Prayer is a powerful means of grace

Prayer is God’s appointed way to receive from God what we need. The main reason why we lack God’s complete provision is the neglect of prayer.   The believers in the Bible regarded prayer as the most important activity of their lives. Give a prominent place to prayer during your Quiet Times.

Prayer occupied a very prominent place and played a very important role in the earthly life of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Follow his example. Praying is now the most important part of the ministry of our risen Lord in heaven. Ask Jesus to pray for you.

Prayer is the means that God has appointed for us to receive mercy, and obtaining grace to help us in time of need. Remember to ask for mercy – “In your mercy, Lord, hear my prayer.”

Prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ is the way he has appointed for his disciples to obtain fullness of joy.

Prayer is the means that God has appointed that we may receive freedom from anxiety and the peace of God, which passes all understanding.  Just tell him what scares you, makes you anxious and is the challenge you face. Prayer is the means that Christ has appointed whereby we will not be overcome by the cares of this life.  Tell God about your worries and concerns.

Prayer promotes our spiritual growth.  It is fellowship with God. Also share with God what makes you happy and excited – thanking him for it. Prayer brings power into our work for him.  Ask for the guidance and the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer benefits the needs of others.   Name the needs of those whose troubles and challenges are on your heart.

Prayer brings blessings to the church.  Pray for the congregation, the current agenda points you are aware of, the minister, the elders, all the leaders, members who asked for prayer - by name, for the children and youth ministries and for the outreach where our church is involved.

Courage: a result of our relationship with Jesus.

We gain courage to serve the Lord and boldness to serve others in his Name when we are not manipulated or intimidated by an unbelieving society, but draw our power from King Jesus, our risen Lord.

Jesus is the source of power by which we become confident and bold. When the first church in Jerusalem needed boldness, they knew that they needed prayer. And so they prayed:

"Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4:29-30)

They never thought that they should have to bear their challenge to live for Christ alone. They laid that problem at his feet. God would do something about it.  The mission of the early Church was to be able to confidently speak and live according to the Good News about Jesus Christ.

This is what we too should seek to do today.  

“Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness”    They lived with boldness and had mercy on others, with courage. They prayed, and fear turned into power, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

You better be careful when you pray this kind of prayer. This is the kind of prayer that God answers. The Scripture says, after they prayed they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31)

Courage is a consequence of our relationship with Jesus.

Life is short: Make every second count.

Is 60:1:  "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.”

This positive, exciting invitation to do meaningful things with our short time on this earth means at least three things.

Firstly, we should rise from sin’s darkness and arrive at a place where the glory of God gives light to our ways and plans. Those who arise and shine leave the space of the children of darkness in every aspect of their lives. Make every second count by living in the Light!

Eph 5: 8 -12: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.“

Secondly, it means that as children of light of the Lord, our lives should be full of the fruit of his holy light: goodness, righteousness and truth, faith, grace, compassion and faithfulness, and above all, Jesus-love.  Make every second count by living in the Light!

Thirdly, the light of Jesus will under all circumstances be visibly manifested in our lives. People should be able to look at us and see the light of Christ in us. This is how Isaiah puts it:

(Is 60:3) “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”  Make every second count by living in the Light!

For those who do not know Jesus Christ our lives must show that we own something really special that they do not have. They must see the glorious light of God’s presence in Christ in our lives, become curious and become willing “to arise, shine and come to our light”. Even kings, leaders, people with influence and authority will come to the “brightness of our dawn”. Because we carry in us the light that divine and godly Jesus brought into the world.

This is the thing:  reflect the light of Christ and show others the way to God and to heaven, because you carry the Light of the world wherever you go!  May we never hide it when we can help someone who lost their “map to return to God” and show them the way back.

Make every second count by living in the Light!   Arise and Shine!

Signs and wonders today?

There is no doubt that most people are greatly interested in and really curious about signs and wonders.  News about miracles always attracts our attention. Most of us have a desire that God will somehow confirm our calling through wonders and the supernatural.

