The Teachable

Posted on by korgrocker

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”
Psalm 25:4-5 NLT

David asked the Lord to teach him, but what was the curriculum and method of the teaching? After all, David was skilled in most of what he put his hand to. Perhaps there’s a hint in the previous few words, “Lead me by Your truth”, because the teaching that David required was to be based on God’s truth. There is more information in Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name”. The curriculum for learning God’s ways must be unlimited, so how long would it take to complete the course?

A prerequisite before we apply David’s request for God’s teaching to our own lives is that we must be teachable. How open are we to receive any sort of teaching let alone that from God? How did we get on at school or college? Can we accept correction or embrace new ideas? And do we rely on someone else to deliver us teaching in a form we can understand and accept? Or, do we individually ourselves rely on the master Himself to teach us through the Holy Spirit within us? If we are to learn God’s ways we must be teachable, and prepared to stick the course even when there going gets tough. There was a time when Jesus’ teaching was too hard for some of His disciples. About His teaching, “Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? … At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him” (John 6:60-61, 66). So, we must be open to what God has for us because He wants us to become more like Him. Paul wrote, “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” (Romans 8:29), so if God chose us to be like His Son, Jesus, then we had better be prepared for much teaching. 

In a secular setting, to be taught about anything, we need to go one of two routes; either a formal educational path delivered and monitored by teachers and tutors, or a self-help route, where the student uses published resources to learn what is required. There may of course be a combination of both in certain educational environments, but there is then usually an exam followed by a certificate or diploma for the successful candidates. But in the Kingdom of God, things are different. We went to be taught the ways of God but the course curriculum will be different for each one of us. But the bottom line is that we want to be more like Jesus and to get there we have to follow and obey His teachings. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). A secular education has one major difference to being educated by God and that is about ourselves. In the world an education does not ask anything of us and we can continue to live our lives as we always have done, sin and all. In the Kingdom of God, being taught costs us our lives because we have to hand them over to God. That’s what taking up a cross is all about. There is one other thing that we must be aware of and that is the length of the course. We do not embark on, for example, a two year diploma in whatever. Instead the course we enrol on for lasts for the rest of our lives. And one day we will cross the Great Divide and receive our diploma, hearing the Master Himself say “well done. ….”. 

Jesus also told us that we must be teachers. Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. As disciples ourselves we are taught by God’s Word, through prayer, and through the pastors and teachers who lead our churches and fellowships. And we communicate what we have learnt to those around us, those who have perhaps started on the course a bit later than we did. Are we pilgrims teaching anyone? Before we go down the tubes, admitting that we aren’t, don’t forget that as we shine in our families and communities, we are unconsciously teaching them. But we must be prepared nevertheless, to sit down with a friend or family memory and share the Word and our testimony with them, praying with them and encouraging them. We tell them our stories about Jesus and all that He has done for us, helping them too along the narrow way that leads to glory.

Dear Lord, we praise you for being the author of all truth and thank you for our ability to be able to learn. Please help us humbly pursue wisdom and learning for your glory and to serve others. Lead us by your Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hope in God

Posted on by korgrocker

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”
Psalm 25:4-5 NLT

A humble prayer from David, as he asks God to teach him, to lead him, and save him. He then finishes verse 5 with the statement “All day long I put my hope in you”. There is no better focus for our God, as I’m sure we agree, but human beings are notorious for hoping and trusting in other things and in other ways. But that hasn’t changed since the days of Adam. Psalm 20:7, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God”. “Hope” and “trust” go hand in hand in life. We hope in God for our future, and we trust Him to lead us in His ways.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, we must think about how worldly people understand hope. They use it in contexts such as, “I hope I don’t get Covid”, or “I hope it doesn’t rain on my birthday”. There is an element of doubt in such a definition of hope. A response to the question, “will you go to Heaven when you die” is “I hope so”, again demonstrating that they have doubts, though not strong enough to make them do anything about it. 

