17 years ago

I am in the middle of listenening to some tapes by Duncan Campbell and in his testimony there is a point where he had left the Faith Mission 17 years prior and he felt that God was saying that he should go back. He was somewhat reluctant. In another tape he talked about elijah and repairing the alter. I want to teach, I want to lead in righteousness, I want to be holy and it is almost 17 years since I gave up any hope of being a minister in the Church of Scotland. I would not apply for the ministry now, but I am at a point where I am considering study and perhaps the lord is saying "Get the matter settled and get on with it."

Tradition

Tradition is a good thing, if it is helpful, but we should not let tradition get in the way of biblical truth as the pharasees did. We had a discussion about tradition last night and I think that when we look at the church at large, a lot of what people believe is from years of tradition, a lot of which has been good, but sometimes things change.

I was really challenged when the subject of how some people cannot be themselves in church was mentioned and I believe that we will return to the subject in a few weeks. I posed the question, suppose someone came to our church and said, "I am a worship leader, that is who I am" what would our response be?

George

Nehemiah

Nehemiah, heard the report about the broken walls of Jerusalem and was saddened. He prayed and remembered the promise the lord made to moses and he asked for success. when he was in the presence of the king, the king asked him why he was sad and Nehemiah was afraid ( having asked for success) never the less, his request was granted. How often am I afraid even if I have asked for the thing coming my way? It shows the humanity of Nehemiah and grace of the lord.

George

The screwtape letters

Tonight I stewarded for Kinoculture and to give myself something to do, I took a copy of CS Lewises Screwtape letters with me. The first few chapters talked about prayer and fear and praying to the true God and not to idols and not relying on feelings for the outcome of prayer. There are the very things that I was thinking about. Of all the books I have ( and I have a lot) to take as I walked out the door, God in his providence saw to it that i took that one.

Book of Micah

I have done the public reading of the book of Micah and I am buzzing. I thought it was a great experience. I am really looking forward to reading psalms in the streets tomorrow come rain hail or shine.

Micah is a great book. It is full of Gods judgement, but it is also full of his mercy. We see in it the prophecy of Gods provision for the remission of sin, Jesus Christ not in my view just his first coming, but also his second. We see that he will end war and reign forever.

We see that he will come from an insignificant place and we have a better understanding of it than the people would have had at the time for we now look back to Jesus time on earth as a man, this prophecy was a forth telling of it.

I found reading it out loud even to just a few people was a wonderful experience and I hope that I never forget it

Leaders

As I Read the Purpose filled life, I am challenged by the question, "Am I influencing people for jesus christ?" The book recommends keeping a journal to see how I grow, but I think this blog will serve that purpose as it was the true intention I had when I started it.

CP Spoke to us this morning about leaders and reminded us that people look at us to see Jesus in our lives and in that respect, we are all leaders. I have spent a few years now thinking about that and I definetely want to influence.

keep praying

this morning I woke up, picked up the bible and it fell open at thessalonians I think and there were the words, "KEEP PRAYING". It seemed such and encouragement to go in praying for M as I have done

I also found another passage where three ladies including Joanna who was wife to Herods household manager are mentioned and they supported Jesus. By implication it means that christ who was all powerfull chose to do support raising. That is also an ecouragement to me.

Psalms and answered prayer

I will be reading three chunks of Psalms on Saturday in the streets. They are chosen by a man I have never met, and yet all of them have either answer to prayer or God will answer prayer. What an encouragement.

Persistent Prayer

Yesterday, I walked into church and picked up a magazine from the table. I opened it at random and the article was about Persistent prayer. This was a great encouragement to me as I pray for M persistently. It was also a challenge to me in the wider sense of persistent prayer.

Right now

As I was praying last night for M, I prayed that my prayer might be being answered as I was praying. Today I came across that passage about the official who came to Jesus whose son was close to death and Jesus to told him to go and his son was healed at that moment. Interesting, of all the passages to come across today, it was that one, so later on, I will find out.

A clean bill of health

I was at the doctor today to see the practice nurse. My blood pressure is good and I really am losing weight. It is not an illusion. Good.

A chat with R

I was talking to R today. I had seen something she had written on how she and her husband came here. It took them a whole year during which they felt they should give up their jobs. Her husband had just about worked himself out of his job and that strikes a note with me. It is a matter I am praying about. Changing. Moving into something that I think suits my tallents. Lets see if I am right

Patience

I have a feeling judging by the passages that I see in scripture and by a leaflet I saw in our coffee bar that when I get round to reading what I know I have to from M, I am going to have to be patient and look all the more to Gods leading. Let us see if at the end of this week, I am right. In the meantime I have things to get on with. I need to tidy up the flat. Dump some rubbish. look at some exam scripts and learn how to set my new freeview box and then having done a lot of bible reading have a look at what M has to say.