When we read the Word in Acts 2: 43, especially as Christians with a ministry, we wish to have our own divine signs that we are part of God’s growth priority:

Acts 2: 43:  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

During the ministry of Jesus on earth, the religious leaders asked him to show them a sign! But Jesus refused to be manipulated by their misguided requests. He did not do his miracles as a performance or for their entertainment! 

His miracles had a purpose. They were the signs that the Kingdom of God, his dominion through the Messiah, had come into the world. This is still God’s purpose with signs and wonders he grants us through his grace!

Signs and wonders are not related to the power of our faith. It is related to the revelation of the might of the resurrected Jesus and therefore is intrinsically part of and related to the sovereignty of God’s grace and the mercy of his Son!

Paul taught that (2 Corinthians 12:12), "The things that mark an apostle — signs, wonders and miracles — were done among you with great perseverance."  God worked in a special and even unique way through these first apostles. They truly had and will always have a special place in the establishment of the Church of Christ and of his dominion amongst his people after the ascension of Jesus and after Pentecost. There was something unique and exceptional about the grandeur of the signs and wonders done through the first Church and the apostles.

The signs and wonders given by the Lord through the first Church served a most important purpose.  The purpose was to help those in need (a pastoral purpose), to grow the faith of the apostles and the first Church (a ministry purpose) and most of all to transform them into an awe-filled worshipping Church to exalt and glorify the ascended Jesus (a doxological purpose).

But we can miss what God is doing because of our limited understanding of God’s pastoral, ministry and doxological purpose amongst his people!  

As there is no doubt that God does not give signs and wonders to thrill and entertain us, God works and will always work his miracles to fulfil his purposes.

This is basically whom God is! And always was and will be.

God is not limited by our inadequate understanding or faith!

The signs and wonders of God remain part of his sovereign interventions to make his Church an agent of his purpose!

God’s purpose for an inspired church, filled with his Spirit and enabled by the resurrection power of his Son, remains to care for us pastorally, to minister to us efficiently and to glorify and exalt his most holy Majesty! Amongst other ways, also through signs and wonders.

Believe it, and pray for it!

A liturgical Creed for Trinity Sunday.

A liturgical Creed for Trinity Sunday.

I believe in the one and only almighty God:

the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

I believe in God the Father,

Creator and Sustainer of all things;

And in God the Son,

Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord,

who suffered and died for our sins,

rose from the dead,

and is exalted in heaven

for the sake of our eternal victory;

And in God, the Holy Spirit,

who assembles the Church,

makes us one body in Christ,

convicts us of both sin and forgiveness,

and works eternal life in us.    AMEN.

Pentecost Sunday – central to the work of God.

We must ask what difference it makes to us today that the first Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit 2000 years ago on the Jewish festival of Shavuot (Hebrew) or Pentecost (Greek).   The impact is that all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour receive “the indwelling and power of the Spirit”.

Pentecost, celebrated on 15 May 2016, matters because it clearly shows that the Church plays a central role in God’s work in our world.

We know that the Holy Spirit was poured out on individual disciples of Jesus as they were patiently waiting upon the fulfilment of the promise Jesus made to them about the coming of the Spirit. They were praying for 10 days waiting upon the Lord to fill them and share the power of the resurrected Christ with them by baptizing them with the Spirit of God.

The Pentecost day turned followers of Christ into the first congregation of the Christian Church, as they all received the power of the Holy Spirit. Along with the first disciples, they also shared in becoming a Christian community or family.

They taught about the resurrected Lord, broke bread, prayed and enjoyed such a special fellowship that many more came to join in their faith and in celebrating the resurrected Jesus. They cheerfully gave of their belongings to feed the hungry and maintain the ministry of Word and Sacrament. And “the Lord daily added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Pentecost matters, because it tells us about the birthday and role of the Church in the coming Kingdom of God.

It was no coincidence that the congregation was praying together when the Spirit was poured out. This first “grandmother church” would be the root from which the Church of our Lord would grow. Their experience on the first Pentecost teaches that the Church is central to God’s work and plan through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in the Church and all her members. Paul therefore calls the Church the Temple of God in which the Spirit dwells. (1 Cor 3.)    The truth found throughout Scriptures is that the Church in which the Spirit dwells is central to the Father’s work in the world and is central to our worship, growth and service.

