Deliverance

Posted on by korgrocker

“Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”
Psalm 3:7-8 NIVUK

The language that David used in these verses today makes us recoil in a fog of discomfort, knowing that as pilgrims we should be reaching out in love, not hate, loving our enemies as Jesus taught. But here was the psalmist, David, expressing to God what he thought God should do with his enemies. We think that sentiments such as breaking our enemies’ teeth can’t be a valid position, or expectation, for a God-fearing believer. There will be many who will dismiss such thoughts and put them down to a less sophisticated people living in violent times. Others will perhaps be more charitable and sympathise with David, faced with trying to protect his people from nasty neighbouring nations. But then perhaps we should pause and think about ourselves and our own reactions to the behaviour of people who we encounter day by day. The motorist who does something stupid and nearly causes us to have an accident. The objectional person in the office who bullies and belittles the more timid members of the team. The keyboard warriors who pollute the comments section of a social media post with their vitriol and hatred. The list of disagreeable people is seemingly endless, but, be honest now, do we just shrug our shoulders extending a mental “Bless you brother”, or do we too, like David, ask God to do something significant with them, to teach them the error of their ways?

David wanted terrible things to happen to his enemies, and he asked God to be the instrument administering his judgement, but he also asked for deliverance. And that is a prayer I think we should emulate. When our thoughts rise up in frustration and anger against the less considerate members of our society, we can of course pray for justice to be dispensed, teaching them a lesson, but it is better to pray that we should be delivered from the negative thoughts and even possible actions that boil over in our minds. “Deliver me, my God” is a good prayer to pray when faced with the events that seem to crop up with depressing frequency. 

Another thought that springs up is about the impact that negative and angry feelings can have on our spiritual and even physical well-being. Resentment and unforgiveness can have a devastating effect on our souls. And, of course, the person causing us so much distress will be unaware of the effect that their behaviour has on the lives of others. We might like them to drink a potion of hemlock as a punishment, but the impact of the poison is on us not them, as the anger and thoughts of immediate judgement eat away at our souls. We end up going down the tubes of depression and illness, facing a long climb back to emotional equilibrium. So we pray, like David, for deliverance. And our loving Heavenly Father will indeed pour out His blessings upon us, and deliver us from the evil that would otherwise beset us.

Dear Lord God. You are our Deliverer, the Keeper and the Provider of peace and healing for our wounded souls. Amen.

Many Other Miracles

Posted on by korgrocker

“The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”
John 20:30-31 NLT

The Gospel of John is drawing to a close. John is starting to wrap up his book, which had become a remarkable document of Holy-Spirit-inspired accounts written down by a fisherman called by Jesus from the side of a lake where he was mending some nets. He was perhaps reflecting on some other miracles, many in fact, that had happened but he hadn’t recorded them. He had done enough and he wrote down his account so that people would continue to believe that “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God“. Mission accomplished. 

Have we pilgrims anything to write down? Some thoughts and experiences collected on the way through life, that now may be of value to a future generation? That was how I started writing blogs in 2017, going through the Bible to record my thoughts. They may or not be of value to others but they have certainly helped me to understand more about God from the Scriptures that have be combined in the wonderful and priceless book we know of as the Bible, and we remember that it is all inspired by the Holy Spirit working in people’s lives, the ordinary men and women who put pen to paper during times touched by God.

John finishes this chapter by writing, “by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name”.There is, of course, nothing significant about Jesus’ name on its own. It is not a magic word that will unlock mystical results, such as healings. We cannot delay death, for example, by the use of His name alone. The power comes from the Man behind the name, Jesus Himself. About Jesus, the writer to the Hebrews wrote, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). When we call upon the name, Jesus, we call upon all that the name represents, undertaking a deep dive into the character of God Himself. 

There is an intriguing story in Acts 19 about seven sons of a Jewish priest called Sceva, who were using the name of Jesus to try and cast out demons. They were not believers, but nevertheless they used Jesus’ name in a vain attempt to emulate the Apostles works. We read in Acts 19:13b, “ …They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!”” And then in Acts 19:14-15 we read what happened, “But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered“. The result in the community was “the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honoured“. 

Perhaps we pilgrims are sometimes guilty of adding words like “in the name of Jesus …” to our prayers for the sick, but without really being in the zone of understanding about the implications. Do we wonder sometimes why our prayers are ineffective? We used to sing a song “There is power in the name of Jesus”, and, scripturally, that is correct but do we really believe that? Sometimes we omit faith and belief in Jesus from our lives and prayers.

