. An open door that beckons his followers to enter in and witness the evidence of the resurrection.

It seems the gospel of John ends with the same invitation which Jesus himself gave at its beginning: "Come and see!"

[Originally posted to Facebook 03/02/18]

Inner change

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17

We know that our righteousness and justification is on the basis of Christ's work alone, not our own works. But sanctification is the ongoing process by which we become more like God. It does not happen overnight when we get saved, but we must cooperate with the work of God's grace in our lives to allow ourselves to be conformed into his image.

However, many people get the process the wrong way round. They try to change their inner man by changing their outward habits. The pharisees were the classic example of this. They had many external rules an regulations which they thought if they followed would make them more holy!

Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." (Matthew 23:25-26)

True change has to come from the inside.

Trying to change yourself from the outside in is like pulling an elastic band out of shape. By the strength of your will you may manage it for a while, but eventually it is going to ping back into shape! Many people experience the same frustration when trying to change themselves by willpower alone! It's not meant to work that way. The outside will always conform to what is inside. Change your inner man, and the behaviour of the outer man will conform.

The way we change our inner man is to allow God's word of truth to do its work. Read it. Dwell on it. Meditate on it. Love it. Remember it. Speak about it. Then live it... out of the overflow of the heart.

[Originally posted to Facebook 02/02/18]

Peace and Trouble

In me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. John 16:33

Trouble in this world and peace in Christ are not mutually exclusive. We are not meant to be blown to and fro from a state of peace at one moment to a state of trouble the next and then back again. No, even in the midst of trouble we can know and remain in his peace.

He is the rock upon which we stand firm even in the fiercest of storms.

[Originally posted to Facebook 30/01/18]

Cleansing shears

Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (John 15:2b-3 ESV)

Jesus makes a leap from talking about being pruned to being clean. In the Greek the word conveys both meanings. It is a cutting off what is corrupt but with the purpose that what remains might be pure.

No pruning comes without pain, but it is important that we understand that the pain is not the purpose, it is the purity. The natural response to pain is to recoil, but Jesus time and again in this passage tells us that we must remain.

We need to trust that the vinedresser is only cutting off that which we are better off without, and that the result will be a greater expression of his divine life and fruitfulness.

[Originally posted on Facebook 29/01/18]

Should I stay or should I go

Jesus said to his disciples, "You are those who have stayed with me in my trials." (Lk 22:28)

This is an important word for anyone going through a time of trial. And if we are honest that is all of us at times. The important word is "stay!" It's all too easy to quit when the going gets tough. To walk away. To look for something easier elsewhere. But the most important thing that trials teach is how to endure. To stay. To stand our ground. To keep going. To put down deep roots. A plant that is always uprooting itself and looking for better soil will never grow. The nature of a true disciple of Christ is not the ease of his life but his choice to stay even when life is not easy.

[Originally posted to Facebook 10/03/17]

An abode within the house

In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place John 14:2 (DBT)

Jesus answered and said to him, If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. John 14:23 (DBT)

Spotted another beautiful symmetry in the word this morning. (Although I had to search quite hard to find a bible translation that preserves it.)

In verse 2 it seems that many translators struggle to know how translate the word for the "rooms" that are in our Father's house. In the KJV it is "mansions". In the NIV and ESV it is "rooms." But neither of these capture the full meaning. Literally, it is "dwelling place" or "abode." And significantly it is the same word that is used in verse 23 to describe how God takes up residence within us!

We are familiar with the idea that our physical bodies can be the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that he dwells within us. Well, in verse 2 we see the mirror...

Just as God now has his dwelling place within our physical house, we will have our dwelling place within his spiritual house!

[Originally posted on Facebook 28/01/18]

Untroubled by trouble

Do not let you hearts be troubled. John 14:1

Some say we are shaped by the circumstances we go through. I think it's more accurate to say we are shaped by how we choose to go through them. You see, we always have a choice. Even in the circumstances we cannot control. We are never just a victim or a passenger. If we have control of our hearts and minds we are still the head and not the tail.

The trouble in your life doesn't have to be a trouble in your heart. It's a choice. Don't let it in!

[Originally posted on Facebook 28/01/18]

Disappointed Greeks

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." John 12:20-21

Ever wonder why some details are in the scriptures?

I wonder about these Greeks. I wonder why John includes such detail when it seems disconnected to what comes next. I wonder how long they waited outside the temple for their audience with Jesus when it is clear he never came. I wonder if they were still around when the voice of the Father came from heaven, and how that made them feel.

They had come to the right person at the right time for all the right reasons and yet the door they were expecting to open for them never did.

