Stick to the plan

sunrise Scarborough
MJ 2007

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'I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU.' JEREMIAH 29:11

Today God is saying to you, 'While in process, stick to the plan!'
Nothing takes God by surprise. He's a master planner.
Joseph discovered that when your family turns against you, your friends let you down and you finish up in trouble, God still has a plan. Looking back Joseph could say, 'You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good' (Genesis 50:20 NIV).
When your situation seems too hard to handle and downright impossible to explain, remind yourself that God said, 'I know the plans I have for you.'
Some of us are not sure God has made up His mind about us, so we keep trying to earn His favour. Give it up! Receive the truth that God, for Christ's sake, has decided to bless you. And when God decides, temporary situations or the actions of others don't change His decision. There's nothing the enemy devises against you that God hasn't already made 'a way of escape' for. Paul writes, 'God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it' (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Observe that:
(1) In times of testing you discover how faithful God is.
(2) He knows what you can handle.
(3) He will 'make a way' so you can exit this season stronger, and ready for what He has next. So stick to the plan.
The fact that you have a problem is a sign that you have a promise. It's only a matter of time before God reveals the solution.
Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, yet He didn't stop him. He could have summoned twelve legions of angels to help Him, yet He didn't call on them. Under the weight of our sins He cried from the cross, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' That's because He understood it was all part of God's plan for Him. His words, 'God, where are you?' teach us that:
(a) You can be in God's plan, yet at times feel overwhelmed and alone.
(b) When God doesn't answer, you must stand on the Word He has given you.
(c) the pain of this season will eventually give way to the joy God has awaiting you on the other side of it.
So stick to the plan; that's what disciples do. The word 'disciple' means to be disciplined. It means sticking to the plan when you're under attack. It teaches you how to function when you don't feel like it.
The enemy will come against the plan of God in your life, because that plan is like a hedge of protection around you. As long as you stay in God's plan, nothing that the enemy does can destroy you.
So, when you feel like you've reached the end of your rope tether and you can't go another step, do what Jesus did; - pray, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit' (Luke 23:46 NIV). Give it to God! Look up and say, 'Lord, I'm trusting You to do what I cannot do. Bring me through this. Here it is; I'm turning it over to You. My life, my future, and my all are in Your hands!'

Peter proved that as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and stick to the plan, you won't go under.
Notice:
(1) Before you get into something, make sure it's God's will for you! Peter said, 'Lord, if it's you, bid me to come to you on the water' and Jesus said, 'Come.' Before you take on something like water-walking, pray and be sure God's in it. In other words, get God's plan and stick to it.
(2) Don't expect everybody in the boat to go with you. Water-walking is a lonely calling; it sets you apart from those who are timid and security-minded. It also tends to bring criticism from those who think you're making them look bad by contrast.
(3) If you wait for good weather you'll miss your moment. When Jesus said, 'Come,' they were in the middle of a storm. Face it; we'd all like the stars to line up, or some big donor to underwrite the whole project before we make a move. But how often does that happen? Peter wasn't walking on the water; he was walking on the Word! What has God told you to do? Stop waiting for ideal conditions and start doing it!
(4) Don't expect a mistake-free performance. Nobody walks without fluctuation. The Bible describes its heroes in one sentence: 'Whose weakness was turned to strength' (Hebrews 11:34 NIV). All the great men and women of God you admire, go through sinking spells when they cry out, 'Lord, save me.' And do you know what? He does! And He'll do the same for you.
Peter didn't walk on the water all by himself, he did it with Jesus. Today Christ invites you to walk with Him and experience His miracles.
Why don't we see more MIRACLES in our lives?
Because:
(1) We don't pray and believe God for them. Jesus said, 'If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you' (John 15:7 NKJV). Your prayers give God an invitation, an entry point and a channel through which His miraculous power can flow to change your circumstances. But you have to pray and believe Him to do it!
(2) We think the day of miracles is past. The Scriptures declare, 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever' (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV). In reality there never has been 'a day of miracles,' there's only a God of miracles, and He never changes. So don't limit Him!
(3) We allow sin to sabotage our confidence. John writes, 'If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him' (1 John 3:21-22 NIV).
(4) We look at the situation instead of the Saviour and our faith falters. When Jesus told Peter, 'Why do you doubt?' He was saying, 'Don't allow this storm to overwhelm you. I'm right here with you. Your problem is under My feet, therefore it's under your feet too. Just keep your eyes on Me, keep walking by faith and stick to the plan!'


Thanks to 'The Word for Today' Aug 2008 www.ucb.co.uk

A new earth?

sunset MossYard
Solway Firth MJ 2005

Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land shall bless by the God of faithfulness, because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my sight. For I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth. Be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating. Isaiah 65:16-18

'I believe in the resurrection of the body.' However many millions have repeated those words in every continent and time, in thousands of languages, we still have a tendency to believe that heaven is somewhere above the bright blue sky and that's where our disembodied souls go leaving their bodies and the earth behind.

