Living By God’s Power

Posted on by korgrocker

“Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?”
1 Corinthians 4:18-21 NLT

Do we believers talk a lot about the things of the Kingdom but fail to leverage the power available to us through the Holy Spirit? I think we probably do, because there is a disconnect between what happened in the early church and what is happening today. When was the last time we had a prayer meeting that was so powerful that the building shook, for example (see Acts 4)? When was the last time we were in a meeting where the power and presence of the Holy Spirit were so evident that healings occurred, a crescendo of praise erupted spontaneously, and everyone spoke out in tongues? Of course, the Cessationists claim that all this would have finished with the death of the Apostles, because they believe that certain spiritual gifts, particularly those considered miraculous or revelatory, ceased to be active after the first century. They believe gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing are not meant for the church today. In contrast, we have the Continuationists (like me) who believe that the miraculous gifts mentioned in the Bible, such as healing, prophecy, tongues, and miracles, are still given by the Holy Spirit to believers today and should be actively sought after and practised in the church. Whichever position we follow will have a profound effect on how we view and believe the Bible. Take, for example, 1 Corinthians 12, a chapter where Paul taught about the Spiritual Gifts. A Cessationist might be comfortable with the Holy Spirit gifts of service, enabling us to help each other (vs 4-7), but they would start to become a bit uneasy when it comes to verses 9-10, “The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said”, and in the end they would get a black marker pen out and find themselves redacting parts of these verses, because they don’t believe they apply today. After all, if they don’t believe what is written in the Bible, then they may as well remove the bits they disagree with, or treat the Holy Scriptures as nothing more than a good read or a history book detailing the life of the Jews and the early Christians.

As a Continuationist, I have no problem in accepting these verses, and those written anywhere else in the Bible about miracles and healings, prophecies and tongues, and in fact, I have personal experience of the Holy Spirit moving in healings and miracles. Some years ago, my daughter was totally healed of a brain illness with a prognosis so poor that my wife and I were told to expect, and prepare for, the worst. But she recovered through God’s grace and healing power, and her hospital medical notes were completed with the comment “this is nothing short of a miracle” written by an unbelieving medic. Today, through her, we have two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren (so far), bringing blessings upon blessings. We serve an amazing God, who loves us and cares for us.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers that there was no use in all their “pretentious speeches” and accompanying arrogant talk because there was a lack of God’s power at work. But what does “living by God’s power” really mean? In our own lives, God has supplied all that we need for life in His Kingdom. 2 Peter 1:3, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself through his marvellous glory and excellence”. We may not have the riches and means to live a prosperous life in our natural years, but God has supplied all that we need for life in His Kingdom. There is a difference. Jesus said to the church in Smyrna, “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! … ” (Revelation 2:9a). Here was a fellowship of believers who had little financially but who were rich with the resources and power of the Holy Spirit. Also, our needs have been met by God with all the resources of God being placed at our disposal. In our earthly lives, we are in the middle of a battle described by Paul in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms“. And Paul continued to describe the whole armour of God, set out to replicate the physical armour of the Roman soldiers to whom he was chained. We know the passage of Scripture, with the defensive items followed by one offensive weapon – ” … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b). And finally, Paul exhorts us to “pray in the Spirit”

Are we pilgrims living in God’s power, so freely available to all those who believe? Or are we in a place of fear and anxiety, depressed by world events, and hoping that Jesus comes soon? We pilgrims are made of stern stuff, solid in our faith, and dependable in times of crisis. Psalm 112:6-7 is a pillar in our faith, “Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered for ever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord“. We share Scriptures like Psalm 105:4-5, “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced“. We can all recall the difficult times when God came through for us, and we strengthened ourselves with prayers of “do it again, Lord” when faced with a crisis. It is a tragedy that so many pilgrims can be stoics, gritting their teeth when troubles come against them, and sometimes hoping against hope that the Lord will return soon. But, folks, we have access to God’s power, and when we live by it, we are in a different world. Even when the world and society are falling apart around us, we can stand strong and firm, living in the power of God.

Dear God. Your power is limitless. Please forgive our lack of faith and help us to grasp all You have us with both hands, as we walk day by day in his sad and bad world. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Climbing the Walls

Posted on by korgrocker

“You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.”
Psalm 18:27-29 NLT

Psalm 18:29 was written in military language, with a picture of armies of well armed soldiers, and the protective wall located around a city. David declares that through God’s strength he can succeed in any military conflict, but I wonder what was in his mind when he thought about a seemingly impregnable wall before him. In God, he wrote, no wall is a safe place for his adversaries within. However, and David was very much aware of this, his own strength was insufficient to succeed in battle. 

