Week 16- Power of the Gospel

What’s your instinctive reaction when trouble comes knocking? A popular response would be to meet it head-on with all your strength and resolve, and that would indeed be a perfectly suitable response to suffering.

The concept of power and strength can vary greatly depending on the lens through which we view them. In today's world, power often evokes images of dominance and intelligence. However, within the framework of God's kingdom, the notion of power takes on a radically different form. It finds its essence in humility and embracing suffering. It's completely counter-cultural, perhaps even appearing foolish, and doesn't align with what we typically consider a wise approach to life. But God often uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

Consider Paul's remarkable stance on adversity and suffering; he not only accepts it but revels in it, even finding cause for rejoicing. This kind of power, rooted in the gospel, doesn't abandon us in our moments of weakness. Instead, it beckons us into a journey of surrender—a surrender of our own strength in exchange for God's omnipotent grace working through our vulnerabilities.

To surrender means placing complete trust in the notion that, even in our weakest moments, amidst failure and distress, God has the power to orchestrate outcomes beyond our wildest dreams. It's a transformative surrender that leads us to a profound realization of where true strength lies.

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Week 15- A Resurrection People

Easter is

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Week 14- A Resurrected Life

Easter is the opportunity to celebrate the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This is not a sweet, polite tale of a good moral teacher but a radical story of the pursuit of God from the beginning of time for a people - you and I- that he fiercely loves to death. And then he conquers it so that we would freely live under his grace. There is now hope at the end of death because there is resurrection for those who have died.

Scripture had already been written in advance for how Jesus was going to go on the cross so that we could enjoy the fullness of Gods closeness,so that we could boldly approach the throne of God without hindrance.

Jesus has conquered everything, so we can be immovable in our faith, not out from our certainty but from the certainty of Jesus. Death has lost its sting because Christ has conquered the power of sin and death. As we move through this week's passages, we read of Jesus being the firstborn of this resurrection life so that we could share in this same life. That through the same Spirit that raised Christ from the death, who is living and active within us, we can walk in freedom.

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Week 13- Journey to the Cross

In this Holy Week we journey with the humble King as he traverses toward the greatest act of love in history.

The one who rides a donkey instead of a horse, humble before humanity for his battle is not with us but for us.

The one who prioritises people over profit, disruption to our power structures over the healing touch of Jesus, and for all to be able to worship God.

The one who willingly partakes in his own death, allowing himself to be betrayed by one he had allowed close to him, and let down by his closest friends who cannot stay awake to pray for him.

The one who longs for another way to bring about the redemption of humanity that avoids suffering but with quaking knees and tears streaming submits to the will of Father for our sake.

The one who is mocked for the very victory he has won for us all very sin and death.

The one who hung on a tree,
nails in his flesh.

Silence.
Has death won?

Until the earth - quaked.
The temple robe - torn.
The dead- raised
The victory - won.

For-everyone.
For-ever.

Hosanna, to the Lamb who was slain.

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Week 12- Perseverance

Perseverance is one of the most understated yet most-experienced elements of the spiritual journey. To be human is to persevere. Although the mountain top moments should be celebrated - where God feels near, provision is flowing and community is close - the hard reality is that so much of our Christian life is experienced in the everyday plodding.

To keep putting one foot in front of the other in amongst weariness, strain and opposition.
To model steadfastness in the hardest of seasons.
To keep going in the now and not yet.

The New Testament writers often used the example of a race when describing the Christian life. A marathon, never a sprint. Reminding us that the reason we run isn’t out of fear nor legalism, but faith and joy. Faith in the true image bearer, who left his throne to run his own race and finished it perfectly. So now when we run our own we can resist distractions and exit strategies, joyfully fixing our eyes on the One cheering us on at the finish line.

However you are embarking on the race at the moment - steadily running, plodding, crawling or even contemplating exiting - may you be given a fresh energy to press forward, hearing the invitation of the Father to trust him in what we hope for and what we might yet not see.

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Week 11- Times of Difficulty

We are no strangers to difficulty. Life, it often seems, is a dance between breathtaking mountain-top-moments and the deepest, most painful valleys. It’s a bittersweet journey and sometimes it happens so suddenly that you’re left winded, with your head spinning and a bad case of whiplash. 

In these moments where we feel exposed and vulnerable, it’s hard not to live from a place of fear. Thankfully, Jesus loves to meet us in such places. Throughout this week's readings, God encourages us to commit our ways to Him, to trust in him, and he will act. In other words, do not be afraid, stand firm in the words He has spoken and pursue holiness. God will help you, He will prosper you.

To pursue holiness is to pursue God. To remain in Him, to dwell with Him, to rest. In his book Consolations poet David Whyte describes that to rest is ‘to prepare to give the best of ourselves.’ It’s to stop, to let go, to breathe and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us. 

When we rest in God, we start to look like Him: holy. He gives us peace, patience, strength, wisdom; he draws out our best selves. 

So as you read this week, take rest in the knowledge that our faithful Friend and Father is leading us by the hand through every difficulty. Whatever you’re facing - a fiery furnace, an unexpected bill, kids who can't sleep, the loss of a loved one, a deep depression; do not be afraid because God is on your side and He is supporting you through it all. 

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Week 10- Sin and Brokenness

Sin is not a word that we are often comfortable talking about. We find it much easier to talk about freedom and forgiveness and yet, these are only possible if we acknowledge the presence of sin.