Pentecost insists that we reflect on our own participation in the work, mission and life of the Church of God. We need to continuously renew our covenant with the God of grace, received at baptism and confirmed by our public confession of faith, to live as a contributing member of the body of Christ.

Pentecost calls us to build the Church of our Lord by preaching the Word, sharing in her holy sacraments and spreading the salvation, love, power and justice of Jesus Christ across the world.

Ascension Day proclaims the Lordship of Christ.

On Ascension Day, this year celebrated on Thursday 5 May, we proclaim that Jesus is our Lord. That he died for our sins and has been raised from the dead.

He is alive forever, and ascended into heaven, where he was enthroned at the right hand of God the Father and has all authority in heaven and on earth.

We have an advocate in heaven.

He listens to our prayers.

He will crush all his enemies.

He will come again.

Therefore, we must go and make disciples of all nations

and serve him with love, obedience, reverence and in worship till our life's end.

The Ascension of Christ proclaims his authority over all.  1 Peter 3:22 says that Christ “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him”  And Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Matthew 28:18-20.

Ascension Day proclaims the Lordship of Christ in every area of life. Jesus has all authority. Jesus is Lord over the world of business, sports, entertainment and government. Jesus Christ is Lord over the Church, schools, shops, entertainment, manufacturing, public service, justice and parliament and law enforcement.

Every professional, worker, manager, teacher, policeman, politician, business person, mother, father, and every person in authority or under authority is individually accountable to God and will one day give account of their lives before the almighty Christ, Lord, King and Judge who reigns in heaven and has dominion over everything.

Ascension Day is a glorious celebration of and holy reminder and assurance that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14

The Ascension of Jesus celebrates both the forgiveness through - and the victory of Christ.

Ps 110: 1 reads: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”

The Ascension of the Lord Jesus proclaims the ultimate victory of Christ and proclaims that he is the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the Head of the Church.   Whoever refuses to bow before Christ as only Saviour today, while grace and forgiveness are still freely available, will one day have to bow before Christ as the eternal Judge, and without forgiveness will be lost forever!

The Ascension of Jesus Christ comforts all believers amidst their struggles and especially those who suffer persecution. But the Bible says, “Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the Faith we profess.” Hebrews 4:14.

We have an Advocate in Heaven. He hears our prayers. He intercedes for us.

He will come again. He will defeat every authority that repudiates him and questions his pre-eminence.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”   Philippians 2:9-11.

May the Lord bless, keep and sustain us and grant us a blessed Ascension Day and empowering Pentecost!

Resurrection life! We live in the Body of Christ.

Do you remember that before you belonged to Christ you were held in a prison called Spiritual Death?

The Bible comments clearly on this in Ephesians 2: 1 – 7:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. We were by nature children of wrath.  But God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.

It is this combination of despair and faith that Paul speaks about that reveals the refreshing realism of the Bible. For what Paul does in this passage is to paint a vivid contrast between what humankind is by nature and what we become by grace in and through Jesus Christ, the risen Lord.

This contrast between the spiritual death of humankind and the deliverance of God causes us to rejoice about the privilege to live the Body Life, in other words the true life found in the Church of Christ.

We once were sons and daughters of disobedience. Spiritual death and disobedience characterised our lives before we came to live in Christ. We walked according to the directions of ungodly society before we came nearer to Christ, to live in him.

Why reflect on this? That we may rejoice with enthusiasm about the Body Life we experience in the Church of Christ,  given to us in Jesus our Lord, that we may praise God with all our heart for the resurrection life, when we understand that it delivered us from our sins and from the wrath of God - and made us a people, a community of faith,  who are alive through the Spirit: sanctified, forgiven and saved.

Praise God for the grace of knowing that we now are part of Christ’s Body and a member of his chosen people, his Church. I rejoice because I am one of those who are alive in him.

Only Jesus has the key to unlock the prison of spiritual death.

And he gave me this life because he loves me.  Praise his glorious Name!

Lord, help me to pray!

We need the power of prayer. And we will only experience powerful prayer in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, if our prayers are guided by the Holy Spirit.

