Author: Adrian Clark

Luke 9:1-2 One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

James 5:14-15  Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

I don’t know what is going on at the moment but so many people I know have cancer. An uncle, a niece. Two neighbours. The daughter of someone we know at Port Ban. Three ladies in our church. In two cases, funeral arrangements are already being made, though death has not yet closed the final curtain. The very word “cancer” seems to strike fear into individuals, families, and the society in which we live. Those who are so afflicted generally don’t talk about it, as though they are ashamed of the diagnosis. Some, usually those without the illness, are quick to say that it is not the death sentence it used to be. And, statistically, it isn’t, but that can be small comfort to the recipients of bad news. The medical remedies are usually intrusive and debilitating. Lives are put on hold while treatment takes place. And when the hoped-for good news emerges, it can be tarnished by a nagging concern that the cancer has returned, when an ache or pain intrudes.

But as Christians what are we to make of this? How can we step back and watch, and let it happen, filling the silence with nervous and pious platitudes? Wringing our hands as the medics do what they can.  In the Gospels, Jesus instructed His disciples to “heal the sick”. No qualifications. No prerequisites. And He didn’t say pray for the sick – they had authority to heal the sick. And no disease was exempt. (I can hear my son-in-law shout ‘Amen!’ as I write). Later on in the book of James, we read that the Elders in the church had the authority to pray over a sick person, accompanied by the annointing with oil, and the presence of faith, bringing about their healing. So rather than praying down a shopping list of sick people’s needs, should we be praying rather for healing authority to return to the church, starting with ourselves? O Lord! Please forgive us for our lack of faith, for our unbelief! Please bring revival to Your church.

Leviticus 25:10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you…

Luke 4:17-19 [Jesus] unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

The fiftieth year. The year of Jubilee. Anything significant? Time to reflect, or say, “Just another year”? Time to start something new perhaps? Port Ban has celebrated its fiftieth year this year, but more of that in a later post. But the “fifty years” bit has caused me to reflect.

I was saved in a Pentecostal church nearly forty years ago, at a time when the charismatic renewal was starting to reach every denomination with its refocus on the works and power of the Holy Spirit. Exciting times, with long worship services and sermons. Meetings that people didn’t want to leave. But that was then. What about now? God has been stirring my heart with the thought that He wants us, more than ever, to reach out to the oppressed and bring the message of hope, the message of liberty. Not necessarily by handing out tracts on a street corner, though that might be right for some. Not necessarily by inviting people into church meetings, nice though it would be if numbers swelled. But by bringing liberty to the marginalised at all levels in our society. Setting people free with a kind word, an offer of prayer, a visit to the lonely, imprisoned in their homes or by their circumstances, showing them the Lord’s favour. Jesus went after those who were lost right where they were at, going about “His Father’s business”. In this generation, I don’t think it will be liturgies that will turn people to God. We’ve done that and it doesn’t work. It is God’s love stridently shining in a society becoming increasingly secularised and dark; where love is replaced by “benefits” and the hope of winning the lottery; where people turn to drugs and alcohol to fill an aching, loveless void inside; where the stockbroker and the homeless find themselves united by a poverty of spirit; where the “haves” increase in material comfort, and the “have-nots” become increasingly oppressed and forgotten. It is God’s love making a difference, penetrating into the darkest situation, turning hopelessness into new beginnings. A new realisation that this is the year of the Lord’s favour.

Psalm 139:7-12 (NLT)
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
Some words in a news report yesterday caught my eye. A tragic road accident in Gloucestershire on the M5 left 4 people dead and 3 more critically injured. A spirit of compassionate humanity arose amongst many other drivers who were caught in a tailback between police cordons. Some shared water and food. The news reporter wrote, “…motorists patiently wait with some eager to help. I overheard one asking if any prayer support was needed. While others talk to police officers about the sadness of what has happened.” Prayer support. A no-brainer for us Christians. We should always be looking for opportunities to pray for people. And if necessary, just pray. After all, we are God’s ambassadors to this sinful world, with a precious opportunity to open a door, revealing His  heart in a time of need.

