Praising God in adversity

Just listening to Australian preacher Katherine Ruonala’s podcast “Praising God in adversity - Part 1" [Transcript of part of the podcast [3]]

Referencing the narrative of Paul & Silas in prison, who didn’t complain about having been beaten for their faith, but, instead chose to sing hymns to God at midnight in the prison. See Acts 16:16-40]...

“God wants to release you into hope. So that you can begin to celebrate...”

Katherine Ruonala goes on to remind us that we NEED TO TAKE THOUGHTS THAT OCCUR TO US CAPTIVE, especially those thoughts that aren’t any good for us [distracting thoughts, worries, etc]...

“[We should say] God, I take those thoughts captive, that are exalting themselves above the knowledge of who you are. You are good, you are lovely, you are wonderful. And I’m not even going to think about these other things [distracting thoughts, worries, etc] My heart’s desire is simply to enjoy you; is to love you & enjoy you.” [1]

Katherine Ruonala goes on to make a VERY important observation about any negative thoughts we continue to allow into our own minds:

“Can you enjoy Him [The Lord] when things AREN’T the way that you want them to be in your circumstances around you? If you can’t, then the circumstances are probably going to get worse, because it’s going to prove to be an EFFECTIVE TOOL OF THE ENEMY [Satan]. It’s like, “oh, that’s working!” But if you are unmoved by the things that the enemy brings to you, & instead, turn it around for good, saying [to yourself], I’m not even going to entertain it, I’m not going there. I’m not going there devil, I’m going to sing. I’m going to sing praises to God. I’m going to be looking out for opportunities to minister, to release the love of God...”

That point seems vital to me: Unless we choose to take captive any thought(s) that are negative & self-destructive, then we are in danger of becoming more & more subject to such thoughts. And we definitely don’t want to go down that road!
It is therefore VITAL that we so order our own thinking that we DO decide to take negative thoughts captive, just as many times as they occur to us. They probably won’t just occur to us once per day! They may occur to us ten times, or a hundred times, or a thousand times per day. What matters is our firm determination to take negative thoughts captive NO MATTER HOW OFTEN THEY OCCUR TO US.

I’m sure Jesus wasn’t tempted by the devil just the one time recorded in the Bible (see Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13) but was tempted pretty much every day of his life, just like we are. In fact Luke 4:13 tells us “When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him UNTIL THE NEXT OPPORTUNITY CAME.” So clearly Jesus was tempted again, at a later date.

Back to the negative thoughts that occur to our minds...
Negative thoughts grow more powerful in our minds IF we allow them to “roost” there. So we need to ruthlessly root them out & deliberately decide to think about positive things INSTEAD. They may try to come back, countless times again, but if we are unmoving in our RESOLVE to reject any & all negative thoughts, regardless of how many times they occur to our minds, then we will take back control of our own thinking. This is self-help at its best! It is also what the Lord God wants us to do. [2]

<br />
[1]
Katherine Ruonala is referring to the first point of the Westminster Larger Catechism, which begins with:
Q. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

[2]
2 Corinthians 10:5 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, AND WE TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT TO MAKE IT OBEDIENT TO CHRIST.”

Romans 12:2 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

[3]
Katherine Ruonala - Praising God in adversity - Part 1 [Podcast]

[21 mins 21sec’s into podcast]
“God wants to release you into hope. So that you can begin to celebrate, “Thank you Father, thank you Lord, that you are faithful & true. You are my divine distraction, God, you are my divine obsession. God, I take those thoughts that are exalting themselves above the knowledge of who you are. You are good, you are lovely, you are wonderful. And I’m not even going to think about these other things [distracting thoughts, worries, etc] My heart’s desire is simply to enjoy you; is to love you & enjoy you.
Can you enjoy Him [The Lord] when things aren’t the way that you want them to be in your circumstances around you? If you can’t, then the circumstances are probably going to get worse, because it’s going to prove to be an effective tool of the enemy [Satan]. It’s like, “oh, that’s working!” But if you are going to be unmoved by the things that the enemy brings to you, & instead, turn it around for good [like Paul & Silas - see Acts 16:16-40]... say, I’m not even going to entertain it, I’m not going there. I’m not going there devil, I’m going to sing. I’m going to sing praises to God. I’m going to be looking out for opportunities to minister, to release the love of God. To know, this is my divine purpose; is to love God & enjoy Him forever. To bless Him. I’ve been created for fellowship with Jesus. I’ve been created for fellowship with God Himself.”

Pastor visiting - a thing of the past?

We had our last Alpha course meeting last night. This is the first time we have run Alpha at Brixworth Christian Fellowship, & it appears to have been successful. Last night’s session was about church: what it is, what it is not & the benefits of attending. During the discussion after Nicky Gumbel’s DVD presentation one of the participants made a very interesting observation. She said that years ago vicars & pastors used to visit members of their congregations regularly, to see who they were doing, to offer prayer & support. Then this lady observed that this seems to go on less & less now.

I’ve been thinking about that today: the apparent decline in pastoral visitation. It may be that some church leaders still regularly visit their congregations, to “touch base” with them & shepherd them. But it seems to me that many pastors don’t seem to have time for this activity today. They are probably busy with sermon preparation, being on various committee’s & serving in a whole variety of very valuable ways...

... but...

... One of THE most important ways to really show that you care & love people is to make the time to go round to their house & be with them. “Love” is actually spelt T-I-M-E. The offer of irreplaceable life-time to someone in need does not go unnoticed. Nor does the LACK of that offer, if you think about it.

One of the terrible symptoms of today’s world & western society is busyness. We all complain about not having sufficient time to do the things we want to do. The church (by that I mean the people who ARE the church, not the building) also suffers from overload in this way. Our vicars, pastors & pastoral care teams also suffer from overload & terribly busy schedules. So visiting people may seem rather a waste of time, especially when we are so apparently accountable for the time we do spend on our jobs...

... but ...

... have we “forgotten” the intangible, hard-to-define benefits to other people of offering our time to them, which is really offering our love to them? Have our vicars, pastors, etc actually become so busy (with undoubtedly good works) that they are now TOO BUSY to go visiting? Add to that the seemingly incalculable but hard-to-see-&-define benefits of regular pastoral visitation, & you can see why it is difficult to justify pastoral visitation; why it is apparently in decline - to the impoverishment of us all.

I’m not “knocking” the great work our church leaders do. There’s is a terribly demanding job - I couldn’t do it, that’s for sure! But I think the benefits of regular pastoral visitation is being grossly overlooked by our “professional” Christian leaders.

Benefits of visiting the flock.
In the past, vicars went to meet their congregations regularly, hence the “more tea, Vicar?” joke! Is it just “wasting time” on drinking endless cups of tea... or is there something far more valuable deep within that seemingly pointless action? Is the REAL BENEFIT of visiting someone rather hidden, rather less-than-obvious, rather hard to define... & so rather easy to overlook, dismiss & avoid in this age of “every second counts”?

In the past the simple reality was that vicars MADE TIME to visit. In this way (as well as in sermons at church) they actually shepherded their flocks - leading them to “good pastures”, providing insights & opinions, support & a “shoulder to cry on” when necessary. It is probably very difficult to “put your finger” on the exact usefulness of a visit. Rather hard to clearly define SMART goals, as our modern business guru’s would insist we have to do in order to justify our time usage! It could be seen as a waste of time, or else as “simply” a visit, with no real benefit to either party...

...but...

...I rather think that there are less-than-obvious benefits (to both the visitee & visitor) that we are too busy to think about or acknowledge. There are probably a whole host of “hidden”, subtle, mysterious benefits both to the person being visited AND to the vicar visiting, if we care to think about it. In fact, there are probably benefits to the wider church congregation &, indeed, to the whole community. Perhaps there is a positive, regulating influence in a vicars visit which we automatically loose by not visiting at all, or else rather infrequently.

Perhaps there is a sense of belonging & community spirit & cohesion which is fostered & enlarged by such visitation? Then there is the sense of friendship, camaraderie & belonging which is fostered & nurtured by visitation. The vicar can leave a home knowing he has made a real, vital difference to a needy person, which helps him/her to feel useful, integral & valued.

