Half-full or Half-empty?

(James 2:17) “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Another day like the day before, instead of the glass “half-full” I find myself erring on “half-empty”. I have so many thoughts travelling through my mind that it is hard to hold onto one. This morning as I sit near the fire, as it now rages, finally the wood although initially a little wet is now serving its purpose, it is fuelling the fire! I have come to love this time of day, the sun far from appearing and the still of the night as silent as a thieving mouse. There is a beauty in this stillness, and not all understand what I am learning love; initially getting up early in the mornings with the intention of finding some sort of discipline to my life with these blogs was tough. But now I am thankful on so many fronts. We are now well into the winter months and even the birds are silent! I sit at my desk and just relish my time in front of this keyboard with my great God and Saviour. These are sobering moments.

Why is it that we have to learn lessons that are painful? I know the answer, but at times I wish it wasn’t so! Sin, has robbed me of so much through life and even with the glorious Word of God, the Bible and all it teaches, lesson are learnt only when we are hard pressed, when our bodies and emotions take strain. It is failure that brings us to our knees, but how terrible is it when we fail. It is through these experiences that we learn, or should learn, to become more dependent upon our Lord and Saviour and the finished work of the cross.

I am rather fascinated but somewhat discussed at times how I seem to forget what I have learnt. Let me use an illustration to exemplify; for awhile now I have suffered from reflux and live on medication to help combat its advances. But there are a few tricks that help; avoid white bread, lots of sweets and a few other things. Although I am aware of this, I seem to forget the effect this can have on me when the acid is at bay. This should never happen as I am aware of its downside but it does, take last night for example; I overindulged with sweets and chocolates and then I feel asleep, but not long into my rest I woke up choking, yes this is a common occurrence, however what I eat does effect the severity of my reflux and yet I sometimes ignore what I have already learnt, go figure!

Now it does not stop there although it should, there are many areas of my life where I seem to stumble in application. When the Apostle James was bold to point this out to his fellow brethren; I confess it was with me in mind: - “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” (James 1:13-16)

“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” (James 2:8-11)

He then hammers home the point; “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26) – So then it is not enough to talk the walk we need to learn to walk the walk; “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:8-10) – He challenges us to examine our own faith and to test it; “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:14-18)

This type of application has to become part of our lives; we must at least in principle resolve to find it by the grace of God. However like any good teacher he does leave us without some clear instruction to follow; “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:13-16) 

Signing off

Tyrone

 

 

 

   

The little foxes!

(Song of Solomon 2:15) “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines.”

How often have you heard the phrase, it’s only a “little lie”, or a “white lie”? The truth of the matter is a lie is what keeps someone from the truth. It has an agenda, and there is nothing “white” about it! In fact sin actually began with the human race in the Garden of Eden with a lie; it is the liar that lures us into sin. Whether we swindler ourselves in order to find justification for our actions or someone else misrepresentation the actual facts, it still results in the same outcome, SIN! Let’s use an illustration to help us position ourselves; the devil is the father of lies, it all began with him! So then we have the “father of lies” on the one side and we have God who lets say is the “Father of love” on the other, love and truth great allies! “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1John 4:8) - If someone habitually lies, they then prove their allegiance to their father who is the devil! But before I run away with myself lets back this up with scripture... “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) – So then anything that is contrary to the truth comes from him! He is the root of all sin! This is why the gospel is such a glorious message for all who believe, we now have a new Father, Almighty God has afforded us the privilege to address him as “Abba Father”. It is through adoption that we have been ushered into His family. It was and only ever will be the Lord Jesus who has made the way, praise His name! He has defeated the devil, He has defeated the liar! And we now have His Spirit, in fact His Spirit actually lives within us; “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2Corinthians 6:16) – This does not make a reference to whether we drink coffee, eat sweets or have a glass of wine etc. There is a far deeper implication to being the temple of God, in today’s context if we accommodate a lie or a liars then we defile the temple, but when we declare the truth we uphold the temple of God! If we say we must respect other religions that oppose God then we defile the temple, as we accommodate a lie, but when we declare that the Lord Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life, regardless of its outcome, prison and the like, we then uphold the truth and speak out against the liar! The Lord Jesus’ ministry here on earth was full of this type of contention! He came to speak the truth and we must also seek it out.   

This morning I pray that we would have our eyes opened to the deception of sin and the intricacy that it has on our lives, we must be sharp to its trickery and the first thing we like to do is look at others, instead of looking at ourselves, this is very important! A good soldier does not entangle himself with trivia, but focus on the job at hand. So my Great Jehovah God help me, help us, all who have this desire to be alert and honed to the dishonesty of sin like never before, open our eyes to it, help us see with acute clarity. I know that you hear our prayer, for we ask it in the name of Jesus our Saviour and we know we are heard because it is in accordance with your will. For your Word has taught us that all who name the name of Jesus must depart from sin! We often fail, but understand at least in part the magnificence of your mercy and grace, but for some of us (me) our lives have been so filled with squandering your grace that I have often found myself weeping when I reflect on the past. Help us become more like our Saviour and bring glory to your majestic name, for you alone are worthy of all praise!

