The Pencil Principle

When the space race between America and Russia heated up many years ago, a problem encountered by both parties arose while in space. Of all things it was but a simple writing problem.

What happened was this…both American and Russian astronauts discovered that biros just wouldn’t work in outer space under various conditions. Something was needed to help them write upside down, on any surface, including glass, and in degrees ranging from below freezing cold to over 300 degrees C.

So the Americans spent US12 billion dollars on the problem searching for and creating the answer. What can we say but exclaim: ‘Wow!’

The Russians? They came up with an ordinary common, ‘garden-variety’ El Cheapo answer. A pencil! And it worked!

Keep it simple…God is a big God!
How often do we complicate matters by worrying or getting frustrated when we only have to ask our God and trust that he will bring us great solutions that are so often simple? Admittedly, many times miraculous, but nevertheless simple.

Here’s an example…some time back I was trying to fit a towel rail to the bathroom wall. A very classy towel rail, but to my mind difficult to attach because of what I thought was a tricky method of fitting required by the manufacturers.

With a frustrated edge to my voice, I turned to Maureen. That’s my clever co-minister wife, Maureen, who wears several hats include that of a professional decorator. Or, ‘Grandma’ to our granddaughter, Bonnie-Jane, coupled with ‘And, Poppa, Grandma knows everything!’

‘How can I get these two rails into their holding brackets after I’ve already screwed and allan-keyed those brackets to the wall backing ones?’ I asked. ‘There’s no leeway to manipulate them into position. It seems impossible!’

Instantly Maureen saw the simplicity of the solution. ‘Just put the rails in the holding brackets first, ‘she said. ‘Then simply hold all that against the back brackets while allan-keying those other holding brackets to them.’

Well, I just stared at the wall and then at the brackets. Then I began to smile and laugh at the simplicity of it all. Within moments I had the job done. A seeming complicated job had proved so incredibly easy!

In reality I had asked my wife and then trusted her word completely. And that’s what we have to do with our problems and in asking God.

Comforting revelation
One of the great truths and comforting revelations about our almighty God is that there is no problem or challenge bigger than he is! He has answers for all that we may face or have to decide on. And the power to deliver! He just doesn’t promise stuff, he delivers.

All we have to do is ask him in faith. Then, when we receive an answer whether through his word - the scriptures - or through a prophetic word, or directly to our heart or mind, our next step is to trust him.

Experience proves that when one is trusting our big God it doesn’t matter whatever aspect of life the problem or challenge relates to …spiritual, mind, health, finance, vision, job, family, marriage, the future…! God has the answer and cares enough to reveal it.

We just need to activate three great but simple ’A’ keys…

1. Approach
How we approach the challenges and such determines our course in life and how successful we are in winning through.

Therefore if we’re going to have a great future we firstly need a great and clear vision that our God is indeed well able to help! Read Jeremiah 29:11-13 and be encouraged.

We’ve also got to get above any kind of rubbish that would hold us back. If you don’t dream about overcoming and breaking through - and then make the plans, you won’t have much of a future or success in your breakthrough.

But note something very important - always include others, adding value to their lives. Our dreams should always include living in Christ’s freedom, putting God first, then others.

Dr Albert Schweitzer has said, ‘There are two classes of people in this world…the helpers and the nonhelpers. I’m a helper.’

Helpers are happy people who get the best of life’s kicks through being there for others. In doing so they also win through themselves!

2. Attitude
We must also have a right attitude about ourselves. Let’s stop knocking ourselves. Putting oneself down, having a defeatist attitude about life, self and the future leads to lost or smashed dreams and vision!

You are capable of achieving much in life. Believe in yourself and draw pleasure from what God has you into. Where do you derive the most pleasure? Surely it’s from following Jesus? He had the right attitude to his heavenly Father and others. You too should always have the right attitude towards others, to God and his plans, and to yourself and life itself.

Thank God for the health, strength and time you have. Treat life as a gift and a great adventure; and an opportunity to help others. Build on your strengths; don’t concentrate on the weaknesses or past failings. Determine to be a winner. Have confidence in Jesus!

3. Action
You can get all the theory right; you can plan things, dream big and make hundreds of decisions to do the right thing.

But until you swing into action, it’s all talk. The world is full of ‘gonnas!’ and the problem is that they never become ‘round tuits.’ That is: They’re always going to (gonna) do it one day. But they never get round to it (round tuit).

Now get this: The same God who promises he has great plans for us…plans for prosperity in various aspects of life… also encourages us to call on him for help (Jeremiah 29:14).

Now that’s a good idea! Calling on God in confidence.

Ask friends, spouse and others for help; but above all ask your God! After all, who knows the future better than the one who’s there already? Get his answers…so often simple and easy to follow. You’ll also get his help and strength.

Simple, isn’t it? Yes indeed but…oh we can complicate it all by worrying, wrongly it’s too heavy even for God, not being patience enough, looking at the circumstances or symptoms, or letting doubt and the enemy lie to us. In other words…making it difficult in our minds.

Hey! Remember the pencil principle! And let God come through. We will to!

Yes we can, Barack Obama and God's Grace

It was just fantastic to watch Barack Obama’s historic inauguration last week. What an impacting moment for him, with great encouragement for America; for everyone in fact and meaningful hope for a better future in these uncertain times. A notable landmark occasion.

Obama’s effective opening speech inspired much encouragement, bringing tremendous responses and applause. It spoke of assurance and hope, as well as the strong theme that there is much to be done to rectify the present problems and the answers won’t come easily nor overnight. That teamwork is a mountain-levelling key to fulfilling the current catchcry of

‘Yes, we can!’

