Nov | 08 | The Fair Flag of Future Glory

Key Word:- CONSIDER

Title:- The Fair Flag of Future Glory

Philippians 3:19-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, what can I tell you about my beloved England and its powerful Christian legacy? The mother of parliamentary democracy, the Pilgrim Fathers, Puritan divines and of course, crumpets, wonderful crumpets! The fact is, I could leave you with such a list of honourable heritage today that it would make you want to root up your family, load up your kids and beg for entrance into such a marvelously brave and culturally diverse Kingdom! Equally, I could provide you with a list of such dreadful failings, that those of us who hail from there, would hang our head in shame and speedily wish to change our passport and our accent.

When loving our nations, true love demands the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Anything else is head-in-the-ground naivety, and dear friends, we as Christians should be mature enough to refuse to play the rah-rah card of juvenile jingoism and sing the silly songs of “how great we are” which tell to ignorant children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie of: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is great and glorious to die for one’s country). Loving our countries to death, surely means leaving behind us a most powerful Christian legacy.

Lest I be misunderstood today, let me say that it is good that we love our country, wherever and whatever our country might be and if necessary, fight and die for what is right in God’s eyes. However, it is better that we as Christians, love our true and solid homeland even more. For we do not serve a monarch, a prime minister or a president, no! We serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Friends, I am convinced that our countries would be far better places if we were the true patriots and active ambassadors of our heavenly home that we should be. My oh my, if we did that what a powerful legacy we should leave behind for future generations. The treasure of a question then is, how do you know when we are not true patriots and active ambassadors of heaven? Well, here is the test: let me ask you, do you eagerly await an all-transforming and all-subduing Saviour who will take you home? Is your mind set on heaven or on this earth? After all, just where is your treasure and what are you living for friends? Your true estate or your real estate? For truly, where you lay your treasure up, there your heart shall be. I think I know the answer to these questions friends, and I think you do too, for really, just what is the legacy left amongst us of the Christian’s longing and looking for heaven, their true homeland?

Well when we look at the lack of powerful Christian legacies, we see that America alone, aborts 1.5 million babies per year. Enough have now been murdered, that the combined total would exceed the current population of a small nation; say, even the population of England! Pornography is America’s most favourite and not-so-secret pastime, our citizens pouring billions of dollars into the industry each year; and what more could I say about the increasing rise of racism, drugs, crime, murder, sexual predators and offenders, homosexual agendas, same-sex marriage, and so on, so on and so forth. The continents of Europe and now Asia fair no better, and frankly the whole world simply increases in its stink like the old slop bucket that it is, waiting to be emptied.

Meanwhile patriotism continues to be the current hot and hungry word and in my observation, this earthly patriotism has the tendency to be particularly adept in driving dedicated, proud and prayerful Christians to wrap their faith tightly and totally, up in an earthly flag. We must beware of this for I wonder if at times, that though it is possible to wrap right causes up in an earthy flag, it is almost never possible to wrap faith up in the same? After all, tell me how many hundreds of thousands of soldiers over the centuries, do you think have prayed to the same God, then rose up under their own flags and killed one another? Do you see what I mean? Faith cannot be wrapped up in an earthly flag! England and America need only look to their own civil and revolutionary wars to see this to be the truth. So I say again, just where are all the powerful Christian legacies?

No, I am not a lefty liberal, neither am I a pacifist. No sir, I am a member of the very far and extremely distant right. I am a soldier. I wear a uniform and carry a weapon. I am a freedom fighter and today, I am longing and looking for a new revolution to rise up amongst my brethren. A real revolution, which is rooted in heaven. For I wonder what our present and passing, earthly homes would look like, if the fair flag of future glory was unfurled to fully fly before them? I need to ask you today then to examine two things. First, the State of your nation and what flag you have wrapped your faith in, and secondly where you have placed your heart and your true allegiance? Surely this shall determine the power of any legacy we eventually leave behind us? THINK ABOUT THAT!


