Hope and Faith

Hope is a powerful thing and it changes lives both when it is there and when it is not. I know christians who think that Hope is just a secular word for Faith, that somehow Faith supercedes Hope and because of our Faith we don't need to bother with the mere trifling that is Hope. How wrong can we be.

1 Corinthians 13:13 says that three things will remain, Faith, Hope and Love. Paul lists Hope separately to Faith because it is vital. Hebrews 11:1 says that 'Faith is the substance of things Hoped for...' (KJ version). Without Hope there is no Faith.

We are allowed to Hope. We have to Hope.

One of my greatest friends and inspirations says that Faith is for the now but Hope is for the future. I believe that Faith is, simply put, an alloy between my Hope for the future, and what I know about God; His Faithfulness, His Power, His Love, His Glory.

I want to stress just how much we need to have Hope. Hope that God will work all things for the good of His loved ones, Hope that He will lead us by still waters, Hope that He knows the plans He has for us and Hope that He will give us the desires of our hearts. We are allowed to Hope. We Have to Hope.

Hope for our families, Hope on behalf of others, Hope when things start to crumble and Hope at the start of a new adventure. We really are allowed to Hope, we really have to Hope.

The Best 'Number Two'

Sometimes people ask me who is my favourite character in the Bible (other than God... or Jesus... basically anyone outside of the Trinity) and they're often surprised at my answer. They expect me to say someone like Abraham, Moses, Elijah or Paul but in fact its Jonathon.

Throughout 1 Samuel we hear the stories of Saul, Jonathon and David and the changing relationships between them. Jonathon was an awesome Leader, Warrior, Prince and Friend. He held the respect of all the people because he was a man of honour, goodness and strength.

But the thing that makes Jonathon stand out above all these qualities was his humility. Here was Jonathon, the first-born son to King Saul and rightful heir to the throne of Isreal. He had all the qualities of a great King and He feared God yet when he saw David, the man that God had annointed King, he humbly and without fuss stepped into line with the will of God. He forfeited the earthly kingdom that was by rights his, in order to pursue the Kingdom of God. He became the greatest 'Number Two' guy and happily served the man he recognised as God's 'Number One'.

Very few of us are called to be God's Number One but we are all Number Two's, serving not just our Pastors or Church Leaders, but above all these things to serve Jesus as God's Ultimate and Eternal Number One.

Jonathon displayed the truest of humilty. He didn't use humilty as an excuse to hold back from doing awesome things, but faced with the will of God he gave absolutely no thought to himself. C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity that true humilty is to lose all sense of self when in the Presence of God. This is why Jonathon is the man (other than Jesus) that I most want to meet when I get to Heaven.

Freedom - The Power of Revelation

I've been talking about Freedom and trying to highlight how Living for God is supposed to be full of Freedom not entrapment. In Christ I am captive only to His Love and Grace over me and to nothing else. I've tried to show how we can start to walk in this Freedom, and some of the keys the Holy Spirit hands us to start to unlock more of it. I want to talk here about one of the most powerful keys we have. That is the Power of Revelation

We all have those 'Light Bulb moments', the Dropping of the long missed Penny, and it always amazes me just how powerful a feeling it is when suddenly we understand something for the first time. Joy rises as clarity emerges.

After His resurrection Jesus was walking with two of his followers on the road to Emmaus but He hid Himself from them whilst explaining to them everything in the Scriptures that related to Himself. He was able to show them how all creation had been leading up to the moment of the cross, how this wasn't the end of hope, but just the beginning. Yet why does He hide himself from them? It's because they needed to Jesus in the scriptures before they saw Jesus in the flesh.

It wasn't the presence of Jesus that got their hearts burning (Luke 24:32). They had no idea who they were walking with. Their hearts were burning simply because of the powerful revelations they were experiencing, long before Jesus revealed His face. Before any of the disciples could act out the next stage of Gods masterplan on Earth and build his Church they needed revelation and understanding of the purpose of everything they had seen whilst Jesus had been with them. Revelation opens doors for us, it gives us hope and a future, it brings clarity and direction.

Freedom - The Power of Condemnation

I've been writing about Freedom in Christ and Freedom in Christianity. I have spent my whole life in church, I've been to many churches and met many Christians in many parts of the world but I've noticed that many Christians aren't free. We are burdened to the point of inaction by the heavy weight of condemnation.

I have seen people leave great churches because the person next to them was a drug addict or homeless person who had been saved. What right do we have to judge who can and can't get saved?! We HAVE to believe that anybody can come to know God and recieve the full extent of God's Grace. When I got saved I needed the full amount of God's grace to cover my sins, and I still do. Paul writes this to Timothy

"Here is a trustworthy saying: Christ came to save sinners, of which I am the worst."

I am ashamed that we can be so be so condemning in our churches, but this is not the kind of condemnation I want to talk about. The biggest killer of Freedom in our lives is Self-condemnation. In my church I am always blessed by people who find the courage to break free from self-condemnation. They are heroes in our faith. Everytime I see them they have grown in confidence and security as they focus on God.

The truth is that "There is now no condemnation for those in Christ" (Romans 8:1) yet have we really grasped this? If we had then we wouldn't be putting pressure on Pastors and church Leaders to be perfect and get it right everytime, we wouldn't go round searching for the 'perfect church' only to leave at the first hint it isn't perfect. Most importantly if we had really grasped this truth we wouldn't be condeming ourselves to be the 'Super Christian' who has an incredible intimacy with God, a powerful pray life, who has the most incredible success' in his career, and did I mention the perfect family life, his love and patience for everyone and his spiritual giftings?

