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September 2014

Daily Bible thoughts 715: Tuesday 30th September 2014:

Galatians 3:1-9

We come now to the central section of Galatians (chs.3/4).This is about how to become a child of Abraham. Paul has to persuade the Galatians that the gift of righteousness is by faith, and not by observing the works of the law.

In chapter 2, as we have seen, Paul has not spared the leaders of the church for caving in to pressure from the Judaizers. Here he gives the church its share of the message! ‘’You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.’’ The Message. His essential point is that salvation is through faith in the crucified Jesus. This is how you receive the Spirit. This is the doorway into the life of the miraculous. It’s not by keeping the law, but it is by trust in Jesus alone. ‘’Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? The Message. Paul then moves Abraham to front of stage as the prototype of the people of faith (6-9). He is the father of all who have faith, both Jews and Gentiles. Abraham’s salvation did not come through the law (which was not yet given) but by faith in God. We must not allow anyone to move us from this central truth. Salvation is not by faith plus anything. It is by faith in Christ alone. If we try to add anything to the gospel beyond simple belief in Jesus, we end up devaluing the cross. That was not something Paul could be happy about it (6:14, 15).

It may be that good questions are superior to good answers (1-5). We see the power of excellent questioning in the ministry of Jesus. Perhaps the best teachers are those who pose the right questions. Paul, in these verses, bombards the Galatian Christians with questions. In trying to help fellow Christians grow in Christ, may God give us the wisdom to pose the questions that will stimulate and promote forward movement.

Here’s a question for you to consider today. When you became a Christian you were probably very much aware of the Holy Spirit’s work in bringing this about (3). But have you in any way ceased to rely on the Spirit and have you started to try to do things by self-effort? We are saved through the gospel and we must learn to live by the gospel, day after day.

Prayer: Jesus keep me near the cross. Let me never stray from central the truth of Christ crucified for my sins. May I never glory except in the cross of Christ.

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Daily Bible thoughts 714: Monday 29th September 2014:

 Galatians 2:11- 21

The fear of man does bring a snare (11-16). Social pressure can squeeze you into a mould where you don’t really fit and don’t truly want to be. Fear makes its presence felt in the lives of the best of people, and can cause them to act out of character. Fear can lead to hypocrisy. That’s what happened in the case of Peter, and Paul was right to call him out on it. I suppose, spiritually speaking, Paul was the ‘new kid on the block’. But he had the loving courage to rebuke the revered apostle. Paul saw that the gospel was at stake (14). The good news of Jesus creates a level playing field in which all the old barriers come down (3:28). In Christ Jews and Gentiles are one before God, and should be able to express their unity in sharing meals and in many other ways Before the Judaizing pressure group came in and started throwing their weight around, Peter lived ‘’like a Gentile and not like a Jew’’ (14). He used to eat with Gentiles (12). He was perfectly free to do so. But then the fear of people got him into double standards. ‘’If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you’re not being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to conform to Jewish customs just to make a favourable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies.’’ The Message.

Our calling and responsibility is to always act ‘’in line with the truth of the gospel’’ (14). When a leader strays from this path, regrettably, others of Christ’s sheep follow him over the cliff edge (13). Peter’s hypocrisy set in motion a chain reaction of hypocritical living (13). This was probably not something he intended or expected, but it happened. Our actions have consequences. Paul was not being awkward for the sake of it in pointing out this inconsistency. It’s not that he was being belligerent because he was naturally pugnacious, or that he liked to point the finger at others. But when ‘’the truth of the gospel’’ is at stake you have to draw a line in the sand and make a courageous stand. The Judaizers added to the gospel. They insisted that in order to be saved a person must keep the Jewish law in addition to having faith in Christ. A man must be circumcised, they said. Paul, in response, put on his theological boxing gloves and fought for the central truth that justification (a right standing with God) is by faith alone. Four times in (15-20) Paul uses the word ‘’faith’’ (three times in 15 and once in twenty). ‘’We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it-and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can ever please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good…So I quit being a ‘’law man’’ so that I could be God’s man…If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.’’ The Message.

