In the midst of battles, trials and difficulties, it is easy to develop a ‘siege mentality’. In mediaeval times, siege warfare was a typical military operation, whereby the enemy would surround or blockade a town, a castle or a fortress in an attempt to capture it. The people being besieged would be unable to get out to get provisions or help; meanwhile, the enemy would be pelting them and attacking them using a trebuchet, an awesome catapult, which attackers would use to bombard towns with fireballs and rotting flesh to wear down those being attacked.

A replica trebuchet at Warwick Castle

It can be hard to keep perspective and hope when you are starving and under attack, when each day brings no relief, when you feel beleaguered and oppressed. And that’s how many of us feel as Christians. We feel daunted, overcome, often defeated… but that is because our eyes are on the battle, rather than on God. As Casting Crowns sing,

‘If your eyes are on the storm
You’ll wonder if I love you still,
But if your eyes are on the cross
You’ll know I always have and I always will.’ (‘Just Be Held’, Casting Crowns)

We need to remember that ‘God specialises in things thought impossible.‘ Nothing is impossible with God. The God who made the heavens and the earth by His great power and outstretched arm finds nothing too difficult. (Jer 32:17) The God who could breathe life into the valley of dry bones and raise up an army from that can breathe life into our dry bones and use us in ways we can’t even imagine. (Ezek 47) The God who came upon Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and enabled a virgin to conceive is able to breathe life into our deadness and bring hope to the hopeless. The angel said to Mary, ‘For no word from God will ever fail’ (Luke 1:37).  ‘No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.’ (2 Cor 1:20)

Our role is to fix our eyes on the God of the impossible: ‘‘Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.’  (Col 3:1-2, The Message) As we do this, God gives faith, hope and peace to us and enables us to abound in grace: ‘And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.’ (2 Cor 9:8) 

When we think of the word ‘battle’, we often have different mental images, formed by the books we’ve read or the films we’ve seen. We may think of Roman battle scenes in the film ‘Gladiator‘:

… or mediaeval battle scenes with bows and arrows, as at the battle of Agincourt in 1415:

We may think of the Battle for Middle Earth in ‘Lord of the Rings’:

… or science-fiction battles such as seen in ‘Independence Day‘:

The Bible tells us of different kinds of battles.

1. Sometimes, a battle can be because we have many enemies – the Bible has a lot to say about enemies and people who come against God and His people, and about the ultimate source of conflict and hatred in the world, as well as about the ultimate victory God has over every enemy which sets itself up against Him.
2. Sometimes we can, intentionally or unintentionally, antagonise people and cause problems for ourselves. Again, the Bible has a lot to say about that: we see that God is involved in helping us even when we perhaps get ourselves into bother and battles and mess up.
3. Sometimes the battle can be within our own family, and these are often the most painful and traumatic kind of battle, because we don’t expect trouble to come from those sources and it’s all the more painful when our friends and family hurt us and let us down. We expect adversaries to cause problems; we don’t expect those we love to cause our wounds, but sometimes that happens. Again, the Bible is very honest about the kinds of battles that can occur within families and gives us reasons and strategies for dealing with these.
4. Sometimes the battle can be internal: our own struggle with sin, our own failings and failures, the complexities of our own personalities and our own health struggles, be these physical, mental or emotional. These kinds of battle can be the hardest sometimes, because they are often invisible to others, but they can be wearing, debilitating, draining and downright discouraging! There are many Christians who feel crippled by these kind of battles and who dare not own up to the difficulties they face.

Whatever the sources or form of the battles we face, however, God is the One who brings us the victory. Twice in the psalms, we read the prayer, ‘Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless.’ (Ps 60:11, Ps 108:12) We know ultimately that God is the One who delivers us and brings us victory: ‘But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Cor 15:57)

In November, we will continue praying for God to give us the ‘yield’, the harvest of people coming to know salvation for the first time. The coming of Jesus to earth was so that He could save people from their sins (see Matt 1:21), and we are reminded that ‘salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:19)

Let’s pray for:

1. our witness (both within church services and in our personal witness) to focus on Jesus, to lift Him high and to proclaim the salvation He along can bring
2. all the outreaches of the church, including the Monday night youth club, the Friday parent & toddler group, the Friday night badminton and Saturday coffee morning to yield Christ-centred conversations and the building of good relationships
3. all the preparations for Christmas outreaches, including the Christmas market (9th December) and carol services at Cherry Tree Court (11th December) and Market Street (18th December)
4. our own personal witness to family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, that we may have boldness and courage to speak God’s word

N. T. Wright reminds us ‘the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.’ Let’s be confident that God can use us and is working in our local area to bring people to know Him!

