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Drink and I’ll water your camels too (Gen 24:44) – sometimes it pays to go the extra mile.

In November ‘97 four guys set out by car from N.Ireland to go to a conference in the far north east of Scotland, above Inverness. The conference was being run by a missionary organisation, (New Horizons?) in a real Scottish Castle. People came from across the U.K. and further afield, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The setting was truly magnificent as the castle overlooked a gorge and it was well filled for the conference. We had only gone as visitors but the Lord gave me a message while we were there and I shared it at an evening meeting.

Genesis 24 is the story of Abraham, now elderly and following the death of his wife Sarah, Gen 23, seeking a bride for his son Isaac (means laughter). Abraham called his chief servant and made him swear on oath, to go to his father’s own people and get a bride for Isaac. So the servant left and travelled the long journey (just like ours to Inverness) to his master’s family. Rebekah came to the well to draw water and met the chief servant, who asked her for some water himself Gen 24:17. She immediately offered him some water and then miraculously fulfilled his condition for being Issac’s wife, by watering the camels too. Rebekah blessed those who’d come to her by giving them over and above what had been asked of her.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2

In the Genesis account, the Chief Servant gave Rebekah a gift for her help but then went to her family and paid the ‘bride price’ for her hand for his master’s son.

This account can also be interpreted for our own day; Abraham represents God the Father, Isaac is Jesus the Son and the Chief Servant is the Holy Spirit. God has sent His Spirit ‘to choose’ the bride/His Church for Jesus. The bride for the Lord is being chosen right now across the world, God is sifting a people to be with His Son for eternity. Jesus has paid for His Bride by giving His Life for us; He came to us on earth and offered His own life.

The Chief Servant wouldn’t tolerate any delay, Rebekah had to decide if she’d go with him at once. We all have to make our own choice, we’re not forced to follow the Holy Spirit.

Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. Gen 24:67

A love story with a happy ending, the bride consented to go with the Chief Servant or Holy Spirit and marry her prince (The Prince of Peace).

God bless and keep you today.

God’s goodness is LIFELONG, and troubles are passing.

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his Favour lasts a lifetime (or in His Favour is Life! AMPC, KJV); weeping may remain for a night, but Rejoicing  comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

David endured many lengthy troubles, indeed he even told Jonathan, ‘there was only a step between him and death’, 1 Sam 20:3; yet it was David who wrote Psalm 30. He held on to his faith in the Lord, despite numerous difficult trials and wrote praising God’s Favour on his life. He didn’t just endure his trials but praised God through them and kept his soul free from bitterness. (‘Stay sweet in your soul, Russ’ Roy Walden Senior).

God is often portrayed by religious people as being harsh and critical, looking for our mistakes and weaknesses to catch us out. David’s picture is the opposite, momentary anger and Lifetime Favour. We have a loving Heavenly Father who is looking for a people to share eternity with Him, AFTER we’ve finished our walk on earth.

Job, through no fault of his own suffered greatly without explanation(God had boasted of Job to Satan and the devil tried his utmost to get Job to curse God). Job endured tremendous suffering but it ended with an encounter with God and double restoration of everything he’d lost, including his family.

Joseph was thrown into a pit by his own brothers, sold as a slave, lied about by his master’s wife and thrown into prison. He too had no idea why all this happened to him, but in God’s time he was brought to a position of great power and became ruler of Egypt and a father to Pharaoh. In God’s time he was reconciled to his family and rescued them all from famine. His father Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons and counted them as his own — in other words God made sure the sons were blessed along with his brothers’ children, they didn’t miss out because they’d been born in Egypt.

Ruth, the Moabitess, a descendant of Lot, lost her husband but decided to leave her own people and accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi(means pleasant) through the arid land to Bethlehem. She had nothing of her own and had to go out and glean/pick up the leftovers after the harvesters. She met Boaz, a family relative of Naomi and eventually became his wife and produced a son in the line of David.

All these people had to endure hardship, often without choice, but once they set out on their journey there was no turning back, they had to trust the Lord. For many of us we’ve gone too far to turn back. Life may seem difficult at times, but God and the cloud of witnesses are watching and urging us not to give up.

God’s Favour towards us is for our lifetime, keep going, our reward is sure.

God bless and keep you today.