Listen:- Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless. Isaiah 40:15-17

Pray: - Lord show me my true flag and the bloody and glorious banners that I march under today. Strengthen my heart, then let the seal of my citizenship break in with warmth and wonder upon my blind eyes and my deaf ears. Show me heaven O God, give me a glimpse of my true home, and help me in my forthcoming departure to be assured that I have left behind some powerful Christian legacies. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Dulce et Decorum Est ~Wilfred Owen

"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori." 

 

Nov | 08 | It’s Only Make Believe!

Dream Word – PREPARE

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 has 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 the Holy Spirit shine His flashlight under your bed clothes 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- coloured 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 | Of Shouts & Trumpets

Key Word:- WORSHIP

Title:- Of Shouts & Trumpets

Joshua 6:5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. .
 
As a former submarine sonar operator at the end of the Cold War, I spent long periods of time, listening to and identifying the sound of enemy ships and submarines. I still remember the distinctive and identifying sound signature of Soviet K Class warships: 2 shafts, 4 blades and lots of resonance. You see, the Soviet design of these massive battle cruisers led to a specific structural-acoustic resonance, which produced a kind of ‘singing sound’ in the audible frequency range of humans. ‘Blade resonance’ put a loud and distinct shouting voice to these dangerous behemoths of the past and no doubt upon their detection during the Cold War, caused the loading of many a torpedo tube!

On this day in 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State, collapsed into the roaring foam of the Puget Sound beneath. The 2,300 foot long suspension bridge, then the third largest in the world, though built to withstand winds of 120 mph, destroyed itself four months after its completion, in moderate winds of just 42mph. Galloping Gertie, as the bridge had become known, finally fell over the fence! Most engineers now agree that the wind began to resonate with the natural frequency of the structure, causing a steady increase in amplitude, until the bridge finally collapsed.

‘Resonance is the property, which most objects have, of vibrating more strongly when exposed to an external force which is itself vibrating at the object's natural frequency. So what? Well in our text for today, some people have suggested that the combined final shouts and trumpets of the army that silently walked for 7 days around Jericho, was an example of God’s sonic weapon, ‘resonating’ down the mighty walls of Jericho!

I have three simple points today.

First of all friends, find out what it is that makes your heart sing, makes it resonate at it’s natural frequency and then amplifies it some. For example, I know that there are particular activities, people, prayers and programmes, and a whole lot more that energize me and fill me with joy and I need to be around that! In this sense we are each tuned to our own particular frequency and find fun, (yes, that is a Christian word), we find fun in operating and living in that area of excitation. We need enough of this to keep us ‘alive’ in our hearts, but not too much to shatter our personhood in selfishness. Think about it and be wise.

Secondly, it is interesting that the Scriptures present sounds which accompany battle, victory, or celebration and festivity. Each sound supremely distinct and each one absolutely necessary. Undoubtedly these sounds, encased in poetic imagery, carry with them accompanying images of purpose. However, I wonder if they do more than pad out the prose? I mean could there be more? I am not talking about some wacky new age crystal vibration humbug here folks, just acknowledging that shouts and songs, tumbrel and trumpet all have a vital, communicative and resonant effect on us and the places we attack.

So let me ask you today friend, what are you listening to? I mean what kind of song is RESONATING in your heart, warming it, soothing it, exciting it, and preparing it for battle? God has put a resident and resonant frequency on your heart and you had better find it friend and live in it. I suppose I am asking you: just what is your shouting voice? Find it.

Lastly, find out what songs and sounds the enemy has robbed you of . Undoubtedly these are the ones he fears the most, for they will bring his strongholds down.

He who has ears to hear; let him hear.

Listen:- For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 
1 Thess 4:16-18

Pray: - Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.
Oh, singing Saviour, shouting God, give me songs at midnight and shouts in the noon day sun. Amen.

 

Nov | 07 | Loving on Len

Dream Word – COURAGE

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 years of age 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 years of age 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 | How To Unseat The Heavy Horsemen of Hopelessness With Keys

Key Word:- HOPE

Title:- How To Unseat The Heavy Horsemen of Hopelessness Using Keys! 