Of course there were those who afterwards just had to criticise and subtly demean that heart touching message! When you stick your neck out to achieve something meaningful, there’s always someone ready to swing the proverbial axe! On the other hand, Christian ministries that were previously against Obama’s presidential journey seem to have changed their opinions, although some are now evincing new spiritual views such as ‘what Obama must learn from scripture and do.’

Using the name of Jesus
There was much I liked about various aspects of that inauguration…Saddleback’s Pastor Rick Warren’s invocation prayer for example. Believing he would close with the traditional use of the name Jesus, critics had quickly pre-empted themselves by publicly slamming him. But Warren brilliantly closed with ‘I ask all this in the name of the one who changed my life’ then mentioned Jesus’ name in a number of ethnic languages relevant to Americans …’Yeshua, Isa, Jesus (Spanish pronunciation), Jesus who taught us to pray…’ followed by the Lord’s Prayer, then ‘Amen.’ An inspired 1 Corinthians 12:8 word of wisdom!

I also liked the Obamas using Abraham Lincoln’s Bible during the new president’s sacred oath-taking and the ‘So help me, God’, the ‘God bless you’, the ‘God bless America’ and the affirmations of the nation’s Christian values.

But I especially liked how Barack Obama brought God and scripture (‘We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.’) into his challenging oratory, particularly when he mentioned that classic phrase ‘God’s grace.’ It inferred that America needs it to see the ‘Yes, we can’ become ‘Yes, we did!’

God’s amazing grace
God’s grace is something amazing. Something we can’t do without. Something we need every day and in every situation. We have a God who has done so much for us because of his great love for us. We owe him so much. In a nutshell it’s G-R-A-C-E…God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

Whenever I hear the term, ‘God’s grace’ I’m reminded of this and how condemned, helpless and hopeless I personally would be without it. I’m also reminded of the 2007 movie Amazing Grace, a great film not merely about John Newton’s famous song came about. Oh yes, Newton is featured, brilliantly and sincerely portrayed by the ever-polished Albert Finney. And his classic line – spoken with heartfelt warmth of ‘My memory is going but two things I can never forget...I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour’ - will not quickly fade from many viewers’ minds for it summarises a awesome truth.

But the overall movie is an outstanding depiction of the courage, faith and passion of William Wilberforce, fondly known as Wilber. Superb acting, eye and mind-grabbing locations and touching moments, but above all portraying a strong message of self-denial for a worthy cause and the Christian principles of justice and caring for others. A movie worth seeing a number of times.

William Wilberforce believed with a passion that he could serve his Lord and his faith and break the injustice of Britain’s slave trade. But it cost him! Nearly his life, certainly his health and his sanity at times, as well as finance, personal pleasure and time. For 30 years he fought against the wealthy, ‘the system’ and Parliament. And by God’s amazing grace, strength, wisdom and power, he won through! If you like, ‘he did it!’

Making it through principles
‘Yes we can!’ means winning through, making it in difficult times, seeing a dream come about. For America and other nations, Barack Obama and Christians to ‘make it’ we all need the touch of God’s grace.

Here are ten of the many topflight winning principles that so clearly come through not only from the movie but the scriptures…
· It’s not enough just to be involved in the cause, work, church, vision; we must be committed and passionate!
· Having a godly inbuilt love for others is imperative
· We must be prepared to ‘hang in there’ no matter what
· Enemies, even ‘frenemies’ (friends who prove to be the opposite) can be most scathing and unkind
· Youth is not necessarily a hindrance
· Faith, love, caring and Christianity are verbs, not just nouns and call for action!
· God is for real and comes through when we put him and his values first!
· There’s a meaningful difference between real Christianity death bringing ‘religious rules and regulations’
· It isn’t money or power that makes the difference in life…it’s how we use them
· No one is meant to be a slave or owned by anyone…we are all meant to be free under God – knowing that we belong to him.

The superior touching the inferior
Right from Genesis the Bible speaks much about grace. It’s an amazing word in itself, referring to a superior being stooping right down to an inferior being. It depicts the depth of the love of our God, especially as it also means an action in favour of one who has no real claim to gracious treatment.

And that’s incredible! It’s like in the story Jesus told of the last labourer hired for only an hour’s work but received exactly the same wage as the one who worked all day. God’s grace - in all its various expressions and outworkings - is indeed ‘amazing grace.’

God’s grace is power! The phrase ‘by God’s grace’ is an oft-used one, indicating that with his help we can make it. The truth is that whatever God requires us to achieve for him, he has already allocated his power to help us make it. Indeed the New Testament speaks of the grace of God being a powerful tool to those seeking to fulfil God’s vision for them.

Take Acts 14:26 (Message Bible) for example. It acknowledges that despite the hard times they encountered, Paul and Barnabas had completed their God-given task by his grace: ‘They made it…back to Antioch, where it had all started - launched by God’s grace and now safely home by God’s grace. A good piece of work.’

My encouragement is this. A superior being has touched our inferior lives. Therefore the future looks good. Despite the bleak picture the world system is painting at present, we can make it. Yes, we can! Not only can America and President Obama make it but so can every Christian who fully trusts God.

Grace is something that can touch every aspect of our lives, not just our salvation. As we minister around different churches, we’ve been telling Christians who are concerned about finance and tomorrow: ‘You are not under the world’s economy, you’re under God’s economy!’

Now that’s good news! Take it on board and let God's grace abound!