Smoke and Shadows

Feel like you’re surrounded by smoke and shadows?

Worldwide there is continuing trouble with wars and rumours of wars. Governments seek peace and financial stability. Promises are made and promises are broken.

Health issues, including mental balance, cancer, the destructiveness of smoking, excessive drinking by youths and obesity problems hit the news lines. General approval of same sex marriages is pushed and gambling problems are causing governments huge amounts of money. Sadly, what seemed happy marriages, even Christian ones, are suddenly broken and even some churches are having problems.

Solomon, who studied what was going on around, came to this conclusion: ‘No one can predict misfortune...men and women are caught by accidents evil and sudden’ (Ecclesiastes. 9:12). In fact he concluded that so much in life is like smoke and shadows.’ Regarding the future, he said, ‘It's true that no one knows what's going to happen, or when’ (8:7). 

But, in the midst of continuing world and national uncertainties today Christians who deeply trust their God can work through even the bleakest of situations and come out the end of every dark tunnel. No magic formula, just a simple trust in a great loving God and his word.

Winston Churchill, in the dark days of World War 2, delivered many strong positive comments to encourage a little island under threat of defeat on several military fronts and probable invasion. Such as the following abridged collection of insights: ‘It is a wicked thing to take away man’s hope. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power. To believe is to be strong.’

Hope and power in Christ
Christians have hope, great power in Jesus Christ. But unfortunately many, who are supposed to positive in every situation, seem to foolishly delight in living in the past! Yet we are meant to be people of the present creating - with the Holy Spirit's help - a great future. Grabbing hold of the biblical promise of Jeremiah 29:11 and living life to the full. Getting on with life.

But all too often we allow the mistakes and the bad-case scenarios of yesteryear to bind us today from enjoying life and ‘moving on.' We must refuse to live there and move on!

The truth is that we've all made errors of judgment both in speech and action – including some things we're ashamed of but  one of the precious things about being a Christian is that when we ask forgiveness we're totally forgiven and can ‘get a life.'

Scripture has several examples of people who blew it but they rose up and moved on. One we've been looking at recently is the prodigal son. His life was in a mess but he came to his senses and in Luke 15:18 determined: ‘I will get up and go…'

He then rose up out of the pigsty and made for the only one who could help him re-establish and gain a better future – his father. And things worked out fantastically for him!

This story is wrongly referred to as simply a wonderful parable of God’s love and grace. But it’s more than that. Such parables also call for action on our part.

Yes, this one clearly speaks of the confidence we can have in the heavenly Father, the God who cares so much for everyone. But the mixed-up son had to do something... he had to make a move towards a better future and security, to come away from his confusing place and predicament of shadows and smoke.

And he did. He rose up and moved on!

Getting up and moving on!
For anyone to move out of the shadows and smoke and change their situation one needs to get up and out of whatever is binding, holding down. Otherwise there is a wrong holding on to the past and current circumstances. We can have great hope in God and move on into a future of confidence with him – as we trust him!

Not letting go of the past means that we can be our own worst enemy by holding onto it or burying ourselves in it. It continues to be our own prodigal son’s pigsty, our personal ‘downer floor’!

One of the greatest declarations of Jesus was his dramatic statement of John 8:36 that he's made us free! He also said that 'God is the God of the living not the dead' (Mark 12: 27). Believe these words of God! If you're living in the past then you bound to it and living among the dead!

Think of the various New Testament people with needs – Mark relates the miracle turnaround of many...such as the blind, lepers, demon-possessed and sick people. All were in a kind of pigsty or downer situation, all decided to rise up and go (or were brought by caring friends or a parent) to Jesus the one who changes circumstances.

Out of the shadows and smoke
William James (1842-1910) said, 'The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.'

If your life seems nothing but smoke and shadows and without a future, maybe that's what you need to do today - rise up and determine to meet Jesus in a life-changing encounter that will result in a new future for you. There's always hope in Jesus! Just refuse to live in the past!

Countless years ago there was a comforting old song with the line: ‘Standing somewhere in the shadows you'll find Jesus, he's the only one who cares and understands.’

What great words! They are a perfect direction of hope and comfort for all who are feeling troubled by what is happening, even not happening, around them. Jesus encountered many shadows and much smoke in his short life but he trusted his Father God. We can do likewise!

Going through shadows and smoke? Remember and trust Paul’s Romans 15:13 prayer, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’

2012.02 (c) Robert & Maureen McQuillan, Life Focus Inc

Mulberry Tree Rustling

Decades ago, we used to sing a sprightly little chorus: ’The move is on, I know; the move is on. \ The move is on, I know; the move is on. I can hear the rustling in the mulberry trees, \ And I know, I know, I know the move is on. So move on, Brothers; move on, Sisters; \ This is the moving day. \ Move a little closer to where the stream is flowing; \ Move on, Brother; move on.

