Night Whispers - Dynamite For The Darkness

Dec | 31 | The Drinking Songs of The Spirit

2011-12-31T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – LISTEN

Psalms 90:12
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. NKJV

The Drinking Songs of The Spirit

Dylan Thomas, the Welsh Bard who killed himself with booze at just 39 years of age, wrote for me, one of the most influential pieces of prose ever to touch my ears and my heart. ‘Under Milk Wood, A play written for voices,’ is a most remarkable verbal wonder and the beauty of the opening words always, I mean always, moves me to tears. It took Thomas some ten years to write it and indeed, it was the last thing he ever wrote, his Magnum Opus if you will. Tonight, on this last night of the year, I refer to this play by Thomas and quote you an opening paragraph.

Listen. It is night moving in the streets, the processional salt slow musical wind in Coronation Street and Cockle Row, it is the grass growing on Llareggub Hill, dew fall, star fall, the sleep of birds in Milk Wood. Listen. It is night in the chill, squat chapel, hymning, in bonnet and brooch and bombazine black, butterfly choker and bootlace bow, coughing like nannygoats, sucking mintoes, fortywinking hallelujah; night in the four-ale, quiet as a domino; in Ocky Milkman's loft like a mouse with gloves; in Dai Bread's bakery flying like black flour. It is tonight in Donkey Street, trotting silent, with seaweed on its hooves, along the cockled cobbles, past curtained fernpot, text and trinket, harmonium, holy dresser, watercolours done by hand, china dog and rosy tin teacaddy. It is night neddying among the snuggeries of babies. Look. It is night, dumbly, royally winding through the Coronation cherry trees; going through the graveyard of Bethesda with winds gloved and folded, and dew doffed; tumbling by the Sailors Arms. Time passes. Listen. Time passes.

At the end of this year, on this night of endings and New beginnings, I call you to listen! Time passes. Listen! Time passes. Now let me ask you, “What have you done with your time this year, these last years of your life?”

Do you believe the Gospel? Is Christ your lover? Do you take His passionate and sacrificial claims seriously? Or have you been just messing with God? Have you been conning others and just kidding yourself and your Christianity? Have you been half dead rather than fully alive to God, for God? Listen! Time passes. Listen! Time passes! Enough of this plastic pudding! Enough of this sham and shameful shallowness of a life. You had better get real this year else you shall end up with nothing, yes with aboslutly nothing!

Dylan Thomas, created ‘Under Milk Wood’ and all its exciting cast of characters around a fictitious Welsh town called Llarregub. The town didn’t exist, it doesn’t exist and it never shall exist. It is pure fiction! I need to ask some of you tonight, I must ask some of you tonight, “Is ‘Pure Fiction’ the description of you Christianity?”

The fictional town of ‘Llarregub’ is of course ‘Bugger All’ spelt backwards, and I tell you at the end of this year, that is exactly what any fake Christianity will get you when you come to stand before the Judgement seat of Christ!

Forgive me for being a little rough with you tonight, but the day is far spent and I greatly fear that in the furious wind to come, many who profess life will not stand and many will end up with Llarregub. So, it’s time to get real with yourself friend for your sake and for God’s sake, for time passes. Listen. Time passes. Tell me then tonight, have you got life? Are you living life? Are you truly alive? Or are in fact, you tucked up in your coffin tonight?

Listen: - Wake up from your sleep, climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants. Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. ( Ephesians 5:14-20 from THE MESSAGE)

Pray:- O Lord, from the loneliness of Llarregub may all the “dickybird watching pictures of the dead” come visit me in my dreams tonight and talk to me of the redemption of my time. Time given, time spent, time often wasted. May their desperate words come upon me like wild waves that my ship would so tilt and ride, that it might split the hawsers tying me steadfast to my sorry, safe but fictional little harbour. Tomorrow O Lord, suck me out to sea and show to me the big seas of Your dreams, that I might see the Wonders of the Lord and so fill my empty hands with treasure from on high that I might at last begin to live! In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Dec | 30 | Jewels In The Crown

2011-12-30T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – RECOMMITT

Malachi 3:17
“They shall be Mine," says the Lord of hosts, "On the day that I make them My jewels....” NKJV

Jewels in The Crown

Any kind of repentance leads to jewels and crowns and a whole lot more!

In our text for tonight the nation of Israel had been lamenting the poor results they had been experiencing in following the Lord. “It’s been a waste of time,” they said, “Because the proud are still blessed, still wallowing in health and wealth and the wicked are still in power!” God replied to their complaint telling them that they had judged Him too harshly here and frankly, He wasn’t well pleased. God’s hurt indignation to His children’s charge was both heard and felt by those who loved Him and they consequently got together and encouraged one another in His faithfulness and goodness and then, imagine this, they then encouraged God in His faithfulness and goodness by meditating on His name and writing their names in a book of remembrance before Him! God response o this act of repentant love was one of righteous covetousness! God of the angels armies says, “They are mine, all mine! Jewels in my Crown! The glory of my head, the colours of my rule! They are my kids and I will have compassion on them, I will prefer them above all others!” God was well pleased with their encouragement of Him.

Now the eschatological application of this verse is at the end of days. However, the implication of these verses are both profound and near. I would suggest that anyone who WOWS the Lord with repentance, and then WOOS Him with dedication, will be regarded as precious, granted the gift of discernment, the power of His protection and the covering of His provision.

Now, if that’s not encouragement enough to repentance and recommittement at this time of year, then friends, I don’t know what is. Do you want to be a jewel in His crown? Well this coming year, get wooing and get wowing!

Listen: - "On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him." Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.And the day which is coming shall burn them up,"Says the Lord of hosts,"That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,"Says the Lord of hosts. "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." Malachi 3:17-4:6 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, at the end of this year, I choose to rest in Your goodness. Yes Lord, despite all indications to the contrary, I acknowledge Your majesty, I bow down to Your omnipotence, I tremble at Your justice and rejoice in Your mercy. In Jesus name I praise You, amen!

Dec | 29 | He’s Good! He’s ‘Ebeneezer’ good!

2011-12-29T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – PREPARE

1 Samuel 7:3-5
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you." NKJV

He’s Good! He’s ‘Ebeneezer’ good!

Standing some 600 feet above the plane of Gebeon, Mizpah, ‘The Watchtower,’ at the time of the prophet Samuel, had become the religious and political centre in times of national emergencies. Here Samuel called the whole nation together for a time of repentance and revival, in that he was calling them back to their vows and thus back to their first love! At this time of year I can think of no better call to send out through WhisperingWord, no better call to be sent out from God the Holy Spirit within you, no better call than this deepest of all of God’s calls, which is “Come back to your first love and come back now, in all your faithful fullness!”

You might be saying, “I can’t Robert. You don’t know how much I have lost this year of my love, of myself, of my devotion, of my passion. I can’t Robert, because you don’t know what precious things once given to me by the Lord of love, are now out of my hands and in the possession of my enemies. I can’t come back.”

May I tell you tonight, that in this very area of ‘The Watch Tower’ just some twenty years previous, the Israelites suffered two catastrophic defeats at the hands of the Philistines and in the last battle with them, the Israelites had lost the very Ark of God to their enemies. The support of the mercy seat was gone! The very place where the manifest presence of God once touched down and illuminated a gathered nation, was gone! In comparison to this, what have you lost? Maybe indeed something as precious. Yes, maybe indeed. Never the less, Samuel calls Israel to repentance and re-commitment and tonight dear friends, I do the same and in so doing would like to point out just three things to you.

First, that when Samuel called the people together for national repentance their enemies heard of it, the same enemies that had routed them some twenty years before and had robbed them of their preciousness, heard of it and in the hearing, came up to the Watchtower to trounce them once again! Be prepared for a fight then, for any re-commitment will be resisted and that by the mightiest of evil manifestations.

Secondly that the Israelites were not a little perplexed when this happened and cried out to God for help, indeed they had Samuel cry out to God on their behalf. So pray dear friends and then get people who have power with God to also pray for you! Pray for help!

Thirdly and finally tonight, that when on the back of a blooded sacrificial lamb they prayed for help and deliverance, God thundered against their enemies and Israel rode on this shock wave of the Most High and thoroughly routed their enemies, even the enemy that had slaughtered them not once, but twice some twenty years before and had robbed them of all their preciousness. He shall do the same for you.

In these dog days of the year’s end, go to Watch Tower of your heart and repent and recommit yourself to your first love and have the honour of restored victory made your portion once more. When you have done this, set up your own stone of help, so as you consider and look down the past years of your life, you shall be able to say, “Despite it all, up to now, the good Lord has helped me. He’s very good. He’s Ebeneezer good!”

Listen: - And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 1 Samuel 7:9-13 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, tonight I gather myself at the Watchtower of my heart and survey all my battlefields of defeat and places of victory. Father, I recommit myself to You. Jesus, I turn my heart in love to You and tell You that I shall love You more and with that shall also love you more with greater passion. Thunder O God against my foes, put a sword in my hand and an unrelenting swing in my arms until I have pursued them and lain them dead and bloodied at my victorious feet. Help me to gather up the stones at the end of this old year and write in blood upon the rocks that ‘up to now, the Lord Himself has been my helper.’ In Jesus name I ask it, amen!

Dec | 28 | ‘Die Hard 42’ - Applying Newness

2011-12-28T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – CLEAN

Luke 11:24-26
"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." NKJV

‘Die Hard 42’ - Applying Newness

Will you allow me tonight to take a practical principle from the spiritual reality that our text places before us tonight for in England, these are the dog days of the Holiday season, those quite few hours, the darkest and quietest of all maybe, between the passing of the night and the coming of the dawn. Christmas is over and everyone is waiting expectantly for the celebration of the coming New Year. Plans and preparations are afoot!

I love New Beginnings! Every Lord's day for me is the beginning of a brand new week! So you can imagine how excited I get about the coming of a brand New Year and all the New Year’s Resolutions, New Year plans, and New Year actions I have lined up. However, I am sure you will agree with me when I say that often, it is only a very few days into the New Year, when the old habits so completely take over your life once more, that disappointment, disillusion and settled acceptance and sameness, take up their residence in the house they were so determinedly thrown out of just a few days previously. Why does this happen?

Well it is a true saying that “Old habits die hard!” In other words, habits are so linked to ways of thinking, so rooted to heart attitudes, so entrenched in the groove of our life, that resolution alone will not break them! No it takes nothing short of mental, emotional and physical annihilation to get rid of them! If your going to be a pussy cat about your New Year’s resolutions then in a few days, they will have vanished like the morning mist. Some things in you have to die this New Year and friend, it is you that is going to have to kill them!

So tonight, here a just four short thoughts for you to consider, to ruminate on and to hopefully, put into action.

1. Identify those things which have to go

2. Identify those things which are perpetuating the existence of those things you wish to eliminate. Consider:-
a. What location do they thrive in –CHANGE them
b. What thought processes feeds them –MODIFY them
c. What heart desires attract them – KILL them

3. CHANGE MODIFY & KILL are however not enough. At best they will leave a yawning vacuum which will be filled and usually by things nastier than you tried to get rid of. No honest, this is a terrible spiritual principle, ‘A vacuum of vacant badness, will attract more of the same!’ So, it is absolutely necessary and life giving to yourself, that once you’ve created a space, you must fill it with good things!

a. Change – Get some different friends, catch a different train, get up at a different time, read some different books, watch some different movies, etc etc. CHANGE=DIFFERENT

b. Modify your thought patterns. Open the Scriptures. Memorize a verse per day, a promise to be yours. Read it out loud. Read it loud some seven times per day!

c. Kill your sinful, unhealthy, death laden desires. Show no mercy to them, do not heed their pleading screams. Kill them! Then go and court some more, no really, stir up the good desires in whatever righteous way you can. Think about how to do that! What GIVES YOU LIFE?

4. Yes, old habits die hard so the last thing I want to say to you tonight is get ready for the long, long haul. For you must consistently apply the newness. Indeed, I would say to you tonight that the main key to opening the newness of the coming year is CONSISTANCY.

This year, if you follow my advice, you shall see the Lord Jesus like never before and others still mourning will not believe your fresh new vision and the change wrought in you!

Listen: - Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. Mark 16:9-11NKJV

Pray:- Lord, help me to prepare to throw these scabby things out of my life! Lord, heal me, help me and fill me with a passionate and merciless consistency that this coming year, I might see You as I have never seen You before. Amen Lord, amen!

Dec | 27 | Proclamation, Provision, Peace & Power

2011-12-27T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – CONTENTEMENT

Esther 6:6-9
So Haman came in, and the king asked him, "What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" Now Haman thought in his heart, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?" And Haman answered the king, "For the man whom the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!'" NKJV

Proclamation, Provision, Peace & Power

I was awoken in the night with these words in my ears and I believe it is because they mean something to me, indeed, they are special to many and to most.

Our text for tonight is taken from the story of the wicked Haman! He hates the Jews but is about to have is hatred and jealousy found out and gruesomely rewarded. The evil which he intended for others and their families is about to be visited upon him and his family! It’s historical fact and yet it still makes a great operatic score and oratorio and dare I say, that it would also make a fantastic pantomime! Maybe I go too far!

Haman, just a chapter previously has been boasting about being blessed by the king, most evidently seen in his riches, his children, his status and so forth. These things most certainly meant something to Haman that’s for sure. Now for tonight, let’s lay aside Haman’s megalomaniacal tendencies and obvious demonization and look at his desires. Speaking as a man, I find that frighteningly, his desires and satisfactions are in fact the same strong driving forces which I find in me and I tell you, their fulfilment are also seen as marks of blessing even in the church, for who does not want to be seen to be blessed by the King, seen to be honoured by the King, seen to be provided for abundantly by the King, seen to be granted peace and seen to be given power to reign by the King? Yes, in our society, possessions are power but in the church, possessions are not only power but they are affirmed to be outward proclamations of providential blessings and divine honour from the King and Oh what peace such possessions bring us and Oh what accompanying power they can bring to us within the church. Maybe I go too far.

There is everything that is Biblical about laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven. There is everything Biblical about longing to hear in heaven those most marvellous of words ever spoken to any individual, “Well done you good and faithful servant!” Yes, there is everything Biblical about seeking crowns and commendations in heaven. In heaven, in heaven, in heaven! The New Testament is a heavenly book and for Christians all of this heavenly seeking, makes us other world people, makes us strangers and pilgrims, makes us true disciples of Christ.

It seems to me that we have, for convenience sake, maybe even for covetousness sake, taken the Old Testament material and the earthly promises and blessing made to Israel and made them New Testament signs of accomplishment, badges of honour if you will, marks of a man of God in this world and I tell you that the desire in me to posses these things, is a great one and it is fanned into roaring flames by the church of today.

Tell me, just what is your rod of measuring success, both for yourself and for other men? Might the following of this lie also get you hung on a gallows? Maybe I go too far. What do you think?

Listen: - These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there's an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck. A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough. But if it's only money these leaders are after, they'll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after. (1 Timothy 6:2-10 from THE MESSAGE)

Pray:- Lord come temper all my desires with the honesty of heaven, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Dec | 26 | Blinded By The Light

2011-12-26T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word - STRAIGHT

Isaiah 42:16a-d
I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. NKJV

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

In the United Kingdom and commonwealth, for centuries this day after Christmas has been called ‘Boxing Day.’ The etymology of this term is mostly concerned with employees of various sorts, receiving what can only be termed as a ‘Christmas Bonus’ which was given in compensation for their work during the last year or, their work of just yesterday. In any event, these goods, be they brand new or sumptuous left-overs, were given in a box to the less fortunate, hence the name, Boxing Day! I do hope you get a bonus gift this boxing day.

Boxing day in my time and culture is almost just as important as Christmas day, in that it is a continuing of family get-togethers and yes indeed, another meal as big and if not bigger than Christmas day has been served, incorporating most fully the tastier left-over’s of Christmas Lunch! For the Chefs of houses, the constant cookers at Christmas time, having the means to produce new dishes and reheat those of yesterday is very important then, so you will understand my disappointment of today, when late last night, I had to turn off the AGA because for some unknown reason, it was popping and overheating. I did of course turn it on again today, however because of its design, the AGA took some 8-10 hours to get up to usable heating speed.

The ‘AGA’ is more of a living creature, or more of a way of living and is a Swedish ‘stored-heat stove and cooker’ invented by Nobel Prize for Physics winner, Industrialist, Dr. Gustaf Dalen. Now, although Acetylene was discovered in 1836 by Edmund Davy and was rediscovered in 1860 by French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, who in fact coined the name ‘acetylene,’ it was in fact Dr. Dalén, who whilst working with this most explosive of gases, invented ‘Agamassan (Aga),’ a substrate of Acetylene, to absorb the gas itself and thereby allow safe storage and hence commercial exploitation. So, in 1906, the good Doctor became Chief Engineer at his Gas Accumulator Company (manufacturer and distributor of acetylene) which industrialised the gas and commercialised its use! Not only was acetylene used in small old fashioned motor vehicle carbide lamps, but also in the vast setting of lighthouses! Indeed, many ‘Dalén lamp’ lighthouses are still in operation today. It was his invention of the ‘solar flow control valve’ that allowed the acetylene lamps used in sea buoys and un-manned lighthouse to automatically turn themselves off when it was daylight. This invention not only saved 80% of fuel but also got Dalén his Nobel Prize for Physics. It was his brother, a most famous ophthalmologist, who collected Dalén’s prize that year, because Dalén himself, had been injured and permanently blinded in an acetylene explosion earlier in the year. So, the man that discovered the brightest of lights in his time, was in-fact made blind by it!

Whilst Dr. Dalén was recovering at home, he was exposed to the vast amount of work his wife did in trying to prepare and cook for the family. From this now well informed and well cared for position, whilst blind remember, he invented the AGA cooker! Gustaf Dalen, a remarkable philanthropist sharing his Nobel Prize money with his staff! A great optimist and humanitarian, he left inventions in the world which are still being used in both large scale commercial arenas and in the home even today. What he discovered and utilised both hurt him and blinded him but it did not stop him being a blessing to his family and to others both in his own time and there on after. Admittedly he had help from his family and friends but Dalén did not allow his handicap to destroy him.

Many of us are going into a New Year handicapped in some way. Maybe the handicap is all the more bitter because it was gained whilst trying to do good, whilst trying to pursue and utilise the light? As far as I can ascertain, Dalén was not a Christian but you are! The Father said to Israel, the apple of His eye, that He will bring them by a way and lead them in paths not previously known and in doing so He will make the crooked places straight. This is a great promise for the New Year. Take it, it’s a bonus gift for you this Boxing Day.

Listen: - These things I will do for them, and not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16d NKJV

Pray:- Lord, please be my Keeper, be my leader, be my light this coming year, in Jesus name I pray, amen!

Dec | 25 | Re-Gifting

2011-12-25T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – RE-GIFT

2 Samuel 24:24a
Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” NKJV

Re-Gifting

Now that all the business of the day is over and you have had the discipline to take the time to come aside a while and reflect upon Jesus and His Word, may I say to you that I hope your day has been both enjoyable and profitable. Of course, I do hope you got some gifts as well and that some of you even got some gifts that are going to be useful to you in the coming days! Oh and by the way, may I ask you what gift you gave to Jesus today? It’s an interesting question isn’t it? I mean, just what do you give to the God who has everything?

Unfortunately, God does not possess everything. For example, He may well be waiting for the fulfilment of some of those vows you made to Him in the oh so, long ago. Or, He may not have the attention which He requires from you. Maybe, He may not have the obedience which He would like to see from You. He may not see the fruit He expected in You. He may not see your wallet as open as much as he would like to. He may not have your ears and as yet, good grief Charlie Brown, He may not even have your heart.

Now, though some of these things I mention which God does not yet possess are frankly more our filial duty than gifts, more a farmers expectation, more a Masters demand if you will, or a friends desire, rather than a gift to be given to Him at Christmas time, never the less, may I ask you to consider your own hearts response to a gift you may have received yourself, which has been well thought out, tailored to your dreams, and costly to the giver. Surely such a gift would always warm and bless your heart. I wonder tonight then the manner in which we give even that which is rightfully owed, will never the less be received as a gift and that with great joy by the receiver?

I think tonight is a good night to apologize to Jesus for our forgetfulness by maybe deciding to deliver to Him tomorrow, something that will bless His heart. Christmas is always a good time to re-gift ourselves to God. Don’t you think?

Listen: - My son, give me your heart, (Proverbs 23:26a NKJV)

Pray:-
When the music fades, all is stripped away and I simply come
Longing just to bring something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart
I bring You more than a song for a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You. it's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus

King of endless worth no one could express
How much You deserve, though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours, every single breath!

Matt Redman

Dec | 24 | ‘Libera Me!’

2011-12-24T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – SUNRISE

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. NKJV

‘Libera Me’

Last night I attended a typical Christmas Carol Service. The theme of the short message began with asking the question “What do Christmas Carols say to us?” I found this to be both an interesting general question and a most penetrating personal question.

As for me, I am mostly unmoved by Christmas Carols. I can muster up just enough gusto to sing but one Christmas Carol, and that maybe but once a year! After that, my yawning boredom closes both my heart and mouth and I long for deliverance. There is however one Christmas Carol that I would love to sing daily but am rarely able to do so.

The Carol I am referring to is most interesting because the tune is in fact taken from a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass. Yes, the tune is taken from a 15th Century French Franciscan Nun, funeral procession, which in Latin is called the ‘Libera Me’ or, ‘Deliver me.’ How appropriate for bored old me and how amusing, that thousands of Jolly Carollers are completely unaware that they are in fact singing a funeral dirge! Hilarious!

The word Antiphone is made from combining two Greek words, first ‘αντί’ meaning ‘opposite,’ and then ‘φωνη’ meaning voice. Antiphone refers to two choirs singing the same musical piece but in alternation. This style of singing is found in the early church, even in Israel of old and most definitely a copy of the heavenly form of angelic style of praise and worship. From the earliest centuries of the church these Antiphones have been sung on every Lord’s day evening and what are known as the ‘O Antiphones’ have always been sung just during the 7 or 8 days prior to Christmas.

Each of these ‘O Antiphones’ are titled by both one of the names of Jesus and one of His attributes :

December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Adonai)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Sunrise)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel)

Now, when taken backwards, the first letters of these seven titles form a Latin acrostic of ‘Ero Cras’ which translates in English to ‘Tomorrow, I will come.’ In medieval times, an eighth Antiphone was added entitled ‘O Virgo Virginum’ or, ‘O Virgin of Virgins,’ with the acrostic now becoming ‘Vero Cras’ or “Truly, tomorrow I will come!” How awesomely wonderful is that!

I am telling you this tonight because the Christmas Carol which I would like to sing every day but cannot, is the translation of a 12th Century Christian Latin text, which is thought to be a metrical version of a collation of these self same Advent Antiphones. The opening words of each stanza of my favourite Carol was originally translated “Draw Near.” Today though we are more familiar with the translation which begins, “O Come.” I raely make it through to the end of this Carol, because my heart fails me by producing fountains of shuddering tears as my spirit weeps in the deep and desperate longing of the fulfilment of this most marvellous of Christmas Carols.

