Foundation in Christ

“There is only one secure foundation: a genuine, deep relationship with Jesus Christ, which will carry you through any and all turmoil. No matter what storms are raging all around, you'll stand firm if you stand on His love.”

Charles Stanley

I have been going through some trials recently and have found that at times in my fleshly self-will I stray a little, sometimes a lot, from the foundation I have in Christ. In these trials so often I find that the Lord is chiselling away at the parts of me which are hindering my walk and worship of the Master Designer/creator. At these times when I should come back to the scripture and hold fast to the word of God and the manifestation of the word in Christ, I find myself listening to my own thoughts or listening to the distracting voice of the enemy who uses my weaknesses to blow me a little until I find myself not standing strong on the foundation of my relationship with Christ.

Often I wondered why was it that I so easily stumbled off of this rock, why was it that I so easily listened to the stupid lies of the enemy, it was then that the comforter reminded me of the passage in the gospel of Luke where Jesus is talking about the tree and it’s fruit and how out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. How when our heart is full of these lies and the uncertainties that the enemy puts in our way to stumble us we find that our mouth speaks these thoughts and anxieties and sometimes we hurt others because of this.

Now we may think to ourselves well, I have been memorising passages in the bible and have been learning different things in the word through classes or bible studies and these things are on our hearts, so why do we still find our mouths saying these things and our minds thinking these things. Well Jesus covers this too. He asks “why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you?”  In this he is really asking if you know that I am Lord then why do you find it difficult to do that which I instruct you to do. So often in our times of bible study we read and study and learn yet it stops there. There is no part where it reprograms our hearts, where our heart and mind connect and our heart gets that update that we need. He compares it to the man who builds a house upon a rock. He says that those who hear the word and do as it says, are like the man who “dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.”

I find that so often I have begun digging the foundation and have started to lay the foundation but have become lazy or distracted and so the building is not so strong or sturdy and when the trials come I let the winds blow and the water hit and the house begins to fall. I thought that I had placed the word deep in my heart, but instead I had heard the word and accepted it as truth but on the way to my heart another thought or idol got in the way. This is something that the Lord has been teaching me on a number of occasions, and to be honest after writing this I will probably forget it again. I am like the Israelites, who were known for their consistent inconsistency to wander. The lord is teaching me to focus on Him and Him alone, and as hard and harsh as that can be, I am always in his mercy and once I am rid of the idols that cause me to stumble I will finish digging the foundation and will plant my heart deep in the word.

I hope and pray that this message has helped you as much as it sorted my spaghetti junction of thoughts and redirects you to God as it did to me. May the Lord renew your passion to dig deep into the word and put your feet firmly on the foundation of your genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, and we will be able to say with all certainty that this foundation “will carry you through any and all turmoil. No matter what storms are raging all around, you'll stand firm if you stand on His love.”

Grace, mercy and peace

A learning growing brother in Christ.

ref Luke 6

Foundational Joy

The out-and-out Christian is a joyful Christian. The half-and-half Christian is the kind of Christian that a great many of you are, little acquainted with the Lord. Why should we live halfway up the hill and swathed in the mists, when we might have an unclouded sky and a radiant sun over our heads if we would climb higher and walk in the light of His face? Alexander Maclaren

Joy is very different from happiness, where happiness is something that is for a moment and is something we can chase for a long time. Joy is a foundation which we can come back to, we can look back to it and be reminded of it in times of trouble. In Psalm 30 it says that sorrow may tarry through the night, but joy will come in the morning. Joy is a foundation that we can all understand, as it is the heart of all people. However not everyone has the same reason for or foundation of joy. For those of us who follow Christ our foundation should be that of the God breathed word, the lamp onto our feet and the light onto our path. In the gospel of Matthew chapter 7 Jesus talks about having the firm or correct foundation, he uses the story we all know so well, of the man who build his house on the rock. He says:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”

(Matt 7:24-29, ESV)

It is pretty self-explanatory, if we hear God’s word and do them we will have our foundation be in God. The trials will come (rain, floods and wind) but we will be joyful because of being founded in the word of God. In fact in the epistle of James it says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

