The recent hot and dry weather in the UK has already prompted talk of drought and newspapers tell stories of previous heatwaves (in 2003, for example). It’s so unusual in England to have over a week of uninterrupted sunshine that this makes the news! People are unused to temperatures of 30 degress celsius and more and there is a sense of people wilting in the heat! Gardens are looking thirsty and the sale of water shoots up at such times.

In last night’s prayer meeting, we were praying for God to heal on every level: broken relationships, hurting bodies, troubled minds, crushed emotions. We long to see God heal and bring wholeness to individuals, to churches, to communities, to the nation, to our world. As we were praying, we were reminded not only of our own spiritual thirst but of God’s ability to provide water:

“You, God, are my God; earnestly I seek You; my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” (Ps 63:1 TNIV). Psalm 143:6 TNIV says “I spread out my hands to You; I thirst for You like a parched land.” This imagery is taken up in Aaron Shust’s new song ‘Satisfy’, which begins:

“In a dry and thirsty land
You are the water,
You are the water.
When I’m on my knees again,
Yours is the power,
Yours is the power.

When the battle weakens me
You will be my victory.
You supply my every need,
You supply my every need.” (‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust)

The answer to our thirst can only be met in God. Jesus said, ‘“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’ (John 7:37-39 TNIV) Our prayer is for God to fill us with rivers of living water, to refresh our weary souls, to give us all that we need.

“So fill us with Your rest,
And fill us with Your Spirit,
And fill us with Your love.
Only You can satisfy.
So fill us with Your rest,
And fill us with Your Spirit,
And fill us with Your love.
Only You can satisfy.
Only You can satisfy.

I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need,
Jesus, only You can satisfy.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need,
Jesus, only You can satisfy.” (‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust)
‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust

The title of Aaron Shust’s new album ‘Morning Rises’ is taken from a line in the song ‘God of Brilliant Lights’:

“The God of brilliant lights is shining down over us.
Breaking through the darkness
Covering all the earth
Ooh, His love is like an ocean,
Ooh, forever overflowing,
The God of brilliant lights is shining over us.
Like the morning rises
God, Your light is shining.” (‘God of Brilliant Lights’, Aaron Shust & Scott Cash)

The idea, however, is rooted in Scripture:
“Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 TNIV)

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79 TNIV)

Sometimes it’s very easy to dwell on the circumstances around us and to feel overwhelmed by them. It’s always good, however, to dwell on the hope that we have in Christ and to remember that ‘weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’ (Ps 30:5) We can’t change our circumstances necessarily, but we can choose our response: “Regardless of the circumstances, the response that is necessary is praise. It’s life-giving to us when we choose to praise.” (quote by Aaron Shust in the All About Worship interview.)

The 2001 film ‘The One’ features a sheriff’s deputy who fights an alternate universe version of himself who grows stronger with each alternate self he kills. YuLaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the “Multiverse Authority” (MVA) that polices interdimensional travel (via detecting wormholes), seeks to hunt down all variations of himself in alternate universes. By killing all of his other selves (becoming the last version), and absorbing their life energies, he believes he will become a godlike being called “The One”. YuLaw is briefly captured by MVA agents Rodecker (Delroy Lindo) and Funsch (Jason Statham), only to escape from captivity during the trial sentencing him to life in a penal colony.

The Aaron Shust song ‘The One’ has no reference to the film of the same name! The song is talking about the eternal God who reigns and who holds us safe in His hands. Sometimes it’s hard to see what He is doing or to follow Him, but there is tremendous security in knowing God.

“The day is dark and I can’t see
The path I’m on or what’s in front of me,
But I will stand
On this I know
You will never let me go.

Though the world shall fade away
And the sky may even fall
You are strong enough to save.
You’re the One who holds
Every heart that is afraid.
You hear our desperate call.
You are strong enough to save.
You’re the One who holds it all.
You hold it all. (‘The One’, Aaron Shust)
‘The One’, Aaron Shust

A new album from a much-loved singer/songwriter always evokes that response in me. ‘Oh, joy!’ What truths will be uncovered, clothed in new words, melded into new melodies? What sustenance will come from new songs? What light will be shone on Scripture? What allusions will there be to old hymns and other favourites? If you’ve never been upheld through music, never had light shone in the darkness through the fusion of lyrics and melody, never been picked up from despair, never had fire shot through your soul through music, you may well read this post with a sense of bewilderment. But for anyone who has been encouraged by songs and who has felt their power, you will understand only too well what I am talking about.