John 15:7: Jesus said -  “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you”.

Praying boldly requires first of all that we in faith acknowledge our union with Christ. Those who live in the Body of Christ are able to pray while the Spirit unites us with Jesus Christ.

And yes, those who remain in Christ receive the guidance of the Spirit that helps them to pray.

Listen to what the Bible has to say about this:

Ephesians 6:18:”And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Jude 20: “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.”

When we remain in Christ and his words remain in us, his Holy Spirit inspires and leads us in prayer that God the Father answers.

1) True prayer is prayer that the Spirit inspires and directs. Acknowledging our inability to pray according to God’s will, we should look up to the Holy Spirit, depending on him to direct our prayers, to lead our desires, and to guide our words.

2) Christ, our Head, in who’s Name we pray, will teach us how to pray, as he taught the disciples. This happens through the work of the Spirit he will send to guide and inspire us.

3) When we feel least like praying, we should wait quietly before God and tell him how cold and without prayer our hearts are, trusting the Lord to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts, teaching and inspiring us to pray.

4) In Mark 11:24 Jesus said:  “Therefore I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” Prayer that believes that we received what we prayed, follows our consideration of the Scriptures. We believe that we received, because we ask what the Bible promises and proclaims.

The Lord helps us to pray under guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Our union with Christ, our living in his Body and our relationship with him, ensures that his Spirit that dwells in us, inspires and leads our understanding of his Word, and therefore teaches us to pray according to his will.

And every prayer that is in accordance with the will of God, is answered.

Holy Communion: To Supper with Jesus!

On Sunday we will be sitting in our quaint, beautiful chapel, sharing bread and wine. Yet this experience will call upon our senses and our memories and we will find ourselves being taken 2000 years and a continent away, to an upper room in Jerusalem where Jesus and his 12 disciples first shared this very Supper.

That night started as a Jewish Passover meal. They dined on lamb, bread, wine and gravy with the aromas of bitter herbs. They often shared this meal in the past. They shared it with family since their childhood. They remembered God’s strong hand that delivered them as a people from slavery. They remembered that they were a covenant people and that God solemnly promised to be their God, and the God of their children and grandchildren, forever!

But later on, after Jesus went to heaven and they received the daunting task to spread the Good News about him, and when they carried his cross to the ends of the world, what they would have remembered is that as the meal came to a close that night, Jesus blessed the bread, and breaking it came to each one personally saying:“Take and eat, this is my body, which will be broken for you.”

Jesus knew about the events that would follow that night:  his arrest, his unfair hearing and his cruel crucifixion. So as he passed the cup to them, he said:  “Drink of the blood of the new covenant.”  They would remember that at that moment they did not understand that he was telling them that soon their Redeemer would die for those who crucified him.

They would remember that the new covenant would replace the sacrament of the Passover with the sacrament of the Supper of Christ. They would not remember the deliverance from the slavery in Egypt anymore, but the delivery from the slavery of sin and evil. They would realise that Passover became a lot more than a Jewish feast, but a feast that included both Jews and Gentiles who were made God’s new people - of a new covenant.

Certainly the disciples would later clearly remember that Jesus said: “As often as you repeat this meal, do it in memory of me.”  As if they could ever forget!

Every time we celebrate the holy communion of Christ’s Supper, we will through the work of the Holy Spirit be with the living Lord, hearing his voice, believing his promise and experiencing his love with all our senses.

Our experience will disregard logic and reason.

It will be a mystery. And our experience will be spiritual, and by his grace, through faith, we will see that we are with him, hearing his voice, seeing his love and believing his promise: “This is the blood of the new covenant” and that it means, “I will be your God, and the God of all the many generations that will come after you, who will be my people and I will be their God.”

The mystery that we experience at the Lord’s Table is that it is Christ who breaks bread with us and shares his cup with us. And as we in faith feed on the living Christ, his sacrifice, his resurrection and his grace, we will know that this Meal will never end, until the glorious day when we gather for Christ’s eternal banquet in heaven.

