"The one who clings"

From one minor prophet to another; today I'm revisiting my old friend Habakkuk.

I was provoked by reading a post from my friend and elder Matthew Ling on the Now and the Not Yet. His post in turn was provoked by reading something on Trevor Lloyd's blog. (This just goes to prove what Trevor stated in one of his reasons for blogging: it provokes discussion and thought on deep issues that tend to be overlooked in normal Christian conversations.)

Habakkuk is one of my heroes in the faith, precisely because he understood the nature of the now and the not yet of the Kingdom. Or to be more accurate, its full threefold nature: the kingdom come, the kingdom coming, and the kingdom yet to come. You see, just as there are Christians who miss out on the "now" because of their focus on the "not yet"; there are also those who miss out on the "now" because of their fixation on the past, and what God has already done. Even if it is something as central and as important as the cross itself, a preoccupation with you've "already got" can stop you laying hold of the fresh grace God desires to pour out.

Habakkuk was a man who understood what God had already done, and lived in the good of all of it. "O LORD, are you not from everlasting?" (Hab 1:12) He also had one of the most profound visions into the future destiny of the Kingdom of God: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Hab 2:14) But neither of these were enough for him; in his great prayer in chapter 3, which inspired the popular worship song, he shows that he is one of the violent men, who do not passively wait for the Kingdom to come, but who actively take it by force: "LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known" (Hab 3:2)

I like the way it is put in the NKJV: "Revive Your work in the midst of the years!" Like Habakkuk we live in the midst of years, between the now and the not yet. We have tasted of the age to come, but have not yet seen it come in its fullness. But we also recognise that as God's prophetic people it is our duty to actively lay hold of the not yet and bring it into the now. For his Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. To passionately call on God to renew his work in our time. Never to be content with the nostalgia of the past, or just the hope of the future, but with all our being to strive for a present reality! When we pray for God's kingdom to come, we are praying for it to come Today!


Habakkuk is also precious to myself and Jacqueline at this current time. A close friend brought the closing verses of Habakkuk as a word of encouragement to my wife recently:

Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

These words are not gloomy, self pitying or pessimistic. Habakkuk was not the Morrissey of his day! But he discovered the secret of worshiping God in all circumstances: It's all about him, and he never changes! He is always worthy of our praise. Last Sunday I danced before the Lord, and worshipped him with just as much passion and zeal as I always have. It's God I'm worshipping, not my circumstances I'm reflecting. God knows the sadness I have inside — I don't have to be miserable to prove it to him!

Even Habakkuk's name is inspiring. It means "The one who clings!" Whatever you are facing, be it good or bad, clinging to God is always the best thing to do. He is the one who will raise you up!

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

Proverb

If God takes you through the valley, it is to get you onto a higher mountain.

— yours truly

Grain, Wine and Oil

I have been meditating on Joel chapter 2 over the last couple of days. What a great chapter of scripture it is. Like Numbers 11 (another of my favourites) it is a prophetic declaration of Pentecost and God's desire to fill all his people with an abiding anointing in the Holy Spirit.

There is plenty of other stuff in this chapter to get your teeth into too. There is the great promise of restoration: "I will restore the years the locust has eaten." And the signs in the heavens and on the earth (I'm still chewing over "blood, fire and billows of smoke" — fascinating imagery that I haven't worked out the full significance of yet. Answers on a postcard if you have any ideas — or just leave a comment below!)

But the thing that spoke to me from the chapter today was the great promise of abundant blessing: "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully." Grain speaks of financial or material blessing (Lk 17:35 Lk 12:18, 2Co 9:10, 1Ti 5:18 etc) Wine speaks of the joy of life (Ps 4:7, Jer 48:33, Ecc9:7 etc) and oil speaks of the anointing of the Spirit (1Sa 16:13, Isa 61:1 etc, etc) It is thus a reflection of God's will to abundantly bless every area of our lives: materially, emotionally, and spiritually. Everything we need to be fully satisfied in life is found in God. He doesn't frustrate us (unless it is to provoke us to move on in his purpose for our lives) but he wants to satisfy us fully; to give us the desires of our hearts.

This theme of a blessing of grain, new wine and oil is one that reoccurs in scripture:

Ps 104:15 Wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

May you know the Lord's abundant blessings in every area of your life today! Our God is good!

House abloom

Our house is full of flowers at the moment. Another precious sign of the love of God's people, family and friends. We have had to import some vases because we ran out of places to put them! Any more, and our fish (Splish and Splosh) will be getting some company!!

