Thought for the day and praying for our Government

A 'thought for the day' has taught me that even Angels are learning and the Word teaches about all things. I have often wondered how we should pray about our Government and the people in politics. From Romans 13 We learn that we must Respect governors of the day. In 1 Peter 2 we learn we should honour them - WHERE DUE.. and in 1 Timothy 2 we should pray for them.
And no where in the Bible, does it teach us that we should TRUST the government - even after the promises we have heard that they will clean up their act after the expenses affair...
Romans 13
Submission to the Authorities
1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
1 Peter 2
Submission to Rulers and Masters
13Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22"He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth."[e] 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Instructions on Worship
1 Timothy 2
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. 7And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

Robert and Rosemary Mcauley

Wow - We were priviledged to hear Robert and Rosemary's testimonies last weekend (6th Feb) at the Rhema Mission Church, Rode Heath. There are six parts - start at part 1 by clinking the title above and you will easily find the remainder parts listed on the right on the Youtube pages.

Rosemary and Robert were farmers and lived in the midst of the Northern Ireland 'troubles' in the 80s and 90s. They have a daughter who was expected to not live beyond birth due to a host of medical complications, but all these fears were disolved... the daughter is carrying out a normal life. I'm not going to tell you too much as this deserves being listened to by Rosemary herself on the link - click the title above!

WE READ HARRY but WE FOLLOW JESUS

by Desi Maxwell - (all his words...well worth copying!)
Thank you Ms. Rowling. Thank you for a riveting read in the Harry Potter series. Thank you for making reading so exciting. Thank you for sharing your creativity. Above all, I want to thank you for raising some of the profoundest theological and philosophical issues. Your stories start in Privet Drive but lead to public debate. I congratulate you on succeeding where most theologians and philosophers have failed. On the one hand your story lines have carried me off into the surreal world of wizardry at Hogwarts and beyond, yet on the other hand I have been brought face to face with the concrete issues of moral choice, selfless giving, true commitment and the struggle between good and evil. You have no idea of how many times Harry has afforded me the opportunity to talk about some of the most wonderful themes in the Bible, the story of the ultimate Chosen One.

I admit readily to wearing a decidedly Christian pair of specs. Ever since my English teacher in sixth form instilled a love of books I have found reading a thrill and literature a fascinating map of human thought. I never cease to be amazed and challenged by how authors raise the big issues of life and death that the Bible deals with. A book may be shelved under ‘fiction’ in the shop or library but the contents often wrestle with the hard facts that everyone must grapple with sooner or later in life. When I wonder why this should be I keep thinking about a fascinating verse in Ecclesiastes which says ‘He (God) has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end’ (3:11). In other words there are some things planted so deeply in the human psyche that they are irrepressible. No matter how intensely the truth may be ignored or suppressed by non-believers, even whole-hearted antagonists, of Biblical teaching, there are things indelibly impressed within us as created beings. As humans we all have deep longings and, buried throughout the created universe, God has placed signposts to the ultimate source of meaning. With this in mind I want to share some of my reflections on the saga of Harry Potter. I am not suggesting that Ms. Rowling has written a Christian tract but, throughout her narrative, themes resonate with truths that speak of an even deeper mystery.




The Chosen One

What is beyond all doubt is that from infancy through to manhood Harry Potter is the focus of all seven volumes. In 64 languages, 365 million people have traced the history of Harry. While they may now be able to compile a veritable Who’s Who? of wizardry and other unimaginable creatures, they know that the spotlight has never moved off Harry.




The Mission

Harry is a man with a mission. Like Frodo Baggins in THE LORD OF THE RINGS, he has been chosen for a very special task. As the hobbit had been commissioned to destroy the ring, so Harry’s lot is to confront and destroy the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Toward the end of the last volume in the series, he says that the knowledge of how to destroy the enemy had been passed on to him by his old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and now ‘I’m going to keep going until I succeed – or I die. Don’t think that I don’t know how this might end. I’ve known it for years.’ (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, p458) For those who have even a smattering of Latin from their school days they will recognize that the very name of the Dark Lord reeks of death. (Latin ‘mors’, ‘mort’ = death) Even you never had the blessing of a Latin grounding, you will identify the last syllable of Voldemort as the same as the first syllable of mortician, the one who handles death daily.