For the disciples who carried the gospel of Jesus to the ends of the earth, the Holy Communion they shared with Jesus on the night he was betrayed, was given to them as comfort and source of strength and faith throughout their earthly lives.

And so it is with us. When we take the bread and the cup, Christ is in our midst, offering himself to us all over again and making covenant with us saying: “This is the blood of the new covenant.” I will be your God and the God of your children, forever!

I pray that you will taste and see the mystery of sharing in the Lord’s Supper on Sunday. And that this Holy Meal will change your life.

Christ has without any doubt, been raised.

God sent his angels to roll away the stone, but not to let Christ out. You see, Christ did not need the stone to be rolled away. We see him later walking into a room which was locked. His resurrection body had the power to walk through walls. No, the stone was not rolled away so that Christ could come out. The stone was rolled away so that we could look in.

1 Corinthians 15: 20 states emphatically: "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead."

On that glorious Sunday morning, as the first rays of sunshine reached the rich man’s grave where they had laid the body of Jesus, God stretched out his mighty arm and raised his Son from the tomb. The powers of hell were petrified at the sight of Jesus coming out of the grave as the chains of death fell from his exalted, risen body and he came to us victorious over sin and death.

He is risen!  Christ has without any doubt been raised

Because Christ has been raised from the dead, we now have true faith, true forgiveness, and true hope.  Our preaching is not useless, nor was the preaching of the apostles. Those who believed their preaching also received a pure faith which saves to the extreme:   a faith which cleanses from sin, a faith which remains standing in the trial, a faith which frees my true humanity made in the image of God:   a living, working faith.

The witness of the apostles was the solid witness of those who had seen the resurrected Lord with their own eyes. They were not deceived. Jesus had appeared to them. They were not giving testimony of some mystical experience with Jesus. They had fellowship with him.  They ate with him. They experienced that Jesus is alive.

They did not expect to see Him.

In fact, Thomas had to be offered touchable evidence that it was indeed the Lord, before he would believe.

Jesus appeared to his disciples over many days. He appeared to 500 people at the same time in broad daylight.

Their testimony was true. Jesus had come out of the grave. In fact, there is more evidence to support the resurrection of Jesus Christ than almost any other ancient historical fact. If the tomb was not empty, why didn’t they produce the body?

The reason was there was no body to produce.

Jesus is risen! The testimony of the Christian faith is without a shadow of a doubt, perfectly true.

Prayers for Eastertide.

Heavenly Father, your Christ has risen indeed! Dear Lord Jesus, because you are alive, I too shall live.

Lord Jesus, you were dead and now you live forever. Fill my heart with the joy and peace of your eternal life.  Dear Jesus, without you finding me, I would be lost. You called me by my name, even when I did not recognize you. I worship you, my Saviour and my Lord.

Lord Jesus, you are alive! Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God! You are truly alive! Grant me hope through the Word that shows me your hands and feet and your side and thus brings me faith and life.

Heavenly Lord, you made me your messenger to proclaim the forgiveness of sins. You truly bring good news to all who receive you in faith.   Oh holy Christ, my Lord and my God! In you I find the power to live, to be free of doubt, and to know you always.

Heavenly Father, on this day of joyful celebration, we pray for people in every kind of need;  that they too may know your power, your protection and your love.  Heal the sick, comfort the poor and console the lonely and forsaken. 

Make your ways known on the earth, your saving power among all nations.  We pray for the leaders of the world:  may they exercise their power with restraint.

Gracious Father, we pray for Your Church, which you love and for which you gave your Son.  Help us to serve the Church, and help us to love the Church, as Christ loves the Church and gives himself for her now and always.

Lord, we pray for our families.   Protect them from danger and from temptation.  We pray for our spouses and for our children. May they learn that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We pray for our parents and relatives:   teach us to honour and love them.

We pray for those who do not know the truth of the Gospel of the risen Christ, for those who seek you, but have not yet found you.   Lord, lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Guide us, o God, by your Word and Spirit that we may see your true light and in your Gospel discover victory, freedom and peace today. 

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.    Amen.

