Free daily Bible notes

Daily Bible thoughts 681: Wednesday 13th August 2014:

Destruction (1-4): Jerusalem is called ‘’Ariel’’ which means ‘’altar hearth’’ in the Hebrew language. This great city, with its prestigious past (1a) as David’s capital, and which was the site of God’s altar, would be turned into a hearth of burning embers. We cannot live forever off the spiritual capital of the past. Although armies such as those of Assyria and Babylon would besiege the city, it would actually be the Sovereign Lord working through them (2, 3). No amount of religion can save people from God’s judgment (1b). He wants something that affects the heart, and not mere rituals (13).

Deliverance (5-8): This speaks of a sudden and surprising divine intervention: ‘’Because, surprise, as if out of nowhere, a visit from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.’’(5b, 6a) The Message. In God’s good time, those who seek to destroy Jerusalem will themselves be destroyed. The attacking forces will ‘wake up’, as if from a dream, and discover that instead of being the attackers, they have become the ones under attack. Hold on to this truth today that God can turn bad situations around dramatically, and when He moves He regularly does so speedily. ‘’They will wake up and discover their dreams of success have become nightmares of defeat. God knows how and when to deliver His people.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.469.

Dullness (9-12): But although the far off future looked bright, the present reality facing Isaiah was bleak. The people of Jerusalem were spiritually blind. In a spiritual sense, they were in a drunken stupor; they were asleep (9, 10). They were unable to see or read or hear what Isaiah was trying to say. Even the leaders, who were able to read, couldn’t read what Isaiah had written. It was ‘’sealed’’ – closed off from their spiritual eyes (11): ‘’What you’ve been shown here is somewhat like a letter in a sealed envelope. If you give it to someone and tell her, ‘’Read this,’’ she’ll say, ‘’I can’t. The envelope is sealed.’ And if you give it to someone who can’t read and tell him, ‘’Read this,’’ he’ll say, ‘’I can’t read.’’ The Message.

‘’God’s people were like drunken sleeping blind men trying to read a sealed book! They had no understanding of spiritual things nor did they worship God in the Spirit (Matt.15:8-9).’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.469.

As we will go on to see tomorrow, this blindness is associated with a dead formalism in worship (13). Tom Hale says some sobering words about this which we will do well to take to heart: ‘’The spiritual condition of many churches today is similar to that of Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time: people today engage in lifeless worship; they are not able to see God or to understand his word. When we close our hearts to God, He makes our eyes blind and our ears dull. As a result, our worship becomes mechanical and lifeless. But if we seek God with all our heart, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13); and He will open up our spiritual eyes and ears and enable us to know His will and to worship Him aright.’’ The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1028.

Prayer: Help us Father God, to worship you in spirit and in truth. I want to be the kind of worshipper that you are seeking.

August 13, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 680: Tuesday 12th August 2014:

Psalm 106:40-48

Today we conclude our long journey through this Psalm of confession.

‘’Many times he delivered them…’’ (43a). These words could be taken as a summary of Old Testament history in totality. Verses 40-43 refer not only to the period of the Judges (see the book of ‘Judges’), but also to the time of the monarchy (see the books of ‘1 and 2 Samuel’ and ‘1 and 2 Kings’.) For hundreds of years the Lord endured the Israelites’ recurring idolatry and rebellion. (There is a repetitive cycle in the Old Testament of sin leading to oppression leading to repentance leading to deliverance, and then more sin…and so on and so forth!!) Finally God’s longsuffering reached its limit and He ‘’handed them over to the nations (41) – especially Assyria and Babylon finally.

Like the Israelites, we too have a ‘’bent’’ toward rebellion by nature, and we need to learn from them the lesson that sin, unchecked, leads to wasting away (43). ‘’Over and over God rescued them, but they never learned – until finally their sins destroyed them.’’ That was their story. It could be ours, if we don’t heed the powerful lessons of Biblical history

But the captivity in foreign lands was not the end of the story! God preserved a remnant of His people, who, in their exile, sought Him and He heard them and remembered the covenant He had made with this people (44, 45). That doesn’t mean that God’s memory had been failing Him and He’d forgotten all about it for a time. He isn’t subject to our human frailties. Rather it means that He had regard to the covenant in what He did. So, some of the captives began to return (see the books of ‘Ezra’ and ‘Nehemiah’). ‘’ He remembered his Covenant with them, and, immense with love, took them by the hand. He poured out his mercy on them while their captors looked on, amazed.’’ The Message.