If anyone tries to say that anything other than faith in Christ will make a person a Christian, we also need to resist those ‘added ingredients’ that heretics want to toss into the mixing bowl. The truth sets free. Error ties people up in chains.

It is the case that some people opposed Paul’s teaching of justification by faith. It seems they deliberately misunderstood it (17) arguing that Paul was saying, ‘It doesn’t matter how you live so long as you have faith in Jesus.’ They said that he (and ultimately Jesus Himself) was promoting sin. Anyone who still thinks like that should read Romans 6. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please expose to my own heart any lurking hypocrisy, that I may turn from it and glorify you in a crucified life of faith in you.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 713: Friday 26th September 2014:

Isaiah 40:21-31

The exalted portrayal of the God of Israel continues. It includes the remarkable detail that ‘’He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth…’’ (22). These words were written long before the scientific discovery that the world is round! Isaiah praises God the Creator. ‘’Don’t you understand the foundation of all things? God sits high above the round ball of earth. The people look like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas – yes, like a tent canvas to live under.’’ The Message. But God is also the destroyer of the wicked (23, 24). Wherever earthly rulers are ‘’planted’’ or ‘’take root’’, God blows them away like chaff. The people of Judah needed to hear this, surrounded as they were by great and threatening emperors and empires. Knowing this will also bring perspective to our viewing of the news.

‘Deism’ is the belief that God created the universe, but He doesn’t control it. He ‘wound it up’ like a clock, and left it to run on its own. Deism presents a God who is an ‘absentee Landlord.’ But this is not the God of the Bible. This is not Isaiah’s understanding of the Almighty (25, 26). God not only made the Universe, He also preserves it, with every star in its own place. ‘’Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name – so magnificent! so powerful- and never overlooks a single one?’’ The Message. The New Testament brings to us an even fuller revelation. It says that the Lord Jesus Christ, being God Himself, is the Agent of creation, and in Him ‘’all things hold together.’’ (Colossians 1:16, 17). It is an awesome experience to be out in a dark place, where there are no street lights, and look up into the night sky. It causes you to wonder. It makes you feel so small. For a believer, it encourages your worship of the infinite God who knows every star by name. (See also Genesis 1:16b, and the almost throwaway line: ‘’He also made the stars.’’ ) I believe a major reason for the universe being there is to prompt us to ask the question of (26): ‘’Who created all these?’’ As someone said, the majestic procession of the stars shows the ‘precision’ of God’s control and not its absence.

Sometimes we need God to question us. Or we need to ask searching questions of ourselves. Don’t we know? Haven’t we heard? Hasn’t it been told to us, and have we not understood? (21, 28a). Then why do we speak so negatively and complain? (27). Have we lost sight of who God is? Perhaps we are not living in the light of the truth we have received? ‘’Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, ‘’GOD has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me’’? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? GOD doesn’t come and go. GOD lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.’’ The Message. This God, whose ‘’great power and mighty strength’’ upholds the universe, will also hold up His weary, discouraged people (29-31). He has not abandoned them, whatever they may feel. (Remember that feelings can tell big lies.) God will give them strength for seemingly impossible tasks; to be able to face challenges and surmount obstacles. ‘’The wrong inference from God’s transcendence is that he is too great to care; the right one is that he is too great to fail (28); there is no point at which things ‘get on top of’ him. But vs 29-31 make the big transition from power exercised to power imparted, to be experienced through the faith expressed in the word hope…’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.656. There is the idea in verse 31 of changing strength, as a person might change into fresh clothes, or exchange and old thing for a new.

Prayer: Lord, let me trade in my strength, which is weakness, for your strength, which is power.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 712: Thursday 25th September 2014:

 Isaiah 40: 12-20

There is an incredible, exalted picture of God throughout the second half of Isaiah.

