Month: November 2020

Lazarus is mentioned a third time in John 12, firstly when he came out of the tomb John 11:43, then at his house 12:10 and lastly when Jesus entered Jerusalem. John 12:17 On every occasion there were crowds and many people put
their faith in Him. The resurrection of Lazarus was a ‘tipping point’ for the religious establishment, they had to stop Jesus at all costs. Ironically Jesus raising of Lazarus sealed His own fate, but it had all been prophesied a long time before.

John 11 begins with Jesus learning that Lazarus is sick. He waited two more days and then told the disciples they would go back to Judea, but they said His life would be at risk there as the Jews had tried to stone Him. Jesus gave an interesting reply;

Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the LIGHT IS NOT IN HIM. John 11:9, 10

Jesus used natural daylight, to tell His disciples that they had to walk in light of Heaven, to be under Heaven’s leading. Jesus was going back to raise Lazarus even though He understood the risk, ‘He was walking in the light’. After Lazarus’ resurrection Jesus spoke about this again;

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light,….The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. PUT YOUR TRUST IN THE LIGHT while you have it so that you may BECOME SONS OF LIGHT”. John 12:35, 36

There are many people walking in the darkness today, unbelievers have no light, but many believers are also in darkness. I don’t just mean they’re in sin, but they’re not living their lives as SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LIGHT.

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin.           1 John 1:5,6,7

Jesus calls us to be children of the Light, to walk in the Light and to live in it. That’s what God wants for us His children, to be like Him and to walk with Him as Jesus did while on earth.

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The labourer is worthy of their hire. Luke 10:7

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God bless and keep you today.

 

 

..but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Matt 8:20

We looked yesterday in John 12 at the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, near Jerusalem, a house and household given over to honour and serve Jesus. Martha served a dinner in Jesus’ honour, Mary anointed Him with perfume and Lazarus whom he’d raised up sat at table with Him. This part of John 12 concludes with Jews gathering at the house;

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that JESUS WAS THERE AND CAME, not only because of Him BUT ALSO TO SEE Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.… For on account of him (Lazarus) many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him John 12:9, 10

The house at Bethany became a gathering place, people got to know Jesus was there. Could the Lord do this again in our day, could people come to our homes or apartments because they’ve heard that Jesus is there? Would we be willing to offer our homes and households (family time) to the Lord for His service today? It doesn’t matter how humble or how grand it may be, if the Lord is there and if there’s true love and caring, people will be drawn to it. Martha provided food, she obviously had a gift for hospitality and that will help people to come as well, but it doesn’t need to be lavish.

Lazarus had a unique story, but so do each of us. We all have our own stories to tell of how the Lord met with us. Not just then but what’s been happening in our lives since we came to Jesus. It’s important to note that the people came to see Lazarus, they wanted to see and hear that story. It doesn’t have to be just one person taking the lead all the time, each one can share what the Lord means to us personally. The main thing is that the Lord is at the centre and He is lifted up, that’s why people will be drawn to us. In many countries it’s not possible for believers to meet openly, yet there’s great benefit and blessings from being part of a group (our family) of believers.

I was reading some verses from Proverbs this morning;

Wicked men are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm. Proverbs 12:7

A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted. Proverbs 12:3

If you want your house to stand firm and endure today, make it a house for the Lord. A place where people are drawn to meet with Jesus, either individually or in groups.

God bless and keep you today.

God values and uses families and their homes for His Glory. John 11 & 12

In John 11 we see the fifth ‘I AM’ statement of Jesus and it’s demonstration and outworking in a grieving family;

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you(Martha) believe this? (Thankfully, Martha confessed she did believe). John 11:25

The story begins in John 11 with an introduction to a family, a family loved by the Lord, each one individually named. John 11:5 Jesus received news that Lazarus, the brother, was sick but He didn’t go to him immediately. Lazarus had in fact been dead for four days by the time Jesus arrived at their home in Bethany. Such was their faith in the Lord that both sisters greeted Jesus with the same words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. John 11:21, 32 Though Jesus had foretold what was going to happen, He was still moved by the sisters’ words and we have the shortest verse in the Bible in this chapter, “Jesus wept”. John 11:35