It must have been disappointing. I think anyone who feels the call of God on their life and has not had it realised the way they expected (and I think that's a pretty broad umbrella!) has had to face and deal with a similar disappointment at some time in their journey.

I hope these men dealt with their disappointment and were among the great multitude of gentiles who turned to the Lord after his resurrection.

You see, Jesus knew there were no short cuts around the cross. Satan tempted him once to receive the gentile nations without going through the cross. He resisted then as he resisted in this instance too.

These gentiles were not overlooked, ignored or excluded. They were in the very heart of God's plan. But before they could enter there had to be a death and resurrection.

The way in is not by asking the right apostle, but through death and resurrection.

[Originally posted to Facebook 26/01/18]

The shortest verse

Jesus wept. John 11:35

Shortest verse. Simple lesson. Never believe the lie that God is unmoved by your pain. If he seems to delay, as he did with Lazarus, it is because he is working to an end that we do not yet see.

Just like to Martha he says to us, "If you believe you will see the glory of God!"

[Originally posted to Facebook 25/01/18]

An unhelpful question

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3

When things go wrong it is natural to want to know a reason. To many people's theology, including it would seem the first apostles, anything less than prosperity and health must mean you have made a mistake somewhere. Thankfully, Jesus himself does not share that view.

I have found, from my own personal experience, that sometimes it's not helpful to ask "why?" It's not that it isn't a legitimate question, it's just that many times there are no easy answers to be found and allowing your thoughts to stray down that road can lead to unnecessary introspection and pain.

If you are in a hard place: It's less important to know how you got there as to know how you move on to display the glory of God in your life.

[Originally posted on Facebook 23/01/18]

Troubled waters

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and agitated the water: whoever then first after the stirring of the water stepped in, was cured of whatever disease he had. Jn 5:4 (WBT)

and the sea was agitated by a strong wind blowing. Jn 6:18 (DBT)

Another connection I've not spotted before is a link between the stirring of the waters in John 5 (the healing at Bethesda) and the stirring of the waters in John 6 (where Jesus comes out to his disciples walking on the water.) The Greek word used is different, so the link is hard to spot, but the meaning of the two words is very similar: a stirring, a rousing, a troubling, an agitation.

I find it interesting, and very telling, that a troubling and an agitation can be both a concern (as it was to the disciples in the boat) and a source of blessing (as it was to the sick and disabled at Bethesda)

When we face our own times of troubling or agitation I think we can falsely divide the two. We see the things that happen to us as either good or bad, as either a source of trouble or a source of blessing. But often they are one and the same. The God who sent his angel to trouble the waters is the same God who sends his son to speak to them, "Peace be still."

There is peace and blessing with Jesus even in the midst of trouble and agitation!

[Originally posted on Facebook 20/01/18]

Untouched by the fire

Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell of smoke! Daniel 3:27 (NLT)

I love this detail in the account of Daniel's friends' journey through the fiery furnace. When they came out they hadn't even been touched by the smell of the fire!

Daniel 3 is a clear picture of a satanic distortion of the purpose of God. There is a false god. False worship. A false (and corrupt) Judgement, and ultimately the righteous are cast into a false hell!

Jesus told us that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. His plan is to destroy us or at least cause us permanent harm or loss. But the promise of God to his faithful is that whatever weapon he forges against us, it cannot prevail.

Daniel in the lions den, his friends in the fiery furnace, Haman's gallows, David before Goliath, and ultimately in the cross of Christ himself: it doesn't matter the story, it ends the same way. God takes that which was intended for evil and turns it around for good. The righteous are delivered and the enemy is decapitated with his own sword!

Whatever furnace you are facing, whatever giant is staring you down, remember this:

If you remain in faith it is possible to go through hell and to come out smelling of heaven!

[Originally posted on Facebook 18/01/18]

Worship in truth

True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. John 4:23

There should never be any unreality in our worship. God never requires us to put on airs and graces, to hide behind a veneer of presentability or to pretend to be someone we are not. Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well just as she was. He saw all the detail in her life and accepted her just as she came. He does the same for us. Always.

There is a great folly in trying to hide anything from God. He knows us inside and out. He perceives our thoughts from afar. He even knows them before we think them! And yet, like Adam we can feel the need to stitch together our own equivalent of fig leaves to hide the details in our life we are embarrassed by.

Worship does not require that we disconnect from the genuine issues and problems in our life. But rather that we place them at the feet of Jesus and choose to take up the garment of praise.

To try to change ourselves before we come to worship is like trying to put the cart before the horse.

We come as we are but we do not leave as we were!

[Originally posted on Facebook 17/01/18]