When you stop to think about it, I believe there are many benefits to pastoral visitation which we have lost by not involving ourselves in this simple activity.

Perhaps our forefather’s were on to something... & something that we have lost: the art of simply “being there” for others. LOVE is spelt T-I-M-E, after all.

Having something amazing to show a needy world.
I think we have by & large lost that amazing pastoral support due to today’s ultra busy schedules. And the terrible truth of that is that we have thereby lost a AMAZING OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW LOVE IN ACTION. I fear people outside the church are looking in & seeing very littler difference between their lives & our (Christian) lives, even though we are meant to be showing a better way. One of the spectacularly “different” & BETTER WAYS we (the Christian church) CAN be different, is in our response to people’s suffering. Not only the “big” sufferings of bereavement or redundancy, but the “smaller” sufferings of simply living life in the 21st century. Similarly, if pastoral visitation where to be re-kindled, perhaps people outside the church would look in, see a very real, very different & VERY ATTRACTIVE church-based community, & that in itself would be the “difference” we are trying to show them: caring & love-in-action, which is our reflection of Jesus’ love for us.

If our vicars, pastors & leaders could re-find the benefits of the pastoral visit perhaps we really would have SOMETHING AMAZING to show this needy world once more.

How can Christians know they have eternal life?

There are many verses in the Bible that help us to realise that we can have complete confidence in our eternal life. Probably the most famous is John 3:16, where Jesus himself says:

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that EVERYONE who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

I’ve long found the very next verse (John 3:17) equally interesting & encouraging, it reads:
“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
So there Jesus is telling us why he came into the world, to SAVE the world, i.e. the people of the world.

How does that work?
If we believe in Jesus the Christ (Messiah) then we will be saved from the sure & certain eternal punishment for our wrong-doings (sin), which comes on the Day of God’s Judgement - an unavoidable day that is to come for us all.

“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” This is actually a very hopeful message, because it shows JUST HOW committed God the Father is, through the actions of God the Son (on the cross) to save the world. The way TO BE saved is completely open. Nothing is stopping you from being saved right now - wow!

But the Good News gets even better! In the first part of John 3:18 Jesus says:

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him.” So if you’re worried about the coming, completely unavoidable judgement of God, where ALL OUR SECRET SINS & WRONG-DOINGS will be laid bare for all to see... YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE! Because accepting Jesus as your own Lord & Saviour (becoming a Christian) means that John 3:18 comes into play FOR YOU: “There is NO JUDGMENT AGAINST ANYONE who believes in him.” Christians will not face judgement, because the blood of Jesus on the cross wipes away all our sins - & God makes a promise never to keep a record of our wrong-doings [1] & [2] - how FANTASTIC is that! 

Why don’t people want to become Christians?
If we do not accept Jesus as the Saviour of our lives, then obviously the judgement of God remains upon us, as John 3:18 goes on to prove:

“But anyone who does not believe in him [Jesus] has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this FACT: God’s light came into the world [that is Jesus came], but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.”

You have the reason why people will not accept Jesus as Saviour of their lives right there: “All who do evil hate the light [that is, Jesus] and REFUSE to go near it FOR FEAR THEIR SINS WILL BE EXPOSED.” But guess what guys? Your sins WILL be exposed, for all to see, UNLESS you take option A & become a Christian! That’s just the way it is.

As we just read: “20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.” All people have been given a conscience, a moral compass, & that is one way that God helps us to know for ourselves what is right & what is wrong. We KNOW, inside our own minds, if our actions & intentions are right or wrong. So we have no excuse for choosing to do wrong. God didn’t want us to be in doubt about that.

Walking into the light.
It is interesting to note that in contrast to people who CHOOSE to remain in darkness & continually choose to run their own life into the eternal fiery pits of hell...

“21 But those who DO WHAT IS RIGHT [become Christians] come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

I hadn’t noticed that last bit before, “... so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” Jesus points out here that it is FANTASTIC to come to the light for our own sake; to be saved from our own sins; to come to close friendship with God (who lives in the light). But Jesus is also pointing out in the verse that there is purpose & a by-product of “coming into the light”, & it is that OTHER PEOPLE can see that we are “doing what God wants.” In other words, people can have an example to follow. They can see people being saved (becoming Christians) & going on in a positive, encouraging, life-affirming way. This “step towards the light” is called obedience elsewhere in the Bible. People who are obedient walk into the light, & get all the benefits of the light - and there are MANY!


Bible References
John 3:16-21 (NLT)
16 [Jesus said] “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

[1]
Hebrews 8:12 (NLT)
[God says] “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

[2]
Psalm 103:10-13 (NLT)
“10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him*
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 HE HAS REMOVED OUR SINS AS FAR FROM US
AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him*.”

* "Fear” refers to reverence; worshipful acknowledgement of the awesomeness of God. Not as in fearful running away from God!

Temptation in The Lord of the Rings

I’ve been listening to the audiobook of The Lord of the Rings, as I have been drawing & colouring Bible Cartoons (currently I am colouring Acts 08 - Philip & the Ethiopian eunuch - Scene 06 - In Azotus.)

Story Background
The story has got to Book 2: The Two Towers, & chapter 10, in which our heroes confront Saruman, the evil wizard. His lacky (Wormtongue) throws a Palantir (or seeing stone) which is picked up by one of the Hobbits (called Pippin) but quickly handed over to Gandalf (the good wizard.)

I have just been listening to the next chapter (11, The Palantir) which describes our heroes camping for the night & Pippins increasing curiosity about the seeing stone. The story describes how Pippin’s mind keeps returning to the mysterious stone & before long he has taken it from Gandalf in his sleep & steals it away. Pippin seems to know he is doing wrong, but something causes him to act against his own good sense & he looks at the stone. It turns out that the Palantir enables one person to communicate with another who has a similar stone, many miles away. Pippin sees the mind of Sauron (the Dark Lord), who holds another stone. It was Sauron’s mind that tempted Pippin, in his search for our heroes.

What struck me about this part of the story is how similar it is to our own deadly struggle, as Christians, with personal sin. There are several noteworthy points of similarity which I can see:

1) The danger of a little touch.
We only need to handle something (a dangerous, tempting thing) for a very short time, & yet even with that brief exposure, the seeds of longing for that sinful thing can be sown into our hearts.
In the story, Pippin only touched the Palantir for a few moments, yet it played on his mind & he was tempted (without even knowing it) to look at the seeing stone again, & that was the danger of the temptation to him.

We don’t have Palantirs, but there are equally dangerous things which we can see or experience in our 21st century world. Those evil or corrupting things which we allow ourselves to touch, can ensnare our minds & hearts just like poor Pippin with the Palantir. If we are not watchful, wary, careful, & keen to keep our faith-guard up, we can accidentally stumble upon something; we can “touch” something that is wrong & hurtful to us. Then that single touch can come back to tempt us time & again to return to that evil thing. Every return to that thing only weakens our resolve to resist it, & increases its hold over us.

Fortunately, in the case of Christians & temptation to do evil, our Lord & Saviour Jesus the Christ constantly offers us a way & means to reject evil, sin & temptation which we may find in our path. We don’t have to “touch” anything wrong or sinful that comes our way. And VERY wise is the person who listens to the Holy Spirit’s call to come away from the things which could ensnare us.
Even if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit’s wise council, & we do “touch” something inappropriate, it is still possible to repent (turn away from) of our folly, & return to the path of wisdom. We can turn away from the sin/wrong-doing, ask Jesus to sprinkle His cleansing blood upon us & our lives & be clean, spotless, sin-free once more.

Needless to say, it would NOT be wise to entertain that ensnaring, potent temptation again... “Once bitten, twice shy” as the saying goes! Better to put it behind us & shrink away from it, whatever it is.