The Last Enemy

If Voldemort is the personal antagonist, the ultimate enemy of Harry, indeed of us all, is death itself. According to JK Rowling, death is a major theme in her writing. She says ‘My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry’s parents. There is Voldemort’s obsession with conquering death and his quest for immortality at any price, the goal of anyone with magic. I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We’re all frightened of it.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter#_note-25)




The Personal Pain

What is particularly striking in the last book of the series is the personal cost of the mission to Harry. Hermione and Ron may prove to be the closest of friends, Hagrid and others are willing to die for him but ultimately the task is Harry’s and his alone. There is a particularly poignant part near the end where ‘he yearned not to feel…he wished he could rip out his heart, his innards, everything that was screaming inside him’ (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS p531)




The Final Victory

It would be rather surly of me to give away all the details of the plot and spoil the excitement for other readers, but suffice to say that Harry does come face to face with death. There is the inner agony that comes with being the chosen but there is an even stronger willingness to give himself up for the sake of others. Such self-sacrifice is a powerful theme and a key to the final outcome. If you have not read the book I shall not divulge the outcome but I can say that good does prevail.




Other readers will undoubtedly identify other themes but these five were particularly clear as I read through my Biblical specs. My mind kept toggling between the book and the Bible. In the latter I find the same five themes.




THE CHOSEN ONE – MAN OF GOD’S CHOICE

It has been said that the Hebrew writers of Scripture were the world’s first historians. They did not write about mythic giants, superheroes and heroines but told a story that involved ordinary people. The Bible is full of people, but running through its pages there is a very special line of men who are the men of God’s choice. From Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and David there is a distinct line of chosen men on whom God’s spotlight focuses. The fact that they are chosen is not a reflection on their personal superiority to others but rather the emphasis is on their particular relationship with God himself. This line of chosen individuals comes to a climax and focus in the person of Jesus Christ, the ultimate man of God’s choice. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that everything in the Bible is about him. Either we are reading the Old Testament anticipating his coming or the New Testament interpreting his coming. Central to the whole unfolding drama in all its diversity is the figure of Jesus Christ.




THE MISSION – OBEDIENCE TO THE DEATH

Many terms could be mustered to describe the person and work of Jesus but if we were to be limited to only one then it would surely have to be ‘obedience’. Yes, Jesus showed love, power, mercy, grace, sacrifice and solidarity but above all ‘obedience’ is the rubric under which everything else may be subsumed. As the apostle Paul wrote he ‘became obedient to death - even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8). Undoubtedly there was a certain historical inevitability to the death of Jesus, given his challenge to both the political and religious establishment of his day, but above and beyond this there was a clear theological indispensability. In declaring that he ‘must be killed’ (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33) he was expressing something about the will of God rather than the plans of men.




THE LAST ENEMY – DEATH ITSELF

Paradoxically it was only because of his very submission to death that Jesus was given victory over death when God raised him to life. Yet the path to resurrection victory could not bypass the humiliation of incarnation, rejection, suffering and death on a cross. Such a route demanded a conscious commitment at every step and ultimately there was no one else who could take his place. In fact, in the Scriptural account many of his disciples were not as loyal as Harry’s closest friends. However, in Jesus, the one of his choice, God launched his full frontal attack on the last enemy and broke the totalitarian regime. Having shared our humanity, Jesus died to ‘destroy him who holds the power of death- that is , the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death’ (Hebrews 2:14-15)




THE PERSONAL PAIN – JESUS WEPT

So often the person and work of Jesus has been dressed up in theological language, that the raw agony of the personal pain has been lost. The shortest verse in the Bible, ‘Jesus wept’ (John 11:35), may also be the profoundest. Though Jesus felt the loss of his friend Lazarus as he stood at his grave, he also raged within himself. Few have put it better than BB Warfield when he wrote : ‘It is death that is the object of his wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death, and whom he has come into the world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage: and he advances to the tomb, in Calvin’s words…’ as a champion who prepares for conflict’ (THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST, Philadelphia, 1950, p117)




THE FINAL VICTORY – DEATH OF DEATH

The outcome of this man’s conflict is one that I am free, indeed obliged, to tell you. As the man of God’s choice, Jesus Christ was not only obedient to the point of death but overcame the power of death. In him we find an answer to the ultimate threat.

