No Accusers

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”
Romans 8:31-34 NLT

We live in a sad time when accusations against another person can cause inordinate suffering and misery. For example, children make false accusations against teachers, foster parents, or anyone else in authority, that can lead to consequences that are out of all proportion to what was intended. The ultimate false accusation, of course, was against Jesus. When He stood before Pilate, the Jewish leaders called for His death. We read in John 19:7, “The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God””. By calling Himself the Son of God, Jesus was elevating Himself to the same level as God, and this was considered to be blasphemous by the Jewish leaders. We read in John 10:33, “They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God””. Jesus was of course speaking the truth when He claimed His Messiahship, but that was not accepted by the Jewish leaders. So they falsely accused Him of blasphemy. One day they will find out just how wrong they had been.

Paul wrote, “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?” Accuse us of what? One thing the devil is good at is accusing Christians. We read in Revelation 12:10 about what happened to him. “Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last— salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night.” The prophet Zechariah, in a vision, and as recorded in Zechariah 3:1-2a, wrote, “Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord . The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. … “

The accuser, the devil, was very good at introducing doubts in people’s minds about sin, their salvation and anything to do with their relationship with God. His tactics in the Garden of Eden, when he deceived Eve, are well known. But Paul refutes all of this, because he points out to his readers that we are justified through our faith in Jesus. Before God we have nothing to be accused of. And similarly, we cannot be condemned either, again by our faith in Jesus. He died for us and is now with God, “pleading for us”. 

We pilgrims are in a strong position because of our relationship with God. The devil is a defeated foe. We have read the last page in the Book. But we must be aware of his ploys. We read in 1 Peter 5:8, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are”. In Zechariah’s vision, the devil made accusations against Jeshua, the High Priest. The devil is no respecter of persons – even the Jewish High Priest is not immune from accusations. But as we read in the Zechariah Scripture, God was having none of it. The devil’s accusations were rejected.

And so it is with us – the devil has nothing to pin on us because we are blood-bought children of God. We constantly keep short accounts with God, assured that He is always accessible, and then the devil cannot accuse us of anything. As we do with any loved one, we keep in regular contact. And we thank Him for His grace and love. Where would we be without God?

Dear Heavenly Father. We have no need to be anxious about the devil’s lies and false accusations. Before You, we are justified and redeemed. That’s all that matters. Amen.

We Have Everything

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”
Romans 8:31-34 NLT

Paul asks another question. He logically thinks that if God was prepared to sacrifice His own Son for us, how could there be any limit to what He was prepared to do for His children? But what does “everything else” include? We can start by listing what it doesn’t. Nothing evil or sinful will come our way from God, thus excluding much of what we are exposed to in our lives here on Planet Earth. Also much of what we devote our time, energy and resources to may not come under God’s “everything else”  umbrella. Paul wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 3:11-13, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value”. What God considers “everything else” might not match our values. One day everything that is of no value to either Him or us will be burnt up. In our humanity we tend to associate gifts with the “stuff” with which we surround ourselves. Some of it is necessary for our natural lives, but much is superfluous. No place for gadgets in Heaven – we won’t need them!

God’s “everything else” includes all the resources of Heaven. We will need eternity to experience all of it, there will be so much. Imagine being able to visit all that God has created, for a start. And meet all the people, past, present and future, who will be in Heaven. We are totally unable to get our minds around what God will provide for us. Compared to what we have here on Planet Earth, God’s “everything else” will be infinitely more. 

We mustn’t forget that God makes available to us some of His resources for the here and now. Through the power of the Spirit within us we have enormous potential. Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think”. 

So what do we pilgrims feel about this “everything else” promise from God? Excited? Impatient? Paul couldn’t wait to get to Heaven. We read in Philippians 1:21-23, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me”. It’s all about our faith. Paul’s faith was convinced about the “everything else” that was waiting for him in Heaven. Are we?