Probably only remembered now by ‘old timers of the faith’ but popular in its day, it was taken from 1 Chronicles. 14:15, where God confirms that he’s going ahead of his people defeating their enemies. The Message version puts it very interestingly: ‘When you hear a sound like shuffling feet in the tops of the balsams (mulberry trees), attack; God will be two steps ahead of you, slaughtering the Philistines.’

Confidence in a mighty God

Wow! That’s a great scripture for any Christian going through times of uncertainty, trial and testing, or decision making. Those times when we need to hear a quiet assurance from God that he is in charge and is not only with us but going before us defeating all our enemies – whatever they may be...sickness, finance, employment, home moving, ministry, family, critics.

Mulberry trees represent crying, weeping before God for a successful future. There are Christians especially church leaders who will testify that there were times when tears were shed before the Lord before the breakthroughs occurred. Then, suddenly, there was a definite movement ‘in the trees’ and the move (whatever it was, however it worked out) was on!

So mulberry trees, especially ‘movement in them’ also represents victory through a moving forward, something that God is always wanting his people to be doing and trusting him as they do. The fact is that if we stand still or sit still in our comfort zone; we become spiritually complacent and lazy, and don’t grow in Christ.

Be in it to win it!

As the old saying goes…Be in it to win it! We need to be aware of what’s going down in the kingdom life and of what God wants of us. And to be involved! One of the great tragedies of Israel was that they so often missed out on what God was doing! They didn’t get involved, they were unaware at times, they put other things first…homes, businesses and self before the building of the house of the Lord (see Haggai 1 for example).

Consequently they kept missing the shekhinah  glory of the peace of God and other blessings. And they would whinge and complain! As Solomon observed, ‘Is anything new?’

But praise God, around Christendom today there are ‘different folks with different strokes’…full-on committed people who, more than ever before, not only hear from the Holy Spirit but are willing to obey and move on into new areas, pleasing God and blessing others.

As we exercise Proverbs 3:5 (Message): ‘Trust the Lord from the bottom of your heart: don’t try to figure out everything on your own,’ a solid, confessable assurance comes and we just know that we can trust God to take care of everything, no matter how hopeless or difficult the situation seems, or what ‘experts’ say against the chances of success.

Against the odds

Here’s a recent personal example. We’d been led by the Lord to move location and to purchase land closer to a regional bypass which will make it much easier in getting to our state capital for ministry engagements, reducing travelling time by 20 minutes. But this required selling our home at a required price and trusting God that it would all happen.

Real estate agents were rather negative regarding the timing to sell and the price we knew our home was worth. But, we knew that we had heard from the Lord and trusted him completely. Some time went by and friends expressed their concern. We didn’t worry one iota! We ‘knew that we knew that we knew’ the right buyer - one couple only - would come along at God’s right moment, fall in love with our home and price would be no problem. And that’s exactly what happened.

The next step was to find the right rental as we can’t build on our new land for some months. Again people were concerned for us as time was getting closer and closer to settlement date when we had to vacate the sold home. Once again we were not worried as we were embracing the Proverbs scripture above in respect of the right rental, area, rate and timing. And, against the odds, it happened just as we had prayed.

This was, of course, a very practical matter. But over the decades the principle has operated in many areas of our life, especially in ministry and moving on in God. Many times we heard ‘a rustling in the mulberry trees’ and knew that God, through his Holy Spirit, was calling us on to new territory and new ministry where streams of the water of the supernatural of God were flowing. And, as that old chorus urges, we wanted to be closer (And still do!)

Expect a great future

Embracing Proverbs 3:5, trusting God in everything (large or small, ministry or simply general life matters themselves), relying totally on him no matter how large the difficulties, obstacles and enemies, and being obedient will always guarantee his approval, pleasure and supernatural assistance.

2011 will soon be over. Personally we have seen God accomplish much for us this year as we’ve been obedient to his ‘still small voice.’ But the year isn’t over yet and we look forward to continuing to receive his blessings as we listen, be aware what he wants accomplished and obey. We also look forward in anticipation to following Jesus Christ in an exciting 2012!

May it be likewise for you too as you trust God in everything and grow in your faith. Remember... as you do so, ‘God will be two steps ahead of you, slaughtering the Philistines’ – overcoming enemies and obstacles on your behalf because you’re pleasing him. And, oh yes, maybe you too have to shed a few tears some times, but joy will follow as you really trust.

2010.11. (c) Life Focus.