Dear Lord Jesus. Please forgive us for the weakness of our faith and our failure to really believe in You. We confess that our faith muscles are sometimes weak or even non-existent. Please help us to know and understand more and more of the  power of Your name. Amen.

My Prayer

Posted on by korgrocker

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory.”
John 17:9-10 NLT

In His prayer, Jesus now zooms in to pray for His disciples, “those You have given Me”. We must turn to Luke 6:12-13 to find out how they were selected. “One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles …”. In those days there were a number of men who were His followers, but Jesus spent a night in prayer with His Father to make the choices He did. We can only imagine what happened that night. Did Jesus present the men He knew by name, one by one, waiting each time for His Father to respond? Surely, being divine, Jesus would have had God’s view and would have been able to make the decisions on the spot? But when He came to this world, Jesus laid aside most of His divine privileges and had to do what we have to do – pray. And the result of that prayer turned the world of the first century upside down, with eleven of the original twelve men becoming the first Apostles. But if we were praying that night, would we have chosen Judas Iscariot? Jesus even selected the man who would later betray Him. But His Father knew how His plan of salvation would work out. 

But what is effective prayer? In its most basic form, it is no more than a conversation with God. Joyce Meyer said, “Prayer is such a basic foundation of a Christian’s relationship with God. It’s how we communicate and fellowship with Him“. I like the quote by Francis Chang, “When you pray, your prayers are heard by the same God who answered Moses’ prayers for water in the desert, the God who gave Abraham and his barren wife a son, and the God who made the slave Joseph second in power only to Pharaoh”. Jesus knew all about prayer and He famously taught His disciples how to pray. And our father God hears our prayers. He is always willing to listen, in fact far more than we are willing to pray.

In His prayer, Jesus said that at this point He wasn’t praying for the world around Him. Instead He was praying for His disciples. He was praying for a specific need, the future of His disciples, as we shall see several times in this chapter in John. Too often our prayers lack the focus they should have, as we lapse into lazy requests or general platitudes. Too often we pray “Bless Auntie Mary” prayers rather than pray the specifics of where Auntie Mary needs to be blessed. And of course our faith that God hears our prayers and will answer them is a fundamental part of our prayer.

Notice that Jesus’ prayer was devoid of the jargon that we often burden our prayers with, as though we think that God will answer prayers loaded with “thee’s” and “thou’s” and “We beseech thee …”. Some have called this the “language of Zion” but God really listens to us as we pray honest and humble prayers in everyday language. Remember the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, as recorded in Luke 18?

Prayers are an essential part of our pilgrim lives. Let us never the importance of conversing in prayer with our Heavenly Father.

Dear God. We confess our poverty of spirit and lack of diligence in prayer. Please forgive us, we pray, and help us grow in our relationships with You. In Jesus name. Amen.

Believing Jesus

Posted on by korgrocker

“The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.” Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.”
John 4:49-53 NLT

Perhaps the government official, the civil servant, was worried that Jesus wouldn’t heal his son. So he begged Jesus a second time to go with him to his home to heal his “little boy”. We don’t know the lad’s age but the impression was that he was much loved and in a family that obviously was fairly wealthy, because there were servants. But this was another example of Jesus’ compassion. He saw the man’s distress and immediately responded with the instruction to “Go back home”, followed by the reassurance “Your son will live”. 

But we should note the civil servant’s response. In spite of his begging, we are told two things about the man – he believed in Jesus and he was obedient to Jesus’ command. We read, “And the man believed what Jesus said and started home”. No more begging Jesus to come to his home. No more emotional pressure. We don’t know how he heard that Jesus was back in Galilee but he journeyed to meet the Master. The urgency of his son’s illness spurred him on. He was probably thinking about where he could find Jesus. What would his reception be? Would Jesus go with him? What if he said “no”? Doubts would have pressed in on his thoughts. But regardless of all of this he kept going, ignoring anything that would have made him turn back. That’s faith in action.

The man was hurrying home, desperate to see if his son was better. What was he expecting? A small improvement? Total healing? Would he find his son back to normal, playing with the other children? What did he think when he saw some of his servants coming towards him? Were they bringing bad news? Or was it the answer to a father’s desperate encounter with Jesus, the answer he yearned for? And then, the joy when he found out that his son was well, with the fever not present anymore, and it all happened at the very moment Jesus had said, “Your son will live”. 

We pilgrim believers are a people of faith. But do we have faith like that government official? Faith that will persevere through difficulties and troubles? God will always reward the faith of His children. We don’t have to beg, but believe what Jesus said, as we read in Matthew 7:9-11, “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him”. The problem is that we “people of faith” fail to ask God for what we need. We often try every other avenue until desperation or lethargy kick in and spoil the opportunity. Or as a last resort we fall to our knees in prayer and ask God to help us. I keep a prayer diary and often find myself writing in the answers to prayers offered up days before. It’s faith building to know that God not only hears my prayers but answers them as well.