We (believers) must learn to lose our blinkers; we must not let the “little sins” rob us of walking in victory; it is sin that keeps us from walking in love! Let us not look to quantify, but rather be on the look-out for the little foxes in our lives.

“A little thorn may cause much suffering. A little cloud may hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These little sins burrow in the soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ, that he will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable. Jesus will not walk with his people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” Some Christians very seldom enjoy their Saviour’s presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. Art thou a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on without seeing thy Father’s face? What! thou the spouse of Christ, and yet content without his company! Surely, thou hast fallen into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then, the question, what has driven Christ from thee? He hides his face behind the wall of thy sins. That wall may be built up of little pebbles, as easily as of great stones. The sea is made of drops; the rocks are made of grains: and the sea which divides thee from Christ may be filled with the drops of thy little sins; and the rock which has well nigh wrecked thy barque, may have been made by the daily working of the coral insects of thy little sins. If thou wouldst live with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with Christ, take heed of “the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.” Jesus invites you to go with him and take them. He will surely, like Samson, take the foxes at once and easily. Go with him to the hunting.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone

Ruler Supreme!

(1John 5:14) “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

Can anything ultimately keep us from the love of God? Our immediate answer must be no! Why? Because there is nothing that can or ever will defeat God; “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

 

God is the ruler supreme and yet with all His power He rules under the banner of love, yes He is the only true God but He is also our Father, who loves His children, because we have learnt and are still learning to love His Son, praise His glorious name! But having now stated the obvious we must understand our role as believers, we do now have a responsibility to walk in love, but that will take obedience to God’s Word and not opinion polls or preconceived ideas; “Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.” (John 14:22-24)

  

And only the elected will be equipped to keep his Words; all those whom He elected before the foundation of the earth: - Ephesians 1 – Probably the trickiest of all self examination is this, am I amongst those elected by God! Somewhere alone life’s journey we all ask this question and we must ask it! It is important to understand how true love operates; it definitely does not take the easy out, sin does! Do we always look for the easy out and succumb to sin, I know I am often guilty as charged, how about you? An Institution is not only ever filled with model students and if God has come to save sinners and not the righteous, what kinds of characters does He begin with! Those who receive adoption are often the off-scouring of the earth. God has a majestic brilliance about the way He chooses to reveal His glory, the way he exalts His name is often totally opposite to the way men deal with each other. His ways are far above our ways; “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

We must ask ourselves this question, am I subjected to God’s discipline when I ignore His Word? You alone can answer that question! If our answer is No! Then we need to fall to our knees and plead forgiveness for our sin and seek out salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ; forget religious intuitions and their traditions and what liars they may tell you, it is all about self-examination. Let’s say somewhere along life’s journey I responded to an alter call, but since then my life has continue with very little change and no discipline to it. Then I must conclude this may well have been a man-centred response to what I thought was salvation. This is simply not good enough; we must have a will in our hearts to love God and we prove this by looking to keep His Word. Even the apparent problem children (I fall under this category) will have a burning desire to eventually seek out obedience in pleasing our great Father by putting a smile on our great Saviour face when they seek out God’s will even if it may seem an impossible task as some often find themselves having to dust off their knees. We may have been batted and bruised along the way, mostly due to our own disobedience, but God who is love does not operate as men BUT AS GOD! He disciplines those whom He loves! If we are without discipline then we do not belong to Him, we have not received His Spirit, and we may even think we are but in fact we are bastards and not sons. Can I prove this statement from scripture? Yes! – “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ”My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:5-8) - And there will be many that fall under this category! - "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” (Matthew 7:21-23) 

The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we respond to God’s discipline? Will we be like Samson, although he found himself enslaved and without eyes because he disobeyed God’s Word, yet through the acceptance of God’s discipline his hair once again began to grow as he called out to his God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our God! And he killed more enemies in his death that throughout his life; he is mention in the faith chapter of the bible, Hebrews 11! Regardless of our mistakes along the way (not that we should take them lightly, they will and must carry serve consquences), how is it that we respond to God’s discipline, let us not become bitter and twisted but rather thankful for it, whatever it may be, as it is for our good; “And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:27-30) – It is all about His will and not ours, yes we are and will be the beneficiaries of His grace, yes we will be called the sons of God and yes we will receive a glorified body just like our Lord and Saviours. But it will always be about God’s will and not our wants if they oppose the Word of God. If we ask anything in accordance with His will we will receive what we ask, if not, then obviously we ask according to our wills which in turn are not aligned with His will. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” (1John 5:14) - The theory is not difficult to understand! Therefore it is His will we must come to grips with as we learn to practically apply in to our lives!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will look at the little foxes that spoil the vine and rob us from walking in God’s love.