Dear God. Like You, Your Heavenly resources are limitless. And we know that You are a wonderful, loving Father who wants to share Your resources with us. We are so grateful. Amen.

God is for Us

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”
Romans 8:31-34 NLT

Paul reaches a climax in his writing, asking the question “What shall we say…?” It’s not like Paul to be lost for words. As the most prolific writer in the New Testament, his literary skills are without doubt. It is just incredible that he was able to write so much, being so busy with his missionary journeys. Perhaps spells in prison might have helped, giving him time to think. But Paul refers to “wonderful things”. What were they? Previous verses refer to those who put their faith in Jesus being adopted into God’s family, giving us a relationship with God so close that we can call Him “Daddy”. Paul writes about our legacy as heirs of God, with the benefits of a living and loving will available to us. He muses about our future glory and the new bodies that God will provide for us one day. They describe the work of the Holy Spirit within us, even to the extent of “groaning” our prayers on our behalf. And the previous verses set out a scenario that assures us God-lovers that whatever happens in our lives, He will bring a good outcome. Wonderful things indeed, and I can imagine Paul being overwhelmed with a flood of emotions, full of gratitude and worship.

It is obvious to Paul, and it should be to us as well, that with such a loving God on our side, nothing can ever successfully “be against us”. We may be going through a difficult time, with an antagonistic boss, or a controlling partner. Fellow students at school or college may ridicule us. Workmates may shun us. In some parts of the world, civil authorities may incarcerate us, or abuse us. Martyrdom is not a foreign phenomenon for Christians in hostile countries. But because “God is for us”, we can be assured that He will never desert us, because we are His children. Which parent abandons His offspring when in a time of need? Perhaps a premature entry into His arms is to be welcomed when times are hard. But through it all, our tormentors will one day have to stand before God and account for their behaviour. We have read the Book and know how it all ends. We’re on the winning side.

Such an assurance of God’s support and resources provides for us the confidence we need for living. We read in 1 Peter 2:9, ” … you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light”. We have stumbled upon an eternal and far-reaching truth, that provides for us the realisation that we are living in God’s light. We have ended up aligning ourselves to the One who holds the whole of creation together. And we look back to our God-less lives and realise just how dark they were. In fact, if it wasn’t for God’s light spilling off of His people, the blackness of life would have been total. Do we realise that as we pilgrims walk in this world, we are spiritual beacons giving off the light of God? 

We are living in an age where no weapon conjured up by the devil and his minions can ever be successful against us. Yes, discomfort and even death may be on the horizon for some, but through it all, our wonderful Heavenly Father has it covered. He’s on it. We can worship Him with a peaceful confidence of His love and care.

Heavenly Father. You provide light for a dark and desperate world. Please help us to reflect that light into the lives of those around us, those so oppressed by sin and hopelessness. We worship You today. Amen.

Being Justified

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
Romans 8:29-30 NIVUK
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:29-30 NLT

We’ll spend another day with these two verses in Romans 8. This time the word “justified” or phrase “right standing with himself” appears in the text, depending on which of today’s Bible versions we look at. What does it mean to be “justified”. 

An old pastor of mine used to define justification as “just as if we had never sinned”. Quite close to the mark. But although there has been much theology written about justification, all easily accessible via Mr Google, it has no impact unless there is a personal experience woven into the definition. I’m sure many of us can spout out what justification means. It all starts with man’s ubiquitous sin. We have all sinned, as Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 – “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. And that sin will inevitably one day have to be accounted for, and punishment dispensed. An unrepentant sinner will one day find himself standing before God to give an account of his life. Perhaps God will ask him why he never had his sins forgiven through the death of His Son. Ignorance won’t be an excuse. There are no mitigating circumstances. The punishment is eternal death without parole, in a place far worse than any human jail.

But through our faith in Jesus, who took on board all sins committed, past, present and future when He was crucified at Calvary, we are now declared righteous. It is not as though God now considers us as being holy, which is something internal, but being justified declares that we are sinless in His sight. The sins we have confessed and repented of are now accredited to Jesus rather than to us. And because of that we are now declared righteous in His sight. We are “justified”. 