I have sometimes wondered, when I was on the "other side" and those I knew were grieving, how flowers made them feel. Is it a continual reminder of loss that makes them sad? A reminder of the love of friends that makes them glad? Or just a bit of colour that brightens the room and lifts the spirit? (Girls: You'll have to excuse me; being a bloke I have never really received many flowers before! So forgive me if I don't get it.)

For me, it is a reminder of the love and thoughts of others, and so, very welcome. But it has also made me think of something more prophetic: "The wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy." (Isa 35) It's a promise of restoration; of sadness being replaced with joy, and emptiness with abundance.



Isaiah 35
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendour of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Praise

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?"
"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
(Romans 11:33-36)

What a mighty, awesome, wonderful, gracious, loving, all-sufficient God we serve! No matter what we face, nothing is too big for him. Nothing catches him off guard. Nothing can snatch us from out of his firm grip on our lives. It is he who is outworking his precious and wonderful plan for our lives and for his world. He has included us as part of his eternal plan to bring his glorious kingdom to the earth. He has made us co-heirs with Christ himself! He has forgiven all our sins, and welcomed us into his glorious holy presence. He daily pours out his love and his mercy and his grace into our lives. He has chosen to dwell within us by his Holy Spirit! We are participants of the divine nature! He surrounds us on all sides, and leads us on into ever increasing glory to become like Jesus. He rejoices over us with singing! He calls us by name before the angels. He looks upon us with an infinate Father's heart of love and affection. We are the apple of his eye! How awesome to know such love, and this by the authour of life himself: the almighty creator, the one who forged the galaxies and set them in the infinate cosmos — the same one who watches over me and my family!! What shall I fear? What shall make me afraid? Who is equal to such a God? All glory to God; it's all about him. Without him we are nothing; in him we have everything!

To put it another way...

Our God is a great big God
Our God is a great big God
Our God is a great big God
And he holds us in his hands

— Jo and Nigel Hemming (©2001 Vineyard Songs)

Theology

For men are not cast off by the Lord for ever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
to deny a man his rights before the Most High,
to deprive a man of justice-- would not the Lord see such things?
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
(Lamentations 3:31-38)

The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
(Job 2:6-10)

One of the things I am very grateful for at this time is that all of the words of encouragement we have received at this time have been sensible and mature. I am very pleased to say, we have not had any of the flaky nonsense that usually surfaces when a believer goes through a time of trial. No-one, praise God, has tried to "discern my sin" or tried to imply that it is due to lack of faith that we went through what we did. All the words that have come, have focussed on God, and his love, his sovereignty and his mercy, and not on Satan and his alleged activities.

Maybe such talk is going on behind my back; who cares! That's where such sulphurous talk belongs! (Mt 16:23) I'm not saying that a believer cannot suffer as the result of sin; that much is obvious. But the conclusion that all suffering is the result of personal sin is just plain wrong! How then could Christ suffer? And why are we told that we will share the sufferings of Christ?

Let me take this opportunity to address a widespread theological problem. Everyone, I trust, can accept that good things come from God; indeed the scriptures tell us that all good things come from God (James 1:17). But many have a problem accepting that troubles and calamities can also come from God. There is a widespread belief that all such activity is from Satan. If anything "good" happens it is from God, but if anything that is not "good" happens it must be from Satan.

There are two big problems with this theology: first, you don't have to read the papers for very long to realise that the world is full of events that are not "good" — so just who is in control? God or Satan? But the real root of the problem is the deficiency of the word "good."

You see we use the word good to mean more than one thing. In the first instance we use "good" in the moral sense: ie. the opposite of evil. Good represents everything that is morally correct, pure and upright. In this sense of the word, God is good all the time and in every situation, and everything he does is good, and there is nothing that he does or is that is not good.