 

‘Fear and trembling’ versus ‘complaining and arguing’. Phil 2

I’ve come across a couple of references to Philippians 2 recently which are worth considering. Paul appeals to the Philippian Church, because of their unity with Christ and fellowship with the Spirit;

…then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Phil 2: 2, 3

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Phil 2: 5, 6

Apparently there were ‘complaining and arguing’ in the church and Paul urged them to have a change of attitude and follow Christ’s example as a servant. He’d previously told them to

— continue to work out your salvation with ‘fear and trembling’, for it is GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU TO WILL AND TO ACT ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PURPOSE. Phil 2:13

Paul wanted them to stand out from those around them;

…become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you SHINE  (Paul wants his spiritual children to Shine, so does the Lord) like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Phil 2:15

Israel wanted to be like the other peoples/nations but God said it would never happen; nor will the Church.

Ruth Prince (Derek’s second wife) was lying ill in a Catholic Hospital in America, too weak to read her Bible. The senior sister was passing and asked if she could do anything for her. Ruth asked her to read the Bible to her, from Phil 2. The sister remarked that it was the scripture that had been read at her institution to her office in the hospital. She read the chapter and then told Ruth about a time of teaching with a Trappist Monk and a few of the sisters. Trappists take a ‘Vow of Silence’, but occasionally they are allowed to go and share what God has spoken to them in the stillness!

The monk had said to the small group of sisters;

Pray to Desire, Not to want to be Esteemed, Secure or in Control.

That’s a challenging prayer and not for the faint hearted, but it does give God control and reduces the role of our Ego. God arranged that the monk’s message, only shared with a small group of sisters, should be transmitted to a much wider audience through an international ministry. God wanted the message shared much more widely than just the few nuns and orchestrated that encounter.

God wants the Church to serve Him in ‘Fear and Trembling’, where and when He directs. ‘Complaining and arguing’ are a sure sign that our fleshly egos are dominant.

God bless and keep you today and give you a heart to serve in Spirit and in truth.

 

 

 

Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever. Psalm 28:9

What a powerful and beautiful picture to end David’s psalm. …’be their shepherd and carry them forever’.

Prayers and blessings are so important, even generations later they can still be affecting the people they were spoken over. (Unfortunately so can curses, negative words). David called out to God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, on behalf of Israel, that God would, ‘carry them forever’. It’s amazing to think that these words of David’s prayer are still being answered today. Just as David prayed that God would carry Israel ‘forever’, so God entered into an everlasting covenant with David and his family line;

The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you… Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever. 2 Samuel 7:11, 16

What are some Biblical inferences around the term ‘shepherd’? What was involved in David’s request to God to ‘shepherd’ Israel?

David’s opening words in Psalm 23, ‘The Lord’s my shepherd, I shall not want’. David trusted that because of his relationship with the Lord he wouldn’t be in need, just as the sheep trust the shepherd for their pasture.

John’s Gospel contains the seven great ‘I am’ declarations of Jesus and in John 10 He declared twice, ‘I am the good shepherd’ (The only one He repeated).

I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

I am the good Shepherd; I know my Sheep and my sheep know me – just as the father knows me and I know the father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:14, 15, 16

The Lord said He lays down His life for His sheep. The shepherd sometimes had to protect the sheep with his life; David ‘fought the lion and bear’, but Jesus actually did lay down His life for the sheep, so that there would be ‘one flock and one shepherd’.

Further in John 10, Jesus addresses the Pharisees;

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

We can’t just take having Jesus as our shepherd in a blasé or casual way, our destiny depends on all that He’s done for us. His sheep hear and follow His voice, that’s an important characteristic for belonging to Him.

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God bless and keep you today.

 

 

 

 

His ways or other ways; who’s influencing us most?

The Psalms, David’s Songs, are about his heart love and not so much head knowledge of God. He wrote at least half of the psalms, the longest book in the Bible, with the longest chapter psalm 119 (176 verses) and the shortest, psalm 117.

David’s psalms may have been birthed through a life under constant threat from enemies. Many of David’s psalms begin with him crying out in distress for God to help, have mercy and deliver him. Many also end, or contain statements of faith that God will rescue him and not give him over to his enemies. He encourages himself to rise above the threats of those around him and trust in the Lord.

The opening words of the Book begin with the phrase,

‘Blessed is the man’, there are blessings for those who are willing to partner and walk with the Lord.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers. Ps. 1:1-3

(No name is given for the writer of the first psalm).

David constantly calls to God to ‘teach him’ His ways, as if his heart is longing to be closer to God. David sought hard after God, because his life depended on hearing and obeying God! Things may have begun to change for Western Believers today; we may have to be a lot more focused and  no longer be careless, in our own personal walk with the Lord.

