Christian – hartleyweb

9 September, 20149 September, 2014

Not settling for OK.

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.

2 May, 20142 May, 2017

WAKE UP & Speak, Brother

Since moving to Rugby, one of the (many) things that has struck me is just how there seems to be a huge hub of creativity in the town and the surrounding areas. There are artists, writers aplenty and an absolute orchestral overload of talented musicians, songwriters, singers and more. You can’t turn around without discovering more new music, or hearing a new song or few.

What’s even more surprising is the QUALITY of the material – we’re not talking about stuff you listen to, politely nod and then issue that “well, that was…nice” comment. I’m talking about genuinely great music. Lyrics that have depth and meaning. Singers who are passionate about the music and the art, not compromising to become “The Next <insert name here>”

And that leads me onto two connected, but very different, artists. The first one is a worship leader at our church and a genuinely great guy (no, I’m not creeping!) – Jonny Shepherd. I came across Jonnys music a few years ago, before we’d ever even contemplated moving to Rugby, through somewhere like the NoiseTrade website. I picked up a free copy of his “New Day” album and really liked what I heard, so signed up for the mailing list and kept a distant eye on the music he was producing.

When we started to look at Rugby as our new home I got one of his email newsletters through and, much to my utter disbelief, saw that he was not only based in Rugby but also at the very church we were looking into.

Jump forward to now and I’ve gotten to know Jonny a bit and we’ve started to build up a cracking friendship.

Well, that’s all “nice” but what about the music. Well, those on facebook will have seen me push his last EP (Crown of Praise) rather a bit, and that contained some really good music on there – including an instrumental piece that is so good to lean back with eyes closed and listen to. And he has a new EP coming out at the end of this month!

It’s a simple task to nip on over to bandcamp and pre-order the EP, for which you get the title track “Wake Up” as an immediate download and WOW – this is such a different track. Electronic beats and pumping bass coupled with some really strong lyrics. I’m a little biased as it is clearly influenced by Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones that is in the old testament – and that is one of my favourite passages!

Watch the teaser video for the EP below, and then pop to bandcamp and place a pre-order to make sure you get hold of, what promises to be, a great set of new songs!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/1jBZoFekXf8[/youtube]

And here’s the seamless segway across to the second part of this post. When I signed up to join the worship team at New Life, Jonny and I got together at Costa Coffee in Rugby so that we could get to know each other a bit more and in the process he introduced me to a band who were, at that time, called the “James Herring Band”. With hints of Jars of Clay, Mumford & Sons etc I was immediately hooked by their music. During the performance James announced that they were renaming the band and were relaunching as “Speak, Brother”

At a local “Worship Hub” event, I went along to a guitar workshop with James and got chatting to him about music, life and various other things and found him to be such a down to earth, humble guy who is passionate about God and about crafting music that is original and personal.

On May 19th the band launch their debut single, “Dry Bones” – hmmm, ring any bells?, and on the 18th their is a launch gig at a local pub which the Mrs and I will be attending. Keep an eye on their website, follow them on facebook, and take a look at the below video recorded at one of their performances. Then, on the 19th, pick up a copy of “Dry Bones” – it’ll get your feet stomping, your head bobbing and you’ll be singing the chorus for days!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMNCGBXfEk0[/youtube]

24 March, 201424 March, 2014

Three words that shook the universe

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

4 September, 2013

Everything?

At Church this week we sang a song by Jules Burt, Paul Oakley and Sam Cox. We were in the middle of a time of worship where I really felt connected to God and then we sang these lyrics:

You’re all I want, You’re all I need
Jesus my love, my everything

All of a sudden I couldn’t actually sing any more. I started praying and my stomach churned as my heart felt ten times heavier. I realised that I couldn’t just sing those lyrics – I had to mean them. The question that was making me feel the way I was was did I really mean them?

Can I honestly stand there and say that Jesus is my everything? Can I really say that He is all I need?

It’s not a simple question when you get to the root of it. Can I really say that I need nothing, and no one, more than Jesus. Above my wife, and above my children. Above the roof over my head and the food on my table.

Each morning I listen to a podcast called “The Daily Audio Bible” which takes you through the Bible in a year – a great way to spend the morning commute and the perfect way for me to start my day. The Old Testament readings this last couple of weeks have been coming from the book of Job and I found myself wondering if I would respond in the same way if, like him, everything was stripped away completely. He lost his wife, his children, his home and his business. Yet still he wouldn’t turn away from God, and he never let go of his trust in God’s judgements and righteousness.

Would I do the same? Surely that’s the ultimate test of those lyrics?

I started typing this immediately as the words were weighing on me, and the worship had moved into a more meditative and prayerful time. When Andrew, one of the leaders of the Church, stood up to speak I stopped to listen and found myself laughing at the way God works. Andrew was saying exactly what I was typing. His words echoed mine as he said “Can we stand there and say that Jesus is our everything? Can we say that He is all we need?”

I ended up singing the lyrics as a prayer and a hearty cry – that I would get to the point where Jesus is all I want and all I need… and where He is my EVERYTHING.

Because, in all honesty, I can’t say that’s where I am right now.

30 March, 201330 March, 2013

The Confused Disciple – Perspective without Hindsight

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”