Change

Things have been changing a bit recently, and one of the biggest changes for me lately has been the change from PC to Mac. Getting used to how things work on the Mac is an ongoing challenge, and one that I am looking forward to.

Change is a common thing in everyday life however, the weather changes, we change our minds, we change our likes and dislikes, we change a lot regularly. Relationships change, friendships change, we live in a changing world, a world where consistency is almost frowned upon, and where change and upheaval is common place.

But isn’t it great that we have constant, we have something that is unchanging.

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6

We have a Lord who does not change, never. And what’s more, because of this unchanging God, we are not consumed. God’s holiness never changes, therefore His hatred towards our sin does not change. But His mercy never changes either, and so we are forgiven and are not consumed. His acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice in place of us never changes, so our position of being in Christ never changes, we are justified, and being sanctified, and our guarantee of heaven never changes.

In the midst of a changing world, lets cling to the hope of our unchanging hope and assurances that we have in Christ. Whilst change is not a negative thing (in some cases is an essential thing), the amazing truth of our unchanging God should fill us with hope, and allows us to have an assurance that is lacking in this changing world.

Joy in Christian Life

This blog post has been a while in coming, I have had at the back of my head for a while that I haven’t blogged in a long time, but couldn’t think of anything to blog, but last night, whilst working, my mind went of on a train of thought, triggered by thinking ahead to Sunday.

So what I hear you say. Whats the big deal about Sunday? Well on Sunday our Church (Castlereagh Baptist Church) is having a baptism service, where one of my good friends is getting baptised (being Baptist, we believe in full immersion, on profession of faith, known as believers baptism). Again, so what makes you blog about baptism, or as the title is saying, joy?

Well this was my train of thought. As I pondered Sunday night, I thought back to my own baptism, almost five years ago and looked back at it with fond memory. It was a really good time for me, I was close to the Lord, and had obeyed His command in Scripture (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38 and many other verses), followed His example, and the feeling of joy, and excitement and achievement was something special. I know from talking to many other friends who have been baptized, that they look back on the experience in a similar way, and it set my mind wondering why is it that we look back on that one experience with such joy, with such gladness?

Well to me, baptism is an outward and public showing of the change that has occurred inside, saying that we have died with Christ and been raised with Him to live a new life, under instruction from Christ from God’s word. So as I thought through this, it struck me why it is looked back with fondness by many (if not all I am sure), we were obedient to Christ.

The Bible’s teaching regarding baptism, is clear that it should happen, (the method of which you can debate with me another time) and so when we obey that, we will have made a pleasing decision to God, and we will be filled with a certain aspect of joy. But why is it that we are not always joyful as Christians? Why is it that our life is not always a happy one, in good times and the bad? Is there maybe a lack of obedience? You see when I looked back at times when I was full of joy, at some of my most happiest times, it was at times when I was obeying God. Obedience to God’s word will bring joy in our Christian life. yes we may be sorrowful for some reason, but if we are still obeying God, there will be a joy there that we cannot maybe fathom or explain.

So it lead me to ask myself the question, why am I not joyful every day? Is there a lack of obedience to God’s word? Is there a lack of reading God’s word to actually find out what I am being asked to obey? Is the joy of past experiences sucked out of me due to lack of obedience now. What areas of my life am I not being obedient to?

Obedience isn’t always easy, in fact it may mean a lot of pain and heartache as we root out a sin, or problem that is starving us our spiritual joy. But if we take our faith seriously, if we want to have that joy from God, then we got to obey even when it will hurt us humanly speaking. The Bible is easy to understand ( a bog post by supersimbo lately) highlights the easiness to understand the Bible, but also our reluctance to obey and take it at its word. Maybe if we looked at the Bible in a positive way, and now a restrictive way, and see that God wants to fill us with His joy as we obey Him maybe our lifes will be more joyful.

So what? Baptism brought me great joy, as on that day I followed a command of the Lord, I took my stand, I was identified with Christ. Maybe today I need to make that stand again with friends, tell someone of the gospel, weed out a sin that I have been shown through His word that needs to go…maybe I just need to obey, and maybe, infact likely, I’ll get joy out of doing so.