Happy Ending; Jesus went to the tomb/cave and had the stone rolled away and called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come  out”. Lazarus came out and Jesus told the people around to “Take off the grave clothes and let him go”. John 11:43, 44

As a result of this miracle, Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, became a marked man by the chief priests. They decided to kill him again and stop the story of his resurrection spreading any further( not a word of Lazarus’ testimony is recorded for us, but the Lord’s proclamation and His fifth ‘I AM’ statement had wider impact than the resurrection of one dead man. John 12:10, 11

At the beginning of John 12 we see a house and household set apart for the Lord. Martha was serving a dinner in Jesus honour, Lazarus waited in Jesus’ company and Mary (the one who listened attentively) poured a pint of pure nard on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair(to prepare His own body for soon coming burial).

“The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”. John 12:3

The Lord blesses and uses households and whole families where He is welcome and where there is harmony in His presence. The home in Bethany was an example of this and that story is recorded for us today.

Does the fragrance of Jesus fill our homes and our lives as the nard ‘poured out’ filled their whole house. The Lord needs such places for His purposes today! Are we willing to be poured out for Him and have His presence filling our homes and lives today? There is a room in our home where my wife prays and sits before the Lord and people sense the Lord’s presence there! They don’t want to leave. The perfume is there, the sense of His presence.

What can we offer the Lord today, in our homes that will release a fresh sense of His Glory? He needs our hearts and our homes today if we’ll yield them up for Him.

God bless and keep you in these days.

In John 10, Jesus talks at length about His sheep, the ones who hear His voice and follow Him.

He gives here two of the seven ‘I AM’ statements in John’s Gospel. I AM the Gate for the sheep and I AM the Good Shepherd who lays down His Life for the sheep. There’s only one Gate and one Shepherd, no other legitimate way to be counted as one of the Lord’s flock. Many people today talk about different ways/their ways of salvation when this life is over, but Jesus tells us here He is the only way.

The chapter begins with the Lord’s warning that anyone who ‘climbs into the sheep fold another way, is a thief and a robber’. Anyone who is presenting another gospel, other than Jesus, is a thief and robber. We may need to pray and ask the Lord to show us whether someone is diverging from His path and taking the flock away from Him. The thief is one who wants to steal our hearts away from Jesus! It’s crucial that we as individuals (sheep) follow His voice and His alone. Sheep follow, they want to be led, but we must make sure we’re following Jesus.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3

Everyone received a personal invitation or call to join with the Lord, to be one of His flock, this includes you and I. The Lord addressed us individually not as a group, not like a cult. He died for each of us and the thief/devil will do everything he can to break our relationship. Our protection lies in hearing God through His Word (Logos, general word) and by the Spirit (Rhema Word, to us directly/personally). Some ministers/pastors feel threatened when individual members learn to hear the Lord for themselves, but the Lord expects us to follow Him and Him alone!

The other character Jesus mentioned is the hired hand John  10:12, the professional who doesn’t care for the sheep. They’re not his sheep and he doesn’t really care for them. Jesus repeats twice that the ‘Good Shepherd’ lays down His life for the sheep. When troubles come the hired hand abandons the flock to the attacks of the enemy. The price is too great for the hireling and they quickly desert the flock. The shepherd who sacrifices themselves for those under their care, is a true shepherd, copying the Master. I met a pastor and his wife who had taken turns to sit up with a Dear Christian lady, night about when her husband was dying with cancer. I’d never met him before, but I heard him praying for the lady herself in hospital and immediately sensed the anointing on the prayer.

John 10 concludes with the Pharisees challenging Jesus to tell them plainly if He was the Messiah. He replied;

…you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them and they follow Me. John 10:26

Religious people who weren’t Jesus’ sheep and opposed everything God was doing through Him, including the miracles. Religion masquerades as righteousness, but the real question is who is our shepherd, who are we following? Our life is in the Lord.

God bless and keep you today.

 

 

 

IN LOVING MEMORY, KITTY WALDEN, 6 NOVEMBER 2020

It is with deep sadness that we’ve learned of the passing of our dear friend, Pastor Kitty Walden, wife of Russell Walden and co-founder of Father’s Heart Ministry. Kitty had an infectious joy for her Lord and was truly generous to those who met her. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and by those in Ireland who attended their conference last year. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband
Russ, the wider family circle and those closest to them in Sahuarito, Arizona.

