“Daddy fix it!” is the confident assertion of my granddaughter when her pop-up picture book needs sellotape to keep the pictures popping up or when her train engine needs a new battery to help it to run smoothly on the track again. She has confidence that her father will solve the problems which are too great for her.

So often as we grow older, we try to fix life ourselves, finding many situations that are beyond our ability to fix. We like to be competent and confident in our own abilities; we like very much to be in control, but the truth is that life often is beyond our control, competence and skills. We still need someone to rescue us, to fix things. We have a heavenly Father whose love and tenderness towards us are unwavering and whose ability to fix things is far beyond ours. Maybe we need the child-like confidence that Daddy can fix it instead of trying to carry the weight of the world’s burdens on our fragile shoulders.

Matt 11:28-30 reminds us that when we’re worn out from trying to fix life ourselves, we can come to God and learn from Jesus, exchanging our burdens for His. He is able to give us rest, to carry us close to His heart and to ‘fix it.’ May we develop childlike confidence in His goodness and power and let Him do the fixing.

Part of the work of the church is ‘to equip [God’s] people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up‘ (Eph 4:12). In order to facilitate this, we will be holding a ‘Team Building Day’ on Saturday 27th April between 12 noon and 3 p.m.

‘Team building’ can have terrifying connotations for some people, especially if they have been subjected to  physically demanding challenges in a work context which left them exhausted and spent rather than encouraged and built up! However, we hope this day will be accessible to all ages (we have activities for children to do as well as adults and nothing will be so strenuous that even the older people among us can’t join in!)

The session will start with lunch (bring your own lunch, please!- we can provide drinks) and Sarah Davey will be leading different activities that will help us to get to know each other better, understand our differences and work together effectively so that the body of Christ can be built up and we can be equipped to share the gospel more effectively with others.

Please put the date in your diaries and aim to be with us as we seek to learn more about the body of Christ and God’s plan for each one of our lives.

As I wait for my second grandchild’s arrival in our world, I’m learning to pray for the 3Ps – patience, protection and perseverance. These are good things to pray for regardless of our circumstances or individual petitions!

Patience is not something which comes easily to us. Most of us wait impatiently most of the time, whether that’s for the bus to come, the child to be born or God to answer our prayers! We are like the woman who asked for prayer for patience and said ‘Give it to me now, Lord!‘ Patience means trusting and hoping in God’s timing rather than our own and learning contentment in the now instead of always looking ahead and living in the hypothetical future. The present is the only moment we have and is God’s gift to us: ‘this is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’ (Ps 118:24)

I pray for protection for my family and friends daily, for life is a hazardous business. Labour and delivery of a child are hard work, but all of life has its ‘dangers, toils and snares’, as the hymn writer puts it, and God’s protection is needed. Ps 121 is a wonderful prayer to pray, acknowledging God’s protection at all times and His involvement and presence in our daily lives.

Perseverance is also needed in every situation of life. The mother may well feel at times during labour that she can’t carry on, that the pain is too much. She needs encouragement and help to keep going, with the hope of the baby’s arrival the motivation to persevere. We have the Holy Spirit with us as our encourager, reminding us of the words of Jesus when we perhaps feel like giving up and giving in. Paul tells us that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Rom 5:3-4) Just as the suffering of labour is forgotten in the joy of holding a baby in arms, we are reminded that our present suffering is temporary when compared to the glory to be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18) We are urged to persevere in running the race marked out for us. (Heb 12:1)

Patience, protection and perseverance are good things to pray for, no matter what our circumstances!

Speaking in tongues (or other languages, formally known as ‘glossolalia’) is a gift given by the Holy Spirit enabling people to speak in languages not learned academically. It is one of the characteristics of Pentecostal churches. It is not essential to speak in tongues to be a Christian, but this is a gift given by God to enable us to grow spiritually (see 1 Cor 14:4; Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke about this in a recent interview with Justin Brierley.)