Far too simple, some say. Christians who believe this are naïve and deluded, goes the criticism. There will always be many who reject such a profound explanation. A question is often, ”How do we know all this is true? No-one has returned from the dead to confirm it”. Jesus told a parable about the Rich Man and a poor man called Lazarus, who begged for money at his gate. Lazarus ended up justified in God’s presence but the Rich Man ended up in hell. He begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to speak to his brothers, to warn them about what would happen to them unless they changed their ways. And the conclusion of the story can be found in Luke 16:19-31, “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’ “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead’”.

We pilgrims will nevertheless keep on warning those around us. We share our experiences, our testimonies, and the picture of a God of love and well as a God of righteousness and holiness. Our message of hope will mostly be rejected, we know. But unless we try how can God’s love touch someone we know? We can never give up sharing what God has done for us.

Father God. We worship You today, the wonderful and merciful God, with the gracious power to forgive our sins through Your Son Jesus. Amen.

Our Calling

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
Romans 8:29-30 NIVUK
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:29-30 NLT

Paul continued to write that God called those He had chosen right from the beginning. If someone in a crowd calls out our name we look around us to see who was the caller. We immediately respond to the mention of our name. Jesus did the same to His disciples. In Mark 1:17,20 we read, “Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” … He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men”. Our calling from God is more subtle. We mostly don’t hear a voice from Heaven (not unknown but unusual) calling our name. But in more subtle ways we hear God’s voice. Through circumstances perhaps, so that we end up in a place where God has our attention. Or through an invitation, calling even, of a trusted friend. Or at a time when we had reached rock bottom and decided only God had the answer to our problems.

God also calls His people for a specific purpose. He called to Moses from a burning bush; we read the start of the account in Exodus 3: 2-4, “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied”.
The Apostle Paul was called – he wrote in Romans 1:1, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”. 

History is full of people with a calling. We think of the great missionaries such as John Wesley and Jim Elliot. Men with a specific calling from God. But it’s not just history. I know of a young woman who is currently sharing the love of God with people groups in the Middle East. Jackie Pullinger and Mother Theresa are also examples of women with a special calling to do God’s work amongst the disadvantaged. The author Philip Yancy writes much about his doctor friend who turned his back on a medical career to work as a missionary doctor amongst people with leprosy.

So the inevitable question now emerges for us pilgrims. What has God called us to do? This is a personal question, and one that must be approached with care and much prayer. The question can’t be answered. by anyone else. There have been many tempted to head for the mission field in response to a rousing sermon preached by a big name evangelist. But the reality is that most of us are called by God to use the gifts He has given us in our communities and workplaces. We are “salt and light” in societies that are hostile to counter-cultural people such as us. Occasionally, of course, God will give us special assignments, like Ananias who was called to go and pray for Paul (the story is in Acts 9). But most of the time it is all about being faithful in the small things, day to day. One day our perseverance and diligence will be rewarded by our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. We will hear the “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus mentioned rewards for those who show kindness to others. In my meanderings around the West of Fife woodlands, I often give a cheery “Good Morning” sometimes followed by a topical greeting referring to something of local interest. In this season of my life, perhaps that is all God wants me to do. One day, there will be a positive response and the opportunity to lead someone to Jesus. We don’t know what is going on in another person’s life, but I have often wondered about how some will open up and spill out the anxieties and problems that are in the forefront of their minds. And they will then walk away, hopefully touched by the love of God.

Dear Lord Jesus. Your love for mankind knows no limits. Please lead and guide us to the right people at just the right time, so that we can communicate Your love and grace. Amen.