Tenebrae

During the Tenebrae liturgy on Maundy Thursday, we are asked to meditate on the fact that it was on the Thursday evening before Good Friday that Jesus and his disciples were together for the last time, when he and they stood in the shadow of the cross, when he washed their feet and instituted the Holy Supper.

Tenebrae is the Latin word for dark shadows.  The gradual extinguishing of candles at our services will be symbolic of the advancing darkness that came over Jesus during the night of his arrest, the anguish of Gethsemane, the flight of the disciples, the bitter hate of his enemies, the looming shadow of the cross, the God-forsakenness. The moments of total darkness will recall the time when he was in the tomb.

We consider the immense sorrow that Jesus experienced.

Jesus knew that the judgment of God for all the sins of the world would be upon him! Not because he ever sinned, or disobeyed or transgressed, but because of the sins of the whole world.

But why dwell on this darkness? Why observe Tenebrae? What are we supposed to learn from it? What is the reason that this dark night is so clearly recorded?

In the darkness of Christ’s anguish we truly discover who we really are, without the grace of God and the redeeming work of Jesus, without the cross and the salvation and the forgiveness of God.

And we see the depth of the love and the mercy of Christ for sinners, for me and for you.

It is not without reason that the Bible records that in Gethsemane Jesus asked his closest friends, Peter, James and John, to keep watch with him while he prayed.

Moved by the overwhelming sorrow of Christ on that day and by the reality of what we are saved from, and the cost of it all, we too are called to keep watch and pray to not fall into temptation again.

We are called to keep watch with Christ, for the sake of the salvation of the world. Shall we forget the horror of those who die without forgiveness by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord?

After we saw what Jesus did for us, how can we not remember his commission?

Keep watch with me, and pray.

Go, he said, even to the ends of the earth, and proclaim the good news of salvation, make disciples of al. After we saw his love and saw some of his sorrow and his distress at Tenebrae, how can we not go!

Palm Sunday – triumphal entry of the Prince of Peace.

On Sunday 20 March 2016 billions of believers within the world-wide church will celebrate Palm Sunday.

We will remember a peace March in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago and long for the Messiah of God to bring us peace and set us free, when we come to worship and sing our hosanna’s to the King of kings and prepare our hearts for commemorating his sacrifice of love and deliverance so soon to come!

Palm Sunday commemorates the Saviour’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem only days before his arrest and crucifixion — an event recorded in all four Gospels in the New Testament, emphasising its significance already during the time when the Gospels were written.

"This took place," says Matthew (21:4-5), "to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” And: “Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road" (Matthew 21:8, quoting Zechariah 9:9-10).

And Luke tells us: "As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  (Luke 19:37-38).

The Old Testament background to this day is found in Zechariah 9:9-10:

“Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey. And he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."

Jesus was no military leader - he rode a donkey, not a warhorse — and his concern was pastoral and not political, as we read in Luke 19: 41 – 42:

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.

Oh, we pray that we would find peace when we celebrate the glory of the King of kings who gave his life to love us, bring us eternal peace and set us free from all bondage!

There are two kinds of spiritual disciplines.

The first kind of spiritual disciplines are the ones we choose. We understand these disciplines. The reason why we choose spiritual disciplines, often during the Lenten Season, is because we have a heavenly Father who sees us, who longs to draw us close and who wants to bless us with his presence, his compassion and he wants to grant us the grace to grow in our personal relationship with him.

It is not easy to set aside more time, energy and money for prayer, worship, meditation and sacrificial outreach to those in need.

But we agree that these disciplines we choose are never as hard as the spiritual disciplines we do not choose.

Jesus teaches about spiritual disciplines we do not choose for ourselves in Matthew 5.  In Matthew 5:11 he says, "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers."  We never choose these disciplines for our spiritual growth - yet our Lord allows these episodes and events into our lives. Why would he allow trials of many kinds in our lives?

First of all, the spiritual disciplines you don't choose are described by James in James 1: 2 – 9 as trials of many kinds. They come in very personal shapes and sizes. But they have this in common: they test our faith. We are asking questions like, "What possible value could this situation have for me?  " And our faith is tested!

Now, how do we deal with tests we did not choose in order to grow into the spiritual maturity God desires in our lives?  There are at least three ways we can respond.  