Dilemma

To my horror I recently heard a well-known and highly respected Bible teacher/pastor on a Christian radio program give absolutely no promise of hope to his audience!

Christian radio stations, by the way, attract many unsaved as well as believers, so who knows how many people outside church circles but with desperate needs were listening! They would not have found great encouragement that particular day.

But before I share what I and many others heard, let me make two feisty comments. Firstly, I was wisely taught that all preachers must always wrap their message with hope, both for Christians and non-Christians. Also that a text out of context is a pretext!

Yet this particular radio personality broke these two golden rules!

Disappointment
By the way, I like him, even respect him, but I personally felt disappointed as he wrapped up his short ‘fill in’ message. Oh, he initially quoted scripture accurately. But when he referred to his second main scripture he didn’t really explain his point and ended up not giving hope for the future. Rather he left a cloud hanging over listeners who are still troubled by past sins.

I really felt for the unsaved as well as Christians who were probably going through some lows that we all feel at times because of the past. Here’s the gist of what I heard…

Driving to an appointment, I had tuned into a Christian radio station and on hearing whose segment was coming on next, I thought, ‘This‘ll be good.’ Especially when he began with that classical scripture from the apostle of love: ’If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). Spot on, I silently cheered.

But his next comments flabbergasted me as he inferred that Christians relied on this scripture as an escape route, that for many it was an easy way out from not being responsible for their actions. That even though we can quote that particular scripture and be forgiven, we can’t escape the consequences of past sins.

He then quoted another strong scripture but made it sound like it was flying in the face of John’s great hope-bringing, assuring and comforting one. Galatians 6:7, ‘God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’ But his lack of a reasonable explanation and needed comfort made it out of context with his theme! It came across as condemning, not comforting.

Responsibility important
Now I agree that we must be responsible for our decisions and actions. That in becoming Christians we do not receive a licence to act wantonly and irresponsibly! In a mixed-up world of loose morals, craftiness, corruption, neither fear nor knowledge of God and do-as-you-please thinking, we have to live as lights in the darkness (Mat 5:14-16).

We are meant to be examples of a better lifestyle, a focused and satisfactory way of living, beliefs, trust in a higher power and great hope for the future.

And we can be…but we have to live it out. We must walk the talk! We have to act responsibly through our actions and speech and how we handle situations and people. We must live up to God’s holy standards with the Holy Spirit’s help. Gal 5: 22-23 – the fruit of the Spirit which really speaks of the character of Christ – must be our guideline and our standard.

The great truth is that the Holy Spirit is our best friend and lives within every Christian. He’s the one who will develop and grow us to be like Christ day by day – because Jesus loves us deeply. Therefore we must not carry a wrong picture of God…one where he’s always looking over our shoulder to chastise us and scold us, particularly for past deeds.

The past is but a fading memory
Yes, some past actions may yet cause trouble but perhaps a better way of looking at these is to consider them scars that remain to remind us not to go down that road again. And to rectify them wherever and however we can – if it’s possible.

The Bible constantly encourages us to move ahead, not to get bogged down by the past. In 2 Corinthians 2:5-10, Paul is prompt to direct the church to get off a brother’s back regarding his past faults and events!

Moving on is a keynote for churches and Christians. Whatever the past mistakes we’ve made, we can plan for a better future! We must not let the errors of yesteryear hold us back miserably from achieving a splendid new tomorrow in Christ.

Hope for today and tomorrow
Which brings me to that radio preacher’s big mistake of not offering hope…

Paul tells us clearly that our great, loving and all-powerful God works all things for good (that means for the benefit of) for us (Romans 8:28). Then he goes on to state that nothing but nothing but nothing can hold back from receiving God’s love in Christ.

Surely ‘all things’ include past mistakes and surely Jesus’ love is the enabling force to help us – not change the past of course…now history – but build a better future and assist us put things right where we can.

Paul’s really positive about this and so should we! We can’t afford to allow the past to hold us back from enjoying the new life that Jesus has given us. Yes sure…maybe those past mistakes and sins have hurt people and caused damage but with the Holy Spirit’s help we can rectify whatever can be fixed up and then leave everything else to the Lord.

But we mustn’t carry any shame or guilt…this has been dealt with by Jesus’ Calvary sacrifice.

As mentioned earlier every preacher should always present hope to troubled people, not leave them hanging in the air! Otherwise they’re left in a dilemma – which is a nasty place between unwelcome alternatives, a predicament. God has given us a great alternative…trusting him.

Let’s embrace Paul’s welcome encouragement of Romans 15:13 – ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ when we find someone, Satan or situations trying to steal our security in Jesus.

09/11

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!