God’s Timing is sure, don’t give up, hold on!

We read the story of the Recabites yesterday, Jeremiah 35. The people of Judah and Jerusalem were about to be carried off to Babylon, seventy years in exile out of their inheritance. Before that happened God had Jeremiah call the whole family of the Recabites to rooms in the Temple. They had been faithful and obeyed their forefather Jonadab, lived as nomads and didn’t drink wine. God contrasted them to the people of Judah who’d ignored Him. He made a lasting promise to them (like David) that they’d always have a person to serve Him. In the worst of situations, God pronounced His blessing.

On the cross, Luke 23:40, Jesus was identified at death with the sinners. His cross separated the two unknown thieves. One thief hurled abuse at Him, while the other asked the Lord to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, TODAY(from the cross to a crown in same day) you will be with Me in paradise”. Two men, hours from death, but the Lord graciously saved one who turned to Him.

Rahab, Joshua 2 & 6:22-25, sided with the Israelite spies against her own people and saved herself and her whole family. She’s commended in Hebrews and James for her faith. The entire city of Jericho was about to fall to the armies of Israel and be destroyed, but at the last moment (last minute .com) God allowed Rahab and her family to live and go with His people. King David was descended from Rahab, the woman of faith. Matthew 1:5,6

Jesus sitting alone (probably a crucial part of the whole story) at the well near Sycar, about midday, met the Samaritan woman. John 4 Jesus broke every rule by engaging her in conversation and eventually bringing her to faith in Him as Messiah. The woman who’d had five husbands and now was with someone not her husband, became the bridge to her whole community. Many believed her ‘and because of Jesus words many more became believers’. John 4:41 All because of a timely conversation at a well.

A word of personal testimony from events this week. Father’s Love received a gift late one afternoon and next morning a letter arrived asking for part payment of an outstanding bill. Hours before the letter came, God supplied  the funds, truly He knows our needs even before we ask Him. It’s good to have up to date testimony of God’s faithfulness and so we say again hold on, God’s Timing is sure. Those who have sown will reap in joy, but no sowing, no crop.

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We also seek personal words of encouragement for those requesting them, contact us at the above webpage. A donation is required for this service.

God bless and keep you today.

Fidelity (faithfulness) rewarded, disloyalty punished. Jer 35

The word ‘Fidelity’ has some interesting connotations;

1. Faithfulness demonstrated by ‘CONTINUAL’ LOYALTY & SUPPORT (has there been Lasting support).

Sexual faithfulness to a spouse (intimate relationship).

2. The DEGREE OF EXACTNESS with which something is copied or reproduced (how True it is to the original).

God used the Recabite family in Jeremiah 35 to contrast their obedience to an ancestor Jonadab with Israel’s (Judah’s) unfaithfulness to Him.

The Recabites had gone into Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies(Jer 35:11), so Jeremiah brought them all into the House of the Lord(the whole family were present before God). Jer 35:3,4 God Himself told Jeremiah, the Lord’s Prophet, to give them wine to drink; but they were not awed by the prophet nor by being in the Holy Temple and they refused to drink(they stood as one, a large family together). Put simply the Recabites kept their vow and obeyed their ancestor, the very thing for which God commended them. There are some things on which we as believers must take our stand, we can’t compromise nor accommodate the views of others(maybe even believers who’re not called to our walk), no matter how influential they are.

God told Jeremiah to go to the people in Jerusalem and say, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed Me. Again and again I sent all My servants the prophets to you. Jer 35:13,14,15

God emphasises that this clan obeyed/honoured their forefather’s command, but Judah had not obeyed the Lord. He also says twice that He’d spoken to them ‘again and again’ but they didn’t listen(God speaks before He judges). Jonadab’s command separated generations of his family from many others around them. He framed a different life for them(nomads), but God noted and acknowledged their fidelity to the command. In the midst of great upheaval, we may experience some more of this in our days, God blessed the Recabites. Judah was going into exile, God had finally had enough of them, but this faithful family received an eternal blessing. God gave them His word that they had been found faithful and would always have someone serving Him. Faithfulness is rewarded.

Fidelity; continual/ongoing loyalty, cleaving to God alone, following/allowing the character and nature of Christ to be formed in us.

