Dealing With Despondency

Apr 30, 2024

In our Bible study last week, we looked at how troublesome thoughts can trip us up. (1 Samuel 27) We discussed the powerful effect of our thoughts on our moods and actions. David effectively believed a lie, that Saul would eventually kill him instead of trusting God to be his protector and deliverer, and this led to a period of conflict as he lived under foreign protection and remained a fugitive fighting against his people.

Jeremiah the prophet lived during a time of spiritual idolatry and God’s judgment (which may well resonate with many of us today.) He spoke about the exile and lived through the ravages of war and loss. Unsurprisingly given these circumstances, there were times when his soul was downcast. (Lam 3:19-20)
What do we do with our troublesome thoughts and feelings of despondency? Jeremiah gives us the answer in Lamentations 3:21-24.
He remembers God’s character, word and promises. He calls them to mind (which implies conscious effort, a choice to dwell on God more than on his circumstances.) He thinks about God’s goodness and compassion, about God’s love and faithfulness. He thinks about the grace of fresh starts (‘they are new every morning.’) He does what Paul tells us to do and thinks about good things (see Phil 4:8).
He also talks to himself (something we all do!), but speaks truth: ‘I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for Him.”‘ (Lam 3:24) He connects what he believes to what he will do.
If we are to win the battle for our minds and hearts, we must do as Jeremiah did and refuse to remain in despondency and despair. We must choose to think of God and to speak truth in our own souls. Instead of fixing our thoughts in a loop of negativity based on the visible, we must fix our eyes, mind, heart and thoughts on Jesus (see Heb 12:1-3). Then hope will arise and we can rejoice, no matter what.

Submission to authority

Apr 28, 2024

Garry continued his series on the church of God tonight, looking further at the question of submission, this time our submission to authority. Submission to God is our voluntary response to Him, and His motives are always pure and for our benefit. Our submission to ruling authorities can either be voluntary or compelled.
Key passages on this topic are found in Romans 13:1-7, Ephesians 6:5-8 and 1 Peter 2:18-19. From these, we see the need to submit to ruling authorities, but this idea of submission no matter what the authorities demand is not found in the Bible. In Daniel 3-6, we see people disregarding laws because these impinged on the Hebrews’ devotion to God. Similarly, the apostles said they must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29); there are instances when to disobey authority is the correct response.
In Ex 1:8-21, we see Pharaoh issuing an edict to midwives to kill all Hebrew male babies. They disobeyed, believing that the sanctity of human life superseded the Pharaoh’s edict. Similarly, the satraps and chief ministers who fooled the king into writing the law that condemned Daniel to the lions’ den could not prevent Daniel from breaking that law; his conscience would not allow him to cease from praying.
Those in authority issue commands, and if these are within what God says, we should obey. This applies to much of our everyday lives (parking rules, speed rules, paying taxes etc.) But there may well come times when we need to disobey the laws of the land in order to submit to the higher authority of God, as citizens in Communist countries such as China have already demonstrated. As our society goes further away from God’s laws, there will be times when we cannot in good conscience obey these and need to take a stand for God against them. Are we prepared to stand for God?

Mind Battles

Apr 25, 2024

We often think of life as a mountain climb, an ascent where we make linear progress to a summit and can ‘arrive’ at a peak with satisfaction. In truth, life is more like a meandering river where there are twists and turns we cannot predict and where our own progress often feels more like two steps forward and one back (on a good day) and one step forward and two steps back (on a bad one!) It can be notoriously difficult to view our own progress and we often feel like we have to learn and re-learn the same lessons over and over again.

 

We have seen David’s growth in mercy and trust as he struggled with Saul’s campaign to end his life and how he spared Saul’s life when he had the opportunity to kill him, not once but twice (see 1 Samuel 24 and 26.) We might be forgiven for thinking that David has reached a good place of trust and confidence in God. But in 1 Samuel 27 we see once again that the real battle takes place not ‘out there’ but in our own minds. David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” (1 Samuel 27:1)

Despite the assurances of Jonathan, Abigail and even Saul that God’s will will be accomplished and he will be king of Israel one day, despite his own confidence that the Lord would deal with Saul, David now ignores the prophetic word of Gad to return to Judah and once more flees to Gath to serve Achish, a foreign king. Pragmatism dominated his thinking. Weary with being on the run, a semi-permanent base in Ziklag seemed preferable to the fugitive life. The plan seemed to work; he ended up respected by Achish at this point. This life seemed easier, somehow, than believing that God would sort it all out in His time.

It can be extremely difficult to wait for the Lord (Ps 27:14). But Paul makes it clear that the spiritual life can only succeed when we take captive every thought to Christ. (2 Cor 10:5) We have to guard against wrong thinking by allowing our thoughts to be founded on truth (see Phil 4:8) and to essentially take down the lies of the world in order to re-wallpaper our minds with the truth. We have to remember the dangers of going it alone and seek the fellowship of others who believe the truth. We must also guard against weariness, especially the weariness of doing good (see Gal 6:9). Elijah, after that great victory over the prophets of Baal, felt exhausted and wanted to die, believing himself to be the only one left on God’s side. It took rest, refreshment and God’s gentle whisper to his soul to remind him of truth. (1 Kings 19) We do well to learn from David and Elijah so that troublesome thoughts don’t cause us trouble too.