2) The deadly dangerous thrill that precedes a terribly costly deed
The story’s description of how Pippin feels, once he has stolen the Palantir from Gandalf is very enlightening, it reads, “He bent low over it [the Palantir], looking like a greedy child stooped over a bowl of food, in a corner away from others.”

Isn’t that exactly what it feels like when we have the “thing” within our grasp, even though through ignorance or recklessness we may even know that it is wrong to do what we are about to do?! This thrill that precedes doing wrong may even be what we seek, in an otherwise hum-drum life, & that in itself is a dangerous & beguiling snare to our passions & senses. We may well know that the “thing” is wrong. We may well know that it will do us no good. But the desire for strong feelings, or strong stimulation can itself be a terribly strong inducement to “touch” the thing in question.

3) The mind behind the temptation.
“Driven by some impulse that he did not understand, Pippin walked softly to were Gandalf lay ... and drawn forward again, half against his will...”
Notice in this description from the story that there was a will other than Pippin’s that seemed to “force” him act. In the story it is the malevolent, powerful mind of Sauron (the evil Dark Lord of the story) who reached out to capture Pippin’s mind, for his own evil ends. That was the mind behind Pippin’s temptation to look into the Palantir.

In the same way, we have a deadly adversary (the Devil, or Satan & his host of evil fallen angels) who can place tempting things in our path, designed to unseat us from our faith & destroy our friendship with God. Such things are designed to ensnare our senses, emotions, thoughts & passions. Sauron in The Lord of the Rings is the equivalent of Satan in the real world, although J. R. R. Tolkien often said that he was not writing an allegory of our world. nevertheless, it is instructive to see the comparison in this case.

4) The lessons of sin.
Later on in the chapter of Lord of the Rings (chapter 11 The Palantir) Gandalf tells Pippin about the seven seeing stones & Pippin says, “I wish I had known all this before, I had no notion of what I was doing.”
“Oh yes you had, “ said Gandalf. “You knew you were behaving wrongly and foolishly; and you told yourself so, though you did not listen... But if I had spoken sooner, it would not have lessened your desire, or made it easier to resist. On the contrary! No, the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart.”
“ It does,” said Pippin. “If all the seven stones were laid out before me now, I should shut my eyes and put my hands in my pockets.”
“Good!” said Gandalf. “That is what I hoped.”

As Gandalf observed in the story, we too know in our hearts when we are doing right & when we are doing wrong. God has put morality into our hearts & we know when we err. We too can tell ourselves, but fail to listen, often to our own ruin.

But it’s not all bad. The Bible tells us that temptation & “the sin that so easily entangles” leads ultimately to death. But before that ultimate fate, we can (& should) learn from the mistakes of our sins, so as to turn aside from them & avoid that deadly end. As Gandalf pointed out, “... the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart.” Although God does not want us to dabble in sin, yet well He knows our temptations, & if a sin does not kill us instantly, then we can learn to avoid that particular sin, if we will listen. Just as a hand burnt by fire learns a stark lesson, so our own involvement in sin can teach us a life-saving lesson to avoid it at all costs.

God NEVER puts temptation in our path, even to teach us about sin. It is NEVER the purpose of God to put us in a situation where we are tempted to do wrong. However, since we do occasionally sin, there are positive lessons that God can teach us about it. In the end we will come to realise that “fire” is hot, & that if we stick our hand in it, we will be burnt! The ONLY way to avoid paying the cost of any sin (being burnt) is to avoid the sin altogether. Perhaps that is the best lesson to learn about sin.

Sin can & should be resisted & overcome.
It takes a strong mind & a resolute heart, coupled with Christ-focused spiritual “eyes” to avoid all the snares & schemes of Satan when we encounter them in our path. That is why we, as Christians, are encouraged to consider our Saviour; to “die to sin” & to put behind us those things which can cause us to stumble in our faith.

I’m sure we do indeed encounter sin-soaked snares of Satan now & again. We also have a “flesh” nature (also referred to in the New Testament as “the old man” or “old self”) which tends towards the wrong, rather than the right; towards sin & wrong-doing, rather than towards rightness. That nature & the internal struggle we Christians face is described by the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7 [*1] “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” writes Paul... “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

As Paul goes on to describe, we have an “ace up the sleeve”, we have our Father God in heaven, who is constantly turning His love towards us; we have Jesus the Christ in heaven, who intercedes for us; & we have the Holy Spirit living within us, who is powerful & able to help us overcome ANY & ALL sinful behaviours. When we realise & recognise that the triune God is for us & not against us, then we can stand against the Devil’s schemes, & lead victorious, sinless lives.

The difference between Pippin & us.
Had Pippin (in the story of Lord of the Rings) been able to recognise the subtle, tempting mind (of Sauron) on his own will, he could have avoided the snare of the Palantir. But he couldn’t & didn’t. We Christians are very blessed indeed in that we have been born again, of the Holy Spirit. He is constantly guarding our hearts & minds & will help us to avoid sin, if we allow Him to direct us.
Romans 8:5 says, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.”

So dwelling on sinful things will entice us to sinful behaviours. If, on the other hand, we want to avoid sinful behaviour then we must think about Godly, good things & avoid dwelling on sinful acts.
Paul explains the outcome of this mutually exclusive thinking in Romans 8:6, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

Which would you rather have: a mind dominated by the sinful nature, leading to death, or a mind focussed by the Holy Spirit, leading life and peace?
If you’re a Christian, then the choice is yours.

If you’re not a Christian, then maybe it’s time to think about becoming one, so that you to can have a mind focussed by God, which leads to life, rather than death. Again, the choice (& the responsibility for your life’s outcome) is yours. Please email me if you want to become a Christian. I’m here to help.



[*1]
Romans 7:14-8:8 (NLT)
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Romans 8:1-8 (NLT)
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Do we believe God is for us? Trust

Psalm 106, verse 24-25 struck me this morning. Here is that reading:

Psalms 106:24-25 (NLT)
24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land,
for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
25 Instead, they grumbled in their tents
and refused to obey the Lord.

The Psalm refers back in time to when the Hebrew people left Egypt (the Exodus) & saw the amazing power of God divide the Red Sea for them to pass through. Only a few days later (unbelievably!) they had “forgotten” that display of God’s power & favour towards them, & were now grumbling about the wilderness they were passing through.

The phrase that caught my attention was ‘... they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them’.
How often do we doubt God’s goodness towards us, even after a display of His commitment to us?!
Even though God has promised time & again ‘to never leave us nor forsake us’ [1] & ‘to prosper us & not harm us’ [2], yet we STILL do not believe Him. It’s as if we hardly dare hope that God might want us to prosper. It seems as if somehow we are more “comfortable” with Him NOT caring for us! Perhaps we think we don’t DESERVE to be looked after by God. In effect we sort of say, “if you only knew what I was really like God, then you wouldn’t want to help me!” But, of course, God DOES know EXACTLY what we are like - warts & all! And the truth is, that despite our best efforts to reject God’s help & assistance, He STILL persists, all of our lives, to offer His love, kindness, care & council. What amazing patience God has with his creations!

Perhaps the real source of the trouble, SELF-DOUBT, rather than “God-doubt”.
I wonder if the issue is not so much that we don’t believe God & His promises, but rather that we DOUBT OURSELVES; our motives & “true” natures. But we simply MUST remember that God KNOWS our true natures, through & through. Nothing disqualifies us for God’s grace, because that grace IS undeserved; that is the definition of grace: UN-DESERVED FAVOUR.
God chooses to lavish His undeserved favour on us; He wants to help us. Yet, in spite of His continued promises & words of encouragement (recorded for us in the Bible) to simply believe in His benevolence, more often than not we “throw it back in God’s face” by reacting today (in the 21st century) just as the Hebrew people did during the Exodus (circa1440 BC), with the conclusion: ‘... they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them’.

There is a rather chilling consequence outlined in Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary, in response to our continuing doubt regarding God’s motivation of wanting to do us good:

‘Those that will not wait for God's counsel, shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. An undue desire, even for lawful things, becomes sinful. God showed his displeasure for this. He filled them with uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach.’
(Source: Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary.)