But good is also used to mean "pleasant"; ie the opposite of trouble. We talk of good times, and good things. But God is always good, by the first definition, even if we do not experience the "goodness" of the second definition. It is not correct to say, that everything God does is "pleasant". Indeed the scriptures plainly tell us, that every true son of God undergoes discipline from the Lord, and that no discipline is pleasant at the time. It is here where many believers go wrong, and attribute all such "unpleasantness" to Satan, and waste their time, shouting at the devil and "binding" him when they should be submitting to God (which will always enable us to resist the devil anyway! [James 4:7])

I am encouraged, if what I have received in the way of notes and comments is representative, that we are leaving behind such immaturity, and laying hold of the precious truths of the sovereignty and goodness of God. The Kingdom does not have to come in its fullness before Jesus is Lord. He is on the throne today. From the perspective of heaven, the whole earth is already full of his glory. There is no authority, in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth that does not come from him. He is the one who raises up kings and kingdoms and deposes and overthrows them again. He is not just Lord of the saved, but Lord of all. He is not just in control of our lives by the quiet waters, but even when we go through the valley of the shadow of death!

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

Gratitude

Thank you to all who have, and continue to, send us comments, emails and notes of encouragement. Thank you for the flowers, the meals, the prayers, the love, the hugs, the smiles, the ironing and the babysitting. We feel well loved. It's great to be part of a body of believers who know how to express the love and comfort of Jesus to those who need it.

Thank you too, to those who have offered us words of faith or verses of encouragement. These have not been received as trite or patronising platitudes, but as they are — words of life!

In particular the verse that Jo mentioned: Ro 8:28, has been particularly precious to us. We know that our family is not at the mercy of Satan, but in the hands of a loving sovereign God, who is working all things together for our good, and our greater blessing. We may not know, nor do we need to, why we had to go through what we did, but one thing is for sure — there is great blessing ahead for the Hamer-Hodges family!

Relief!

God is good!

My, what a bumpy ride we have had the past two days! As if what we had already gone through was not enough!

Sunday afternoon, Jacqueline started bleeding and getting pain. She was due for a checkup on Monday, but sensibly decided to go into the labour suite at the hospital to get checked out by the midwifes on call. To her dismay she was told to stay in overnight. Being back in the hospital where we lost the baby was the last place she wanted to be, and caused her no small amount of distress. But she was assured it would mean she could get a scan first thing in the morning, and it was just routine.

Somewhere in the changeover of shifts, Jacqueline's situation was obviously not communicated, as a woman with a very troublesome labour was put in the room next to her, and kept her up half the night, and in the morning she was told she could not have the scan until 11:30am! The scan revealed that Jacqueline required a follow up procedure that would involve going under general anesthetic... and potentially another night in hospital! I don't know if it is possible to convey just how much anguish this news caused my poor wife!

As I sat on the bed next to Jacqueline, before she went in for the procedure. I comforted her, that this really was the last stage; after this we could escape far away from hospitals and have time to recover emotionally from all that had taken place.

The procedure should have only taken five to ten minutes; so after half an hour elapsed I got ready to welcome the bed carrying Jacqueline back to the room... an hour passed, and still she did not arrive. Then I saw the doctors striding past the door with concerned looks on their faces; no-one made eye-contact with me or said anything. At this point, I'm not ashamed to admit, I lost my peace, and became very anxious. I knew nothing should have gone wrong, but still it just didn't seem right!

After a incredibly long hour and fifteen minutes, the doctor came in to speak to me. She said the procedure had been a complete success, but during the time Jacqueline had been under the anaesthetic, her heart had developed an irregularity! They were keeping in the recovery room for further observations until a physician could examine her!

It was a heart-wrenching moment, to see the look on my wife's face when the doctor explained there was yet another complication and she would have to stay in hospital for another night, and await another doctor's assessment for what further treatments she would need!

It took two hours for this doctor to arrive, but as soon as he did, our situation changed! He explained that although he was the doctor on call, he was also a Registrar Cardiologist, and so we were getting immediate expert opinion. He had an excellent bedside manner, and was very professional, and sympathetic and considerate of what we had been through. He looked at Jacqueline's ECG and said it was nothing to worry about. It was perfectly within normal parameters for someone who was in a great deal of anxiety and stress. After questioning Jacqueline further about her medical history, and running another ECG, he declared that there was no risk, and we were free to go home!

How to describe the relief and joy of that moment! How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news! How wonderful it is when a man or woman with presence and authority announces good news to those who are in despair and sorrow! (How precious is the good news we carry to the lost!) How good God is to us that he sent us this man, this expert, at just the right time, and spared us from further anguish and another night in hospital. We are all home now. Praise God!

Loss

There is no easy way to say this. Certainly not in a public forum like a blog. I considered not saying anything at all... but nothing would seem genuine or sincere, or from the heart, if I did not write about this first, and I'm not ready to give up blogging just yet.

