Encouragements

There are few things so phenomenal as to hear God speak and reveal something of His nature or what He is doing on earth. When I met Lana, the prophetic was a mystery to me. I was raised in a very conservative church in a small country town; to many in the church the prophetic was too far outside of their experience of Christian life for them to embrace it. Despite not knowing much about the prophetic, I had even unknowingly seen glimpses of it in my own life while I was young. I would be going about life and see glimpses of things—things yet to come—and putting it down to deja-vu… or even my imagination. Then, it got more intense after I started speaking in tongues. Each time I would pray over someone, I would see pictures… but again, I didn’t know what was happening, though my imagination was distracting me while I prayed. Later, when I began to learn about the prophetic, I understood what I was actually seeing and began learning the difference between sight and imagination....

The Source of Our Authority In a recent school session, Rebekah Bartels shared the power and imagery of a King’s seal. A King would impress the signet, leaving an impression on an object that would be held by someone as a symbol of the authority bestowed, signifying authority granted by the king himself. Whoever held the king’s seal operated with the king’s authority within the context of their mission. A seal was granted for a purpose: that a representative could act as a proxy for the king, and their decisions would be final and carry the weight of the king himself. Thus, where the King’s presence was needed in many places, a King could nominate a like-minded, trustworthy nominee and trust the nominee to serve the kingdom and not their own interests or grievances. Like the Kings of old, Jesus granted His authority to his followers, sending them out on mission in pairs to put their own hands to the ministry they had seen Jesus do. Jesus did not give his disciples physi...

Awesome was a word that I used often in my youth, growing up in the 80s and 90s. It was a word of expression, something good, something great, something unexpected. Yet, the true meaning of awesome describes none of these concepts. To see something awesome is to see something that fills you with awe. Awesome is a word that can define my wonder at God every time I consider a revelation of His character, nature, magnificence, love or goodness. But I can only view them through a mirror dimly, as Paul speaks. There is much He has left for us to find out when we see Him face to face. One of these mysteries is what things look like on the other side of infinity. Something finite is something that is limited with a beginning and end. The first events of creation were the creation of light, time (day/night) and space with boundaries. We live in a finite world; time had a start and slowly unwinds until its eventual end. Yet, God does not see time and space through the scope of limitations. As t...

ry on this parable by Bede, an English monk and scholar around the 6th-7th century AD. His historical works are among the greatest sources of information on the early history of England; he also had many theological works shared across the church during his time. On the priest and the Levite, Bede surmised that “The priest and the Levite who saw the wounded man and passed by denote the priests and ministers of the Old Testament who could only show up the wounds of the sick world by the decrees of the law, but could not cure them”. Bede – the Good Samaritan. Perhaps this is not a new take for you; I guess it had not struck me in that way before. Unfortunately, highlighting the wounds of others is way too easy to do, but overcoming the broken state of our neighbor is sometimes too hard to do, and often means getting our hands dirty with work. As with many parables, this story speaks on many levels, and the person of the Samaritan is multi-faceted. Firstly, he was the one who cared....

Iron sharpens Iron As iron sharpens iron,So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.Proverbs 27:17 The word of God is deep. The book Proverbs is certainly no exception. On reading this verse, I wondered at how many ways this verse is true. Firstly, of the metals used in sharp tools and weapons, iron was the hardest for thousands of years. A tool or spear is only useful if it is sharp, but to sharpen metal, you generally need something harder to scrape away what is dull. If you tried to use a bronze file, the softer (bronze) metal would have little effect on the iron, and the harder iron would scrape the bronze.  You need iron to sharpen iron. In our lives, we may hope to be a positive influence on those around us. But if we are immature, if our character is not developed – we won’t have an impact on the lives we are trying to help – instead, we ourselves will probably find ourselves wounded by the abrasiveness of others. Secondly, it’s not just any iron that ...

I was listening to an old sermon the other day, during which a conversation was recounted that made me think. A grieving man was talking to his pastor; he had prayed for a long time for God to intervene in a dire situation, praying for a miracle that would have saved someone’s life. The miracle didn’t happen, despite his believing he was standing in faith for the victory. While I sympathised with the man in the story, it became a challenge to my heart to better understand the dynamic of faith, especially if we are to take the words of Jesus seriously. “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20) Jesus himself spoke that nothing will be impossible to anyone who has faith – even faith the size of a tiny seed. I, too, have believed with all my heart that a circumstance will turn out in one way or oth...