Bodies Like Jesus

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
Romans 8:29-30 NIVUK
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:29-30 NLT

I suppose it is inevitable that God will know “His people in advance”. After all, He knows the end from the beginning, because he is eternal, not bounded by time as we know it. But predestination leads, as Paul wrote, the “chosen ones of God” being “conformed to the image of His Son”. Is that the spiritual or physical image? The former of course because when we receive our new bodies we will be recognisable as who we were in our natural life. God isn’t going to create lots of Jesus clones, identical like chocolate soldiers wrapped in tinfoil. Jesus’s disciples recognised Him after His resurrection. It was as if He had the same body, but this time with special properties. We read in Matthew 17:1-3 that the disciples recognised Moses and Elijah in their new bodies, “Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus”. So, as Paul wrote, Jesus is our older brother and one day we will join Him, with bodies similar to His in properties, but unique in the way we look.

But we know that one day our natural bodies, weakened by age, illness and sin, will die, and will be buried, cremated or whatever we have willed. Paul wrote much about our bodies and their resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. And he drew a distinction between our natural bodies and our resurrected spiritual bodies. I Corinthians 15:44, “They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies”. So after we die we will have a spiritual body. Nothing like what we have now, but a body nevertheless. Our natural bodies are no longer of any use to us and will return the to the elements that they were made up of. The popular artists of previous centuries made much of spiritual bodies and portrayed them as ghosts and the like. A good read is “A Christmas Carol”, the fictional book by Charles Dickens and written in the mid nineteenth century, and much favoured as a plot for film makers. Previous generations had a fascination for spiritual bodies, but little of substance is known about them other than what we read in the Bible.

But our spiritual bodies don’t remain as such. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 we read, “But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies”.

So the Bible indicates that there will be three states to our lives. We are born with a natural body. When it dies we will acquire a spiritual body. And then, when Jesus returns, we will be given an immortal body. That body will be amazing because it will be like Jesus’s body. And all the sorrows we have experienced on Planet Earth will be no more. Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever”.  A spiritual body won’t, of course, have tears and experience pain in the way our natural bodies do. But the wonder doesn’t stop there. In Revelation 21:3 we read, “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them””.

We pilgrims look up and imagine the certainty of the coming Lord. And we lift our feet with renewed vigour, heading towards the goal Paul wrote about in Philippians 3:14, “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”. Truly, the race we run will end one day. The finishing post could be just over the next hill. We mustn’t give up, for Jesus’ sake.

Dear God. Your creation is extraordinary. It extends out of this world into realms of which we only have a glimpse. There is so much in the future to look forward to and we look on with wonder and amazement, and with grateful hearts. Amen.

Predestination

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
Romans 8:29-30 NIVUK
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:29-30 NLT

Our verses today from Romans 8 can cause some angst amongst Christians and those close to them. Is it really true that God knew who His people would be one day, long before they were born? If that is the case, then why do we bother to share the Good News about Jesus with our family and friends, our workmates and casual contacts in the street? After all, from these verses it appears that God already has His hand on those He has chosen. To support this view we read what Paul wrote to the Ephesian church – Ephesians 1:4-5, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”. Part of God’s plan for Planet Earth seemed to be the creation of a people who would be His own, a divine choice spanning the centuries between Adam and the Last Days. So for those of us who are Christians, do we relax a bit, perhaps sin a bit, and assume that we must have been chosen by God, so we will be ok in the end? And what about all those who apparently haven’t been selected by God and who are heading for a lost eternity? Is all that compatible with a God of Love?

So many questions! But, as we know, these verses in Romans must be balanced with other verses in the Bible. Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy these verses in 1 Timothy 2:3-6, “This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time”. Jesus instructed His disciples (including us) to, “ … go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). And of course we have John 3:16-17, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him”. So we have a dichotomy that can be puzzling, but one day we will know all about it because we can ask God.

The fact is that God will never reject anyone who turns to Him. Yes, on the one hand, He predestines people, choosing them to follow Him, but they can of course reject Him if they so wish. We may have been selected for a job after an interview, but we can still choose to reject the offer. On the other hand, God’s love and grace extends to everyone, and He will never reject a repentant sinner. Consider the penitent thief being crucified with Jesus. We don’t know if he was one of God’s chosen ones, but His repentance just before he died assured his place in Heaven. Chosen, or not chosen, by God will, in the end, not make any difference to our final home. 