The Bible is full of direct references to sin from the origin of it in the Garden to the New Jerusalem where there is no sin. And yet, at every opportunity, God is moving towards people in love. Being aware of sin does not result in God retreating, but the opposite. David, in the Psalms, is honest about his life and his failings and these psalms turn back to God at the end. Recognising and acknowledging our sin, instead of ignoring it, causes us to face God. This only happens, however, when we believe that God is gracious and compassionate. The way that we know this is true is because of Jesus, who came to dwell among us, face temptation himself and die on our behalf. Jesus is familiar with our brokenness and moves towards us to set us free from the power of sin and by faith we can trust.

Shame can try and stop us from acknowledging our sin and yet by bringing our sin into the light and into the presence of our loving and faithful God, we can be free because of Jesus. This week, the invitation is to allow this truth that Jesus has brought us freedom to dwell in our hearts and minds.

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Week 9- Loneliness

The pangs of loneliness are all too familiar for us as humans. The isolation that seems inescapable, the feelings of distance from what we long for, and the fog of timelessness that draws close that leads us to despair. When those that we've relied on let us down and we feel the agitation of feeling cut adrift from belonging.

These are not just our experiences today but the same experience of Jesus as he prayed in Gethsemane, waiting to be betrayed by his friends and to suffer for the very same friends. Through this death, Jesus liberated all of humanity so that we all are carried from isolation into relationship, from orphaned into family, and from captivity into freedom.

Because of Jesus, loneliness is not our eternal experience but a temporary reminder that we are in need of rescue, that we are made for relationship and proximity with another. Jesus has provided for both our rescue and our relationship with the eternal Creator. The one who does not just respond to us but prepares for our needs ahead of us, who is for us not against us, and who has revealed himself to us.

When reading BREAD this week, whether loneliness is a familiar or distant experience, press deep into the truth that God hasn’t remained distant from us but has drawn close. When we turn to him from our own efforts to lift ourselves out from the pit or navigate our course, He rescues us and brings us home.

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Week 8- Suffering

During this season of Lent, we recognise that our life following Jesus is not story of comfort or ease but of sacrifice and suffering. There have been or will be times where we all experience what the Psalmist describes, the lying awake feeling alone, feelings of withering away, and daily tasks becoming a struggle. This is a reality of what it means to be human, that each of us long for wholeness and peace instead of suffering.

What we see in the scriptures is that God does not despise these cries of our hearts, that he does hear and moves to restore us. That in Jesus we have a God who feels the rejection of his friends, the suffering with that compassion requires, and the grief that only death can bring. God does not just hear us from afar but feels these sufferings with us. More than that, these sufferings also are a sign that the world is not as it was created to be.

We also see these sufferings are not in vain, a moment to grit your teeth and to get through, but a moment to lean more into the God who deeply cares for us, who is looking to restore us not just in an intellectual way but in our emotions too. Breathe, even if they are shallow breaths, the truth that God has not abandoned us in our moments of pain but that He is Immanuel, God with us.

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Prayer

Father, you long for the restoration of all things and you have called us into relationship to be your children. We thank you for looking upon us with kindness, love and mercy in our sufferings, that this draws you in close to us as we cry out. That you are not distant or unacquainted with our sufferings but share in them with us.

Help us not to become children who shield our pain from a place of believing that you are asking us to grit our teeth and get on with our duties. May we recognise these times of suffering are not pieces of evidence that you have abandoned us but opportunities to experience your love afresh. Help us to see your longing for our attention and affection in these times. That you can take our anger, frustration, and tears when we are held in close by your loving arms.

Help us to be a people who seek out the restoration of this world, to feel it’s longing and ache as it cries out that this is not the way it has been created to be. May we be carriers of your healing and love to this suffering world.

Week 6- Protected by God

The Scriptures unveil to us that the maker of heaven and earth is our help and protector in times of need. These texts do not deny that there will be trouble; in fact they confirm that there will indeed be moments when we need shielding and covering from battle and destruction, but this is precisely when God shows Himself powerful.  He watches over us. He commands angels to guard us. He sends His spirit to comfort us. He pursues the enemy for us and fights our fight - all so that glory is His and victory is ours. 

As we walk through life we experience times when our faith is challenged and fear creeps in, but our unchanging God remains faithful and fearless. Even when we mistrust, misjudge and make mistakes, in His endless grace, He provides protection anyway. 

Let these words lift your gaze this week - know that with Him you are surrounded and sheltered. We may be no match for the seemingly impossible circumstances we face, but His power is matchless. He is on the throne, throwing the enemy into confusion and failure. He celebrates when we are safe and secure - after parted seas and souls refreshed - and through it all, long before the success story, He promises protection. 

Take heart in the Psalmist’s words: “The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.“

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Prayer

Father, we thank you that you are always our very help in time of need. That in our confusion and chaos, you are peace. That in our doubts and questioning, you give us room to discover more of who You are rather than giving us a straitjacket of answers. That when we are attacked from every side, You do not provide us an escape plan for us to figure out but give us your very self, our refuge.

Thank you that you do not leave or forsake us in these times. We are sorry for where we have believed the lie that you have left us in these times. That your presence in our lives is only ever marked by a comfortable life. We are so quick to forget your faithfulness to us in Jesus Christ.

Lord help us to be a people marked out by a depth of devotion to you in the good times and the bad, to live this day, this week, and the rest of our lives, in the truth that you are unchanging and forever our shield and refuge. Thank you for allowing us to turn back to you again, that your love for us is unconditional. Help us to walk in the light of this truth.