Seekers Start With Word From The Beginning

I am back again in the land of blogging after several days away from net access. I’ve got loads more to share which will come in due time. What you’re about to read is the blog entry I had all specially prepared for Thursday. There’ll be more in catching up on what’s been going on in due time.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Of all the gospels, John’s one often comes across often as the most intriguing, mysterious and compelling. Whereas Matthew outlines Jesus as the fulfilment of scripture and Mark’s Jesus is an action man suffering as a servant whilst ruling as Lord and Luke’s appeals to a universal audience, John’s portrait of Jesus is both intimate and familial and divine and magisterial. Nothing conjures that up more than the first chapter where you get those at 11 titles/names for Jesus all on display and we are not just introduced to the Promised Messiah or a Suffering Sovereign or a Man of All Peoples but we are met by this awesome yet very present God.

And then to kick it all of we get those amazing first words of the gospel account that mesmerise me more than virtually any other verse in scripture as it holds me to that which I love most – Jesus is the Word. And the Word was at the beginning. Light brought life indeed as a very real reading of created order, but Light was first thought expressed in Word.

For even as we recall Genesis 1’s account of how things came to be nothing happened until Light – as long as it was ‘let there be’ there was a divine intake of breath in anticipation … let there be what? There it exploded – Light. Word creates and all things thus came from Word.

Now some of us faith dudes get all hung up on it especially running away with verses like ‘life and death is in the power of the tongue’ and believing our words hold the very same creative power as God’s. If that genuinely is the case then there must be a number of disappointed speakers because for all the words spoken for financial prosperity and global harmony neither reality seems to have hit the earth in a very real way for the masses.

This is not to neglect the importance of words, but it is to set the Divine Order above our efforts. It is also to remind us, especially me, that if we are to see results for the words spoken, it is in our/my best interests to go back to aligning ourselves/myself with the original Word. Not only that but in pursuit of God we go back to the beginning and we see Him expressing Himself as, in and through Word.

Today has been a really good day. Part of it was spent walking the streets of Glasgow city centre getting a feel for the place and I must say I like the feel. It is not hectic at all, even with the amount of people that go in and out of it I never got anything near the sense of speed and hyper-activity that characterises a place like London or Birmingham.

It’s hardly a friendly town, but there are a lot more natural smiles on faces than I find in Stoke-on-Trent for example and there’s definitely no sense of depression that is also accustomed with S-o-T. That’s not to decry S-o-T, I still love living there, but some experiences have to be acknowledged and that’s one of them!

Glasgow is a rather imposing and foreboding structured city centre architecturally as the building look over you, but that adds to the feel of the city. I like it. I’d definitely like to come here again and find out a bit more about it experience one or two different things.

I am not here presently though on a sight-seeing tour. In regard to what I am here for it has been a most relaxing, engaging, refreshing and reinvigorating day in the sense of being able to attune myself and focus on who I am and what God has called me to do. The majority of the day was spent with words – words read, words thought, words written and on the rarest of occasions words spoken.

Those words have helped crystallised a lot of things in terms of reaffirming my focus and as with any team building the system around the focus. It is very much like the syndrome of having a star player and building the team to play around his strengths and that can definitely be seen in the engagement I am pursuing.

Herein lies the issue and this is why Jesus as the centre of all life is so crucial. He is the star player around which the team of life plays around. He is the creator – both in the football analogy and in real life. He starts the passes going and He sets up achieving all the main goals in life. He directs traffic and He is the first port of defence to prevent conceding any own goals. He is the one that makes everything happen for the glory of His Father by the power of the Word.

So to guarantee success, today in the cherished city of Glasgow I have been reminded, it is all down to being in the Word.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

The Fast For The Curious

The best stories don’t rush to the end but enjoy the journey keeping things interesting as we tick along. So thus far in this journey we’ve established the ignorant beginnings, discovered some fundamental reasons for the issue and the importance of relationships in getting anywhere with God. It’s not just about relationships the environment can be crucial as well as proved to be the case for this most crucial of episodes in the journey – we are in the city of Stoke-on-Trent … or at least near it.