But we also say, 'I believe in Jesus Christ, who on the third day rose from the dead'. If Jesus' battered dead body could come alive again and be gloriously restored, so that he could stand beside the lake in the early morning and cook breakfast for his friends, then I believe the words of the Lord that come to us from Isaiah and are repeated by John in Revelation. There will be a new earth and I, as part of the physical universe, will live in it in a new body.

All the delights of our earth will be restored and recreated. The fractures between God and humanity, between human beings, between humanity and the natural environment and between God and his creation will be mended,* totally and for ever, through the cross of Christ, who is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

Sunset and rainbows, roses and redwoods, paintings and music - all will be ours to enjoy, unspoilt. The damaged earth healed, the lion eating straw beside the ox. Perhaps we will all understand and rejoice in the poetry of each others' languages; perhaps we will meet and recognise with joy 'the infant that lived but a few days' (Isaiah 65:20). Maybe we will live in cities - the promised new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2).

When we pray, 'Your will be done on earth as in heaven,' we are 'invoking a blessing in the land', and promising to do all we can to continue the process of restoration and redemption that Jesus began on the cross, not just in individual lives, but in the world around us. Our work, whatever we do, is to make our earth more like his heaven until he comes again in glory and creates a new earth. Margaret Killingray (LICC)

The Interface

Introducing www.theinterface.org.uk: where Christianity meets Culture

Is the UK populated only by cynical people who are unable to have faith in the sincerity of others? Where are the people of hope? The writer of this article asks if she is alone in thinking that the current media approach to politicians and leaders of large institutions is demeaning and cynical.
Does believing in God lower your IQ? A recent declaration stated that intelligence is a predictor of religious scepticism and that a high IQ turns academics into atheists. What do you think?
These are two of the issues under debate on the interface website. The site was created with the aim of providing a friendly space for Methodists to discuss hot news topics and their implications for our faith.

www.theinterface.org.uk

Staying in God's Presence

How long should I stay?

“…THEY SOUGHT GOD EAGERLY, AND HE WAS FOUND
BY THEM…” 2 CHRONICLES 15:15 NIV

You’ll keep returning only to a place of pleasure, so stay in God’s presence until you create memories strong enough to keep bringing you back. If you don’t, you’ll be lured away by lesser things. Memories of the good times he’d spent with his father were what eventually brought the Prodigal Son back home (Lk 15:17). And the right memories will draw you back into God’s presence, time and time again. “How long should I stay?” you ask.
(1) Until you’ve truly repented. Listen: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…” (2 Cor 7:10 NIV)
(2) Until your mistakes have been dealt with. Listen: “People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy” (Prov 28:13 NLT)
(3) Until your anger subsides. Listen: “…My [own] peace I now give…to you…stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed…” (Jn 14:27 AMP)
(4) Until your fear leaves. Listen, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you,” (Isa 41:10 NIV)
(5) Until your pain is healed. Listen: “I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord…” (Jer 30:17 NIV)
(6) Until your strength is renewed. Listen: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa 40:31).
(7) Until change begins. Listen: “But we all…beholding…the Lord, are changed…from glory to glory…by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18)
(8) Until you understand His plan for your life. Listen, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11 NLT)
(9) Until you recapture your motivation. Listen: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living…be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:13-14 NIV)
(10) Until you receive His wisdom. Listen: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (Ps 32:8 NIV)
(11) Until new ideas are born. Listen: “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you” (Isa 42:9 NIV)
(12) Until Christ becomes the centre of your life. Listen: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4 NIV).

Have you been spending enough time in God’s presence lately?

thanks to UCB.co.uk THE WORD FOR TODAY

Living hope

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

Just over 100 years ago, looking forward to the 20th century, Thomas Hardy heard the song of a frail thrush on a bleak mid-winter evening. He wrote:


So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

Hope. Surely we, too, have few grounds for hope. In spite of the vast technological progress of the past century, in spite of unprecedented prosperity, people are more depressed, the inequalities of the world are as great, resentment and envy breed hatred and potentially apocalyptic terrorism, and a new economic crisis threatens our comfortable lives. Most people, particularly in the West, seem to be deeply pessimistic about the future, often hidden behind a mask of cynicism.

And yet it is hope that Peter describes here as the distinctive mark of the Christian, a mark so distinctive that it will arouse curiosity and elicit questions. Always, he writes, be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

So what is Christian hope? Peter is clear about its origin: we are born again, he declares, into a living hope, into a heavenly inheritance (1:3-4). This is not just pie in the sky when I die: it is based on the historical fact of Jesus' resurrection, and on the merciful character of God. But it is far more than the individual assurance of salvation. It embraces the whole world. It is a hope that God can change individuals and that through them he can change societies; that God has good purposes for people and nations; and that eventually he will make all things new.

What is it that makes you different? That's a question that we shall never hear while we affect the cynicism of those who, being without God, are also without hope. Perhaps being prepared to give an answer doesn't involve a prepared formula for presenting the gospel, but a spontaneous response from a heart overflowing with hope.

Helen Parry LICC