Jeremiah lived in a difficult period of history. Called by God to prophesy about judgment and the need for repentance, he witnessed Israel’s captivity, the conquest of God’s people by the ruthless Babylonian empire. Scorned by leaders in his own country who wanted an easy message of hope and carte-blanche to carry on with their idolatrous disobedience, Jeremiah clearly struggled. Traditionally, the book of Lamentations has been ascribed to his authorship, and this lament shows his grief and sorrow plainly. Anyone who believes that following God leads to an easy, trouble-free life will have difficulty maintaining this view after reading this book!

Jeremiah spoke of having seen affliction and walking in darkness (Lam 3:1-2, 6), of bitterness and hardship, including physical pain. (Lam 3:4-6) He knew the pain of unanswered prayer, of God’s silence (Lam 3:7-9). He knew all about crushed hopes (Lam 3:13-19). Yet at the same time that he knew the weight of crushed hope, he also knew how to keep on hoping. In the midst of his lament, we read ‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.‘ (Lam 3:22-23)

Jeremiah knew how to talk to himself. The words we say to ourselves, in the inner recesses of our hearts, words which are rarely, if ever, heard by anyone else, are crucial. Jeremiah’s ‘inner dialogue’ said, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lam 3:24) He reminded himself of God’s truth: ‘The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him;  it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.‘ (Lam 3:25-26) He was prepared to seek God alone, to wait in silence, to ponder God’s character, even when his own personal experiences did not seem to tally with that description. He reminded himself,  ‘For no one is cast off  by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.’ (Lam 3:31-33)

It is extremely difficult to keep perspective and hope in the midst of trials and tragedies. The only way we can do this is to remind ourselves of God’s truth, which does not change. It’s wonderful when we feel God’s presence, when we see His answers to prayer, when we experience His deliverance. But it’s perhaps even more wonderful when we lift our hands in praise or bow in humble adoration when life seems to make no sense to us at all and darkness surrounds us. God does not despise the sacrifices of a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. (Ps 51:17)

Don’t forget to put the clocks back an hour tonight or you’ll be very early for church tomorrow!

There are a number of different events happening in November apart from our usual meetings. Details are given below:

Thursday 3rd & 17th November

On these two Thursdays, there will be an opportunity to prepare with the community choir for the ‘Churches Together’ carol service on Friday 9th December. The choir practice will start at 6.30 p.m., immediately before the Bible study at 7.30 p.m.

Sunday 6th November

Meetings at the usual time of 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the family service looking at our identity as children of the King.

Thursday 10th & 24th November

Our prayer meetings will be at 7.30 p.m. Do come along to pray for revival, for our outreaches, and for the Christmas Market outreach. Pray for the youth club on Monday nights, the Parent & Toddler group on Friday mornings, the coffee mornings each Saturday morning, the badminton group on Friday evenings and all the community groups who use the building throughout the week. Corrie Ten Boom once asked if prayer is our steering wheel or our spare tyre. It’s so important to pray! – and praying together is as vital as praying individually.

Sunday 13th November

The morning meeting will be at Market Street at 10.30 a.m. (not Cherry Tree Court), and there will be a Christian bookstall at both morning and evening services – an opportunity to buy Christmas cards, calendars, CDs, books and gifts, Advent devotionals, children’s books and so on. Payment is needed on the day, with CLC donating 10% of all sales to the church.

Saturday 19th November

This will be the Big Local’s ‘Winter Wonderland and Christmas Market’ event at Thurnscoe Flower/ Memorial Park (just off High Street) from 12 noon until 6 p.m. A lovely opportunity to buy Christmas purchases and enjoy a community event, complete with skating rink and Santa’s grotto.

Sunday 20th November

This morning’s service will be at Cherry Tree Court at 10.30 a.m., with the evening service at 6 p.m. at Market Street.

Wednesday 23rd November

Preparation day for the Christmas Market! If you are free from 9 until 11 a.m., come along to prepare the 300 goody bags we will be giving out to families who come in to our building. A joint ‘Churches Together’ project, the goody bags will contain literature about Christmas for children and adults, sweets and glow sticks to light up the carol service as well as information about church services and community events. We pray God will really use these to speak truth into people’s hearts and to encourage people to consider the meaning of Christmas.

Sunday 27th November

Fredrick and Reeba will be with us all day, sharing about the work they are doing in India, helping us to prepare for the missions’ trip (April 2017) and enjoying fellowship with us. Come prepared to chat and maybe stay longer than usual!