But there were others still exiled, like this psalmist (some think) and he cried out to God: ‘’Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations…’’ (47). (It’s important to say that not every commentator agrees that there is a reference to the great Assyrian/Babylonian captivity in verses 44-47)

‘’That is also our cry, the cry of the Church in our generation. We too stumble and sin and compromise. We too need to be continuously ‘’gathered from the nations’’ – consecrated, set apart – so that we might fulfil our calling to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Tom Hale: The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.903.

‘’The psalm is best simply heard as the song of the church in the world, subject to its enticements, overcome by its powers, losing its identity by compromise, but longing and praying for a better day and praising the God who, amid the fluctuations of his people, is the same from everlasting to everlasting.’’ J.A. Motyer: The New Bibkle Commentary, p.557

Prayer: Lord God, have mercy on your wayward and compromised people. Please forgive our sins, break our chains and restore us to fulfil our God-given destiny.

August 12, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 679: Monday 11th August 2014:

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: ‘’We must form our estimate of men less from their achievements and failures and more from their sufferings.’’

It is thought that in this passage Paul was probably talking about his own experience, in a humble way. In the opening verses he talks about knowing ”a man in Christ” who had a glorious visit to ”the third heaven” (2), but then he seems to identify himself as this man in (7). There are times when preachers may feel it is wise to give personal sermon illustrations in such a fashion. It appears to be the case that along with great privilege there also comes great responsibility, and there can be great cost too(7). Paul got to see ‘’surpassingly great revelations’’ but at the same time he paid no small price. There are gifts from God that don’t feel like gifts: ”there was given me” (7). There are things God gives His children that are like medicine; they leave a nasty taste in the mouth but they are for our benefit. I remember a preacher quoting someone who said: ”We weep at blessings clothed as sorrows”. That may take a little bit of thinking about , but the longer you have been a Christian the more likely it is that you will have experienced some of these ‘blessings’. ‘’Because of the extravagance of these revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty!’’ The Message.

No one can say with certainty what Paul’s ‘’thorn’’ was (7). Clearly, it was something Satan was allowed to do to Him (see also Job 1, 2 and Luke 22:31-34), but Paul knew that the devil was not in charge and that the Lord could remove it if He chose to do so (8). It may well be that the ‘’thorn’’ can take many forms, but it is something that comes our way to keep us humble and dependent on God, trusting in His power and not our own strength. I can think of difficult experiences that have driven me to prayer and fasting and caused me to cling harder to ‘the Rock who is higher than I.’ I’m sure you can too. A close relative once wondered out loud in conversation with me, ‘Why is it I have to face suffering to really have the prayer life that I should?’

Paul’s intercession was earnest (8). It was intense and heartfelt. He ‘’pleaded’’. ‘’At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it.’’ The Message. It is important to take note that Paul’s prayer was answered, but the specific request was denied (9). He got a very clear answer from God. He knew precisely what the Lord had said. There would not be a removal of the cause of weakness but an infusion of divine strength (9a). Do we fail to see some answers to prayer because they arrive in a different guise to the one we expected?

Paul’s response was not to kick back at God’s answer and complain (9b, 10). He wanted to know ‘’Christ’s power’’; he wanted to live and work in true strength. So he fully submitted to God’s work in him, even though his initial response was to say, ‘Please could I not have this?!’ (8). We might say that it was a blessing ‘clothed’ as a sorrow, and Paul came to see that. ‘’Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size…I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.’’ The Message.

R.T. Kendall says that ‘’suffering is the key to anointing.’’

Prayer: I thank you Lord that you turn our weaknesses into your ‘’opportunities’’ so that the glory goes to you.