I admire JK Rowling for having the courage to talk so openly about the very thing many people, and even churches, regard as a taboo. She has been willing to bring death out of the closet. We all fear death and like Adam, Voldemort and many others, quest for immortality at any price. Having pinpointed the enemy, it is even better to move from the fictional to the factual victory of Christ, now risen from the dead to reign for ever. Yes, we read of Harry but we may reign in Jesus.




Desi Maxwell Aug.13, 2007

click this title: Exclusive Religion. When will the penny drop?

When will the penny drop?
..And when YOU have the revelation…: “ah Jesus means......; I understand…So, it's not all about ME. “When I totally surrender self to Jesus, the son of God, who died to save me, I will inherit eternal life and at last will come home. By His grace, I will know the real reason to why I am here – it is all for a person, Jesus.”
Instead you say” you are too arrogant to me. You are saying you are better than I am. You worship an exclusive God. You say, you have superiority over me. Why can't you accept what I believe; accept MY name - that I do it MY way?”
I can UNDERSTAND this and I don’t blame you for not trusting Jesus. Look at what the gospel says – study it for yourself. Hear Jesus’s words, not mine. Go to the book of 1 John.
You may have heard the idea about all beliefs stemming from the same source (I think the Bahai’s may support this) –The picture of a mountain where the same water comes down in different streams, all round the mountain – from one source. The mountain picture demonstrates all religions do this. So, people naturally assume that if different religions believe in what they want, keep to themselves and care for their own, this is okay, and no one will get hurt and have mutual respect. But to have this picture and believe this must be correct – assumes you can see every stream, BUT you claim to see from God’s perspective! Look, you are not God! Don’t you see that a secularist is every bit as self righteousness as a moralist? Sooner or later it leads to division. Each group looks down their nose at the other.

Religion is a set of beliefs in the fullest sense – a set of answers to the big questions. Why are we here – what is right and wrong, what will fix the human race – what are the most important thing to be doing. Everyone can not prove the answers are right – so it is by faith..

Take Issues in the public domain like: – Education, Poverty, Divorce laws… social issues... You cannot leave your religious beliefs when you come into the public domain. You can not keep them out. It is hypocrisy to think the law can suit all on each issue. The laws that work depend on what your perception is on that particular issue – for instance, divorce. Whose needs are important? The family’s? The individual? The group? People have different views.
Everybody has a set of exclusive beliefs.
So, perhaps we ought to ask ourselves, which set of exclusive beliefs can produce peace loving, inclusive, reconcilable behaviour?
One strategy that deals with the divisiveness of ‘religion’, is to look at the things about the Christian gospel that are unique to Christianity.
A Christian’s belief is different from ALL other religions. It is unique. Three things this text tells us in John 1. It will take you into being an agent of peace.
1 The origin of Jesus’ salvation.
Every Christian spirit acknowledges that Jesus has come in the flesh and is from God (Not ‘born’ but ‘come’ – he was somewhere else before he came into the world. In Jesus, God came into the world.) Jesus is God.
2 The Purpose of Jesus’s Salvation
Other religions want to liberate you from the flesh. At birth – Jesus received the body. God redeemed him from the body. Transformation of this world – the is biblical vision is unique – we become a new person in Christ, when we are saved.
3. Method of Grace. Other religions say you have to be good, to perform the truth, love God etc. If God sees this then He will bless you and save you. The gospel does not say this. He loves us.
Not that we love God, but He sent His son to suffer for those who don’t love him, who aren’t virtuous. He came to die, and we are not saved by our performance.
Jesus is a saviour who died the death we should have died. Lived the life we should have lived.

Another argument you may have, what about love? – isn’t it important that we just LOVE one another – You say: "let’s not talk doctrine and the resurrection" .. but, sooner or later you will come up against a barrier, a conflict, a division. So you want LOVE to your stream flowing from the love mountain? – Unless your religious impulses, confess these unique distinctiveness of Christianity mentioned above, your spiritual impulses may enslave you and turn you to hate other people.

If you accept 1,2, and 3 above, you will turn into the agent of reconciliation and peace, that is for all mankind. Surrender to Him and the miraculous will happen. It won’t be easy, but it will be right – because He didn’t make us right, but declared us right by what He did on the cross.

It is all in the bible. Ask Jesus. He will help you by His spirit to know the truth.