The same news bulletin reported that a Humanist Society in Scotland survey revealed only a quarter of Scots claim to be religious. Another ploy of the enemy to divide and discourage those like us who know God personally. One day our humanist friends will realise that all along they have just been puppets strung along by the evil one. But God loves them as well. However, faced with an M5 disaster, they have nothing to say, no prayers to offer, just a hopeless future.

And I proceeded to dwell on how God is so very present in our environment and society, whatever others might say.  As the Psalmist wrote, “Where can we go from Your presence?” I wrote in my prayer diary this morning, “I thank You Lord, for Your amazing presence that prevails in the world today, impacting each one of us with Your grace and love. So much of You is interwoven in the world and peoples around us. And although the enemy will try and destroy what You have put in place, he fails miserably.” Amen?

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (The Message)
Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen.
Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted.
Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty.
I’m singing joyful praise to God.
I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Saviour God.
Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
I feel like I’m king of the mountain!

In the last few weeks and months global events have brought worry and concern to people everywhere. Terrorist incidents, unprecedented floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, threats of war, political instabilities, famines – in fact Jesus warned His disciples about such things in Matthew 24.  But my Bible reading notes have taken me to Habakkuk for the past two months, in a review of what the prophet and his society were facing around 600 BC. Then as now, global ‘powers’ put their trust in their own strength. Then as now, world events were out of control, driven by sin. But God revealed to Habakkuk what He was going to do and, although initially devastated, Habakkuk came to a point where he wrote the text above. There has never been a point in history when there has not been some catastrophe happening somewhere in the world, so it is extremely comforting to know that God is in control of everything; always has been, and always will be. He may not act in the way we would like Him to, but ultimately His righteousness, justice and holiness will prevail. So can we write our own verses, in the style of the Message? Here’s my attempt:

Though terrorists kill and maim, and peoples everywhere “do what is right in their own eyes”;
Though world weather patterns become more extreme, and earthquakes and floods become more common;
Though our churches decline in numbers, and Christians fall away from their faith;
Though our government continues to marginalise Christians by more and more secular legislation, and our schools increasingly promote wrong values about sexuality and morality, and confuse and defile our children;
Though our hospitals and clinics continue to murder countless unborn children with society’s blessing, and that same society wrings its hands when a child dies following abuse.

I will trust in Father God, comforted that He has everything under His control.
I will lift up my hands and heart to Him, praising His wonderful love and grace.
I will rest in worship, meditating on His glorious presence.
I will never stop thanking Him for His Spirit in the lives of my family and friends.
I can jump into His presence whenever events threaten and depress.
I will pray that His rule and kingdom will prevail over all else.
I will not be afraid of anything coming my way, secure in His protection.
I can offer Him grateful thanks for each day, each breath, each heart beat.
I can look into eternity, overwhelmed by what is to come.
So…

Words cannot express adequately what is inside me, but God knows. Can you join me in writing your own verses?

John 1:1-4 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

In my prayer time this morning, I was struck again by the thought that God created all matter. By a word. Out of nothing. The universe, the world, and all that is in it. And then I looked at my hands as they typed, and realised that every cell, every part, in amazing and awesome complexity, was created by God. But matter is something that is inert – think of dust, sand on the beach, something metallic. Inert. But is it? How amazing it is that God has taken inert matter and formed it into complex shapes and then given it life. And the living world was created. Everything animal and vegetable, in seemingly endless variety. And there’s more. Each lump of living matter has the capacity to generate more lumps of living matter, each recognisably the same, but individually unique. And there’s even more. The capacity to think and be creative has been granted to mankind. And God has set us into the middle of this beautiful creative explosion, perhaps as a foretaste of what is to come to those who love Him? Wow! But sin tries its hardest to spoil everything, egged on by the rebellious forces of darkness. And creation-deniers abound, pompously and arrogantly declaring it all happened by accident. But God won’t be mocked. He will have the last word. He is the Word!

Psalm 8:1 Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.