August 11, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 678: Friday 8th August 2014:

Isaiah 28:19b – 29

We have seen how the people of Israel would not listen to God’s message and would not trust in His Word. Therefore they were about to experience worse than their worst nightmare (19b). There is coming a disaster, says Isaiah, in which ”There will be no place where you can rest, nothing to hide under” (20). The Message. As someone said, you have as much protection from lies as you do from a blanket that is too short. The more we resist God the harder we make it for ourselves (22a). ”Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff. Scoffing will just make it worse.” The Message. Just as the Lord fought against Israel’s enemies at ”Mount Perizim” and in the ”Valley of Gibeon’’ (see Joshua 10:10-12; 2 Samuel 5:20) so He is now going to fight against His own (21). Surely there is something ”strange” and ”alien” about this task for God. It’s not what He would want to do to His people. But their stubborn refusal to trust Him; their resistance of His Word and Spirit have made this inevitable. The rejection of God is serious. It breaks His heart, and brings the very worst kind of trouble upon us.

Verses 23-29 are a parable, showing that God chooses the right instrument at the right time to carry out His judgments. Just as a farmer employs different methods for the various crops and seasons, so the Lord has a special plan for each nation, for each generation, and for each person. ”Listen to me now. Give me your closest attention. Do farmers plough and plough and do nothing but plough? Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow? After they’ve prepared the ground, don’t they plant? Don’t they scatter dill and spread cumin, Plant wheat and barley in the fields and raspberries along the borders? They know exactly what to do and when to do it. Their God is their teacher. And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices, the dill and cumin, are treated delicately. On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly. The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain. He’s learned it all from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, who knows everything about when and how and where.” The Message

Why would anyone not listen to the God of verse 29? I know I need His ‘wonderful counsel’ and ‘magnificent wisdom’ today. There are nuts I need to crack and I don’t know how to resolve these issues. From out of His knowledge about everything I need His insight on some things. I am thankful that I can count on God helping me if I ask in faith (James 1:5-7). This also applies to you as well of course!

Prayer: From out of the unfathomable ocean of your Divine wisdom, I pray that I may be touched by those splashes of insight that I need to live my life for you today.

August 7, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 677: Thursday 7th August 2014:

Isaiah 28:11- 19a

We saw yesterday how the people of Israel would not listen to Isaiah. They accused him of babbling at them as if they were children (9, 10). God says, ‘Okay, I will send you some real ‘babblers’; people of a foreign tongue (the Assyrians that is.) You will listen to them (11-13). Sadly, it would be through pain that they would hear God’s message (13b); through injury and captivity. Then this message – the one they rejected from Isaiah’s mouth – would get through to them (13a; see 10). We so often insist on having our learning the hard way. But it didn’t have to be like this for them (12), and it doesn’t for us, if only we will listen to God and respond to Him today. What is God saying to you now? Why would you resist Him and push His Word away? If you do, you are walking in the direction of unnecessary trouble and heartache.

”But that’s exactly how you will be addressed. God will speak to this people In baby talk, one syllable at a time – and he’ll do it through foreign oppressors.

These are powerfully pertinent words to today’s world (14, 15) where people still readily take refuge in lies and falsehoods. Even Christians can bury their heads in the sand and refuse to face unpleasant facts! It was like the leaders of Jerusalem had made a bargain with death whereby death had agreed not to touch them. They were self-deluded, living in a fool’s paradise. While they had their heads in the sand, the wild animal was heading towards them with teeth bared. ”Now listen to GOD’s Message, you scoffers, you who rule this people in Jerusalem. You say, ”We’ve taken out good life insurance. We’ve hedged all our bets, covered all our bases. No disaster can touch us. We’ve thought of everything. We’re advised by the experts. We’re set.” ” The Message.

As God was going to apply the standards of ”justice” and ”righteousness” (17), anything that did not match up to those standards was going to be swept away. That included the false ‘foundation’ laid by the leaders of Jerusalem. They had put their confidence in themselves and their political alliances, and so they were on an exceedingly ‘sticky wicket’. Throughout, God had been calling through Isaiah, to the people, to place their confidence in Him. ”And this is the meaning of the stone: A TRUSTING LIFE WON’T TOPPLE.” The Message. With faith in God they would be safe. But without that trust they were headed for disaster . ”A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies, and a flash flood will wash out the rubble. Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. Your careful precautions against death were a pack of illusions and lies.” The Message.