United Christian Broadcasters were at the time based in a facility on the outskirts of the city called Hanchurch. The facility housed their recording studios, offices, canteen area, resource area and some decent quality overnight stay accommodation. Hughie worked here and managed to book some of the space and accommodation facilities for the group who expressed an interest in the national youth evangelism initiative. I recall it vividly because that weekend included Christmas Day and my dear friend, Kevin Shaw, celebrated the birth of his son around the same time.

The sessions that we had as we fasted awakened me to the vitality and dynamism of fasting. With no disrespect intended for previous experiences, I had never got the impression that it could be so riveting, interesting, aspiring, inspiring, challenging, invigorating and draining. Again because I was a novice I was only doing the fasting from morning to evening where others were going for the whole weekend. Unlike other occasions, though, we spent sessions creatively engaged in bible study and prayer.

I recall one landmark session was studying the episode of Gideon in the Judges 6 and also 7. We went through what lessons we could derive from it and its application to the evangelism initiative. I remember being amazed at just how much is ignored when we read scripture and how much juice there is in every verse. I was also caught up in those modern applications and how God is only looking for a few good men to accomplish His will so that the world will know that it is Him that has made it happen and not the ingenuity of man. It was such an impactful session as well as an impactful day that the thought of food or being hungry barely registered.

It was around this time as well that we watched a Transformations video (no, not that video) seeing the effects of the gospel in turning entire communities around from cesspits of sin to flourishing areas of economic vibrancy and social cohesion by the power of prayer and unity. I was captured by that vision and it definitely broadened my mind as to what ministry was all about.

It is something that still heavily influences our church approach to missions both at home and abroad. It is not just about only giving a word, or handing a leaflet to someone about how they need Jesus, but it is about a desire to see our community transformed by the power of God to be places of individuals delivered, families healed, businesses prospering, cultures coming together and peace being made by the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a lot more to the agenda than better church attendance – it is the natural consequence of making disciples and the social impact that has to have as a witness to the world of the glory of God.

I didn’t fully appreciate at the time how because I was feasting on the Word of God that I was fulfilling a basic requirement of fasting. It is not just the prohibition of food consumption but the active sole dedication of the mind and body to consumption of the things of Christ. It is physical affliction in line with a desperate need for God and God only.

Such was my excitement about the session of fasting that by the end of the weekend as I was planning to make my way back to London, Hughie and I conversed about things regarding both NYET and my media aspirations and we came to an agreement that it might be worth considering me moving up to Stoke-on-Trent … for good. That’s another story.

This started in earnest a new level of excitement about fasting, but little did I realise there was so much more fundamental lessons to learn. Lessons like some things to be aware of when fasting and how it is not just for church and project based purposes but it has significant personal implications as we shall discover in the next part of the series.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Prayer: Daily Dependence

Following the trend without necessarily getting into a habit of using these as extended thoughts on the ones that I send out, here’s something that forms part of Jesus’ guide to prayer.

Give us this day our daily bread – Matt 6:11

This can appear a rather odd part of the prayer. You woke up this morning, put clothes on your back and then worked hard for the best part of the week to get the money needed to get to the shop to get what you need for the day. In that way of looking asking God for daily bread is pathetic. Then we look at it from another perspective. The very ability to wake up is not something that we have given ourselves. The ability to move and work are blessings from the God who created us. In that way we really are dependent on Him for even the very basic things of life.

Yet this request goes beyond the material basics and to the heart of how we need to completely rely on God to sustain us just for the day. Just as it was with the children of Israel back in their time in the wilderness, there is not enough for us to store up for the next day, week or month. God gives us everything we need to face the challenges of the day ahead of us and our ability to look out for these provisions rather than worry about the past or the future ensures we can make the most of the present that God offers us called Today.

After all that’s why the writer of Hebrews in chapter three stresses the importance of protecting each other from conceit and unbelief by encouraging each other every day as long as it’s called today. It is amazing how often I take things for granted and never realise just how vulnerable I am to sly attacks to distract from what I’m meant to be doing today. Thank God for His Word then that instructs us on how we can do what we do in a way pleasing to Him and avoiding the many pitfalls that are so easy to fall into. We depend on God every day and need to verbalise that dependence throughout the day so as to be able to walk in the provisions that He’s made for every day.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
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