Signing off

Tyrone   

 

           

The test of love!

(1John 3:18) “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Is it possible to measure our love for God? Not measured by others or members of our church but individually. Let us call it a self examination of the “character of love” but without any suppositions or emotions attached. As an exercise let us only draw from scripture and see what our conclusion will be. I already know the answer, but need to find proof for it from scripture. There are two questions I need answered and nothing outside of scripture will do. The first; do I love God? Obviously my answer would be yes you know I do Lord, as you know all things, nevertheless the fear I have is that I may well receive the same reply that Simon bar Jonah received; (John 21) No! I am convinced of it! Secondly what keeps me from loving God? If anything!

It seems the more I focus on achieving a certain objective the harder I find it, and I am not making reference to trivia. We must understand the theory with absolute clarity before we will be able to achieve perfect results. Take the “theory of relativity”; “The Theory of relativity was developed by Albert Einstein in the early 1900s. There are two theories of relativity. The first is Special Relativity and the second is General Relativity. Both are based on the Principle of relativity, which was created by Galileo Galilei in the 1600s.” Now I know that if you are reading this your mind has now been heightened as it is on the edge of its capacity, for some anyway! I am about to lose some of you, but stay with me as it will highlight a valid point.

“Special Relativity says that every person has their own time. One person's clock says something different from another person's clock. The reason a person's time can be different from another's is because of Time Dilation, which can be thought of more easily by the Twin Paradox.

The Twin Paradox shows how time changes because of speed and mass. The faster someone or something moves or the more mass they have, then the slower time passes for them. This is shown by a pair of twins. Imagine that the first twin moves at a fast speed, near the speed of light for example, while the other twin stays in one general location. When the first twin returns from his trip, he will be younger than the second twin. Thus time and speed are related. - Speed and mass affect how fast time moves.” (Simple English Wikipedia) 

We then could look at General Relativity which then adds gravity to the equation, but enough has been said to prove our point. We must understand the theory well to end up with accurate answers. It is no different in applying accurate doctrine to our lives, if we are to walk obediently before a holy God.

Do we love God? There are many scripture that we are able to test our love against... John the beloved disciple is full of instruction and here are some of his teachings. But remember for this exercise we would take any suppositions and emotions out of the equation. But before we look into the “mirror of love” we must understand that God will never require anything from us that He has not proved, He is the greatest of leaders as He always leads by example. He would not require us to love if He had not first loved us; "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) – Here He proves His love! It is by His action that we are able to test the measure of His love.

Here are some of those tests: - “But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:” (1John 2:5) – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1John 2:15) – “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1John 3:1) – “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1John 3:10) – “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (1John 3:11) – “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1John 3:16) - But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (1John 3:17) – “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1John 3:18) 

There is much more John has to say on the subject but for the sake of time I trust enough has been said. We must come to grips with the theory before we can find the correct application in our lives, we must understand what it is that the Apostle John is teaching us, let us read through these verses carefully and then we will be able to look into the “mirror of love” with a clearer understanding. I am guilty as charged, were do you stand? We need to be more resolute in these areas of our lives and it is only the grace of God that will equip us to find true application to our lives. I now have a clearer understanding of what it is I must appropriate to my life, it would not help us to point fingers at others, we stand and fall before our Heavenly Father, and He alone will pass sentence as He chooses to discipline if need be. However, it is possible to test our love for God; scripture through John has proved it! Lord willing, tomorrow we look at what hinders us from living in God’s love.

There is a lot more to be said on his subject, so maybe over the next few posts we can unpack this a little deeper.

Signing off

Tyrone

    

You Hate Wickedness!

(Psalm 45:7)  “Thou hatest wickedness.”

“Be ye angry, and sin not.” There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way. How our Lord Jesus hated it when the temptation came! Thrice it assailed him in different forms, but ever he met it with, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” He hated it in others; none the less fervently because he showed his hate oftener in tears of pity than in words of rebuke; yet what language could be more stern, more Elijah-like, than the words, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer.” He hated wickedness, so much that he bled to wound it to the heart; he died that it might die; he was buried that he might bury it in his tomb; and he rose that he might for ever trample it beneath his feet. Christ is in the Gospel, and that Gospel is opposed to wickedness in every shape. Wickedness arrays itself in fair garments, and imitates the language of holiness; but the precepts of Jesus, like his famous scourge of small cords, chase it out of the temple, and will not tolerate it in the Church. So, too, in the heart where Jesus reigns, what war there is between Christ and Belial! And when our Redeemer shall come to be our Judge, those thundering words, “Depart, ye cursed” which are, indeed, but a prolongation of his life-teaching concerning sin, shall manifest his abhorrence of iniquity. As warm as is his love to sinners, so hot is his hatred of sin; as perfect as is his righteousness, so complete shall be the destruction of every form of wickedness. O thou glorious champion of right, and destroyer of wrong, for this cause hath God, even thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (C.H.Spurgeon)