As I have been looking through the fruit of the Spirit of late, my focus has been turned to the seventh fruit listed, faithfulness. Faithfulness, to me, speaks of dependability, fidelity and reliability. It is an essential quality in marriage, and a powerful foundation in friendship. It is the relationship between Jonathan and his armour-bearer, or, in Tolkien, Sam to Frodo. With faithful companionship, terrible circumstances are traversed with a sense of peace because of the mutual support and confidence they share. We know faithfulness is a trait of God. God’s love and faithfulness could be seen as his most hope-inspiring qualities.   Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil;For You are with me;Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Ps 23:4) The Psalmist, David, lived a life that was ever aware of the threat of death. He has faced many dangers – fighting wild animals in defence of his sheep, standing against Goliath on behalf of Go...

Creation I marvel at the miracle of creation, that one event would perpetuate on a seemingly infinite cycle. God created the world in 6 days, but even while He rested, His creation continued to create further generations of itself in a cycle that has not ended since the creation of space and time itself.   Adam and Eve were not the first created entities. But compared to the rest of creation, God created mankind differently. All of the rest of creation was spoken into being at the very utterance of God’s words, yet for man, God took something he had already created (dirt) and created the first human body from it. The soul, however, was not created in the same way – it was not created from dirt but came upon the dirt when God breathed the breath of life upon the nostrils of the dirt. Why is that significant? We all know that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation – he existed even before the earth was formed. Adam was the firstborn from creation, while ever...

Last time I wrote, I focused on the first commandment that Jesus highlighted – love the Lord your God with all your heart. I intended to write about the fruit of Kindness today, but as I pondered the matter, I realised that it was also the second commandment in practice – love your neighbour as you love yourself. The most basic definition of kindness is simply being good to others who are in need of goodness. In scripture, we see it at play in the parable of the Good Samaritan, but we also see it in God’s relationship and actions with the people of God, as He of his own accord saves and restores the nation of Israel repeatedly during the Old Testament. In every example, there is no action out of obligation, but in each case, one party intervenes in the pain and despair of another. When things get hard, kindness may not be our first response to a situation. In some seasons, I have grown tired of my fellow human and found it harder to find the necessity to aid and assist despite he...

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [a]This is the first commandment. Mark 12:30 When you think of it, love is a strange thing to command. I have written briefly on agape, of serving love, but did not write much on the heart element of love at that time. We have all heard the saying “love is a choice”; that is certainly true of the agape love we share between our Christian family members. But to love something with one’s whole heart demands more than service. The love described in the commandment is more than agape. To love with soul, mind and strength is to love with an emotional and some would even say passionate bond. As I mentioned previously, there are many words for love in the Greek language, because Love can take many forms. Love is more than just compassion and service; it is not always something we can rationalise or make happen through willpower.  Relational love is a thin...

Wrath strong vengeful anger or indignationretributory punishment for an offense or a crime. Lately, in my writings, I have been exploring some of the Fruits of the Spirit, but this time I want to examine something that Paul considers a lust of the flesh. We are experiencing a period of healing and repentance in the Church. Many things have been exposed, and no doubt there will be many more to come. This is a good thing – no Christian should have unrepentant sin in their lives, leaders especially. For wounds to heal, they need to be exposed. The offence must be dealt with and actions corrected, which is the real meaning of repentance. While there are many things being publicly exposed, I want to highlight something that is happening simultaneously and is not being discussed all that much. It is hard not to feel grief when you see someone whom you held in high honour have grievous flaws exposed in their lives. Anger is a natural response, as trust has been broken. Even i...

A phrase I often heard growing up was “Don’t pray for patience, because God will only make you wait for something”. While these things may have been said in jest, there may have also been some experience behind it. Experience is a great way to learn, and for something as important as patience, I have no doubt that God would take any opportunity to train us. Consider this verse: Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. (Hebrews 10:35) Patience (endurance) is key to us walking through life and even receiving anything that God has promised us. Confidence comes from faith and experience – it is our times in prayer as much as it is walking in faith and receiving a reward in its season. Our testimonies and experiences are important to remember and keep close to heart.  Patience is therefore the outworking of our knowing that God is good and that H...