The whole concept of “hope” comes about because we cannot see what will happen in the future. That introduces another word – “faith”. Hebrew’s 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. What do we pilgrims hope for? There will be many things, depending on our stages in life. We hope for the right job, house, partner, and so on. But one thing we all will agree on is our hope in God for our eternal home. And we can see the extraordinary experiences believers have gone through because within them was the hope of a better life ahead. Biblical hope is different from the hope that the world understands. Biblical hope carries with it a surety that what is hoped for, aligned as it is to God’s Word, is definitely going to happen. We might not see it taking place, but we have faith that whatever it is will come about. Jeremiah wrote, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). That’s a great promise of God, and one we must believe for our lives and those of our loved ones. 

We pilgrims have a firm and unshakeable hope in the future, and we share it with those around us. 1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”. Do we have our answers ready? Are we a people who are living out God’s truth in our lives, so that others can see it? Are we beacons set on a hill, for all to be illuminated by, standing out from the crowd around us? On Easter Sunday this year I met a dog walker and the conversation came around to what she referred to as the terrible state of the world. She was scared about the wars and threats of war. Of the politicians and their messages of gloom. a poor woman with nowhere to turn to where she could find hope for her future and her family’s. But I shared about Jesus and his resurrection, that through Him we have hope for the future. She admitted that she was an atheist and hurried off, but hopefully I was able to plant a seed of hope. The Holy Spirit I’m sure will water and nurture the good seed of the Gospel planted in that lady’s life that day.

We pilgrims really need to understand the meaning of God’s “hope” and apply it to our lives. We mustn’t be like the house wife in Wales who prayed, when she went to bed, that the coal slag heap behind her house would be cast into the sea, hoping that God would answer her prayer with a much better view when she woke up. On opening her curtains the next morning, the slag heap was still there, her hopes dashed. Her comment was that she knew that her prayer wouldn’t work anyway. When we hope for something we must have faith that the God of hope will answer our prayer.

Paul wrote, “ … 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. 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 8:23b-25). We hope and we wait in faith for our hope to be realised.

Father God, in difficult times it is easy to lose hope and faith in You. Father, we admit that we have lost sight of You. In this prayer for hope, Lord, we ask that Your Holy Spirit reignites within us the hope and faith in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Trust Not Disgrace

Posted on by korgrocker

“O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.”
Psalm 25:1-3 NLT

David starts Psalm 25 with a declaration of intent, that he has given his life to God. This is something that all believers must do, but only rarely do we hear this in a testimony. The Apostle Paul was very clear about his commitment to God; in Philippians 1:1a, Paul introduces himself, “This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. …“. A slave is someone who belongs to another and who puts his master’s needs above his own. Jude said the same in Jude 1:1a, “This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ …”. Those early apostles knew the importance of giving their lives to God because there is no other way of faith. We talk about being “sold out for Jesus” but do we really know what that means and the impact it will have on our lives? Paul did, and we read about what it meant for him in 2 Corinthians 11:23 and the following verses. “Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again”. Of course, not everyone will be asked to make the sacrifices that Paul did, but giving our lives to Jesus is a necessary part of discipleship. Paul wrote, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him” (Romans 12:1). 

The KJV translation of Psalm 25:1 reads, “Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul“. In some ways this perhaps gives the impression that in the lifting up of our souls, we still have hold of them, able to take them back when the lifting has been completed. But that is not what David intended, and he devoted his life totally to God. When we devote our lives to Jesus, we also trust Him to know what is best for us. Don Moen wrote a song some years ago and the chorus goes, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey“. We used to sing it. We felt the warm glow inside. But what happened on Monday morning? Giving our lives to the Lord and trusting Him with them is a big ask, but one that we need to consider and apply if we’re going to be true disciples and followers of the Master. 

David, however, asked for something in response to his commitment and trust in the Lord. He asked Him to keep him from disgrace. David was probably once again in a perilous place, with his enemies around him looking for an opportunity to boast about how they had overcome him or how they had made him look stupid, undermining him before his people. So a simple prayer flowed from his pen to God – he wrote “my God”, perhaps emphasising the personal relationship that he had with the Lord. But we pilgrims have enemies, as David did. Peter warned us 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”. Note that this may not be a direct attack but one that could be routed through his earthly assistants, who we will find whenever we do something bold and significant for Jesus. The Bible on our desk in the office may invite a sarcastic comment or two. A public testimony will invite threats and abuse. And we must always be aware that once we have come out as a Christian, those around us, confronted by the Holy Spirit living in us, will look for opportunities to make us objects of disgrace. But David was certain that no-one who trusts in the Lord will ever be disgraced. And neither will we, as we stand firm and see God work in whatever situation is confronting us.