Jackie Pullinger is a missionary to Howloon city in Hong Kong who has seen many drug addicts delivered from addiction. She says that praying in tongues is the chief ‘method’ she has used to see this deliverance: ‘heroin users would pray in tongues and find themselves miraculously released from their addiction.’ From a purely practical point of view, she commented that when you need to pray for hours on end for someone, ‘it’s quite hard to keep going [for that long] in your own language’!

Speaking in tongues can be misused (see 1 Cor 14:6-12 when Paul addresses the use of speaking in tongues in a congregational rather than private prayer setting), but Paul encourages this gift to be used and we too should encourage this gift to build up the church and enable us to connect further with a God whose generosity knows no limits.,

Garry continued his series on the characteristics of a Pentecostal church, looking further at the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many dispute that this is needed nowadays, saying that this only happened in the early church to ‘get it started’ and that we now have completeness (e.g. the completed canon of Scripture) and therefore signs and wonders are no longer needed. It is difficult to conclude how this can be the case when so many across different denominations claim to have experienced this baptism and theologically, 1 Cor 13:8-10 (often cited as a proof that prophecies and tongues will cease) seems to be referring to a time in the future when Jesus has returned and we are with God permanentl, something which has not yet happened.

In the book of Acts, we have many signs of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the first occurring on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Tongues of fire were seen and a rushing wind was felt; the disciples subsequently spoke in tongues. There is clearly a visible element to this experience (see Acts 8:14-19 when we read that Simon saw the Holy Spirit was being given at the laying on of hands) and the most obvious sign of this is speaking in tongues (or other languages) (see Acts 10:44-46, Acts 19:1-6).

Speaking in tongues can sound very strange. It is not gobbledygook, but an ability to speak in real languages that have not previously been learned. The purpose of this is in some ways to restore the confusion of languages which occurred at the Tower of Babel (Gen 11) and is a means of edification (1 Cor 14:4), something which promotes growth and gives a close connection to God. It is a method of praying (1 Cor 14:2). In some ways, this method of prayer bypasses the mind (1 Cor 14:14-15), enabling us to connect directly with God.

We need to ask God for this gift and when we have received it we must use it. Speaking in tongues is not something to be displayed like the best china in a glass cabinet, something we possess but never use for fear of spoiling it or because we’re waiting for a ‘special occasion.’ We need to speak in tongues, to use this gift and to grow in faith and closeness to God as a result.

The blessing of good relationships is something God wants us all to enjoy. He sets us in families; He gives us friends; He knows we live in a world full of people and wants us to be a blessing and to be blessed in our relationships with all these people. Learning to live well among people is an outworking of our love for God; Jesus linked our love for God with our love for others (“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt 22:37-40)). John reminds us frequently that our love for other people is the measure of our love for God, saying, ‘Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.’ (1 John 2:10-11)

Love needs to be seen in our family relationships: in our marriages, in our relationships to parents, grandparents and children. It needs to be seen in our friendships and in our church. It needs to be seen in our workplaces. Love and respect for people remain at the heart of the Christian faith.

The Bible is an honest book and shows us how often people fail to love in this way. From Cain who killed his brother because Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God and who acted out of jealousy and hatred to David who committed adultery and failed to discipline his sons, from Abraham who schemed his way into getting a son and who treated his wife’s slave with contempt to Jacob whose favouritism of Joseph caused so many problems among his children, we see plenty of examples of relationships which failed and which did not reflect God’s constancy and faithfulness. But it shows us also examples of what this love can look like: steadfast Ruth and honourable Boaz, for example, who are recorded in the lineage of Jesus our Saviour, Hosea the prophet who mirrored God’s constancy and faithful love to a wife who persistently rejected him. As we allow God’s Holy Spirit to have control of our lives, we can know the blessing of good relationships and we can trust Him to work in all those fractured, broken areas of our lives where perhaps we feel reconciliation is impossible and restoration can never happen. We mustn’t ever give up or lose hope. God is ableto orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. (Rom 8:28, The Voice) He is able to bring healing, restoration and reconciliation as we seek to live in the blessing of good relationships.

The blessing of good relationships is also a powerful means of evangelism. Jesus said, ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ (John 13:34-35) May we show God’s love in all our relationships and see Him working in our families, friends, colleagues and neighbours so that others may know this blessing too.