Author: Graham McCartney

Christmas is a time of Hope – I read a quote recently, ‘He became a Son of Man that we might become sons of God.’ Many people do not have any real Hope for the future; believers are greatly blessed in that we do have Future Hope.

¹⁷ Do not let your heart envy sinners,
    but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
¹⁸ THERE IS SURELY A FUTURE HOPE FOR YOU,
    AND YOUR HOPE WILL NOT BE CUT OFF. Proverbs 23

Those are reassuring words, ‘YOUR HOPE WILL NOT BE CUT OFF’, God’s promise to us. No-one can Cut Off the Hope we have in God, He stands behind all His promises to us.

¹¹ For I know the PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, PLANS TO GIVE YOU A HOPE AND A FUTURE.” Jeremiah 29

God was speaking to Israel after they’d gone into exile in Babylon. Many times we think we have to be good enough for God to bless us, but God gave Israel His Hope for their future soon after their captivity in Babylon had begun. God’s Hesed, loving kindness, towards each of us is constant and consistent. He wants us to be Hopeful and trust in His Loving Care in every situation.

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and God’s Blessing today.

²³ BE GLAD, O PEOPLE OF ZION,
    REJOICE IN THE LORD YOUR GOD,
for he has given you the autumn rains
    because HE IS FAITHFUL.
He sends you ABUNDANT SHOWERS,
    both autumn and spring rains, as before.
²⁴ The threshing floors will be FILLED WITH GRAIN;
    the vats will OVERFLOW WITH NEW WINE AND OIL. Joel 2

I have felt drawn back again to the second chapter of Joel, on the Winter Solstice or shortest day of the year. God speaks of blessing His people with Abundance, Floors Filled with grain and Overflowing new wine and oil.

²⁵ “I WILL REPAY YOU for the years the locusts have eaten—
  
²⁶ YOU WILL HAVE PLENTY TO EAT, UNTIL YOU ARE FULL,
    AND YOU WILL PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD,
    who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed. Joel 2 

It’s difficult to Praise God on an empty stomach and He knows that full well, so He promises to bless Israel again IN THE NATURAL OR PHYSICAL REALM SO THEY WILL WANT TO PRAISE THEIR GOD!

The last verses of Joel 2 are better known as Peter quoted them on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem,

²⁸ “And afterward,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your old men will dream dreams,
    your young men will see visions.
²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Joel lived over eight centuries before God poured out His Spirit on the people who’d visited Jerusalem for Passover, yet in his prophecy the verses follow immediately after God’s promises of physical blessings for His people.

BLESSING IN THE NATURAL REALM PRECEDED BLESSING IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM.

I believe God may repeat this in our day, but the enemy will try and block those blessings coming to the peoples. The wealthy elite think they can stop God, but He’ll vanquish them. (The Guardian, UK newspaper, has published an article, Tuesday 20 December, stating Wells Fargo have agreed to pay $3.7 billion over illegal fees and interest. Be assured they haven’t done it willingly.)

God is on the move and we must stand with righteousness at this time.

Blessing – coming in the natural and following soon in the spiritual.

God bless and keep you today.

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in the counsel of/or in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1

I have been looking at Bible Reading Plans for 2023, seeking to become more disciplined in my own personal Bible Reading. There are many such plans online, to suit everyone who wants to commit to reading regularly. Derek Prince said that if today’s believers would swap/change over two things our spiritual lives would greatly benefit. Swap the amount of time we spend in front of screens with the time we spend thinking God’s thoughts after Him.

We had a servant of God staying with us and ministering here last week. He said SOME years he read the Bible through once every month, a prodigious amount of time spent in the Word. He also told a lady who had been ill, that the Lord said, if she would read FIVE CHAPTERS OUT LOUD she would never be sick. (We believe what we hear ourselves saying) Derek Prince read the Word three times a day after meals, in WW2 and was cured of chronic eczema, though the doctors couldn’t heal him.