So, what do we pilgrims make of what has become to be known as the doctrine of predestination? That fact that we are Christians following Jesus, loving and worshiping God, reaching out to those around us with God’s love expressed through the Gospel, is not dependant on our status in accordance with God’s plans, made so many years ago. What matters is that we are doing His will. We can leave the difficult questions for God to answer one day.

Father God. We don’t know if we are on Your “chosen” list but we do know that You love us and, through Your Son Jesus, have brought salvation to us. Our gratitude knows no bounds. Amen.

Together for Good

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Romans 8:28 NLT

This is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, and many claim it with an “everything will be alright in the end” attitude. But there are two important provisos in Paul’s writings. Good will only come to those who love God and who are aligning their lives to God’s will, not their own. So, obviously, if we turn this around, God will not necessarily bring a good outcome to rebellious, God-deniers, who are hedonistically-inclined, and who live their lives to satisfy their own selfish desires.

Examples of God working for the good of someone in apparently impossible circumstances can be seen with the life of Joseph. In Genesis 37 we read of how Joseph was badly treated by his brothers and ended up sold as a slave in Egypt. Genesis 37:28, “So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt“. There, Joseph was sold as a slave to a soldier, but was then falsely accused by the soldier’s wife, and ended up in prison. But all was not lost – the prison warden liked Joseph. We read in Genesis 39:21, “But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favourite with the prison warden“. Through all these ordeals, Joseph still stayed close to God. We of course know the story, and how Joseph ended up interpreting Pharaoh’s dream about an impending famine, and how he was appointed to be in charge of all of Egypt. Joseph carefully and skilfully managed the impact of the famine in Egypt. The story ends with Joseph being reconciled to his brothers and he made the following astonishing statement, “God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors” (Genesis 45:7). Through astonishing and negative circumstances, God made all things in Joseph’s life work together to bring about the salvation of his family.

What about us pilgrims today? We can all claim, I’m sure, to have experienced negative circumstances. The loss of a job. A broken relationship. But do we trust God enough for Him to bring good out of bad and difficult times? We may not know why God is allowing us to experience trials and challenges but He can see the big picture and knows what is best for us. Perhaps the loss of a job, or failure to get a new one, is best for us in the long run. Some years ago, I was offered a job in a different part of the country, and it involved moving house. How was I to know that this was the first step in becoming a Christian, because the new house was located just around the corner from a Pentecostal pastor and his family. God is working behind the scenes for each one of us, and all we have to do is love Him and follow Him. We trust Him with our future, leading to that day when He calls us home.

Dear Father God. There is much more to say on this verse. But we know it’s a significant statement of your love for us. We thank You for working for us behind the scenes. we’re deeply grateful. Amen.

Spiritual Groaning

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
Romans 8:26-27 NLT

As human beings we are weak, Paul writes. And it is true. Compared with God’s strength, our every thought and deed must appear weak to Him. We certainly have deaf ears, when it comes to hearing and understanding what God wants of us. The extent of our weakness can be found by comparing who and what we are with Jesus. As He made His way around Palestine, His every move, every prayer, every attitude, was recorded by faithful men, and accounts left us in the Gospels. To His disciples, Jesus was an open book, and He left them a legacy that changed the world after He died. But Jesus encouraged those first disciples by trusting them, teaching them, and showing them what a child of God could be capable of. He loved them to the end, as we read in John 13:1, “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end”. 

But Jesus also encouraged His disciples practically. In Mark 6:7,12-13, we read how He trusted them to further His mission to His people, “And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. …  So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil”. Jesus of course knew that once He had returned to heaven His disciples would need help and he promised them an amazing Helper, the Holy Spirit. We read in John 14:26, “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you”.