But the question comes how do we find that joy when we are going through struggles and have forgotten the foundation that we have, well in this time and age we have a great way of looking at the written word of God, we have so many ways we can look at the word thanks to technology, and we know that we can bring it to the Lord in prayer. An example of this is when the psalmist writes about being in trouble and he asks why he is going through trouble. But in verse 4 of Psalm 43 we read what he does:

Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

O God, my God. (Psalm 43:4 ESV)

He goes to the altar of the Lord and the psalmist rejoices in the steadfast joy he has in his saviour. So today if you are in that place where you wonder where your joy went to and your soul is sorrowful, bring it before the Lord and have a chat with our heavenly father and He will remind us of the foundation we have where nothing will, I repeat nothing will separate us from the Love of God. It is then that we will find our joy again and will rejoice being able to say God you are my refuge my strength in times of trouble.

May God richly bless you and keep you as you are reminded of the joy you have in Him. I know he reminds me often and I rejoice every time.

Blessings

Rich

Be Still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

In recent weeks the Lord has been teaching me about humility. I am someone who likes to be in control of every situation. I like to know everything that is going on. I like to think that I know what is going on, but this is in fact not the case. I was always a very independent person and but I knew that at some point I had to surrender to the will of God. Something I still find difficult to do.

Last night I was going out with a group of people to go street witnessing, and while I was out, I asked God to still me and help me to hear what he wanted of me. The most amazing thing happened, the Lord directed me to a guy who needed someone to talk to. Because I had surrendered to what God wanted me to do, I was directed down an alley I never even knew existed. When I thought about what had happened and what I had prayed, I thought about the verse in Psalm 46.

This verse is the climax of the psalm, previous to this the Psalmist is proclaiming the awesomeness of God and his presence. And then he says “be still and know that I am God.” In this passage the term be still comes from a Hebrew word rapha which means be weak, let go or release. So be still could be better translated let go and know that I am God. But to what extent do we have to let go, or surrender? Well in this sentence the emphasis is not on the being still but on the knowing.  The main point is the fact that once we let go or surrender we see the all sufficient, all providing power. Once we give up wanting to be in charge and realise or begin to know the saving power of God and his all sufficient provision.

In Exodus 14:14 Moses reminds the people, “The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.” He is telling them that they must only rely on the lord to fight, and be silent. He is telling them that they need to be strong in their trust of the Lord. So when we surrender and let God and know God, then we will be able to say as the psalmist wrote, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

Let us learn to give our all, to surrender all so that we can rejoice in the provision to be in a perfect relationship with God and to be able to say that he is our father, carer and refuge in times of trouble. May we remember the greatest provision through the once for all sacrifice of Christ and the defeat of death as the Son Rose on the third day. Praise his name and happy resurrection week.

Humility

so when I was on Outreach in Lahinch Ireland, the Pastor asked that I teach on the first Sunday we arrived. The week before that Sunday I had no clue what to teach on, I prayed God would give me, and this is what he did. He gave me a number of verses on the Sunday morning. So here it is, bear with me in it, as i was speaking as the Lord put the word into my mouth.

http://snd.sc/108m6gM

Last week I spent 10 days with a team of 13 students in Lahinch, Country Clare, Ireland. The Lord was doing a work in my life during this outreach. I hope to share with you what He shared with me and is reminding me in a kind of needed broken record way.

“What's the thrill? I'd rather have my soul fulfilled” - black eyed peas

What is the thrill of your heart? This was the question asked by Pastor Matt Kottman during a class today with regards to worship. He spoke about the importance of not having things that we worship and put higher above God. I had never really thought about this I knew I had some idols that I had put before God, for some reason though I had not really thought about the fact that I was elevating above God. It struck me that I had been looking to other things for soul fulfilment, I had been looking to the control of the world around me and was worshipping it, I was looking to others for the making me feel fulfilled and to put a thrill in my heart. Even though I knew that the only true satisfaction I would ever receive was from God and from his outpouring of love on me. He talked about the Puritan Thomas Chalmers and his talk about the Expulsive power of a new affection. In this sermon Chalmers said something that I knew but something I also needed to be reminded of:

“The heart's desire for an ultimate object may be conquered, but its desire to have SOME object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one. It is therefore only when admitted into the number of God's children through faith in Jesus Christ that the spirit of adoption is poured out on us -- it is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one great, predominate, and supreme affection is delivered from the tyranny of all its former desires and the only way that deliverance is possible.”

