February 28th 2010
Our Spiritual Home
“…while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20 (NIV)
An 85-year-old man was sitting on a park bench crying. Two men saw him and walked over to see if they could help. “Is there something wrong at home?” The 85-year-old sobbed, “No, everything is fine. I have a beautiful home with a landscaped garden with a swimming pool. I have a wonderful wife who is much younger than me. She’s a superb cook, treats me a like a king, and is always attentive to my needs.” One of the men asked, “Well then, why in heaven’s name are you crying?” The old man replied, “I can’t remember where I live!”
I see this little story as a metaphor for where many people are spiritually. They have lost their way and can’t remember where their true home is.
Jesus takes the story to the next level in the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. In his story, Jesus lets us know how easy it is to find our way back home. A man has two sons. The elder son is loyal to his father and works hard. The younger son, by contrast, takes his share of the family inheritance, leaves home and squanders it on loose living. Eventually, he decides he wants to go home, but assumes that the only way his father might accept him back would be as a hired hand.
Luke tells us that the father not only takes him back unconditionally, and, moreover, as a son, not as a hired hand, but also throws a big party in his honour.
From the perspective of the older brother, the loyal one, this is grossly unfair. If we are really honest, we have to agree. Where was the big party for faithfulness and loyalty? Why does the great honour go to the unfaithful kid who comes crawling home in poverty after totally dishonouring his father and his family?
Think about it, we can see ourselves in each of the two sons. We are lost and on our journey home, hoping our heavenly Father will forgive us and take us back, and we are smugly sitting in judgment of our fellow human beings whom we think are worse sinners than are we.
Jesus wants us to know that his Father, our Father, loves both his sons, and invites both of them into his banquet. Life in God’s household is a life surrounded by love, and that includes a whole lot of mercy—mercy we can absolutely count on.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your love. They’re undeserved; we can’t earn them, but still you pour them out to us. Help us to embrace them in our lives, as you embrace us in yours. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen
Study by Joseph Tkach
February 27th 2010
The Orchestra Of Prayer
8th of a series of studies from Habakkuk
“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.”
Habakkuk 3:1 (NIV UK)
Shigionoth? What is that?
Scholars debate the meaning of the word, but most agree that it is a musical term. Is it a kind of instrument or a note about rhythm? Some say it means “accompanied by the stringed instruments” like lyres, etc. My favourite out of all the ideas is that it refers to the full orchestra. In other words, every instrument in every section was to be involved in this prayer set to music. The woodwind, the percussion, the brass, the strings, all of them conducted by Habakkuk. Perhaps accompanied by the great choirs.
It is as if Habakkuk is putting all that he has into this faith-filled prayer. David wrote in the Psalms, “I will extol the Lord with all my heart” (111:1). All his heart, every fibre of his being, the secret corners of his soul, all of his life, everything.
I don’t know how your prayer life is but I know how mine is, and, sometimes, it is not as exemplary as it should be. Some moments of high excitement, others of struggle. Barely a flicker of a flame at times. No orchestra playing. Maybe a few violins to go with my self-pitying prayers of “woe is me”! But, every so often, as well as the downs and middle type prayers, there are moments when with God’s Spirit I take off and soar. The Lord “enables me to go on the heights” (Habakkuk 3:19). All of me is involved. The whole orchestra of my soul. Maybe that’s how it was for Habakkuk. On Shigionoth.
How is your prayer life? Give your all in prayer. Strike up the band. Let the orchestra play.
Prayer
Our Father, Lord, stir up your Spirit within me that I may pray to you with my whole heart, mind, soul and spirit. Let all of me, like the whole orchestra, reach out in prayer to you. In Jesus’ name.
Amen
Study by James Henderson
February 26th 2010
Tap Into The Source Of Life
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
John 7:37-39 (KJV)
We went to visit our son and his family in the Republic of Ireland at the end of the cold spell in January. The newspapers were full of the severe weather—coldest spell for years, temperatures of minus 12°C and the water crisis.