‘’Returning to the land and rebuilding the nation seemed impossible tasks to the exiles, so Isaiah invited them to behold the greatness of God. God is greater than every burden you bear and every challenge you face. Babylon was but a drop in the bucket to God! The world’s false gods can do nothing to hinder the working of your great God, so trust Him to see you through.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.476.

‘’This superb poem rebukes our small ideas and flagging faith…by its presentation of God…and…of a universe dwarfed by his presence. The goal of the passage is v.31, where human imaginings (18) and doubts (27) give way to the humble expectancy that is urged on us throughout the book.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.656.

In the remainder of chapter 40 Isaiah speaks about this incomparable God who is coming to rescue His people. He poses a series of rhetorical questions, designed to help God’s people trust in Him and wait patiently for Him. They need to know that He is able to do what He has promised. The description of God in (12-31) is reminiscent of God’s own words about Himself in Job chapters 38-41. ‘’God is bigger, greater, and more awesome than any human can imagine. ‘’Who can understand Him?’’ Isaiah asks. ‘’Who can teach Him?’’ ‘’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1038. Who of us has come close to doing any of the things God has done? These words humble us, even as they encourage our faith. ‘’Who could ever have told GOD what to do or taught him his business? What expert would he have gone to for advice, what school would he attend to learn justice? What god do you suppose might have taught him what he knows, showed him how things work? The Message. ‘’Such a Creator hardly needs our impatient advice or shares our impotence.’’ Derek Kidner: p.656.

‘’Why, the nations are but a drop in a bucket, a mere smudge on a window. Watch him sweep up the islands like so much dust off the floor! There aren’t enough trees in Lebanon nor enough animals in those vast forests to furnish adequate fuel and offerings for his worship. All the nations add up to simply nothing before him – less than nothing is more like it. A minus.’’ (15-17) The Message. Isaiah saw that no amount of sacrifices could do justice to the greatness of God, even if all the firewood and animals of Lebanon were available. We can never worship Him adequately.

When you recognise how infinitely great God is, it also helps you to see how utterly ridiculous idolatry is (18-20). What lifeless idol, even when covered in gold, can compare with the living God? There seems to be a certain irony; a sarcastic touch of humour in the reference to idols being so helpless, they have to be constructed with wide bases so that they don’t ‘’topple’’ over! (20). It is of the very essence of an idol to be unstable. Our idols may appear to offer stability, but they cannot give it. As someone has pointed out, the idolater’s pathetic efforts are studied at length in Isaiah (see also 44:9-20; 46:1-7), and the wilfulness that causes the spiritual blindness is exposed in Romans 1:18-23.

Prayer: Lord God, help me to see you more clearly with every passing day.

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Daily Bible thoughts 711: Wednesday 24th September 2014:

 Isaiah 40:1-11

We ‘’emerge in 40:1 in a different world from Hezekiah’s, immersed in the situation foretold in 39:5-8,which he was so thankful to escape. Nothing is said of the intervening century and a half; we wake, so to speak, on the far side of the disaster, impatient for the end of captivity. In chs. 40-48 liberation is in the air; there is the persistent promise of a new exodus, with God at its head; there is the approach of a conqueror, eventually disclosed as Cyrus, to break Babylon open; there is also a new theme unfolding, to reveal the glory of the call to be a servant and a light to the nations. All this is expressed with a soaring, exultant eloquence, in a style heard only fitfully hitherto (cf. e.g. 35:1-10; 37:26-27), but now sustained so as to give its distinctive tone to the remaining chapters of the book.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.655

So Isaiah’s vision leaps ahead 150 years. The exile was coming to an end and the Jews were about to be led home to Jerusalem by the Lord Himself. Hence this word of double ‘’Comfort, comfort…’’ (1, 2). The people had been amply punished for their sins, and the time of chastening was about to end. We might say that the sentence had been served and it was time to leave the jail. The words ‘’Speak tenderly’’ were often used in contexts of reassurance. It literally means ‘’speak to the heart’’. ‘’Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear That she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of – forgiven! She’s been punished enough and more than enough, and now it’s over and done with.’’ The Message. The crisis, the pain, the heartache are all at an end. What a relief!