It had been a windy day, the seas whipped up by a strong Westerly breeze, blowing clouds across the sky, rustling through the reeds and ferns that make up much of the vegetation around us. Blue sky appeared during the afternoon and we were finally treated to another wonderful sunset over Jura, accompanied by increasing stillness as the wind died away. An atmosphere of peace and tranquility, though the agitation of the waves continued, as though unconvinced that the wind wasn’t still there, waiting to return and stir them up again. As the sun dipped over the Paps of Jura, the sky increasingly assumed wonderful hues of yellow, orange, red, merging from one colour to another, seamlessly changing to a light blue above me. A single star appeared to the South West, winking away, increasing the beauty of the scene. I stood there for a few moments, looking up at the heavens, experiencing the wonder that God lives above the Heavens, looking down at His creation. And showing us a glimpse of His glory. Wow!

Genesis 9:14-15 "When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life."
Hebrews 9:14b-15 "For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant."

A rainbow. To the West over Jura. Very bright, with one end resting on the Sound of Jura, the colours amplified and contrasted by the greyness of the sea. And it slowly drifted towards the East, finally coming ashore at Port Ban, slowly fading away, heralding another shower in this wet August. Such a striking display that people were stopping to look. Every time I see a rainbow, I'm reminded of God's promise to Noah, setting out a covenant between Him and mankind. But this morning I was also reminded of the New Covenant, established by Jesus. What a loving God He is! I am so blessed that I have a hope and a future, through an unbreakable promise given by God through Jesus.

Luke 24:13  “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.”

My Bible notes this morning took me to the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were walking the seven miles late in the day and inevitably the duo were expressing their doubts, fears, grief and sadness, regurgitating their thoughts about the momentous events that had shattered the band of Jesus’s followers, as they tried to make sense of all that had happened. But then today’s text leapt out of the page to me – THEY WERE GOING THE WRONG WAY. It was later in Acts 1 that Jesus instructed His disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but in the days following His resurrection, the disciples didn’t know what to do. But Jesus sought out His two followers on the Emmaus road and lovingly turned their despair into joy, providing answers to all their questions, and their hearts “burned within them” with His exposition of the Scriptures. And they promptly headed back to Jerusalem. But the thought occurred to me that there have been times in my life when I have gone the wrong way, heading over the hill to an Emmaus away from the Lord’s presence. And through His grace and mercy, He has lovingly sought me out and restored me back to His presence. He is still in the restoration business today. What a wonderful Saviour!

The Lord’s Prayer. A few words dripping with the Teacher’s anointing. The staple diet for Christians everywhere. A simple outline or a standalone prayer, it is one that has helped me in my prayer life for many years. But these Words of our Lord emerged in a special way during our visit to Salisbury Cathedral recently. A wonderfully ornate building, full of chapels, supine stone saints, several modern pieces of art, plaques everywhere, remembering the good and the great. But then towards the end of our visit, one of the indigenous clergy mounted the steps leading to the pulpit and proceeded to invite all present to join him in prayer. To stand there listening as his words resonated throughout the building brought home the reality that such places, sadly so often dusty mausoleums, are still capable of proclaiming our faith. And then he finished by inviting all to join him in the Lord’s Prayer. This to me was a “God moment”. Something special. Something significant. Something reminding the enemy and people everywhere that Jesus’ teaching is still as relevant today as it was nearly 2000 years ago. And where better to make that proclamation than in God’s house.

Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

I was meandering down the A907 near where I live the other day, walking our pet Westie. The road is much used by local traffic, and trucks moving building materials and waste from the local pit bing; a road always busy, always noisy. A ready-mix cement lorry had just passed and disappeared, grinding its way into the distance. And then there was silence. No traffic noise at all. Just the off-beat cooing of a wood pigeon and further off, a male blackbird letting the girls know he’s there. Silence. And I was reminded of today’s Scripture. Sometimes I have to get somewhere quiet to hear God’s voice, which can be drowned out for most of the time by the raucous bombardment of music, conversations, TV news (usually bad!), and anything else the devil can throw at me to avoid my hearing a whisper from above, reassuring me that I am loved, blessed, precious, and safe in His arms. It’s pointless to ask if I need to hear God – I always need to hear Him! But join me in regularly finding somewhere quiet to really hear Him; to get the soul-food we need… Uh-oh, here comes another truck!