 

Finding God’s Will

Apr 21, 2024

This evening we continued looking at how to live according to God’s will. In Colossians 1:9-10, Paul prays, ‘We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.’ (Col 1:9-10) We see from this that to know God’s will fully will mean more than ‘working out’ something according to reason and common sense (useful though these are); we need God’s Spirit to reveal to us the mind of Christ (see 1 Cor 2:13-16).

 

The first step to finding out God’s will in specific areas and circumstances is to ask God for wisdom (see James 1:5). James goes on to differentiate between spiritual wisdom and worldly wisdom in James 3, and we see again the emphasis on spiritual understanding and wisdom. We can’t hope to find out God’s will through rational means alone, for His w ways are often counter-intuitive and paradoxical.

Some pointers to finding God’s will are:

  1. Is what I believe God is saying in line with Scripture? God will not contradict His word. Isaiah tells us to consult God’s instruction; anything else is counterfeit. (Is 8:10)
  2. Confirming circumstances (such as Abraham’s servant experienced in Gen 24 or Paul experienced in Acts 16:6-10) can help us to know God’s will.
  3. Prayer and fasting are key to understanding God’s will, for these spiritual disciplines help us to sharpen our hearing and tune us in to God. Prayer and fasting are ways that we remove the distractions of the world in order to concentrate our minds and spirit on God.
  4. The counsel of the saints can help us enormously as we pray and seek God’s confirmation, but we have to be careful here, as people are fallible and do not always advise us rightly. Nonetheless, it is good to share our situations with others who will pray and seek God for us.
  5. God’s peace is given in many situations where we are seeking to know God’s will to guard our hearts and minds. (Phil 4:7) It is often the ‘green light’ we need to step out into new ventures.
  6. Trusting in God’s sovereignty is ultimately all we can do when seeking His will. Prov 3:5-6 reminds us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not to lean on our own understanding. When we truly believe God is in control and guiding our paths, then we can rest in His ability to lead and guide us along right paths for His name’s sake.

Importunity: The Need To Persist

Apr 17, 2024

Importunity: persistence to the point of annoyance.
The word ‘importunity’ describes a widow in a parable Jesus told His disciples to remind them that they should always pray and not give up. (Luke 18:1-8) The woman kept coming to a judge, asking for justice. She did not give up, even though the judge did not seem to want to listen. Eventually, he decided to give her the justice she craved for the simple reasons that her importunity left him no other other option.
God is not indifferent to us like the judge in the parable, but sometimes, perhaps, we feel like He is slow in responding to our prayers. The temptation at that point is to give up. Give in. Stop bothering. There’s no point.
The parable reminds us about persistence in prayer. Sometimes we have to ask and keep on asking. Sometimes we have to seek and keep on seeking. Sometimes we have to knock and keep on knocking.
Prayer is not an optional extra. It’s not something we do simply when we feel like it. It’s not something that can be added on to a life of faith when all else seems to have failed.
Prayer, including the need to intercede for other people, is essential for Christian growth. Life won’t succeed if we cut God out of the equation, and sometimes, we need to just keep on praying, no matter what.
There’s opportunity to do that at the ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting today at GPCC at 1.45 p.m. Do join us to pray.

Living According To God’s Will (Pt 2)

Apr 14, 2024

This evening, we looked again at the subject of living according to God’s will, highlighting four areas which the Bible explicitly teaches us are God’s will for His people:

  1. The need to love unconditionally (see John 13:34-35, 1 John 3:1-2, 16-18). We love because God first loved us, but this love needs to be practical (see also Matt 25:40). No matter what our love language, we must learn to love not only our friends, family and other believers but even our enemies (Matt 5:44-45)
  2. The need to forgive freely (Matt 6:12-15) – even if this means repeatedly forgiving! (see Matt 18:21-35). Again, our forgiveness flows from the fact that God has forgiven us (Col 3:13, Eph 4:32). It does not mean we pretend nothing bad has happened or condone sin, but we leave God to sort out the judgment and punishment and build bridges, becoming peacemakers.
  3. The need to be holy (1 Thess 4:3-6, 1 Pet 1:15-16). This includes sexual purity (see 1 Cor 6:18-20) and means finding out what pleases God so that we can refuse to conform to the world’s standards. (1 Pet 1:14)
  4. The need to do good (1 Pet 2:15, Eph 2:10) so that others can see God’s light.

It can be hard to discover God’s personal will for our lives, but as always, we need to listen for the voice of the good Shepherd and know that He will direct us (Is 30:21) As we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts and lead us in right paths.