It is now a time to sit back and to listen, to be lead by the Spirit of God is essential. Without over mystifying what that means, it is important to listen to the small still voice of God and we know that He has now spoken to us through His Son, for this we are truly thankful! There are so many truths in God’s Word that overshadow our carnal logic and for this I am thankful, The Word of God has weight over all that is carnal, in other words, if my own logic reasons out against the Word of God and it ends up contrary to it, then it is a liar and I must reject its findings. “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though everyone were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged." (Romans 3:3-4) - We understand the point of Paul’s message was to address the conflict between Jew and gentile in early Christianity, but I would like us to view this passage in principle and to draw some parallels to our lives; this is Matthew Hendry’s findings and they are helpful if we have ears to hear... “Against what he had said of the advantages the Jews had in the lively oracles, some might object the unbelief of many of them. To what purpose were the oracles of God committed to them, when so many of them, notwithstanding these oracles, continued strangers to Christ, and enemies to his gospel? Some did not believe, Rom_3:3.” But let us remember to view our logic and our own opinions as the enemy when they do not believe God’s Word! (My thought)

“Answer. It is very true that some, nay most of the present Jews, do not believe in Christ; but shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? The apostle startles at such a thought: God forbid! The infidelity and obstinacy of the Jews could not invalidate and overthrow those prophecies of the Messiah which were contained in the oracles committed to them. Christ will be glorious, though Israel be not gathered, Isa_49:5. God's words shall be accomplished, his purposes performed, and all his ends answered, though there be a generation that by their unbelief go about to make God a liar. Let God be true but every man a liar; let us abide by this principle, that God is true to every word which he has spoken, and will let none of his oracles fall to the ground, though thereby we give the lie to man; better question and overthrow the credit of all the men in the world than doubt of the faithfulness of God.” – That would include our carnal logic when in opposition to God’s Word. (My thought)    

God is the final authority over our lives and all of His creation, this we must come to grips with if we are to be set free in those trying areas of our lives. I have found that Christians have their struggles, I have my own struggle, but what I have understood is that we do not all have the same struggle, sure it is sin when broken down, but it effects us differently and in different area of our lives, wherever we are vulnerable and drop our guard, it is there that we will often succumb to sin although we have been set free by Christ perfect work. We are taught they we should no longer be slaves to sin; “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)

Then to all who are born again and confess Jesus as Lord has a responsibility to seek out righteousness to their lives. We have found life and it is crucial that we seek out the path of righteousness to our lives. Our lives have begun a new journey, the day we were saved it began and we have an obligation, no matter how many blunder we may have incurred along the way, no matter how many times the story of the prodigal son may ring true to our ears, eventually we must arrive at this conclusion; the time for games is over, we must now be serious with God’s call to our lives.    

Have you ever really seriously considered the teaching of Paul in Galatians chapter 5; Paul exposes to types of fruit, the fruit of the flesh (sin) and then the fruit of the spirit! It is imperative that we understand the importance of both in our lives. We must read them side by side as we stand before the mirror of God and we ask Him to show us who we are. We will not be as foolish as to say; “mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of us all?” as we know that His name is Jesus and without His sanctification we would be unworthy to stand gazing into the mirror of God. However when we look at ourselves we unmistakably see many blemishes and we understand that nothing we could do would ever qualify us to call upon God. Holy Father we understand that if we were not covered by the blood of the Lamb, we would be without hope, but now we have the greatest of hopes because we are covered by His sacrifice and we have been sanctified by His blood, we now as your children we want to please you Father God, teach us to be honest with ourselves, teach us to obey your Word.

Now with that in mind, how can we say we love God but we still hanker after certain sins, God hates sin, in fact it is such an abomination to Him, that He sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to live amongst a wicked and perverse generation, He lived amongst sinners who on every side looked for a reason to get Him to fall into sin, they were unsuccessful, as He never sinned, no not once! We too must resolve to follow in His footsteps, of course we will fall along the way, but just as a child grows into manhood, we too must begin to be responsible with that which we have received. It will take a life time, nevertheless, we must seek out God’s grace to walk in obedience, and like I said even if our logic looks to excuse us when it is contrary to the Word of God we must place our trust in the Word of God, regardless of any other opposition. Help us prove you perfect will in our lives; “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) 

Teach us Father we pray to be honest with ourselves and please reveal the areas in our lives that resist the Word of God, especially all those subtle area of our lives, we call upon our Saviour glorious name to help us root out any liar that opposes your glorious name. We cry out in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and King, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone 

Submit Yourselves!

