Persecution and breakfast

After a week of taking in lots of information from various staff at my new workplace, I spent part of the morning lying in, finally getting to making a lazy man’s breakfast, mainly involving toast – and picked up the Open Doors magazine I was sent recently. I was quickly struck by the gap between my relaxed Saturday morning existence and the people who are living in danger and difficulty because of their faith in Christ and the political or societal situations around them, so I thought I’d share some details.

For instance, a Pakistani Christian woman is the first woman in the country to be sentenced to death for a charge of “blasphemy” – an observer says this verdict was given under pressure from a “mob outside the courtroom”. Outrageously, the woman, Asia Bibi, held in isolation since June 2009, and her family, who are in hiding, are in danger for their lives from hard-line Islamic groups, who want to take the law into their own hands.

Another article talks about some young boys in Orisso, India, who Open Doors have provided beds for at Ladruma Boys Home. Many of these abandoned children are traumatised from anti-Christian violence in the area in 2008, when the home became a target – during which time the caregivers were taken away because of the danger! So different to the UK where a lack of sufficient care for vulnerable kids will rightly cause an uproar.

What conditions to be trying to live in, to be trying to learn in or grow in or form relationships or work and earn a living. What a poor situation many fellow believers are in!


I need to grasp just how much opposition to Jesus and his people is out there in the world, and recognise that some people are paying a high price to be identified with the Lord Jesus – because they know what a privilege they have to know Him.

If you do, how do you remember to read about and pray for less fortunate people?

Seeing and believing

On Wednesday night I went to my house group (a Bible study group that meets in someone's house). As we were looking at John 9 it struck me how easy it easy to get everything totally wrong. Let me explain.

The Jewish Pharisees were so sure their rules of religion were right that when God showed up among them, they discounted him - and worse, opposed him. His work amongst people did not fit into their ideas about what kind of activities could be carried out on the Sabbath - and some held this against him, seeing his new way as undermining what they "knew" to be God's way.

Their desperation with the situation and growing hatred of Jesus is apparent, yet He is the one they must wake up and see is God.

The contrast in the chapter is of course with the man whom Jesus has freed from blindness, who answers their questions plainly and as best he can. His words start to point out the Pharisees' spiritual blindness!

There's a whole lot here to learn about how we must relate to God: humbly, coming to Him for salvation. The gospel comes and it offers a message which is bitter to someone who is confident in their own righteousness. It points us to the ways we have all failed God's standards because it's the inward thoughts and intentions of the heart towards God and others which matter most.

The sweet good news of salvation comes though God's free gift. He initiates rescue, and the Pharisee or the self-righteous can't do a thing to save themselves - we all must only accept this gift by accepting the great Saviour Jesus and coming under his rule. He achieves our salvation by the cross - we merely throw ourselves at his feet and receive this work of grace into our lives.

May I never NEVER never forget this Lord of love and his gift of grace. As I see what He has done, my desire increases for Him. And so I try hard to follow Him in my life.

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The sequel to thoughts like this is living this out in reality. Sadly in reality, my desire for and love of God is far too weak. At times I will serve God forgetting that I rely on him and, as Tim Keller describes in his excellent book The Prodigal God, I'll try to control God by doing things I think should please him. And I'll get frustrated when things go wrong.

There's much work still to be done on my heart. I need to tell myself that I need Jesus. Above all else. I need Him as He is my only salvation.

Another thing that spins out of this is how we show this message to others. How do we show people that while being good is important, it's the inner life towards God and others that matters the most? How do we model grace (as Ed Moll recently described it in a talk at my church)? How do we show the love of God instead of dishing out approval or disapproval based on outward behaviour, like the Pharisees would have done? How do we show that God accepts us when we have broken all the rules - when I have broken all the rules? Can we be as accepting of others as He is, and yet, of course, never saying that evil behaviour is right in any way.

I think the way I relate to others rarely shows this. I'm sure that people around me still get the impression that the way I relate to them will depend on their behaviour towards me - this will determine whether I give my approval. Surely God's way is far better! I should love and keep loving whether I approve or not, whether I am treated well or not! I should be patient, generous, giving, listening, bearing with others, when it's far too easy to fit in with the expected culture which shows either that it does not care about a person and their lifestyle, or that the lifestyle ought to be of a certain standard in order for me to pay attention to the the person in question.

If anyone has done some further thinking about how to model grace in relationships, let me know!

Living in relationship with God - more from New Word Alive 2010

I seem to have some impressions still to post about New Word Alive this year. Here's a taster on the teaching from the Psalms, hope you find it useful to think through/pray through. You can order copies of the talks to listen to in various formats from NWA's website.

• From Nigel Stiles in one of the main meetings – we learned from Psalm 42 and 43 (all one poem/song really) that we will need to be pushy with ourselves in difficult times telling our souls, right as they struggle, what we know about God, what we have to base our lives on. So much has been revealed to us about God’s character in the Bible, in history, most of all in Jesus who rose from death. 
• Feelings of pain needn’t be a taboo subject in the church – they mustn’t be if we are to be real with each other and honestly help each other look to our Rock, God. And we know Jesus suffered taunts against His perfect nature, he suffered huge humiliation being stripped and hung up on the cross, total abandonment by men and even by his loving Father on the cross as he bore the curse of sin, and a crushing of his very soul. He knows pain. As he had hope of being with his Father again, so can we – he will bring us with him to a perfect kingdom where love will last and life will be strong, and funerals and mourning will be something "we used to do" in the old days. What a great hope we have! What a spur to our souls in the midst of hurt.