We pilgrims will, most likely, not be involved in physical battles. We may not be conscripted or recruited into a battalion or other band of soldiers, armed and ready for conflict. But we will be fighting other kinds of battles, with health challenges, work difficulties, relational problems, money worries and so on. There will be some reading this today who are wondering where the strength to face the day can be found. They woke up this morning, and a feeling of dread flooded over them. A dark foreboding is perhaps rising up within and even a panic attack is making a start as there seems to be no way out from the wall of worries and anxieties just in front of them. Trapped and afraid, such people feel they have no way to turn and can think of no solution to their dire situation. 

Well, there is good news for us pilgrims, because, like David, we know that, although our strength is insufficient, we have God’s resources at our disposal. And because of that, through our faith in Jesus, we have all the means we need to “scale any wall”. Jesus said, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus continues two verses later, “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” Really? Paul “got it”, as we read in Ephesians 3:16, 20, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. … 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“. 

But before we rush out and do something rash, we need to take a deep breath and prayerfully step back. The first step is that we must be aligned in accordance with God’s will. The battles we fight in this sad and bad world will always be before us, because that is what human life is all about. Sin and wickedness have destroyed God’s order, His perfect plans, and we are here deeply integrated with worldly life. But we have the power through God to survive the problems and challenges because he will resource us in two ways. Firstly, through our faith in Him we will be equipped to be an overcomer, able to face the problems. Secondly, God will often provide us with a solution to our problem, perhaps revealing a way out or remedy that we hadn’t considered, or even changing the circumstances or people involved, so that we are shown favour.  But we mustn’t get ahead of God and assume that He is with us when we make decisions or take actions that ultimately might put us outside His will. 

There is a story of a lady in Wales who lived in a village at the foot of a slag heap, leftover from coal mining activities. This heap of rubbish was a constant annoyance to her, and one day she read the verses in Mark 11:22-24, “Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours”. So one night the lady prayed that God would remove the slag heap and she then went to bed. In the morning she drew her curtains but the slag heap was still there. Her response was “I knew that prayer wouldn’t work”. This is not to say that God would not have removed that slag heap, but that perhaps God wanted to use the mountain of coal waste to help her faith and her fellow villagers, equally afflicted.

The Lord said to Joshua, and he is still saying it to us today, “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). In God we are invincible and through God’s resources, properly engaged, we can achieve anything. But as Paul knew from his fleshly thorn, the outcomes to our prayers may not be totally what we think. Paul asked God on three occasions to remove whatever was troubling him, and “Each time [God] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I [Paul] am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). So there we have it. If God wants us to climb the wall before us, and slay the giants within, He will resource us for the task. But we need to discern through faith that this is what God wants us to do; otherwise the enemies the other side of the wall, or even the wall itself, might fight back and overwhelm us.

Dear Father God. In You we have the strength to scale any wall. Please grant us the faith we need. Amen.

Work Hard

Posted on by korgrocker

“So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:10-11 NLT

‭‭”Work hard” Peter writes, implying that there is a need to work for our salvation. But wait a minute! Aren’t we saved by grace alone? Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God“. In Titus 3:5 we read, “he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit“. But to find out what Peter meant we have to look earlier in the chapter. He started by writing that we have to do something in response to God’s promises. 2 Peter 1:5a, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. …”. For example, God has promised to give us wisdom but we won’t receive it unless we ask for it. James 1:5, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking“. We may be going through some difficult times and wonder where God is, but again there is something we must do to find Him. Deuteronomy 4:29, “But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him“. 

So when Peter wrote that we must “work hard”, he was referring to the fact that we pilgrims must take an active role in our salvation process. Paul wrote, “Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:12-13). I read somewhere that the Greek verb for “work out” means “to continually work to bring something to completion or fruition”. Salvation is a process, often called sanctification, whereby we become more and more like Jesus as we pursue obedience to God’s promises and instructions. In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul wrote, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us“. Paul pressed on towards his goal. He worked hard at trying to become perfect, achieving what Jesus called him to be.

Unfortunately, some might say, there is not a manual of instructions with check boxes for the things we need to do and have completed. Sanctification is a continual, multi-facetted process and I am reminded of the plate spinners in a circus – they start a plate spinning, then another and then another, and so on, but they always have to go back and keep the earlier plates spinning. Our lives as believers can feel like that sometimes, well, that is until we realise that we have a Helper, the Holy Spirit, who I’m sure does a bit of plate spinning on our behalf when we forget. Each plate represents something in our Christian lives that we have overcome. Perhaps an addiction, or a wrong habit. Perhaps some sin or other, that has blighted our lives. However, we have become an overcomer, but always conscious that we could find ourselves lapsing back into our old ways. Thankfully, after a while, we find that God has helped us get to a point where a particular plate doesn’t need to spin any more. But there’s always a new plate ….