The response of my spirit that the Carol “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” produces within me a deep set comfort, it tells me that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am in fact a child of this Great and coming King and that above all things, my deepest being longs for His sunrise to dawn upon my soul. Longs for it I tell you, until I am sick with longing. Let me ask you the same question asked of me last night then dear freind, “What do Christmas Carols say to you?”

Listen: -
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Pray:- Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death, on that awful day when the heavens and earth shall be shaken and you shall come to judge the world by fire. I am seized with fear and trembling until the trial is at hand and the wrath to come: when the heavens and earth shall be shaken. (The English translation of the ‘Libera Me’)

Dec | 23 | Hook’s Pure Poison or Le Jardin D'Amour

2011-12-23T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – FORGIVE

Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. NKJV

Hook’s Poison

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, Order of Merit, was the Scottish novelist best remembered for creating ‘Peter Pan!’ The ninth of ten children, J.M. Barrie was just 6 years of age when his mothers favourite son James, on the eve of his 14th birthday, died in a skating accident. His mother never got over this loss and spent the remaining 29 years of her life in deep depression, her only consolation being that her lost boy, would always remain a child. One time when the Novelist entered her room, and heard his mother say “Is that you?” he knew it was the dead boy she was hoping to see and so he replied in a very little, lonely, rejected and dejected voice, “No, it's no' him, it's just me.” All of this had such a profound impact on Barrie, that he himself never grew much beyond five foot! It would appear that J.M. Barrie was very familiar with malice, jealousy and disappointment. It resided in his stunted bones.

So, with that interesting and opening thought, let's get back to Christmas time and how to further avoid Satan’s Claws, that old devil pirate captain’s hook.

Remember last night, that I counselled you in over extending yourself in both expenditure and expectation. Now remember you must not do this, because as soon as you find that it is neither appreciated nor reciprocated and worst of all, does not have the desired effect, then a poison will build in the red corner of your eye!

Jason Isaacs plays the character of Captain Hook in the 2003 P.J. Hogan version of Peter Pan starring a very young Jeremy Sumpter. The screen play records that captain Hook tried to take Peter Pan’s life by poisoning his medicine, even by corrupting that which should have been good for him. Hook could do this for “Lest he should be taken alive, Hook always carried upon his person a dreadful poison distilled when he was weeping from the red of his eye. A mixture of malice, jealousy and disappointment, it was instantly fatal and without antidote.” Did you get that? This poisonous mixture is instantaneously fatal to any relationship and to your own heart in particular.

I tell you, if you want to increase in stature this Christmas, if you want to stop the stunting rot settling into your bones, especially around your loved ones, then you had better empty out that poison you have secretly carried hidden away in your pocket for all these many a year, and dab on your welcoming cheeks, some fragrance of free and tender forgiveness, some love from the Garden of God, that very best perfume of Christmas time. Tell me, which fragrance will you be wearing this coming Christmas Eve?

Listen: - Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, help me not to neither poison nor disembowel myself or others this Christmas time, in Jesus name I ask it, amen.

Dec | 22 | Satan's Claws Are Coming To Town

2011-12-22T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – LOWER

James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. NKJV
Satan’s Claws

Satan’s Claws are Coming To Town

Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing some strong preaching on the devil. One said to the other, “What do you think about all this Satan stuff then?” The other boy replies, “Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out don’t you? So, it's probably just your Dad!”

Well, I wish Satan was just your dad playing around and fooling with you but unfortunately he isn’t. He is that old serpent, that old dragon and I tell you tonight that he is well armed with hook like claws and his most favourite time to come visit, is Christmas time. Now let me tell you why.

The jolly season has arrived, with all its vast expenditure and enormous expectation. The Kids are coming, and the brothers the sisters, the aunts and the uncles and apart from the presents, guess what else they are bringing? Yes, you’ve got it! All their baggage. Now here is the thing you need to know this Christmas time; once their baggage meets your vast expenditure and your enormous expectations the kindled friction fire that is started in each other’s hearts becomes redder than the eyes set in the long and scaley beast himself, waiting and warming himself by your own log fire.

So, how do resist the devil at Christmas time? How do you stop the fire from building and raging? Well stop building it in the first place and stop stoking it in the second.

Don’t over extend yourself or over expend yourself. Make sure your reserves are intact, yes, rest and retire as much as you can. Chill out! Getting rid of your probably totally unrealistic expectations will help this no end. Don’t have any expectations at all concerning other people. Let dogs be dogs and cats be cats and the rats, well you probably shouldn’t have invited them in the first place! You know what I mean.

If you do not take my advice this Christmas and lower your expenditure and expectations, then you’d better watch out and you’d better take care, ‘cause Satan’s Claws are coming to town!

Listen: - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:8-11

Pray:- Lord, help me to rest in You this Christmas time. Help me to give place and space to grace, both within me and through me, in Jesus name I pray, amen!

Dec | 21 | Two More Twin Towers

2011-12-21T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – PREPARE

Amos 4:11
I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the Lord. NKJV

Two More Twin Towers

I am writing tonight’s Whisper from the village of Bolney in West Sussex. I just so happen to be a few miles from the village of Hassocks, where on the London to Brighton railroad line, the ‘Clayton Tunnel,’ digs itself 1.5 miles into the chalky hills of the Sussex Downland! Today, the tunnel’s North facing black and open mouth is still bedecked by ‘Castle like’ towers, where like some foul entrance to hell, it has for well over a century, vomited it’s cold and moaning commuters, all the way up to London’s Victoria Station. I have passed this tunnel entrance thousands of times in my life and have always been intrigued regarding the possibility of living in these twin towers, above this pretty and steaming, black and gleaming, gory gate of hell.

In 1873, on the death of missionary David Livingstone, a copy of one of C.H. Spurgeon's printed sermons “Accidents, Not Punishments” was found among his but few possessions. Grubby, much read and well worn, it bore a handwritten comment at the top of the first page which said, “Very good, D.L.” Livingstone had apparently carried this sermon with him throughout his travels in Africa and upon his death it was returned to Spurgeon and apparently was much treasured by him.

Spurgeon preached this message, “Accidents, Not Punishments” in response to two disasters in 1861. One was a terrible collision between two trains in this same Clayton Tunnel, between London and Brighton and another train wreck in Kentish Town Fields, North London. In both of these gruesome incidents, 38 people were killed and hundreds injured.

The crux of Spurgeon’s sermon was a call for Christians not to quickly attribute the judgement of God to terrible accidents. Wise advice! Indeed, in that same sermon Spurgeon makes reference to his first message preached at Surrey Gardens Music Hall in 1856 which was used for an event of his, and also was where seven people were killed in a human stampede and 28 more people were seriously injured. “I can say with a pure heart," says, Spurgoen, "we met for no object but to serve our God, and the minister had no aim in going to that place but that of gathering the many to hear who otherwise would not have listened to his voice and yet there were funerals as the result of a holy effort (for holy effort still we avow it to have been, and the after-smile of God hath proved it so). There were deaths, and deaths among God's people, I was about to say, I am glad it was with God's people rather than with others. A fearful fright took hold upon the congregation, and they fled, and do you not see that if accidents are to be viewed as judgments, then it is a fair inference that we were sinning in being there—an insinuation which our consciences repudiate with scorn?”

The fact is that we are all dying. The fact is that both the righteous and the unrighteous, whether in planned or unplanned ways, whether in gruesome or gallant circumstances, shall all meet death. Spurgeon was right, that the ways of death and the providences of God in it, are mostly inscrutable! Indeed, regarding 'accidents' I echo Spurgeon’s call in that, “God Forbid we should offer our own reason when God has not offered His.”

Death is coming. All you can do is be prepared to meet him. For all of us are already living in the twin towers above the Clayton Tunnel, above the black gates of death. Are you prepared tonight? For I tell you, that it is only if you have safely met with Jesus that you can safely meet with death.

Listen: - "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" Amos 4:12 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, each day I praise You. Lord, each day I give myself away to You. Lord, thank You that You have dealt with the cold of the grave by the heat of Your resurrection, that You have dealt with the sting of death by the Shield of Your salvation and that even I, yes even I am safe in You. For You are the Lord Christ, my Jesus, my Saviour. Amen!

Dec | 20 | What's Needed To Sniff Out The Things of God

2011-12-20T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – SMELL

Song of Solomon 7:6-9
How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, with your delights! This stature of yours is like a palm tree, And your breasts like its clusters. I said, "I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches." Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine, The fragrance of your breath like apples, And the roof of your mouth like the best wine. NKJV

What's Needed to Sniff Out The Things of God.

In the South of France, it is the city of Grasse that claims to be the perfume capital of the world. It is the industrial professionals of this ancient industry that at the time of my writing tonight, claim that although there may be 1,000 professional Perfumers in the world, there are only 50 Noses and each of them have originated or have been trained in the city of Grasse!

A ‘Nose’ is a unique technical artiste, an inventor of perfumes with the ability to recognise up to 3,000 different smells. Working for months at a time, their task and calling is the ability to mix such an harmony of fragrances that the tone of their invention will set all other noses to dancing!

Of course perfume has been used for thousands of years in commemoration, medication, sanitation, seduction and sacrifice. Useful stuff! Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe from the East early on the 14th Century, but it was Queen Elizabeth of Hungary who ordered the making of the modern perfume of today, made from scented oils blended in an alcohol solution. Indeed, this first European perfume became so popular that is was known throughout the Western World as ‘Hungarian Water.’

I would like to suggest tonight, that the church has much more than 50 Noses! Indeed, I wonder just how many folk have the capacity of leadership to orchestrate such a harmony of fragrances? Fragrances of commemoration, healing, health, spiritual seduction and sacrifice, that when steeped in the preservative and powerful alcohol of the Holy Spirit, they will set the church to dancing! I suspect there are many and should such a ballad of fragrant forcefulness be let loose in the church and subsequently upon the world, that the top note of ‘Wowness’ would turn their necks in wonder, the middle note of ‘Wooing’ would win their hearts to Christ and the base note of warmth and tenacity, would both bind them in the loving arms of the Father and keep them firmly and happily in His strong eternal grip.

I reckon we need to get to picking a few noses this Chrstmas time and then implorng them to make us some Hungry Water to be sprinkled on a tired old church and a stinky old world! The big question then is 'do we the church have any noses to left to pick, any noses left to do us such a fragrant service, to help us both smell the love, and smell the hidden danger and flee? In the olden days, we used to call them prophets and I tell you, it's been a long long time since we've seen any sitting on our grass.

Listen: - The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! Song of Solomon 2:13 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, lead us to the Noses and help us to honour them and release them, for Lord, how can Your church begin to smell without proper noses? So send us some today, in Jesus name we pray, amen.

Dec | 19 | Completing Circles

2011-12-19T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – CIRCLES

Exodus 4:19-20
Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.” NKJV

Completing Circles

Do you know how to draw a circle with a dot in the centre without removing your pencil from the paper itself? OK, let me tell you!

First, draw a dot in the middle of the paper. Now, fold over the edge of the paper so that it touches the pencil. No need to crease the paper or move the pencil off the paper. Now, draw a straight line up onto the fold and from there, draw a quarter circle, drawing right down off the edge of the fold back onto the original plane. Now, unfold the paper, and where you are right now, is exactly where you need to be. Now, simply draw a circle with the dot at the centre. Simple!

The thing I like most about this neat little exercise, this trick in mental agility, is that the task can only be achieved, can only be completed, by first of all moving in an arc from the facing plane of the paper to the rear and unseen plane of the paper, brought near by a fold. The fold must occur and the journey must be travelled before you can re-enter the plane of your destiny and complete the circle around the point!

Now whether you like it or not, life is really similar to this. Sometimes to complete the task, we have to the leave the plane of our travels before re-entering it a more appropriate point in maybe both space and time. Sometimes, before you can lead Israel to the promised land, you have to spend forty years in the back side of the desert, drawing an unseen arc across the wilderness before you are drawn back onto your original plane to complete the circle of your calling. Can you see that?

Listen: - But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God in me. Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. Galatians 1:15-2:2 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, I know the longer my arc, the bigger my circle. Let it be so O Lord, let it be so, in Jesus name, amen.

Dec | 18 | Clouds of Glory

2011-12-18T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – WHY

Matthew 13:58
Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. NKJV

Clouds of Glory

A ‘Wireless Fidelity or Wi-Fi enabled device is something like a Personal Computer, game console, cell phone, MP3 player or Personal Data Assistant for example, that can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network which is itself, connected to the Internet. The area covered by one or more interconnected access points is called a hotspot. Hotspots can cover as little as a single room with wireless-opaque walls or as much as many square miles covered by overlapping access points. Such a mesh of overlapping access points is called a ‘WiFi Cloud’ and when you are in ‘The Cloud’ dear friends then you are in an area of seamless wireless access! Bear with me now folks, for there is some spiritual application here.

I always appreciate those brave people who pray for miracles of healing. I think it takes brave and believing people to publicly step out and in faith, both to ask for and believe for a miracle of any kind, especially the healing kind. The problem I have with this ‘Kind Courage’ is that it rarely, and in my experience virtually never, results in the miracle that was prayed for. Why?

I used to very comfortably base my life on only the precepts of the Holy Scriptures rather than that and the fullness of its New Covenant practices. I did this by conveniently confining all New Testament miraculous paraphernalia off any sort, to a doctrinal storage area of dispensational disposal! In other words, “All that miraculous stuff was for then, as for now, well we have the Word of God in its power and fullness and frankly we now neither need the privilege nor the access to the miraculous manifestations of the New Testament period.” Well, I wish we did indeed have the Word of God in its fullness and power among us (I shall leave that for another evening) but I know this, there was never a time in my personal history, indeed in our nation’s history, when we needed manifestation of the New Testament miraculous montage! Why don’t we see it then?

Some people would say it is because of the lack of individual faith? What a most hurtful statement that is to those whose faith has drawn them out of the pew and to the front of a church. Such faith often and inevitably lays its roots in the fields of desperation. No, I don’t think healing miracles do not happen because of lack of faith. So, if we have an apostolic and prophetic five-fold and not a threefold ministry and if we do not have a doctrinal dispensational disaster on our hands and the lack of an individual’s ability to most desperately 'faith it' is not a blocking issue, then why do we not see such Manifestations of the Miraculous as seen in the New Testament?

May I suggest, and it is only a suggestion, that we are in the wrong kind of cloud, for I do wonder if there are in fact two kinds of spiritual clouds.

One cloud is damp and grey. It is occupied by the demonic and home to various evangelical settlednesses. Settled hopelessness, settled smugness and especially settled for less-ness. When you are in this kind of unbelieving cloud, your head is always bowed against the wind and your shoulders shrugged downwards to the waiting earth and your hands, kept firmly in the warmth of your desperate pockets. In this cloud of unbelief, you will rarely, yes so very rarely find a hot spot of miraculous happening.

I wonder if there is another cloud. A cloud of bright belief, a gathering together of meshed and seamless hotspots where the ambience and atmosphere is one of hope, is one of expectancy, is one of raised and open handed certainty in the mighty name of Jesus, and is even one of bright and brightest glory! I wonder if camps of angels move in such a cloud and I wonder if it is such a cloud in which Abraham still walks and Moses and Elijah, indeed all the fulfilment of the law of the prophets still walks there, even in the form of one like a son of man! How would you like to be in that cloud tonight?

Let me tell you friends, if you are in the wrong cloud tonight, then maybe you need to find a New Service Provider?

Listen: - For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:16-19 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, there are too many Christian corpses left rotting in the wilderness. Bring us Your ‘HotSpot’ people of faith and power O Lord and mesh them together into a mighty cloud of glorious and seemless belief, in Jesus name we ask it, amen.

Dec | 17 | The Elixer of Life!

2011-12-17T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – THANKFUL

Romans 1:21-22
....because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. NKJV

The Elixir of Life!

Well it is nearly Christmas, and that old ‘Scrooge’ like mentality is raising it’s ugly head within me again. Sometimes I think the Puritans had it right when they banned Christmas! That is until I get my presents on Christmas day. I am, it seems, forever fickle.

In me, the root of this Scrooge like attitude is a spirit that is unthankful. Yes, a spirit of unthankfulness is the root cause of so many ills. Bitterness, depression, refracted vision, hate, anger and all the associated physical manifestations of a multitude of spiritual ills can trace their root cause back to a lack of thankfulness.

The antidote of course is quite simple, which is to be thankful! However, once your in one of those Scrooge like funks, once you're angry at God, once you're bitter at your circumstance, once you're sick both spiritually and physically, then even beginning to be thankful is a bitter pill to swallow. Indeed, I would go so far as to say, that the elixir of life, the great and brimming, full and frothing cup of thankfulness, is far too robust a drink to be swallowed by any restricted throat of praise. Yet I tell you, unless this medicine of thankfulness is taken, in it’s fullness mind you, then bitter emaciation and black and twisted death shall surely fill it’s abandoned place in our lives. That’s a fact that you can have for free tonight.

Now allow me to speak to many a sick puppy that might be reading these pages right now, for you MUST get thankfulness inside you tonight and there is no better time to begin this new regime than Christmas time. “Well how?” you ask, and I am glad you did, because I’m going to tell you how to do it.

First, pick something you can be thankful for. Jonah was thankful for a worm and a gourd and cool east wind. There is always something you know. Begin with something little. “Thank You for this soft pillow upon which I am laying my most miserable of heads.” For the restricted soul, thankfulness is hard to swallow, but the trick is to begin with little things, sips of soft and pulpy goodness.Once you get a little thankfulness down your gullet on a regular basis it tends to open up the passageways, and larger amounts of thankfulness can then be taken in to you. Over a period of time, even a short period of time such thankful intake will bring health to the whole being.

Let me finish tonight by reiterating one most important thing. DO NOT think that thankfulness is something that you simply give out and get nothing in return! Oh no, if you think that then you will have missed the whole point of it. Thankfulness is an elixir for bitter souls, for the hardened heart, for the blind and the deaf for those who have lost their voice. Thankfulness is a medicine for the soul and an elixir par excellence that the great curer of souls Himself insists we lay upon our lips a thousand times a day. I can assure of one thing, there is life in this frothing cup of thankfulness and it always bubbles and over flows to others. So, let me ask you tonight, have you taken your medicine today?

Listen: - And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15 NKJV

Pray:- I reluctantly squeak before You Lord saying that I wish to serve you with gladness, saying that I would like to come before You with winning singing instead of whining loss, because You are God and it is You who has made me, not myself, it is You who has called me a ‘sheep of Your pasture,’ ha! So then help me to enter Your gates with thanksgiving, and go into Your courts with praise so I might be most thankful to You my God and bless Your name instead of cursing it. I ask You this, because You the Lord are good and You say that Your mercy is everlasting and that Your truth endures to all generations. So if it’s true, then do this for me, in Jesus name I ask it, just to make doubly sure, amen.

Dec | 16 | Singing Sapphires

2011-12-16T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – JEWELS

Jude 24
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, NKJV

Singing Sapphires

“I don’t know what it is?” said the neurologist as he examined the M.R.I. of my brain. “It’s not a tumor, and it’s not M.S. but you do have increased white matter in the left hemisphere. Have you ever had a stroke?”

“Not that I remember?” says I! This neurologist didn’t fill me with confidence I can tell you! As a former fault finding technician, you just know when folks haven’t got a clue, yes, you know when folks are just ‘poking and hoping.’

“Well, come back in three months time and we shall take another look, meanwhile, let’s get some fluid from your spine and look for some more indicators.” I didn’t go back. No, it was another neurologist that without even looking at any M.R.I. results asked me,

“When you were boxing and when you’re coaching, were you ever hit so hard that you saw stars?”

“Many times!” says I

“Well that accounts for the white matter,” says he, “It’s just a bit of brain damage.”

‘Just a bit of brain damage!’ Good grief Charlie Brown! Now you can have ‘just a bit of a tummy ache,’ you can fall and scrape your knee and have ‘just a bit of a cut,’ but I’m sorry, how on top side of God’s good earth, can anyone say to you with a smile, “Oh don’t worry about that, it’s just ‘just a bit of brain damage!’”

The moral of this little episode is quite simple. Don’t get punched in the head! The memory of this little episode however, is something quite, quite different. You see, I’m getting older, life is getting busier, the ball juggling and plate spinning seems to be on the increase, and my memory is not what it should be, it certainly is not what it was. Maybe it’s ‘just a bit of brain damage’ that’s the problem?! Ha!

I am fascinated by the function of memory, both factual and emotional memory. One very small aspect of this most magnificent capacity to store and retrieve both factual and emotional information is the ability of comparison. “My” we say, “He’s put on a lot of weight since the last time I saw him!” You see, comparison! Indeed, almost every decision we make is based on memorial comparison. In this one little aspect then, memory is so very important to both who we are and the directions in which we shall go. I suppose then, that memory is eternally important!

The problem with memory is that it stores every bit of experiential information about ourselves and others, and in a fallen world, that means it stores all the facts and feelings of our sins, both those we have initiated, and those sins of others in which we have participated. Indeed, every sin of thought and action, every sin of commission and omission is stored in our memory. The coming of the light of God in the face of Christ Jesus has brought repentance, remorse, maybe even some acts of restitution and please God, some gracious relief to us but what about the memories of those often atrocious acts? Ah well, the memories are still there, lodged in us, lodging with us, like some scabby, unwelcome and unwanted guests. Maybe this side of heaven, God’s work in us will be deep enough to remove the power of these memories over us, if not their presence within us? I think so. I hope so. We all want it so, do we not?

Like it or not, our memorial experience shapes us, it helps make us. So our memories, both good and evil, are also part of our story, and I think maybe, part of our eternal story as well. Did you hear that? Part of our eternal story as well! Now if I am correct, shall we then carry these memories of both good and evil, forever with us and if that is the case, how in heaven, along with Jesus and all the rejoicing saints, shall the memories of past hurts, past failures, past sins, still find a lodging place in our being? Never the less, I think they must, for if they do not remain with us, surely we shall lose such a part of our shaping story, that we shall cease to be who we truly are, cease to be our authentic selves even and shall God let this happen? Shall God ever allow plastic of any kind in heaven!? I think not. I’ve read the book of Revelation friends and heaven is solid with God made materials. There is nothing plastic in heaven, absolutely nothing!

Spurgeon today, commenting on our text for tonight says, “We shall be unblameable and unreproveable even in His eyes. His law will not only have no charge against us, but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the work of the Holy Spirit within us will be altogether complete. He will make us so perfectly holy, that we shall have no lingering tendency to sin. Judgment, memory, will—every power and passion shall be emancipated from the thraldom of evil.” How wonderful!

Our text for tonight is talking about positional and experiential faultlessness. I tell you the truth, if God does not deal with our memories, then I do not know how this faultlessness can ever exist! For surely, part of hellishness is an eternal and continual remembrance of all our sins and shortcomings and so, would it not be hell in heaven to have brain damage healed only to then remember even more of one’s desperate shortcomings and sins? Of course it would!

I do not know how our great God will do it. I really don’t, but never the less, somehow, I believe that God will, no He must, make diamonds from our dirty coal still carried with us, and singing sapphires from all our sinly scars.

