Pilgrim Heart

The Obedience of Faith

...Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations... (Romans 1:4-5)

The goal of apostolic ministry is not to make people live in obedience to "The Faith" but to produce faith in people which creates of itself, quite naturally and without any external compulsion, obedience to Jesus Christ.

So one mark of true apostolic ministry is that it produces faith-filled people who freely and instinctively live the life of Christ and so bring honour to his name: this is the obedience of faith. Apostolic ministry does not first and foremost say "this is what you should do," but rather says "here is Jesus Christ." It is not a revelation to law, but a revelation from grace.

Apostolic authority is not primarily a right to command, but an entrustment to make known the mysteries of Christ. An encounter with true apostolic ministry will leave you full of faith and knowing Jesus better.

The Nations & the Kingdom of God - a Commentary on Psalm 2 (II)

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." (Ps 2:4-6).

Who does God laugh at? The raging nations? The oppressed? Humanity in general? No, he holds those in derision who have held him in derision by abusing their power - the unjust rulers. God ordains government, and Romans 13 tells us that government rightly exercised is to be respected and obeyed. But government which exploits its citizenry for personal gratification will face the wrath of God.

As how is this wrath expressed? Through earthquake, tsunami, fire, war? No, through announcing to the temporal powers that a greater power is already in place above them: Christ is reigning from Zion.

The proclamation that Jesus is even now enthroned, that God has put everything under his feet, should be the beating heart of the church's response to political turmoil and unheaval. There is no better time to preach the gospel than when the kingdoms of the earth are being shaken, for that is merely evidence that we are "receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken," (Heb 12:28) - the rule of Christ.

The Christian's ability to see Christ ruling over all with our spiritual eyes whilst it is not yet evident to our natural eyes (Heb 2:8-9) gives us a uniquely privileged position to understand the times, and a clear course to plot: preach the gospel; live the gospel "having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace" (Eph 5:15).

Why would such a message be terrifying to the rulers of the earth? Because it calls into being a people with an allegiance to a higher authority and with access to a higher power: the empowering of ordinary people by the Holy Spirit is a disempowering of all human authorities which have thrown off their God given role and limitations.

So pray for our brothers and sisters in the places of conflict around the world; that their gospel proclamation will be strong and full of the peace of God: for God's answer to the unruly nations of the earth is "Jesus is already reigning over all" - and that is the gospel of the kingdom we are called to proclaim.

 

Seeing Jesus (3)

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." (Luke 2:25-32)

I love the story of Simeon - only a few verses but it tells a whole life-time. What I also love is how Simeon got to see Jesus, it was by an anointing of the Holy Spirit. In these few verses we find that Simeon heard from the Spirit, that the Spirit was upon him, and that he responded to the promptings of the Spirit to go to the temple that particular day. This seems to me to be a man who lived intimately with the Holy Spirit.

What we are not told is how Simeon identified Jesus. There would have been dozens of 8-day-old boys with their parents at the temple that day; Joseph, Mary and Jesus would have looked like any other family. They didn't have halos, there were no angels accompanying them; so how did Simeon know Jesus when he saw him?

I believe the clue is in what we've already said about him - he was a man of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God within him would have leapt for joy as Simeon's eyes scanned the room looking for the baby he'd lived his life believing he would see.

Simeon's story illustrates for us a simple yet important truth - if we are full of the Spirit we will see Jesus! If Jesus starts to look lost amongst the Christmas revelry, get full of the Spirit and I'm sure you'll see him again!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Seeing Jesus (1)

Have you ever considered what the ultimate manifestation of the presence of God might be? I have been doing a preaching series on the presence of God and when I came to consider the ultimate manifestation of God's presence on earth today, I was slightly surprised by where the scriptures took me (that's one of the things I love about the Word of God!).

Planning for Peace

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but those who plan peace have joy. (Proverbs 12:20)

Do you plan peace? We probably all want peace, like peace, appreciate peace, but do we plan it? Do we even think we can? Isn't it something that is a consequence of external forces? Not at all!

Not only can we, but we must plan peace. I'm not talking peace on a global or national scale (though we really need those in positions of authority to plan peace!) but at a personal level, in the family, in the church, in the workplace.

What does it mean to plan peace? It probably means re-prioritising, re-evaluating our motives, re-assessing what we consider to be a successful outcome. Is success to get my own way or is it to bring peace? Is it possible to be so caught up in a desired outcome - even one that apparently furthers God's Kingdom - that the way we go about it works against the Word and purpose of God?

And here's a great promise - if we plan peace we have joy: God gives the joy whilst we're still at the planning stages! God also gives us a clear indication as to how to plan peace: Philippians 4:4-7 gives a 4 point plan to bringing the peace of God to a situation:

1. Rejoice in the Lord always
2. Be blatantly reasonable
3. Don't worry
4. Pray

Plan peace - be joyful!

