Worries and Cares

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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 Adrian Clark

“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.

By His Wounds

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”
1 Peter 2:24 NLT

Does God heal today? Peter said quite unequivocally that He does, or at least did in his days on this earth. And that’s the issue for many – does healing in the way Peter wrote about, through the power of the Holy Spirit, still take place today as it did then? Through Peter, God certainly brought about miracles of healing to a people who otherwise had no hope. In Acts 3 there is the story of the lame man, a man who had never had the use of his legs and feet since he was born, and we read in Acts 3:6 what happened to him. “But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”” It should be noted that Peter himself didn’t have the power to heal in this miraculous way. It was accomplished “in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene”. Only God had the power to heal.

Jesus said to His disciples, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:12-14). Jesus said that to His disciples and, don’t forget, we are His disciples as well.

Peter’s verse today was influenced by the prophecy in Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed“. What Isaiah could see coming happened several hundred years later. That a man, the Son of God, would be cruelly whipped so that people who believed in Him would be healed. It happened in the first century and I believe it has been happening ever since.

We pilgrims have the power within us, through the Holy Spirit, to do amazing things. Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think“. Either that verse is true or it isn’t. The problem for many today is that, failing to experience God’s healing power as a result of their prayers, they have decided that when the early apostles died, the power to heal died with them. But there is nothing that I can find in the Bible that would confirm that belief. So, churches particularly here in the West, no longer give the Holy Spirit His proper place in their worship. In fact, some have questioned that if the Holy Spirit left their churches, would there be any difference? The pews would still be there. The liturgies unchanged. The prayers still said. The Bible still read. But no divine presence.

For me, I do not know why some prayers for healing are answered by God, and others, perhaps most, are not. Some say it’s due to a lack of faith. Or that presumption has displaced belief. Or that it is not God’s will for a person to be always healed by prayer. But, personally, I will always pray for healing for those who are sick. Peter wrote, “By his wounds you are healed“. As these verses were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and because He resides within me, I will pray. And pray again. As much as it takes. Only God knows the end from the beginning. And only He will heal.

Dear God. You are the ultimate Healer, and able to work wonderful miracles. Please forgive us for our unbelief and lack of faith. Amen.

Pray for Paul

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation I am taking to Jerusalem. Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.”
Romans 15:30-32 NLT

Paul writes that he needs prayer. He firstly asks for his readers to join his “struggle” by praying for him. What “struggle” was it that he was experiencing? As we read through Paul’s experiences in the book of Acts, we see a struggle emerging between the wonderful things, miracles of healings and so on, that God was doing through Paul, and the forces of the enemy doing their utmost to shut Paul down. People were being saved in droves, churches were being established, lives were being transformed. It’s no wonder he was experiencing a “struggle”. But he wasn’t so complacent that he failed, humbly, to request prayer. We read in James 5:16, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results“. It wasn’t just James that knew the truth of the power of prayer. Paul was very much aware of it as well. 

Paul appealed to the Roman believers’ love for him, which he knew had been given to them through the Holy Spirit. God’s love is truly amazing, because it cuts right across distance, ethnicity, social standing, and everything else that would otherwise divide believers. The love that prefers the needs of another person over our own. The love that penetrates even the most insensitive of human hearts. And the love spawned by the Holy Spirit in their very beings motivated them to pray earnestly for Paul. 

A specific need that Paul had was for safety from the attacks he expected would develop against him when he reached Jerusalem. And that was a very real threat, as we read in Acts 23:20-21, “Paul’s nephew told him [the commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem], “Some Jews are going to ask you to bring Paul before the high council tomorrow, pretending they want to get some more information. But don’t do it! There are more than forty men hiding along the way ready to ambush him. They have vowed not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They are ready now, just waiting for your consent“”. But as we know, as the story unfolded in Acts 23, Paul was indeed kept safe, so their prayers were answered.

Lastly, Paul asked for prayer that the donation from the Macedonians that he was taking to Jerusalem would be accepted by the believers there. It would have been a bitter-sweet gift for the believers of Jewish origin, that Gentiles in another place were supplying their needs. So Paul’s prayer was that there would be no proud rejection due to the Jew/Gentile divide.

Paul finished these two verses with the conclusion that once the prayers had been offered up on his behalf, he would be able to journey to Rome with a joyful heart, knowing his job in Jerusalem was done.