That sounds a bit “wordy”, but I gather Matthew Henry was saying that if we will not accept God’s words, reassurances & good council (designed to help us & bless us) then we will inevitably follow our own ideas (our council) & that will lead us inexorably away from God’s blessings, & into a condition where we will not have peace of mind, security, confidence, but rather we will have, ‘uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach.’

I think that is a very real danger, especially for those of us who seem unable (or is more accurate to say unwilling?) to accept the “simple” truth that God is ‘for us & not against us’ [3].

One of two positions.
In the end we have to EITHER 1) accept that God wants what’s best for us (in spite of all our sins, errors, wrong-doings, doubts, etc) or else 2) we reject Him & His motives.
Sorry if that sounds stark, but what else is there?
We either accept the profoundly self-affirming pleasure of simply CHOOSING to trust God; what the Bible says; what other Christians have experienced & “know” about God, or else we stumble over this point, & actually reject that truth.
There appears to be no middle position that we could hold; partial trust & partial mistrust doesn’t seem possible!

There is great power in simply CHOOSING to TRUST that what the Bible says about God (that He is love [4], that He cares for us [5] & that God is entirely trustworthy [6]) is actually true. Once you “come down on that side” of the argument, then there is GREAT peace of mind, GREAT simplicity of faith, GREAT confidence, security & self-worth to be had.

I’ve just found a very good, helpful & uplifting blog about the trustworthiness of God, especially in personal suffering. This lady’s talent is in explaining the “So what?” of reading the Bible, in practical, real terms, during our times of suffering.

Here’s this lady’s conclusion in the 2nd of her 4 articles:

‘The argument of Romans 8 is from the greater to the lesser: <b>Since God is absolutely trustworthy in all aspects of your salvation, you can wholeheartedly trust Him in your present suffering.</b> If He is trustworthy in the big thing, then He is trustworthy in the small things. The promises of God for your salvation in the past, present, and future, are guaranteed, and so you can trust in His promises that He cares for you even now. “Is God trustworthy in your suffering?” The answer is a resounding and eternal “YES.”’

Here are the links to her 4 blog articles. I found them VERY uplifting, & I would heartily recommend that you read them:

1) http://womenwalkingwisely.com/category/gods-trustworthiness/
God in the Storm: Jonah 1

2) http://womenwalkingwisely.com/2012/01/29/god-is-trustworthy-part-2-is-god-trustworthy-in-your-suffering-2/
God is Trustworthy, Part 2: Is God Trustworthy in Your Suffering?

3) http://womenwalkingwisely.com/2012/02/05/god-is-trustworthy-part-3-seeing-him-as-he-really-is/
God is Trustworthy, Part 3: Seeing Him as He Really Is

4) http://womenwalkingwisely.com/2012/02/11/god-is-trustworthy-part-4-what-does-real-trust-look-like/
God is Trustworthy, Part 4: What Does Real Trust Look Like?</a>




[1]
Deuteronomy 31:6 (ANIV)
6 [Moses said,] “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

[2]
Jeremiah 29:11 (ANIV)
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 hope and a future.

[3]
Romans 8:28 (ANIV)
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose....
Romans 8:31 (ANIV)
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ...
Romans 8:38-39 (ANIV)
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[4]
1 John 4:7-8 (ANIV)
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

[5]
1 Peter 5:7 (ANIV)
7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
John 16:26-27 (ANIV)
26 “In that day you will ask in my [Jesus’] name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
Romans 5:8 (ANIV)
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[6]
Psalms 9:10 (ANIV)
10 Those who know your [God’s] name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalms 111:7-8 (ANIV)
7 The works of his [God’s] hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy.
8 They are steadfast for ever and ever,
done in faithfulness and uprightness.

Time delay in prayer answers

We have been praying to God for an answer to a particular issue for some days, but haven’t received a definitive answer... yet. Today I was reminded of the time delay Daniel experienced when he prayed to the Lord. The story can be read in Daniel chapter 10...

Daniel 10:12-14 (NLT)
12 Then he [an angel of the Lord] said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”

I remember reading this story several times before & it seems pertinent to our situation now. I draw your attention to verse 12 which states, “Since the first day you began to pray... your request has been heard in heaven.” It seems that our prayers go up at the speed of thought (instantly) to God.
The angel then says to Daniel that he has been sent in answer to Daniel’s prayer.
The next verse is very interesting (verse 13) because it states that the REASON for the 21 day delay in that angel’s delivery of God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer was due to, “...the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia [who] blocked my way.” That person is possibly Satan/ the Devil, or possibly some other deamon. It doesn’t really matter who it was, what is interesting is that there appears to be a very real battle going on in the unseen realm of the spirit world, WHICH CAUSED THE DELAY.

I don’t think God’s reply, in the form of His thoughts coming to us, are ever delayed or can be delayed by any unseen spiritual forces of evil. In the story above it was an angelic messenger who was delayed. In the Old Testament it appears that God often used angels to communicate His will to human beings. Clearly, such beings can be delayed in delivering there message from God to man, by evil spirits or deamons. But I don’t think God’s direct thoughts “beamed” down to us can be delayed at all!

There remains though the question of why it is that sometimes we don’t get an immediate reply to our prayers to God. Perhaps there is a PURPOSE IN THE DELAY, such as God’s desire to increase our persistence in prayer. This persistence would not, of course, come into being if God answered all of our prayers instantly! And it is quite possible that God providing instant replies to all of our prayer requests would actually keep us in spiritual immaturity, rather than time delays in His answers, which have the effect of increasing our maturity, particularly in the realm of persistence in prayer.

I’m not sure whether or not God uses angels to communicate His answers to our prayers any more. After all, Jesus’ death on the cross opens up direct access for Christians to communicate with God the Father at all times, so it would seem unnecessary for Him to send angels with His answers nowadays, rather than communicating His will directly.

Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, which means that there is no distance between our thought-prayers & God hearing them! The Holy Spirit IS God, & one of His many honourable tasks is to reminds us of God’s true nature (loving, caring, compassionate towards us, etc) & to encourage us towards spiritual maturity.

The result of this story in Daniel is that MY CONFIDENCE INCREASES that God always hears my prayers, & that He will answer me, even if there is a mysterious time delay. Even though I may not know WHY there is a time delay, I can be confident that God WANTS to answer my prayers, & that’s good enough for me!

Temptations v’s Ultimate Happiness

We’re tempted to look at photo’s of women or men. We’re tempted to eat too much. We’re tempted to play computer games for hours on end. We’re tempted to drink too much alcohol. We’re tempted to take drugs that change our perceptions. We’re tempted to seek the praise of other people. We’re tempted to climb the social, political or career ladder of success. We’re tempted to watch films & TV shows, or engage in many other entertainments. We’re tempted to waste our time; our life-time.
Temptation comes in many, many forms.

Guilt following the indulgence of temptation.
We know these activities aren’t any good for us, since they never ever lead to anything more than temporary pleasure or a mere moment of happiness. And in any case, being temptations, they are always followed by hours, days, or even months or years of guilt! And guilt doesn’t make us feel happy, or good about ourselves, so the “pay off” is actually pretty meagre!

Yet we are always tempted to try these same things again, at a later date, even knowing that although the temptation may make us feel something for a moment (indulgent pleasure) but that inevitable guilt & self-loathing are very likely to follow. Afterwards we think things like: “how could I be so weak?”, “Why aren’t I stronger (more heroic) & able to control my urges?”, etc.

Growing tired of the temptation
I found myself wondering what happens when we GROW TIRED of these temptations?
Put another way, what would happen if we looked, as objectively as we can, at these temptations, & rather than denying them, we recognise them, accept them, & sort of “look through” them? What are we ACTUALLY trying to “get to”, via these tempting events? What happens if we acknowledge the “pull” of each temptation; it’s particular appeal? What happens if we take our own pleasure SERIOUSLY? Much, MUCH more “seriously” than we do at present?