The Lord was about to defeat the Babylonians (by means of the Persian army) and lead His people back to Jerusalem. There is the idea of a second ‘exodus’ by means of the ‘’wilderness’’. God’s glory would be revealed in and through this liberation (3-5). One hundred and fifty years after these words were written they came to pass, but only in a preliminary way. The gospels show that the real fulfilment occurred when Jesus came into the world and began His ministry. John the Baptist was the ‘’voice of one calling in the desert’’, preparing the way for Christ (see Mark 1:1-5). Above, all the people of John’s day were called to prepare for the Messiah by repenting of their sins (Matthew 3:1-3). Still today repentance makes the ‘’rough ground…level’’ (4) and removes spiritual obstacles out of the way so that we can come to Jesus and be saved by Him. There is a sense in which (5) is still to happen in the fullest sense, when Jesus comes back to the earth.

In (6-8) you find a contrast between the frailty of men who ‘’fall’’ (7a) and ‘’the word of our God’’ which ‘’stands for ever’’ (8). Something of that endurance is seen in the ‘staying-power’ of the book of Isaiah, and the fact that we are still studying it today, rejoicing in its truth, and marvelling over its fulfilments. Here Isaiah seems to hear another voice. No one can preach without first hearing the ‘’voice’’ above all voices. This voice tells him to tell the people that all men (and that would include the Assyrians and the Babylonians) have only a short time on earth. Their glory soon fades. But it is not so with God’s Word. The plans of even the mightiest empires cannot prevail against the Lord (see 1 Peter 1:23-25). Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will endure forever (Mark 13:31). So will those who obey His Word (1 John 2:17).

What a beautiful gospel we have of a mighty God and loving tender Saviour (10, 11). May we ‘’lift up’’ our voices without fear to declare the ‘’good tidings’’ (9)

Prayer: Help me to come out of hiding and boldly proclaim your truth to all.

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 710: Tuesday 23rd September 2014:

 Isaiah 39

The Bible is realistic about its heroes. Even the best of people, like Hezekiah, had ‘feet of clay’. We see this king as one of the best to sit on the throne of Judah. He trusted in the Lord. He led the people in God’s ways. But he wasn’t perfect. The short term thinking he showed in (8) is not commendable.

They say that a football team will be more vulnerable to a counter-attack goal after they have just scored. In the spiritual life, immediately after some ‘high’, or triumph or deliverance, you can be exposed. Following a victory, the soul can be tempted to put its feet up by the fire and relax with a nice glass of wine! This story teaches that you can never afford to drop your guard. You must never switch off. There is a repeated call in the New Testament to be ‘’alert’’. As someone said, the price of our safety is ‘’eternal vigilance.’’

Sometimes kindness can find your vulnerabilities more than outright antagonism (1). We are softened by niceness. Some people are very skilful at wearing the velvet glove which hides a curled fist. ‘’The faith of Hezekiah, proof against the heaviest blows, melts at the touch of flattery…and the world claims another victim by its friendship.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.655

Warren Wiersbe offers some helpful insights on this short chapter: ‘’This was the third test (2 Chron. 32:31), and the king failed miserably. What could not be accomplished through an army or an illness was accomplished through flattery. If Satan cannot succeed as a lion, then he comes as a serpent: ‘’Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful’’ (Prov.27:6).The king of Babylon wanted one thing: Judah’s cooperation in opposing the Assyrians. The enemy is a liar and uses every excuse to get entry into your life. It was foolish for Hezekiah to welcome them and show them the royal treasures, but pride took over and discernment disappeared…instead of repenting, Hezekiah felt relieved that the judgment would not come in his day. How shortsighted can a man of faith become! Had he no concern for the future of his people? ‘’With the Word’’, p.475.

Actually the Bible does not state that Merodach-Baladan wanted Hezekiah’s help to take on Assyria, but enough is known about the Babylonian king to imagine that he had plots hatching under the cover of this visit.