We pilgrims also have prayer needs. But how often do we continue to suffer in silence, too proud to ask for prayer? We continue to experience pains and aches, dosing ourselves with various pills and potions, when what we should do is pick up the phone and call a Christian friend, asking for prayer. Or we may be facing into family or work issues that are driving us to distraction. Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done“. We pray for our needs and worries and involve our brothers and sisters as Paul did. We can never pray too much!

Father God. We know that prayer changes things. Please forgive us for neglecting Your Heavenly hotline when we have needs. We know that you hear our prayers and the prayers of our brothers and sisters. Thank You. Amen.

Revenge

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.””
Romans 12:19-20 NLT

Paul follows on from his previous theme of not responding to evil with more evil. He warns his readers that they should never take revenge, instead leaving room for God to deal with the perpetrators of evil. It should be noted that God will get angry with them, as He does with all sinners. And He has promised to deal with these evildoers. 

Paul quoted two Scriptures in the verses from Romans 12 . The first is from Deuteronomy 32:34-35, “The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury? I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them’”. God may not deal with those who commit evil acts straight away, even though we might want Him to, but He has promised to take a careful note and put it somewhere safe in His “treasury”. There is no escape for those who commit evil acts, because one day they will have to account for their behaviour. No deed ever committed will go unpunished. So that crime committed against an old lady, for example, that roused such indignation in the community, will catch up with the perpetrator one day. The books being stored in God’s “treasury” will one day be opened and the video of what really happened will be replayed before everyone. Imagine the shame! But, worse, will come the verdict – Guilty! 

Some people struggle with the thought that God gets angry. Well, Jesus did. Not often but we read in Mark 3:5, “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored”. Jesus was angry with the irrational and misguided responses of the Pharisees in the synagogue, but note that, although He had the power to zap them on the spot, He moved on and healed a man with a withered hand. Those Pharisees were in for trouble, because God made a note of their evil response to His Son. Jesus was angry, yet in His anger He didn’t sin. 

The second Old Testament Paul quoted came from Provers 25:21-22, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you”. How does that work? In God’s Kingdom, there are a different set of rules applying. Whereas in our earthly kingdoms, our enemies will be locked up, and their malevolent intentions suppressed, in God’s Kingdom, we citizens treat our enemies with respect and compassion. We provide them with the basics of life, food and water, and show them kindness when none is deserved. That’s hard! It goes against everything we feel inside. But that is what God has asked us to do. Imagine a world where every evil act received such a kind, loving and compassionate response. There wouldn’t be much evil remaining for long. 

There is a battle raging against Christians in the West, around the gender ideologies. And the proponents of this evil want to close the churches who resist their wayward demands, demands that are in direct conflict with what the Bible says. We could join or organise the marches, the rallies, and write angry banners, or we could pray for them with compassion for their confusion. We gently make our views known to our politicians, expounding the love that we have. And as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8b, “ … for love covers a multitude of sins”. I know that this verse was meant for Christians, but the principle remains. 

Paul wrote that there was a partnership between God and His followers. We respond to evil well and without sin. He will bring the punishment on those who sin against us. That is God’s way, and, by following it, we will truly conquer the evil that is so prevalent in our communities and nations. Small steps accumulate. Short prayers are answered. And we pilgrims will one day experience the reward promised us. 

Dear God. You promised to deal with evildoers. That takes a lot of pressure from us, because we don’t have to. Thank You. Amen.

God’s Enemies

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favour of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say, “God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear.” Likewise, David said, “Let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let their blessings cause them to stumble, and let them get what they deserve. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and let their backs be bent forever.””
Romans 11:7-10 NLT

In Romans 11:9-10, Paul quotes from Psalm 69:22-23. This Psalm, written by David, paints the picture of a man in torment. His enemies, and there are many of them, are harassing him, and his sins are weighing heavily on his mental health. His physical well-being is affected as well, and he is going around dressed in burlap, a heavy sackcloth made from jute or hemp, accompanying his fasting for God’s salvation. The first half of Psalm 69:9 was recorded in John 2:17, as a prophetic reminder when Jesus cleared the temple courtyard of the merchants selling animals for sacrifice, and changing everyday Roman money into the coins required for the offerings. John 2:17, “Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me””. 