John Piper’s book, “Desiring God” has some very interesting & rather startling observations about happiness:

1) Quoting Blaise Pascal [1], Piper observes, ‘...Pascal was not making any moral judgement about this fact [that all men seek happiness, all human activity is to this end]. As far as he was concerned, seeking one’s own happiness was not a sin; it is a simple given in human nature. It is a law of the human heart, as gravity is a law of nature.’

2) Quoting C. S. Lewis [2], ‘We are far too easily pleased.’

3) It is not a bad thing to desire our own good. In fact the great problem of human beings is that they are far too easily pleased. They don’t seek pleasure with nearly the resolve and passion that they should. And so they settle for mud pies of happiness [a quote from C. S. Lewis] instead of infinite delight.’ ... Our mistake lies not in the intensity of our desire for happiness, but in the weakness of it.’
These appear to be pretty radical observations I think. Immediately a hail of protests begins in our minds: “Life is far too serious to make it all about seeking our own happiness!”, “seeking happiness is selfish!”, etc.

Even the Christian backstop thought of, “we’re meant to suffer (for Jesus), not seek our own happiness!” looms over our thinking here! As C. S. Lewis observes in the quote [2] this has to do with the Greek Stoics philosophy, rather than the Biblical Gospel view of our state & desires.

At first glance Piper’s thoughts seem to be alarming observations, I think! But if we pursue the idea to its logical conclusion, we will see what Piper (& others) are actually suggesting. If we ONLY HALF-HEARTEDLY pursue our own happiness as the major goal & purpose of our lives, then we will fall into the trap of meaningless, self-destructive temptations, as outlined at the beginning of this article. This is the stuff that C. S. Lewis was talking about, when he said that we fail to pursue our passions with enough diligence, resolve & determination. Our half-hearted, meandering pursuit of vague goals of happiness & pleasure lead us to indulge ourselves in temptations. The problem is not that our pursuit of our own happiness is “wrong”, or self-indulgent, it is actually that we DON’T pursue our own happiness with enough determination, passion, diligence & concentrated effort. The self-indulgent pleasure-temptations are a result of this vague, un-determined, weak, meandering effort!

What happens if we take our own happiness very, VERY seriously then?
What happens if we install our own happiness as THE most important goal of our lives?

At first glance that seems to be the MOST self-indulgent, sinful, self-seeking purpose possible! But is it?

If we take our own happiness THAT seriously, then we may well look at the simple, trivial, self-destructive temptations that have ensnared us so effectively up until now, in a new light. When we begin to seek our own happiness with MORE (rather than less) power, focus & determination, we will “see” the alluring temptations as so much more trivial annoyances, & as stumbling blocks to our new pursuit of much more intense, meaningful happiness. I think we will actually begin to see these temptations for what they really are: time-wasters, time-consumers, blind alleys, meaningless activities, which actually prevent us from finding THE source of our own happiness. Once we see these temptations in THAT light, we may begin to choose to ignore these more trivial temptation distractions, in favour of the more intense pursuit, for the greater, more significant, more important & meaningful thing we are seeking: our own, ultimate source of happiness.

What happens then?

Swept away are all the “silly” little self-indulgent pleasures, the temptations mentioned, since we ALREADY KNOW that such things never actually deliver the kind of intense, life-affirming happiness we are now “seriously” pursuing.

When we reject the “silly” little temptations, & concentrate on the grand, ultimate pleasure & happiness-inducing things we can pursue, then we start to wonder what is THE greatest, MOST life-affirming, GRANDEST & BEST happiness-getting thing I can EVER have in my life?

At this point we may take a “look” at our hobbies, our interests, our careers, our possessions, our relationships, pretty much everything we possess, have, engage in, etc. So many of them may seem trivial, dead-ends, unfulfilling, meaningless, in light of what may make us UNUTTERABLY, AMAZINGLY HAPPY & CONTENT.

“Fast-forward” to the end of our lives & look back: what do we see? For many of us modern “westerners” we will see thousands of hours of computer game-playing, social media engagement, film & TV watching, in short a whole bunch of ENTERTAINMENT. But does this really make us ultimately happy & contented? Now I’m not against entertainment, after all, it’s fun, right?! I’m simply wondering HOW SIGNIFICANT is it, in an ultimate, end-of-our-lives review situation? Will we “look back” & wish we had done something else instead of watching all that TV &/or playing games, being on FaceBook, etc?

When we start to think about what we REALLY want out of life, & we start to realise that we actually AREN’T happy with the way we are, or do things, here & now, then we are one step away from MAKING POSITIVE CHANGES in our own lives: one step closer to making the all-important, life-affirming decision to pursue our own happiness in MUCH more rigorous, determined, concentrated ways. 

Where will we find THE source of our own happiness?
Where do we “go to”, when we are fixed & determined to find the source of the greatest joy & happiness anyone can seek? Is ultimate happiness to be found in a computer game, a TV show of movie? Perhaps in the acquisition of more money? Or in staying young & beautiful (if you happen to start out like that!) or in some other external-of-our-own-bodies source? If we think about it for a second, we must conclude that most of us (in the Western world) have sought happiness where we have been told it lies: in material possessions. Countless adverts, marketing campaigns & such repeatedly tell us to buy things, & that they will make us happy - but they don’t, only at the split second of purchase; after that we own them, & possessing things doesn’t seem to make us happy, because we almost immediately plan to buy the next product or item! That’s an endless cycle, which is unfulfilling, if we’re honest with ourselves.

There are lots of alternatives to buying objects as a source of happiness. Religions, philosophies, scientific enquiry, discovery, the list goes on & on. Broadly speaking, people seek their happiness outside themselves in the West & inside themselves in the East. Neither brings lasting happiness. So where is ULTIMATE happiness to be found if neither inside or outside of us, ourselves?

If we take our own happiness to its ULTIMATE, LOGICAL CONCLUSION, then (as Piper & others have discovered) that quest ultimately leads us to God; to Jesus the Christ. In the end, our greatest, MOST life-affirming, MOST intense, MOST meaningful, MOST sustainable happiness-inducing “thing” is a personal relationship with the living God who created us. That conclusion is INEVITABLE, but we can only come to that conclusion when we PURSUE OUR OWN HAPPINESS with the intense, logical, rational, objective concentrated conclusion of someone UTTERLY DEDICATED to finding that which makes us MOST & ETERNALLY happy.


There is a good article on the internet about hedonism entitled, "If it feels good, do it" here:

http://www.christchurchcentralsheffield.co.uk/toughquestions/hedonism



[1]
Blaise Pascal quote: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

[2]
C. S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory) quote: “If you asked twenty good men to-day what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love- You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance.

The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Jesus; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

[Quotes made bold by me to make a point!]

The lie about our “default position”

I’ve just been listening to a Katherine Ruonala (KR) sermon about James 1:25 entitled “Be doers of the Word”. I always find KR very uplifting, because she focuses attention on the love of God, which we can never, ever hear enough about, most especially because Satan tries to convince us of the opposite, that God is harsh, severe 7 only tolerates us - what a liar the Devil is!

James 1:25 (ANIV) - ‘But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.’

One of KR’s many (brilliant!) points was that we often get confused; we tend to forget what we have learned about ourselves (our new nature in Christ, since becoming a Christian) & we inadvertently fall for Satan’s lie about our supposed “default nature”.

If you’re anything like me, then you believe that you have to work hard to maintain your positive thought life. And when you grow tired, hungry, get distracted, etc, you seem to slow down, you sort of forget who your new nature is, & you wrongly believe that you are settling back into your old, pre-conversion, pre-Christian nature.

If we accept & agree with the lie that we have a “default nature” that is corrupt & bad, then we will behave in accordance with that view. We have to see the TRUTH that our very nature’s have changed. That our “default nature” is, in fact, the nature of Christ Jesus.

Quoting part of KR sermon:
[we might say:] ‘ “Oh God, I don’t feel like people are encountering you when they encounter me all the time” God doesn’t say, “Well, you know that’s just pretty rotten, you need to try harder, you need to get your act together. Sort yourself out.” You say, “Yeah, that’s right”. That’s not the voice of God, that’s the voice of the enemy, that’s trying to convince you that you have a default nature that you have to wrestle against, whereas God says, ‘you wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities & powers’ [1]. So don’t buy into the lie that your wrestling this default nature that’s always wanting to be bad, you are not.’