Jacqueline and I have had a very sad few days. We have known the Lord very close to us, and experienced an extra special measure of his grace and peace. Never the less, we still grieve, as all do when we experience loss, but it is grief that contains the ultimate hope of a joyful reunion in glory.

We lost our baby.

Seventy Sevens

"Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Da 9:24)


The "seventy sevens" in Daniel are a much misunderstood passage of scripture. They have been forced into meaning all kinds of weird and bizarre things. Because of this, many Christians shy away from this prophecy, and would rather not say anything about it than be tarred with the same brush as the way-out dispensationalists, who love to speculate about apocalyptic passages like this.

But it is still the word of God! And it is all there to do us good. We should not surrender any part of the scriptures to false teachers. It is precisely because we remain silent on these issues, that they have room to spread all their fanciful nonsense.

In any case, I don't mean to sound arrogant, but it's really not that hard to understand, once you know how to look. Take a step back from all the details that people tend to fixate on and take in the big picture. Let me present you with the clues, and see if you can work out the mystery for yourself:

• Does it help if you think of "seven seventies" instead? Daniel started the chapter by praying to God after he realised that the seventy years prophesied by Jeremiah represented the restoration of the Jewish people. As seven is the scriptural number of wholeness and completeness, what do you think seven seventies could represent?


• Seven seventies are 490 years; approximately 5 centuries. Daniel prophesied around 500 BC.


• The vision was announced by the angel Gabriel, who declared that Daniel was given the vision because he was "highly favoured" - ring any bells? (Lk 1:28)


• "Seventy sevens" is mentioned again in the New Testament by Jesus, in reference to the forgiveness of sins (Mt 18:20-21).


• The interpretation involves the "cutting off" of the "anointed-one" (literally: messiah). This is not the first time such prophetic language has been used. (Isa 53:8)


• What is it that all the Old Testament prophets pointed towards? The anti-christ?? Think again! (1Pe 1:10-11)

Return to Daniel

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Da 7:13-14)

This Friday I begin to teach on the book of Daniel again. It is the Autumn term of our EQUIP course and I am re-running my "Daniel Masterclass." It is a real pleasure for me to return to these scriptures that I love so much, and contain such deep and profound truths on vital issues: the eternal Kingdom plan of God, the revelation of Christ, the sovereignty of God, the nature of trials, and the victory of the saints.

In my opinion the book of Daniel is a highly under-rated book. It is often only taught in the childrens ministry (our loss, their gain!) or is shied away from because of the difficult apocalyptic visions, that have been done such injustice by the bizarre interpretations of the dispensationalists. But we need not fear these passages; in fact they hold deep and precious truths, not bizarre and fanciful predictions.

Take all the numbers in Daniel. Let me share something simple, yet profound: all the trials of God's people in the book of Daniel are numbered! This is in itself the most important fact to grasp. Before you try and work out the significance of the actual numbers, the very fact that they are numbered speaks volumes. Before we face any trial, any hardship, any testing time, God has already set a limit on its duration. It will not last forever!

Any trial that God leads us into, he will also lead us out of. And Just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he will be with us all the way through it too! There is nothing that we go through that he does not go through with us too.

It is a truth, whether your theology can handle it or not, that God does not always spare his children from the time of trial. Like Lazarus' sisters we can sometimes wonder why the Lord seems to hangs back from coming in miracle power. Sometimes it is his will, rather than taking us around the trial, that we go right into the heart of it, but then, just like our Lord, to come bursting out the other side, in greater strength, greater faith, greater courage, greater anointing, greater love, greater compassion, and into greater blessing.

How great is our God! All things work for the good of those who love him, and no weapon forged against us can prosper. We go from strength to strength, no matter what comes against us. Praise God!

He is always worthy!

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1Th 5:18)

God is good! This is not just a statement that is true when we experience good things; it is a statement of the nature of God that remains true, irrespective of our circumstances or feelings. God is always worthy of our praise; again this is not just when we have experienced his blessings: he is worthy irrespective of how we feel, or how much joy or sorrow we have inside.

All of us have experienced one blessing after another from the fullness of his grace, whether we perceive this immediately or not. And even if this were not so, he would not stop being God: faithful, true, holy, righteous, awesome, creator, saviour, loving, compassionate, merciful, gracious, pure, generous, wonderful... Father! Even if he never did another good thing for us (inconceivable!) he would still be worthy of all our praise for all eternity.