David wrote, “disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others”. That is what will happen to those who try and accuse us and rejoice over our defeat. There is always that temptation for us to respond to the cutting remarks and abuse of others within our own strength, but we remember what Jesus said to His disciples, and to us by extension. “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said” (Luke 12:11-12). So when we are facing those who confront our faith, we must pause for a moment and wait for the Holy Spirit’s answer. It will come, as we trust in the Lord. He will never allow us to be disgraced. 

Father God. We know that we try to hang onto our lives and live them on our terms. But today we repent and commit ourselves to You once again, and put our trust in You, the One who is worthy of all the praise and all the worship. Amen.

O God of Jacob

Posted on by korgrocker

“Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their Saviour. Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.”
Psalm 24:3-6 NLT

We pilgrims worship the “God of Jacob” don’t we? The God worshiped by David in Psalm 24 is the same God who sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins at Calvary man years later, and the same God who will come to live with us on the New Earth, as described in Revelation 21:3, “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”. The Nicene Creed starts, “There is one God, the Father almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth …“. But the God of Jacob? 

Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, one of a twin, born just behind his brother Esau and appearing in this world with his hand clutching his brother’s heel. But right from the start he appears as a schemer who tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright as the first born son. The account in Genesis records, “But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob” (Genesis 25:33). In Genesis 27 we read the account of how Jacob, in league with his mother, Rebekah, fooled his father Isaac into thinking he was Esau, and consequently received the first born’s blessing. When the lies and deceit were exposed Jacob had to run for his life to Haran, to work for Rebekah’s brother Laban. But on the journey, Jacob had a vision of a stairway to Heaven, with angels going up and down, and we read, “At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants” (Genesis 28:13). But Jacob’s scheming didn’t end there. We read, “Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God“” (Genesis 28:20-21). 

Jacob was the continuation of the promise God made to Abraham, his grandfather, and then to Isaac his father. But there was a line of sinful deceit in the family, with both Abraham and Isaac lying about their wives being their sisters rather than their wives. And Jacob was no better, with his scheming and deceit. It wasn’t until Jacob’s son Joseph that the sinful trait was finally erased. Three generations of flawed men who lied their ways out of trouble. And yet we read Jesus’ words in Matthew 22:31-32, “But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead”. God made a promise, a covenant even, with Abraham, and the promise has continued to this day. Once God made a promise he will never break it. But to have His name associated with Jacob? 

There is much encouragement here for us pilgrims because we too are flawed human beings, corrupted by sin, but accepted by a God who loves sinners. He might not like what we have done, but He loves us anyway, and we read another promise in John 3:16, “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“. That belief in God includes confession and repentance of our sins, as we align ourselves to the forgiveness that came through Calvary. We too are children of the promise as we, “receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God [our] Saviour”. We read about the “God of Jacob” but it could equally be the “the God of …” (put in your own name). He is the God who has pursued us with His “goodness and mercy” throughout our lives up until now and beyond into the future as we continue to believe in the One who has made eternal life possible. Jesus said, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And so we look ahead, perhaps seeing the glow of Glory starting to appear over the horizon of our lives, we worship the “God of Jacob”, so grateful that God will accept us just as He accepted Jacob all those years ago.

Dear Father God. We worship You today, the God of countless men and women who know You as their Saviour. Thank You for Jesus. Amen.

The House of the Lord

Posted on by korgrocker

“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever”.
Psalm 23:5-6 NLT

We draw our little journey into Psalm 23 to a close with some thoughts about the “house of the Lord”. We received a key to God’s front door when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, a door that opened into a very different world to what we were previously used to in our sinful lives. We now live in the Kingdom of God, as children of the Most High, and here a different economy, a different lifestyle and a different culture exist. But on Planet Earth we find ourselves in a strange dual existence, where we physically dwell in a secular world, dark, evil and sin-soaked, but with our spirits loftily positioned in the presence of God, and a constant tussle prevails, as Paul described in Romans 7:23-24, “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” But David wasn’t thinking of this when he meditated on the “house of the Lord”, where he would find himself in God’s presence away from the physical constraints of human existence. What a place that will be, free from the worldly pressures and sinful pleasures, that have corrupted the souls of mankind.