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick....

“When all hope was lost; he invented it.” So goes the tag line to the 1999 American remake of Frank Beyers ‘Jakob der Lugner’ or ‘Jacob the Liar.’

Robin Williams plays the part of the fictitious Jakob Heym, a poor café owner and Polish Jew held captive and dying in the Warsaw ghetto. His friend, professor and local medical practitioner Dr Kirshbaum, reports to Jakob of a distinct drop in the suicide rate since Jakob reported hearing a favourable report on the radio about Allied troop advancements. The word goes out that Jakob has a secret radio and in turn, Jakob is forced into making up even more favourable but false reports to keep people alive in the ghetto, for he has no radio and never had! Even so, the brutalised ghetto population has gained hope through Jakob’s lies and so begins to hang on to the what little life it has. Maybe there is a way out of their hell? Jakob lies to give people hope and keep them alive.

The film, though set around a fictitious character is never the less rooted in both twentieth century atrocity and a timeless truth. “People cannot live without hope.” Just yesterday I met a remarkable man who had shot himself in the foot, he told me that he “had heard of other people dying of non life-threatening flesh wounds just because they told themselves they were going to die. So when I accidentily shot myself I just kept telling myself you are not going to die, you are not going to die.” And die he didn’t! Hope you see, is life itself to many injured folk.

Bunyan in that other timeless classic ‘Pilgrims Progress’ has the giant named ‘Despair’ take the characters ‘Christian’ and ‘Hopeful’ into his castle-yard, and show them the high pile of other pilgrim’s bones that had failed to escape his clutches. “These,” said he, “were pilgrims, as you are, once, and they trespassed on my grounds, as you have done; and when I thought fit I tore them in pieces; and so within ten days I will do to you: get you down to your den again.” And with that, says John Bunyan, he beat them all the way thither. They lay, therefore, all day on Saturday in a lamentable case, as before. Now, when night was come, and when Mrs. Diffidence and her husband the giant was got to bed, they began to renew their discourse of their prisoners; and withal, the old giant wondered that he could neither by his blows nor counsel bring them to an end. And with that his wife replied, “I fear”, said she, “that they live in hopes that some will come to relieve them;”

Dear Christian friend, if you have no hope in the betterment of your circumstance, if you have no hope of the redemption of your situation, your are in a most pitiable condition and may I tell you that you have undoubtedly been blinded by the enemy and robbed of your inheritance as well as made to suffer for the pure purpose of his own demonic pleasure. Enough, it’s time to flee doubting castle and giant despair! You need that hope you have lost and as a child of God you have every reason to both possess it and to live off it, for hope is your inalienable right and your most reasonable expectation.

This is the second time I have spoken about this despairing kind of hopelessness this year. My reason for doing so, is that I have observed HOPELESSNESS to be a most effective weapon of the enemy, that is consistently brought against the sons and daughters of the Most High God. Hopeless and miserable Christians are an open show of shame in the heavenlies. The enemy delights in such degradation and it is this time of year, this time of autumnal endings and preparations for winter, when the monsters of misery seem to leave that foul pit and plunder the promises left lying around by us lackadaisical Christians. Enough of that! Enough of it!

Recovered hope is the only solution to your despair and is as easy to get as it is difficult to apply.

First, reach into the bosom of your own heart and find the promises of God laid up for you there. He has spoken to you in the past. Remember those words?

Now secondly, reach into the Scriptures and seek out all those words which are “yes” and "let it be so in Christ Jesus.” In other words, take His promises declared to you in the Bible and stick them in your dark dungeons door lock and turn hard. Put some effort into your belief, even get a friend to help you if needs be, even get a giant slayer to pray with you maybe, for sometimes these oppressive monsters of despair almost need crow barring off the backs of beleaguered pilgrims. Yes sometimes we even need deliverance from these oppressive menaces. The lock might be hard, but it must be turned with the keys of promise.