This cameo of the encounter between Jesus and the government official ends with more joy. We read, “And he and his entire household believed in Jesus”. What a tremendous outcome to find that the whole household, presumably servants and all, came to a belief in Jesus. All through a few gracious words from Jesus and the father’s faith.

Dear Father God. It must grieve You so much to see Your children struggling with issues that You have the answer to. Please forgive us. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

A Kind of Food

Posted on by korgrocker

“Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.”
John 4:31-33 NLT

The disciples must have returned from their visit to Sychar with a supply of food, and they urged Jesus to eat some of it. But they were confused by Jesus’ response, with their minds still focussed on their bread and anything else they were able to acquire. Physical food was of course very necessary, even to Jesus in those days, so the disciples even wondered if someone else, perhaps even the Samaritan woman, had brought Him food while they were away. So, what was this “food” that Jesus had consumed?

It goes without saying that physical food is necessary to nourish our physical bodies, and spiritual food is necessary for our spiritual bodies. But most people in our societies major on the first, and neglect the second. They end up fat and bloated after overeating all the wrong types of physical foods, but their spirits are shrivelled up and in danger of dying from a lack of spiritual food. The death of their spirits can result in people suffering all kinds of physical and mental disease, with physical remedies being sought to fix a spiritual problem. 

When He was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, Jesus replied on one occasion, “But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” (Matthew 4:4, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3). So Jesus equated the physical food of bread with the spiritual food of the Word of God. In 1 Peter 2:2 we read, “Like new born babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment”. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:2, “I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready“. 

So the food Jesus received, while the disciples were away in the village of Sychar, was obtained through prayer with His Father in Heaven. He remembered the Scriptures in which He had been grounded in His early years. And He received all the sustenance He needed, and more, in preparation for what was to come when he met the people of Sychar. 

So, fellow pilgrims, how are our spirits today? Shrivelled and almost dead, or bursting with life and vigour? God said through the prophet Isaiah, “”Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food” (Isaiah 55:1-2). That invitation written down all those years ago is still valid today. In fact with our modern technologies, we have access to the Word of God far beyond what anyone could imagine in Isaiah’s day. Let’s not waste the opportunity to feed our spirits, our very souls.

Dear Father God. You fed Your people physical food in the wilderness and You still feed Your people with spiritual food today. We are so grateful. Amen.

Ancestors

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?””
John 4:10-12 NLT

The dialogue between the woman and Jesus continued, with the woman bringing in the importance of ancestry. But the content of the exchange is interesting – Jesus is talking about the “living water”, the Holy Spirit, and the woman still has the pool of water at the bottom of a well in her head. So superficially they might have been talking about water, but the two scenarios were totally different. The woman’s sceptical thoughts burst out into the accusation that because Jesus didn’t have the necessary accoutrements to bring the water to the surface, he therefore couldn’t access it. And anyway, she accused Him of making a claim to be greater than the man, Jacob, who found the well in the first place, many years before. 

Such misunderstandings in a conversation are common. The act of being able to articulate our thoughts to another person is a skill we acquire from childhood, but knowing the other person is an important factor in a conversation, because over time both people get to know what the other person thinks about, particularly when they talk about subjects that are familiar to them. This can be observed between a married couple who have been together for many years, for example. Amusingly to an observer, they will even finish each other’s sentences. Up to this point in the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman the connection between physical water and spiritual water had not been made.

How do we pilgrims communicate the Good News about Jesus, and all that He did for mankind? At Jacob’s well, Jesus used a common commodity important to the people in that culture to start a conversation. He could have sat by the well ignoring the woman, which would have been her expectation because of the hostile relationship between Jews and Samaritans. But the poor woman had to carry water in a heavy pot daily some distance back to the village of Sychar. If there was anything that would have grabbed her attention it was the possibility that she could be relieved of that burden. 

So we pilgrims pray that God will reveal something about who we are speaking with to form a relational bridge over which the Gospel can be delivered. Something to grab their attention and open up the conversation. I find that dog walkers are always ready to talk about their pets. Someone tending a planter outside our community centre will often respond to a question or comment about the plants or shrubs. But sometimes God will reveal something supernaturally about the person – but more of that in a future blog.