He talks about the fact that our heart is always desiring some object of affection and if we have Christ this should be our only affection and the only thing that causes our heart to skip a beat and causes our soul to be fulfilled. The Black eyed Peas were saying what most people in the world are saying. They have these idols that they try to get satisfaction from, but as the psalmist wrote:

They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them. (Psalm 115:3-8)

People of the world, scrap that, all of us make idols without even being aware we are doing it. We find people, things, attractions in life that make us feel that thrill. Unfortunately that thrill is only for a short period and there is no fulfillment from these idols as they don’t give anything back, they don’t offer anything. This is what is so amazing about the Love of God, it is always pouring into us and wanting us to be fulfilled. God is so amazing when we focus on Him and bring our worship to him we get to experience the abundance of his love and mercy and not only will we be fulfilled we will also have peace. I will end with this quote from John Calvin who was writing on the passage in John 4 when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman by the well. He talks about what Jesus is telling the woman; that the well she is coming to is broken and does not satisfy yet Jesus has the well that will overflow and will never make us thirst. I now hand it over to John:

Christ’s riches are intended to help our failure, support our poverty, and satisfy our hunger and thirst. We do not need to fear that we will lack anything if only we draw from the fullness of Christ, which is in every way so perfect that we will find it to be an inexhaustible fountain indeed. John Calvin, John

So this weekend ask God to look into your heart and search out those idols that we are raising up above God and ask him to take it away from you so that your focus will be on Him and you won’t have to ask what the thrill of your heart is, because you will know and will want to worship God for all that he is doing in you and through you to glorify Him.

In my previous post, I talked about how we are the clay and the Lord is the potter. I said that just as the clay is made into the masterpiece that there would be pressure put on the clay and there would be spinning as the turning of the wheel helps smooth the pot into the beauty of God.

I quoted that Steadman talked about the pressing and the turning, that wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter, for it is the Potter's foot that guides the wheel. the lesson is clear. As our life is being shaped and moulded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life, the wheels of circumstance, what Browning called "the dance of plastic circumstance", which bring us again and again under the Potters hand, under the pressure of the moulding fingers of the Potter, so that he shapes the vessel according to his will.

I talked about the difficulties of when our self-will tries to fight against the pressure. I had said how I had fought my self-will and had learnt that the Lord puts pressure on us as we get shaped and smoothed. However, like most of my learning, my brain put it into the back of my head. I went straight back to my self-willed nature and tried to fight against the pressure. This was something really stupid on my part.

Fear not, the Lord is the great reminder, and well he reminded me of what happens when I do try to do things on my own steam. I went through a number of different trials and pressing situations. I did my usual thing I panicked and grew more and more out of control. It was my usual distraught self that took the life out of me. The Lord then spoke to me through a number of people to me and made me step back from the situations that were before me. It was then when the back seat was filled with my worried self, I realised it was because I tried to do it on my own. So I sat in quiet and prayed to the Potter and asked that he would let the pressure go, or if it was for learning that I would accept the pressure and let the potter do his work. After this, the situation looked more like a map that I could follow, I could see the path before me and I knew that God had taken control of these situations and the stress just lifted off.

I can be so stupid when it comes to my walk with the Lord, in Psalm 127 the psalmist writes that if we let the Lord build the house, we will be able to complete the task. And not only that, it said that we will be able to have rest that is given to us from the father. That is so amazing and something that I need to learn. And for me it is a constant learning process. I have to learn to do as it says in Colossians 3:17 that, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17 ESV) this very same passage talks about the peace of God that passes all understanding in our hearts, for which we were called. We were called to have the peace of God dwelling in our hearts, and that is why we are to do everything bringing thanks to the lord.