When hope comes through that promise opened door, so comes in the light; when light comes, so comes deliverance; when deliverance comes, then comes life and joy and fruitfulness. Real hope is only contained in the promises of God made toward you in both the Scriptures and in your heart. Go find all those keys of promise for you must have hope to live! Come on now, you can do it! For if lies can keep thousands alive, then how much for the truth can make you live again.

Listen:- Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

Pray: - Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 43:3-5

Nov | 06 | Scattered, Smothered & Covered

Dream Word – DESTINY

Acts 8:1-5 ... 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 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 | Of Angels Of Protection & Pyramids of Hope

Key Word:- HOPE

Title:- Of Angels of Protection & Pyramids of Hope

Ezekiel 36:11 I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

I come from a mining community. A town once circled by pit head shafts and rotating wheels, dropping men like moles, into the deep darkness to dig out that black burning fossil called coal.

Just around the corner from I where I lived, Poolsbrook was once a grim dormitory village for “off shift” workers, and like a frightened puppy, lay submissively on it’s bony back, its bent little legs upright and quivering beneath the menacing, grey and growing, slithering slagheaps, whimpering prayers that the terrors of Aberfaan might not visit them there one too wet Tuesday.

Poolsbrook held the felt persona of the ruined black-faced miners, returning to the surface; always coughing, always tired and sweaty, spitting up its own blood in coal dusted coated phlegm. I always remember moving through it quickly, for Poolsbrook, was never a place to stay but always somewhere to pass through and for any youngster born there, growing up under the coal slack grey, Poolsbrook was always somewhere to get out of.

The final closing of the coal industry prefixed by long and running, scabby battles with bussed in policemen, meant in the late 1980’s the village finally rolled over and seemingly breathed its last, leaving the scene, raped, ripped and ravaged. The last turn of the pithead wheel ushered in all the terrors of mass unemployment witnessed at the end of the 20th century: collapse of community, splits in family, spliffs of dope and a deluge of desperateness, drugs and crime, together with a dark felt hopelessness and huge male teenage suicide.

Friends, I paint this grim picture today for three reasons. First because that is the way I remember Poolsbrook as a child. Secondly because in my brief visits back after the long miners strike in the 1980’s, that is what I witnessed there, but thirdly and most remarkably, because from the distance of the 21st century, Poolsbrook seems to live again!

Over the years, government inward investment and redevelopment have led to the building of a pyramid which will be taller than that other recent sign of renewal and rejuvenation ‘The Angel of the North’. Both monuments at the heart of governement killed communities are testimonies to an attempt at successful change and area revitalization. The Poolsbrook pyramid will be seen by millions, as that major artery of transportation, the MI motorway, winds its way through that once industrialized Derbyshire. My oh my how do things change!
Laying aside the politics and maybe poor choice of spending, the message of this pyramid is of change and hope. Imagine if, twenty-five years ago, you had grabbed a youngster bouncing his ball against the walls of the grey, back to back houses and whispered in his ears that as a man he would see a preaching pyramid shouting in his fields! I tell you, he would not have believed you but now to all who see this pyramid, it shouts with defiance and thankfulness for the village of Poolsbrook saying, “We stand for something! We are not forsaken or forgotten! We are not dead! Life lives here!” So, Poolsbrook today, like Egypt of old, has now its pyramid. Who would have believed it!?

Fellow Christian, destitute, empty and distraught. I speak to you today my friend and remind you of the goodness of God our Father, who is always more willing to bless than to blast. The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train, but His goodness speeding toward you. So walk among your ruins; repent where necessary and begin to believe that God is good and is in the business of such royal redemption, that from your heart of faith you may write upon your fallen towers and salted fields now flooded with grief, these true and remarkable words: bigger, better, best! The ruins of your life marked by devastation all around you, all stinking with the stench of loss and the lethargy, can all be rebuilt, rediscovered re-invigorated and renewed with strength, yes, they can be made more beautiful than before; can be better, bigger, best. Do you not know that the latter things of God are always better than the first? Do you not know that God’s gifts given later are always better bigger and longer lasting than the first gifts given? You see dear friend, restoration, renewal and redemption are all in the hands of our gracious God, who delights to paint your life afresh in these, His glorious colours three. Look in your forgotten fields for I tell you that in God, the best is always yet to come and who knows, someone may have placed a protecting angel or planted a shouting pyramid there for all the world to see? Stranger things have happened!