Aaron Shust’s new album ‘Morning Rises’ was released today. I always enjoy his music, but also I find him to be an authentic person, facing difficult situations (two of his sons have been seriously ill) with faith and courage. He also has a great sense of humour and reminds me of Mark’s zany ideas at times (if you listen to the interview below, not only does he talk with all seriousness about how God has healed his youngest son, who has Down’s Syndrome, of deafness, but creates worship songs from the most bizarre Bible verses you can imagine – I personally really like ‘Send the bears!’)
Radio interview with Aaron Shust

You can listen to some of the album’s new songs through the links below:
“I will trust in only You
For You will bring the victory
All Your promises are true
It doesn’t matter what I see.” (Deliver Me’, Aaron Shust)
‘Deliver Me’, Aaron Shust

“He won’t abandon
He won’t deceive
He won’t desert us
He won’t ever leave
He’ll never forsake us
He won’t ever run
He’ll never reject us
The faithful One.” (‘Mighty Fortress’, Aaron Shust)
‘Mighty Fortress’, Aaron Shust

“In a dry and thirsty land
You are the Water, You are the Water
When I’m on my knees again
Yours is the power, Yours is the power
When the battle weakens me,
You will be my victory.
You supply my every need, You supply my every need.”
‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust

When we think of healing, most of us yearn and long and pray to see others receiving physical healing. We can see such healings with our eyes, can categorise and define such healings. Prayer for that kind of healing, however challenging, can be defined and offered to God. But the spiritual side of healing can be just as important, though it is less easy to define.

Psalm 41:4 TNIV says ‘Have mercy on me, Lord; heal me, for I have sinned against You.’ Sometimes we have to acknowledge that we have sinned and that causes our spiritual health to suffer. It’s not easy to admit to our faults and pride can often get in the way of asking for spiritual healing. 2 Chronicles 7:14 TNIV reminds us that God’s people are called to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways before we can know healing from God.

Our spiritual wellbeing affects more than we realise (including our physical health). Yet God is gracious and longs to heal us. Malachi 4:2 TNIV reminds us that ‘for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays and you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.’

Spiritual healing involves taking the scales from our eyes, peeling back the layers of our lives to see what is going on below the surface. Healing – both physical and spiritual – is found at the Cross, for by Christ’s wounds we have been healed. The healing God offers us will restore our joy to us so that we can frolic like well-fed calves, knowing an inner buoyancy and joy that guides us on every step of life’s journey. God wants us to know abundant joy. He does not want us to be downcast, held back, waylaid on life’s jounrey, but He wants us to know spiritual healing and wholeness.

Garry spoke this morning from Hebrews 11:1-6 TNIV about faith. Faith is the fundamental focus point of the Christian life. We receive faith as God’s gift to us (Eph 2TNIV) and have to exercise faith daily to please God. God wants us to launch out into situations where we are totally dependent on Him (as in the picture.) If He doesn’t come through for us, we fall flat on our faces, but as we learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to fly!

1) We need faith for ourselves
Our own faith needs to develop and we need to be quick to obey God, especially that ‘nagging feeling’ we have when He speaks to us, like a stone in a shoe or a splinter in our skin that just won’t go away!

2) We need faith for others
James 5:14-15 TNIV talks about the prayer of faith offered by the elders of the church resulting in healing. Matt 9:1-2 TNIV talks about friends bringing someone to Jesus and Jesus seeing their faith. In Matt 8:5-10 TNIV it is the centurion’s faith which amazes Jesus and results in the servant’s healing. We can believe for others at times and see amazing things happen as a result of our faith!

3) Unbelief, or lack of faith.
In the narrative of the boy with the evil spirit, the disciples could not drive out the evil spirit because they had no faith. Often, we think of faith as a muscle which needs to be exercised to grow, but Jesus talked about faith the size of a mustard seed, emphasising the presence of faith rather than its size. In Matt 17, Luke 17 and Mark 9, we see how the boy’s father needed help to overcome his unbelief.

There is an unbelief that God cannot work with (see Matt 13:55-58 TNIV or John 12:37-41 TNIV). If people are offended by Jesus and refuse to believe, choosing not to believe, they can limit what God chooses to do and hearts can be hardened. But there is an unbelief that is borne of incredulity or helplessness which Jesus is pleased to shore up (see the father’s cry ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’, where the word is likened to the practice of frapping, whereby a wooden ship is held together in a storm by chains and ropes around the hull to give extra support.) The father came to Jesus and asked for support in his desperation and lack of faith and Jesus responded by healing his son. God is able to work even when we don’t fully believe, as in the case of John Wimber, who preached and taught about healing for some time before he actually witnessed anyone healed.

4) Developing faith outside our comfort zone
At home, we have a fridge magnet that says:

As we hear God’s word (Rom 10:17 TNIV), we are encouraged to believe for new things and to step out of our comfort zone. Is 42:16 TNIV reminds us that God has said He will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths. That is extremely disorientating for a blind person, but God wants us to move beyond the familiar and well-known.

5) Faith Can Challenge
As we are led into unfamiliar territory, we will feel uncomfortable and afraid. It’s then that we have to trust in God alone. We may be scared, but if we get out of the boat, we find we can walk on water. We shouldn’t criticise Peter for sinking, but should realise that he was the only disciple who had the courage to do something beyond his normal experience. We should cheer other on to good things and not laugh at failure, but be there to pick each other up and spur each other on to faith and good works.