Rock of Ages

Have you ever seen a young child throw a temper tantrum? Do you ever feel like doing the same?
To be able to scream and shout and say express that its not fair, you don't understand and you don't like it.
To be able to stamp and hit someone who is big enough and loving enough to cope with us until we calm calm down and let them love us and explain what is really going on and make everything in our small world all OK again.

I think we do very often hit out at those we love when we are hurt, because we need the reassurance of someone who is bigger/stronger/more able to cope, and the only way we can test if they are up to it is to push them to the limit.

Years ago I was having a stress-out at God about stuff, and it was like He very patiently pointed out to me that the Rock I was banging my head against was the One I was supposed to be leaning on. That wisdom is something I have come back to time and time again, and at the moment it is particularly relevant.

This hymn kind of expresses the need to hide in God, to lean on Him and find security in Him:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure;

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labour of my hands

Can fulfil Thy law’s demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears for ever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress;

Helpless, look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Saviour, else I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,

When my eyelids close in death,

When I soar to worlds unknown,

See Thee on Thy judgement throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee.

thoughts about prayer-3

Ever heard the saying "no-one is an atheist in a plane that's going down"?
I guess this refers to the fact that everyone will call out to God in their moments of panic/dispair.
I had one of those moments a little while ago- I drove our car up the hill near where I used to live, but it's 20 years since I lived there and I had forgotten how steep it was. The result was that the car stalled and the handbrake was not strong enough to hold the car from rolling backwards down the hill- infact nothing worked except putting the footbrake full on. My prayer in that moment was "Jesus! Help! NOW" And did he help?

Well, the car rolled until it went up a bank and got stuck leaning precariously towards the drivers side. After some unhelpful phone calls for assistance I got out, and found I only had 3 wheels on the ground. Was I glad the car had not tipped right over!
I then went to find a friendly farmer- and despite all the signs and warnings that I was trespassing on a private drive, the farmer was really friendly. He pulled the car off the bank, and around the corner to flat ground so I could turn around. He even offered to ride down to the village to check the car was OK (though I did not take him up on the offer).
Once back in the village I found the car worked fine, the tyres were not damaged, the paintwork was not scratched, nothing at all wrong as far as I could tell.
So, yes, God did answer my prayer.
I would rather not have got stuck, but it could have been much much more serious and He did get me out!

So what is the moral of the story?(Apart from not driving big cars up steep hills!)
Just that God is faithful to answer us and that His answers are not limited to "spiritual things only"

It also makes me think that if God is so great, I would like to get to know him much better. I could treat Him like an heavenly AA man who will respond in a crisis, but I would much rather have a friend, a father, a husband even.
The AA man will fix my car on the roadside, but the friends I can really rely on are those I have got to know well, those with whom I have gone through the difficult times and come out the other side.
Definitely worth putting in the time in prayer to get to know God really well.

thoughts about prayer-2

This is another slightly random thought about prayer and praying, which keeps coming back to me...

Do we believe more in the prayer than the God who answers the prayer?

What makes me ask that question?
Well, several things really that I have heard people saying, such as:
"I got some prayer, but it did not work"
"He prayed for me, but he didn't pray properly"
"I won't ask them to pray 'cos it did not work last time"
"I never get healed when she prays"
"I need 'Fred' to pray for me- no-one else is good enough"

There are people with particularly anointed ministries in prayer/healing/intercession/deliverance, and I fully support them. But I do also believe that anyone can pray and God listens to us all

Some of our prayers God does not answer- that's up to Him.
Some of our prayers God answers in a way we do not expect- that's up to Him too.
It is God who answers, and our heart when we pray is the important thing.

I fully believe in praying for people, but I am nervous incase we get superstitous about prayer in itself and don't focus on God who answers.

Do you get what I mean?

thoughts about prayer-1

I have been thinking a lot about prayer and why we pray. This post is the first of a few I will do (to save you the pain of reading through reeaally loooong one)

SO

Do we mean what we say when we pray?

What provoked me was a couple of practical things at home (and those who know me will probably know what I am referring too, BUT I am not "getting at anyone", I am just provoked into thinking about things)

First thing was quite a while ago. We were moving around rooms and furniture in our community house and working out what to get rid of. Which is fine. Except we also pray regularly for more people to join us, and we would really like a young married couple in our house, who would likely bring kids along, and some of the changes we were making would actually make it harder for them to move in.
If we really had faith for the new couple, would we have their room ready for them???

Next scenario is: Grace before dinner.
I admit I do not say grace before my breakfast or before lunch at work, but when we gather together in the evenings we do always say grace. This is more than the "For-what-we-are-about-to-receive-may-the-Lord-make-us-truly-thankful" that we used to rattle off at school. We share some inspiration, sing a song, pray about things that are important at the moment and do a bit more than just thank God for the dinner 'cos we are hungry and want to get on with it.
On Saturday we said grace, started to dish up the dinner, and were met by shouting and slamming of doors as someone expressed their disapproval of what had been served.
But we had all just thanked God for it. Did we not mean that?
I cannot point the finger here 'cos though I have not slammed doors at the sight of leftovers, I have been known to mutter through clenched teeth that "tinned tomatoes are wrong and kippers are part of the fall" as I ploughed my way through my dinner.

I don't actually think that furniture and dinners are the big issues here. What gets my attention is the realisation that we can so easily pray one thing and then behave differently. Is there the risk that we get used to being insincere?

It makes me look a bit harder at myself, and check up wether I am "going through the motions" or trying to "say the right thing".

The challenge to me is to make sure I am sincere before I pray/worship/speak.... and to get sorted quick if I am not!

Denominations

Following on with common questions asked by "the-man-on-the-street". If we all believe in Jesus, why are there so many different kinds of churches, and why do we not get on with each other?

In a basic sense I do not have a problem with denominations in the sense of different churches having a different emphasis in the way they work out the Christian faith. It's cool by me if some are more into missions and others are more into workship. Or if some are more into litergy and structure whilst others are more into body ministry.
I don't believe that any one church can seriously claim to represent the fullness of God in the way they live and worship. God is huge, and I reckon some particularly reflect one side of his character and some another.

So, are there denominations in the Bible? No, but yes also.
The early church did not divide itself up with labels "The First Jerusalem Church of Anointed Believers", "The Church of Anointed Gentiles", "The United Jewish and Gentile True Faith Church" and so on.
But when Paul began to preach to the Gentiles and they received the Holy Spirit, he went up to Jerusalem to check things out with Peter and the apostles, and they agreed that Paul should work with the Gentiles and the others would work with the Jewish believers.
This lines up with what I have said above that there will be a difference emphasis of ministry in different churches.

The problem I have with denominations is when they are used to divide people.
If you have a difference of conscience on issues like ordination of women or baptism of babies, that's cool, find a church whose practice is in line with your beliefs.
(btw... knowing what you believe and what the Bible has to say is a pretty good safe guard against falling in with groups like Chrisatdelphians/Mormons/Jehovah Witnesses who are very similar to true Christianity but with a few critical differences)

But if your issues are to do with which hymn book or style of music to use, or the dress code or other traditions or practices then you probably need to have a check in scripture wether this is something the Bible really does teach about.
Be prepared to put aside your preferences/judgements/opinions- you may even have something to learn from those who are more traditional or more liberal than yourself!