Listen:- For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 36:9-12

Pray: - Oh God of New Beginnings, begin again in me today, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

ADDENDUM  |  I hear that Governement Cut Backs means that as of 2010 - the Pyramid will never be built!
 

Nov | 05 | How To Get High!

Dream Word – GOODNESS

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. (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 at 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 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 screenplay 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 which the Auschwitz 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, 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 | How To Debate With The Devil

Key Word:- FIGHT

Title:- How To Debate With The Devil

Isaiah 36:21 But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, “Do not answer him."

The siege of Jerusalem was no laughing matter. Though a city could hold out for a long time against even the staunchest attackers, a long siege would inevitably lead to starvation and sickness, coupled with all its associated evils, even to cannibalism.
In those days the fall of a city after such long sieges did not lend itself to civility. The conquerors could be brutal. It was therefore seemingly in the interests of all parties, for the city of Jerusalem to surrender at a very early stage. Sennacherib could not blow the walls of Jerusalem down, so now, he would mock them down, shock them down and lie them down, by melting the strong hearts that held them up.

It is Sennacherib’s chief officer in the field that went to speak to the wobbling warriors on the walls. He knew how to speak their language, was erudite, clever, insolent, arrogant, haughty and lying. His chief purpose was to achieve an early surrender by starting such a fire of fear in the hearts of his hearers, that the crackle of it would burst from their lips upon Hezekiah the king and force him to open the gates and so get the sucker to succumb. King Hezekiah may have been many things, but in this incident, he was wise. If he couldn’t stop his enemy arriving, if he couldn’t stop his enemy speaking; if he couldn’t stop his people listening; well, he could certainly stop them replying.

Here then are five things for you to remember today. Take your right hand and place these rings of knowledge on each finger and your thumb.

Firstly then, learn that the devil is immensely clever. He knows how to speak to you, when and where. How will you know it’s him speaking? Well a testimony to his talking, is the quivering fear you feel in your heart as you seek to obey the Lord.

Secondly, note that the devil always takes some truthful facts to try and hide his massive lies. This has worked well for him for thousands of years. Wise up dear friend. If it isn’t the whole truth you are hearing, then it’s probably the devil that’s doing all the talking.

Thirdly, if at all possible, don’t give the devil an audience, don’t give him opportunity to tell you his terms, don’t let him in and don’t let him speak. Do not give him permission to speak to you. Do not make yourself available to him.

Fourthly, if the devil surprises you in his arrival, do not be polite. Don’t listen. Turn your back on him. Avert your gaze. Fill your ears with better sounds, fill your mind with Scriptural truth.

Lastly of course. DON’T SPEAK TO THE DEVIL. Yes, this is how you debate with the devil. YOU DON’T! Dear friend, never ever enter into conversation with the devil. Don’t debate, don’t justify, don’t speak.

The presence of quivering fear is a sign of the enemies voice, which will be evidenced with a little truth and a lot of lies, so don’t give him an audience, don’t be polite, don’t listen and do not reply. Got it? The only words that you should speak, if any, are those given to you by the Lord your God. The Lord knows where the devil lives. God’s got his number, God knows what’s going on. So let God speak. Got it? Good!

Listen:- “But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came.” Isaiah 37:28-29

Pray: - Jesus, put a guard on my lips, put Your sword in my hands, and in hearing of the devil's monstrous lies and endemic fear, turn me again to the crystal clear, voice of Your truth, and with the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep my heart and keep my mind. Amen.