Memories must remain for us to maintain our stories, for us to be all we truly are. Yet this dark and transforming mystery of heaven shall change them all into such a glittering of golden dust, that they shall be forever and for always, to the eternal praise of His glory. I agree with Spurgeon tonight that, “Memory shall be emancipated from the thraldom of evil!” They shall be then present but dealt with, present but forgiven, present but healed, present but released, transformed, powerful and glorious, like God made miniscule diamonds, glittering in the magnitude of the heavenly diadem.

Now I tell you friends, that’s a miracle worth the waiting for!

Listen: - To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. Jude 24 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, all my pains and scars, ny shame and hurts are in Your hands, less like scars and more like character. Amen Lord, amen!

Less like scars, By Sara Groves -

It's been a hard year
But I'm climbing out of the rubble
These lessons are hard
Healing changes are subtle
But every day it's

Less like tearing, more like building
Less like captive, more like willing
Less like breakdown, more like surrender
Less like haunting, more like remember

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like
Character

Less like a prison, more like my room
It's less like a casket, more like a womb
Less like dying, more like transcending
Less like fear, less like an ending

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars

Just a little while ago
I couldn't feel the power or the hope
I couldn't cope, I couldn't feel a thing
Just a little while back
I was desperate, broken, laid out, hoping
You would come

And I need you
And I want you here
And I feel you

And I know you're here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad, bad situation
But you are able

And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars (x3)

And more like
Character

Dec | 15 | Avoiding Substance Abuse

2011-12-15T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – EXAMINE

Luke 15:13
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. KJV.

Avoiding Substance Abuse

I like very much the expression of dissipation found in our text for tonight as referring to someone who ‘wastes his substance’. The idea around the Greek word translated as 'dissipation' is that of substance abuse in terms of an abandoned and unthinking recklessness which leads to personal destruction. Yup! Dissipation is a terminal disease.

Maybe it is because I am getting older, but frankly I no longer have the energy I used to have and so already I find myself gazing somewhat enviously on younger folk, who seem to have so much energy, that they just don’t know what to do with it! Unfortunately, the possessors of such a seeming abundance of time, energy and good looks, often unknowingly fritter their substance away. It might be frustrating to see the accidental dissipation of substance which is common to youth and growth but I tell you, it is absolutely heartbreaking to see a young person purposely throw away their substance, bulimicly vomiting up their life on the pavements of drugs and idleness. Be sure that I am not talking of wasting money here. No, money can be replaced. I am talking about wasting substance. Time, talents, gifting, and all the unpacked possibility of life. This kind of dissipation is a tragedy of untold proportion. This kind of substance abuse is not unredeemable but it is irreversible. Think about that.

There is another kind of dissipation though which the more seeming wise and respectable unfortunately get themselves hooked into. It is dissipation of a better kind but dissipation never the less. Whenever we spend ourselves on that which does not last, we dissipate our very substance. There are two questions we can ask ourselves concerning the spending of our substance, to better then discern either the true worth of its expenditure or its wasteful abuse.

1) What is there of any value that I shall leave behind me when all my substance is spent?

2) What things of value do I look forward to, have I invested in even, in my eternal life to come? In other words, does my invstement have an eternal desire and an eternal reward.

We are moving speedily towards the end of this year and I tell you, if you want to have done with substance abuse then these are two of the best substantial and ethical questions you could ever bring to your life. Try them for size if you dare. Have a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Listen: - With her enticing speech she caused him to yield,With her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, Till an arrow struck his liver.As a bird hastens to the snare,He did not know it would cost his life. Now therefore, listen to me, my children; Pay attention to the words of my mouth: Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,Do not stray into her paths; For she has cast down many wounded,And all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, Descending to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:21-27 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, do not let me dissipate my substance, even on a perfumed bed of myrrh and aloes, and sugar coated cinnamon. Deliver me from taking my fill of all false loves which bring with them nothing but the coming of that morning emptiness. Deliver me from substance abuse I pray, in Jesus name, amen!

Dec | 14 | Mizpah Monuments

2011-12-14T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – SEPARATE

Genesis 31:48-50
And Laban said,"This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore its name was called Galeed, also Mizpah, because he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.” NKJV

Mizpah Monuments

Mizpah is a most misunderstood word. Of course over the centuries it has become at times more of a money making word than a mystical one, as Jewellers and retailers, all have taken their share of sales from trinkets and lockets, coins and bracelets all bearing the out of context but cute little phrase of, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another....Mizpah.” It’s all very ‘lovey dovey,’ it’s all very nice, it’s very sweet and it’s all very romantic, but friends, it’s all very wrong!

The context of the covenant cairn of Mizpah was built on one of danger, threat and cursing. You will remember that after over twenty years of well reaped abuse, Jacob finally gets the green light from God to flee away. His old uncle Fagin Laban pursues after Jacob and his family with the total intent on doing him great harm and recovering everything Jacob had taken, which quite frankly, he regarded as his to take! Laban would have done this if it wasn’t for the dream intervention from God which in brief said “Laban, shut it! Laban, watch it.” It was after Jacob and Laban vented to one another their thoughts that an irreconcilable difference of opinion was finally vocalised. That being the case there was clear need for separation and a covenant promise not to return into the other person’s life with a desire for revenge and hurt. This was the true context on the cairn at Mizpah. It was in effect a line of demarcation drawn in the deep desert sand which underscored the past life which was now never to be revisited without a consequent curse of judgement and retribution from God on high.

There is a need today for many a Mizpah cairn to be erected upon the mystical mountains of our minds and our hearts. There are lifestyles which we have previously held openly, but now carry in secret habit, thoughts and pernicious practices into what should be the peaceful places of our lives. Yes, there are 'Teraphim’s' of many kinds, which we have carried from the past into our present promised lands that have been the cause of all kinds of pursuant guilt and condemnation, even threat of death. Despite the accompanying fear of both discovery and loss, sin still causes us to sit on our idols and protect them under the lying excuse of a monthly menstrual flow.
Not a few of you tonight, MUST set up some Mizaph cairns on the mystical mountains of your own hearts and minds. It’s time to leave the past, it’s time to draw under it a line of demarcation. Yes, under all thoughts and practices habits and lifestyle that continue to be destructive and binding to you in the here and now, you must finally draw a line. Build that cairn and then NEVER again return to do yourself harm! Build that cairn and then NEVER allow a visit from there to do you harm! Yes! Once and for all time, mark it with the word MIZPAH!

Listen: - Then Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. Genesis 31:51-54NKJV.

Pray:- Lord, I cast away my idols. Lord, I am sick of the dark pursuers, the intrusion of the black Nazgul’s of my sinful past. Help me set up this night, some Mizpah cairns over issues in my life, which I declare tonight, shall no longer bring me death, or be sought after by me for their oh so dark a sustenance. Find me some rocks O Lord, and then together, let us build me a Mizpah cairn. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Dec | 13 | Of Hot Lips, Curvy Hips & Lovely Eyes?

2011-12-13T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – LOOK

Genesis 29:16-17
Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful.(THE MESSAGE.)

Of Hot Lips, Curvy Hips & Lovely Eyes?

Now Jacob loved Rachel. There is no doubt that Rachel was red hot and ready to be plucked. There is no doubt that Rachel was a looker, a curvy stunning beauty, indeed, of the most desirable of propoortions and propositions. Her sister Leah on the other hand, well, she had nice eyes and that my friends, says it all.

When all of Jacob The Twister’s chickens finally came home to roost, he, by Laban’s great deceit, found himself married to both of these pairs of eyes and the Bible records that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Well after all, why wouldn’t he? Compared to Rachel, Leah lacked the lusciousness of femininity, for after all, all Leah had was a pair of lovely eyes!

It is at this point that God steps in, closing Rachel’s womb and opening Leah’s, so much so that it was Leah who was primarily the fruitful one and it would be through Leah’s offspring that Messiah would come. Leah in the naming of her children and in the prayer of her desperation was certainly on first name and intimate terms with God. Leah, with the lovely eyes, was blessed by God and fruitful. Red hot Rachel, all ready to be plucked, wasn’t!

Despite having seemingly good eyesight, young men are mostly led by their loins rather than their head. Indeed, if truth were told tonight, most throbbing of the heart would be found to emanate some two feet further down the torso. All red hot Rachel’s ready to be plucked, seem to have that effect on men. I need to tell you tonight then, that when it comes to peace and blessedness, yes when it comes to fun and fruitfulness in all its mellowed and autumn glory, that it is the eyes which have it. If you are looking for a spouse, then look at their eyes? Where are they looking? Are they looking to God? Because if they are, they shall be lovely eyes, full of peace, blessedness and delightful fruitfulness.

Speaking as a man then, let me tell you tonight my boys, that is the eyes which have it!

Listen: - Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. (Proverbs 31:10 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, help me seek and search for You, desire and pray for you, to be found and be reflected even in the shallow’s of both my lover’s eyes. Amen.

Dec | 12 | Leave The Clucker's Alone

2011-12-12T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – BE

Galatians 2:6-7
But from those who seemed to be something — whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favouritism to no man — for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. NKJV.

Leave The Clucker’s Alone

The local but wider Christian community can be a strange and noisy pond to swim in for there are always a few large croaking frogs within it that enjoy singing from the central lily pads and the strangest thing is, that whether male or female, the croaking frogs always turn out to be large old hens, big bosomed and clucking! The saying, ‘Better be a large frog in a small pond rather than a small frog in a large pond’ always seems to be an encapsulating observation for the strange manifestations of these fowl amphibians. No, I don’t rate them much myself and I avoid them at all costs.

The apostle Paul me thinks, was of the very same mind set. A man who had been taught and trained in the loud lily pond pools of the Sanhedrin of Solomon’s courts, it seems to me that he had no inclination to go back there and little respect for those who longed for it or continued to linger there within it. Paul found that most coveted cloak of ‘being someone,’ to be in fact a garb of garbage and frankly, he wanted nothing to do with it.

I have seen this puffed out reptilian chin and air filled feathery chest, all clucking and a croaking, all over the world where Christians gather together. There are always folk in the guise of service wanting to sit on the central lily pad and be held in renown for doing so. Any reference to being ‘Founder, Instigator, Longest standing, Holder of keys, Possessor of rights, Presidents (especially former ones,) or Presider’s over,’ well you get my drift, are all indicative references to people who have croaked and clucked their way to a respectable place on the central lily pad. They are someone. They are to be respected and they want you to know it. It’s all very Captain Mainwaring and it’s all very sad really.

The need to be respected by your peers (and frankly the more the respect you can get, the better it is!) is a most powerful force, which when fully embraced, will not only propel you to the centre of the local lily pond, the top of the local mountain, but will also take from you the very essence and loveliness of who you are. It will, now mark my words here, it WILL turn you into a croaking chicken.

Be yourself. Fulfil your own ministry. Pursue your own personal calling, realize your destiny and leave all the other clucker’s alone. They have their pale reward already. Tell me, where are you sitting today?

Listen: - "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:16-17 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord Jesus, delight Yourself in me. Lord Jesus, help me delight on me. Lord Jesus, let us have joy together in who we truly are; Lord, let there be food and drink and true fellowship of the heart between us, in Your great name I ask it – amen.

Dec | 11 | God’s Bloody Hands

2011-12-11T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – SOON

Joshua 10:40-42
So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded. And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. NKJV

God’s Bloody Hands

As General Joshua begins now to thoroughly take possession of the promised land, of the land flowing with milk and honey, make no mistake about it, that at this point, the land was flowing with the blood of the slaughtered inhabitants. Three times in this one chapter, after we read accounts of the genocidal and ethnic cleansing of the land, we hear the refrain regarding Joshua that: ‘he left none remaining.’

Our text for tonight however goes even farther and points out that not only was General Joshua acting under the expressed command of God Almighty but the Lord Himself, was intimately involved in the bloody conflict. Indeed, just as the Lord had took part in the battle against the five kings in Joshua chapter 10, by raining down upon them His heavenly artillery, so in the same way, in the rest of this conflict, God was most thoroughly involved.

There is no doubt that under the terms of the present Geneva Convention and under International Law of today, that both God and Joshua, His earthly general, would face charges for ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ for there was no doubt whatsoever, about the full involvement of God in this total and bloody war. Think about that!

In your thinking tonight then, let me remind you of but five 'small' things:

First that this utter destruction was not a matter of some religious fanatic, some mad murderer, some sorry psychopath, shouting out that “God made me do it!” No, but by His direct presence and actions, God Himself was clearly, intimately and actively involved! The presence and actions of God the Almighty were not in question by anyone, especially by those people upon which He waged war. Yes, God was seen by everyone to have ‘fought for Israel.’

Second tonight, please remember that it was God who had placed these murderous scoundrels, this totally corrupt society, in His judicial courtroom dock. They had been on trial, not Him, and as judge and merciful jury, He had long since pronounced them guilty, even giving them centuries to amend their ways and finally, when they did not, He became most terrible in carrying out His righteous judgment upon them. It was God who was judging humanity here folks. It was humanity that had been on trial here, not God! Remember that.

Thirdly, note that the diabolical possession of a manifest spiritual evil had undoubtedly taken root in the land and this earthly conflict, was no doubt, part of a much greater heavenly conflict. The two were and are always, most intimately intertwined. The land of promise has always been a touching ground, a tinder box of bloody conflict, if you will, to try and halt both the first and second coming of Jesus, King of kings.

Fourthly, note that this same diabolical possession of manifest evil has throughout history and even today, been clearly seen in the devastations of two World Wars, Rwanda, Cambodia, Western Europe, The Middle East, ect ect etc and that God has been constantly fighting these evil manifestations so that His gospel may be preached.

Yes, fifthly and finally tonight, note that though free forgiveness has been purchased through the shed blood of Jesus and that this good message has and is being proclaimed throughout the whole world and has been done so for some 2000 years now, that I am along with many others, increasingly convinced that the grace of this proclamation is quickly drawing to a close. The 'time of the end' battle lines are being drawn, people and practices are raising themselves up against the Most High God and He is coming to meet them.

I hear His feet pad deliberately toward the tops of Carmel tonight. I hear the wind sucked into His flared nostrils and see His great lungs fill with the hot air of His indignation. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is getting ready to roar dear friend, and when He does, well, you had better watch out and you had better take care because He is coming to judge the earth. Are you living in the reality of this? What difference would it make to your worries, your choices and your priorities if you did?

Think about that.

Listen: - "The Lord roars from Zion, And utters His voice from Jerusalem; The pastures of the shepherds mourn, And the top of Carmel withers." Amos 1:2 NKJV

Pray:- Along with the Holy Spirit, we the Holy people align our voices with the pleading of all the centuries of saints and tonight so Great King, Mighty Master, Strong Saviour, Roaring Lion of the tribe of Judah, we say “Come! Yes even so! Come Lord Jesus!” Amen.

Dec | 10 | ‘Merry Makrothumia & Happy Hupomonee!’

2011-12-10T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – PERSEVERE

Romans 15:5-6
Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV

‘Merry Makrothumia & Happy Hupomonee!’

I refuse to allow anyone to pray for me that I would have more patience. I hate the patience most of my fellow believers wish on me, for it always reminds me of a reluctant acquiescing to depressing disappointment, or a soul shattering suffering, or a worthless waiting of some kind and most of all, a wimpish acceptance of a never-ending and fun-less frustration! That kind of patience, thank you very much, you can keep!

To compound my refusal of such patience, one ancient commentator remarks that, “Patience is that calm and unruffled temper with which a good man bears the evils of life.” What rubbish and when I get to heaven I am going to find that brother and slap him! For you see friends, such silly and unruffled remarks, actually dehumanize the Christian, actually make us less biblical, less like Christ and sometimes force us into such an unreality, that it morbidly moulds us into a kind of religious madness! Remember, that when the winds of life sweep down onto the sea of Galilee, it heaves in disappointment, crashes against the shore in anger, slaps its waves together in desperation and weeps its salty lament across the watching shores and in the same way dear friends, in the same way, you the cruelly betrayed, you the hurt and disappointed, you the robbed and rubbished Christians of this world, are allowed to be that sea. Unruffled indeed! What poppycock! That’s not biblical patience, it’s dehumanized, dysfunctional madness.

In all your venting hurt and in all your disappointment though, what you are not allowed to be, is a deserter of Christ. What you are not allowed to be, is an unbeliever in His goodness. What you are not allowed to be, is one who turns his back on all the duties of His love. What you are not allowed to be, is a teeth gritting and angry charlatan, kicking the sheep of His pasture. What you are not allowed to be, is miserable, unfocused, faithless and hopeless, and I tell you this, without God's gift of ‘ Happy Hupomonee’, real biblical patience, you shall most certainly become and do all these nasty things.

Thank God that He is patient! Indeed, He is all patience! His ‘Merry Makrothumia’ (one of two Greek words we have translated as patience) that is, His long forbearance and faithful fortitude in holding back the pouring out of His righteous, hot and burning cup of molten anger upon us all, allows us time and affords us opportunity to change our minds and our direction and return to Him. God is happy to exhibit this longsuffering and forbearant patience with humanity because the end of it, is both our repentance and His shared and singing joy. How wonderful! We have a patient God.

Thank God that He is patient! Indeed, He is all patience. His ‘Happy
Hupomonee’ (the second of two Greek words we have transalted as patience) is a gift He freely gives His children, for as His ‘Merry Makrothumia’ is related to His love, ‘Happy Hupomonee’ is related to our continuing hope. Now this hopeful patience is one I both need and want, is one I both like and practice. This hopeful patience is one you can pray down from heaven upon me anytime dear friends, for this ‘Happy Hupomonee’ is not a miserable swim in the sea of Christian Karma, no! It is a warrior like attitude, that rejoices in the attacks of the foe. It is a fruit bearing gift from on High, that flowers in the face of all adversity. It is a courageous and continuing persistence in well doing, when we’ve been well done at! Not only is this kind of patience, this kind of miraculous and joyful perseverance a gift to us but it is an obligation for us to both put on and to walk in and in the so doing, we shall be found to be that most sweetest fragrance of heavens hopefulness, rarely found but greatly prized among the hosts of smelly and disappointed humanity. A truly patient people of biblical proportion.

I say again, that this truly biblical patience, this Happy Hupomonee is both encased in soulish humanity and expressed in spiritual faithfulness. So, let me patiently encourage you tonight then dear friends, that in all your expressed and sometimes violent storms, you remain focused, you remain faithful, you remain joyful, hopeful and you remain even apostolic in your continuing on with your mission! Now that’s biblical patience.

Listen: - Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, (Happy Hupomonee) in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. 2 Corinthians 12:12-13

Pray:- Lord, grant me this gift of warrior like, joyful and focused endurance. Despite the wind at my face and the clouds above my head, help me to press on with the hope of reaping a fruitful crop. Grant me then this so great a gift and help me to put it on and walk in it, in Jesus name I pray, amen!

Dec | 09 | The Real New Man's Bones

2011-12-09T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – LIFE

2 Kings 13:20-21
Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. NKJV

The Real New Man’s Bones

I do believe that “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation” is one of the greatest hymns of praise ever written! Though the German poet who penned these astonishing lines, Joachim Neander, died of Tuberculosis aged only thirty years of age, he still speaks today and in speaking with such majesty, turns our hearts again to praise!

It was Joachim’s grandfather, a musician, who following a popular trend at that time in Germany, had changed the family name from the original ‘Neumann’ (‘New man’ in English) to the Greek form of ‘Neander.’ The poet Joachim Neander then, didn’t only take his new name from his grandfather but inherited also some of his granfather’s linguistic and musical talent, penning at least 60 hymns and putting them to music before his death from T.B.

In 1674, Joachim, considered now by many to be one of the first important German hymnist after the Reformation, became a teacher in a Latin school in Düsseldorf. While living there and knowing he was always inspired by the wonders of nature, he liked to go the nearby valley (the German for which is, ‘Thal or Tal’) of the Düssel. In this same beautiful ‘Tal,’ Joachim also held gatherings of informal praise services, at which he also addressed his hearers from the Bible. This same ‘Tal,’ this famous and poetic valley of vision, this same valley of prayer, praise and proclamation, was in the 19th Century renamed by the German people in Joachim’s honor, changing its name from the Düssel Tal, to the ‘Neander Tal.’

In 1856, in this same renamed valley, skeletal and seeming humanoid remains were found and given the name, ‘Homo Neanderthalensis’ or ‘Neanderthal Man.’ The famous valley of heartfelt prayer, singing praise and powerful proclamation, had now been hijacked by doubt, cynicism and deception.

Tonight, whatever you think about the bones of this late Neanderthal Man, it’s genetic linkage or lack of, it’s skull size, it’s pelvic area, it’s controversy and cuckoo like disposition, let me tell you but one thing. That Joachim, the first Neanderthal, the first new man of this valley of prayer, praise and proclamation, in his three-fold poetic power, gave life to his hearers and yes indeed, Joachim though being dead, still speaks today in the same life giving manner and power in which he lived back then! You see, bones touched by God, always give life to others and at the last day, we shall see that it is Joachim’s bones that shall finally come together, be clothed upon in Jesus and be found in all the eons yet to come, to be still and always upright and praying, upright and praising, upright and proclaiming,

Tell me tonight then dear brother, dear sister, down in the valley, are your bones still rattling with prayer, praise and proclamation?

Listen: - Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Ezekiel 37:4-8 NKJV

Pray:-
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, Who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, Who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, Who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, Who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

Joachim Neander

Dec | 08 | Oh Me, Oh Life

2011-12-08T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – CONSIDER

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. NKJV

“Oh Me, Oh Life”

This of course is my least favorite of Bible Verses. All the difficulties of life and death, from kids to cancer, from marriage to murder, from want to plenty, yes, all and everything is included in the ‘all things' that seemingly work together for our good! I have to tell you that I do not like that one bit.

I would much prefer a clear delineation of those things which are blessed to me, and those things which are cursed to me. Romans 8:28 however, allows no such delineation and consequent avoidance for the child of God but in undaunting forcefulness, screams and stands steadfast against all the storms of this life’s journey of ours in its statement of utter confidence, that yes indeed, “all things work together for our good”. The stunning encapsulation of God’s utter Sovereignty that this statement makes, still troubles me rather than comforts me tonight, because this verse above all other verses, clearly demands that I trust Him in “all things” and in the so doing, questions my personal ability to trust God and thank Him in “all things”. Now, if you think that is an easy task for the Christian, if you think that this is not the greatest work of faith in our lives to trust “God in all things”, then my friend, you are a youngster in both the things of God and this world, yes, you are still wet behind the ears! This verse demands the exhibiiton of the greatest of faith.

As I reflect on our recent evening meditations since the beginning of December, I nevertheless have to agree with the real life and intricate applications of Romans 8:28. I have to stand amazed at its ability to reveal itself as enticing and even demanding great acts of faith, all alive in verdant veracity, even through the crowding complexities of terror and torture, of want and war as they manifest themselves across both space and time. As I reflect on this month’s meditations it is evident that many people contributed a link in the chain of the ever-unfolding goodness of God towards the people of this world, thus working all things together for good!