Prayer for those in ministry

A few weeks back I blogged about how Paul prayed  for the Church at Colossae and encouraged us to pray likewise for our family, friends and other Christians we know.

But later in this letter Paul asks specifically for prayer for himself. He asks them to pray that

• God would open a door for the word (4v3)
• And that Paul may make clear the mystery of Christ (v3&4)

Paul was asking for the Colossians to pray for doors to open to the gospel and that he would make clear the gospel of Christ. What is interesting is that Paul was in prison for doing just that, proclaiming the gospel, yet was still looking opportunities to proclaim it. Paul was expectant that the opportunities would come and so asked for clarity when they did come. It was not a request just for opportunities, but a request for help in clarity when opportunities where there.

So when praying for those in ministry (missionaries, ministers, church leadership etc) we need to pray for opportunities for them to declare the gospel, but also that they will be able to do so clearly.

And for ourselves also. Do we ask God to give us the opportunity to speak with others, to tell them the gospel, for the clearness in our presentation, that through what we say the Holy Spirit may start a work in that person’s soul?

As we pray for one another pray for those who have been gifted in spreading the gospel, and for those who are working in a less public way ministering to friends and family sometimes unnoticed, that the door would be open for the gospel, and that a clear and faithful message is given to those needy lost souls!

Tim

Prayer for one another

I have recently been looking a little at Paul’s letter to Colossians, and noticed interesting things that Paul (and Timothy, notice that it says “we” in there, not “I”) prays for the Colossians. In Colossians 1 this is what we find him saying:

• They thank God for them (v3).
• They pray for them ceaselessly (v9).
• They pray for them to have the knowledge of God’s will with spiritual wisdom and understanding (v9).
• In order that they will walk worthy (v10), pleasing God (v10), bearing fruit in their goods works (v10).
• They pray that they will increase in their knowledge of God (v10).
• They pray that they will have all power to endure and be patient with joy (v11), in order to thank God!

When we pray for others how do we pray? Do we pray earnestly that God will impact their spiritual life or that God will just “help them”. If we prayed spiritually for one another what an amazing impact we would have n our Christian friends lives, and how amazingly we could be used by God. And note also it was a we, Paul and Timothy prayed together for the Colossians, so maybe we should pray together for one another.

How are you praying for your Christian friends and family?

How are you praying for the Christians at your Church, or at your small group or in your class, whether friends or not?

Is there a group of Christians you could pray with, spiritually and see God move through seeking to aid each others spiritual needs?

Join me again as we see what Paul asks for prayer in His ministry, and how we can pray for those in ministry, again from Colossians.

Weekend!

Hey folks, just a quick post to say this weekend I’m speaking at a youth weekend in Portrush. I’d really appreciate your prayers as I bring God’s word to the young people tonight and tomorrow morning and evening, that God would use me, strengthen me, and be glorified in me this weekend!

Cheers

Tim

5 things to keep your conversion fresh

1. Remember the cross.
2. Renounce all feelings of bitterness, holding grudges and offer forgiveness.
3. Renew commitment to be like Jesus.
4. Renew commitment to serving God.
5. Remember Christ’s return.

James Martin used these 5 points at a Prayer Meeting in my Church a few years back, and I came across the list I had scribbled down recently.
Some great truth in there and a great way of staying spiritually fresh on a daily basis.

Valentines Day (…a little belated but sure!)

Well yesterday was the day that cupid shot his little arrows and struck the already love struck and done whatever those little arrows do, but for many Valentines Day is a lot of nonsense. But as I was thinking about it, I came up with 3 things its apparently all about….

1. Love
2. Gifts
3. Relationships

And, as I thought on these 3 things isn’t that what God has, and wants for us. My mind was drawn to Romans 5:8:

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

God loves us, even though we are so undeserving of it as sinners. He sent His Son to die for us so that we can have the gift of eternal life. He wants to be in a relationship with us, walking with us, talking and listening with us, going through the hard and good times together. What a Valentines message God gives us. He is the best Valentine we could get this Valentines!

Revision!