 

Nov | 04 | The Antidote To Christian Cannibalism

Dream Word – GIVE

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 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 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 develop 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 | Midnight Brides

Key Word:- BELIEVE

Title:- Midnight Brides

Isaiah 34:16 “Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate....."
 
I have spoken with a number of single women over the years, many of whom have been friends, who have longed to be married. They have faithfully sought God in prayer that He would provide a partner for their journey. They are not called to celibacy but are ready for love, in all its forms and demands. Over the years they have been saving themselves for that beloved spouse who they dream, one day, will sweep into their lives and rescue them from their loneliness and their frustration. In every thought prayer and fantasy, in times of happy hope, as well as in times of tearful despair, Disney’s “Some Day My Prince Will Come” has played repeatedly in their minds and danced upon their hearts.”

Months of waiting turn into years and for many, years have turned into decades. Then one day when getting out of her lilac perfumed bath, the hopeful princess, who has lived her life in perpetual preparation, will stare into the mirror and this time hear the whistle of times passing train. Conducted by gravity, her gifts have begun to slowly chug South on the old sag railroad, whilst the crows of age have stepped astride her once bright eyes and pecked her furrowed forehead and dragged down her cheerful cheeks. The thought of her prince arriving right now is still a nice thought, kind of, but mixed with a little anger, a lot of regret, and a bit more fear. Frankly the timing of the prince, stinks! Whilst the thoughts of his sending father, who has been so daily implored. seems increasingly inscrutable? What is He thinking? Why hasn’t He sent the prince?

I saw her in Disney World, Florida. The white and sparkling Mickey Mouse ears, with matching bridal veil, did not become her. She was carrying a few spare tires, and her arms were bigger than Joe Bugner’s biceps. For me though, it was the shorts straining against the dammed up belly and the furry flip flops smacking loudly against the old calloused heals, that dissipated the magic of the shimmering veil into damp and soured silliness. We all know that the paraphernalia of the cartooned Princess was made for the little girl in the long dress a long way a way, dancing in the mirror with matching sparkly shoes and handfuls of smiling flowers singing “Some Day My Prince Will Come” in knowing expectancy. Friends, touched up Technicolor and cheery songs of hope may fill the life of a little girl with happy hope but it’s no good for a real woman, no good for a seemingly forgotten bride, whose flip flops seem to be a flappin. Is there an answer for all those faithful brides a waiting?

The only answer I have found for waiting brides in the midnight of their lives is to seek the far horizons beyond the eastern hills. Such far and faithful gazing will I assure you, make the now, touch and taste the fair winds of God’s fragrant future, fixed in heaven for you. Believe me when I tell you, that such far horizon gazing will bring your dreams to your side and your hopes to your breaking heart. In your frustrations with the much implored and pleaded with Father and much heart remonstrated regret, don’t dismiss these dreams of mating and hopes of marriage as mocking and idle fancies, oh no, whatever you do, don’t clear your table of these comforting delights. “What comforting delights?” I hear some of you say, “ what comforting delights is there when my time here is almost done, my beauty almost faded.” Good question.

Surely, this truth stands forever that “it is not good for man to be alone”. My mere conjecture (for Scripture is silent on this) and my firm belief, is that in the coming Kingdom, though there may not be marrying and giving in marriage, there may in fact be something better and something far more wonderful, than we ever imagined. Waiting bride, it is Jesus that has filled you with this hope of a soul mate and a stunning prince to come, Jesus has given you this desire, even this great need and it is not to mock you, nor to hurt you, but in the end to bless you! He is your all in all, for sure, no doubt about it, and amen and amen, and so I wonder, in being just that for you, if He has in turn provided for you, some Prince of God, who you will only embrace in His Glorious and coming Kingdom? I wonder. I think so. Why not?

If your lost hope has led you to desperate acts, leaving you either sad or sullied, sleepy or cynical; then may I encourage you, to look once again to His throne of grace and the eastern hills of all His promises, where you will find from Him, an even better song to sing than 'Someday my prince will come.,

Church of Christ, desperate for His appearing, look you again to the far horizon, for you are not forgotten either and the best is yet to come; is even coming very soon and hey, His reward is with Him!