(James 4:7) “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

What do we do with our most prized possessions? We store them in a safe place. Look at banks and the trouble they go to secure their money, the greater the prize the tighter the security. Even we go to great lengths to secure our valuables, it is a default built into our sub-conscience. What has got me thinking along these lines this morning is I realised that we will look after our earthly possessions with great vigour, but what of the greatest of all prizes, why do we not use the same urgency when the thief breaks in to maim and steal. There seems to be an air of complacency to the spiritual realm but no lack of it in the physical. I was taught a lesson yesterday, and I am guilty as charged. I am far too complacent with God’s gracious gift and for this I ask for forgiveness. I made an effort to buy a safe to store my valuables, but what effort is taken to keep the wolf at bay when it comes to my spiritual walk in and through our conquering King, the Lord Jesus. How often do we drop our guard and let the wolf ravage as we open ourselves up to sin, is not faith in the Lord Jesus the greatest of all our possession, it is His Spirit which now lives within all who have been born of the Spirit. We must learn to value this treasure higher than any other; it must be of such urgency in our minds that we find ourselves crying for grace in time of need. We Know in whom we have believe! Yet at times is would appear that we are caught off guard. Let us not be ignorant! We know that the devil goes around seeking whom he may devour, but for him it is an impossible task as the Lord Jesus has completed the work of Calvary, He has defeated all in his death, including the devil, and He proved this though His resurrection.

My prayer is this; that we would have such a desire to find Grace in time of need, that it will provoke us to good works and not leave us lying in the dirt feeling defeated and unworthy of the high call of God. The enemy seeks out our weakness and throws us lures, and we often fall straight into his trap. I suppose this cliché often rings true to my life; “like taking candy from a child.” It should not be this way for the child of God. May we be alert to those traps and when obviously seen may we no longer be ensnared by them, but rather cry out to our Father, who is mighty and who longs for His children to find obedience. This is why the writer of Hebrews penned these words; “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) – It is available! All we need to do is boldly seek it out. This is how we will learn to treasure the greatest of all gifts, the Lord Jesus Himself! His Spirit does live within us; we must not habitually always play into the hands of the devil.

However when we sin we must not always blame the devil, sure he has his part to play, but we are lead about by our own passions. This is what the Apostle James teachers us; “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3) -  We must learn to put our trust and faith in God’s provision; “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Finding grace will arm our minds for this warfare and we will in turn as good soldiers astutely pay attention to the armour of God; we must make it our priority.

May God hear our cry as I know He hears the voice of His children; help us Abba Father to find boldness in seeking out grace in time of need. To our great King and Him alone do we pay homage, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

   

Jesus Only!

(Matthew 17:8)  “And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

Back in Johannesburg and as nice as it is to be home, I am reminded of life and her challengers. But before I even begin to go down that road, we must feed our minds with thoughts of our great Saviours redeeming power and the great love of our heavenly Father. Last night as I sat on my reading chair with the fire flickering and a touch strapped to my head surrounded by darkness as I waited out the load shedding from Eskom (electricity suppliers). I flipped through the pages of a book dedicated to Charles Spurgeon, “The Forgotten Spurgeon” by Ian Murray. Spurgeon had many pressing priorities when battling with the truth of God’s Word, he was often in battle with other ministers of the time, I suppose that is the way it will always be for those who look to stand-up for the truth of God’s Word. But the greatest of all lessons he has taught me and continues to teach is this; he purposed to keep the message of the gospel simple and concise as it is a message for sinners and not the self righteous, the gospel has come to set the captive free. It is a message for the unschooled and the poor and the greatest of all priorities when unpacking or debating scripture must always hinge with immovability around Calvary and the majestic work of Jesus Christ our Lord. The less we think of ourselves the more we will magnify our Saviour. The danger of becoming to smart in our debates could leave us proud and puffed up. I am  not now condoning apathy to education through God’s Word, but we must remember to acknowledge that the only reason we are looked upon with favour and find the covering of God’s love is because of His Son, our Saviour, there is absolutely no other reason why we find favour, praise the name of Jesus! Although Charles was often at war around doctrinal truths he embraced his message of the gospel as priority and always purposed to point all and sundry to the finished work of Calvary. He possibly understood the importance of this more than most, and he was very forthright in teaching repentant sinners who had received the Spirit of God, those who were born again of the Spirit, saints! The importance of faith toward God coupled with repentance from dead works! If we could learn to be as zealous as he was in this endeavour, to always strive to decrease, to get people eyes to shift from self and onto Jesus Christ our Lord, so that Christ would have prominence. I believe this is one of the greatest legacies he has left us, Charles Haddon Spurgeon a man who died more than a decade ago and yet he still speak volumes and with absolute clarity. For this I am thankful.