I don’t know about you but when I consider these things and my place in the universe as intertwined with both the first and last Adam, with both sinners and saved, with both the carnal and the Christ, I am overwhelmed and struggle to find a little solid ground to stand on. It is truly amazing that God can and does work “all things” for our good. Truly, truly amazing!

It is that quirky and ever so slightly strange, Walt Whitman, that might aid us in finding some solid ground to view this great and demanding verse of Romans 8:28 and maybe engage it, just a little, in it’s overwhelming complexities……

O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities fill'd with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself,
(for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light--of the objects mean--of the struggle ever renew'd;
Of the poor results of all--of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest--with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here--that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse

Tomorrow then O poet of God, for all true Christians are the truest of poets, you too will have the opportunity to contribute a verse to this never-ending symphony regarding the goodness of God toward us in Christ Jesus. Watch with wonder then friends, listen in awe and consider very carefully just what and how you might write a verse in the book of the goodness of God. As we with consecrated pen, then so carefully write, even so circumspectly walk and examine our ways, then maybe we pilgrims might begin to possess to ourselves, some of the vast peace, which the knowledge of God’s goodness toward us by actually working His goodness through “all things”. What peace this could truly bring to our hearts? Believing this and then confidently living in this assurance, is most assuredly an act of the greatest of faith. BE THAT PERSON OF GREAT FAITH TONIGHT. FOR ALL THINGS WORK TPGETHER FOR YOUR GOOD OH CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD.

Listen: - And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NKJV

Pray: - Lord, Your vastness, Your great goodness worked out in the times and lives of men and women, scares me, worries me, perturbs me, confuses me. Oh my God, I ask that Your goodness would become comfort to my heart and steadiness to my sailing soul in the year to come, in Jesus name I ask for it to be done, amen and amen!

Dec | 07 | Chocolate Pearl, From The Fiery Harbor

2011-12-07T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – CONSIDER

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. NKJV

A Chocolate Pearl, From The Fiery Harbor

Today in 1942 at 07:40 precisely, Mutsui Fuchida, one of Japans most skilful flyers, opened the canopy of his Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 Model 3 torpedo bomber and fired a green flare to signal the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was this same Mutsui Fuchida, who just nine minutes later, ordered the code words ‘Tora, Tora, Tora’ to be sent back to the ‘Akagi,’ the flagship of the First Japanese Air Fleet. Complete surprise had been gained in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Fuchida was first over the bombing zone at Pearl and after personally sinking the battleship ‘Maryland,’ was also the last to leave it. Now, although Pearl Harbor was a cowardly attack, Fuchida himself was no coward. Leading many attacks during the war, he crashed six times at sea. It was only an emergency appendectomy before the battle of Midway that kept him grounded but not out of the fray, for whilst trying to fight fires in an American bombing attack, he broke both his legs there in a bomb blast. Consequently, he was thus kept out of the battle of Guadacanal, where he would have undoubtedly died. At the end of the war, Fuchida was the sole surviving officer of the seven commanders and thirty two squadron leaders whom he led in the Pearl Harbor raid.

After Pearl Harbor, Fuchida became the Japanese national hero, and had a personal meeting with the Emperor himself! Like most of his compatriots, drunk on Victory sickness, it was the hangover after the defeat of Japan, that led him to later question his whole existence and role in the war.

Fuchida came to the conclusion that it was proud nationalism and cultural hatred of others, that had led in all nations and in his nation in particular, to a terminal lack of brotherly love for one another! In his post war book, ‘No More Pearl Harbor,’ Fuchida’s new driving life force, was that peace and brotherly love was the only direction for his post war Japan and that peace should be chosen by them no matter what directions the other nations pursued. “How though,” he wondered, “Could such brotherly love be achieved?”

Fuchida, retired from the Japanese Navy and now a post war farmer, was never the less required to give an account of his war activities to a war crimes tribunal. It was while in process of attending such an interrogation in Tokyo, that he alighted from a train onto a platform where a saw an American missionary handing out some information. There on ‘Shibuya’ railroad station was a very public, ‘Pocket Testimony League’ meeting going on and it was right there, that Fuchida was given a pamphlet called, “I was a Prisoner of Japan.” This pamphlet was written by Sergeant Jacob DeShazer, bombardier of ‘The Bat Out of Hell,’ who was shot down over Japan whilst participating in the reprisal Pearl Harbor ‘Doolittle’ raid on Tokyo.

Fuchida devoured the contents of the pamphlet and having read that it was the Bible that had transformed Jacob DeShazer, he got his own copy and read it with ravishing deliberation. Here he found out how and who, was the only person which could transform a heart of hatred into brotherly love. Jesus Christ the Lord! “This is it!” cried Fuchida, “I was strongly convinced. I concluded that the true realization of my book, ‘No More Pearl Harbor’ was no other than to expect Christ’s second coming and to endeavor to prepare men from all over the world to welcome Christ’s return. As a first approach towards this, I was convinced that I should first of all become a good Christian. Thus, I contacted the Pocket Testament League representatives who showed me from the Bible how to become a Christian. I then opened my heart and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior on April 14, 1950.”

Fuchida went on to work as a Christian missionary, for the Pocket Testament League as well as joining his friend and Christian brothers, as a member of the ‘Worldwide Christian Missionary Army of Sky Pilots!’

Now tell me tonight, dear friends, just how amazing is it, that a little girls Cadbury’s Chocolate fancy, could tickle all the blood bathed sandy shores of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans? So, I ask you again tonight then, “What’s in your pocket?”

Listen: - We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:14-15 NKJV

Pray: - O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. (Psalm 131:1-18 NKJV )

Dec | 06 | The Bat Out Of Hell

2011-12-06T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – CONSIDER

1 Thessalonians 1:6-8
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. NKJV

The Bat Out of Hell!

Tonight, if you listen very quietly, moving your neck to the left slightly and opening your ears to history, you might just hear the silent steaming of a Japanese Carrier force moving into striking distance of Pearl Harbor and the lame duck, American Pacific Fleet. The bombs and torpedoes dropped from the sky tomorrow shall form the force of another sucker punch that will lay America reeling on the canvas floor once more. A stunned nation and an embarrassed American military, will from this point now quickly move in determined desperation to put together such a counter punch, that be it even ever so pitiful, its audacious boldness shall both cause both the enemy to step back a little and its sunken homeland fans, to become buoyed up again with hope and courage once more. Enter then stage left, aviator and aeronautical engineer, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle armed with a cunning plan.

In just four months time, Doolittle and his raiders, will be the only bomber crews in U.S. Army Air Force military history to launch from U.S. Navy Carriers in a combat mission. The U.S.S. Hornet was given the honor to host these one way flight crews to Tokyo and Jacob DeShazer, was on the last of the sixteen modified B-25’s to leave it’s heaving deck. Corporal DeShazer was the bombardier of the B-25, named “Bat Out of Hell.”

Jacob DeShazer had been brought up in a Christian environment but as a teenager, like so many others, had ‘kicked over the traces’ and had purposefully wandered from God and now at the beginning of his mission, unlike some of his crew-mates, DeShazer no longer even prayed. Fortunately for Jacob though, his mother did still pray. Mrs. DeShazer recalls how she “Awakened suddenly one night with a strange feeling like being dropped down, down, down through the air and with a terrible burden that weighed upon my soul! I prayed and cried out to God in my distress. Suddenly the burden was gone, and I drifted off into an untroubled sleep, something unusual for me. Later,” she says “When comparing the time I prayed in America with the time in occupied China, it was just the time when Jacob had had to parachute from his falling plane. How I praise the Lord now, but of course then I didn't realize or know what was taking place so far away. When we heard in the war news that our airmen had been over Tokyo dropping bombs, little did I realize that my own precious boy was in the crew of one of the planes.”

Yes, Jacob DeShaza had to bail out of a fuel empty plane trying to reach it’s recovery base in eastern China. DeShaza would spend 40 months as a Japanese Prisoner of war. Noting that the Japanese murdered 250,000 Chinese in their search for the downed Doolittle raiders, it is not surprising then that on his incarceration, he would see three of his fellow captives shot and he would see another die of starvation before his eyes . Being on starvation rations himself, DeShazer suffered dysentery, berri-berri fever, body engulfing boils, and various other bodily and mental conditions, which mostly came from the aftermath of being beaten, tortured, mocked, hung, and intolerably and incessantly abused. DeShaza remarked that his hatred for his captives was “all consuming and knew no bounds.”

During the course of those forty months, the Emperor of Japan eventually directed that prisoners should be treated ‘somewhat better’ and so DeShaza asked for a Bible and he got one. “When I got that Bible,” he recalls, “I thought about how the Christians believed the Bible -- believed it was the Word of God, and God didn't lie. So I read that Bible to find evidence that it is the Word of God and right away I found the evidence.” On June 8, 1944, DeShaza received assurance of his salvation when his eyes fell once again on Romans 10:9. “Boy, that hit me! It was the best news I'd ever heard in my life. There are just two things: you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. And I did! I believed at that time -- and I do yet – it’s God's Word. I believe heaven came down there in that prison cell.” The bat may have been a Japanese P.O.W. but he was at last, now out of hell.

Yet his hatred for his captors continued. He knew that Christ commanded him to love His enemies and amazingly despite the continued beatings and mistreatment, he was instructed by the Holy Spirit in just how to love them! Now that is a miracle friends, let me tell you!

DeShaza came to love the Japanese so much that immediately after the war, he earned his theology degree and married and in 1948, he returned to Japan, with his wife and growing family to labour there for many more years, even settling and planting a church in the very place he dropped his bombs all those years before! Tens of thousands are reported to have become Christians because of DeShaza’s ministry and he even preached to some of his former prison guards who subsequently became Christians. Miracle after miracle friends, miracle after miracle and you know, it was the Pocket Testament League that greatly aided DeShazer in his Free Methodist ministry right there in Japan, even helping produce and distribute a pamphlet of his personal story called “I was a Prisoner of Japan”.

What a rich dark chocolatey goodness was spread through Japan by Helen Cadbury, that little Chocolatier.

The night is for bats and this night, DeShaza, that once bat out of hell returned to his terrible roost and in his claws held not hatred but held light and life and love and many that were blind, as blind as bats out of hell themselves, were given eyes to see and hearts to receive.

Listen: -For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 1:9,10 NKJV

Pray: - Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Dec | 05 | Chocolate Pockets & Ripples of Goodness

2011-12-05T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – WORD

1 Corinthians 1:27-29
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. NKJV

Chocolate Pockets & Ripples of Goodness

John Cadbury was outdone in terms of the number of children he had in that his son Richard Cadbury had eight! One of these good chocolate soldiers, the granddaughter of the famous founder of the best chcololate company in the whole world, was a young lady called Helen Cadbury.

Helen’s father Richard was a practicing Christian (is there any other?) and had set up a mission hall outside of the then most ‘Heavenly Ville,’ of Bourneville, in one of the slum districts of the city of Birmingham. Helen, used to the regular visitors of evangelical Christians to her home, used to the daily morning family prayer and Bible readings led by her father, was moved to accompany him one night to that same little Christian mission hall. Here, Helen was well aware of the two kinds of people in the hall. The first kind were the hopeless, the hurt and the destitute. The second kind were those who USED TO BE hopeless, hurt and destitute! The source of change in these latter folk with respect to their new possessions of hope, purpose and presence was Christ and Christ alone! The invitation from the preacher that night for people to come forward and believe on this life changing Christ, was met by the trembling legs of little Helen. It was her father, in the little back room of the Christian mission hall that led the quaking hearts of men and women to faith and peace in Jesus Christ. That particular and blessed night, his daughter Helen was among them. How wonderful.

Helen, then aged just thirteen, finding it difficult to share her new found faith and intimate experience of Jesus with her peers, found that simply reading the Bible in front of them solicited many questions, from which she could then answer by reading to them from the Scriptures. Ever the little organizer, from this practice, Helen founded a club with her friends, called the ‘Pocket Testament League,’ issued hand-made membership cards and the girls even sewed pockets in their dresses to carry these small Pocket Testaments. Together, this little group of girls issued handmade membership cards and sewed pockets in their dresses to carry the small Bibles. Their goal was simply to “Read, Carry and Share.” Little did she know, but Helen, through this small collection of female friends was in process of making another chocolate ripple on the dark surface of humanity.

The well focused child became a lovely and organised, wealthy single woman. Just then, as often happens in stories, a single and well-connected man came upon the scene who was associated with Moody and Torrey and Chapman, all prominent World Wide Evangelists of the time. The man was Helen’s soon-to-be husband, the Gospel singing Charles McCallon Alexander, who had also become a Christian aged just thirteen, and had been involved in innovative city-wide simultaneous mission meetings for many years. It was this same Charles, who with love and connectivity, helped take the once schoolgirl organisation of the Pocket Testament League into an official body which on this day of my writing, has over 170,000 members and has distributed over 100 million Pocket New Testaments to people around the world! Amazing or what! You see, it was God, who joined up the dots. It was God, who hooked Helen up with the right man at the right time with all the right connections. It was God who also no doubt answered exceedingly abundantly, all that could be asked and thought of, in the prayers of a young and quaking ‘Chocolatier.’

How did this little school-girl cause such a splash through the depression and two world wars? Well you see, Helen didn’t just have any old chocolate in her pockets dear friends, no, she had a Cadbury’s Ripple tucked away in there as well, which in obedience and faith, she cast upon the water’s of the world. What ripple effect of good might it have on the world if you were also to cast that good chocolate in your own pocket, and also cast on waters of your life in obedience and faith?

C'mon, tell me. What’s that in your pocket tonight and what are you doing with it?

Listen: - Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21NKJV

Pray: - Lord, come join up my dots. Lord, help me to strike the waters in such mighty believing faith that lives in this and coming generations will be touched and changed forever. In Jesus name I ask it, amen!

Dec | 04 | Chocolate, Churches & Christ

2011-12-04T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – RICH

Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the .Lord. NKJV

Chocolate, Churches and Christ!

As I write these throughts, I am visiting Louisville Kentucky at the moment, a city which prides itself on its College sports. I flew in recently, late on a crispy clear dark winter’s night, to find it’s American football stadium lit up like a Christmas tree, packed to the gunnels with cold and screaming fans. The Louisville Cardinals were at play on their well supported and intimidating home turf of The Ville! Getting to go to school, going to college, is an honor and for these big football scholarship boys, made even bigger still by protective packing, it is a very big deal indeed. To the T.V. watching millions though, denied the opportunity by simple lack of funding, it grates somewhat that muscle and speed, put simply in the right place at the right time has brought to the chosen few an excellent education.

Now, if you think not being able to pursue an education through financial lack is tough, then imagine a world in which because of your religious beliefs you were not allowed to attend any form of higher education and neither were you allowed to enter into any profession such as medicine or law! This was indeed the case in 19th century England for any members of the Quaker movement, which was founded by George Fox, over two centuries ago but unlike those most derided times, the movement today has come to embody, faith, integrity, equality and simplicity.

The Quakers, a once marvelous Christian sect, denied by government these simple rights and having not many lucrative sporting opportunities available at that time, pursued the only other avenues available to them, that being, creating good personal businesses! Many of these good and gentle folk took them to becoming the best business entrepreneurs ever produced in England. For sure, many of their fledgling companies are today still carrying high value stock in the global market place. One such entrepreneur was a Quaker called John Cadbury, the inventor of the finest chocolate ever produced on this planet. Indeed, did not Paul himself speak of ‘The mystery of the Chocolate, which even the angels desired to look into?’ Maybe not, but he should have!

John Cadbury looking at 19th Century England saw the evils of the addiction of alcohol as being the main source of poverty amongst the poor. Being part of the temperance movement he took social action by choosing to invent a drink, which would become a substitute for alcohol. These replacements were, hot cocoa and hot chocolate and I must confess, that I have been addicted to them both ever since I first tasted them!

John Cadbury’s had seven sons and it was Richard and George who continued to build the business, moving it to a suburb of Birmingham England called Bourne brook. Here they again made revolutionary changes to their product, its production and most importantly of all, their workforce! Here they gave birth to a model town if you will, a VILLE, a living place so extraordinary for its time that Bournbrook became Bourneville and its flowing dark richness would permeate the whole world and that my friends is by no means a silly understatement.

Here at ‘The Ville,’ in the darkness of England, an a stonishingly bright revolution in community housing took place in terms of mutual respect, high wages, pension schemes, excellent living conditions, organic vegetable gardens, places for sport, recreation, reflection and recovery. It was quite simply, Christ in the Cadbury family that brought these ‘heaven on earth conditions’ to the dark industrial factories of England.

Today, Bourneville may be the only town in the United Kingdom that has no Pub but it has three things we all need and those are:

Chocolate, Churches and Christ.

Tonight then, let me leave you with three dark pieces of chocolate goodness for your consummation and consideration.

First that your unfair and unrighteous circumstance may infact be simply be squeezing you into an entrepreneurial, profitable and life giving direction. This is no bad thing! You might end up giving Quaker oats to a starving world!

Secondly, that your relationship with Christ means very little to this world and even to heaven, if it has not got legs to go and feed the poor, to change the world and to glorify the God of heaven. The Gospel has always been a social Gospel

Thirdly, that the Cadbury ripple of Christian good works, once cast into the sea of humanity, is still travelling and changing the world, maybe even the galaxy as we know it, even today. Goodness has a knock on effect, you see, even from generation to generation.

Dear friends, just what ripples of creamy goodness are you sprinkling upon this most needy of seas upon which we all still sail together?

Listen: - I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon. Song of Solomon 1:5 NKJV

Pray: - Lord may all our works in every place, be rich and dark and beautiful to You, in Jesus name I ask it, amen.

Dec | 03 | Miracle Aid

2011-12-03T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – GLORY

John 2:11
This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. NKJV

Miracle Aid

Like it or not, and many Christians will not, our text for today clearly shows a direct link between miracles, the glory of God and belief in Him!

These disciples, newly called to the ministry OF Jesus Christ, newly called to a ministry WITH Jesus Christ, enjoyed His 101 training, reveling no doubt even in His one-on-one training consequently and had heard His words most thoroughly. These words, these words of knowledge, these words of wisdom, these words of life, had ignited in them such a desirous passion that they had moved with watching and waiting wonder, along the road with Him. Yes, they were His men, yes, they were the growing posse of His possession and now, yes right now, over a few drinks and a couple of dances, they would become the believing people of His power!

Words, even Bible words, are simply not enough to walk along the road with Jesus. Now before you cry me down as an heretic, you need to know that even our Lord Jesus testified to that fact, indeed, even the Word itself testifies that of itself! Words are not enough. What is written, what is said, must cause people to take up their bed and walk or else we who are already walking, we who are already watching and we who are already waiting, might just stop believing! Indeed, we will never even begin to truly and consistently believe unless we see the miraculous. Yes, miracles are necessary to the glory of God among us and necessary to our belief! I know that sounds heretical to some of you but never the less, it’s true.

I have observed that where the belief in the present practice of miracles has ceased, where the acknowledgement of miracles is simply within the confinement of a very short period of time after the resurrection of Christ and the death of apostles, that there is a grey sickness that settles upon such folk, leaving many of them granite like in both face and heart. Furthermore, where miracles are never seen, they cease to be expected and the Word itself becomes but dark type, set on powerless pieces of paper and the practitioners and even the preachers of such powerless words, will even themselves eventually leave the fold and I tell you, for I have seen it, they shall leave disappointed, they shall leave distraught, they shall leave disconsolate, they shall even leave destroyed. Yes, we must have miracles for our day, for this day!

Now having said that, let me tell you folks, that miracles are like Chinese food. They are monosodium glutimately tasty, they are fulfilling, they are satisfying, they are definitely of some nutritional value but I tell you what, in just such a short time, you are going to want another and then another and yet another! Miracles are tasty, miracles are the vitamins of the healthy spiritual life of faith and very necessary but by themselves, they are insufficient in nutritional value to sustain the consistent spiritual life.

In the end then, our belief and hope, though validated by the miraculous, must be as thoroughly rooted in the Word of God, as was the belief of these early disciples. Yet nevertheless, here in Cana of Galilee, God the good puts feats to His Words and in so doing, He is glorified and the disciples are believing, even believing in this very particular and strengthened way, and that, for the very first time.

Some of you tonight, are also for the very first time, waiting to believe in such a way. May God grant you such a miraculous feast both tomorrow and the next day and many times thereafter, amen.

Listen: - For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 1 Corinthians 4:20 KJV

Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Hebrews 1:3-4 NKJV

We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 NKJV

Pray: - Lord, may the dynamite of Your Word explode in our lives tomorrow. In mighty miracles of marvelous testimony, come turn all our water into wine so that our hearts may be gladdened once more, in Your great name I pray, amen!

Dec | 02 | Right Declarations of Death

2011-12-02T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – BEGIN

Joshua 1:1,2a
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. NKJV

Right Declarations of Death

Tomorrow and if not, then someday, most of us will take up pole position. The leader we have been shadowing will have gone. Gone maybe in terms of physical death, gone maybe in terms of sickness, gone in any event, for good! When this happens, it is we, their near followers who are left to take up the fallen baton and when this happens, many of us need the assurance that it is in fact we who should be leading, that it is, it is we who now have the authority to continue to lead.

There are many folk leading without the God approved authority to do so. The baton has not been theirs to pick up but rather, with ignorant blindness, they have taken upon them a task which is beyond them, or with arrogant culpability, they have assumed a role of their own proud heart’s desire. When this happens, disaster is in the making for both them and the blind sheep that now follow them. It is only a matter of time.

So then, in light of such terrible and misguided leadership endings, how may we be assured, that it is indeed us, who must take up the fallen baton and move on with it?

The body of Moses was never found. It was never found because God was his undertaker and the Archangel Michael was the hefty bodyguard that kept Satan from discovering its whereabouts, less even the rotting flesh of this great man and the brittle bones of this dead prophet, should be set as a place of homage and sinful worship! The problem for Joshua was that there was no body and consequently because of that, maybe many people thought that one day, Moses would just mosey on back on in the camp and pick up where he left off! I wonder if our text for tonight indicates that there was uncertainty about the formers leader’s plans and presence to fulfil them, even now playing on the heart of Joshua and that because of that, the LORD Himself had to come to Joshua and verify the case, clarify the new situation and certify Joshua’s role in full. The baton was his to pick up.

Friends, in our text for tonight, this right and opening declaration of death was absolutely necessary because a new leader is being birthed and with this new leadership, a new authority. This authority though linked to the past, is of necessity fresh and independent of the past. A living leader is now needed for Israel, one facing forward, one facing the future, one quickened for action, one fully free to operate with no reference save to God himself. Moses is Dead.

So, how may we be assured that it is indeed we, who must take up the baton and move on with it? Well, only when God speaks to us of the death of the person we are replacing, for this is the foundation of all future revelation which we will receive concerning ‘the how’ of all our present leadership. Without this declaration of death from the most High God, our face will always be looking over our shoulder instead of looking ahead.

If the leader you think you are replacing is not in some sense declared to be dead, then rather than mighty manifestations, you are in for some mighty problems.