Listen:- “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’

Pray:- Faithful God, fulfiller of all my dreams; bring Your far horizons close to my heart once more, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Addendum:: In 2012 as the Church in England dies and as statistics forecast zero, nada, none, NO men in the church in the next 18 years, this will be an increasing pastoral issue. In truth, it will be one of the major issues in the church.

 

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

Dream Word – CONFIDENCE

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 brain's 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 | Of Peasants & Pancakes

Key Word:- BECOME

Title:- Of Peasants & Pancakes

Matthew 25:34-35 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;

The waitress said that in her country of origin she was held in awe for the simple fact that she knew how to make pancakes! As she had made them often, and consumed many; the youngsters thought she was the bomb.

Poverty and the opportunity of work had drawn her, like so many, to the bright lights of America. Her only child stayed with her mother, while she lived in a long stay hotel-motel somewhere, saving, whilst she juggled two jobs or possibly three, getting more money together to slowly ascend the long and high, socio-economic ladder. I tell you, it’s a story that’s repeated hundreds of thousands of times all around the world. Her one gripe in all of this, and I was surprised at there being only one, was for her to witness the daily waste of precious pancakes. “One place I work,” she says, in a you–won’t-believe-what–I-am-going-to-tell-you kind of way, “One place I work, throws away more pancakes than it serves! Just throws them away! I know children, hungry children, who dream of eating pancakes and they throw them away!”
At the ‘all you can eat’ buffet we sit down to our fourth helping, surrounded by our fellow obese beasts, chowing down and troughing up, being sure of course, to sip on our DIET drinks, while in the glazed daze of overeating, we dream of surgery-sucking fat machines and the precision placements of plastic surgeons, slipping shapely silicon implants that will turn us from sows into swans overnight! Then, in the moonlight, for fun and for a little exercise, we the enormous, will waddle down to our wine lakes in the long shadows of towering ‘butter mountains’, just to flip a few pancakes and skim them across the surface of the shimmering Sangria, while we wait for our long luxurious limousine to take us just two blocks home to bed. On the way to our king size alters, resting for some of us, on concrete blocks, we remember the refrigerator and in the late and hungry midnight hours call our partners in food crime and sing into our cell phones, “Eclair de la lune mon ami Pierrot,” which roughly translated means: “My good friend Pierrot, I am mad with hunger, so be sure to save me an éclair tonight. And don’t you dare lick the chocolate off the top‘cause it’s mine all mine!!”

It isn’t hard for us to feel guilty amidst this overwhelming abundance and so, speaking for myself, I am not surprised at my capacity to willingly forget the poor and hungry. After all I don’t know these pitiful, pancake desiring peasants do I? Guilt is so bothersome and so demanding and oh so tiring! After all, I am not into general waste management, just my own waist management, and good grief that’s hard enough. No! These flat unfilled pancake peasants are not my problem. After all, my government does not hold me to account for them and so neither should my God.

Tonight, vast amounts of yet unconsumed sweets and savouries will be thrown away. Economics, will not allow us to feed the poor. Imagine that! Economics, will not allow us to feed the poor and the hungry. The mournful mantra of the mad politic is “If it cannot earn, then let it burn; if we cannot store it then let us pour it.” And beneath the ledger lines of this silly song, little children with large worm filled bellies, will die tonight. Tens of thousands of them, will die this very night as we throw food away. We can do something about this you know? If we want to. We need to really because it’s not just members of the human race that are racked with hunger but members of our own Kingdom family.

We in ‘the body’, should not kid ourselves that none of the starving hungry will be our fellow Christians, for friends, unlike David of old, we the blessed, have the opportunity in glorious ‘techni-colour,’ to see the righteous, begging bread. See the righteous, begging bread. Imagine that. Look and be astonished! See the righteous, begging bread.