Sometimes we rebel!  The first way we could respond to trials and tribulations is to fight against it, to get angry with people, with the world – with anything and anybody who had something to do with this.  Yet, there is no comfort, joy or growth on this path.

Or we can respond by resigning.  You start to believe that you are powerless in this trial and simply surrender to its painful reality. And this leads to a sense of subjection without hope that brings despair.

Or you can rejoice, as Jesus suggests in Mt 5: 11 and James in James 1:2.

Jesus says, God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you. Here is how he says you deal with that:  "Rejoice and be glad."  I want you to face that trial by a power of remaining glad - the power of rejoicing!

James says in James 1:2, "Whenever you face trials of many kinds, the testing of your faith, this is what you do: "Consider it pure joy."

It is a hard journey, but not impossible! And it takes you to a place of "choosing what you did not choose."

It is painful, it hurts and it remains hard.

But you say nonetheless "I choose to accept this situation as a situation in which God can work, in which I believe God's love cannot be stopped and he can work through this for my good and for his glory.

James teaches that because we choose to grow spiritually during this time of trial and tribulation and testing of our faith, it will bring us to a place of maturing spiritually and we will receive the gift of perseverance as a result of this choice.

And suddenly you notice an insightful difference on how you look at what happens to you! Instead of merely enduring it, you receive the freedom to grow as a disciple of Christ and to become stronger through God’s gift of perseverance.

Instead of something being taken from you, by choosing to grow within a situation you did not choose as a discipline, you see that because you have to mature through it, it is becomes a gift – a gift that makes you glad and rejoicing!

What was a dark prison without a door becomes your paradise in the presence of the Lord who sustains you, matures you - and most of all, loves you till the journey’s end!

Go to dark Gethsemane

Go to dark Gethsemane,

ye that feel the temp’ters power;

your Redeemer’s conflict see,

watch with Him one bitter hour;

turn not from His griefs away,

learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgement hall;

view the Lord of life arraigned;

O the bitter cup, the gall!

O the pangs His soul sustained!

Shun not suff’ring, shame, or loss;

learn of Christ to bear a cross.

Calvary’s mournful mountain climb;

there, adoring at his feet,

mark the miracle of time,

God’s own sacrifice complete;

it is finished, hear Him cry;

learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Why observe Lent?

The Season of Lent leads us into a deeper spiritual relationship with Christ. Remembering all that Jesus did for us, it should lead us from knowing about Jesus, to loving and following him wholeheartedly.

It is a dark journey in which we confront the strongholds of evil in our lives, deeply ashamed of what we became as a result of the lack of godly discipline that should be an integral part of being followers of Christ.

It is also a journey that leads to the light of God’s presence when the cross, the blood, the suffering, death and the grave of Jesus grant us hope, forgiveness and a deep sense of joy about the love, grace and the mercy of God.

Lent is also a Season for paying attention to our own lives. We remind ourselves that we are bound for death — and that we are bound to the death of Jesus Christ. Lent provides a time to focus our attention on the mystery at the heart of the Christian life: that through death, the death of Jesus Christ, we have entered new life.

As Paul says to the Corinthians, “We are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown and yet are well known, as dying, and see — we are alive.”

This is the paradox of Christian life. We have been joined to Christ’s death once when we were redeemed, but we spend the rest of our lives growing to live into that union.

We have already died once, with Christ.

Yet the light of the resurrection waits for us at the end of the journey.

Lent invites us to turn again, take up our cross, and move ahead on the way to meet the one who shapes us, marks us and claims us as his own. Because after dying in Christ comes the miracle to be resurrected in Christ.

May a meaningful journey into the life that Jesus Christ gives, be granted to all God’s people during this Season.

Take heart - our God is in control!

It sometimes feels as if there is one big conspiracy to make the weight we carry on our shoulders, unbearable. 

If it does feel like that, listen to these inspired words in James 1: 16 – 17:

“Don't be deceived my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows”.

We are warned: Don't be deceived by cynicism and negativity. Do not believe the world that evil is out of control and nobody can help you! Do not be caught up in the despondency coming from those who are blind for the gifts of God!!

