Not settling for OK.

No More!

I’ve had enough. Seriously. It’s completely unacceptable and I’m not going to accept it any more – and it’s right that I shouldn’t.

Pain, and other issues, are a part of my life and they have been for far too long. I’ve always seen it as a triumph when I am prayed for and the pain lessens, becomes more manageable, and I can manage to get a decent nights sleep.

But No Longer!

I am not going to settle for pain relief or pain reduction. I’m not going to accept one good night of sleep. I’m not going to let go until I see FULL healing. Until a good nights rest is a normal thing.

I’ve never doubted that God CAN heal me and I’ve never doubted that I will be restored. It’s just that I’ve taken the Christian cop-out route of saying that “I’ll get a new body when I die” – and I’m not going to leave it there any more.

I’m going to be tenacious, persistent and never let go until I know healing. And that’s OK – because it’s biblical. I don’t know why God hasn’t healed me fully yet, but I know that His heart is for me and that He loves me as a Father loves His child. I know that we can Ask, Seek and Knock and that our God is Jehovah Rophi – the God Who Heals. Maybe He’s been waiting for me to realise that I need to be resolute, that I need to stand firm and keep banging on the door.

When we look at scripture we can see Jacob in Genesis 32:26 saying “I will not let you go unless you bless me”. We see Moses holding his arms up to deliver vistory over the Amelekites in Exodus 17:11-12. We can see persistence in the healing of Naaman when he had to bathe 7 times in the Jordan river. We see the blind man crying out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” – and not stopping until Jesus heard him – and there’s many more examples beside.

The interesting thing about the Moses one in particular, is that Moses got tired and weak. He felt his arms weakening and so they fell down turning the tide of battle in favour of the Amelekites. He need Aaron and Hur to sit him on a stone and lift his arms for him in order to see complete victory.

So, I am saying that today I am going to keep my arms in the air with the staff raised – until the battle is won. I’m going to shout and shout until Jesus stops by me and heals me. I’m going to wrestle and not let go until God blesses me. I’m going to keep on pushing on until I know the fullness of Gods promise for me.

But like Moses – I will get weak. There will be days when I tire and cannot stand. There will be days when my shout becomes a croak and a whisper. And so I need people with me. I need people to be standing firm in prayer with me and pushing forward on my behalf. Will you be one of those people? Will you be willing to pray for me and stand firm on the promises with me? Please.

I am blessed by having so many people around me whose faith leaves me humbled and in awe – will you please stand with me in prayer?

Thank you.

Three words that shook the universe

 The End

There are three words that are amongst the most powerful ever spoken. Whilst there are other candidates for the top spot, these three words shook the universe to the heart. 12 letters that broke the grasp of hell and rewrote our future and destiny.

It is finished.

So simple, but with them being uttered as Christ hung on the cross they would signal a complete change to mans relationship to God.

No longer would satan have a claim to our souls.
No longer would we need to live in fear or regret.
No longer would our past dictate our future.

The book was rewritten and those three words, which contain within them the heart of Gods plan, brought an end to our seperation from our Father.

Do you grasp the earth-shaking power of those words? I think the answer to that, if we’re honest with ourselves, would be “sometimes”

It’s easy for us to grasp the eternal outcomes, maybe because we can’t fully envision what that enternity is, but the immediate outcome is so easy for us to lose.

“It is finished” means that the sins I committed yesterday are dealt with. It means that the stain of my past is removed. It means that, through grace, I don’t need to be afraid of letting God down by sinning in the future.

Now I’m not saying that it’s a carte blanche to descend into hedonism and debauchery, it’s not, but what it does mean is that those oh-so-human slip ups are dealt with. They are done. The slate has been wiped clean of all that we have done, and all that we will do because IT IS FINISHED.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc27eMTZjMU[/youtube]

See His love nailed onto a cross
Perfect and blameless life given as sacrifice
See Him there all in the name of love
Broken yet glorious, all for the sake of us

This is Jesus in His glory
King of Heaven dying for me
It is finished, He has done it
Death is beaten, Heaven beckons me

Greater love no one could ever show
Mercy so undeserved, freedom I should not know
All my sin, all of my hidden shame
Died with Him on the cross, eternity won for us

Such love, such love
Such love is this for me

(c) Tom Lockley

The Confused Disciple – Perspective without Hindsight

Disciples Perspective

Reading the Easter story is really like reading a murder mystery where you know the ending. You know whodunnit, you know the police triad of information (Means, Motive and Opportunity) and you can see all the clues as you are reading it . In fact, if you’re like me, it’s easy to find yourself almost screaming for people to open their eyes and telling them that it’s just so obvious.

I’ve heard people say, on many an occasion, that it would have been so easy to be a believer when Jesus walked the earth – and yet that also falls into that same trap. We can say that because we know the ending, we see all the pointers and we can directly interpret the prophecies in the old testament as pointing to Jesus.

If we take a step back, if we forget all that we know that followed and try to put ourselves in the position of Peter – we can get a much more sympathetic and a massively different perspective on events.

So cue the scooby-doo wiggly lines and, with a huge dash of artistic licence, let’s try to imagine that we’re there nearly 2000 years ago:

Continue reading “The Confused Disciple – Perspective without Hindsight”

We will now sing Hymn 214 from Hymns Ancient and Prehistoric (1983 edition)

All across the world tomorrow there will be a minimum rebellion and battle of wills when the vicar stands to announced the singing of one particular song.

Mr Davies (3rd seat in on the right hand side, 4th row from the front) will pointedly sing “Redeemer” in a loud deep voice whilst Mr Jones (aisle seat, front row directly looking down the vicars throat) will belt out “Jehovah” ensuring that the lovely stained glass windows rattle to the depth of his baritone voice.
Continue reading “We will now sing Hymn 214 from Hymns Ancient and Prehistoric (1983 edition)”

And after all…

In the midst of all the house move preparations and DIY chaos (more on that soon!), I’ve found a need for a simple connection with God. Through all the busy-ness and noise, just a still small voice before the throne of God.

There’s a song on the last David Crowder Band album (Give us Rest) called “After All (Holy)” that immediately moves me through the wonder of creation and the universe and into the throne room of God. The imagery of the almost hypnotic lyrics within the verses bring a stark and vivid sense of scale to everything and then the song moves into the most simple of choruses, just singing “Holy”.

That got me thinking about worship, something I love. Music stirs my heart and soul and can connect me to God in amazing and wonderful ways.

There are songs that proclaim biblical truths and foundational faith. There are songs that can paint pictures, consuming the mind and imagination in such a way that your only focus is on worship. There are songs that are musically brilliant and complex, that take you along for the ride. There are simple songs, that just declare one or two truths and can absorb you within the reiteration.

I find it fascinating to look at scripture and consider the worship we see in there. The book of Psalms is a glorious library of praise and worship that comes from the hearts of people experiencing all of the human emotions we know – love, hurt, despair, loneliness, desolation, depression, awe, wonder, majesty, fear, abandonment and more.

The Psalms can be simple, or a rich tapestry full of fine stitching that calls us to examine closely and really look at the detail.

But after all that… we can look at Isaiah 6:1-3

“It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

The angels in the throne room of God aren’t singing complex exaltations. They aren’t delivering speeches in song.

They are simply singing “Holy”

And after all… that’s sometimes all that needs to be said.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7rjwkLpooY[/youtube]