Listen: - Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." NKJV

Pray: - Lord, for each new role You place me in, declare the death of the past and then quicken my whole body, soul and spirit for the task ahead, in Jesus name I ask it, amen!

Dec | 01 | Gestation Times

2011-12-01T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – CONSIDER

Luke 14:28-31
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it — lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.” NKJV

Gestation Times

From conception to birth, the gestation period for a human being is around nine months. Of course the gestation time varies greatly in God’s other creation, from 33 days in rabbits to 600-660 days in elephants. In any event, there are definite time differences between conception, full formation and the following birth. It has been my observations that the same is true for ideas.
All ideas have conception but all ideas need formation before fruitful birth. Often, trying to bring good ideas, even great ideas to birth before proper formation leads inevitably to still births, abortions.

Since the early 1800's there have been many suggestions, many ideas on how to build a tunnel under the English Channel thus connecting Britain to mainland Europe. All have been interesting conceptual ideas, and one of the better ones was proposed and put forward in 1880 by Sir Ed Watkin, the chairman of the then South Eastern Railway, who for this project gained acts from both the British and French parliaments approving of the project. Indeed, two shafts had been sunk in both Dover England and Sangatte France and tunnels from both the British and French sides, had begun to stretch hundreds of yards under the channel. Unfortunately, British military fears of invasion from mainland Europe through a completed tunnel led to the halting and destruction of years of work. Portions of these very expensive and dead ideas are still accessible today. What a waste.

From this night onwards, when a good idea, when a great idea is conceived in your head and heart, don’t start pushing straight away! Let it lay a while, let it gestate in a prayerful and protective environment. Prepare for it’s arrival, make provision for its support, plan thoroughly for its implementation. If you do this, then it shall take even greater shape in your womb and have a greater chance of arrival when it is given birth to.

132 feet below the English Channel, shortly after 11 a.m. today in 1990, workers drilled an opening the size of a car through a wall of rock. This hole connected the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in many thousands of years. A birthed idea, had received a giant slap on the 'heiny' and began to scream itself into life.

From now on then, why not make sure your gestation period gives every chance for your ideas to live! For remember, there is a time for everything.

Listen: - Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:30-33 NKJV

Pray: - Lord, help me to count the cost of all my ideas of Christian service, indeed, of all my many ideas. Then Lord, will you please bring to pass those which might live and also, will You come and help me in the bringing of these dreams to maturity, no matter what the cost and do it Lord for Your eternal glory In Jesus name I pray, amen and amen!

Nov | 30 | Weaving The Web & Holding The Centre

2011-11-30T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – STAND

Proverbs 30:28
The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings' palaces. NKJV.

Weaving the Web & Holding The Centre

The other morning I found a spider in the corner of my ceiling, seemingly hanging there in empty space. Of course it wasn’t just hanging there at all, but rather, was held in place, sitting in the centre, astride the trampoline tension of an invisibly well spun web.

Sometimes, when you look around maybe at your ‘wayward’ family or long time friends, and think about your seemingly lack of any ability to make any spiritual impression on them whatsoever, you have the tendency to ask, “Is it worth it?” I mean, is it worth consistently being that good example? Is it worth consistently being that model for what is right and good, pure and lovely? Of course in relation to God, this is a good thing, indeed, this brings Him glory and that of course should be good enough. However and even so, sometimes, just sometimes, you have the tendency to ask, “Is it worth it?”

Yes, over the years, I have heard this particular “Is it worth it?” question from many a good and well worn saint, temporarily cast down in various measures of despondency. The problem of course is that they have not only failed to see the web of goodness which they have spun but have ceased to be still and to feel the tension of all they secretly hold together. Families and relationships, ardent hope and high standards, love and grace, are all seemingly hanging there in adverse and empty space. Webs have that invisible capacity don’t they? Do you see the good web you weave? Be still. Do you feel it?

That particular spidery morning, I took my walking stick and reached up into the corner around the sitting sentinel and broke its secret web. It balled up and plummeted to the carpet, bouncing on the plush pile and rolling to the white chipped skirting board. I have observed that when either through the death of the centre holding saint, or the sinful desertion of the same, the invisible web they once maintained becomes noticeable now only in the holders absence. When, as I said, upon either their sad demise or upon their most fateful and sinful departure, families and friends, loved ones and 'longed fors’, all come crashing to the ground! Ending up in the same spidery dead gutter of the white chipped skirting board.

Saint of God, in your goodness and in your grace, in your petitional payers and in your constant and good example, you occupy the Kings Palace! You spin an invisible and all upholding web of hope and possibility, of drawing redemption and of escapes to safety. You hold the centre! Ever repairing the trampolined tension of prayerful possibility. Sometimes, when you look around maybe at your ‘wayward’ family or long time friends, and think about your seemingly lack of any ability to make any spiritual impression on them whatsoever, you may still have the tendency to ask, “Is it worth it?” I mean, is it worth consistently being that good example? Is it worth consistently being that model for what is right and good, pure and lovely? And I say to you tonight and in no uncertain terms that YES! IT IS WORTH IT! SO, KEEP HOLDING THE CENTRE, FOR YOU ARE UPHOLDING MORE REDEMPTIVE POSSIBILTY THAN YOU COULD EVER POSSIBLY IMAGINE! KEEP HOLDING THE CENTRE!

Listen: - But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. (1 Peter 4:7-8 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, for all those worn and forlorn saints, who secretly hold the centre of hope for so many people, who in turn most secretly look to them, grant them grace and strength and the chance to see the glitter of the morning dew upon all which they unknowingly hold together. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.

Nov | 29 | Oh Holy Hop Pickers

2011-11-29T01:30:00.002Z

Dream Word – CALLING

Amos 7:14
Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah: "I was no prophet, Nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. NKJV.

Of Holy Hop Pickers

I went to a Christian men’s breakfast meeting the other day in a local pub. The smell of urine cakes, bacon fat, and stale ale, filled the morning air, mingling itself with the smoke of the burning maple logs lazily humming on the open fire.

Interestingly, the pub was next door to a Christian retreat centre, an old Hopping hospital situated in the gardens of Kent. Hops are of course part of the Cannabis family and are picked from bines in the fall of the year and used to add bitterness, texture, taste and aroma to various brewed ales. Unfortunately, due to mechanisation, it was in the 1960’s that the annual migration of thousands upon thousands of seasonal hop pickers to the gardens of Kent virtually ceased. Gypsies, locals and Londoners all, travelled to Kent to stay some 6 weeks in the meagre Hopping Houses and pick themselves some seasonal cash. Unless you are from the former Eastern block countries, the life of the working class, uneducated common migrant worker, the travelling working man, is for the present, all over in England.

Training for the ministry is a common thing nowadays. In America, the academic completion of undergraduate, postgraduate and Doctoral training can at best maybe take ten to twelve years. These trained folk are ten a penny at the moment and many of them cannot get jobs in the religious industry at the salary they expect because of the seminary churned ensuing glut in the labour force. Now don’t get me wrong here, I am not into decrying education, good grief, if you have a brain then use it! No, what I am saying is this, academic education may qualify you for the service of men, but it does not qualify you for the service of God. Yes indeed, there are many called men that would never get a job in a church because they fail the qualifications of men.

Amos the 'iron man; was a kind of Hopper. A seasonal migrant worker if you will. He may have owned herds and fruit gardens but the context of his prophecy is indicative of a migrant and rural preparation for ministry. Amos had no professional credentials but he had a calling, courage and a well conditioned character and I tell you, that might not get you a job, but it well get you a ministry, that might not get you a salary, but it will put you in the sincere service of the Most High God.

Amaziah, the professionally trained scribe serving in the Royal Court having completed his most thorough education, thought little of this sun browned kind of ‘Holy Hopper’ from Tekoa. Amos however, had had a Holy Spirit, red hot burning cow catcher fixed on the front of his words and they scooped old Amaziah up and just threw him out the way. You know, conviction, courage, and a conditioned character when it is coupled with a true calling from God, always has the tendency to do that!

Make sure you’ve got the latter, for in comparison pieces of paper are easily gotten.

Listen: - Then Amaziah said to Amos: "Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence." Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah: "I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel.' Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord: ( Amos 7:12,16a NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, come be my coach, my tutor, my sergeant major and my blacksmith for the fight. Train me, teach me, arm me, send me, in Jesus name I ask it, amen.

Nov | 28 | 'Twean The Pillars of Protection

2011-11-28T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – PROTECTION

Genesis 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. NKJV.

‘Twean The Pillars of Protection

Babies! They’re quite remarkable aren’t they? I watched a new Father the other day, pick up his young son from the floor. The baby boy had just managed to begin to sit up by himself and also use his hand for grabbing stuff. Everything he got hold of was, of course, brought to the primary source of his investigation in this world: His mouth! The household hound was intrigued by the little pink screamer and took delight in circling him, sticking its snout right up the youngsters own snotty little nose and taking a lick of the cookie crumbs around the wee boys mouth. The baby thought this was just wonderful and on a couple of occasions, grabbed the little dog by its own big ears and would not let it go. Once the father had observed what was going, he picked his boy up from the centre of the floor and then sat down again, placing his beloved on the floor right in front of him, between his open legs. The small child sat there completely protected by the mighty shins of his loving father who looked down at the little bundle sat between the two giant redwoods.

Our text for tonight depicts our heavenly Father like this earthly Dad. Watchful, careful and protective. The church of God sits childlike between His protective shins and I tell you this, if that devil of a dog comes sniffing around, ready to lick the cookie crumbs from around your gentle chops, well, he’s going to get his snout slapped.

Finally of course, the tribe of Judah was enabled by God to be the tree trunk legs of protection for that growing promise of 'Shiloh', the promised Messiah. Until of course He came! Until that time, they had the right to remove all people they thought were murdereres and deceivers. Now, at the time of Christ however, the ruling council of the Sanhedrin had already had any authority to pass the death sentence upon any man, removed from them by the Romans! They were in effect powerless in terms of protection. Judah’s tribal staff, this ‘jus gladii,’ this right of the sword, this right to impose the death sentence, had been taken from them! Yes, they had ceased to posses the ultimate final ability to give and apply law. In Judah, all regal and legal powers had finally been totally removed. Augustin Lemann, in his book ‘Jesue before the Sanhedrin,’, reports a statement by ‘Rabbi Rachmon’ from the Talmud saying that: "When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them: they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: 'Woe unto us for the sceptre has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come'"

Meanwhile, in small town Galilee, ‘Shiloh’ was shovelling up the shavings from the floor his father’s carpenters shop. Shiloh, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, had come and would one day stand before them on His own two loveley legs.

Remember tonight then, that God always protects His promises and God always brings His Word to pass.

Listen: - Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel — he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph's — the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. (1 Chronicles 5:1-3 NKJV)

Pray:- Father, place me between You mighty feet, set me between the safety of those most marvellous of pillars, Boaz and Jachin. Bring all Your good words over me to pass. Be peace to my soul as I wait and protection on all my sides. In Jesus name I pray, amen!

Nov | 27 | Are There Fairies At The Bottom of Your Garden?

2011-11-27T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – EXAMINE

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified. NKJV.

Are There Fairies At The Bottom Of Your Garden?

I often drive through Crowborough and pass the small bronze statue of old A.C.D., who spent the latter part of his previously productive life in fruitless exploits, fallacies and falsehoods. It’s such a shame really that for the sake of simply ‘wanting to believe’, he gave credence to the infamous hoax of the Cottingley Fairies, where two young teenage girls supposedly took photographs of the creatures at the bottom of their garden. Just how could the author of the inscrutable Sherlock Holmes be taken in by such a hoax?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an intellectual and brilliant man, like so many people at the end of WWI had lost such a large number of his friends and relatives, that he fell into a deep depression and eventually took solace in the possibilities of connection and the continuing of relationship through Spiritism, even though the founders of which, were themselves self confessed hucksters and hoaxers. You see, the need to desperately want something can often lead to the necessity of a belief with built in blind spots.

There are three things to say here tonight.

First, please note that unscrupulous people for personal gain in terms of power, prestige and pound notes and dollar bills, will without conscience, manipulate and make use of many depressed and desperate people.

Secondly, that the devil and his hoards are also hucksters and will themselves join in the game for their own purposes of pleasure, muddying the waters of human hucksterism with some metaphysical manipulation of their own.

Thirdly, that Christianity has no blinkers. Christianity questions. Christianity queries. Christianity makes room for people who demand a couple of nail holes to stick their fingers into.

So, if you are seeking answers to sincere questions tonight, then go straight to the top and ask them! For it is my experience and indeed, it is most clearly written, that those who seek, shall most surely find. That those who ask shall really receive and that those who knock righteously in naked openness, shall have the door of their knocking laid opened wide to them.

Examine yourself. Examine your faith. Examine the Bible. Let's make sure there are no faeries at the bottom of our garden.

Listen: - But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. Galatians 6:4-5 NKJV.

Pray:- Father, lead me to the truth, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Nov | 26 | A Time Of True Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – COST

Luke 14:26-28
"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. NKJV.

A Time Of True Thanksgiving

At some point this date in our calendar will fall on the final Thursday of November, which of course is the dedicated day in America for the celebration of ‘Thanksgiving.’ Harvest Celebrations are however not new. No, not at all. For an innate thankfulness to a ‘Higher Being,’ the ultimate giver of food and fertility is found in almost all indigenous peoples, even amongst the once flourishing, native Indian tribes of America. Yes, the need to say ‘Thank you’ is a human trait, not a Christian one.

Such polity to a ‘Supreme Being’ however, might be offered by pagan peoples, more out of relief and fear rather than be a thankfulness which is offered out of the relaxed joy of a gifted prized possession. Relief in the sense that a seemingly capricious God has finally come through with the goods once more and fear, in the sense that that we must be thankful lest He not continue to come up with the goods next year if we don’t acknowledge His present and most beneficent goodness. If we have to sacrifice an odd virgin to maintain this fertile flow, then so be it. Whatever it takes.

It was a commercial decision to regulate the specific start date of ‘Thanksgiving’ and was overtly chosen by this other ‘nation of shopkeepers’ to make sure that the selling days before Christmas were as long and as profitable as they could possibly be. To this end then, the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus are regularly sacrificed on the altar of commerciality each and every year, for tomorrow in America, is the start of the Christmas period and all the fun and all the feasting, all the selling and all the competing will now get under way with the earnestness gobble of a chocoholic waking up in the Hershey’s factory.

I was told yesterday of a Christian man who after years of serving his local church and heading a very successful ministry to children had one day, just up and left his calling, his duties and his responsibilities. Apparently a tornado had gone through and damaged his own church so badly that one Sunday the doors had to be left shut for that Lord’s day and so, he had opportunity, for the very first time, to go and visit another church nearby. In his opinion, this “other church” was bigger, better and shinier in oh so many ways than his own, that he just “up’d sticks” and decided he would go there instead. Now, we all would like to see this seemingly fickle move as being indicative of some much deeper reasons for the abandonment of years of profitable ministry but no, there was nothing deeper. The reasoning and the decision was as shallow and as a fickle as that. It was very simply, a much more nicer deal.

I think if we are honest, we could acknowledge that much of our church choices are commercial ones. Yes, much of our church choices are from a ‘what’s the best deal I can get for my kids and my marriage, for my future and my personal happiness’ sake, rather than for any other. Pastors know this and so all their programming panders to these ‘spiritually’ commercial needs. So much so, that Pastors have become the high priests of the annual sacrifice of the Virgin and her Son. Oh don’t worry and please don’t be too upset, for this sacrifice can be justified in oh so many ways, that in this now commercialised and man centred religion which we have created, we leaders spend most of our time making sure we are lining our shelves with so much shiny and cut priced Christianity, just to make sure that our shameful sheep might never actually be seduced to go and shop elsewhere. Yes, most church leaders in America especially, actually live under the dark cloud of a commercial fear, where the Shekinah stenched breath from the mouths of disappointed founding member stockholders, fill the air with the condemnation of commercial loss, the like of which should only be found in the boardrooms of K-Mart and the once great American car industry. Unfortunately though, it is this same cloud of “fear and condemnation of loss” that most of the time fills both the pastor’s leather bound studies during the day and their horror filled dreams during the night. Yes, like all good shopkeepers, pastors face daily the questions of “What do I need to do to keep my shoppers and then go and get me some more!” So, should the congregation numbers drop and with it the fertile flow of money, materials and manpower suddenly cease to flow, then in the face of such commercial condemnation from remaining members, inevitably, the virgin and her Son shall be sacrificed again. Whatever it takes you see? Whatever it takes.

To break the sacrificial commercialism of the church, the question we must ask of our own local churches is this, “What can I give?” Not “What can I get?” The question we must ask of our own local churches is this, “What will it cost me to serve here?” Not, “What can they offer to keep me here?” You see, real Christianity, the heaven branded stuff, is never cut price! Pastors, don’t you know that the possession of something valuable and costly brings with it such a great care and thankfulness from the possessors of the same, that their words and their lives will inevitably ooze with the relaxation and joy of a true thanksgiving. No fear you see, no manipulation, just a confident and heartfelt thankfulness.

This Thanksgiving then Pastor, leader, commercial sacred and spiritual feeder, why don’t you stop the annual sacrificing of both the virgin and her Son on the altar of competitive cut price commercial Christianity and simply begin to offer them the real deal? Stop cutting Him down and selling Him cheap! Rather, go raise Him high and make Him costly. Maybe then, maybe in a few years time, we as a nation can then begin to live in a time of true thanksgiving. Tell me tonight then, just how valuable is Your Jesus? Regarding your church, don’t ask yourself, “What will they have to do to keep me?” But rather ask yourself, “What has it cost ME to follow Him?”

Listen: - Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing."( 2 Samuel 24:24a NKJV)

Pray:- I am persuaded, Lord to love You, for I have been changed to bless Your name. I am constrained by this great Gospel, forever to worship Thee. (From ‘Precious Jesus’ by Thomas Whitfield)

Nov | 25 | The Plays & All The Picture Painting of Redemption

2011-11-25T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – FORGIVENESS

2 Samuel 12:1-4
Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveller came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." NKJV.

The Plays & All The Picture Painting of Redemption

It is Shakespeare in ‘Hamlet,’ Act 2 Scene 2, who has the Danish Prince, seeking to gain visible proof that his uncle, King Claudius, had indeed murdered his dear father, the former king. To this end, Hamlet himself turns playwright, constructing a picture wherein he impregnates the play with references to regicide. Knowing that the present King, his uncle Claudius will be watching the play at court, Hamlet looks and waits for the flinching signs of sin. Hamlet is so confident of this happening that he says, “The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.”

In the first instance, I find it profitable, if not uncomfortable, to examine my own reactions to all the stories, scenes and sentiments which I might find in the many plays and pictures which I expose myself to. Sometimes when I do this, the overt glance of a long since silenced conscience, often creeps across my barrier mountains and meets my eyes once more, inviting confession and even demanding repentance and restitution. Hamlet was right.

In the second instance it is also of interest to observe another person’s reaction to stories, scenes and sentiments which they are also exposed to, for these reactions, especially if the response is grossly out of proportion to the pictorial ignition point, show large a person’s pain in terms of them either being victim or villain. Every time I preach, every time I paint pictures with my words, here and there in the congregation of the listeners, it is often in the well shuffled buttock, the wet eye, and the bowed head, where I too see that 'the play is the thing which shall catch the conscience of the King.'

All good pictures call forth truth, confession and repentance, restitution and restoration. Yes, in all good pictures, unlike the heart of Hamlet who was only intent on self justified revenge, there always lies the possibility of redemption. If God keeps bringing pictures across your petrified path, I tell you, He is but seeking your redemption.

Listen: - So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! (2 Samuel 12:5-7a NKJV)

Pray:- Lord, in all Your drawings on the wall of my soul, lead me to those places of restoration and redemption in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Nov | 24 | Flick-Click-Crush!

2011-11-24T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – LIGHT

Ephesians 5:11a
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, NKJV.

Flick, Click, Crush!

When truth is set aside, men believe anything. So, for some time now at the beginning of the 21st Century we have been bombarded by a multitude of ever growing parapsychology programming, their attractiveness being not just in their seeming entertainment value, but on their uncovering dark, hidden and malevolent forces. One of the most telling of tag lines for one these television series says something like this: “If you look into the dark, sometimes, the dark looks back!” Now this is a tag line that not only I believe has an ominous tone to it but I think speaks some truth to us as well.

There are two ways to deal with darkness, that is to either Disdain it or to Discover it.

We disdain any darkness by offering to it the high and cold shoulder of our abject haughtiness. After all, what is the value of darkness, its power and its fruit, to the sons and daughters of the light. We should not investigate the darkness, stare at the scuttling cockroach or even consider its ways. The Bible is scant on its revelation of the metaphysical and spiritual realms for a very good reason. It is a dangerous place for us to be. To that end, the Scriptures are very clear with both judgements and warnings that we should have no involvement with it whatsoever!

There are times however that we have to Discover it. I do not use this verb in the sense of a continual action of going deeper into the manifestations and ways of darkness but rather, a simple click of an action of turning on the light. I am of course simply talking about the Discovery which light exposure brings. Concerning the cockroaches of darkness then, when we suspect their scurrying, we should simply, flick, click and crush.

Brother, sister, live in the light and whatever you do, do not look into the darkness, for yes indeed, it will look back at you. Remember, flick, click, crush. If you don’t, your openness to them will bring infestation.

Listen: - For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep,Arise from the dead,And Christ will give you light." See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:8-21 NKJV)

Pray:- Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one .For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9b-13 NKJV )

Nov | 23 | Avoiding The Disappointment at the End Of Gushing Tap

2011-11-23T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – PREPARE

Luke 9:62
But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." NKJV.

Avoiding The Disappointment at the End Of a Gushing Tap

At the end of a long day, usually when my old bones are stiff, my joints are a creaking and my muscles are contracted with stress, sometimes, instead of a shower I long for the long therapeutic relaxation that only a hot bath can provide. It never ceases to disappoint me then, even to the point of utter disgust, when while sitting naked and slightly cold, longingly and expectantly waiting in the running water for the final filling up of the shroud of my warm death, that just before you get to the point where you can slip beneath the bubbles and even cover your hairy and white blubbery old belly, the hot water sometimes just runs out! I stand abruptly. Naked, angry, cursing the waves, while whipping out the plug and letting go the lukewarm water down the wasteful drain. What a waste of time and effort. Now I am more tense, more spent and more in need of relaxation than when I first disrobed.

I do not think our Jesus likes to find disappointment at the end of a running tap either. You will forgive my mix of metaphors, for I wonder if there is something which He finds ‘appily anticipatory and even ecstatically expectant at the end of our long ploughed furrows. So much so, that should we fail to reach the end, that when the hot water of our hot beginnings runs out before His watching eyes, it leaves him very disappointed. I think He might wish then, that He never even bothered to get ready to relax in enjoyment with us, never even bothered to prepare to bathe with us in all the hot Jacuzzi like completions of our many started endeavours.

So I say to you tonight, keep your water piping hot and make sure, the tank is full and bubbling. It it's lukewarm don't even bother turning on the tap.