Just to reiterate that point, we don’t have a bad, “default nature”, that we continually have to wrestle against. The FACT is this, we now (since conversion) have a new nature, & not only that, it is the nature of Jesus the Christ - how fantastic is that?! Galatians 2:20 reads, ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.’ Remember that point, ‘I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.’ [2]

That single sentence should convince us that any “default nature” which we had BEFORE we became Christians, which may well have been bad, unholy, rotten, etc, has now gone, is dead, is buried, & will never, ever return. How could it, it’s dead & has been replaced by Christ’s own nature?! The TRUTH is, we NOW (& for ever more!) have the nature of Jesus living within us, by the power of his Holy Spirit.

Once we realise & accept this truth, and when we now get tired, distracted, discouraged, tempted, etc, we need no longer think, “Uh-oh, I’m returning to “type”, my old nature is returning!” Because that is not true. In fact, our “default nature” is now JESUS’ nature!

KR pointed out in her sermon:
‘It’s very easy just to imitate what you’re continually beholding. Therefore, we need to ‘Set our minds (& keep them set) on things above.’ [3]

The point being that we need to be very careful exactly what we CHOOSE to behold! Concentrating on violent films & computer games, being around negative people who seem to suck out the happiness & faith from us, dwelling on the past with regrets, etc, all these things can be the very things we are beholding, which are helping Satan to convince us that our old nature is alive & well & that is our “default nature.” This is a lie.

2 Peter 1:3-4 has some great words to encourage us, & to prove the truth to us:
‘His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.’

We have EVERYTHING we need to live a life pleasing to God & packed full of goodness!

It is through the knowledge of God that we live out a good Christian life. Keeping our minds fixed & focussed on Jesus keeps us in His will, encourages our confidence, encourages our faith, etc.

The promises in the Bible are for US, here & now. It is when we take those promises seriously, AND apply them to our own lives, that the power of the Bible & the power of the Holy Spirit come to bear on us & bring it all alive to us. By applying the promises to ourselves & living within them, we then, ‘participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.’

That’s all pretty fantastic news in my book, how about you?!

Many thanks to Katherine Ruonala.

You can hear/download her sermon’s here:
https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/newday-ministries-audio-pastor/id292205049
Katherine Ruonala Ministries, iTunes web page

Note: You’ll need iTunes to be able to hear these sermons.

You can get some of these sermons via Dropbox & in an mp3 format here:
http://www.katherineruonala.com/?page_id=1897
Katherine Ruonala Ministries, mp3 podcast web page

[1]
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
An interesting emphasis of the same passage in The Message version reads:
Ephesians 6:12 (MSG)
12 This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

[2]
Galatians 2:20 (ANIV)
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

[3]
Colossians 3:2 (ANIV)
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

In this, my latest Bible Cartoon illustration, I made the centurions' face large in the scene so that the viewer could easily see his expression - but does it show surprise, awe, confusion, fear, or what?
Remember that this man was the first person after Jesus died to make any recorded confession of his reaction to the event. The Roman centurion (a man in charge of 100 Roman soldiers) was a trusted military man, trusted that is, by Rome, Caesar & the empire; trusted to support the empire’s goals & ambitions.

Rome was a polytheistic culture at this time, meaning that the average Roman believed in many gods. Isn’t it interesting that this pagan, military man, this Roman centurion, who didn’t know Jesus from Adam (!) seems to have been mightily moved by what he saw: the unusual death of a man who claimed to be the Son of God. There must have been something particular & noteworthy about how Jesus died which lead this man to make the confession, “Surely this was the Son of God!”

One thing Jesus’ life, death (& later resurrection & ascension) shows is that everyone was suddenly able to “get it”. Suddenly anyone & everyone could make the same confession - “Oh, OK, now I get it... Jesus, you really are the Son of God!!!” Just like the Roman centurion did. He may or may not have realised the true importance of what he was saying, but the fact is he was the first ever person to utter that truth after Jesus died.

In the same way we also can now look at the historical fact of Jesus’ death on the cross & make the connection: at last I see, you really are king Jesus, God amongst us.

Well I never knew that!

I’ve just been reading my Bible first thing in the morning, as is my habit. I looked up a reference to Luke 8:4-15, which is Jesus’ parable of the sower, or the four different types of soil. Then I looked in a commentary & found the following entry:

‘These chapters (Luke 5:1-7:17) cover what is often called Jesus' early Galilean ministry. Galilee was Jesus' home province. It was not technically Jewish, as was Judea, but contained a large Jewish population. Most of Jesus' ministry was focussed near the Sea of Galilee, where Peter and James and John had laboured as fishermen.
Strikingly, the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, and 25 of Jesus' 35 recorded miracles took place in Galilee.
The Jews of Judea, however, looked on Galileans with some contempt. They had a rude accent, and were not considered sophisticated in matters of religion.
This early Galilean ministry took place when Jesus was introducing His teaching and Himself. The later Galilean ministry is associated with hardening opposition.’
(Source: The Teacher's Commentary.)

I didn’t know that Galilee wasn’t wholly Jewish for a start! And that comment above, ‘The Jews of Judea, however, looked on Galileans with some contempt.’ makes sense of some

Scale & Position of Galillee
‘In the time of our Lord, Galilee embraced more than one-third of Western Palestine, extending "from Dan on the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, to the ridges of Carmel and Gilboa on the south, and from the Jordan valley on the east away across the splendid plains of Jezreel and Acre to the shores of the Mediterranean on the west." Palestine was divided into three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, which comprehended the whole northern section of the country (Acts 9:31), and was the largest of the three.’
(Source: Easton's Biblical Dictionary)

I draw your attention to the fact that, ‘Palestine was divided into three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee’ & that Galilee was by far the largest of the three provinces.

Never give up

There may not be a guarantee of success. We may not appear to win through in the day of conflict with spiritual forces of darkness. But if we fight them until our dying breath, at least we will have the satisfaction of knowing that we fought; continued to fight; and never, EVER gave up and quit in the struggle against the unseen, hideous forces of Satan.

Which would you rather have as your own epitaph:

1) He/she continued to believe and to fight, year after year, right up until the battle got too intense, and then he/she gave up, with the end in sight.

or

2) He/she fought on, and on, past any point of no return. They fought past hope of winning, and continued to fight until they drew their last breath, and even then they wouldn’t give up.

Which would you rather: dying in the attempt, with the goal of the struggle in sight, or buckling under the strain of conflict and turning away from the goal, losing all the ground you have already won at so high a price?

It is MUCH better to choose to fight, WHATEVER the personal cost to you, than to give up when the struggle intensifies and becomes so brutal, so consuming and so costly, that we know we will not physically survive the present conflict.

THAT’S true courage under fire.

That’s what Jesus displayed on the eve of his arrest, in the garden of Gethsemane and all through the trial, the flogging, the crucifixion and finally his angonizing death on the cross.

Don’t you dare tell me that Jesus doesn’t know what you and I are facing. He knows what it means to face agony and brutality and death.

May I face my own death with the same courage Jesus displayed. I pray that I will never, ever give up on the Lord and Saviour who gave his ALL to win my freedom from sin. What a price he paid.
Lord give me that strength today, and every day of this life-long struggle on earth.

your Father, who sees what is done in secret...

Just read Matthew 6:2-4, 6:5-6 & 6:17-18.[1]
What struck me about these passages of the Bible is the phrase your Father, who sees what is done in secret...

That reminded me that our father in heaven sees everything. He knows everything we have done in the past, all that we will do today & even all that we will ever do in the future.

I think that will generate 1 of 2 responses in us: it will either make you glad, or squirm like crazy!

We will be glad if we realise that being fully & completely known by God means that we share an incredible intimacy & deep relationship with our loving heavenly Father. In that case we will want to be known by Him.