Paul wrote in Colossians 4:3, “Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains”. Paul didn’t hold back at all, and ended up in all sorts of trouble because of his zeal to share the Gospel with whoever he met. In the UK at the moment, street preachers are being arrested for sharing the Word of God on our streets, wrongly as it turns out but there is increasing hostility to the Gospel in our secular society. It won’t be long until this becomes a crime, along with other demonstrations about the Kingdom of God. We have a window of opportunity to start a conversation with a stranger at a modern equivalent of Jacob’s well. In a coffee bar or restaurant. In a supermarket. At the petrol station. In the office or classroom. And we pray for the communication skills that will transform the ordinary into the supernatural.

Father God. We pray that through Your Spirit we will have the words we need to say at just the right time. and we pray for the people we meet, that Your Spirit will go before us, opening hearts and minds. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Worries and Cares

Posted on by korgrocker

“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honour. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7 NLT

Is there a connection between the verse on humility and God’s care for us? Is Peter writing down unconnected thoughts or is there in fact something that unites them? We find that we must empty ourselves of pride and arrogance to become truly humble before we can be in a place where God can help us. How many times have we struggled with a problem and then, as a last resort almost, decided to turn to God for help? There is something within us that balks at the thought of seeking assistance from outside ourselves. Well, that is pride, and we have to deal with it “under the mighty power of God”. 

We pilgrims probably had an upbringing that taught us self-reliance. It is a natural way to live and survive in this dangerous world, but one that can get in the way of a total dependency on God. But there is a balance. God wants us to live our lives in accordance with His ways, not ours. And when we overlay His blueprint for living over the one we have developed ourselves, it exposes those parts that are incompatible.

Some people are terrible worriers. Their anxieties are so great that they find that even their health is affected. And if they find they are free from worry, they immediately start worrying again in case they have missed something. Their first port of call is the doctor’s surgery, and then more often than not a downward spiral of dependency on anti-depressants or similar type of drug commences. Others find that for a short time alcohol dulls the pain and brings some form of relief, but addiction can follow and exacerbate the problem. The saddest thing is when this happens to believers. Our lives in this world are inevitably going to bring difficulties and problems. Jesus warned His disciples that “ … Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). And that is the way back to sanity from all the worries of life – because Jesus is far bigger than the world and anything it can throw at Him. 

Many people worry about the state of their nation. An oft-quote verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” We note that humility precedes the praying and seeking God’s face. There is no other way to pray for our nation.

Both Peter and Paul wrote about worries and cares. Paul’s contribution can be found in Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”. His encouragement to the Philippian church was for prayer, honest and persistent prayer, where needs were articulated and thanks were expressed. And a resulting peace was available for the worrier. As we know, the cause of the worries and cares might still be there, but more often than not, God will shine a light into the circumstances and bring a remedy. 

But back to where we started today. Pride and arrogance will get in the way of our relationship with God and will prevent Him from helping us in our troubles. Humility comes first.

Dear God. Thank You for Your graciousness in accepting our stumbling prayers. Please help us to clear out any remnants of pride and arrogance so that we can indeed come into Your presence in the humility that You desire. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Trust in God

Posted on by korgrocker

“For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”
1 Peter 4:17-19 NLT

Peter completes the fourth chapter of his letter with the reminder and encouragement that we must “trust [our] lives to the God who created [us], for He will never fail [us]”. These are words that will sustain us through even the most desperate of times. The Bible is bulging with God’s promises. They burst out of every page and Peter reminds us that God will never go back on what He has promised. As we overlay our lives on the Scriptures we will find encouragement and wisdom for every situation that we face. 

The Bible mentions a few real-life situation faced by believers, and I’m reminded this morning of Stephen. Some Jews were upset by his wisdom and the Spirit behind him, and they concocted lies about him, that resulted in him being arrested and brought before the Jewish High Council on a charge of blasphemy. He made his defence and His potted history of the Jewish nation was an amazing feat of memory and presentation, no doubt Holy Spirit inspired, and we can just imagine the Jewish leaders nodding away in agreement as he spoke. But then he dropped in a bombshell as we read in Acts 7:51, “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!” He pulled no punches and pandemonium broke out, ending with Stephen being dragged out of the city and stoned. Right to the end he trusted God for his future, confident that God would never fail him.

What situations are we pilgrims facing into today? I know someone, a believer, who is stressed by an aggressive neighbour who keeps harassing them with lies and general nastiness. But they are trusting that God will support and protect them, because He said in Psalm 46:1-2, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!” We all face troubles and hassles as we counter-culturally live our lives the Jesus way. And although we might never experience a situation like Stephen, in our own ways we will be stressed and distressed by the actions of those around us. I sometimes wonder, when I see the loads carried by unbelieving friends and neighbours, how they survive without God in their lives. No wonder there are so many issues with mental health these days. But we pilgrims have the answer. It may not be a correction to their troubles, but it will bring comfort into a situation that otherwise may seem hopeless. Ecclesiastes 4:12, “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken”. As we stand with our troubled friends, whether or not they are believers, we can pray for them and introduce the love of God, the third strand, into the situation. Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus“. Amen?