Listen:- “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Pray: - Prince of peace, let us remember the poor when we eat our pancakes; when we pull our large pants over our growing girth, and when we are invited to super size the already oversized. O God, let us remember Your words of frightening accountability, before we die, before we sleep tonight. Amen.

 

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

Dream Word – TRUTH

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 overtonal 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 | Of Wolves & Shattered Shields

Key Word:- STRENGTH

Title:- Of Wolves & Shattered Shields

Isaiah 28:5,6 In that day the LORD of hosts will be For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty To the remnant of His people, For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

It is true that over a billion people are presently more familiar with the fictitious names of Frodo, King Aragorn, Gandalf, and the terrible Sauron who has finally been met at the black gates of Mordor, rather than the real names of Goliath, Gath, (a heavily fortified wall city of giants) Ekron (the seat of Bealzebub) and the double gates of Shaaraim. Never the less, both the fictional and real, paint the same double message for us today. Evil dwells behind strong black gates, and those who are more than conquerors, must turn back their advancing foes and pursue them to these very gates of origin, root them out and utterly destroy them.

The fundamental idea that John Eldridge presents in his book ‘Waking the Dead’ that: ‘the only way we can understand the world and our place in it is that we are in a dreadful battle for our hearts’ is more than a proposition for calm consideration; it is a Biblical presentation of dreadful fact, that calls us to arms. Jesus places us upon a fortified rock and calls His church into existence in the midst of this mighty conflict! Listen “I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” . Matthew 16:18-19.You can't get away from it friends, we are born for bruising, birthed for battle and made to be more than conquerors amidst this red and roaring, ripping rumble of all out war. Christianity is not about old ladies in furry hats sipping tea on a Tuesday afternoon, eating cake and cooing over the nice young vicar! It’s not about nice suits and tidy children, marching into shiny pews on a Sunday to hear some overqualified youngster droning on about Greek grammar and the exciting twist of a Hebrew nuance! It’s about war! It’s about conquest! It’s about fighting! Fighting for our hearts and the hearts of others. It’s about rescue, recovery and redemption. It’s about facing the fiercest foe that ever existed, chopping his head off and pursuing his dreadful demons back to and behind, the very gates from whence they came, rooting them out, burning down their towers and claiming all the land for your self. Indeed, every place your foot shall tread shall be yours!

Now, wait a minute young Frodo, don’t go charging off towards the black gates of Mordor by yourself just yet. Our foe is truly, a black evil that never sleeps. He has been around a long time, is well organized, fortified and supplied. Me thinks though, that a Caleb might show us how to overcome him , or a band of three brothers might dare into captured Bethlehem once more and bring some freshness to a thirsty king. Truth is, in this fearful fight, we need one another. Truth is that we need to be band of brothers, especially when we are tired, especially when we have pursued the enemy back to his lair, and the towering black gates before us make us drip with fear. Community and conquering kings, are the only things that will keep us men of the west, facing the foe and overcoming our fears.
So today, to all my tired and retreat tempted warrior friends who are drawing back at the serpentine sound from behind those big black gates and shivering with fear; I counsel you to listen to the true words of a fictional king, that never the less, have a few fine words for warriors like you that have dared to come so far and have besieged the gates of Mordor:

“Hold your ground—hold your ground! Sons of Gondor—of Rohan, my brothers!
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
The day may come when the courage of men fails,
when we forsake our friends and break all bands of fellowship
—but it is not this day!
An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the Age of Man comes crashing down
—but it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear in this good earth,
I bid you stand,
men of the West!

Listen:- Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. 1 Samuel 17:52

Pray: - Master and Commander of the armies of heaven; fairest Lord Jesus, we shout with You today, for those walls we see are coming down! Even the gate bar of Damascus will shatter before our hearts of pounding faith! For Surely, if You are for us great King, then who can stand against us? Lord, by your grace and power, this day we shall stand and fight.

 

Nov | 01 | Beware This Flower's Power

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.