Someone said: ‘’Speak the kind truth’’. That may not always be comfortable truth, but it would be unkind to withhold it (Proverbs 26:28) Isaiah had to confront both Ahaz (chapter 7) and Hezekiah (chapter 39). It takes great courage to wound a friend, but we have to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and, at times, give wounds that heal.

.’’Be very careful to watch against ostentation and the pride from which it springs. The best antidote is the habit of looking from the gifts to the Giver, and to accustom yourself to the position of a steward of the benefits which have been done to you. Oh for more of the spirit of praise and thanksgiving, of adoring gratitude, of grateful love!…No doubt Hezekiah’s sad lapse is intended as a warning to us all. The minuteness with which it is recorded may be intended to impress on us the danger of coquetting with the Babylon around us. It is impossible to do so without becoming ultimately carried into captivity to its corruption.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.284.

Prayer: Lord give me eyes to see through all the glittering sham of deception, and turn my back on it.

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Daily Bible thoughts 709: Monday 22nd September 2014:

Isaiah 38

‘’If you are swept off your feet, it is time to get on your knees.’’ Frederick Beck.

Everyone who has received a doctor’s report with a deadly prognosis, especially in younger years, will be able to identify with Hezekiah’s agonised question (10). It’s not easy to hear that you are going to die, and especially not in the ‘’prime’’ of life. Hezekiah felt ‘mugged’ – that good years were being stolen from him. (All of this happened at a time when Hezekiah knew that the Assyrians were coming 6. It was trouble upon trouble for him.)

But some people facing death are brought back from the brink by God’s grace (38:1-8). I know some Christians think it is unbelieving to go to a doctor. I do not share their view. It seems to me that Hezekiah was healed through prayer (2-6) and medicine (21). Surely we are not to despise the benefits of knowledge God has given through scientific discovery? I believe our Christian attitude should include thanks to God for medical resources, respect for medical practitioners, and trust in God alone for healing. He may work through doctors. He often does. He may use medicine. The essential thing is to look to Him for your healing.

People who have come through a serious illness (or any other form of trial) and who sense that God has been with them in it, and brought them out of it, will regularly say something similar to King Hezekiah (17a). They wouldn’t want to go through it again; they are glad not to be in that trouble anymore; but they recognise the providential good in it (Romans 8:28).

I sometimes think about Hezekiah and wonder what it was like for him. At the beginning of the extra fifteen years (5) he must have felt relieved and elated. It probably seemed like a long time. It is quite a long time. But as the clock ran down how did he feel? I would like to think that he never lost a sense of gratitude that God blessed him with ‘time added on.’

‘’Hezekiah pictured death as going through a gate (v.10),taking down a tent (v.12), being cut from a loom and rolled up (v.12), and being attacked by a beast (v.13).But he clung to the Word of God (v.17) and gave praise to God for all He did (vv.16-20). Difficult experiences should give us a new appreciation for life and a new desire to live for the Lord.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p,474.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the things you’ve brought me through. As someone said, ‘’If I’d never had a problem, I’d never know that God can solve them. I’d never know what faith in God can do.’’

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Daily Bible Thoughts 708: Friday 19th September 2014.

Daily Bible thoughts 708: Friday 19th September 2014: Psalm 107:23-32

A few years ago, a ‘storm’ blew up unexpectedly in my circumstances. I attended a meeting with some people, and, if I didn’t expect it to be all ‘plain sailing’, I certainly wasn’t prepared for the ‘rough seas’ I encountered. I felt overwhelmed. The ‘waves’ seemed to tower above me. It was all so sudden, and I didn’t see it coming. The next morning I read the story of Jesus stilling the tempest. It is found in Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25. Isn’t God’s timing perfect? This came about in the normal course of my daily readings. It mirrored my experience in which ‘’Without warning…’’ (Matthew 8:24) ‘’a furious storm came up…’’  Something of the hurt and the tears of that time have stayed with me. I couldn’t believe what happened. One moment we were in ‘sunshine’. The next it felt like my little ‘boat’ might be wrecked. The stilling of that storm didn’t happen too quickly, but what is important to say is that a great calm did eventually come. Like all of life’s storms, ‘’it came to pass.’’