The only sure foundation that can withstand the surging torrents of judgment is the one laid by God. According to the apostles Paul and Peter, that ‘foundation’; that ‘stone’ God established is none other than Jesus Christ (1 Cor.3:11; 1 Peter 2:4-8). Ensure that He is your refuge, and that you are not relying on an extremely palatable lie. The devil has a plateful of falsehoods to set before you, if you will only care to sample them. Don’t! They will destroy you.

Prayer: Lord God, I choose to hide in you. You are my only secure Refuge from the storm.

August 7, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 676: Wednesday 6th August 2014:

Isaiah 28:1-10

There are tough words in the Bible we may not always want to hear. In a letter to ‘Christianity Today’ (June 2014) someone wrote: ”The marketing that’s plaguing much of the evangelical church isn’t working. We need to tell the truth: Following Jesus will cost you everything, life will still be hard, you’ll need to find your identity in Christ alone and die to yourself daily – but living for him is so worth it.” The people Isaiah was preaching to had an unteachable spirit. They didn’t want to hear his sermons (9, 10). They told him not to speak to them like children.

Verses 1-4 are about Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. It was a beautiful and prosperous city. Its inhabitants were proud of it. But the people of Samaria had a major drink problem (and that was especially true of the leaders, who were setting an appalling example: verses 7, 8). So this ”glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley’’ had become a ”fading flower” (1, 4) That happens to people who drink too much. They wilt like cut flowers. Places and people get ruined in a haze of dissipation. ”…shabby and washed out and seedy – Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies of a proud and handsome past.” The Message. An excessive use of alcohol lies at the back of many (if not most) social evils. We see again how pride goes before a fall. They were so proud of their lovely capital. But this city, weakened by much sin, would be easy pickings for the Assyrians (4). Taking Samaria would be as simple as plucking a ripe fig from a tree. (See also the reference to God’s use of the Assyrian army in verse 2). ”Samaria, the party hat on Israel’s head, will be knocked off with one blow. It will disappear quicker than a piece of meat tossed to a dog.” The Message. Too much drink lays people low (1b). This happens physically, but in other ways too. In these more liberal days in the church, we need to ensure that the pendulum doesn’t swing too far in the opposite direction. Wine is a gift of God to be enjoyed and used wisely. But drunkenness is expressly forbidden in the Bible (Deut.21:18-21; Prov.20:1; 23:20, 21, 29-35). Leaders in particular need to be careful about their example, and ensure that their liberty doesn’t destroy a weaker brother. Some may still find good grounds to be total abstainers, even though strictly speaking they don’t have to be. We must respect that. If we insist on living too close to the ‘border’ with the world, we may find that we all too easily slip over it.

What an appalling picture Isaiah paints in (7, 8): ”These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink, weaving, falling-down drunks, Besotted with wine and whiskey, can’t see straight, can’t talk sense. Every table is covered in vomit. They live in vomit.” The Message. Look at the language. The problem isn’t whether a leader (or follower) takes a drink, but whether he consumes such a quantity that he (or she) becomes ”befuddled” and they stagger and stumble out of control. When people come to their spiritual leaders for instruction they need a different Spirit to be controlling their speech and behaviour. A Japanese proverb says: ”First the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes the man.” I like the words of a man who had been a drunkard. He said: ”I have no problem believing Jesus turned water into wine, for He turned beer into furniture in my house.”

God wants our confidence to be in Him, and not in our ‘Samarias’, our beautiful man-made objects of pride (5, 6). What people are seeking through getting drunk etc is really to be found in God alone. He will be ”the beautiful crown on the head of what’s left of his people…” The Message. Even in the middle of a prophecy about judgment, God spoke blessing promises to the remnant who would come through this ‘furnace’ of testing. Here are things we can take encouragement from too. ”He will be a spirit of judgment,…when you will be in judgment. Submit your judgment to Him, that He may think through your mind or direct you to a just conclusion.” F.B.Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.279. It is also good to know that in Him we will find strength as we seek to ”turn back the battle at the gate.”

Prayer: Lord let me always find my true satisfaction in you and never turn to the ‘fading’ substitutes this world offers.