In our earthly existences, we receive a glimpse of the Lord’s house, through our fellowship with other believers and our praise and worship of the One in whom we trust. It’s not about the church buildings, wonderful though some of them are. They are just there as meeting places, halls of convenience where our worship can take place. And it is there, in the presence of God, that our spirits connect with God Himself, who hears our shouts of praise and prayers of grateful worship. But I also find the “house of the Lord” in His created countryside, in the parks and woods around me, where my spirit joins the birdsong in reaching up to my Creator God. Those early morning walks where a roe deer accompanied me for a few steps, where an owl hooted and flew off, where wood pigeons and many small birds were singing their hearts out in God-ordained praise. A glimpse of the “house of the Lord” yet only a small hint of what was to come.

There will be a day when we cross the Great Divide, our bodies left behind, but our spirits and souls intact and looking forward in anticipation to examine more rooms in the “house of the Lord”. The same God will be there. Jesus will be there, because He said He would be. It was Spurgeon who said that in this life we live on the ground floor of the house, but in the life to come we can explore the floors above (my paraphrase).  John 14:1-3, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am”. The NIV records that the “place” will be “many rooms”. We don’t know what this place will be like, but one thing we can be sure of – it will be beyond our most extravagant and wildest dreams, because Jesus is preparing it. With God there are no half measures. No construction corners cut. No inferior white goods. Just a wonderful place where God will be. Another Psalmist wrote, “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked” (Psalm 84:10). There’s a line in a Motown song from the 60’s that says “I’d rather live in his world than live without him in mine”. That’s what we pilgrims feel about being with Jesus, forever. Taking all things together, the “house of the Lord” will be quite a place!

There is insufficient space here to include all the things that will happen in the “house of the Lord”. We know that in His presence there will be amazing praise and worship, and not just from a few people in a small congregation. Revelation 19:1, “After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Praise the Lord! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God”. We will be there in that number, caught up in a crescendo, the likes of which has never been experienced here on earth. And as we read on in John’s Revelation, we find that our new home will be in the “house of the Lord” here on a new earth, and in a city called the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:1-3, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 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”. If we had thoughts about dying and spending eternity in a spiritual state in a place we call “Heaven” then we will be mistaken. Somewhere in between our physical dying in this world, and our new home we will acquire new bodies, firstly spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, “It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 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”), and then we will receive a resurrected body just like Jesus when He comes again, (1 Thessalonians 4:14, “For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died“).

As we read from Revelation 21, the “the house of the Lord” will ultimately be on the new Earth, and God will be living there with us. That will be amazing, and David knew that all those years ago. Who else will we find there? I don’t think we will care much, because Jesus will be there. That’s all that matters for me.

Dear Father God. Thank You for the new home You are preparing for us. Amen.

Anointing With Oil

Posted on by korgrocker

“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever”.
Psalm 23:5-6 NLT

The custom of anointing with oil was an important part of the Jewish faith, and the first mention of anointing oil appears in Exodus 25:6, “olive oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense“. In Exodus 30 there are detailed instructions supplied for how to make anointing oil, with choice spices to be added to the olive oil base. Its use was described in verses 30-32, “Anoint Aaron and his sons also, consecrating them to serve me as priests. And say to the people of Israel, ‘This holy anointing oil is reserved for me from generation to generation. It must never be used to anoint anyone else, and you must never make any blend like it for yourselves. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy“. But the oil David described in Psalm 23 was not of the priestly anointing variety. David will have remembered that occasion when he was anointed with oil, and we can pick up the story in 1 Samuel 16:1, “Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king””. We can read how David came to be selected as the future king in the intervening verses, but we then come to verses 12-13, “So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.” So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah“. So perhaps when David wrote Psalm 23 he remembered that time when he was honoured before his father and his brothers. 