So what are we aiming for? How do we know when we've got to the end? What if there was no end? What if there never came a point in life, especially a christian life, when we could look and happily say that we have figured everything out, we have got it all sorted and that we have not single outstanding issue or problem left to face or resolve? It is obvious to me that there is no such point and strangely most people would be fearful of this but they would be wrong. In fact to me it has become the most freeing of revelations, the most releasing of feelings, the deepest of sighs in my spirit as the heaviest weight is removed that there is no end point. There is no perfection. There is no condemnation.

Freedom - The Power of Perspective

Wow what a period I'm going through in my life at the moment!! I'm reaching a major decision point in my life regarding jobs and careers and all the other things that you suddenly notice for the first time when you finally get churned out of the educational factory of University. It would be so easy to get worked up by ever present deadlines, and to buckle under the pressure of my dissertation but I have learned a little secret, something I want to shout from this Rooftop.

There are many people who have passion and motivation. Just spend some time watching women in a shoe sale and it's obvious that we can all summon up unrelenting passion for something! Yet it seems to me that we only ever get this passionate for one-time or short running events. We can easily summon up a passion for something if it's only gonna take a few hours or maybe days, but it's hard to get excited about the long-haul. Christian living should all be about the long haul, about sticking it through to the end.

We are surrounded by one-hit wonders and people riding the back of instant success. I'll be brutelly honest, I don't care what Lewis Hamilton has to say, yet his was one of the best selling autobiographies this Christmas. I'm not inspired by people who have only just hit the scene. If Lewis Hamilton is able to stay at the top his sport for the next 10-12years, still pushing new success and still achieving greatness then I will sit up and listen. The most inspirational people in my church are those who have been christians for 30-40years and are still in church, still loving God and still pursuing new things in Him. These are the people I want to listen to, to glean from and I honour them.

Ask yourself, how long do you want to be a Christian? How long do want to be in church? This is my secret: I always want to be a Christian and I always want to be in my church. Therefore if I want to do this my whole life then I have my whole life to get it right!! Longevity is what I aim for, not success. Longevity is the key to success, not the other way round. There is unbelievable freedom in that revelation.

This is the perspective we have to take in our Christian Lifes. We HAVE to! I'm being serious when I say that the consequences of not seeing this only lead to disaster in a downwards spiral of negativity, condemnation, failure and depression. We need to get a Passion for the Long-haul.

Freedom - The Power of Words

I've been thinking lots recently about Freedom and how christian living shoud be about the Freedom that Jesus has won for us. It's this Freedom that I want to shout about! There is Power in Freedom and so I want to spend some time looking at the things that set us free and the things that take us captive. I really hope and pray that you catch onto this freedom as you read.

I want to start this little series on Freedom by looking at perhaps one if the most binding and/or freeing part of our lives. Our words.

That words have power is obvious to anyone who has spent anytime around another human being. School playgrounds are evidence enough but so too are our families and workplaces our Governments and particularly our Churches. The Power of God's Word created every facet of the universe, and the Power of our own words will create our own influence, our world view and form the basis of every relationship we do or don't have.

Words can change impossible situations. Abraham was faced with such a situation when God gave him His promise. Yet he chose to believe God not just in his heart but in his speech. Faith without action is dead and what are words if they are not the most affirming and powerful of actions we can take? All the Heroes of Faith in Hebrews 11 backed up their faith-filled hearts with faith-filled words.

Churches often tell us to watch our words so that we don't become negative. I've often heard it said that it doesn't really matter what we say as long we don't hurt anyone or say anything negative. This type of redundant positivity is so damaging. We need to spend our energies actually being positive instead of trying not to be negative, then we can be purposefully positive rather than redundantly positive. This is Freedom.

What is Maturity? - Part 3

I've been thinking more lately about maturity and it seems to me that perhaps there are two stages in the growing up process. I've already spoken about the first part, that we must mature in ourselves. I was lucky to learn this early on in life, and I became confident in myself, yet I didn't realise that was another stage of the journey to come.

Tthe second stage of maturity, after growing up in yourself, is to grow up in the world. I often meet people who have only gone through this first stage, they are not immature but smart, fun to be around and even have some direction in life, yet I've noticed that often this direction is set by what they know about themselves rather than what they know about the world. To grow up in the world takes experience.

Some of my best friends have never travelled as far as London, have never left Europe and go on holiday with the same family or friends that they spend all their time with and just end up re-enacting life but in another location.

In the 18th and 19th centuries young gentleman amongst British society were expected to take the 'Grand Tour' before recieving their entitlement to the family wealth. Often in their late teens these young, well educated men were not deemed mature to run the family estate until they had experienced more of the world. They travelled, often alone or in pairs, around the major cities in Europe building relationships and inspecting factories, farms and other businesses. They returned home as young men ready to take on the challenges of becoming head of the family.

Travelling isn't the only way to find your place in the world. Many people find it in the home towns, in their colleges or schools but only because they have stepped outside of their small bit of life and dared to find something else. These people have volunteered at homeless shelters or day care centres, they have gone back into schools to help children to read and they have found their place in the world.

We all learn to grow up in ourselves, learn to make sound choices, and become more confident however real maturity in life comes when we find our own little spot in this earth, our role, our section of that battle line that no-one else can fill. Our Life.