Here is a great example we can draw from...  

“Mephibosheth was no great ornament to a royal table, yet he had a continual place at David’s board, because the king could see in his face the features of the beloved Jonathan. Like Mephibosheth, we may cry unto the King of Glory, “What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?” but still the Lord indulges us with most familiar intercourse with himself, because he sees in our countenances the remembrance of his dearly-beloved Jesus. The Lord’s people are dear for another’s sake. Such is the love which the Father bears to his only begotten, that for his sake he raises his lowly brethren from poverty and banishment, to courtly companionship, noble rank, and royal provision. Their deformity shall not rob them of their privileges. Lameness is no bar to sonship; the cripple is as much the heir as if he could run like Asahel. Our right does not limp, though our might may. A king’s table is a noble hiding-place for lame legs, and at the gospel feast we learn to glory in infirmities, because the power of Christ resteth upon us. Yet grievous disability may mar the persons of the best-loved saints. Here is one feasted by David, and yet so lame in both his feet that he could not go up with the king when he fled from the city, and was therefore maligned and injured by his servant Ziba. Saints whose faith is weak, and whose knowledge is slender, are great losers; they are exposed to many enemies, and cannot follow the king whithersoever he goeth. This disease frequently arises from falls. Bad nursing in their spiritual infancy often causes converts to fall into a despondency from which they never recover, and sin in other cases brings broken bones. Lord, help the lame to leap like an hart, and satisfy all thy people with the bread of thy table!” (C.H.Spurgeon)

It all started in the beginning with our great Saviour and it will end with Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega. We will only ever stand before a Holy Sovereign God because of his great accomplishments, thank you Father for loving us (all who now believe), your love remember the blind and the lame, thank you for remembering me, for remembering us, we are forever grateful!  

So I will also end this post with the words of our beloved brother, the Apostle Paul; “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1Corinthians 2:2) – We too confess that we wish to post a banner echoing these words, it must ring true as the flag for our lives. Continue to teach us this great value, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone

Who knows the outcome but God!

(James 5:18) “Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”

All things must come to an end and after putting our shoulders to the plow we only initially see broken ground, but after a season, what was once a barren fruitless land has the potential to steam with life. I wonder how many times in life we have felt that our words have been wasted on deaf ears, but have they ever been exhausted, it may at times appear so, but time will tell! A lot of effort is often only ever rewarded much later. Remember the time when a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night, Nicodemus found himself wrestling with so many words that the Lord conveyed. It is a good thing to inquire after truth; I believe God commends us when we seek it out. Moses did not pass by the burning bush but made it his business to examine it: - “And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." (Exodus 3:3-4) 

Nicodemus felt the same way, something drove him to seek out God’s truth for his life, this is exactly what happens to every born again believer as questions need answers. I pray that God would pour out His abundant mercies on all I have had the privilege in sharing the gospel with over the last few days. It may not have always been as accurate as I would have liked, nevertheless Father please get them to enquire, get them to seek out the truth just like you chose to do with Nicodemus. I was no different, as I ran from your glorious face and yet in your mercies you gave me life and opened my eyes to see your beautiful face.

How could we ever claim to understand with absolute clarity how you choose some and not others, who are we to ever question any decisions you make, that would be blasphemous! However we do and must seek out knowledge to understand how we will please you Father God and live more obedient Christian lives. There is a willingness that God the Holy Spirit places in a man’s heart, no different I believe in character to what Moses must have inquired after; “And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." There is no doubt that there is a part that man must play in the finding life and yet how can someone that is dead do anything? He can’t! This is one of the great mysteries that the Word of God and His Spirit miraculously works, getting men and woman to fall to their knees and seek out repentance.

I am convinced that it will only ever be the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance, but when He begins to stir up our minds to seek out answers, we now have our part to play, and we must just like Moses enquire why the bush kept burning and yet the source that fueled it never needed replenishment.

Nicodemus had many questions as he initially reason as a man leaving him with this conclusion; Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" (John 3:9)

That is where it started for him, where did it start for us? It began somewhere! Faith is the substance of things hoped for, it cannot be seen as clearly as a sunset and yet when we receive life through repentance it is as real. My prayer for all throughout our golf tour is that they would be those who now seek out answers and with great expectations. So that God in turn would give them life. Nicodemus eventually ended up with all those who loved the Lord at His Memorial Service playing his part as one who now had been captivated by the work of Calvary; “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.” (John 19:39) – I have mention some of them by name so I implore you to pray for them, help me as we put our shoulders to the plow in prayer and who knows how fruitful this particular harvest may be. The prayers of a saint never go unheard, our God is a gracious God, and He has proved it in our lives as we too were once blind but now we can see.