For anyone who is a student, or has been talking to any students, the vast majority of them will have been using this word to sum up their social lives, or lack of recently, “Revision”. For many of us it has been exam time, be it at AS/2 Level, or be it exams at uni, but ultimately the majority of our time over the last few weeks since the turn of the year has been spent revising.

And its got me thinking, we spend so much time learning about our subjects for our exams, but how much time do we devote to the study of word of God? How much over the last few weeks has our knowledge increased about our subjects, but has our knowledge of God increased?

As I sit here typing this, i acknowledge that over the last few weeks my knowledge of God has not increased due to time being spent “revising” and the stress and annoyance of exams. So often we commit ourselves to the study of our subjects, and rightly so, but do we commit to knowing God better. How much of His word do we read compared to the amount of journals, articles, lecture notes or the reading lists given to us by our lecturers?

Psalm 1:2 states “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

When we are revising for exams, days on end do we study all day, sometimes close to the exam we stay up later or in some cases all night to try and gain the knowledge that we need. Here the Psalmist states that the man who is blessed, the man who is to be thought highly off, is the one who delights in the word of God, and thinks about, and spends time in it day and night.

Revision is going over things we in theory already know, and trying to recall them, and adding detail to what knowledge we already have. How much of Gods word do we know, and its application to our lives, are we revising Gods word, or are we really just setting out to start to read it.

I pray that I myself will strive to be in Gods word more, that I will take aside time to read it more often, more thoroughly, and also try to make it a huge part of my life like it should be. If you have any great ways in doing Bible study, leave a comment and share with others who may read,  and maybe you will give insight into a fresh way to do this critical discipline, and others may to get into Gods word better.

Friends

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention Youth Night, and something that one of the guys speaking said really struck me.

The guy had been on a gap year in Kurdistan in Iraq, and during the time there he made a lot of different friends, some christians, some not. During his time there he realised the importance of these different friendships he had, and his role in them. When with his christian friends, as he was wanting to encourage them and build them up in their faith, especially in such a spiritually depraved area.  When with his non-christian friends, his aim was to see them won for Christ, answer their spiritual questions, as it was important for these people who had never heard to hear as much as he could possibly tell them while he was there.

His challenge to us who were listening was how do we see our friendships, with both christians and non-christians. Even in our seeming comfort  where we have such freedom and access to God, His word, and the ability to freely learn and study His word, we need to be encouraging each other in our faiths. How often when with our christian friends are we talking about anything and anything, but not talking about our relationships with God, and about God Himself, encouraging and building up each other. With our non-christian friends, although we know that they need to hear, and many of them probably already have, we should still be encouraging them to come to Christ, and see Him. We don’t know when they could be caled from this scene of time, and find themselves in a lost eternity. How often can we sidestep spiritual conversations with our friends, for whatever reasons (embarassment, not caring, not knowing what to say).

Our friendships are the most important things to us, and we can all be “missionaries” in our friendships, encouraging our christian mates, and striving to see our non-christian friends saved. I’m still trying to figure out how to improve these areas, so any feedback would be good, and challenge each other how we can effectively change these vital parts of our lives.

Blogroll

Just giving a heads up to a few changes in my blogroll.

I’ve linked a few peoples blogs who I would regularly read. These guys all have one thing in common, a real passion for Christ in their lives.

David Kitchen- used to attend same church, he now is married and attending another church, but still a good mate. He still fairly new in the blogosphere, but has some gems on here.

Simon Thompson- introduced by “kitchy”, and has become a really great mate. Great speaker, and someone with a real burden for the things of God. Many useful insights on here when he updates. Can also be found in Inspire Books and Gifts, in The House of Vic-Ryn, Lisburn! (theres a plug for ya mate!)

Rick Hill- works with SU, and met him at one of their leadership weekends for SU’s a few years back. Also a great worship leader and someone with a real passion of seeing young people sold out for God.

Gareth and Lyndasy Gwynne- Gareth used to be my leader at CEF camps in Belfast, and is now working full time with CEF in Co. Armagh. Someone with a real passion for reaching children with the gospel, read and be encouraged about what God is doing through Him and his wife in that area. Regular prayer updates as well!

I hope you guys who read benefit from these peoples blogs, to be found on the right handside in the blogroll!