Jesus said that when we involve Him in our lives, things are not as hard as they otherwise could be. He said, “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 11:29-30). Romans 8:26 reminds us that the Holy Spirit is actively on our case, “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“. So Peter reminds us that we must “work hard”. But it isn’t a drudge to respond to God’s promises and grow in the knowledge of Jesus. In fact, it is a joy to know that we are so close to God as we journey through this life.

Father God. Thank You for Your presence in our lives. Where would we be without You? Amen.

God is on His Throne

Posted on by korgrocker

In the Lord I take refuge.
    How then can you say to me:
    ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain.

The Lord is in his holy temple;
    the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth;
    his eyes examine them.

Psalm 11:1,4 NIVUK

Psalm 11 is another Psalm written by David, and it looks as though he is once again on the run from his enemies. It might have been Saul, who chased him around Palestine for years, or it might have been in the time of his son Absalom’s rebellion. In the first verse, David seems to be odds with his advisers who were telling him to head for the hills to find safety there. But David wasn’t afraid of his enemies because he trusted in the Lord for his protection. Wisely, though, he was keeping his head down and maintained a low profile, waiting for God to deal with the situation. In verse 4, David points out that God is still on His throne, keeping an eye on everyone. 

Living in 21st Century Britain is a challenge. There has been so much societal change over the past few years that we might be forgiven for questioning sometimes if God is still on His throne. And understandably there are many anxious people around, wondering what the future holds. People will give us all sorts of advice about how to deal with change. And there are some who will seek medication to help them deal with their anxiety. But there is only one way to remain unshakeable as the world shakes around us, and that is with our feet firmly established on the solid Rock, which is Christ. In Matthew 7:24-25 Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Because the wise man followed and applied Jesus’ teaching, he was unshakeable when the storms of life blew against him. The only way we will survive the changes in society is through our relationship with God. But you might be thinking, “Why does God allow me to experience so many problems in my life?” You might be experiencing financial difficulties, ill-health, family problems, and so on. Sometimes the list of problems seems endless. And to add to our apparent woes, Jesus said that we would experience troubles in this world. He said in John 16:33, “… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So God is still on His throne and Jesus has overcome the world. What else do we need? As we encounter the problems in life, we face into them with Jesus, the Overcomer, at our side. Step by step, problem by problem, issue by issue, our faith and trust in God grows. Even though David was in big trouble, his narrative in Psalm 11 was almost detached because he knew his God, and the protection that He supplied. So He could almost adopt the position of looking on while God did His stuff. We too can be onlookers as we overcome our storms in life with God at our side.

Yo-Yo

Posted on by korgrocker

“Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens! May Your glory shine over all the earth.
My enemies have set a trap for me. I am weary from distress. They have dug a deep pit in my path, but they themselves have fallen into it.” Psalms‬ ‭57:5-6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 57 is a “Yo-Yo” set of verses. David’s thoughts, captured in this Psalm, seem to bounce between praise to God and despair about his predicament. He’s on the run again, and Saul nearly catches him this time. You can just imagine him and his men holding their breath as Saul’s soldiers pass by. And we read that Saul was even within reach of David as he “relieved himself” in the same cave in which David was hiding.

In today’s Western society it is difficult to relate to the dangers David faced into, almost on a daily basis, as he tried to keep out of Saul’s way. Most of us do not experience threats to our lives. But we do experience difficulties in which God’s help is just as important as it was in David’s circumstances. As I write, the fallout from Brexit and the pandemic are manifesting themselves in all sorts of societal problems. Security of food and road fuel supplies are under threat. Energy prices have rocketed. We are constantly being told that the NHS cannot cope with the demands being made of it. People are anxious and nervous about the future. Their worlds have been shaken and there seems to be no remedy in sight. So what do we do? We do what David did. Share our worries and concerns with our loving Heavenly Father, and concentrate of praising Him. Verse 5, “Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens! May your glory shine over all the earth” is repeated again in verse 11. Why? Because that was David’s heart. No matter what he was facing into, the important bit was putting God in His rightful place.

So are we anxious today? 1 Peter 5:7 reads, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” Jesus said in John 16:33, “…Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” We have a choice – accept God’s loving care as He “overcomes the world” or worry ourselves into an early grave. Stark language I know but David went on to become Israel’s greatest king. What will we achieve as God’s overcomers?