Paul wrote to the early Christians in Rome about the Holy Spirit’s help for them, and he gave them an example of how weak they were – “we don’t know what God wants us to pray for”. He included himself in this statement, and, by implication, us modern pilgrims as well. Occasionally, we may get a direct revelation from God, such as Ananias did when he was told to go and pray for Paul (Acts 9). But for the majority of our lives, we don’t really know what God wants us to pray for. We can get a good idea from Scriptures. We can follow the prayer Jesus left us – the “Lord’s Prayer”. But anything specific? Paul wasn’t a “pie in the sky” sort of person, and he knew all about human limitations. He knew that we particularly would need much prayer in a world that has always been hostile to Christians. So he informed his readers that the Holy Spirit was there to fill the gap in our communications with God. He would pray for us. But he then referred to the Holy Spirit praying for us with “groanings”. Here was something deeply spiritual, embedded within us, and able to communicate with God without us even knowing what it was. Communication directly from our spirits communicating with God, but bypassing our minds.

Paul concludes by informing the Romans that God Himself knows what the Holy Spirit is saying through these “groanings” and that this will be in accordance with God’s thoughts and His will for us. And these “groanings” were prayers pleading for us. We may, or may not, be aware of any of this. Tongue-speaking Christians will perhaps understand in part the process that is going on within us. But there is something very reassuring about the Holy Spirit within us, praying and pleading on our behalf. I don’t know about you, my readers, but I need the Holy Spirit within me. Those pleadings are essential. I need all the help God can give me in this increasingly secular world. 

Dear God. We need more of Your Spirit within us, each and every day. Without Him we are a weak and lost people. Amen.

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Hope, Patience and Confidence

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”
Romans 8:24-25 NLT

Just as a reminder, the “hope” referred to by Paul was written in the previous verse in Romans. We read in Romans 8:23b, “ … We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” To Paul, this wasn’t just a vague notion of something to come, with a half-hearted, secular, definition of hope. Too often we express a hope for something relatively unimportant, like “I hope it doesn’t rain today” or “I hope there’s a parking space available”. The hope Paul was expressing was much more than that. It was fully inspired by, and infused with, faith. The sort of faith that was famously written about in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see”. So faith-inspired hope would start with “I know …”. 

Paul’s assurance about the “hope” he expressed was total. He knew that Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary was a once-only, all-encompassing, act of divine love and grace, that one day would result in the culmination of all that he had been promised. Paul qualified his statement of hope, however, by the obvious aside that reminded his readers that they could only hope for something that they hadn’t already received. Of course, Paul wasn’t already living in his new body, but it was something that was going to happen to him some time in the future. No tantrum from Paul – “I want it now! Right now!” – he was fully prepared to “wait patiently and confidently”. 

We pilgrims are on this planet, 2,000 years or thereabouts after Paul wrote these words in his letter to the Roman Christians. We too were given a “hope” when we were saved. At Calvary, where we put our faith and trust in Jesus, a new vista opened before us. Not anymore a potential life of sin and shame followed by an end, the thought of which was making us feel vaguely uneasy. We too, like Paul, have a “hope” to look forward to. Like him, we too will receive our new bodies. The old Apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is”. Is it too much of a stretch of our “hope” to assume that our new bodies will be like Jesus’s was (and still is) after His resurrection, and behave in the same way? If  so, perhaps we too will have bodies as they were when we were 33 years old, because that was how old Jesus was when He died.

But we mustn’t forget that our “hope” is in our salvation. We are saved from the awful alternative of a life spent in a place we call hell. That is why we pilgrims walk on. Strong in faith. Assured of God’s love and grace. Hoping with patience and confidence for the day when we will see Him face to face. 

Dear Father. In You, we have a certain hope for our future eternal life, to be spent with You in Heaven. But before we get impatient, we remember what Paul said, and put our trust in You for our future, coming at just the right time. Thank You. Amen.