It is so important that we learn the secret of praising God in all circumstances. When you have great joy — Praise God! When you have deep sorrow — throw yourselves upon your loving heavenly father and worship him. It's not a case of, worship God anyway, as if it were something we do under compulsion or a sense of duty, or because we know we really should. But the heart of a true worshipper will always turn to the Lord, in the good times and the bad.

We, like everything else in all creation, were made to give glory to God. When we realise this, we see that all that comes our way, not just the good, but the painful and the bitter too, is worked together to draw us closer to God, and prevoke a response of worship from within us. If we stay focused on God, and handle them correctly, even the most bitter experiences can draw us closer to God.

The wonderful thing is that God is our rock: a firm place in times of trouble. No matter how hard the storm rages, before the throne of God there is always peace, security, calm, love, acceptance, and joy. When we worship the Lord, we transcend our circumstances and come to a place that nothing can touch. When we worship, we take our eyes of ourselves, and fix them on him; his radiant beauty floods our souls, and produces yet more worship. This is how we were designed to live, as undauntable worshipers, firmly planted on the rock, always praising him.

If you are having problems entering into worship, or finding something to praise God for — lift your eyes! If you can but catch a glimpse of this mighty God we serve, there is no other response but to worship, and worship, and worship...


Day and night they never stop saying:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honour and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Rev 4:8-11)

Our God can do anything!

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." (Mt 10:27)

On Sunday, there was an appeal for those who wanted a boldness of faith to believe for miracles. I responded — of course! I had another powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit, and afterwards I decided to pray and lay hands on others who were wanting to receive the same thing.

As I laid hands on one of the youth, I prayed, "When others see an impossibility, you will see an opportunity for the miraculous power of God."

Sometimes we also prophesy to ourselves when we pray for others. I now find that God is reminding me of those very words. There is nothing that we can face that is too difficult for God. Don't see an impossibility; see an opportunity for a miracle.

Building according to the pattern

It was my privilege this weekend to be at the International Elders and Leaders conference for all the churches from around the world that relate to Keri Jones as their apostle. It was a powerful time in the presence of God and great men. Keri shared his heart for the Church built according to the pattern; not according to the patterns of man, but marked by the presence of God and the supernatural movings of the Holy Spirit. It's all too easy for things that start off as moves of the Spirit to become just as formulaic as the patterns they originally broke out from. Keri stirred us again to accept nothing less than the supernatural presence of God in our midst. As Moses said, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." (Ex 33:15) It was not just theory either! I personally, and many others, had a very powerful encounter with the Spirit of God, the like of which I have not felt for many years.

I had a real sense of excitement as I went to the meeting this morning. I knew it was going to be different. I knew I was different! I felt sure that what we had heard and experienced of the Holy Spirit over the weekend was going to break out among us in the meeting. I had already resolved to do something, anything, as a response to the compelling stirrings of the Holy Spirit within me. After the first song I brought a message in tongues; the interpretation followed immediately. Then came two prophecies back to back, and in response to God's word many came forward for prayer and were powerfully touched by the Spirit of God! Praise God! We had a wonderful supernatural time; God continued to move by his Spirit right the way through to the end.

We are building according to the pattern we have seen on the mountain! Nothing less will do!

Home, Sweet Home

Just discovered another very cool feature from Google. If you go to to www.google.com/ig, you can customise your own Google Homepage. As well as the usual Google Search (which you need all the time!) you can add various news feeds, your local weather, the films showing at your local cinema (along with an average reviewer star rating), a quote for the day, your latest Gmails, your own favourite links, etc. etc. You can even add your own custom feeds so you can see links to the latest posts in your favourite blogs.

Have a go, and don't forget to add http://chrishamer-hodges.blogspot.com/atom.xml to stay up to date with yours truly!

The Ultimate Authority

Last night I had the pleasure of teaching several new and prospective members of our church on the subject of the Word of God: the Bible, its origin, and its authority. God has the ultimate authority in this universe: there is no higher power or authority; but because it is impossible for God to lie, or to change his mind, there is no dichotomy between the authority of God's word, and the authority of God himself. It is the ultimate authority.

God has chosen to reveal himself to us (the only way that we can know him) and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we have his recorded word. No prophesy of scripture came about through the author's own interpretation, but they wrote as they were "carried along" by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). This means that the Bible is Inerrant (it contains no flaws, errors, inaccuracies, or misrepresentations) it is Eternal (it has no best-before date; it is just as relevant today as the day it was written; it will never be disproved or become redundant) and Sufficient (it contains all we need; we are not waiting for book 67 to come along; we have no right to add or remove anything to what has been written).