Signing off

Tyrone        

Learning to be Sensitive!

(1Corinthians 6:12) "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful.”

I am thankful as I ponder the past, reflecting on the many bad choices throughout life. Not that I should ever gloat in disobedience that would simply be madness and yet, those mistake have so much to teach, for this I am thankful. Last night was a night full of lessons learnt. We must always remember to learn to think on our feet, to tune into the surrounding frequency... all things are lawful… But! "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. (1Corinthians 6:12) – Why should this lesson become so important for us to learn to apply in our lives? The simple retort is this; for the sake of those who have not yet found salvation. Let me use last night to explain what Paul wants to teach us, or at least get us to understand in principle.

Nothing we could ever say or do will ever change this fact that Jesus Christ the Lord, the only true God was born a baby through a virgin woman, who then grew into a man. The only man who ever lived a life of sinless perfection; He never once broke the law of God. Nevertheless He was accused of many things; they address Him as a friend of harlots, a wine bidder and the like, but all these charges were false in God’s eyes. We know this to be true as God received His sacrifice on Calvary as an innocent lamb led to the slaughter. It was upon the hill of Golgotha that Jesus Christ made a way for sinners to find repentance. Without His perfect sacrifice all of mankind would have been doomed to hell for eternity. This is a fact and the simple message of the gospel! It proves that nothing we could do or say will ever change this truth, as Jesus Christ the Lord was the One to overcome hell death and the grave; God confirmed the acceptance of His Son’s sacrifice by raising Him from the dead. Once we grasp the truth of this reality, we should also then understand that we will not find acceptance from God outside of His Son’s perfect work. Everything we do without the covering of Christ’s finished work is but smoking flax and will eventually amount to nothing when viewed under the light. It was and will only ever be Christ’s sacrifice that enables us to find forgiveness and acceptance before a Holy God.

However having said that Paul then teaches us that there are those who look on, looking for reasons to reject His message, which has now become our message as we have found life in and through Him, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

If a Christian was to drink a glass of wine or drink a beer, would that then be a sin? Absolutely not! But if a Christian was to get drunk it would now become sin. Here now comes the lesson; although a couple of beers would be perfectly acceptable and lawful, if people looking on were looking for an excuse to disqualify our message, which is God’s message, that the only way to be saved is in and through the Lord Jesus. When they look to undermine the truth of the gospel we must learn to read the signs and be sensitive to those around us for the sake of the Gospel. Although I only had a few beers with supper  last night, I saw how those around honed in on it to try and disqualify the message I now continually endeavour to put out there, that without finding repentance in and through the Lord Jesus they will be doomed to a Godless eternity and hell will be their destination. Although a beer is now lawful it is now no longer helpful! If I continued to drink in their presence it will excuse their conscience not to earnestly seek out repentance. Not that I will get them to find salvation through my abstinence, but it will alleviate an objection, it is only the goodness of God that can turn a man from the error of his ways and open his eyes to life. Nevertheless from today I have now resolved never to drink alcohol in their presence, for their sakes!

This is Matthew Henry’s take on this verse…

“Even in lawful things, he would not be subject to the impositions of a usurped authority: so far was he from apprehending that in the things of God it was lawful for any power on earth to impose its own sentiments. Note, There is a liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in which we must stand fast. But surely he would never carry this liberty so far as to put himself into the power of any bodily appetite. Though all meats were supposed lawful, he would not become a glutton nor a drunkard. And much less would he abuse the maxim of lawful liberty to countenance the sin of fornication, which, though it might be allowed by the Corinthian laws, was a trespass upon the law of nature, and utterly unbecoming a Christian. He would not abuse this maxim about eating and drinking to encourage any intemperance, nor indulge a carnal appetite:” (Matthew Henry)

Last night has brought home the truth of this principle with a fresh and new perspective. Everything in life is there to teach us to be on guard and to help us stand and be helpful to those who perish. I am thankful to the greatest of all teachers, God the Holy Spirit who illuminates the Word of God and quickens understanding into our lives.

Signing off

Tyrone

Here today gone tomorrow!

(Psalms 6:9) “The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.”

It is never easily received, the Word of life, it is rather fascinating how volatile we are as humans. Yesterday one of our golfers almost opened his eyes on the other side of death. A golf ball hit Sean on the head a couple of centimeters to the left and he may no longer be breathing to tell his story. One thing is for sure, God has afforded him another opportunity to find repentance; will he find it I wonder!  Pray For him by name, Sean Tarry! 