On the other hand, we will squirm like crazy if we are at all ashamed of the things we have done in our past. I think almost everyone has done things that they would rather not have done. I certainly have. So our initial response tends to be squirming! But the Good News is... if you’re a Christian then Jesus has taken everything you’ve ever done wrong, or that you might be ashamed of, & he has paid for those errors IN FULL. Therefore, we no longer have to be ashamed of the past... for it is gone, paid for, forgotten by God the Father. The Good News is we can now com boldly into the presence of God the Father, because our past wrong-doings (& embarrassments) have gone.

Of course Satan (the accuser of Christians) will try to remind us of our past deficiencies. But all we have to do is tell him the truth our sins have been “paid in full!” Their gone, sunk into the depths, forgotten by God, & therefore WE ought to forget them too!
Now that really is Good News!

[1]
Matthew 6:2-4 (ANIV)
[Jesus said,] "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:5-6 (ANIV)
[Jesus said,] "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:17-18 (ANIV)
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Does Jesus want us to heal people today?

Matthew 4:23-24 (NLT) reads, 'Jesus travelled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.'

Notice the parts in the text which I have highlighted... & which really struck me as I read these verses just now! From the text we can see that Jesus healed EVERY kind of illness & sickness in the people he encountered. Verse 24 explicitly says, 'he healed them all.' That's EVERYONE who came to Jesus with ANY kind of illness or sickness was definitely healed.

I belabour that point as much for myself as for other people.

It's easy to be confronted with an illness & to doubt God's ability to heal it... it’s like a little debate session is going on inside our heads, ‘will He heal this person in front of me, or not?’, ‘will He?... Won’t He?’ ! Man, that can be tiring to listen to!

But this text gives me (& hopefully you too!) hope in God's miraculous powers for today. Jesus, under the advice & power of the Holy Spirit, was able to heal ALL illnesses He encountered. It would be easy to say, ‘well, of course Jesus healed everyone... He was God!’  But remember, Jesus laid aside his divine powers when He chose to come to earth & live life as a human being. And remember that all of Jesus’ life, everything He ever did on earth, was as an example for us. All Jesus said & did was to provide an example, a model, for us to follow. Therefore, if Jesus did it (healing, signs & wonders) then He expected us to do it too!

Not only that; Jesus expected us to exceed His amazing, miraculous feats! We know that because Jesus said (in John 14:12-14 (NLT)), “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”

Again, I’ve emboldened the bits I want us to remember. And notice that Jesus said, “ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” not once, but TWICE, in the space of 2 sentences! Isn’t that Jesus making a clear, definite call to us? Why would Jesus say the same thing twice, in quick succession, unless He wanted us to take special note of what He had just said?!

Repetition is an important, significant writing device in the Jewish mind & writing culture. Points in a text or narrative that are important or note-worthy are often repeated. I’m sure this is why much of the Bible is written in a repetitive style... it’s so that we think, ‘Ah-ha, that must be important, the writer has written this thing twice, so I’m supposed to pay attention here!’

What’s my point: we need to recognise that Jesus told us that we would do even more amazing, fantastic, miraculous things than He did. Forget the times we haven’t seen that healing. Forget the times we didn’t see the miraculous happen, as we had prayed. The Devil wants us to remember our “failures” & to stay in the shadow of them... of the doubt in God that they caused. But we’ve got to deliberately choose to put our faith “on the line” again & again, & to eagerly pursue the compassionate, life-affirming, love-in-action power of the Holy Spirit. It can’t be a matter of God not wanting to heal the person who is before us, because Jesus healed EVERYONE who was before Him. If Jesus life is an example to us, then He MUST want us to pray for the healing of everyone who comes to us & asks for healing. QED!

When Jesus walked the earth, He did so as a man. We can not claim that He healed because of his own (human) ability because, like us, He didn’t have any miraculous ability as a product of being a human being. However, Jesus had the miraculous, life-giving power of the Holy Spirit & it was the co-operation of Jesus & the Holy Spirit within Him, that achieved all the amazing miracles of Jesus. Had Jesus not been baptised a few verses before in Matthew’s Gospel?! We read in Matthew 3:13-17 that Jesus received the Holy Spirit upon His baptism. And after His baptism, we begin to read of all the amazing miracles & healings that Jesus performed. We are rightly dumbfounded & in awe of Jesus’ miraculous feats. But His achievements were a product of 1) Deep love & compassion for people and 2) a close “walk” & co-operation with God the Holy Spirit. Again we see that Jesus life was intended to be an example that demonstrates to us how WE can also perform miracles & healings. It’s the same Holy Spirit who was in Jesus who now inhabits us Christian believers. It is not us who perform miracles &/or healings... how can we, we have no innate power within us! However, just like Jesus, we Christians have the Holy Spirit within us, & it is Him (the Holy Spirit) who has ample power to perform as many miracles, signs, wonders & healings as He feels like! Perhaps it is more about us ‘getting out of the way’ & allowing the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do... now there’s a thought?!

A confession... & a hope
I haven’t seen much in the way of the miraculous in my church.
I haven’t raised anyone from the dead.
I haven’t been involved in a miraculous sign or wonder upon the earth.

BUT.. Oh, how I LONG to see the miraculous, the awe-inspiring, the power of God within our churches & to experience that myself.
The healing miracles of Jesus proved that all nature was under his control... & it still is!
I’ve seen video clips of Christians in Australia praying for people in the streets & amazing miraculous events unfold before the camera’s lens & people’s eyes. [1] How I long to be a part of that. To see that occurring in the UK.

Maybe the desire to see the miraculous & the healing power of God is being birthed inside my heart? Maybe that’s how God moves in someone’s life, before they start to see the miraculous happen? Wow! What a great thought that is!

Bring it on Jesus! I want to be a part of that new movement of God.

Many times last year (2012) I kept being reminded of what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:20 (ANIV), ‘For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.’ I believe that. I believe that church life should automatically demonstrate the power of God. Our churches may well have great teaching & preaching in them (& thank God for that!) but without a demonstration of God’s power, isn’t it all simply a matter or words & opinion & interpretation, without the accompanying demonstration of the power of God?

I believe that modern Christian church life should have all the powerful, Biblical, appropriate preaching & teaching, but it should also have a corresponding, co-operative demonstration of the love & power of God.

If I’m wrong, then I’ve misunderstood what Jesus was saying when he said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works...” But if I’m right in my interpretation of that simple sentence, then it is appropriate & correct to expect our church leaders & our congregations (that includes me!) to ask God for His power, through the Holy Spirit, and to see that power demonstrated right now, here on Earth.

That’s what I want for Christmas! The power of Jesus through the presence of Jesus, the best present we could receive!

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[1] SWOLEN FOOT SHRINKS ON CAMERA!! Outbreak at Westend (Glory City Church)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2250P77Y0
scroll along to 4:30 mins to see the swollen foot shrinking!

Livestream video’s of the Glory City Church in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. http://www.livestream.com/glorygathering/folder

There are hundreds of other videos showing God’s amazing power at work here, today, in this world!
I want to be a part of that healing work.

The War & eternal decision-making

Listening to Lord of the Rings soundtracks. Found my mind thinking of the eternal struggle we are all in. These are my thoughts:

1) To Christians who know we are in a battle: a spiritual war, for the lives & eternal souls of all people: keep fighting on, don't loose heart. Our general, Jesus the Christ, is pleased with your efforts. Fight on, don’t give up, no matter what we are facing.

2) To Christians who have forgotten that we are in a war with a bitter, determined, foul-playing villainous, evil enemy of our souls: wake up. Hear the Lord's battle cry. Strengthen your weak knees. Put on the full armour of God. Call other Christians to attention. Don't lower your guard for a second. The days ahead may be the darkest we have ever lived through, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the devil & the world. Our nation’s economy, our weather, our society, the very fabric of our world may be collapsing around us. But in the end Jesus’ reign will come to earth in totality. Don’t loose your faith or your hope.