It is also "Living and Active"; unlike every other book, the Bible is "alive." When we read the word of God, the Holy Spirit within us, the original author, repeats the process of revelation by which the words were first inspired, and speaks his life giving faith directly into our lives and situations.

It is so important that we spend time in God's word. Faith comes through hearing this word, and without faith it is impossible to please God!

"All they took was the tongue."

WARNING: Those of a sensitive nature may find the descriptions in this post upsetting!

A disturbing image came into my mind as I drove to work yesterday: it was the image of a baby whale, floating on it's back, dead, its tongue and lower jaw missing. If you saw the BBC/Discovery production "Deep Blue" or the earlier "Blue Planet" from which it was based you will know the scene I mean immediately. Most of the film contains the serene beauty of the undersea world, accompanied by soothing classical music, then suddenly the mood changes, and there are these scenes, which as one critic reported, "Are almost too disturbing to watch."

Orcas! Killer Whales as they are commonly known, but portrayed in a way that is totally contrary to the "Free Willy" Disney makeover they have enjoyed in public opinion. They are savage, compassionless killers, praying on the young. They will snatch a baby seal off the beach, and then toy with it for hours tossing it high into the air like a plaything, before finishing it off. A whole pod, were displayed attacking a lone mother and baby whale. They relentlessly harassed the pair, trying to separate the baby from its mother. Then constantly bullying the lone child, they kept pushing it under the water, until it drowned, exhausted.

The most shocking thing of all though was the senseless waste. Most animals kill out of need, but these Orcas just took the tongue and left the rest to rot... All they took was the tongue.

As this image and this phrase came to my mind, I felt God speak to me. The enemy is after our tongue! That is what he wants to take away from us, once he has got that, it's mission accomplished, he doesn't care about the rest. It doesn't matter how good the rest of our Christian life is: our prayers, our bible reading, our giving; if we have lost our tongues we are dead in the water, just like that poor baby whale.

I'm not writing this to scare or to condemn: our enemy is a defeated foe, and there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. In fact, I myself found these images so disturbing, I nearly didn't share this at all. But everywhere I turn at the moment, God is speaking about our confession: what comes out of our mouths. We must guard this at all costs; we must keep speaking, and confessing our faith and never let the enemy get our tongues.

Stepping out of the boat

It was my privilege on Sunday to preach at Living Rock Church. It was a double honour, as it was a visitor service, and so I was speaking to several visitors and non-Christians.

Our current theme is "The Citizenship of a Disciple — The Kingdom of God" which is a subject dear to my heart, which I have spoken on many times; but the challenge was to make the subject accessible to visitors too. This meant, among other things, stripping out all the jargon, and all the assumptions that we just take for granted as Christians. So before I read from the bible, I took the time to explain why it is the greatest book, and why we believe that God still speaks to us from it.

The way I approached the "Kingdom of God", was to start in heaven; something that everyone has thought about and has an opinion on, and then explained that it has been God's plan right from the beginning to bring heaven to earth. He has no alternative plan "B". This is the plan we see introduced in Genesis, and fulfilled in Revelation. The commission given to Adam, and restored in Christ.

I'm not ashamed to admit I was a little nervous beforehand. I'm not saying I didn't have peace — I did. But there is a sense of uncertainty, a requirement for faith. I'm very aware, every time I preach, that although I have done it many times before, I still can't do it without God. If he doesn't turn up with the goods, the very best I can do, is just entertain for 45 minutes. I don't know if other preachers feel the same way, but I often think of Peter, just before he stepped out of the boat; walking was not a problem, but in this situation, without God, that natural ability would count for nothing.

But my confidence in those situations is to remember the faithfulness of God. He has never let me down. Every time I have preached, he has always turned up, and always equipped me. He has never let me fall fat on my face just to teach me a lesson in humility, or to remind me how uninspiring I would be without him. God never sets us up to fail. When he calls you to do something, he will always make it possible, even if it is stepping out of the boat on to the choppy seas.

I'm pleased to report that the meeting went well. I spoke briefly with one visitor, who was in deep conversation with the friends who had brought her, obviously touched by God.

Which came first...?

Following on from my deep and meaningful post on Thursday... here's a photo for a caption competition that seems appropriate! Have fun