Holidays!

Reliving good times...

Monkey World in Dorset and it's founder Jim Cronin.

Blue Pool... amazing place

Bournemouth in the hot sun... who needs Spain?!

Swanage Steam Railway, a taste of a bygone age..

The New Forest where horses wander freely everywhere including the high streets and up to your front door!

And no holiday is complete without a swim in the outdoors. Lovely.

Even if it's little rough...

Hold Steady And Let God Work

 '...our light affliction... is working for us...'

2 Corinthians 4:17

There are times in your life when everything you attempt to do will seem to go wrong. Your faith may be strong and your commitment deep, yet adversity will come knocking on your door. In such times, the power of prayer will strengthen and stabilise you. But you can't pray away life's seasons! God has a purpose for not allowing you to be fruitful all the time. Real growth requires seasons of struggle as well as seasons of success. Your seasons of struggle destroy pride in your own ability, increase your dependence on God, and cause you to say, like Paul did, 'Not that we are sufficient of ourselves... our sufficiency is from God' (2 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV). These are humbling experiences, but you need them. 

Your life is like a tree: in winter it silently refurbishes its strength, preparing for the next season of fruitfulness. As you look back on your life's accomplishments you'll notice that they are seasonal. There are seasons of rain as well as sunshine, and each season serves an important purpose. That's why it's a mistake to make a permanent decision based on a temporary circumstance or changing emotion. '...the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Corinthians 4:18). The word temporal means 'subject to change'. Hold steady, it's not always going to be this way! Sometimes the situation doesn't call for action, it calls for patience and trust in God. Paul writes, 'Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us.' In ways you cannot understand, God is making the circumstances you're in today work for your good.

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Disappointment With God

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept.

Nehemiah 1:4

Selwyn Hughes writes, "The first thing we should learn about disappointment is this - it's OK to feel it. The worst possible thing we can do with any problem that arises in our lives is to refuse to face it and feel it. Yet this is a typical response made by many Christians to life's problems." Very rarely do we hear sermons that are honest about failure, disappointment and struggle. But we all have to deal with it at various times and we need to hear truth when it comes to our difficult faith experiences.  

Yesterday I came upon this encouraging talk by Kathryn Scott of Causeway Coast Vineyard.  Kathryn is a worship leader and she belongs to a church that is well known for its amazing healing ministry and yet she is painfully honest about times she has stepped out in obedience only to find that God didn't seem to do what He had promised. She shares that it is vital to take hold of these disappointments and deal with them properly to prevent a wall growing between us and the Father, and so that we can keep moving towards Him and not away from Him.  God wants to reach out to us and ask us to lay our disappointments down so they don't grow into doubt and unbelief.

Lord Turn Your Footsteps

Lord turn... we need you in these islands... our hearts are broken and our children are stolen... send Your Spirit to the UK and work Your deliverance...

Think Outside The Box

Waters to swim in...

Ezekiel 47:1-5

Have you heard about the frog that was born at the bottom of a well? He thought life couldn't get any better till one day he looked up and saw daylight. Climbing up to investigate he was amazed to find a much larger pond than the one he lived in. And going further afield he discovered a lake that was bigger again. When he eventually came to the ocean and all he could see was water, it dawned on him just how limited his thinking had been. He thought everything he needed was down in the well, but that was a drop in a bucket compared to the things that were out there for him to enjoy.

Maybe you're living today in your own little well, reluctant to leave your comfort zone, settling for a limited and safe existence while God has rivers deep enough "to swim in". Wouldn't you like to step out in faith, experience new depths in Him and go where you've never been before? Remember, the enemy will do everything to keep you focused on your background, your lack of formal education, your appearance and your limited resources. But Bruce Wilkinson says, "It doesn't matter whether you're short of money, people, energy or time. What God invites you to do will always be greater than the resources you start with." Your don't have to let fear limit your vision when God is your source, because His supply is unlimited! One idea from Him, just one, can change your life and the lives of others. He's got great things in store for you today - so start thinking outside the box!

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

God Provides

For a large number of the people—many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun—were unclean, yet they had eaten the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah had interceded for them, saying, "May the good LORD provide atonement on behalf of whoever sets his whole heart on seeking God, the LORD God of his ancestors, even though not according to the purification [rules] of the sanctuary." So the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. 

2 Chronicles 30:18-20

I love it when we get glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament. Look at what happened here... many of God's people were unclean and had eaten the Passover in an unclean state. They were not right before God. They had not fulfilled the correct purification laws. And what did Hezekiah pray in such a tricky situation? "LORD, please provide the atonement yourself, for those whose hearts are set on you". There is the gospel! God himself has provided the Lamb and when we find ourselves not measuring up to the Law but seek Him with all our hearts and trust in the sacrifice that He has provided himself in Jesus, then He will turn and heal and save us. What God provides Himself is all that is needed. Later on in the passage it says that everyone rejoiced, "Such rejoicing had not been seen in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon, son of David..." v26. Let's turn to Jesus with our whole heart, let Him heal us and bring us joy :)

Getting Out Of A Spiritual Slump (2)

Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with [God]...

Genesis 35:14

When you recall God's faithfulness to you it causes hope to rise in your soul. It enables you to face the future with confidence and say, '...He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who... keep his commands' (Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV). Looking back and remembering is a scriptural principle that works. 'Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with [God]'; 'Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan...' (Joshua 4:9 NAS); 'Samuel took a stone... set it up... and called [it]...Ebenezer, saying, '..."Thus far the Lord has helped us"' (1 Samuel 7:12 NKJV).

The Bible says, 'No test... that comes your way is beyond... what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God... [will] always be there...' (1 Corinthians 10:13 TM). Going back through Scripture and remembering the ups and downs of God's people and how He consistently came through for them, lends fresh perspective to your own situation and enables you to see a bigger picture. In Psalm 22 David starts out saying, 'God... I call to you... but you do not answer' (v. 2 NCV). But as soon as he starts remembering God's faithfulness he does a 180-degree turn around and says, 'Our ancestors trusted you... and you saved them. They called to you for help and... were not disappointed' (vv. 4-5 NCV). When you're in a spiritual free fall, stop dwelling on yourself and your disappointment and begin to focus on God. '...Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave...' (1 Kings 8:56 NIV). He's still the same; He hasn't changed.

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

More of God

For some weeks a small group of us at church have been meeting to pray and worship together. We felt the need to have a space where there was no agenda but to worship and listen to the Spirit. For me it has been a complete joy as we have been enjoying His Presence in such a tangible way. At those times I know that there is nowhere better in the universe and nowhere that I'd rather be.

A friend recently asked me what the Spirit was doing in those meetings, and I struggled to answer. I still struggle to answer. I know what we do. We worship, wait, confess, pray, encourage one another. We often find ourselves crying out for revival, both in our church community and further afield. We are finding ourselves hungry and thirsty for more of God. But I'm not sure what the Spirit is exactly doing. I long for revival, and by revival I mean that I long for my heart to be revived in Him as well as seeing revival in my church and our nation return to Him. But how exactly God will do that I do not know.

My friends at Imrah have written on 'revival' and it is well worth reading and pondering on. Revival movements come and go but their effects may be felt far and wide with far reaching consequences. I myself am a Christian because of the revivals that took place here in England under Billy Graham when my parents became Christians. But God may not work like that again. He is the God of new things. As we pray in our little group and try to discern what the Spirit is doing, it is a huge relief to me that He is the one in charge. For me, to pray 'let revival come' is to pray, 'come Holy Spirit and do what You will, how You will and when You will'.  This prayer by Oscar Romero sums it up for me;

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for
the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.