Do not be deceived by those who do not believe that nothing is impossible with God.

Pray for spiritual eyes that can see and appreciate that “every good and perfect gift comes from above, from our heavenly Father.

There are lots of good and beautiful experiences in life and it happens neither by random nor by chance. It comes from an unchanging gracious, merciful and good God!

Excitement about your future comes from the Father who made the heavenly lights: sun, moon, and stars! These awe inspiring creations of God show us stability, beauty, light and life and our God is the Father, the Creator, of these comforting, warm and beautiful “lights”. Just as he created lights, God is also much more than a “shifting shadow” – in other words, nothing. He is the almighty Creator, Sustainer and unchanging Provider of every good gift!

Therefore – never be deceived! Never become a victim of the propaganda of evil that everything is spinning out of control. Look at the great works of God in the sky and remember how great your God is! He is in control, he rules and he reigns – and he gives us every good and perfect gift!

We are called as children of our God to venture into the future with the confident knowledge that the “Father of the heavenly lights” is ready to provide us with every good, perfect, exciting gift we need in order to embrace our opportunities and with much joy and faith worship the Giver, the Provider, the Protector of us all!

The Gospel of Christ is aimed at mobilising each one of us to become living testimonies of God’s gifts of salvation, love, joy, peace and hope!!

Take heart - our God is in control, and you are always in his hands!!!

Covenant Renewal: God takes us back!

How committed to God do you want to be?  The answer to this question depends overwhelmingly on one’s view of God, who he is and what he did for me and you.

And nobody sees the glory of God directly, apart from how that glory is revealed in God the Son, Jesus our Saviour, by the work of the Holy Spirit.   Any other true view of God is simply impossible!

In Exodus 34 we find an encounter of Moses with God who had for some 40 days been in exceptional fellowship with this same living, holy God. Moses heard God saying wonderful things; he also heard God saying things that terrify.

We read in verses 5 – 7:  Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed his name, the LORD.  And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.  Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

Yet in the end Moses learned first and foremost how small he was before God, how weak, how completely dependent on our almighty Creator – and Redeemer. And that he is not the God of our subjectivity, our feelings, our imagination and our worldly ideologies.

This God is in no one’s pocket and no human mind has ever come near to grasping his greatness, his majesty, and his glory.

Everything changes when we once again see the true greatness and glory of our God in his salvation plan through his only begotten Son, Jesus. When we allow the divine glory to drain our hearts of all its trivial, self centred preconceptions and preoccupations and excuses about God.  

The foundation of every Christian’s life is the discovery of the greatness of God and especially, the discovery of how immeasurably small our thoughts, our ideas, our wills, our plans and even our lives are in comparison to the reality of the greatness of the one and only living, loving, gracious, holy God.

We are in awe that this God deeply cares about us and our lives, our thoughts and our feelings. Although we too often break away, God continuously reconfirm this covenant of grace with us, when we affirm our response to his grace with repentance, faith, love, awe and renewed commitment.

And that our Lord “takes us back” always remains the most amazing of it all.

May our love be sincere...

Paul emphasizes love as our main responsibility within the Church of Christ.  Whether it is our love for the Lord, fellow-believers, my neighbour or even my “enemy” – our love must be sincere and genuine.

If love is faked it consists of empty words and we must take care that “our deeds do not speak so loudly that others cannot hear our words of love”.

Romans 12: 9 “Avoid what whatever is evil; cling to whatever is good.”

Whenever Paul thinks of the faith community (or congregation), he teaches that they are a family in the Lord.

Romans 12:10 says:  Be devoted to one another in family love. Honour one another above yourselves.

We have one Father. The bond that unites the members of the family in the Lord has pre-eminence to any other bond or loyalty. The members of the “Christ-family” should do all in their power to be and remain devoted to each other in tender affection.

This family affection implies compassion, unity, peace, support, faithful worship and respect –especially for the sake of “those who are of the household of faith”. (Gal 6:10).

But we know from 1 Corinthians 13:4 – 8 that “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Jesus-love is our standard and Jesus’ love our example!