⁴ Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1

We are rapidly approaching Christmas, the celebration of Christ coming to earth as a newborn baby, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. His Gospel spoke mainly to the Jews with quotations from Old Testament scriptures.

The number three, or things repeated three times, occurs in this account. THREE is a perfect number, implying ‘Perfect Completion and Fullness’ and is used in reference to the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Man created in God’s image, also comprises Spirit, Soul and Body.

Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph. Matthew 1:1-16 and the family record is divided into THREE equal parts (Divine Accounting over hundreds of years);

¹⁷ Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. Matthew 1

Joseph became aware that Mary was pregnant before they had been together and was about to cancel their marriage, but an angel appeared to him in a dream.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 

This was a Revelatory Dream to confirm to Joseph that he should take Mary as his wife. There are two further Warning Dreams, Matthew 2:12, telling the Magi not to return to Herod and Matthew 2:13, telling Joseph to take Mary and the baby Jesus and escape to Egypt. Herod subsequently killed every boy of two years and under in the area. THREE DREAMS in total.

THREEE PROPHECIES FULFILLED. The virgin shall be with child, Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14. A ruler/shepherd would arise from Bethlehem. God would call Jesus out of Egypt after Herod’s death.

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’ Matthew 2; Micah 5:2

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew 2 Hosea 11:1

In addition to these the wise men presented THREE GIFTS (Gold, incense and myrrh) to the baby Jesus.

God speaks and works  through numbers in the Bible and elsewhere, but sometimes we just aren’t aware of their significance. He may be speaking to some of us now through numbers we’re seeing.

God bless and keep you today.

²⁵ “I WILL REPAY YOU FOR THE YEARS THE LOCUSTS HAVE EATEN —
    the great locust and the young locust,
    the other locusts and the locust swarm —
my great army that I sent among you.
²⁶ YOU WILL HAVE PLENTY TO EAT, UNTIL YOU ARE FULL,
    AND YOU WILL PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD,
    who has worked wonders for you;
NEVER AGAIN WILL MY PEOPLE BE SHAMED.
²⁷ Then you will know that I am in Israel,
    that I am the Lord your God,
    and that there is no other;
NEVER AGAIN WILL MY PEOPLE BE SHAMED. Joel 2 

Joel 2 is better known for verses 2:28-32 which Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, but the verses above are also powerful, unconditional promises of God.

God promised Israel and the church today that HE WILL REPAY what the locusts have eaten. God’s people have been robbed again and again in this world, just as Israel were in Egypt. God says there’s a day coming when that’s all going to change. We will have plenty to eat AND PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD.

These verses end with God repeating a promise TWICE, ‘Never again will My people be Shamed.’ God cares for us His people and has pledged Himself to rescue and restore us from Lack and Shame. A New Year will soon be with us, but also a New Day for the people of God.

May God bless and keep you today.

We have to run to the finish line, don’t stop prematurely.

The reason I (Paul) left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left ‘Unfinished’ and appoint elders Titus 1:5 NIV

The Bible has much to say about Finishing what’s begun;

By the seventh day God Finished the work (creation) Gen 2:2

Jesus also had the mind set to Finish His work;

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to Finish His work. John 4:34

For the very work that the Father has given Me to Finish… John 5:36

Finally on the cross, ‘It is Finished (paid in full)…’ John 19:30

Paul the apostle left Titus in Crete to ‘straighten out what was left unfinished’. Things were lacking in the Church and Paul wantedTitus to address them. The Bible says that apostles and prophets lay the foundation (which is Christ) for the Church, a ‘building metaphor’. But there are other offices; evangelists, pastors and teachers. Eph 4:11 Their duty is to build on the true foundation and finish the work! In the construction industry there are ‘finishing trades’ who don’t come in until the end of a project e.g. painters and floor layers. Some people are good at starting things and getting projects off the ground, that’s their strength, but others may be better at finishing, slower and more detailed work.