Listen: - Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:38 NKJV)

Pray:- Lord, give me fuel and ignition and an ever burning fire in the centre of my soul, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Nov | 22 | Suited, Booted & Ready! Having No Sympathy For The Devil

2011-11-22T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – PREPARE

Revelation 19:19-20
And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. NKJV

Suited, Booted & Ready! Having No Sympathy For The Devil

It was in Dallas today in 1961 that President John F Kennedy was assassinated. Nearly forty years on from this event it is interesting that over 70% of Americans believe that this assassination of the president was a conspired removal plot.

Though intriguing, the roots of these many conspiracy theories are at best, tangled. Yet never the less, they all point to some form of secret and shadowy forces hid in the background of world affairs moving and manipulating for their own sordid means, protection, greed and gain.

Evil has been around for a long time friends and Lucifer, its not so hidden head, has been waging war against the saints and more particular against their Lord, for unknown ages. We are privileged to have access to the high points of this long battle if not its intricate historical developments but this long war has developed and is developing still.

Be assured that the enemy though thoroughly defeated at Calvary, is not convinced of it and in his anger and in his pride continues to marshal his forces, his satraps, his own bad blood bought dynasties against the marvelous moving of the Most High God.

Evil has been around a long, long time. It has big plans, big people in its pay and bad things at its heart. We may all mostly be but little players on this present stage, poor foot soldiers as it were, warriors only for the working day maybe but be assured of this, that the devil is out to take you out!

Like it or not, we all have a gun pointing at our head, so watch out dear friends, watch out. Get booted, suited and ready for your part in the fight which is so surely to come upon come upon us with an even greater ferocity than ever before in history.

Listen: - The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months. It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven. It was permitted to make war on God's holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races. Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world's foundation in the slaughtered Lamb's Book of Life will worship the Beast. Are you listening to this? They've made their bed; now they must lie in it. Anyone marked for prison goes straight to prison; anyone pulling a sword goes down by the sword. Meanwhile, God's holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground. Revelation 13:5-10 from, THE MESSAGE

Pray: - Lord, deliver me from paranoia into truth. Let Your peace reign in my open eyes. Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle, my loving kindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take my refuge. Amen!

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil

Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah

Nov | 21 | Destroying Distraction

2011-11-21T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – WATCH

1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. NKJV

Destroying Distraction

The ‘dumbing down’ of television continues but evidence of its global dimension to dumb down so thoroughly and with such entertaining zest, was found in the 1980’s CBS Television series called ‘Dallas.’ The Story of a corrupt and powerful, wealthy family in the rich oil business was encapsulated by the seedy and steely lead character, a Mr. ‘John Ross Ewing’ as he was known to both his friends and his enemies. Like all evil characters in pantomime, John Ross Ewing got his comeuppance when a secret assassin tried to kill him. Today in 1980, many estimate that some 350 million people tuned in their television sets to find out just who shot J.R. Imagine that! 350 million people!

Distraction is a key form of attack in the devil’s plan to keep people in utter blindness. Entertainment has always been a key conduit for dissimformation, disarmament, disability and distraction to be drip fed to the masses. Now don’t get me wrong here, it works both ways in that entertainment is also a conduit for truth, armament, endowed ability and focus! Yes and because of this, it has always been and will increasingly become a key battleground for the truth. I am not against entertainment but want you to become aware tonight that when you open yourself to it, you are indeed, being warred upon.

Time is short and the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Do not be distracted by silliness, do not be misled or misinformed, Do not be pacified, petrified or putrefied by little pixels of every kind because I tell you this, whenever the enemy get’s you distracted, he shall try and rip your bowels out with a blunt and rusty knife. Watch how you watch. Watch what you watch. Watch where you watch. Watch who you watch.

Listen: - Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3 NKJV

Pray: - Guide me in my looking Lord. Savior, show me what to see and in all my fretful glances God, may my watching eyes alight on Thee. Amen.

Nov | 20 | One Foot In The Grave

2011-11-20T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – HOPE

Genesis 3:19
“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” NKJV

One Foot In The Grave

The South of France has always been a place for British ‘Ex Pats,’ seeking solace in the sun. It was a few years ago when I flew into Nice on that same Cote D’Azur and it is here in this 2000 year old French city, that the Anglican church there has one of its most famous of European churches. For me the beauties of ‘Holy Trinity’ lies not in its Neo-Gothic majesty or in its rich stained glass, lit majestically above the high alter warmed by the afternoon sun, but rather it is outside, in the green graveyard where lies the mortal remains of a famous Scottish Poet. Today in 1847, the Revd. Henry Francis Lyte died of tuberculosis and was buried in cemetery of Holy Trinity in Nice.

Since 1927, along with the British National anthem, millions of cheering fans at each and every Football Association cup Final have sung Lyte’s most famous of poems. How wonderful is that! Indeed, it is even more wonderful when you understand the life that this man led, for it was indeed a life ever and always lived with one foot in the grave.

Evelyne Millar writes of the second son of Captain Tomas Lyte of the Royal Marines. Henry, born in Scotland, together with his mother and two siblings, followed his father to Ireland. Captain Lyte had been sent there to help put down the 1798 Irish rebellion. Shortly after this, his father deserted the family taking with him Henry’s older brother, whilst his mother returned to England with his other brother. There they died and Henry aged nine years of age was left in Ireland, alone and destitute.

It was the headmaster of his school, Revd. Dr Robert Burrows, who took pity on young Henry, who also took him in and cared for him even to the point of paying for his education. Henry, whilst at trinity College Dublin, was awarded the Chancellor's Prize for English Verse for three successive years!

Henry was ordained into the ministry and worked so fervently at his parochial duties and writing that he wore himslef out and contracted a lung disease that would bother him the rest of his life. Indeed, it was his doctor that told him that if he did not seek easier and warmer climates he would die. Throughout his life he would spend long and torturous absences from his duties and family whilst recovering from these recurring bouts of debilitating illness.

Henry’s final Parish was Brixham on the South Coast of England where he served the last twenty three years of his life, living always with one foot in the grave. Ministering to the sailors of his parish he wrote them hymn books, prayers to be said whilst at sea and of course, sea chanties!

It was just three weeks before his death that he penned his most famous of poems and he sent the finished manuscript to his wife, from Avignon in France. It seemed that he knew that it was very unlikely that he would ever return home. The poem was first sung at his memorial service which was held at his home parish in Brixham and from the lips of a man who spent all his life with one foot in the grave we have left for us one of the most immortal and moving of prayers and lifes observances which ever flowed the pen and heart of man in love with God despite the sorrows of his life.

Listen: - May Lyte’s most famous poem, be our daily and most ardent prayer.

Pray: - Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Nov | 19 | Shocking Roman Catholics & The Problem of Pain

2011-11-19T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – CONSIDER

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. NKJV

Shocking Roman Catholics & The Problem of Pain

It was Oxford University who in 2008 despite the dire economic climate, showed to the world that they had more money than sense, when they took a dozen Roman Catholics and a dozen atheists and stuck them in an MRI brain scanner. While these two dozen, desperate for a few quid in their pocket sets of guinea pigs lay cocooned in the resonator, scientists gazed astonishingly at the part of the brain which modulated the mechanisms of neural pain reception, for whilst administering electric shock therapy to them, they discovered that whilst the Roman Catholic’s meditated on a picture of The Madonna, they were able to withstand more pain than the atheist, who by the way, were simply gazing at an old Davinci’s paining of ‘Lady With An Ermine.’ Conclusion: It is far easier to burned at the stake of you’re a believer providing you have a positive image to focus on. The response from an Anglican Bishop was typical when he said “Of course we should expect this, for faith change’s people’s perceptions.” “Admittedly” one psychologist later admitted, “We could probably get the same results in atheists, providing we shocked them when they themselves had a more personal and positive image placed in front of them!” Say, Madonna or maybe Maradonna, or even a Mars bar. I tell you, the world has gone mad.

No, you don’t have to have faith in Jesus Christ or God The Father to learn how to control pain. However, as I write, though I do have faith in Christ right now, my lower left molar is still throbbing like red hot rivet! Looking at Oxford’s declared faith and pain conclusions, I have to conclude that, either my mind control techniques are awful, or my faith in Jesus Christ is pitiful. If that is the case, then I find it all rather discouraging for despite all those Christians running around Toronto now able to eat peanut brittle chocolate because of new heavenly gold fillings, it would appear the master Dentist Himself, refuses to fix my very own present throbbing molar. It’s painful, it’s not fair and frankly in my opinion, teeth are a terrible design floor anyway. What's a man to do?

In this fallen world, I am thankful for every incidence of the relief of personal pain in whatever form it takes. Yes, in this fallen world, the relief of any pain is a great mercy for which we should all be thankful for. You see, despite its beauty and the short seasons of pleasantness this present life and world may offer, old age, worn out-ness, accident, madness, selfishness, loss and all the horrors of war, are all our most present and most miserable lot. It is only the future life in Jesus, indeed, with Jesus in heaven, that offers a place where the present tears of pain shall cease to flow forever. Selah.

Meanwhile, we daily seek His mercy, daily seek His miracle of the relief of all our present pains, and whether it is in the form of the direct administrations of the ‘Paraclete,’ or the form of the indirect applications of the famous ‘Paracetemol,’ we are thankful.

The always rising and ever falling temples of youth and health are not those we should seek to permanently inhabit, but rather, whilst enjoying these two most hallowed and temporary of halls, we are encouraged way before we get old, to look from their bright windows of youth and out into our innevitable and gumsy futures of decrepitness, and get our lives sorted out right NOW for the service and worship of God. Yes, get it sorted out right NOW whilst the morning dew still rests refreshingly on our two most sparkling eyes and whilst we still have teeth. You see, despite the silly shenanigans of all our Oxford Dons, the preacher still calls the considering of our future and panful demise, wisdom. So tell me, how wise are you tonight?

Listen: - Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young, before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes, before your vision dims and the world blursAnd the winter years keep you close to the fire. In old age, your body no longer serves you so well. Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen.The shades are pulled down on the world. You can't come and go at will. Things grind to a halt.The hum of the household fades away.You are wakened now by bird-song. Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.Your hair turns apple-blossom white, adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body. Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest,While your friends make plans for your funeral. Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from.The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it. (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 -from THE MESSAGE: by Eugene H. Peterson.)

Pray:- The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalms 90:10-17 NKJV)

Nov | 18 | The Dagger Men

2011-11-18T01:30:00.001Z

Dream Word – PREPARE

Luke 22:35-38
And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?" So they said, "Nothing." Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end." So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough."

The Dagger Men

It was the eight times wounded and highly decorated American hero, General Robert Tyron Frederick, who not only founded the first and joint Canadian US Special Forces Brigade in WWII, but also helped design their close combat weapon of choice, the sharp and triangular shaped, V42 Stiletto commando fighting knife. This Stiletto fighting knife, is at one end designed to easily pass through the rib cage to the major organs and sharp enough to slice and not raggedly severe any artery, and at the other end, hard enough to act as skull cracker. The Stiletto knife still remains the fearful insignia for most special forces units. Indeed, the terror activities on the battle field of Frederick’s fighting men led them to be dubbed by their enemies as the Devil’s Brigade, for their secret, special and black ops antics meant they also left their calling card on all their sliced and diced, assassinated corpses which simply read, ‘Das dicke ende kommt noch,’ or ‘The worst is yet to come.’

It was the Muslim, Hassan-i Sabbah, who became the founder of the Islamic sect which in turn became known as the Hashshashin, who were, according to Marco Polo’s observations, a drug induced, mass of murderers intent on martyrdom. Nevertheless, it was these same Hashshashin killers who would become the intriguing assassins of both fiction and film.

However, they were not the first assassins by any means, for it was the first century Jewish Sicarii, who by the way, also especially enjoyed doing their knife murdering in public, that were the much feared and infamous assassins around the time of Christ. Yes, we must acknowledge that assassins are not new and that there is something both secret and silently terrifying about the dark infiltration of these most dangerous of dagger men.

Of course the apostles were also ‘knife’ carriers themselves. Yes, even when Jesus was with them! The lost ear of Malchus would be a clear indication of that! Some would also suggest that Judas had not only previously been a Zealot, fighting against the Romans, but that his very name, Iscariot, might also be construed to show that he was also once a Sicarii himself, a political assassin, a sleek and silent terrorist if you will, striking not only at the Romans but publicly at any Jewish leader, political or religious, who were deemed to be in collaboration with their sworn enemy. You will also possibly remember the left-handed judge assassin named Ehud, who leaps from the old Testament narrative, brandishing a concealed and specially designed knife, to spill all the “dirt” from the Moab King Eglon’s oversized belly, onto the floor of his then, not-so-fine bathroom, and in the so doing, begin an uprising which would in turn free his people from the oppression of their Moabite enemies. Yes, Dagger men have been around a long, long time.

In our much misunderstood text for tonight, I believe the Lord may be saying two things.

First, it is obvious that even in the disciples present inventory of protective weapons, that even if you were trained and proficient in their use, two daggers were probably not enough for a decent defence! Indeed, the subsequent command of Jesus to desist from physical defence whilst He got to the repair of Malchus’s ear, is indicative that He had no intention of their being used that night. With all this dagger counting and talking going on then, Jesus quickly says “Enough already!” Meaning either that He had no wish to continue down that line of conversation as it bore no reference to the actions of the present distress, or, that the presence of the two swords would be more than enough to have the possibility of trumped up political charges of insurrection brought against Him, that He might then fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah and indeed be counted as being among the transgressors.

The second and most practical of meanings is that that, where previously the disciples were to make no provision for their mission, from this point on, they were now to make EVERY provision for the Great Commission and that included protecting themselves from attackers. I wonder if Jesus says ‘Even if you have to pawn your most important clothing, get a sword, for the battle is truly on!’ Surely there is no metaphor here? Jesus simply says, ‘Get yourself a dagger because you are going to need it.’

While we have no record of the early church disciples protecting themselves against the indiscriminate attacks of robbing and murderous scum, we do have a clear record of no personal physical defense whatsoever being taken against political or religious attack! Where physical attacks occurred, it is clearly seen that where possible, full recourse was taken to initiate all necessary protection from the existing system of civil law.

Tonight then, I say that within Gods law, we must make proper defense of ourselves and our family from any murderous attack. Tonight then, I say that without the preclusion to the life of faith, we must also make every practical provision to ensure the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This Gospel message then, must not be delivered via the means of any Gunboat diplomacy, but never the less, I wonder if the carriers of this message might make sure that they maybe have some kind of Gunboat in their travelling bag?

Listen: - For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? 1 Corinthians 14:8 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, help us to make better preparations for the promoting and proclamations of the Gospel of The Great Commission of Your Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen & amen!

Nov | 17 | Sweet Smiles & Sheer Lies

2011-11-17T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – COMMIT

Hosea 10:2a
Their heart is divided; Now they are held guilty. NKJV.

Sweet Smiles & Sheer Lies

The title of tonight’s Whisper is how Eugene Peterson's ‘The Message’, translates our opening text. I think it most accurate, for I have found both ever and always, that a divided heart can be nothing else but a deceptive heart.

Whenever we are of two minds, whenever we are indecisive we shall become full of deception. We shall deceive ourselves into thinking anything but the truth about the situation, and while this most selfish of self-deceptions continues, we shall inevitably deceive others regarding our directions, actions and intentions.

Deception will inevitably mean a spreading of the legs and of placing a foot in two camps. This trepidatious condition will put us off balance and shall inevitably result in a fall and the frightening thing is that this spreading of the legs can begin to happen so very subtly indeed. Fortunately, there is a tell tale sign for us to watch out for. Attend to this, and the slow slippery leg spreading will be reversed. I am of course talking about the sign of ‘Disguise.’

Take note within yourselves, that whenever you are disguising your true feelings, whenever you are disguising your heart intentions, your countenance, your whereabouts, your bank account, your sale amount, then you are donning a disguise. Careful now, for the legs are spreading.

The answer of course to the symptom of ‘Disguise’ is that of focus. Whatever the task, whatever the purpose, whatever the relationship, there is great safety in a singleness of heart, a singleness of heart that decisively pursues, loves and commits. So, if your legs are beginning to spread, you had best drop the disguises and come to a focused and safe, most singleness of heart.

Listen: - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, forgive my spreading legs and help me to be one camp person, focused, solid, steadfast and sure, in Jesus name I ask it, amen.

Nov | 16 | Praying Until You Taste The Blood

2011-11-16T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – TOUGH

John 7:38-39
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. NKJV

Praying Until You Taste The Blood

Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

As I write this Night Whisper, I find myself living just a fine minute walk away from the former ‘playground’ of Georgian gentry and Royalty. This Colonnade Walkway I speak of is called The Pantiles and was originally paved with S-shaped roofing tiles of the same name. The place is now so famous that the area of The Pantiles is being proposed to become a world heritage site! The main reason for the existence of this area, indeed the whole town around it, is the discovery made by a drunken Nobleman called Dudley Lord North, who, upon returning home after getting smashed out of his skull with his friends, then being dry mouthed and drooping from his horse, happened to spot a reddish water, seeping out of the ground. He drank it, felt revived, informed his friends of the red water’s properties of rejuvenation and, “hey voila!” An iron rich watery star was born. Just the other week, I went down to that same spring and drank from it out of a glass stained red by the high iron content of the water. It tasted like blood. Did you know that same living water springing from the belly of the Christian, the centre of our being, also tastes of blood for it is also full of iron. I mean the waters of His life, of eternal life are just jam packed full of iron. The precious blood of Jesus you see, is fortified with ferrous from the nails upon the tree!

From this great fact, I need to remind you tonight, that Christ never yet bred anaemic Christians. There are no chocolate soldiers in His ranks and no one that will not be fortified by the springs from heaven bubbling up within them. You see, the springs of heaven are Chalybeate springs, tasting of His blood, putting iron in your backbone and strength in your veins. So, if you cannot taste His blood in your mouth tonight, if you are stooped and not upright, if you are frail and palely loitering fair knight of the King, then I tell you, I’d suspect that so called spring in you, for it just might not be His! Yes, if you are that pale and wretched knight, that poor human being, that pitiful Christian, then you need to pray tonight! Yes, you need to clear the well and then pray and pray again, yes, you must keep on praying until you taste the blood.

Listen: - And in that day you will say: "O Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'" Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:1-3 NKJV.)

Pray:- Let the living waters testify of Your presence within me! So, spring up O iron waters and fill my mouth with the taste of blood, the taste of nails pulled from the wood. Amen.

Nov | 15 | The Slut & The Dog Dung Exhibit

2011-11-15T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – REPENT

Nahum 3:16
You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. NKJV

The Slut & The Dog Dung Exhibit

In 2008, in Cambridge England, Stephen Hawking, author of ‘A Brief History of Time,’ unveiled horologist John Taylors gift to Corpus Christi College, the golden ‘Chronophage’ or ‘Time Eater!’

The Clock is unusual in two respects.

First that it has no hands! Neither does it have any digital read out, just a series of slits and blue flashing lights, only really being accurate once every five minutes.

Its second and really its most striking feature is the fierce grasshopper of gargantuan proportions which forms the central theme of its mechanism, sitting astride ever advancing time and eating up each second.

A locust is in effect an all destroying, all consuming swarming, crawling, chewing, grasshopper. It is the ultimate consumer. Really then, this great new golden clock is a picture of the ever consumption of time. Despite Taylor's obvious tribute to John Harrisons 18th Century invention of ‘the grasshopper escapement,’ surely there is no more fitting a creature to describe consumption than the locust grasshopper. When time is over for us, surely this beast of time shall like all locusts, finally fly away and feast elsewhere.

The seer Nahum, in his prophecy takes a tour of Nineveh, that city of over consumption, that tart of the ancient east who led the nations in ever consuming violence and by the very Word of God, Nahum pronounced her proud, infectious and ripe for judgement. For not only was she not content to die of her own idolatrous infections but she also pimped her products abroad infecting all the world while shaking her black booty in the very face of heaven! Still, the giant golden grasshopper even there, sat astride Nineveh that great city and having eaten up their time and talents in selfish consumerism was even then, fat, full and ready to fly away and feast elsewhere. Over consuming waste, angers God. Yes, the wasteful feeding of this giant grasshopper of selfish and sinful consumption, angers God, it turns Him into an enemy. Beware! For when this happens, God has the tendency to turn things upside down and inside out, laying them bare for all the world to see.

Should this wasteful eater be now sitting astride your time, your wallet, your desires or your destiny, even if it is a golden one, then be sure that somewhere idolatry has made a landing space for it. I tell you, if God is getting his bucket of dog dirt ready for a flinging, then no amount of federal interference will get in the way of his strip down, pelt down, melt down. Remember that in the end, all ultimate consumers will someday fly away, and you shall be left alone, naked, embarrassed and stinking, revealed fully and most publicly for who they really are and what they have most truly lived for. I tell you tonight then, that you must get rid of the selfish and sinful idols that are making way for all your giant golden grasshoppers. Christian, if your time is consumed by anything other than the kingdom of God, then all you have to look forward to is the burning of wood, hay and stubble.

Listen: - "I'm your enemy, Whore Nineveh — I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! I'll strip you of your seductive silk robes and expose you on the world stage. I'll let the nations get their fill of the ugly truth of who you really are and have been all along. I'll pelt you with dog dung and place you on a pedestal: 'Slut on Exhibit.' (from THE MESSAGE: Nahum 3:5-6 )

Pray:- Lord, help me to live a selfless and sowing life, being open handed and giving of heart. Help me O Lord, to number my days and prepare to meet with You, with all my pockets popping over with Gold, silver and precious stones. Amen and amen.

Nov | 14 | Of Silver Foxes & The Strangulaiton of All Our Secret Sins

2011-11-14T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – REPENT

Luke 13:32a
And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox,-------” NKJV.

Of Silver Foxes & The Strangulation of All Our Secret Sins

Folklore has it, that the devil himself made the black fox, that it might hide in the shadow of a man, an invisible presence, an unseen foe that will bring nothing but woe.

Actually, the black fox is better known as the Silver Fox and it is thought that when they were originally bred in captivity for the purpose of the fur trade, their offspring were, whether by accident or with intent, eventually let loose upon the wild population. In any event, the black fox is indeed an aberration of nature.

Though they can be seen in the day and early evening, Foxes are predominantly creatures of the night and for tonight, I think the black fox is a fitting metaphor for all our pet sins which we have bred in secret captivity, for they too are creatures of the night.

Whenever we think we have control over a particular sin, and in secret fondle it, take it out and pet it, even hold it to our heart, it may only seem to us to be but a small and black little thing which we can control but I tell you, it will grow and it will grow. What are you thinking breeding that particular of a sin? Surely, though it cannot bear its teeth, (no, foxes cannot bear their teeth and snarl) its nevertheless soft and silver fur, coupled with its slit like yellow eyes which make navigation in the darkness a slippery and simple thing for the cat like dog, should tell you something of its haunting intent. Should tell you something of the danger. Don’t you even smell it yet?

You must never make pets of these little black fox sins, for they will escape and for long time to come, even though you thought yourself rid of the tiny little thing, they shall dog your steps, skulking in the shadow of yourself and destroy all your vines. If you have any secret silver foxes tonight, I suggest you strangle them quickly with a certain confession and then bury them deep with the spade of true repentance. If you do not, then be assured that they will grow up into Herod and make all your Rachels’ weep.