Richard Cunningham and Richard Coekin were excellent on Psalms 90 and 103 (now 2 of my favourites) – showing us the great magnificence of God: let’s stir up ourselves to praise Him with all of our beings, and also let’s ask Him for true wisdom in this mixed-up world.

And here is the fourth and final video interview I took this year:

Family matters

As part of a kind of blog-praise project (see here), and because God is the source of all the good in life:

• Praise the Lord God for family – God’s grace to sinners is seen in the way others at home, and in the church, care about me, through all their own issues – yes I repeat – having patience with sinful, self-centred me! I can not even really gauge how much benefit I get from them, as we learn to love one another in Jesus.

• Also we at church are praising God for a team of Christians being let back into a difficult and poor area of Tibetan China, which I heard about on Wednesday. Isn’t it great that the Word of God is unbound? (2 Tim 2:9) May it keep spreading life!

Yes, more poetry, and this one isn't so subtle

Express pain
For the whole body is shouting
And can not hear you.

Jump for joy
For each muscle is tensed
Lacking only reason.

Be at peace
For my torso and legs
Argue over direction.

Face facts
For the mind is absent
And the heart is full.

Teach me
For an ear strains
All while an eye beholds.

(Impossible news
Of immeasurable worth
Speaks of “knowing yourself”).


While I remember, the poem at http://bibleandcoffee.blogspot.com/2009/02/election.html is a wonderful reflection on how God has rescued sinners who have merely trusted Him. Check it out!

Getting perspective on what the church is here for - part two

Here are some more areas where I was pushed in my thinking at New Word Alive this year...

• Evangelism. Apologetics is about being a person who has hope, and showing that you have hope: 1 Peter 3:15. This does not just have to be argued for in rational arguments (although any believer ought to know the firm basis we have for hope, using their minds to dwell on the historical records about Jesus and the way God has worked in the world, as this can only strengthen faith). The point is this: We can make a case for Jesus by showing what a great hope we have in Him for the future, and how this affects us; what joy and happiness it brings us.
• Worship. Every part of my life is worship. I am designed for worshiping God yet (and this is what I saw more clearly) I often give myself to other things in worship. For instance, the right responses I have to things or people or groups of people around me are easily twisted to become idol-worship, while on the other hand, the devil wants me to discount parts of my life entirely, forgetting that I ought to glorify God in every activity and motivation of the heart. Therefore, our job, as speaker Dan Strange on the "Engagement with Culture" track taught, is to “smash idols” in our lives, and return to true worship, as God is Lord of all - the one whose name means salvation and eternal hope for many, many sinners: such a powerful and generous-hearted God deserves our all.
• Fellowship. Talking and praising with Christians can be a life-line – it really can work on my attitudes and encourage me towards love of God. I am more convinced than before that meeting up in 2s or 3s or 4s with those of similar age-groups to spur each other on has an important place within churches.

There were other more creative things that came out of having some time away from work too, such as the poem below I began to write one day when looking at the amazing blue sky over breakfast in the caravan. More to follow soon, including a review of the brilliantly experimental arts-fused "Pause" evening I went to one night.

Bare sky-hearts

Blue skies
Wide open
Looking at me
In a benign way.

Affording to be above and arching over;
A friendship offering, or blessing
Rebounding out to others.

Cold morning surfaces, and seagulls,
Next to unbroken stretches of grassy curb –
Irregular. Like restless light.

Un-dependable;
Now gracious, now despising the impact she makes
Re-painting over and over

But light presents itself
Bright, full of colour, through her!
And people stop and admire.

Getting perspective on what the church is here for - part one

This could be the start of my very own blog-athon, as I want to make several posts following a trip last week to a big Christian conference called “New Word Alive”. Not only was I encouraged by being able to receive high quality teaching and meet together with lots of other Christians to worship and share our lives, we also had great weather (yes, and in Wales!) and I was able to enjoy chilling out with old and new friends.

Altogether a seriously encouraging, motivating, empowering experience that built us up both in terms of our thinking, and emotionally, as our hearts were stirred to greater love of God. It has helped me get a number of things into perspective:

• Our direction for life. There is an eternal heaven for believers, and great security and hope as we look forward to that, while there is eternal punishment for those who don’t follow Jesus – who Himself warned people about this in stark terms. What does this mean? For one thing, it is utterly appropriate for us to weep with a heavy heart for those who face hell. And it is our responsibility to love others enough to share our great message about Jesus, the only way to heaven. Truth, and good teaching, are meant for spreading, not leaving with believers or in comfortable places!
• Prayer. What an amazing privilege! May we continue in prayer for spiritual life and growth in the hearts and lives of those around us. It is God who brings the growth (1 Cor 3:6). Thus prayer is essential gospel work.
• Service. The vital ministry of caring for others doesn’t just happen. No ministry does. It is a struggle, and we need to ask God for help with it, and involve the church too – all the time, remembering that God is with us and it is God who wants to do good in the lives of our friends/family, and we are His servants.
• Joy. Here is what should be my greatest joy: I have Christ! Not that I have a comfortable life, or friends, family, intellect, things to do or watch or enjoy here on earth – but that I have been united with the Son in death to sin, new life and the promise of a rich eternal future. All else is from Him anyway!

More tomorrow, and yes, I actually mean tomorrow.