Olive oil was an essential commodity in Israel in those days, being used as a base for food as well as oil for lamps, but it came to be regarded as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. David was anointed as king of Israel and we are told that when that happened “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on”. Jesus told a parable of ten virgins or bridesmaids in Matthew 25, with five of them having planned ahead for the wait for the bridegroom with an ample supply of oil for their lamps, and the others not having enough. For some reason the bridegroom was delayed and the oil for the five “foolish” bridesmaids ran out, meaning that their lamps went out as well. They had to go out and try and buy some but unfortunately for them the groom arrived back before they did and doors were locked. Their knocking at the door got them no where, because the groom denied even knowing them. It’s an important story because it reminds believers everywhere that they need to be ready for Jesus’ return, even if it is delayed. And if we add into the mix that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, then it perhaps indicates that only those who are filled, and who are continually being filled, with the Spirit will be truly ready for the Second Coming of Jesus. 

The Apostle James made a connection between the Holy Spirit and prayer for the sick which we can read in James 5:14, “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“. Apart from that, there seems to be no clear reason why anointing with oil should be necessary in these years of our Lord. But the principle remains in spiritual planes, as the Holy Spirit anoints us with His presence. 

Are we pilgrims filled with the Spirit? There are some who minimise the presence of the Spirit and who fail to honour Him and His gifts in the way the New Testament describes. In John 1:32-33 we read about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, or as referred to in the Scriptures, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. “Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptise with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit”. Jesus is the Baptiser, the One who anoints all believers with the oil of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:4-5 we read, “Once when he was eating with them, [Jesus] commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptised with water, but in just a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit””. I firmly believe that Jesus still baptises us with His Spirit because He is still alive and working in the lives of men and women everywhere. I can find no Scripture verse that conflicts with this view.

So today, we believers, pilgrims on the journey to Glory, have an opportunity to once again receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as we reach out to God. Luke 11:13, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”. Ask away, folks. God won’t say no.

Dear Father God. We pray for a fresh infilling of Your Holy Spirit in us today, and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Rod and Staff

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

David’s pastoral poem develops with a reminder about the shepherd’s rod and staff. In those long ago days, when sheep followed shepherds, from meadow to meadow, and the shepherd lived with them, because grazing often took the flock a long way from home, there was a need for weapons and other means to protect the sheep from predators and from their own wayward ways. Such implements were the rod and the staff, essential tools in the shepherd’s hands. The rod was a sort of club, heavy enough to do serious damage to a lion or a bear, as David told Saul in 1 Samuel 17:34-35, “But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death“. So the rod in David’s hands was a formidable weapon, and he would have been skilled in using it.

The shepherd’s staff would have been something more familiar to us today, as it was a long slender pole with a crook at the end. Examples can be found in tourist shops in Scotland, but David’s staff would have been much more than a decorative souvenir. It was a device used to protect and direct wayward sheep, the crook fitting nicely around the sheep’s neck, allowing it to be guided back onto the right path. 

The rod and staff were essential to the shepherds in David’s days, and having been one himself, David knew how to use them effectively. In the shepherd’s hands, one protected the sheep from attack and the other provided the comfort of being led to safety. But Psalm 23 starts with another perspective, “The Lord is my Shepherd”. David considered himself as a sheep and the Lord as his Shepherd. The pastoral analogy can be found in Ezekiel 34:2 where we read, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep?”, a rebuke delivered to the Israelite authorities. In the Israelite economy, sheep and goats were an important source of income and food, with skins and wool for clothing, and the leaders of the people had a responsibility to provide protection and to foster a secure economy, just as a shepherd had to for the sheep and goats in his care. In a similar way the religious leaders were failing in their duties, allowing apostasy and neglect permeate the Jewish religious society. But Ezekiel continued with “the word of the Lord” and he issued a damning indictment against the leaders who were failing in their responsibilities. “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey” (Ezekiel 34:8-10). Significantly, Ezekiel went on to write, “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day” (Ezekiel 34:11-12). 