There is another prophetic message in this Psalm, relating to Jesus on the cross at Calvary, “You know of my shame, scorn, and disgrace. You see all that my enemies are doing. Their insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. If only one person would show some pity; if only one would turn and comfort me. But instead, they give me poison for food; they offer me sour wine for my thirst” (Psalm 69:19-21). And then in Psalm 69:22-23, we read again the words quoted by Paul in Romans 11, “Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare and their prosperity become a trap. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and make their bodies shake continually”. Perhaps David was letting his musings extend into an area of judgement, as he prayed for God to deal with his enemies.

Jesus taught though, of a different approach to dealing with our enemies. In His day, when everyone present in Palestine was aware of a brutal occupation by a foreign power, the Romans, there would have been much thought, even rebellion, about how to deal with the problem. Perhaps people allowed their imaginations to run away with them, with thoughts and dreams of how they would like to see the Roman occupiers dealt with, and kicked out of their land. David, in his day, felt the same about his enemies. And we should remember that Jesus knew what was coming to Him, when He was finally arrested and killed. He too would have enemies, but here is the difference. Rather than dream up ways in which they could be eliminated, He said that His followers should pray for them. I can imagine how such a message would have cut through the fog of hatred that surrounded every encounter between a Roman occupier and a native of Israel. Perhaps the Jews thought He had lost the plot! We read what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

But back to Paul’s letter and the context of our verses from Romans 11. The real enemies were those of God’s people who rebelled and sinned against Him. They always had the choice of being able to change sides. But instead they preferred to go their own way in life, even if it meant a life of hard work and pointless living. They stumbled, they were blind to the ways of God and, in the end, they suffered. Wrong choices lead to wrong outcomes. It may be that for a while, their lives were full of blessings. But, as David said in his Psalm, they became enslaved and snared in home grown traps. All of this is a familiar scenario for life in the West today. Around us we find so many people who have rejected God and His ways. Jesus and the Cross has no relevance to them. But we pilgrims pray for God’s enemies. We look for opportunities to bless them. And we extend our prayers to include our personal “enemies”. The person who upset us with an unkind word. A social media troll who hides behind internet anonymity to abuse and vilify. The bullies who take advantage of us in the workplace or school. In this life we will always come up against objectionable people. But as we pray for them we will find feel a release in our spirits. By praying we connect with God and He will deal with our prayers. And if we have contributed to the problem He will help us sort it out. Our loving Heavenly Father is on our side, as we are on His. And remember, by leaving any thought of retribution to God, we gain a reward. Proverbs 25:21-22, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you“.

Dear Father God. Once again in our prayers we remember all those who are Your enemies. By their actions they persecute Your people and abuse them without mercy. We bring to You these people and we pray, as Jesus did – as they hammered the nails into His hands and feet, He prayed “Father forgive them..”. Such mercy and grace! Amen,


The Third Flying Angel

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.””
Revelation‬ ‭14:9-11 NLT

It’s time for the third flying angel to make his appearance in John’s vision. And his message is grim. It will obviously be delivered at a time when people are newly acquainted with the beast’s demands, and still have a choice about whether or not to wholeheartedly embrace the statue worship and accept the beast’s mark, the 666 reference, on their hands or foreheads. So just in case there were any who were having doubts about this, an angel appears. He gives them a stark warning – if they choose the way of the beast they will spend eternity in his company. He used words designed to instil terror into his hearers. Words such as fire, sulphur, continual torment. 

From the messages delivered by the three angels it is easy to question why the peoples in the global nations still rejected God and His grace. Everyone by now has heard the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus, the Son of God, and what He did for mankind through the cross at Calvary. They now know that the party is over. Their sinful and wicked ways, the immorality of their life styles, has come to an end. And here we have the last warning. Worship the beast, receive his mark, and there’s no way back. In spite of all this, most of the people still alive at this time rejected the angels’ messages. Why? What were they thinking?

In my meanderings around the community where I live, I occasionally have the opportunity to share about Jesus and what He did for mankind, and in particularly for what He has done for me. I find that most people I meet are aware of a spiritual life after death. Not something they want to talk about, but the awareness is there. But I have been taken aback by the anger in some that is directed against anything to do with God. They blame Him for so much. For the death of a loved one. For the state of the economy. For their ill-health. For a natural catastrophe (even insurance companies refer sometimes to an “Act of God”). And I have heard rants against churchgoers, and all that is wrong about them. Are these the sort of people who will hold out to the end, preferring eternal torment to repentance and a life with God? Do we find that inexplicable?