August 6, 2014 0

Daily Bible Thoughts 675: Tuesday 5th August 2014:

Isaiah 27:7-13

Yesterday we were thinking about our calling to be fruitful in Christ (John 15). It was Israel’s calling in the Old Testament, and it is the church’s calling in the New. As you read today’s passage, hold on to the truth that ”full fruitage” (9) is linked to dealing with sin in our lives. Is there anything that needs to be ‘removed’ from the premises of your life for you to become an abundantly fruitful disciple? That’s the challenge.

Back to the present: In (7-11) Isaiah steps back from the picture of the glorious future he has been painting to face the current reality. Israel had disobeyed God and was going to be judged. Preachers should not flinch from giving the hard truth when they have to. This was not a popular, funny, anecdotal and sentimental sermon designed to tickle ears and build a preacher’s fan club; boost sales of his books and C.D’s and make him a few extra quid! Even so, Isaiah saw that her punishment would not be so great as that of her enemies (7). Israel’s judgment would be by ”warfare and exile” (8). As a result of this disciplinary action the people will come to repentance and be forgiven (9a). They will bring forth the ‘fruit’ of repentance by smashing up their idols and everything to do with idolatry (9b). True repentance is radical. It is not about just words and ‘crocodile tears.’ It means dealing decisively (Matt.5:29, 30) with your sin. You turn your back on it; you walk away from it; you leave it behind. You put distance between you and it. With God’s help you ‘remove’ it from your life. You write ‘It is finished’ over it. This is your response to Christ’s cross as the saving work of Jesus is applied to your life. ”The evidence that his sin is removed will be this: He will tear down the alien altars, take them apart stone by stone, And then crush the stones into gravel and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.” The Message. There cannot be a bumper crop of luscious Holy Spirit fruit weighing down the branches of your life without authentic repentance. God may have to discipline some folks severely to get them to where they need to be.

(10, 11) This is what sin can lead to when there is no repentance. These verses depict the devastation of Israel before and during the exile years. Sin leads nowhere good, in spite of Satan’s savvy marketing techniques. He sells brightly coloured and sweet smelling poison. Don’t buy from him.

Back to the future (12/13): The range of Isaiah’s prophecies is interesting. As with the other prophets, he is like a man looking at a range of mountains that stretch out in front of him. The mountain of the far distant future seems to sit immediately behind the mountain of the present. In fact there is a miles long valley separating them. Once again, Isaiah trains his prophetic binoculars on the farther mountain range. He sees a time when the whole world will have been threshed by judgment, and when people from far nations (represented by Egypt and Assyria) will come to worship the God of Israel along with the Jews (see Isaiah 2:2-4). This vision is being fulfilled right now in the enlargement of Christ’s church and the extension of His Kingdom, but it will be completed at His second advent.

Prayer: Help me to always see through Satan’s lies and remember that sin leads to devastation ultimately, if not immediately.

August 5, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 673: Friday 1st August 2014:

Psalm 106:32-39

”They angered God again at Meribah Springs; this time Moses got mixed up in their evil; Because they defied GOD yet again, Moses exploded and lost his temper.” The Message.

Leaders can get angry (32, 33). They can be sorely tried by their people and say what they shouldn’t. The story of Moses is sobering. I feel great sympathy for him. What a job he had. He endured more than most. But God held him accountable for doing wrong. The Israelites drove him to it, you might want to argue, but there was no excuse for Moses. He was responsible for his words (which are always the index of the heart). He reaped the consequences of his sin and was barred from entering the Promised Land (Numbers 20:1-13). So Hebrews 13:17 has a relevance here. You might like to have a look at it, then pray that you will not be the cause of a church leader sinning!! But there was something far more important than their making Moses angry; it was the fact that they angered the Lord by their rebellion against the Holy Spirit.

There is always good reason to do what God says (34-39; see Ex.34:11-16; Deut.7:1-6). He knows what the purpose is even if we don’t. It remains true today that if you get too close to the wrong sort of people you are liable to become like them with potentially disastrous outcomes. ‘Mingling’ can quickly lead to ‘adopting’ someone else’s way of life; and even to worshipping their gods. Be warned that any ‘idol’ (and it doesn’t have to be a physical statue that you prostrate yourself before) will become ”a snare” to you. The Israelites were meant to be the instruments of God’s judgment on the Canaanites, and not friendly neighbours dropping in for a cuppa and a chat! The psalmist can say that the Israelites ”prostituted themselves” (39) in that they forsook their true love; their Heavenly Husband, God, and went after other ‘lovers’. They committed spiritual adultery with the false gods of Canaan.