We saw the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy with Jesus. He said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd sacrifices His life for the sheep. … I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep” (John 10:11, 14-15). Jesus was, and is, the Good Shepherd. He is totally trustworthy, strong and capable. He leads us, His sheep, to all the right places where we can flourish as His followers. He protects us from harm, as we trust in His ways, and if we err and stray from the right paths, then He will gently draw us back. 

We pilgrims may also be responsible for shepherding others, in our families, churches or friendship groups. You see, we have been blessed by our knowledge of the Good Shepherd and His ways, because He is the Way to eternal life. But there are those around us who behave like “sheep without a shepherd”, with no apparent moral compass, no idea of right and wrong, other than by following the other wayward sheep in our societies. Without any perception of the Good Shepherd, they try to shepherd themselves, a way of life that will not end well for them. And in the process they find themselves in places without green pasture and peaceful streams, caught up in lifestyles bringing chaos and confusion, their souls shrivelled and malnourished. And so, we pilgrims try and lead and counsel them by example, by word and deed, behaving as under shepherds to the Great Shepherd Himself. We may not have physical rods and staffs, but we have the Word of God, with which we can bring God’s truth and comfort into needy people’s lives.

We also will have our own under shepherds, our pastors and ministers, who are responsible for spiritual guidance and care in the churches and fellowships of which we are a part. We support them and encourage them as we hear Your word from their lips, and feel the benefit of their prayers uttered over us day by day. God has designed a system for our care just as a shepherd looks after his sheep. And in it all we look to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.

Dear Good Shepherd. We thank You for Your guidance and provision for us sheep, so prone to take wrong paths and end up in trouble. We thank You too for our pastors who care for us, Your servants who diligently shepherd us in our daily lives. Thank You for Jesus, the Good Shepherd who willingly gave His life for us. Amen. 

Strength Renewed

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

With our picture building of “green meadows”, “peaceful streams” and times of “rest” it is inevitable, or so we think, that our strength would be renewed. After a hard day’s work, a good meal and an evening on the sofa followed by a good night’s sleep, we will be equipped for the next day with all the strength we need. But that’s the physical strength that is necessary for our work-a-day lives. When we consider our spiritual strength we are in a different league, one that needs a different approach, and one that cannot be achieved without God. 

Consider the spiritual “green meadows” and “peaceful streams”. They are places where we can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst, but finding them is impossible for those who don’t believe in Jesus. We have said before that counterfeit solutions are sought after, in the hope that a worldly solution exists to renew an unbeliever’s spiritual needs (they definitely have them, by the way). Just because someone says he or she doesn’t believe in God doesn’t remove the need to find a remedy to the internal craving in their souls. Just yesterday, I shared the Gospel with a neighbour who subsequently became quite agitated and defensive. I suspect that I wasn’t the first to talk about God in his presence but he explained that he wasn’t “religious” and that he tried to be a good and kind person, worthy of respect. Of course he was, but that won’t feed and satisfy his soul. I pray for another opportunity to introduce him to God, the only One who can satisfy his spirit’s needs.

We pilgrims know where we can find the “green meadows” and “peaceful streams”. We find a quiet place somewhere and open God’s Word if we can, or remember a particular verse if we don’t have our Bibles with us. It could be a park bench, or a corner of our bedrooms. Our office desk or on a walk somewhere. I can remember the rich times I spent with God feeding my spirit as I walked around the Union Canal in Edinburgh during my lunch breaks. I was going through a stressful time at work and I needed to “renew my strength” before facing the second half of the day. It was truly amazing how God spoke to me and encouraged me through God-incidents and encounters on those walks. I am eternally grateful.

Isaiah wrote, “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding” (Isaiah 40:28). We worship a God who is limitless, who has all the resources we need, and who is always looking for an opportunity to bless His people. But we have to put ourselves into a receiving mode. For most of our waking hours we are filling our lives with noise, not just of the audible variety, but also with our busyness, with our activities and distractions. Hence the need to find a quiet place, where we can get away from all our worldly cares and anxieties. Isaiah knew the limitlessness of God. He knew about God’s constant presence and he went on to write, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29-31). What an amazing picture of God’s bountiful provision. It doesn’t matter if we feel “weak” and “powerless” because God has, and is, all the strength that we need. It’s not a physical thing, with muscles strong and functioning. It is all about our spiritual resilience in a world that despises anything to do with God. 