I DO NOT SIT WITH deceitful men, nor do I CONSORT WITH hypocrites; I ABHOR the assembly(company) of evildoers and REFUSE TO SIT WITH the wicked. Psalm 26:4, 5

David avoids wrong influences and chooses instead to be around His God and talking to people about Him.

I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells. Psalm 26:6, 7, 8

In the previous psalm, Psalm 25, we see David asking God to teach him His ways;

SHOW me your ways, O Lord, TEACH me your paths; GUIDE me in your truth and TEACH me, for you are God my saviour and my hope is in you/wait for all day long. Psalm 25:4, 5

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he INSTRUCTS sinners in his ways. He GUIDES the humble in what is right and TEACHES them His way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. Psalm 25:8, 9, 10

David wouldn’t allow himself to be under ungodly influences but he called out often for God to Teach, Instruct, Guide, Direct him.

Who, then, is the one that Fears the Lord? He will Instruct them in the way chosen for them Psalm 25:12

God wants to help and guide us in our lives today, just as He did for David.

God bless and keep you today.

Today is the twelfth day of January 2021,  12.1.21 (UK date, a symmetrical number, reads the same forward and back).

The number ‘twelve’ is very significant in the Bible and occurs from Genesis right through to Revelation (mentioned 22 times in the last book, but the number 144 and 144,000 which is 12 X 12 also occurs).

Jacob had twelve sons Genesis 25:23-26 and each one became a tribe in the nation of Israel. (Likewise Ishmael also had twelve sons, each one a Prince Genesis 17:20).

Jesus appointed twelve of His followers after spending the night in prayer on the mountainside. Luke 6:12, 13 He first delegated His authority to the Twelve to drive out evil spirits and heal sicknesses. Matthew 10:1

Peter told those gathered in the upper room that according to the Word of God, Psalm 109:8 they had to appoint another to take the place of Judas, the number of the twelve apostles had to be maintained.

In Revelation 21(this New Year, 12 reversed) right at the end of the Bible, we read about the New Jerusalem;

It had a great, high wall with 12 gates, and with 12 angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. The wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. The 12 gates were 12 pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.

One of the main meanings of ‘Twelve’ is the Perfect Government of God. There have been times in my own life when I’ve seen God do things and thought that was perfect! Perfect timing and a perfect answer from a perfect God.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus and Peter struck the servant of the High Priest, cutting off his ear, Jesus healed him. But Jesus also said,

Do you think I cannot call on my father and he will at once put my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? Matthew 26:53

Jesus was in ‘perfect control’ in the Garden, but He chose to  submit to His Father and not call upon the angels. He put Himself into the hands of treacherous men so that men could be rescued out of a lost eternity.

I believe today, the twelfth of January, that God is in control and that His plans and purposes will be worked out in these days, just as surely as they have been in past Bible’ times. Don’t lose faith, but stand still and see God’s victory in your own lives.

God bless and keep you today on this twelfth day of 2021.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Let My people go so that they may worship Me. Exodus 5

Moses, God’s Deliverer, spent 40 years in the desert, away from the seat of power in Egypt. God heard the cries of His people Exodus 2:24 and remembered His Covenant with them. So God met with Moses, and sent him to Egypt to deliver ‘His people’ from the hand of a tyrant and from the gods of Egypt. Exodus 12:12 Moses was no longer a young man, now 80 years old but God had preserved his strength and most importantly he knew the Lord. He was not chosen from the ranks of those in authority over Egypt, he’d been in God’s training place, the desert. The only sound he heard were the sheep and the wind in the desert.

Moses confronted Pharaoh with the demands of the Lord, ‘Let My people go’. Pharaoh and those around him laughed and made the lives of the Israelites worse than before. A power struggle ensued between the God of Israel and the gods of Egypt. The Israelites suffered during this confrontation, but if we’re in any doubt who wins and will always win, read the story again in Exodus.

The final plague of the 10 plagues released on Egypt was the ‘Death of the First Born’, even down to the servants and livestock. After this the Egyptians were so keen for Israel to leave their land that they paid them/gave them all their valuables just to go. But the Lord hadn’t finished with Egypt, their army pursued Israel across the desert up to the Red Sea. God told Moses to part the sea (Exodus 14) and Israel crossed on dry ground. The chariots and the whole army of Egypt tried to follow them and perished.