”They didn’t wipe out those godless cultures as ordered by GOD; instead they intermarried with the heathen, and in time became just like them…Their way of life stank to high heaven; they lived like whores.” The Message.

”Refusing to become a separate people, they became a compromised people…- it is always so.” J.A. Motyer: New Bible Commentary p.555

Prayer: Lord let me not be influenced by others towards evil, but always influence them for God and for good.

August 1, 2014 0

Daily Bible thoughts 672: Thursday 31st July 2014:

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

” I told myself…that to be able to see the spot where Dietrich had managed, against all odds, to train young men for the ministry not in the state church but in the newly formed Confessing Church whose pastors refused to take the loyalty oath to Hitler, was important for our pilgrimage. Every day they risked their lives. Every day they stood against the Nazi machine, witnessing to another reality, an alternative truth and a transformed community.” Jim Belcher: ‘In search of Deep Faith’, p.10.

As we know, there were so – called ‘super apostles’ influencing the church in Corinth. These braggarts lifted themselves up and put Paul down. Shepherds care for the flock but false teachers ‘fleece’ the sheep (20). Spiritual abuse was taking place in that congregation. In speaking about ”boasting”, Paul is being ironic. There is more than a hint of sarcasm in his words. Paul’s boast was not about Himself, but it was of the Lord and His strength (30). His aim was to bring praise to God (31). His very weakness made him more deeply reliant on God’s resources, and that meant God’s glory shone all the more brightly in him and through him.

A key message of 2 Corinthians is that suffering is the badge of authenticity. It was clear to see that the persecuted Paul was the genuine article, and that the proud, egotistical false teachers were not. Here is a test of genuineness: ‘How much are you prepared to suffer for your faith?’ There are two words repeated frequently in today’s passage. They are ”in danger”. That was Paul’s life story. He was ‘Danger Man!’ His life was constantly under threat. How different he was to the mouthy imposters. They had flashy words; Paul had outstanding character. His life was lived under constant threat, and he endured so much privation for the sake of Christ. Never lose sight of the fact that it is always dangerous to be a Christian, although some believers are forced to face this reality more than others. But it’s always true.

Another key word in the passage is ”more”(23). There was so much more to Paul than there was to the false apostles, and that more came from God ultimately. But genuine people, have you noticed, are prepared to give so much more of themselves, and do more, and put up with more for the cause of Jesus?

It is possible to read this bit of the Bible and feel guilty that you don’t suffer anything like Paul did. But would you want to? No, neither do I? I don’t think God intends us to feel such shame. We can’t make ourselves suffer, nor should we try. But the question to face is this: ‘Are you prepared to live faithfully, openly and honestly for Jesus in the culture in which God has placed you? And, the Lord helping you, are you prepared to take whatever hostility may come your way for standing up as a Christian and living the Jesus way?’ In ‘In search of deep faith’ , Jim Belcher tells how he and his wife and young family of two girls and two boys, took a year out and travelled across Europe on a ‘pilgrimage’, visiting sites connected to great heroes of the faith like Corrie Ten Boom, William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C.S.Lewis. They started out in Oxford and visited the place where Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer were martyred. Belcher used this trip to teach his children important truths about the life of discipleship whilst ‘on the go’ ”I asked them if they would be willing to be burned at the stake for their beliefs. They didn’t answer. ”Or would you recant,” I asked them, ”and say you don’t really believe in order to save your life?” They laughed nervously. I pushed a little harder, with a little more enthusiasm…You may never have to face that dilemma, I told them, but what if someday someone asks you if you are a Christian? Will you deny it? How strong are your convictions, your roots?…will you just keep quiet about what you believe and go with the flow of those around you?” (p.27).

Allow yourself to feel the force of these questions. They are important for us all.

Prayer: Lord, I never want to deny you or let you down. Let me never be ashamed of you.

July 31, 2014 0

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