Yesterday I had a walk in a local park, where the weekly “Parkrun” was taking place. Runners displaying a cacophony of colours, with different forms of attire. Lycra very much in evidence. People of all ages and shapes pounding their ways around a circuit marked out with different coloured cones. I was amused to even see a man with a toddler in a running buggy (one with extra large wheels) puffing and panting, pushing his way around the course. What the toddler thought I don’t know. The runners’ dedication to their event was commendable. They would have eventually returned home, full of self-satisfaction no doubt, but the hunger and thirst in their souls would have still been there. I remarked to one of the stewards that physical exercise was good, but all these sweating bodies would one day lie “mouldering in the grave”, their souls that will live forever sorely neglected. 

We pilgrims “trust in the Lord” don’t we? David did and he wrote this wonderful Psalm from his own experiences. Pastures and streams for his body and his soul. He knew them all. He fed his soul in places of rest, as he worshiped and meditated in God. There he renewed his strength, just as Isaiah wrote. And so can we pilgrims. If we find that we don’t have time in the morning to spend it with God, then we must get up a bit earlier. But find the time we must, because our spirits are refreshed and our “strength renewed” only when we sit in God’s presence.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You are the Way to Heaven. Only You have the word of eternal life. Only You can refresh our souls. Thanks You. Amen.

Green Meadows

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

What comes to mind when we consider “green meadows”? Here in Scotland there is no shortage of such parts of our landscape, with tourists often suggesting that the abundance of greenery is due to the quantity of rain we receive. But to an extent that is true because it is rare to find a Scottish field blighted by drought, grass yellow and burnt. “Green meadows” are where herbivores such as cattle and sheep find their staple source of nourishment, their digestive systems wonderfully constructed to extract the maximum amounts of nutrition from otherwise tasteless vegetation. 

David wrote that the Lord, his Shepherd, “lets [him] rest in green meadows”, building a picture of those lazy summer days, when he could lay in a place of rest, enjoying the cool of the grass beneath him, the sheep around him doing the same. A place of rest for his body but also for his soul. I can remember as a small boy lying on a patch of grass looking up, warmed by the sun, at a mostly blue sky, fascinated by the shapes of a few puffy clouds of white contorted into various shapes that stimulated my imagination, a day when the cares of the world seemed far away. So David would have found his “green meadows” but with one big difference – it was here that he developed his relationship with God. We remember the invitation Jesus offered to His disciples everywhere, “ … Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Here in his “green meadows” David found such a place where the burdens of life reduced in significance before the presence of his Lord. 

We remember the first day of rest that occurred in the Bible. “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). David found the rest his body required after a day’s work, a day spent in leading the sheep from one pasture to another. From his supplies of food he would have had a simple meal, a drink from the “peaceful streams” and then rested his aching bones in the soft lushness of a “green meadow”. If God rested after His work, then there was every reason for David to do the same. David knew intuitively that resting was an essential part of his life.

In those Genesis days, God introduced the concept of a Sabbath rest, a day set aside when human beings will enjoy a special day in God’s presence and away from their labours. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labours, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall” (Hebrews 4:9-11). Sadly, unbelieving people have failed to understand the concept of the Sabbath rest, that precious time in God’s presence, and they instead spend their time on a golf course, or going to sports events, or doing overtime so that they can purchase more “stuff”. If only they stopped to think that one day all that they have will be left behind, freeing their souls to continue in an afterlife of their choosing.

We pilgrims set aside time to rest in God’s presence. We pray and we read His Word, providing “green meadows” for our souls and in these spiritual “meadows” of our lives we find peace and divine blessings. We find that sweet spot of communion with our wonderful Creator, who created the “meadows” in the first place. Sometimes it is hard to put aside the cares of life, the tyranny of the urgent demands, the strident phone calls, texts, and emails, but put them aside we must. And God will help us balance our lives to conform the way He designed us in the first place.