And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. Exodus 14:31

Israel trusted the Lord and His leader, Moses, after He’d given them victory over a more powerful enemy.  It was a new day for Israel, there was nothing of the old left to which they could return.

I’m not political at all, but I believe Donald Trump has been called as a deliverer for America today. I am aware of how the situation is developing, but God will have the final word as He always does.

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Give and it will be given onto you, the Lord is no one’s debtor.

We are available to seek personal words of encouragement for those who want them. A donation is required for this service.

God bless and keep you in these days.

 

Better to be right in your heart and love the Lord.

He (Jesus) replied, “Isaiah was RIGHT when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honour me with their lips (lip service) but THEIR HEARTS are far from me. THEY WORSHIP ME IN VAIN; their teachings are about rules taught by men”. Isaiah 29:13, Mark 7:6, 7

Lip service; insincerity, saying something but not really meaning it.

Luke 7:36-50, tells of Jesus’ visit to the house of Simon the Pharisee for a meal. Straight away, V37, a woman enters the scene. It’s interesting the NIV states, ‘when a woman who had ‘LIVED A SINFUL LIFE’. This version DOESN’T call her a ‘sinful woman’ and neither did Jesus at the end of the Biblical account. We have all sinned, but God sees us in Christ.

Jesus allowed the woman to weep over His feet, dry them with her hair and pour perfume on them ( actions of deep contrition). There’s no record of her saying anything, nor of Simon criticising anything she said (sometimes sorrow can be too deep to express in words).

Alas, Simon the host, did judge the woman and the Lord Jesus in his thoughts. He judged her character and Jesus’ own discernment and righteousness for allowing her near Him.

Jesus, then told Simon a parable about a money-lender owed money by two different men, neither of whom could pay their debt. They were both forgiven, but which was forgiven more – the one who owed more. Jesus then compared Simon’s hospitality, no water to wash His feet with that of the weeping woman.

Regarding the woman Jesus said, ‘her many sins (again NOT A SINFUL WOMAN) have been forgiven, for she LOVED MUCH’.

Jesus’ final words to Simon were, ‘he who has been forgiven little loves little’.

He spoke twice directly to this humiliated woman, ‘your sins are forgiven’. ‘Your faith has saved you, go in peace’.

The Lord looked on the sorrowful woman’s heart and ‘forgave her many sins’. The self righteous Pharisee didn’t receive the same blessing.

May God give us humble and honest hearts today as we come before Him.

God bless and keep you.

Religion or Reality – it’s never too late to obey the Lord. Matthew 21

Matthew 21 begins with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The scene moved to the Temple Matt 21:11, 12 where Jesus ‘drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves’. Jesus then began to heal the blind and lame at the Temple and the children shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. The chief priests and teachers of the law were angry at Jesus healings and the childrens’ shouts of joy, Life released in the place of religion.

Jesus spent the night at Bethany, perhaps at the home of Martha. Early in the morning, on His way back to the city, Jesus was hungry and went to a fig tree, but it had only leaves, no fruit. Jesus cursed the tree and it immediately withered. The ‘fig tree’ often represents the nation of Israel and the fact that it had leaves, ‘religious activity’ but no fruit, ‘no substance’ may have depicted the religious state of the nation. Much Religious observance but NO FRUIT.

The authority of Jesus was then questioned by the chief priests and elders of the people. ‘By what authority are You doing these things’? Jesus in turn asked them where John’s baptism was from, heaven or from men? They wouldn’t answer. Jesus didn’t leave it there, He told all around Him the Parable of the Two Sons.

A man went to his son and told him, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard. I will not he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.’ Matt 21:28, 29 ‘Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, I will sir, but did not go. Which of two did what the father wanted? The first they answered’.

Jesus then gave the explanation of the parable, which should have been quite shaming for the priests and scribes.

I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. Matthew 21:31, 32

The first son represents the sinners, who didn’t want to come but changed their minds and repented. The second son represents those who say they ‘will obey’ but don’t – a pretence. Jesus said the despised and disreputable in society are the ones who are entering the Kingdom of God.

The sinners didn’t get it right at once but they did turn to the Lord. The respectable, religious refused to turn back to God. The call is to ‘come and work’ in the vineyard. Harvest time needs every pair of hands and harvest is here now but a huge harvest is coming. Let’s seek the Lord for our place to work for Him, He gave much for us.

God bless and keep you today.