Listen: - Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. (Song of Solomon 2:15 NKJV)

Pray:- Lord tonight, help me to strangle all my silver foxes and bury them deep. Lead me from the stinking cages of all my self contempt, in Jesus name I ask it, amen.

Nov | 13 | Quiet Querencias

2011-11-13T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – REST

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. NKJV

Quiet Querencias

Hemmingway in his 1932 published book ‘Death in The Afternoon,' writes a treatise on the source and descriptions of courage and fear, through the spectacle of the Spanish Bullfight and in so doing, highlights the most dangerous place for the Matador in his attempt at slaughter, and that is, the Querencia.

There are in effect three phases to a Bullfight.

First the ‘Levantado,’ where the giant bull arrives on the scene, proud and angry, its giant neck holding high its impaling horns. At this point the bull’s mighty musculature of a neck is lanced repeatedly by the Picadors and the sharp knives of the razor Banderilleros. The bleeding neck muscles cause the bull to slowly lower its horns.

The second phase is the ‘Parado’ where the bull is now slowed and kept at bay.

Eventually the slaughter moves to the final phase of the ‘Aplomado,’ where the exhausted bull, transfixed now on but one red object straight ahead, is thrust through by the matador, his sword plunging down through the centre of the sorry bulls now tired neck, severing in two its pumping heart. The crowd cheers, Roses and seats are thrown in the arena, people applaud profusely!

In each stage the fighting bull will keep returning to one particular point in the ring. That one point of constant return is it's ‘Querencia,’ its defendable position of felt safety. All animals and all humans have this kind of returned position, this home as it were, this defendable place of felt safety. It is said that if the matador tries to kill the bull whilst it is in its ‘Querencia,’ then undoubtedly the matador will be badly gored, even killed. The matador’s intent then, is always to get the bull out of its ‘Querencia.’

Friends tonight this bullfighting picture may be a very uncomfortable contemplation but never the less a very necessary one. If the Devil is the matador that plays us each to death, then let us note that we each have our Querencia, our defendable place of felt safety. This is a place from which we gain sustenance, from which we gain strength, from which we gain respite from the heat of our days. Your personal Querencia may be a physical place, it may be an occupation, it may be a group of acquaintances, or it may be as simple as a hot bath or as profound as a week in a monastery, but for you it is your Querencia!

Get there regularly for be sure of this: If you are tired, bloodied and with your head and horns down and not in your Querencia, then the devil is out to kill you and it will be by a piercing through your heart.

Listen: - For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; (Psalms 27:5-6 NKJV)

Pray:- Oh lead me, to the place where I can find You. Oh lead me to the place where You will be. Lead me to the cross, where we first met, draw me to my knees, so we can talk. Let me feel your breath, let me know you're here with me. Oh lead me , to the place where I can find You. (Delerious)

Nov | 12 | Of Suicidal Spit & The True Signs of Salvation

2011-11-12T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – PERSEVERE

1 Samuel 19:18-23
So David fled and escaped, and went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. Now it was told Saul, saying, "Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!" Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, "Where are Samuel and David?"And someone said, "Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah." So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. NKJV.

Of Suicidal Spit & The True Signs of Salvation

Just in case you didn’t know, the collective name for a gathering of prophets, is in fact ‘A School of Prophets!’ Now from our text tonight please note that there appears to be no geographical place called Naioth which is currently known. However, as the Hebrew word here word means ‘dwellings’, some believe that it is likely that Naioth was in fact the name of the collegiate residence of this school of prophets, in, or maybe just outside, Ramah. The great water cisterns in that place, I believe could be seen as metaphors for the gathering of that same spirit of prophecy that resided there like an enveloping cloud. So much so, that people entering the cloud became wet with capacity, overwhelmed with propensity and overcome by the ability to speak forth words from God. The old questioning saying of ‘Is Saul also among the prophets?’ is resurrected here because of the manifestation of this gift upon him in particular. My answer to that question is a resounding no.

There was a man sent by Jesus who also gathered himself into another collective grouping, the assembly of the apostles. This man was sent to heal the sick, raise the dead, and in the so doing, he lived by faith, enjoying the life of an itinerant minister, eating frugally and thankfully, yes, blessing the people and heartily preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 10:1-13). His name was Judas and he sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver.

I have lived long enough to see a number of nationally applauded, well loved and well respected preachers, teachers and so called miracle workers, all ‘go to the wall.’ Yes, I have seen their suicidal spit drench the cheek of Christ. I tell you tonight friends, that even though the whole of the Christian world would in embarrassed shame rather forget these symbols of our own culpable gullabilty, these dreadful disasters are never the less of great importance to us, for they teach us that neither gifting nor anointing is a sign of true salvation. No, there are in the end only two real signs of this: The Fruit of The Holy Spirit and perseverance in the Faith. Scary, but true.

Listen: - And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:21-23 NKJV.)

Pray:- Stick with me O God and then I shall indeed stick at it. Amen.

Nov | 11 | Of Bread & Blood Red Wine, or, How to Keep From Falling On Our R’s

2011-11-11T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – REMEMBER

Revelation 19:11-16
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Of Bread & Blood Red Wine, or, How to Keep From Falling On Our R’s

The 5.00 am signing of the Armistice document which put an end to the on-going hostilities of WWI between the Allies and Germany was signed today at Compiègne in France. Armistice Day is the anniversary of that symbolic end of World War I in 1918, and is brought to mind each and every year on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the guns stopped firing and at long and much hoped for last, it finally became ‘All quiet on the Western front.’

In England this act of Remembrance is fully celebrated on remembrance Sunday and in America it is celebrated on the 11th of November and is called Veterans day. The central symbol of this remembrance is the flower which proliferates itself all over the churned up grounds of Western Europe, that is, the blood red Poppy. Surely, there is no more fitting flower or colour to remember the living veterans and ‘The Glorious Dead’ of all our wars.

Granted, on the one hand, there is little glory in the manner of mass and industrialised killing. On the other hand, this term, ‘Our Glorious Dead’ is found on most major war memorials all over this land of ours and is a testimony to the sacrifice our soldiers made against the onslaught of tyranny and also an especial testimony to the high regard the survivors place upon the sacrifice of their fallen comrades, often their very own flesh and blood, their very own most 'Glorious Dead.'

So, in symbols of stones and flowers all draped in silence, around our lands there used to be a nationally observed two minute testimony to the the Remembrance of that sacrifice. This quiet Remembrance brought with it a Respect for the valuable, sacrificial and dutiful offering of those lives. This was important for you see, for when the situations which led to the conflict were most thoroughly Recalled they led to a Resolve not to let it happen again. Unfortunately it is here that we all fall on our R's as it were, for not only is this silence now forcefully disdained by the ungrateful living but on the whole, such Resolve not to let the carnage happen again, when placed in the hands of the self Righteous and sinning forgetful blind, has lead to a peace at any price mentality, instead of a Righteousness at any cost way of life. Inevitably, such unRighteous Resolve of ‘peace at any price,’ will lead to our Removal from the map and our Replacement on the scene by the onslaught of old evils dressed in new clothes. It's happening even now. Unfortunately, this generation is totally unable to meet the enemy. All of this is because we have forgotten that peace at any price is no peace at all. We have failed to remember this.

Right Remembrance will lead to Real Respect coupled with accurate Recollection and therefore a Righteous Resolve to Re-arm our forces and Replenish our Reserves. My politics are not to the far right of Genghis Khan but rather, they are Rooted in Reality, for it is dreadfully obvious that darkness and evil take no prisoners in this world and so, for the flowers of peace and freedom to be enabled to continue to flourish, there must always be war, until once and for all, evil is finally ripped and removed from the hearts of nations and of men. Yes, there is such a thing as a righteous war. Evil shall be ripped from the planet and only Jesus can do this thoroughly and last I read, He is coming, booted, spurred and armed to the teeth, to wage a final battle against the darkness. Until that time, He too calls us His people to Remembrance, and with a such a Remembrance that it continually fuels our forgetters with dripping Red Reminders. Yes, the central symbols of this Remembrance for Christians are not stones and poppies but are the common a day items of the kitchen larder, even pure white bread and blood Red wine. So Christian when you are remembering the Lord in quiet reflection, remember that the purchase of righteousness was paid for at the ultimate cost. Righteousness was won at the greatest of cost. It always is. Let us no fail and fall on our R's but let us this day, REMEMBER.

Listen: - Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:11-13 NKJV.)

Pray:- Lord, help us to stand against all unrighteousness even and especially if it is within our own beloved lands. We remember today then, the immense cost of our present freedom and so resolve in righteous ways, by Your grace and power, to wage war against all evil and all the works of darkness. Especially O Lord, we do not forget but most sincerely remember even Your great sacrifice for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen.

Nov | 10 | Of Gerkins & Gurkhas

2011-11-10T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – PRAY

2 Samuel 21:15-17a
War broke out again between the Philistines and Israel. David and his men went down to fight. David became exhausted. Ishbi-Benob, a warrior descended from Rapha, with a spear weighing nearly eight pounds and outfitted in brand-new armor, announced that he'd kill David. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to the rescue, struck the Philistine, and killed him. (from THE MESSAGE:.)

Of Gherkins & Gurkha's

A Gherkin is a sweet little vegetable suitable for the hamburger generation.

Last night at the boxing club, a local councillor in his seventies popped in to lend his support to the new endeavour. This one legged veteran was in his seventies and had been up and working for the last 12 hours of the day getting a petition together for an old Gurkha colleague who was sick, infirm, destitute and deserted by the Government of the country he had fought for, and in urgent need of a pension. The old soldier still had a 4 mile journey home in his electric invalid carriage, in the dark and in the rain. It was parked near the door, in the light, just in case the local teenagers vandalised it, trashed it or stole from it.

On that particular night I was preparing for a sermon series entitled: ‘War! What is it good for?’ My answer was a Biblical one and so the answer was most definitely not ‘Absolutely nothing!’ Doing some background research on the subject then, I was reading the WWII War narrative of Major General Sir John Kennedy, entitled, ‘The Business of War.’ This man served in the war ministry for the length of WWII, being responsible to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff for all plans and operations. It’s a fascinating read concerning the background state, preparations and ambitions of the British Empire around that particular period of just 60 years ago, or if you will, just two generations ago. I was chatting about those times with a woman in her early seventies this morning and commented that this England in which we now live bore virtually no resemblance whatsoever to the one I was reading about and that I suspected that the folk who sacrificed so much during those dreadful times, even their very lives for the defence and continuance of our freedom, our culture and our country, might not have lain it all on the line so willingly for such a state as this. She agreed.

Whichever way we cut this so sad a state of affairs of our now not so great Britain, we have to say that the freedom so valiantly fought for by that most recent of warring generations, has been in the peaceful aftermath, thrown away, frittered and lost. The oh so sad evidence of this is clearly seen in a poll taken of the present younger generation, who think that Winston Churchill is either a myth or a nodding dog that sells car insurance! How did we come to this most paupered position? Well, it seems to me that although we won the war, we most dreadfully and most definitely lost the peace. And there we have it! We lost the peace.

You see, what we thought was the end of the war, was merely the end of an expression of the war, for it did in fact continue at more vicious a pace than ever well after VE and VJ day, and the V3 rocket targets of utter destruction and total annihilation were our Christian values, especially where they were embodied in personal, sociological, institutional and ethical edifices. For those that can see then , the damage done to us after the physical hostilities had ended, is of far greater damage than any done to us during the burning blitz.

Humanly speaking, I have to tell you that all is lost. For the church is presently like a one legged veteran gathering a petition for a sick friend, trying to find its way home in the cold dark rain, trembling at the thought that the rubber wheels of its invalid carriage might be punctured by the sharp and ignorant teeth of politically correct and drug empowered and drunken youths. We are finished. Go home and prepare to die.

BUT GOD! Yes, BUT GOD! And I tell you that it is only those two magnificent words that get me up in a morning. BUT GOD! Yes there is hope in those two great words, so, let us leaders all make prayerful and practical ways in this current death sentence, for those two most marvellous words to be redemptivley expressed. Let us rip the heads off the nodding dogs of our sick society and pray that God might raise up to us some spiritual 'war mongers', some new Churchill's, ready, at whatever the cost, to fight the good fight once more! Now then is the time for us to pray and implore, that those troops of the Empire of The Son, who were birthed in the New World by the bloody efforts of the soldiers of the old, now long gone missionary people of these God forsaken islands, would with all their power and might come to the aid, rescue and liberation of the old. My God, we need help from abroad and we need it now for all our sweet little vegetables will simply flavour the pattied mince meat of their own consumption. Maybe God will send in His Gurkhas? We need the Gurkha's rather than the gherkins that's for sure for a

A Gurkha is a soldier. Fierce, formidable, fanatical.

Listen: - “----- We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.".(Winston Churchill)

Pray:- Lord, from the sown seeds of the saints of old who from these islands took Your Word abroad, please send back to us the fruit of spiritual sustenance and deliverance, in Jesus name we pray, amen.

Nov | 09 | God The Grandfather and N.O.M.A.N.

2011-11-09T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – GODLY

Malachi 2:13-16
So He does not regard the offering anymore, Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, "For what reason?"Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. "For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one's garment with violence, "Says the Lord of hosts." Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously." NKJV

God The Grandfather and N.O.M.A.N.

In the Coen brothers 2003 film ‘Intolerable Cruelty,’ George Clooney stars as Miles Massey, the cynical attorney who is highly specialised in breaking marriages apart and making the divorce as profitably as possible for his client, regardless of their own personal culpability in the divorce! The leading lady in the film is Catherine Zeta Jones who plays Marilyn Rexroth, a woman choosing to marry men who are exceptionally rich and astonishingly silly and therefore very likely to commit adultery, thus giving her the excuse to divorce them, so she can in turn then win a massive financial settlement, that will make her independent of all men! The dialogue, the acting, the timing, the humour of the movie are in my opinion, all quite brilliant and very Coen-esque.

The main speech of the ‘Intolerable Cruelty,’ concerning all the possibilities and vulnerabilities of true and selfless, sacrificial love is made by the character ‘Miles Massey’ at his key note address which is given at the annual convention of his professional association. The association is cleverly called: The National Organization of Matrimonial Attorneys Nationwide. I remember watching the movie and seeing their organizational logo and motto in the background of the main dialogue and emblazoned underneath it was the fictional association's most hilarious tag line, here it is…. "What God hath joined, let N.O.M.A.N. put asunder." It was a most clever and hilarious contrivance and I laughed considerably!

In the real world however, divorce is not funny and it remains exceptionally painful for many, many years, often times even a lifetime. There is very little laughter in it, I can tell you that. Divorce remains financially painful, it remains emotionally painful, it remains relationally painful, and in my Pastoral observance of it over the years, it remains painful for the rest of a person’s life. Friend there is no condemnation in my writing this tonight because the saying “There but for the grace of God go I,” most certainly applies to me and my wife. God has been very gracious to us. Indeed, I say to all people who are still married to their first spouse, “God has been very gracious to you!” Be careful then in your often unwarranted and sometimes very ignorant judgment of others, for none of us really knws what goes on behind closed doors.

Never the less in our text for this evening God says several important things to us and hangs them all on one massive nail! “I hate divorce!” Listen to how ‘The Message’ brings this climactic statement to our attention ‘And here's a second offense: You fill the place of worship with your whining and sniveling because you don't get what you want from God. Do you know why? Simple. Because God was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you've broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. God, not you, made marriage. His Spirit inhabits even the smallest details of marriage. And what does he want from marriage? Children of God, that's what. So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don't cheat on your spouse. "I hate divorce," says the God of Israel. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says, "I hate the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage." So watch yourselves. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat.

Divorce is indeed, the violent dismembering of the 'one flesh' of marriage. So watch yourselves tonight. Don't let your guard down. Don't cheat on your mate. To help you and heal you, I have three things for your consideration this evening:

First, if you are divorced, there is no need to keep adding to your existing pains. Self condemnation, anger at your former spouse and a multitude of other leather tails of self flagellation, will only fan the flames of hurt and keep the blood flowing and the wounds from healing. It’s time to heal. Get with God and get it sorted. Forgive yourself.

Secondly, I want to tell you, especially those of you struggling in your marriage, that God is interested in marriage. Indeed, God is interested, immersed and inhabiting ALL aspects of your marriage. Be aware of that. Prayerfully seek Him then in every part of your marriage. Every part of it I say, for He will indeed help you in every part of your marriage.

Thirdly, don’t mess up the covenant and if you’ve messed up, then please don’t keep messing up. The Bible here I think is particularly speaking to men and I wonder if it is speaking to older more well off men especially. I mean older men who compared to their wives are more well-off financially, more well-off opportunistically, more well-off physically, more well-off health wise maybe? I wonder? In any event, to men in particular the Scriptures clearly speak tonight: DON’T BE A TRAITOR. DON’T CHEAT ON YOUR WIFE!

Listen:- And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Matthew 19:4-6 NKJV

Pray:- Mercy Lord, please forgive us our many sins and our traitorous hearts. Mercy Lord, and despite our many sins, we ask that you wash us and make us clean, that You change us from traitors into people of honour and integrity and courage. Make us new Lord and make us stronger too. Yes, make us a testimony to Your grace and to Your love and to Your redemption and do it in such a renewing, regenerate and revitalising way, that our offspring would rise up amazed! Indeed, they would rise up refreshed and call us Godly parents! Mercy Lord, mercy, for we wish to be Godly and to give You the Godly offspring of Your heart’s desire. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.

Nov | 08 | It’s Only Make Believe!

2011-11-08T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – FAMINE

Judges 2:10
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. NKJV

It’s Only Make Believe!

Famine is not a good word to go to sleep on as you might end up consuming your pillow during the night! However, here in the early twenty first century famine is what we have ravaging our land.

It’s a peculiar but particularly dreadful kind of famine, and it is in fact the worst kind of famine. For me, astonishingly it is the accompanying blindness of Christians regarding it and with that blindness comes every kind of spectacle you can imagine but with no cure whatsoever!

The famine I am talking about is the famine of ‘conviction of sin.’ It has been so long since I have truly seen this, in America or the United Kingdom that I have to conclude that God is supremely indifferent toward us. If the Holy Spirit came to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment to come, then frankly, God the Holy Spirit as either gone home or moved to another continent.

Yes, there is a famine in our lands but we Christians bumble around regardless, our lips dripping with pious platitudes and desperate, ignorant phraseology more full of fairy tale superstition than faithful hopefulness. God has gone home, God has left us to our sinful ways, but we are still having little girl tea parties and pouring nothing into red plastic cups before a very absent guest. It’s a pitiful blindness in time of unequalled famine.

Maybe it would be good for you tonight to take a few minutes and make a list. Under three columns entitled, hope, faith and make believe, write down all your dreams and practices. Should God th Holy Spirit shine His flashlight under your bed cloths tonight as you do this, then I am pretty sure it is the column of Christian make believe that shall be falling off the end of your page.

Tomorrow, may faith and hope remain but please dear Jesus, in this season of burning, may all this silly make believe, be right royally cast into the flames.

Listen: - Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. NKJV

Pray: Lord, despite the desperate screaming that will follow, please reach down and remove the rose colored glasses which we Your people have manufactured and distributed in their thousands upon thousands. Lord please, arrive in Your greatness and tear down our tea parties, in Your great name I pray, amen.

Nov | 07 | Loving on Len

2011-11-07T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – WARRIOR

Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength, And the splendor of old men is their gray head. NKJV

Loving on Len

Len was 87 when I met him. He had been a Christian for 77 years! He was old-school, you know? Grey hair parted to the right, pinstripe Sunday suit, black Bible and had been part of a Brethren Assembly for years. You’ve maybe seen the breed; you’ve maybe known the type. From another age, old, irrelevant, out of touch, useless. The leader of the service that morning had given way to to him though, as Len apparantly wanted to make an announcement.

Len stood up. Len stood to attention, yet he was still smaller in stature than even me, time and gravity had compressed his backbone you see. Yet he was still upright and straight, as straight as the creases in his well kept trousers, his steely eyes without blinking, staring into mine, searching out my soul. He looked a bit dangerous.

Len was a former Regimental Sergeant Major in the Gordon Highlanders, the second wave to hit Gold beach and fight his way into Nazi Germany. He later told me that whilst out of ammunition, he and a friend had been captured by the SS outside of a prison camp. It was when moving in and out of consciousness whilst his fingernails were being ripped out that he had, in pain and in desperation, simply cried out, “Jesus! It’s Len!” Amidst the blood, the agony and the shouting, a great peace came over him and as he heard the voice, “Len! It’s Jesus!” The door was kicked open by rescuing Ghurkas, who, after dealing with his captors, fell on him, embracing him, crying, “Master my master.” One of these fierce Nepalese warriors put him on his back, carried him four miles to a field hospital and stayed with him until his recovery. He never forgot that.

The leader of the service that morning had given way to Len, as he wanted to make an announcement. In a broad Northern accent Len began, “Let us praise God together!” The story went that he had been woken that morning by the Padre of Lincoln prison who reported that the man Len had visited the previous week and spoken with until 1:30 in the morning had committed his life to Jesus! The prison governor was now apparently very happy that his worse inmate, once permanently handcuffed, was now out of shackles and praising God.

Len was 87 when I met him. He had been a Christian for 77 years! He was old-school, you know? Grey hair parted to the right, pinstripe Sunday suit, black Bible and had been part of a Brethren Assembly for years. You’ve maybe seen the breed; you’ve maybe known the type. From another age, old, irrelevant, out of touch, useless.

Listen: - Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is call'd the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. ----from Henry V

Pray: Lord, come gentle my condition and allow me some battle scars to brag about in heaven in Your great name I pray, amen!

Nov | 06 | Scattered, Smothered & Covered

2011-11-06T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – MOVE

Acts 8:1b-5
----- At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. NKJV.

Scattered, Covered & Smothered.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again.
I love ‘Waffle House!’

Started in 1955 in Georgia, those low-rent, yellow restaurants at the side of the road not only serve over half a million eggs per day but their daily offering of sausage patties alone, if stacked on top of one another would be higher than the Empire State building! In addition to this, Waffle House waitresses are a breed apart, they are to be experienced rather than to be described, God bless their hearts! The fun part of their food order delivery to the ever-frying short order cook, is in turn a never to be forgotten short order diner dictation service! Hashed brown potatoes for example, are called in as “scattered” (spread on the grill), “smothered” (with onions), or “covered” (with cheese), and oh by the way, everything is covered in cheese in America! Now there’s a three-point Waffle House sermon if ever these was one! “The Church:: Scattered, Smothered and Covered!”

Our text for tonight us informs us that God allowed a Religious Rottweiler to be let loose within the gentle flock of His church and his name was Saul of Tarsus. As he ripped the flock apart like a rabid mastiff, not only were body parts and blood scattered all over the place, but the very people of God themselves were also scattered like speaking seeds across the face of the then known world, smothering it with the Good News about Jesus. Yes, even in the face of such terrible persecution, these early followers of 'The Way' smothered the demographic landscape with the savoury knowledge of God’s goodness toward us in Jesus and covered the land with the spicy practice of the all gracious and all forgiving love of God. It is obvious to me, that God even used this Religious Rottweiler to harry his sheep into obeying His command to take the Gospel into the entire world.