My second mentor, Kjell from Sweden, once gave a message on being faithful to finish things we’d begun. He said that it wasn’t honouring to God to leave a trail of unfinished tasks behind us. Some of us need to break the habit of starting things and leaving them too early. It may be that others who are good at finishing can help us. Paul also told Titus to, ‘straighten things out’. There may be problems or the enemy may be blocking something (things repeating, tasks left half finished) and specialist help may be needed. God sent my friend Kjell to many lands to resolve problems in churches and nations, he was a specialist in the realm of the spirit.

For most of us though, we may just lack the will to press through and finish the tasks we’ve begun (see anew the importance of completing our work, satisfaction for us and Glory for the Lord). We may need to address this and ask the Lord to help us. Half the battle is recognising the problem and then setting ourselves to finish whatever we start.

Speaking to the Corinthians Paul said, ‘ now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it‘. 2 Cor 8:11 NIV Being eager to start was good but it had to be completed.

Near the end of Paul’s life he also said triumphantly;

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7

Paul had Finished well and by God’s grace so can we.

Get into the habit of finishing what you begin and finishing well.

God bless and keep you today.

 

 

 

 

²⁶ And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in Favour with the Lord and with people. 1 Samuel 2

Similar words are used in Luke’s Gospel about the Lord growing up with His earthly parents.

⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and WAS OBEDIENT TO THEM. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2

Jesus went down to Nazareth and was Obedient to His parents and immediately the Bible talks about Him growing physically and in Favour.

¹⁸ But Samuel was ministering before the Lord – a boy wearing a linen ephod. 1 Samuel 2

Both Jesus and Samuel CONTINUED TO GROW IN FAVOUR  as they fulfilled their respective roles in life. Both were faithful to those in charge of them.

“Far be it from me! THOSE WHO HONOUR ME I WILL HONOUR, but those who despise me will be disdained. 1 Samuel 2:30

In the award winning movie, ‘Chariots of Fire’, there’s a dramatic moment just before the Final of the men’s 400 metres. Eric Liddell, the British athlete was handed a piece of paper with this verse written on it and wishing him, ‘best success always’. The central theme of the movie was that Liddell, a devout Christian, refused to run on the Sabbath and changed his event from the 100 to the 400 metres. He ran a world record time for the distance, God did honour the runner who honoured Him. Liddell returned as a missionary to China, the land of his birth! He died in a Japanese Prison Camp in China and as the movie ends, ‘All Scotland mourned’.

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them round your neck,
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Then you will WIN FAVOUR and a good name
    IN THE SIGHT OF GOD AND MAN. Proverbs 3

The Wisdom writing in Proverbs also talks about Favour with God and people. We should look for them to come together in our own lives.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not resent his rebuke, (DON’T SULK UNDER HIS LOVING CORRECTION, Message Bible)
¹² because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 3

This chapter also teaches that God disciplines all of His children for our good, as should earthly parents. Jesus and Samuel both submitted to earthly discipline and both walked closely with the Lord.

This life on earth is a Journey, with a beginning and an end, where lots will happen in between. We should ‘walk out our salvation with fear and trembling (honouring the God who gave us life)’ Philippians 2:12

May we continue to grow in the Favour of God and people and be blessed this day and every day.

Many Christians read the Psalms for comfort and encouragement, so I thought we might end this week’s blogs by reading the last verses in Psalms 91 and 92.

God doesn’t want us only to Survive but to Thrive!

Psalm 91 speaks mainly about God’s protection for His people in a time of widespread sickness, such as today;

3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91

But the psalm ends with some wonderful words from God;

14 ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honour him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.’ Psalm 91

The key to receiving these blessings, simply to Love the Lord and acknowledge His Name.

Psalm 92, speaks of Flourishing, not a word used by many believers in our day, but the psalmist was inspired to write it. The title of this psalm claims it was a song for the Sabbath, so it would have been used repeatedly in worship.