‘’Some of you set sail in big ships; you put to sea to do business in faraway ports. Out at sea you saw GOD in action, saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean: With a word he called up the wind – an ocean storm, towering waves! You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out; your hearts were stuck in your throats. You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk, you didn’t know which end was up. Then you called out to GOD in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He quieted the wind down to a whisper, put a muzzle on all the big waves. And you were so glad when the storm died down, and he led you safely back to harbour.’’ The Message.

‘’Seafaring is a perfect picture of our experience in this life: getting on with our lawful business (23) when, ‘out of a clear blue sky’, comes the storm that upsets all our calculations, destroys our cherished comforts, leaves us helpless in the grip of totally overmastering forces (25-27). Every storm is a summons to trust, for it is not a chance happening or a satanic ploy: it is his storm (25) and in due course the same hand that roused the storm will still it (29). Every storm is a call to prayer (28a) which will avail against even the mightiest opposing forces.’’ J.A.Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.558.

It is impossible to read these words in Psalm 107 and not think about the disciples in their fishing boat on Galilee. (Some commentators see a definite connection between John 6:21 and Psalm 107:30). I wonder if these Jewish disciples remembered the psalm and put two and two together. (Matthew 8:27)? Surely this man was more than a man? Wasn’t the clue to His identity in Psalm 107? This was no other than God Himself in human form.

Prayer: The seas of life can be very rough Lord. I love the sea, but at times I find it terrifying. I am glad you are with me ‘in the boat.’ Thank you for your presence, in Jesus’ Name.

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Daily Bible Thoughts 707: Thursday 18th September 2014.

Daily Bible thoughts 707: Thursday 18th September 2014: Galatians 2:1-10

‘’…those men added nothing to my message.’’ (6)

Paul continues to make the important point that the leaders of the Jerusalem church did not give him a message to preach. Rather, they endorsed the message he had been preaching for some time. Jesus revealed it to him; the church, we might say, rubber-stamped it (1, 2). The gospel Paul preached was not faith plus circumcision (3-5). It was not believe and anything at all. It was a message of grace through faith. Paul states clearly that the leaders of the Jerusalem church recognised his ministry as it stood. They did not demand that he should change his message in any way.  They did not tinker with it; not even in small details. They did not say that he ought to preach circumcision.  They were happy to shake his hand and welcome him as a genuine member of the same church (9), carrying a God-given commission. The insistence on circumcision, as essential to salvation, came from ‘’false brothers’’ who had ‘’inflitrated’’ the ‘’ranks’’ of the church (4). Paul saw this as an attack on ‘’the truth of the gospel’’ and withstood it (5). In asking Paul to ‘’remember the poor’’ (10), the leaders of the Jerusalem were not adding to Paul’s gospel. They were simply underlining the importance of a good work that accompanies the gospel. This is something that saved people do; but it does not save them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

The leaders of the church in Jerusalem recognised that Paul had a specific calling to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter was sent to the Jews. They saw that God was ‘’at work’’ in his ministry (7, 8; see also 1 Corinthians 3:5ff.). In the Christian church, under the gospel umbrella, there are many different preachers with a variety of callings and styles and spheres of operation. It is vital that we can affirm other genuine ministries, even though they may be vastly different from our own.  May God give us eyes that can always see where He is at work and who He is working through. Sadly, it seems to me that in our day there are good Christian men and women who are dismissed because the way they operate is so different to the norm. So long as there is orthodoxy of belief there should be room for flexibility of approach. Let’s be careful that in criticising others we are not wounding God and grieving His Holy Spirit.

Prayer: How amazing Lord that you should work through any of us! I am astounded, and grateful, that you use me!!

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