So, if you are being ‘chunked.’ ‘diced,’ ‘peppered,’ ‘capped,’ and ‘topped,’ all along your tired way today, then I have to tell you tonight, that God maybe also has a purpose for all the religious Rottweiler’s that are in your life at the moment, for though they may be destroying some stuff, they are also pushing you somewhere. Tell me, where are they driving you tonight? Maybe that’s where you should be going? After all, maybe you are part of the church which is scattered, smothered and covered

Listen: - Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:5-8 NKJV.)

Pray: - Lord, use these Religious Rottweiler’s in my life to make me a city cleaner, a sidewalk healer and a certain joy giver. Please put me where You want me, in Your great name I ask it, amen.

Nov | 05 | How To Get High!

2011-11-05T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – GOOD

Psalms 107:25-32
For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, They go down again to the depths; Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits' end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet;So He guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, And praise Him in the company of the elders. (Psalms 107:25-32 NKJV)

How to Get High!

Standing on the warm beach and looking at the deep blue ocean lapping against the distant horizon and splashing up against the far stretched clouds sinking with the setting sun, the sea looks beautiful and inviting, even an all enfolding loveliness. On the land, looking out that that immeasurable coldness, you still feel warm, secure, steady, rock like, safe. Now climb aboard a small yacht and set sail for a day or two into that vast deep blue and its vastness becomes seemingly infinite, seemingly never ending, eternal, dangerous, deep, sucking, scary, and I tell you, there as a small bobbing speck in the middle of that desert of blue water, you feel anything but safe. When a storm comes up across the bay of Biscay and stirs the deep beneath into a leaping hunter, a force nine howler, the insignificance of your little self against the roaring of so great a watery and all-consuming lion makes you feel less than nothing, an angry voice maybe, but never less, simply a small dot of dust, trodden on by gigantic actors who are fighting hot, living violently and screaming their way into a fiery death upon a vast eternal stage, each one playing out a story of cosmic and multidimensional proportions, to which you seem to be as less an insignificant worm. In the same way, I tell you that the more I read the Bible, the more days I set out to sea upon this deep and never ending story of God, this narrative, this journey, this revelation of the Most High, these players, these decisions, the whole kit and caboodle of it all become to me nothing short of terrifying! For the Bible, the very Word of God is the most troubling book that has ever been written. If you disagree with me here, then friend, I do not think you have even begun to read it.

It was writer Frank Cottrell Boyce who wrote the screenplay for the BBC’s television Drama, ‘God on Trial.’ May I say that it is a quite brilliant and terrifying performance piece, for the screen play wrestles with the deep question we all have on our hearts, which is ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ Or better still, ‘How can a good God allow so much suffering in the world?’ The 90 minute play has the unpacking of these questions take place amongst a group of inmates in Auschwitz, just hours before half of them shall be murdered. Cottrell himself confesses that his seemingly invulnerable catholic faith was beaten black and blue as he wrote the screenplay. The possibility of prisoners in Auschwitz concentration camp actually putting God on trial is rooted in an apocryphal story from WWII to which the Auswitch survivor and writer Elie Weisel gives some credence to when he made his statement that “God was hanged on the gallows in Auschwitz.” In the play, ‘God On Trial,’ the closing statement made by the prosecutor is that “God is not good, He is just powerful. Once upon a time He was on our side and now He is on the side of the Nazis. God is not good, He is simply all powerful. God is guilty of breaking His covenant with us.” God is then pronounced guilty of the charge.

The narrative and supposition of Cottrell’s screen play can be Biblically contested at every God damning point but that is not the point. The point is that on this great sea of History which we find ourselves floating upon, the storms of our own life stir up the dregs of our days and from that sin matted mud, the festering odour of the foul stench of that constant and unremitting theme exuded daily from it, always runs gangrene like along the ground proclaiming to one and all and to the delight of the devil himself especially, that ‘God is not good!’ The truth is that as individuals and communities, as nations and now even as continents and soon, maybe sooner than we dare to think, the whole world has put God on trial and found Him guilty, so much so that we all together now in our hearts, sing in condemning proclamation like some great accusing choir concerning both God’s seeming failings and His dreadful lack of goodness. The old lie that God is not good.

Let me say that I have no doubt that if I had been in Auschwitz I would have put God on trial and found Him guilty. Good grief, I have done it often enough in comparative kind kindergarten picnics when compared to that most terrible place. How about you? Even so, whether in the terrors of Auschwitz or the comforts of Ipswich, this most sinful of singing, just has to stop. For God is good!

My friends, if we dare, we need to truly get to grips with the meta-narrative of this great redemptive story and more so, we need to see the true states of our God condemning heart. We need to wake up to the old lie whispered by the devil since Eden’s paradise was lost which is even today embedded in our genes. We need to grow up regarding this. Be honest with ourselves, get real. For the old lie has robbed us of so much hope and faith and joy. Yes, we need to set our bow of faith toward the great horizon of His all consuming love and with the courage of belief, set sail across the turbulent deeps of all life’s waiting blues. For sure, this is a terrifying journey across wild seas of temptations and the deepest oceans of doubt, but I tell you that it is a journey into a God that we shall indeed find not only to be so very powerful but also to be so very wonderfully good. Stop believing the old lie. Stop the sinning song, by BOTH inwardly condemning the lie and outwardly proclaiming His goodness through living in expectant joy. I mean, have a blast today! Laugh wildly whenever you can! ENJOY life to the full for GOD IS GOOD!

Listen: - Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, They see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. (Psalms 107:23-24 NKJV)

Pray:-
Lord, let Your glory fall, as on an ancient day.
Songs of enduring love, and then Your glory came.
And as a sign to You, that we will love the same,
Our hearts will sing that song, as we pray!
God, let Your glory come!

You are good, You are good, and Your love endures.
You are good, You are good, and Your love endures.
You are good, You are good, and Your love endures today.

Voices in unison, giving You thanks and praise,
Joined by the instruments, and then Your glory came.
Your presence like a cloud, upon that ancient day,
The priests were overwhelmed, all because, because Your glory came!

You are good, You are good, and Your love endures.
You are good, You are good, and Your love endures.
You are good! You are good, and Your love endures today.

A sacrifice was made, and then Your fire came.
They knelt upon the ground, and with one voice they prayed,
And they sang as we sing today, That,
You are good, You are good, and Your love endures.
You are good, You are good, and Your love endures.
You are good, You are good, and Your love endures today.

(Lord Let Your Glory Fall – by Matt Redman)

Nov | 04 | The Antidote To Christian Cannibalism

2011-11-04T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – DEDICATE

1 Samuel 1:9-11
So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head." NKJV

The Anti-dote To Christian Cannibalism

Barren Hannah was desperate for a child and in her desperate prayer she promises to give the gift she hopes she shall receive, right on back to God. Samuel is born and Hannah does indeed follow through on her vow.

All children are of course gifts from God and it does a person good to both realise this and act on it, for these good gifts are always kept longer and remain far fresher to us, when they are dedicated right on back to Him. Please note tonight that ANY gift selfishly consumed by us will in the end corrupt us and I tell you, this is especially true if we eat our children, consuming them in our own desires and making them the cherished idols of our hearts. If you are doing this, you had best watch out, for cannibalised children always give the very worst of stomach aches.

So following the blessed example of the Holy Family and of Hannah, give back your gift to God! Dedicate them to the Lord and remember that this dedication means a letting go of and a laying hold of.

As to letting go, you must remember that this child is not yours. It shall grow and shall become and in all of its becoming the child shall decide on so many things for itself, including whether or not they shall follow the Lord. You must have faith in letting the child of your care be found by the God that you love. Do all you possibly can to help them develope into who they are and then, let them go as your prayerfully deliver them to God.

As to laying hold, well, you must lay hold of Your God and of yourself. It is imperative that you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the child becomes and as the child decides, you must lay hold of God on their behalf. You must also lay hold of yourself, for you must become a model of Godliness before them, a mentor of graciousness and hope, a mother of love, prayer and care, a father of manly courage, wisdom, perseverance and provision. The child will become and will make its own decisions, you are not responsible for this. However, you are greatly responsible for laying hold of both God Himself and of you yourself!

So, whatever you do tonight, do not selfishly consume your kids, yes, you must not eat your children.

Listen: - "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NKJV)

Pray:- O Lord we cast down our idols, even if they are our most dearly beloved children. So help us to leave them with Your good discipline and Your love and Your care, yes, this we do tonight with both hope and faith in Your faithfulness. Now O Lord, we lay hold of Your goodness and lay hold of ourselves to walk with You, as models and mentors of the Christ like life, lived before the gifts You have so graciously granted us. Amen and amen.

Nov | 03 | Of Jennels, Jiggers, Snickleways & Twittens

2011-11-03T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – WAY

Isaiah 35:4-6
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.KJV.

Of Jennels, Jiggers, Snickleways & Twittens

I presently live on the border of East Sussex and the county of Kent and my part of South Tunbridge Wells is riddled with well established and beautiful ‘Cut Throughs’ and ‘Short Cuts’ between all the walls and hedges, fences and houses. In my home county of Derbyshire we call these short cuts, these new ways, ‘Jennels’ and in other part of the country they are referred to as ‘Jiggers’ or ‘Snickleways,’ (isn’t that cute!) but down here in this part of the ‘Soft and Sunny South,’ they are delightfully referred to as ‘Twittens.’

A Synapse is a highly specialized junction either between two neurons (nerve cells) or a neuron and a protein cell which in turn allows the transmission of chemical and electrical signals, resulting in a quick cascade of a physical response. These established synaptic pathways are of course especially important in brain function and can be easily destroyed by anything from drugs to disease, thus limiting the capacity of brain functionality. The brain however is quite remarkable, especially in younger people, in that even with the destruction of existing synaptic pathways, others can be established as time goes on.

Now, I have neither the knowledge or understanding to correctly communicate how the brain works, but then who does! The investigation and understanding of brain function and the defining of intelligence and consciousness seems almost as accurate as describing a single star on the Eagle Nebula. Yup, I reckon we understand about that much! Never the less, this phenomenon of the damaged brains capacity to establish new ‘Cut Throughs’ and ‘Short Cuts,’ or if you will, new ‘Jennels’ ‘Snickleways’ and ‘Twittens’ is quite remarkable.

My point tonight is this: In the establishment and growth of towns and cities, human beings have always been in the business of establishing ‘Twittens,’ those quicker and often prettier ‘Cut Throughs,’ so as to arrive speedier and more refreshed at their desired destination. In the same way, even nature, from rivers to streams and from the establishment or re-establishment of broken brain synaptic pathways, has been in the business of making ways were there are none. Do you not think tonight then, that our God can make for you WAYS where at the moment there are none? Of course He can! So, to some of you tonight, I need to tell you that GOD CAN MAKE A WAY! Trust Him in this.

Listen: - No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV.)

Pray:- It is a very simple prayer of mine tonight dear Jesus, please make a way, open up a new way, a hidden way, a forgotten way, where at the moment there appears to be none. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Nov | 02 | Beware ‘The Undertone of The Overtone,’ or, ‘The Rat in The Scat’

2011-11-02T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – TRUE

Psalms 29:3
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters. NKJV.

Beware ‘The Undertone of The Overtone,’ or, ‘The Rat in The Scat’

Overtone singing is practised by many peoples of the world and is the ability to produce two or even four voices at the same time from but one human being! The ethereal quality of such voice production has led many to believe that this kind of throat singing is indeed a metaphysical event! Some proponents go further, even suggesting that it taps into what Jung referred to as ‘the collective unconscious,’ or, the collective human and racial metaphysical memory. In other words, some would have it that human beings are somehow endowed with a common ancestral memory which can be accessed through over tonal singing. The nearest we come to this in the west I think, would be Scat singing, the chief and most famous proponent being the great Ella Fitzgerald, whose use of non lexical vocables in music, or rather, NONSENSE syllables, made her the most famous of Scat singers! It was musician and lecturer Roberto Laneri, who suggested that even ‘Scat’ was a metaphysical event and that this kind of vocal of improvisation could be rooted in different states of consciousness which in turn would draw on the Jungian model of being able to access the collective unconscious. I find that it is interesting that the association of such vocal overtone techniques have long been and continue to be associated with, not only performance art but also ancient Shamanistic practices. Well so what? Well, I do believe that there are three things here for us tonight to be gleaned from this interesting art form.

The first is that I believe we do carry a collective unconsciousness! It is however not Jungian but rather Jehovian, in that God has put eternity in our hearts and a sighing God shaped hole that only He might fill. Our human collective unconscious, along with all creation groans for the revelation of the ultimate goodness and glory of God.

The second is that in many of our charismatic churches, the practice of having open and singing prayer encouraged by so many young worship leaders, means that the congregation often erupts into a cacophony of sound. This may sound metaphysical in connection but is rarely as good as Scat and hardly ever as evocative as true overtone throat singing. If you are a worship leader tonight, then please remember that people want to sing! They want to sing corporately, and most of all, they want to sing sensible syllables of meaningful praise and practical prayer. Cacophonic charismatic singing is neither spiritual nor mystical, it is just that Cacophonic.

The third and final thought is that all kinds of overtone are usually carrying an undertone, are usually singing another not so nice tune. When we as individuals or as collective bodies even, begin to communicate with more than one voice, then let us beware of the undertone of malevolence that can so easily be carried on such dancing and deceitful waves. How’s your tone tonight? How’s your timbre? How’s the colour of your words? Let’s make sure that all our undertones are honour, born out of overtones of love.

Listen: - Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:17-21 NKJV)

Pray:- Lord, help us not to be too scatty in both our praise and in our prayer, but clear in love and honour and clothed in constant care. In Jesus name we sing it, amen!

Nov | 01 | Beware This Flower's Power

2011-11-01T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – COURAGE

Numbers 14:31
But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. NKJV

Beware This Flower’s Power

Fear is a most fantastic flower, unfolding itself in the most colourful of forms and fragrances. From concerned and seemingly mild musings, to loud and strong, fist shuddering horror, it shakes its stubborn stem even in the most mild of summer breezes, casting forth the very seeds of its own ultimate and most deserved destruction. Yes, from sweet to sour, fear perfumes its own perverted way with the most justifying of scents. “Well after all,” it says, “What about the kids? We have to think about them? If anything happens to us, well, what about them? I mean, how can we provide for them if.....well, they shall never forgive us if....and if we ever did do what You ignorantly intimate, what you wildly and most seemingly suggest, then how could we ever provide. I mean, if we went there, how would they survive? I mean, this is fanatical...I mean, this is totally irresponsible....I mean, this is not a command to respond to with a ‘yes sir’ salute and a fast return to the seems with a quick to obey like snap. No! This is a bear baited trap! A deception that will lead to our destruction, a madness that if followed will surely only lead to misery” Yes, fear is a most fantastic flower, its roots finding their abundant sustenance in even the scantest of soils, which is nevertheless, so rich in unbelief and that’s the problem with fear, it roots itelf in and gives birth to unbelief.

From our text for tonight, we see these same flowers of fear now finding themselves within the very tent doors of the whole camp of Israel, whose many open blooms, all together sucked out of the blue and sunlit skies of the waiting to be possessed, giant filled promised land, such a gross and debilitating deformity, that God their Saviour could not fail to find it both offensive and disgusting to His soul. So offensive in fact, that He would now kill them for it. Yes, He would scour them from the smelly pan of unbelief and start again with a new and pollen fear free people. Indeed, it was only Moses who stopped Him from killing the self convicted and self condemned nation in an instant as one man. It was only Moses that stopped Him from carrying out His plan

Restrained by the prayers of Moses then, God limits His most terrible tirade and goes to His fear poisoned flower powered people saying “There is no reason for this soul of unbelief. For if you had taken the salt of My signs and wonders performed among you, and sprinkled it upon those places of death in your hearts, then fear would have found no sustenance to spread its roots. Now, not only have you have failed to deal rightly with the soul of your souls, but you have fertilised it with the mad manure of your most consistent and complacent disdain of Me. So, concerning those whom you deceitfully feigned to fear for the most, even your children, well they shall posses that which you now most scurrilously are rejecting and you shall never see their joy, nor settle in the sweet places I had prepared for you along with them.”

Granted, this is a stark message yet there it is. So, let us daily take the salt of His greatness and sow it with great extravagance upon the surface of our own unbelieving souls, that we might be kept from the flowering of those most pernicious of fear filled blooms. According to the word of God, He can take care of your kids far better than you can. So go ahead and obey Him, go into the land of giants!

Listen: - "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. (Numbers 14:27-28 NKJV)

Pray:- Help us daily then Lord, each night to salt our souls with the remembrance of Your great power and goodness, that faith would flower in the night and so make our mornings ever fresh with faith and hope. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Oct | 31 | The Dark Billions & The Baptism at Bellarmine

2011-10-31T01:30:00.000Z

Dream Word – DARKNESS

Romans 1:21,23
… because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, NKJV

The Dark Billions & The Baptism at Bellarmine

I am sat in Detroit Airport as I write this NightWhisper. Already I have been the recipient of free candy distributed by personnel dressed as thieves and one eyed pirates. Cutsie little Japanese girls dressed as witches holding on to Daddy’s hand have just walked past me, as maniacal laughter echoed over the intercom. It’s Halloween here in America and this week, depending on which statistics you read, anywhere from 2.5 to 6.5 Billion dollars will be spent on all things, gruesome. I tell you this because tonight’s whisper is an Halloween humdinger. Be afraid, be very afraid.

I set the scene at Bellarmine Roman Catholic university, even the repository of the writings of the world renowned, spiritual giant of Thomas Merton. Here this Halloween week, late one night in the decked and darkened halls, a young mother, who for months had been hiding her pregnancy from others, went to the bathroom and whilst all alone, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. The child was then plopped by the young mother directly from the watery womb, yes, right into the watery U bend of the lavatory, where it drowned. Hidden in a garbage bag, the dead child's corpse was eventually found by the police. The mother, even as I write, is being charged with murder.

The most shocking thing about this harrowing Halloween story is however not so much the dreadful event, but the cries from the university staff and the people of America all saying, “My God! How can such a terrible thing be happening in our country and at one of our prized universities!” Since the dark drowning, I have heard this cry on all media sources and I tell you that on this not so happy Halloween, that it is this cry which is the most astonishingly shocking thing I have heard, for it is uttered in both bared faced stupidity and unforgiving ignorance. Friends, we have sown to the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind.

10% of the nearly one million women getting an abortion in America in 2007, would have cited ‘an inability to successfully complete their chosen education’ as a reason for killing the kid not yet born. It’s an Halloween haunting to consider that if this young mother, just six months previously or even less maybe, had gone to a licensed practitioner, citing her education and golfing career as a reason for the need for help with murder, then she could have had her baby ripped from her womb, soaked in salt, or vacuumed out in little pieces and all done free of charge. This acceptable and legalised murder would have been followed by all the care and counselling she could ever need of, delivered hard on heels of the dastardly deed, yes indeed, she could have even gotten on with her golfing, whilst the murderers themselves would have received their fee as usual and all the surrounding industry of death been able to further and statistically justify their existence whilst applying for even more government funding to continue the silent genocide. If she had only acted six months previously, then all would be have been well with the law. Now, you just think about that!

In 2007, America alone has over 40 million murdered babies since Roe V Wade! With such genocidal figures just whose family I wonder, has not been touched by a tragedy such as this. I tell you that I pity this one solitary, sad and silly girl, who out of above 40 million other murderers and countless millions more in complicit genocide, stands as the only one at present counted guilty. At present I say, for judgement is still to come. Still, let’s not think too much about that for after all, it’s Halloween and the orange sugared candy corn abounds, and laughing witches invite me to smile.

In this ‘One Nation Under God', with websites are hosting billions of pornographic pages, with billions of dollars being spent on Halloween, billions being spent on treating sexually transmitted diseases, billions being spent on armaments and war, billions being spent on an entertainment and communications industry that glorifies supernatural darkness as sexy and pushes all the accompanying violence, selfishness, pride, witchcraft, rebellion, atrocity and atrociousness in all its meanest forms down our open mouths, that is not the real shocker! No, The real shocker which remains for me this Halloween, is the startling stupidity of that media cry, that shakes it head in wonder, and then asks the reason, “Why?”

This Halloween, despite all the sugar coated laughter around the shocker of a murderer mum, are all your sins forgiven, are you prepared to flee the wrath to come?

Listen: - “They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind.” Hosea 8:7 NKJV

Pray: Lord, come carve the word accounting, into the temples of our thick old pumpkin head, that no more little babies would be murdered, left for dead. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Oct | 30 | 'Decisive' of Tunbridge Wells

2011-10-30T01:30:00.000+01:00

Dream Word – LIGHT

Matthew 9:11-13a
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ' NKJV.

‘Decisive’ of Tunbridge Wells

I once lived in Tunbridge Wells which has often been referred to as the ‘Spiritual home of Middle England,’ that is, the home of the presumed right wing views of middle class, mainstream, non urban white folks. In light of this, it was the satirical magazine ‘Private Eye,’ who in its playfully constructed, obsessively and excessively complaining ‘letters to the editor,’ always signed them off with mock outrage as ‘Yours faithfully, DISGUSTED of Tunbridge Wells.’ Mock social outrage is of course hilarious! Mock religious outrage born out of a lifetime of fat slumber is however, absolutely anything but funny, for it is both in and of itself a mockery.

In this mad world in which we presently live, in this end of the age relationship freak show, this silicon side show of drug induced enhancement and totally spiritually disenfranchised and demonised societies, I am afraid we need to lay aside any semblance of an attitude which lifts its nose, and shakes its head while writing letters to the Evangelical Times signed by ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.’ For many years far too many folk have done nothing to remedy our societies worsening situation and so really, just how can we act so disgusted? What right do we have?

I wonder if it is at all possible for us to be shocked anymore? No, I didn’t think so. Therefore do not act shocked. Therefore do not feign religious disgust. It will do no good anyhow. Rather, guard yourself and become an exemplary point of moral reference. Rather, gird yourself with grace and stoop to conquer. Rather, go into all this mad and messy world and preach the gospel to every crazy creature you will come across.

Don’t be disgusted but be decisive about doing something about our society for it is most certainly sick and in great need of the great Physician. Oh and by the way, He shall do those house calls through you! So, are you ready for the sacrifice? Yes, are you ready to call sinners to repentance? Are you learning what this means?

Listen: - I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matthew 9:13b NKJV)

Pray:- Lord, help us not to feign disgust anymore, but rather fight so compassionately that we would become the beacons of direction, the samples of redemption that this old world most desperately needs. I decide to wake up tonight then! Yes, I decide to take action tonight then, and so on the morrow, become the medic with the medicine even the carer with the call to repentance, sacrificing myself for the salvation of others, seeking Your mercy, sowing in hope and striving for goodness sake.

Yours forever, ‘Decisive’ of Tunbridge Wells.