Water crisis in the midst of heavy snow and then rain?! Yes, because people were leaving their taps running in an effort to keep their water pipes from freezing. The moving water would prevent it freezing.
The Holy Spirit is likened to water in many places. We read in Revelation 22:17 of the ‘water of life’. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body…and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” We are urged to drink and we will never thirst again! And that this water will be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14).
The Holy Spirit is not just meant to fill us up, but to move in and through us. This will produce love, peace, joy, goodness and all the fruit of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, that flow out of a Spirit-filled life.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 speaks of ‘quenching’ the Holy Spirit. If we ‘turn off the tap’ or stop it flowing, then we ‘freeze up’ and become inert and inactive. Christians are metaphorically the network of pipes through which the Holy Spirit flows out to a thirsty world.
Don’t turn off the tap. Tap into the source of Life.
Prayer
Make us a channel of your peace, Father in Heaven, as your Holy Spirit flows through us to bring the Water of Life to a thirsty world.
Amen
Study by Nancy Silcox
February 25th 2010
The Two Builders
“Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
Matthew 7:24 (NKJV)
This parable marks the close of Matthew’s account version of the Sermon on the Mount. In it Jesus draws the analogy of two builders, one who is wise and the other, foolish.
The wise man built his house on a secure foundation, a solid rock, using the best of materials (I Corinthians 3:12).
The foolish man, however, built his house on shifting sands, using cheap materials. When a fierce storm hit both houses, only the wise man’s house remained intact.
In a spiritual sense our lives are compared to these builders. There is a lot of truth in the saying, “we reap what we sow”. Jesus encourages us to keep his sayings and to build our lives wisely on him, the Rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1).
When the storms of life come our way, we will not be easily moved if our faith is grounded deeply in him, the rock of ages (Isaiah 26:4 Amplified Bible). Wonderful promises for this present time and for eternity.
Prayer
Father in Heaven, Help me build my life on the foundation of your Son so that when the storms of life come my way, I will be able to stand strong in you.
Amen
Study by John Magowan
February 24th 2010
‘Revival’
“We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be…Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land…Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long. Do not ignore the clamour of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.”
Psalm 74:9, 20, 22-23 (NIV UK)
Not all scriptures are feel-good lines; not everything you read in the Bible leaves you with a warm and satisfied glow. Sometimes a scripture passage raises an uncomfortable echo in the back of your mind, a deep-down, carefully hidden sense of unhappiness with the way things are.
You will very quickly sound very old indeed if you start mourning the loss of Christian values and the moral and spiritual decline of society—after all, people over 40 have been doing that for centuries—but it’s true that it’s been getting harder, socially and even professionally, for Christians to admit to what they believe in. Plenty of Christians cling to their disguises as tightly as undercover agents waiting for backup.
Is anything going to change? Does it need to? What should we pray for?
The word “revival” has been over-used, under-used, misused, abused and disused, until it’s hard to know what it ever meant. One imagines some sort of zealous sanctimony, maybe fanaticism. Even the dictionary says something embarrassing about “renewal of religious fervour”; it doesn’t describe taking a collective ride on the emotions of the moment or joining some public spectacle, but it mentions “special services” in an intimidating kind of way.
Or maybe reviving has something to do with the empowering of Christians, the regeneration of churches, or the return of Jesus—none of which we can produce on our own. Rightly enough we ask God to help us with this or that effort or initiative. Maybe deep down what we long for is the will of God to be clearer to us, the power of God to be nearer, the presence and influence of God to be irresistible.
Prayer
Father in heaven, we are not surrounded by immediate military danger like the people in the time of the Psalms, but we are surrounded by a lot of little things like dwindling credibility, negative social influences and the feeling of being outnumbered—and we have suffered some kinds of losses. You have the real power; we are only here in answer to you; what will you do?
Amen
Study by Fiona Jones