How much thought was actually given to the seriousness of this encounters potential outcome? One minute he sat obliviously staring at his phone probably contemplating some business proposition without any fear of danger and the next instant he lay hunched over in his golf cart as he clutched his head in agony with the thought of his two young son’s flashing through his mind as he wondered would he ever see them again. The three bystanders who made up their four-ball looked on in total despair after hearing a crack as the ball rocketed against his skull with panic setting in as their adrenaline race and their minds wondering, would he live. He was shipped off to the Margate Hospital and thoroughly examined; thankfully I can say after a cat-scan he was released from hospital and this morning he seems to be recovering well.

It is rather surprising how God opens doors for us to proclaim His goodness, I am thankful that an incident like this opened the door to speak about death, judgment and our great Saviour victory on the cross. He has heard the greatest of all stories ever told, he knows about Calvary and our great Saviours sacrifice, but then again so do so many know it as a distant story, I pray it becomes his reality.

Then there is Lawrence a man full of questions, I take absolute comfort in the fact that our God is the God of impossibilities, He is able to save from the uttermost to the uttermost, and my prayer is that He chooses to do exactly that in this particular case.

Lets us be obedient children as we constantly commit those who God brings across our paths to Him in prayer. We can but only ever leave them at our Great Redeemer feet depending upon His mercy and His saving grace, remembering that there was a time in our lives when we where prayed for to find repentance. Again I mention names and ask that we pray for them in person; freely we have received now freely we must give; Lance, Mark, Derek, Mitch, Christo and Sean have heard about the Gospel and have no doubt obviously processed that information is some form, but we also know that even the demons believe and tremble; it will never be enough to believe as a bystander we must find repentance in Christ as He then becomes our personal Saviour. I love the simplicity of the Gospel and the Apostle Paul teachers us its essence; “For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:11-13) – Let us understand what that should mean for us who now believe as well as for those who are have enquiring minds seeking out this truth…

For this (Rom_10:11) he quotes Isa_28:16, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed; ou kataischunthēsetai. That is, [a.] He will not be ashamed to own that Christ in whom he trusts; he that believes in the heart will not be ashamed to confess with the mouth. It is sinful shame that makes people deny Christ, Mar_8:38. He that believeth will not make haste (so the prophet has it) - will not make haste to run away from the sufferings he meets with in the way of his duty, will not be ashamed of a despised religion. [b.] He shall not be ashamed of his hope in Christ; he shall not be disappointed of his end. It is our duty that we must not, it is our privilege that we shall not, be ashamed of our faith in Christ. He shall never have cause to repent his confidence in reposing such a trust in the Lord Jesus. The first words express the design of the apostle through these verses, that there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, but they stand upon the same level in point of acceptance with God. In Jesus Christ there is neither Greek nor Jews, Col_3:11. God doth not save any nor reject any because they are Jews, nor because they are Greeks, but doth equally accept both upon gospel terms: There is no difference. For the proof of this he urges two arguments: -

I. That God is the same to all: The same Lord over all is rich unto all. There is not one God to the Jews who is more kind, and another to the Gentiles who is less kind; but he is the same to all, a common father to all mankind. When he proclaimed his name, The Lord, the Lord god, gracious and merciful, he thereby signified not only what he was to the Jews, but what he is and will be to all his creatures that seek unto him: not only good, but rich, plenteous in goodness: he hath wherewith to supply them all, and he is free and ready to give out to them; he is both able and willing: not only rich, but rich unto us, liberal and bountiful in dispensing his favours to all that call upon him. Something must be done by us, that we may reap of this bounty; and it is as little as can be, we must call upon him. He will for this be enquired of (Eze_36:37), and surely that which is not worth the asking is not worth the having. We have nothing to do but to draw out by prayer, as there is occasion.

II. That the promise is the same to all (Rom_10:13): Whoever shall call - one as well as another, without exception. This extent, this undifferencing extent, of the promise both to Jews and Gentiles he thinks should not be surprising, for it was foretold by the prophet, Joe_2:32. Calling upon the name of the Lord is here put for all practical religion. What is the life of a Christian but a life of prayer? It implies a sense of our dependence on him, an entire dedication of ourselves to him, and a believing expectation of our all from him. He that thus calls upon him shall be saved. (Matthew Henry)

As we have called and continue to call upon the name of our Great Saviour I pray that these men may also learn to become dependent upon Him and call upon the name of the Lord as they find life in Him, whatever the cost!

We know that we do not pray to some dumb idol but to the only true living God, a God who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and we know that our prayers do not fall on deaf ears. Praise the name of Jesus! He alone has it in His power to save, Amen!

The words of David; “The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.” (Psalms 6:9)

Signing off

Tyrone