May we be found faithful as this ancient family, forsaking distraction to follow and obey God alone.

God bless and keep you this day and every day.

 

Secure and Fruitful within our God ordained boundaries.

While I was walking yesterday I had a sense of the Lord’s power to keep us, ‘His Keeping Power’, in testing situations in our lives. It may seem at times as if we’re hanging on by our finger nails but God is able to ‘Keep us’ secure and to work more deeply in our lives when we need Him most.

In Jeremiah 32 & 33, both chapters begin with the prophet ‘confined’ in the courtyard of the guard, surrounded by soldiers. These two chapters reveal a whole series of prophetic words spoken from God to His prophet outlining the future of the Jewish nation. God was going to Banish them(Jer 32:5) but also Gather them(Jer 33:7). He was bringing Calamity on them but He would also bring Prosperity to them(Jer 32:42).

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “I am the Lord, the GOD OF ALL MANKIND. Is anything too hard for me?” Jer 32:26, 27

Don’t make God too small, He’s over everything, all of mankind and all creation is in His Hand. We may struggle in our flesh with chafing circumstances but they can actually be the most productive, because God gets to do things His way while we’re unable to interfere.

Do we realise just how many chosen servants of God in the Bible went through tests and trials before coming to their destiny in God:

Joseph sold as a slave and then locked in a prison. Moses grounded as a shepherd in the ‘backside’ of the wilderness for forty years. David, the man called to be king, running for his life and living in a cave with three hundred outcasts. Paul who was in chains, but his Gospel message wasn’t.

In our age, John Bunyan, the Puritan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress while spending years in prison! Amy Carmichael who touched many lives, especially children, in India but spent her last years mainly confined(same as Jeremiah) to her bed.

In the natural people do everything they can to avoid and escape these types of situation, but God seeks to bring us to His outcome, His way. We seek for promotion, God requires us to yield and obey;

For you, O God, tested us; your refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance(Amen, yes Lord). Psalm 66:10, 11, 12

God has arranged/fixed specific trials for each of us but He is able to keep us in the trials – His Keeping Power is there for us today.

God bless and keep you in trials and testings.

 

The Spirit softens our lives to produce a crop for eternity.

The second part of Psalm 65 speaks a lot about water and it’s contrast in the world and in the Hand of God. Water can be a great blessing, indeed the very Water of Life, a necessity for Life itself. But it can also be very powerful and destructive. We had a storm pass through Ireland this past weekend and the seas were magnificent but we wouldn’t have wanted to be out on them.

Who STILLED the Roaring of the seas, the Roaring of their waves and the Turmoil of the Nations. Psalm 65:7

In the Bible the seas can represent the nations, all of humanity and the words used to describe them are the ‘Roaring’ twice and Turmoil. That’s a picture of our world at present, mankind is in Turmoil, and there’s much Roaring and Raging on the earth, but God STILLED the seas. We may think conditions are bad at present but without God they’d be much worse! For those who are going through storms in our personal lives we can ASK GOD TO CALM OUR SITUATIONS AND WE CAN SPEAK TO THE STORMS AROUND US TO BE STILL. I met a young apostle from Greenland called Niels and I was told by his friend that he’d  gone to the front of a ship in a storm and commanded the sea to be still and God honoured His Son.

The rest of the Psalm 65:8-13 is much gentler in nature and shows God’s love towards His people;

You CARE for the land and water it; You enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with corn, for so You have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its crops. Psalm 65:9, 10

Ground can’t produce anything until the soil’s been softened, until the rain has fallen on it. God has to soften our lives too so that we can produce a crop. The ‘furrows and ridges’ (low and high places) alike have to experience the rain of the Spirit and the Word before we become softened and able to bring forth a harvest.

You crown the year with Your bounty (this year isn’t over yet) and Your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert (even dry places) overflow; the hills are clothed with GLADNESS(Amen).  The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with corn; they shout for joy and sing. Psalm 65:11, 12, 13

This Psalm is a beautiful picture of God’s graciousness and kindness, He provides abundantly for mankind, but I believe it also speaks of His hand in our lives. He works patiently and gently with us to produce fruit for the kingdom. Take some time today to submit afresh and thank Him, the Creator of all, for His care for us.

God bless and keep you this day.