Dear Father God. we pray that You will revive Your people, and help them find a Sabbath rest in Your presence, this day and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Heavenly Shepherd

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

We now move onto Psalm 23, that well known and incredibly comforting Psalm, containing “must read” verses often spoken out at a funeral or in difficult times when someone is facing into seemingly insurmountable problems. Just the thought of the Lord being a Shepherd can bring feelings of comfort that help dispel any feelings of loneliness or despair. But to us Western pilgrims, mostly living in an urban or city environment, the profession of “Shepherd” is relatively unknown. We don’t have flocks of sheep wandering around our town centres munching the grass in our green and open spaces these days, and the only contact we have with them would tend to be on the supermarket meat counter. But there are supposed to be 31 million sheep populating the rural parts of the UK and they need many shepherds. On long journeys cross country, however, we will notice the fluffy white animals and while I am writing this many of them are producing lambs, that run and play and amuse us with their gambolling. I’m sure we could soon work out a job spec for a shepherd, but the reality is a long way from a paper description. Many sheep live on farms in inhospitable parts of our country, and the shepherds role is hard and often lonely. Sheep have a tendency to get into bother, woolly coats caught in bushes, or getting stuck in muddy places and the presence of their shepherd can be life-saving for them. 

And all that brings us to the point of this Psalm, because David was a shepherd in his early years and he honed his craft in the presence of the Lord, giving him insight into the work of the Heavenly Shepherd Himself. It was easy for David to imagine people as a flock of sheep, knowing their tendency for sin and doing wrong things, and he knew that the Lord Himself would lead and guide them out of trouble – if they let Him. At first sight, verse 1 could be interpreted as the Lord meeting physical needs. In David’s day, the shepherd would lead his flock between pastures containing the food needed for the physical well being of his sheep. But today, us townies would mostly fail to connect God with our food. We might say grace before a meal but that would be about as far as we would go. In a restaurant in Fife near where I live there is the Selkirk grace written on the wall in large letters, a grace written by Scotland’s well known poet, Rabbie Burns. “Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be Thankit!” A naval chaplain I used to know was famous amongst sailors who knew him for the briefest grace possible – “Heavenly Pa, Ta!” But how many of us really look at the plate before us and realise that what we see is all down to God’s grace? He created a world on which all the food we need has been grown. The trouble is that we don’t tend to dwell on the complexities of our lives on this planet and we have forgotten what Jesus said about concerns we may have about our food and drink. He said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:25-26).‭‭ 

But the first verse of Psalm 23 contains the phrase “I have all I need”. The Lord’s prayer includes the words, “Give us this day our daily bread” and as we ponder on the meaning of these words, we soon realise that God’s provision for our bodies is a complete food, that nourishes body, soul and spirit. Our cornflakes for breakfast may fill an empty stomach but did we remember our spiritual food this morning, the Word of God? How many times have we set off on the activities of the day hungry and unsatisfied souls, our spirits shrivelled and unable to cope with the pressures of life, our spiritual resilience missing and leaving us forgetful of the Heavenly Shepherd. He holds in His hands the food that we need but have we decided to go without for another day?

Our Lord and Shepherd knows what we need, just as David knew what his flock needed each day. But wouldn’t it have been strange if his sheep arrived at a lush pasture and then refused to eat, instead just lying down and ignoring the feast before them? We can be a bit like that some days. We have the richness of God’s Word, loaded with a veritable banquet of food for our souls, and yet we instead pick up a newspaper, full of sin and evil reports, bad news that will do our spirits and souls more harm than good In fact, the world’s news will sap all the strength remaining in our souls, leaving us with no resilience to face the day before us. All the media will do is to introduce fears and anxieties that turn us away from God and His Kingdom.

So, today, we reach for our Bibles in anticipation that there are some rich and nourishing morsels there to fill the needs of our souls. As we ponder and meditate upon them, we won’t be disappointed or hungry in the day ahead. In the strength of the spiritual food we have received, we will find that our Heavenly Shepherd, Jesus Himself, will lead and guide us through the minefields of life.

Dear Lord Jesus, our Heavenly Shepherd. Thank You for Your complete provision for us and the strength to face into the day ahead. Amen.