What a blessing this is, all we have to do is let the Lord have the driver seat and direct us according to his plan. Simple right????

moulded

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 

(Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV)

Since beginning the internship in York, I have been going through some challenges and trials. I have very little patience when it comes to these trials (something God is teaching me to let go of) and the Lord has been teaching me more and more that I need to let him do his work. In Isaiah 45 the Lord is warning the people to be careful that they do not judge the Lord for judging according to His divine Will. In verse 9 it warns, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? (Isaiah 45:9 ESV). He warns them that they should let the Lord do the work in them, a pot does not will itself into existence that would just be a discombobulating thing to witness. No the Clay pot is moulded into a beautiful, useful pot. In Romans 9, Paul reiterates the question when he says:

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is moulded say to its moulder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honourable use and another for dishonourable use? (Romans 9:19-21 ESV)

Paul here adds to the question that Isaiah asked and asks has the potter no right over the clay? The potter has the control over the clay the clay cannot do anything except let the potter do his will. Ray Steadman said it this way in his commentary on Jeremiah 18;

Jeremiah saw the wheel turning constantly, bringing the clay against the potter's hand. That wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter, for it is the potter's foot that guides the wheel. The lesson is clear. As our life is being shaped and moulded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life, the wheels of circumstance, what Browning called "this dance of plastic circumstance", which bring us again and again under the potter's hand, under the pressure of the moulding fingers of the Potter, so that he shapes the vessel according to his will. (Steadman, Jeremiah commentary)

I have been learning to give in to my stubborn self-will and to let go of the prideful attitude I have towards the will of God is my life. When I finally gave in I realised that the pressure on the clay, if you will, was lifted a little and the smooth movements on the clay as the wheel turned helped the moulding to be smoother and better as the wheel turned and the potters hand smoothed the clay and pressed against the clay, the vessel was shaped according to the image in the potter's mind. I have given my life over to God to mould me, I have become a new creation, the new vessel made out of the old marred clay, (1 Corinthians 5:17).

Jeremiah when visiting the potters house in Jeremiah 18 learnt a few truths, first that God was in control, second of all that we are the clay, and thirdly that we the clay are being moulded into the masterpieces that God has intended for us. He has a different design for each one of us. We have to learn to let God in and let him do the work that he has set in his mind. Steadman again makes a great comment,

“If you do not resist, if your will does not spoil the work by murmuring, grumbling, or complaining, or feeling resentful and bitter, but you accept the working of the Potter, then the pressure is relieved, and the vessel takes shape. But if there is resistance, if the human will, like some imperfection in the clay, chooses something other than the Potter has in mind, then the Potter can do nothing else but crush it down to a lump once again and, beginning with the same lump, make it over into a vessel which suits his heart and mind. The great lesson Jeremiah learned at the potter's house was that of the sovereign control of God. He is the potter, and we are the clay.” 

I am sure that you have heard this terminology so many times, I know I had, and so when I had read this and spent time letting the word be chowed the Lord spoke so clearly to me. He told me that I am now his and he is moulding me into his “Poema” his masterpiece. I had been holding onto part of my past that was causing the clay to be marred and so the “potter” was putting pressure on the clay so that I would let go and let the moulding be done according to the will of the Lord. I had been pondering over this passage and was praising God for his marvellous design and detail in my life, when the passage at the top of the post came to mind. I had read it before but had not really thought much about it.

I read over this passage and chowed the cud as Spurgeon said, and this is what I got from these two verses. The Lord our God has given us a heart of flesh, we had hardened our heart and had become hard to the ways of God, yet the Lord softened our hearts and to aid us in that change he also put the spirit within us. This in itself is a beautiful example of God fulfilling the new covenant. The spirit will guide us to walk in the way he has planned for us. The end of verse 27 says, “… and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”(Ezekiel 36:27 ESV) I had this even greater desire to bring Glory to God this morning when I read this and applied it to my heart. I am so thankful for the work of God in my Life. I am so thankful for the fact that he sends us his helper, the Holy Spirit, to do the most amazing work in me and through me. I am excited to become closer and closer with God as I was with him and learn from the great and mighty potter.

Examine your heart today, have you been holding onto things in your life that cause the clay to be marred, are you letting the potter mould you into his Poema or is you stubborn self-will holding you back from the great plan and great story that God has you to be part of. When you feel that pressure and those trials and challenges, don’t moan and grumble at them but rejoice that the Lord is pressing and moulding and you will become this masterpiece he has in his mind for us. Remember that the Potter has a purpose in mind, and the skill and ability to fulfil it, no matter how many times he may have to make the vessel over again.

Grace and Peace

Richard