Jesus experienced unbelief and resistance even in the face of His miracles. We read in John 12:37, “But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.” Why would that still be the case even in His day, when the people were in the presence of the Son of God? The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:4 wrote, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” Scripture is even more revealing in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, where we read with a reference to the beast, “This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.”

It is so sad when we read these verses. To think that eternal life with God is so close. So accessible. And what makes the situation even more distressing is that there are those in our families, and groups of friends, who will be counted amongst those deceived by satan. What can we do? Thankfully, we are not in a hopeless place, because our loving Heavenly Father is a gracious and loving God. He wants no one to end up in that place we call hell. So we pray. We passionately pray. We call out to Him for our loved ones, that His mercy and grace will somehow penetrate hardened hearts and draw them into that place of grace where they embrace God’s son with love and acceptance. 

Dear Father. We pray for our loved ones today. And we’ll keep on praying until they too find Your grace and mercy. Thank You for Your love and acceptance of every sinner who repents. 

More Terrors to Come

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭9:12‬ ‭NLT

There is a pause implied after the five months had elapsed. Our verse today records that the first of the terrors, that corresponded to the sounding of the fifth trumpet, is past. Can you imaging the relief flooding over the earth’s inhabitants as the locusts started to die off. Were there piles of dead locusts with their strange appearances lying in heaps around the nations? Or if the locusts were symbols of a terrible and fearsome army, did they withdraw back to where they came from? We don’t know, but in his vision John was told that this was not a time for complacency because there were more “terrors”, or “woes” as translated in other Bible versions, coming. We also don’t know how much time was to elapse before the next trumpet blew.

This might be an opportunity to float the question, particularly in the context of the End Times as portrayed in John’s vision, “Why does God allow disasters to happen?” A difficult question to answer, but the reality is that since history started to be recorded there have been accounts of many events similar to those recorded in the Apostle John’s Revelation. There have been earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, famines, wars, diseases and so on. Why didn’t God intervene to stop them? One question often asked is where God is when times of distress and devastation happen. One memorable event still in living memory was the Holocaust that saw the murder of millions of God’s own people, the Jews. And the cry for God to intervene must have reverberated around the heavens on countless occasions during those dark and evil times. The Covid virus has inflicted much in the way of death and distress on mankind during the past two or three years, and I’m sure many prayers were offered up for God to intervene, but He apparently hasn’t, and it is still wreaking havoc on mankind as I write.

The reality that we observe is that God has occasionally intervened in the affairs of mankind and the natural events in the world around us, but most of the time He doesn’t. The Old Testament recorded occasions when His intervention brought about victories in battle (for example we read in 2 Chronicles 20:22, “At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.”) And there was the occasion recorded in Joshua 10:13-14, “So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!” But on other occasions, the prayers of the Israelites went unheeded. There is an answer to God’s apparent intransigence in the face of disasters is puzzling but in the meantime we’ll leave the question hanging.

We pilgrims keep praying regardless of the circumstances, because prayer changes things. We might not see a result straight away, but God always answers prayers, should we choose to listen. He has three answers – “Yes”, “No”, and “Not Yet”. Often we say that God doesn’t answer prayers because His response is not what we wanted to hear. But over the years God, by His grace and mercy, has answered my prayers. For example, in answer to my prayers and the prayers of many of His people, He miraculously healed my daughter of a viral attack on her brain. And there have been many other times when an answer to my prayers popped up, often in a way I didn’t expect. Many people over the years have prayed for me as well, and I am so grateful for their faithfulness. 

We pilgrims will come up many obstacles on our journeys through life. We may not have encountered the terrors described in John’s vision, but we may have come up against sickness, disease, financial hardship, accidents, and other occasions when God’s intervention didn’t happen. Regardless of what is going on around us, we trust Him and put our hope in Him anyway, because he is our loving Heavenly Father. We only have to read His Book, the Bible, to tap into His amazing grace. How about these Scriptures?

Psalm 147:11, “… the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love“. 
Jeremiah 17:7, “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence“. 
Romans 15:13, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit“. 
Psalms 62:5-6, “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken“. 

Father God. We thank You for Your loving kindness, and proclaim today the prayer recorded by Your prophet, Habakuk. “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord ! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Amen and Amen!