Dear Father God. We know that You love us and care for us. We are so grateful. Amen.


The End of the World

Posted on by korgrocker

“The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers.”
1 Peter 4:7 NLT

This is a sobering verse, with a theme that Peter repeated in 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment“. Will the earth as we know it end soon? The answer is that we really don’t know what “soon” means. To us humans “soon” means in the next few hours or days. But certainly no longer. But as we know, God lives without our time system. Instead He will do what He has promised to do at just the right time.

There is an expectation in the Bible that one day the world as we know it will cease to exist. This is because one day God’s grace will be replaced by His judgement. We live in a moral universe and the sin and evil that is endemic in our societies will have to be accounted for. There are a series of events that the Apostle John wrote down, and which form the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. If you wish to find out more what these are, please read my devotional book “The End Times” (author Adrian Clark), available on Amazon. But we’ll pick up the narrative in Revelation 20. 

The devil will be chained and incarcerated, and the saints, including those whom were martyred for their faith, will rule and reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years. John’s vision included the explanation that these dead people were brought back to life as the first resurrection; the resurrection of everyone else was not to happen until after the thousand years were up. Satan was then released from his prison and he made a last attempt to conquer God and His people. But to no avail – he and his armies were defeated by fire from Heaven, and he ended up in the “fiery lake of burning sulphur”, a place of eternal torment (Revelation 20:10), joining his proteges, the beast and the false prophet. 

Revelation 20 ends with the events we call the Great White Throne judgement. We read in John’s account, “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books … And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:13,15). But when we turn the page, we find an amazing event – the new Heaven and Earth. But more on that in my book.

Peter exhorts his readers to “be earnest and disciplined in your prayers”. But he doesn’t say what those prayers should consist of. Knowing what is to come must, by its very essence, focus the minds of us pilgrims. We must keep short accounts with God, ensuring forgiveness for the sins we might commit. We must, with clarity of thought, examine ourselves. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith”. David, the Psalmist, wrote the prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). We must pray appropriately, knowing that “the end of the world is coming soon”. 

Dear Father God. We can never thank You enough for Your grace. All we can do is to fall on our knees before You in worship. Amen.

Evil for Evil

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.”
1 Peter 3:9

There is an old saying – “two wrongs don’t make a right”. In a situation where someone has been wronged, a natural reaction is for them to lash out in some way. Verbally or perhaps even physically. If someone makes a rude comment about you then the immediate response would be an insult in return. Such behaviour has also been a feature in the adversarial nature of British politics, with the front benches in the House of Commons, the UK lower house of lawmakers, being set apart by two sword lengths plus one inch, a relic from those days when men did indeed carry swords. The best response to insults is to just walk away, preventing the escalation of what could turn into an ugly and offensive situation. Just one wrong remains, not two. The recipient of the abuse can take the moral high ground and move on to get on with the rest of their life.

In these days of social media channels, a generation of keyboard warriors has emerged. Men and women who lack the courage to say what they think to your face but instead have no such scruples with a keyboard in front of them. So people in the public eye can suffer huge volumes of abusive responses to their public messages, just because they perhaps had the courage to stand up and say something that others disagree with. A common response is for those receiving such abuse to close down their own social media apps, because any attempt to explain just pours more fuel into the fire. We do seem to live in a very sad world.

Peter encouraged his readers with an appeal for God’s blessing to be on those who respond to their tormentors in a better way. Perhaps Peter remembered that day when Jesus was teaching on the Mount and when He said, “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you” (Luke 6:28). This instruction went further than a simple act of ignoring the offender. Not to repay evil for evil is just the start. A passive walking away isn’t quite what Peter had in mind in his advice. Jesus and Peter both advised that there is a better way. To bless and pray for those who curse or insult you.

So the next time another car driver undertakes a manoeuvre that nearly causes you to have an accident, call down a blessing from Heaven on the culprit, and pray that he (or she) sees the error of their ways and not be in such a hurry. The next time someone says something about you in the office that you are perhaps not supposed to hear, bless them with a kind word, or even something practical like a cup of coffee. And for all those who are unkind or insulting in their contact with us, we offer up a prayer to the God who sees what is going on and who wants to bless everyone.

Father God. We thank You for Your words of blessing. Even now we pause and reflect on anyone who has harmed us in some way. And we call down a Heavenly blessing on them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.