3) To people who do not believe: in Jesus, the devil, the unseen worlds, or who are blissfully unaware of the intense spiritual battles raging in the heavenly realms... may God help you to see with new spiritual eyes. Re-consider your position. Re-consider your assumptions about this world.
All that we think of as being here to stay & permanent (money, power, health, government, nations, science, the universe) isn't eternal. All that we see, hear & touch in the physical world is temporary, it will pass away.

Recognise that which is truly eternal: Jesus the Christ. Even the battle of good & evil will one day come to an end, on the Great Day of Judgement. When that day comes, no matter what you have believed was “true”, we will all be "called to account". We will find that even if we didn't believe in Jesus, the devil, eternal judgement, heaven or hell, or anything which we couldn’t see or touch, was actually true.

On the final day of history, we will all be split into 1 of only 2 groups: those who have believed in Jesus the Christ & asked him to become Lord of our lives, & those who have not believed. The former will go to be with Jesus their Lord for ever. The latter will go where they (not God) have decided to go: away from Jesus the Lord of heaven... separation from all that is good, light, right & holy... separation for ever; eternal darkness & hopelessness. Yes, it is not Jesus who will decide your eternal fate... it is YOU. What you decided was “true” whilst you lived physically on earth will become the reality you continue to live out for the rest of eternity. Heaven & Hell is as “real” as this physical world we live in. More so, in fact, because they are eternal places, whereas this world, & all physical things will actually disappear & be destroyed following the Day of Judgement.

4) Now is the time to decide where you want your eternal, ever-lasting soul to live after your physical death. The decision is yours & yours alone. I urge you to re-consider your fate. Whilst you have breath you have choice. As soon as the breath of life leaves you, your decision-making comes to an end. Why risk your eternal soul... why not decide for yourself, right now, to accept the free gift of eternal life & ask Jesus the Christ into your life? All it takes is that one little decision & your eternal future is entirely secure. The devil will no longer have any legal claim on you & your life (as he does now) much to his annoyance! New life awaits you... just a decision away. And the benefits of that eternal life begin as soon as you make that decision too! Why wait?

5) One final point: we are held to account for our own lives. We ALL make a decision about what we believe, even those people we say they are agnostic, or atheists. They too have a belief: it’s a decision not to believe... which is still a belief! There is no escaping the fact that God holds us to account about what we have CHOSEN to believe.

You may believe that not making a choice at all is the answer... that this way you don’t have to make a choice! But we are not given an absence of choice, as a choice! We have to choose one way or the other... there are no abstentions in our “voting” for where we spend eternity!

You may choose not to believe in religion, all that eternal stuff, you may choose to believe in evolution, science, post-modern thinking, self-help, philosophy, the goodness of man, etc. Even if you choose not to believe in Jesus, the devil, religion, eternity... that won’t make  a blind bit of difference when the end of your life comes. You will still face the day of judgement, no matter what you currently believe to the contrary.

Therefore, the ONLY choice we actually all have is this: what do we decide is true about Jesus the Christ, the maker of heaven & earth? You can ONLY decide to be for, or against Jesus. Those are the ONLY 2 positions that we all can hold.

A Christian is someone who has decided to believe that what the Bible says is true; that they will believe in Jesus, even though they haven’t seen him. They have confessed their personal sin & confessed that Jesus is Lord. That’s what makes them into a Christian. It’s simple, really.
The ONLY other position is the decision NOT to believe in Jesus. ANY other world view, philosophy, religion, belief system, or thought process that does not hold Jesus the Christ at the centre is not Christianity. And remember, there is no middle ground, or abstention from this vote. To believe that you don’t have to “vote” is yet another lie of the Devil. You DO have to vote, we all do. The choice, & the consequence of that choice is all yours.

So the final, inescapable question is: Do you choose to believe in Jesus the Christ, or not?

Send me a message if decide to become a Christian. I’d love to hear from you, & to pray for you.

Colour variations for Bible Cartoons

In November 2012 I started creating multiple versions of a single Bible Cartoon (BC.) Previously I have created a single cartoon, with shading, highlights, & other design elements, all working towards that one picture. As I was working on the ‘Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts’ cartoon, I realised that I could add various colour layers & create the same scene, but with quite different colour emphases. Here are the 3 variations of that picture for you to see what I mean:

Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts (Starlight version)

This version is what I had in mind originally for this scene. I wanted to create strong, cool, white highlights from directly overhead, produced by the starry sky. I have seen the effect of moonlight at night on a scene, where the cool light “washes out” most of the colour of objects. I was trying to achieve that effect, whilst still having the contrast of the warm glow of the cangle/torch/oil lamp in the stable, to counteract & contrast the cool starry light.

What to do?!
I created the initial colouring of this scene, & then added layers to simulate the cool starry light. I realised that this would “rob” the scene of its colour. I wanted to remain true to my initial design, which focussed on the strong tonal contrast of the starry light above & deep shadows below the figures & objects. I normally create side highlights & shadows in my pictures, but this design was a departure from that norm, which was exciting... how would it turn out!?

I was in a bit of a quandary though, as I realised that this high contrast, low colour scene would probably not be popular with anyone else! I think most people like my cartoons for their more vivid colours & I imagined that one without much colour in it might not be very well received.
Then it hit me: why not provide more than one version of the same scene on the BC website? That way I can remain true to my initial design (the starlight version) AND provide alternative versions, which may be more popular with viewers... & my buying customers!

Remaining true to my initial design & inspiration is very important to me, as an artist. Without that I am ‘merely’ providing a commercial product, which can rapidly become a rather soul-less way to operate & live! And I have NEVER wanted to live that kind of life, especially as an artist.
Of course this kind of artistic integrity is very important, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility that some/most/all other viewers of the scene might not like my starlight version! And I realised that it is also important to me that people view & buy my work... customers purchasing the work enables me to draw new scenes & keep the BC website “on air”. Without that patronage there would be no cartoons & no BC website at all, so the commercial importance of the scene didn’t escape my notice either!

Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts (Colour version)

This version concentrates on the colours of the figures, clothing, stable, animals, etc. The depth of the shadows & the high contrast of the highlights produced by the starry sky overhead is more subtle, and less dominant in this version of the scene. The warm glow of the cangle/torch/oil lamp in the stable plays an important role in creating a cozy feeling in the viewer. This is the version that I believe many of my viewers/customers will like. It should “tick the boxes” for many viewers, & hopefully achieve some sales too.

Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts (Blue version)

This was the third & last variation which I tried of this scene. I wanted to create a rich, turquoise layer which would sit over everything, providing a unifying colour throughout the scene. I like the way this came out, even though it wasn’t my initial design concept for this scene. That’s why I made it available along with the other 2 variations. After noticing the three wise men in the foreground, the warm light from the stable focusses the viewers attention on the Nativity scene itself: the arrival of Jesus in our world. I like the fact that this scenes’ most dominant feature is the birth of Jesus: the saviour & true light of the world.

Since this scene was uploaded to the BC website I have produced two more scenes in the Matthew Nativity series which also have multiple colour variations. I think this will become a frequent occurrence from now on in my designs. The two other scenes are:

1) Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 12 - Flight to Egypt

2) Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 14 - Return to Israel

Wise men giving gifts - 3 variations

Here’s my latest Bible Cartoon offerings, 3 variations on the same scene.
The scene is part of my on-going series depicting the events of the Nativity, as told in Matthew’s gospel. This particular scene shows the wise men (were there 3?!) bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense & myrrh to the infant Jesus.

I produced 3 different versions almost by accident! I was playing about with different coloured layers in PhotoPAINT x4, which is the drawing/painting program I use to digitally paint these cartoon illustrations. I realised how different the same scene looks with different amounts of blue, shadow & highlight in each version. I couldn’t decide which ought to be the definitive version, so I decided to upload all 3... that way you can decide which one(s) you like!

Do send me an email & let me know which one(s) are your favourites, won’t you?!

Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts (Colour version)

Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts (Starlight version)

 

Matthew 02 - The Nativity - Scene 09 - Gifts (Blue version)