Thoughts on the Inner Life

I am currently reading A.A. Allen’s, “The Price of God’s Miracle-Working Power” (availble to download here, time to update those sidebars!) which was given to me by my good friend David Lavery.

It is a great book despite being written by a man whose tie is so long it sticks out of his jacket breast pocket!

Here are a some quotes from what I read this morning which relate to our "inner life" which I found challenging...

• We can walk as Christ walked and talk as He talked. Following His example is not a condition of the feet or lips, but of the heart!

• Before we can walk as Christ walked and talk as He talked, we must first begin to think as Christ thought!

• Jesus thought good thoughts. That was the reason He could walk and talk right.

(scriptures cited: 1 Peter 2:21-23, Mark 7:21-23, Pr 23:7, 2 Cor 10:5, Php 2:5, Php 4:8)

Pray As You Go

If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal 5:25 NIV)

Pray without ceasing. (1Thes 5:17 ESV)

Following on from yesterday's post (yes I'm posting 2 days in a row!) I thought the juxtapose of these verses might be helpful.

Every step we take is to be in step with the Spirit - he guides our direction and our thoughts, and through a continual fellowship (or conversation) with him we are enabled to pray without ceasing as we are continually in step with the thoughts and will of God.

It's a challenge maybe, but a glorious possibility!

Prayer

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Rom 8:26-27)

Christ Jesus is the one that died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Rom 8:34)

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. (Jn 16:23)

These verses provide a lot of food for meditation, so the following comments are only a first sketch...

First we find that the Spirit and Jesus are both interceding to the Father on our behalf. In what way? Is there an eternal prayer meeting going on in heaven? Well in one sense yes there is; but I think we also are involved intimately in this activity.

The first reference to the interceding of the Spirit suggests that this intercession of the Spirit is expressed through men and women. We need the Holy Spirit involved in our prayers because we don't know what to pray, but He does, and in fact enables us (often through words we don't understand, i.e. tongues) to pray the will of God.

Praying the will of God is true prayer - the only kind worthy of our energies: remember the Lord's Prayer, "your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The will of God is the substance of all true prayer, and the Spirit of God enables us to know and express the will of God.

Taking the next 2 scriptures together: what is it to pray or ask "in Jesus' name"? It is to pray with his authority, with his privileges and in his place. How do we ensure our prayers are truly in his name? Again it comes to his will - if we pray his will we are praying in his name. So the Father hears our prayers as if Jesus were praying them!

So the Spirit will help me know what to pray so that I am praying the will of God and when I pray the will of God Jesus is interceding with and through me and then (and only then!) whatever I ask the Father will do. That's the kind of prayer I want to pray!

[with thanks to Chris HH for his recent sermon and the late Bryn Jones for his book "Effective Prayer" both of which provoked my thinking and consequently this post.]

Going His Way

I went for a long walk this afternoon to pray. At one junction I felt the Holy Spirit say, "go that way" so I did, into Woodside Avenue. It was a road I'd never been down before and was lined with (I think) Lime trees.

About halfway down the road something went "squelch" under my boot - I looked down and saw apples all over the path, and looked up and saw an apple tree. There are probably getting on for 100 trees in that road, and all except one were Limes.

Of course my mind immediately turned to the verse from my previous post, "as the apple tree among the trees of the forest..." - what a coincidence! I don't think so! The Bible says:

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. (Pr 4:11)

It was a small thing, but it said something powerful to me, it said God confirms his word with signs and wonders! This was a wonder and it confirmed that I am hearing God, both about which way to go on my walk and much more importantly in my pursuit of him through his Word! It's true - our Father does guide us and lead us, he is always with us and constantly speaking to us. Thank you Lord.

The Desires of the Spirit

I've had a couple of days away waiting on God. I spent quite a bit of the time meditating on the first 3 chapters of Ezekiel. I was stuck by the relationship between the Living Creatures and the Spirit. First we read...

"...wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went." [Ezek 1:12]

This made me think of our relationship to the Holy Spirit - do I go everywhere the Spirit goes, and do I do so without allowing myself to be distracted, without turning?

A few verses later there is a similar statement, but with a subtle difference...

"...wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went..." [Ezek 1:20]

Now we need to see that the Holy Spirit has desires, he wants things. Oh to know the desires of the Holy Spirit and to go in response to them. Oh to feel the desires the Holy Spirit feels and to follow them, going in the perfect will of God.

This will change the way I pray, not only to pray "Lord what do you want me to do, where do you want me to go," but "what do you desire today - Lord let me know and feel your desires!"