12 The righteous will FLOURISH like a palm tree,
they will GROW like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 PLANTED in the house of the Lord,
they will FLOURISH in the courts of our God.
14 THEY WILL STILL BEAR FRUIT IN OLD AGE,
THEY WILL STAY FRESH AND GREEN,
15 proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’ Psalm 92

We see the word ‘Flourish’ quoted twice in these verses, it’s not in doubt. How wonderful to ‘be Planted’, in the House of the Lord, the perfect place to be. It’s in His Courts that we will Flourish. Verse 7 of the psalm tells us that the wicked may flourish, but only for a time, their time is passing;

7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed for ever. Psalm 92

The psalm promises that even in old age, the Righteous will still bear fruit, TIME NEED NOT DIMINISH THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A SERVANT OF GOD, unlike the wicked their strength abides. They will stay ‘Fresh and Green’, the inheritance of God’s people.

We will continue to proclaim the goodness of our God, ‘He is our Rock’.

There is much blessing to be had from these verses, please take some time to consider them and receive God’s blessing for yourself.

God bless and keep you today.

God ‘sometimes’ Chooses the unlikeliest people (for Himself) AND Uses the unlikeliest people (to help or rescue us). We must allow Him to Choose or miss a blessing.

1 Then Joshua son of Nun ‘Secretly’ sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. Joshua 2

Joshua (means Saviour), had taken up the reigns of leadership in Israel. Sometimes we are thrust by circumstances (death of Moses) into doing things for which we may not feel equipped. God may have put some of us in such a place today, we may not be able but God is! Trust Him and keep going forward, it may only be for a time.

Joshua sent the two spies out ‘Secretly’. Once again it may be wise to keep what God is telling us to do to ourselves! Don’t be in a hurry to tell others what you feel God has given you to do. He may be testing you to see if He can trust you with more important matters. Others around you may not have any understanding of what you’re being called to do and may try to convince you against the leading of the Lord. Joshua was thrust into taking decisions for a whole nation and he wanted to get up to date intelligence.

The two Israelite spies went to the house of Rahab in Jericho just as they’d been ordered. The king of Jericho knew of the spies and ordered Rahab to hand them over.

4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, ‘Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.’ 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)

Rahab laid a false trail for the king’s men to follow. She hid the spies and helped them. Rahab understood what was about to happen and she contended with the spies for the lives of her family and loved ones. She was brave and resourceful and is listed in Hebrews 11 as one of the heroes of the Faith.

17 Now the men had said to her, ‘This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. Joshua 2

The two men who were sent to spy out the land before the final attack became the means of salvation for one resourceful woman and her family. God used those spies to bring salvation to a whole family. Do you need help today? (we are seeking God ourselves this very day). God may choose to send it from the most unlikely place, be open to His help however it comes. He will do things His way, rarely how we think.

God bless and keep you today.

³³ BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED TO YOU AS WELL.  ³⁴ THEREFORE DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6

We saw last week that Rebecca had sought the Lord about the two babies jostling in her womb and God showed her what was going on;

²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁵ because of your father’s God, who helps you,
    because of the Almighty, who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
    blessings of the deep springs below,
    blessings of the breast and womb.
²⁶ Your father’s blessings are greater
    than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
    than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
    on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

This was a mighty blessing spoken over Joseph’s life, ending with the word, ‘let all these REST ON THE HEAD OF JOSEPH’. Joseph didn’t have to strive or show himself worthy, all the blessings were given him. Again, the second youngest was proclaimed the Prince among his brothers, God’s Choice.

God’s Blessing doesn’t come by striving, but by resting in His good choices for our lives.

²² The blessing of the Lord brings wealth,
    without painful toil for it, or He adds no trouble to it. Proverbs 10

Both Israel and Moses spoke over all the tribes and we as God’s Children should also expect our Father’s Favour and Blessing today. Amen