Pilgrim Heart

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!"

A Day Simply Measured

The make up of my days varies greatly - today I have mostly been studying and preparing the teach. In preparation there are always tempting tangents to explore, and sometimes trains of thought that in the end do not lead to something immediately usable. I've been asking myself the question, "how do I measure my productivity on days like this, or any other day for that matter?" The answer I've come to is this: am I closer to Jesus at the end than I was at the beginning? There is no other measure worth using than the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).

If Anyone is Thirsty... let him tell me when it would be convenient and I'll pop round

I have become more and more aware of a creeping comsumerism in the Church (universal) recently, and from conversations and comments from those with a passion for God I observe that others seem to have noticed the same.

I don't believe that these are deliberate and conscious acts, but rather is part of the spirit of this age. The call of God to his people is "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues" [Rev 18:4].

Comsumerism is a plague of this world, as believers we are not consumers, we are partakers. And first and foremost we are here for the Creator's pleasure, not to fulfil our own desires. We must approach God and his people in this way: there's a power in partaking that consumers will never know... I'll leave it there for now, for a lighter take, try here.

Under the Surface

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." [1 Samuel 16:7]

We've had a lot of work done on our house recently, and our excellent builder Colin finished his part yesterday. Having had a boiler and old gas fire removed we needed to decide what to do about the space left behind. Plasterer Brian (another good bloke!) gave a bit of advice and I took to removing some plaster from dining room wall that needed renewing. What I found underneath was a little disturbing, many of the bricks of the wall above the fireplace were only being held up by the plaster - and that was only being held up by the paint!

Just looking at the wall before I started work you'd never have known that things were so rotten! Now my wall will all be sorted and in a couple of weeks and looking great again, and more importantly will be restored to its true vocation of holding up my house! I know it's kind of obvious but it reminded me again of the verse above. But waht I also discovered is that just a few knocks and the true state of the wall became clear - in fact the wall started to fall down. Just a gentle reminder to me to take care of my heart and not appearances - it will only take a few knocks to show what we're really made of!

This Question is for You!

I had the joy of preaching at church yesterday. Our latest theme is The Confession of the Disciple. My text was from Matthew 16:

"But what about you?" [Jesus] asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. [Matthew 16:15-17].

The most important question we can ever answer is the question Jesus asks his disciples here: it will determine our very lives. For me one of the most important things in this passage is I can only confess what I see of Jesus: my confession must come from a divine revelation.

Some people think that by repeating things over and over they will produce faith: but our faith must be rooted in a revelation of who Jesus is. And he is so many things! He is Lord, Saviour, Son of God, Healer, Provider, Redeemer, The Ruler Over All - it goes on!

Who do you say that he is? Confess Jesus in your life, your home, your work, your relationships, your finance, your health - and see the power of God released!