Disasters. Mercy or judgement of God?

 So many people want to sit on the judgement-seat of God, declaring that the fires in Los Angeles are God’s punishment for the sins of Hollywood.

God does sometimes punish sins, but not every disaster is directly inflicted by God.
How dare anyone pronounce the judgement of God without directly receiving revelation from the throne in heaven.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mt 7:1–2 NIV

Supposing you do get a reliable revelation from God, that he is inflicting disaster. Should you self-righteously gloat over the suffering of sinners, as some Christians do, particularly in social media?

Two days before the fires started in Los Angeles, I had a dream from God. I looked up at the dark night sky in my dream. The sky was not black but very dark red. I received a very clear interpretation from the Holy Spirit. The whole world was covered by the blood of Jesus, the blood that flowed from Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago.

This was not a message of judgement but of mercy. The mercy of God is still covering everyone on earth. Of course, the forgiveness of God is not automatically given. Each person must choose to believe and ask for mercy. It is a choice.

A week later, also on a Sunday morning, I heard sad funeral music playing in my head. It would not stop, and I started to realise that God was speaking to me. God mourns and grieves over the suffering of the people in California. He wants us to be praying for mercy for the rich as well as the poor.

If you pronounce judgement over Los Angeles but feel no grief or compassion, you are not speaking for God. You should be ashamed of yourself.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Co 13:2 NIV

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:8 NIV

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 Jn 4:16 NIV

If you have declared judgement on California without feeling sorrow and compassion, please ask God to forgive you. If you have publicly judged the fire victims, please post an apology publicly.

Loving Partnership in Christian Marriage

 How should husbands and wives treat each other?

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. Eph 5:21–22 NIV

Many Christians quote verse 22 alone, but verses 21 and 22 are two parts of one sentence in the Greek New Testament. The word “submit” only occurs in verse 21, not in verse 22.  

 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives,  …  to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. Eph 5:21–22 NIV

This does means husbands and wives should submit to one another. There is no other way to meaningfully understand this single sentence.

There is much debate about what it means for the husband to be the head of the wife but that is a topic for another time.

Paul says husbands must love their wives as Christ loves the church, but he does not say the husband must command, direct or control his wife as Christ rules over the church.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Eph 5:25 NIV

Bible teachers often ignore the fact that a husband and wife are fellow Christians and therefore the rules that govern relationships between all Christians must apply to Christian marriage.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Jn 13:34 NIV

There are some overrated Bible teachers who teach male domination in marriage. They say a man must love his wife and a wife must respect her husband. Then they focus on wives respecting (and obeying) while they merely pay superficial lip service to husbands loving their wives. So much nonsense!

Jesus said the apostles must love each other. Was this only for apostles? Of course not. All Christians must love each other as Jesus loves us, husbands and wives included.

If the husband is the leader, which is sometimes appropriate, he should follow the teaching of Jesus about leadership.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— Mt 20:25–27 NIV

Some leaders demand to be heard and obeyed, but good leaders listen and consider the thinking of others.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, Jas 1:19 NIV

Many, if not most husbands are not good at listening to their wives. We all need to improve in this regard.

But many teach that the husband should always be the leader, ideally a kind Christian leader. Careful observation of men and women should lead us to question this belief.

Some men are natural leaders and many others are born to be faithful followers. Likewise some women are natural leaders and many others are gifted to be followers.

The couple who led me to faith were my uncle and his wife. She was created and gifted to be a natural strong leader, and her husband was an introvert with the qualities of a good partner and a faithful follower.

My aunt loved and respected her husband and he loved and respected her leadership qualities.

New Life with Jesus

 Why do you and I need Jesus? We have messed up this world. We have all contributed to the darkness around us. We often think there must be something better but we just muddle through by guesswork.

There is an amazingly good God who made this world for Himself. He gave this world to us, to be His sons and daughters but we have taken this world away from Him and messed it up. He wants His world back but He doesn’t want to take it away from us. But we can only share this world with God if we are reconciled to Him as our Father.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

You may have heard that Jesus died to pay the penalty of your sins. If you turn to Him in faith, He will forgive your sins and you will have eternal life, and enjoy heaven when you die.

All that is true but God’s plan is much bigger than that.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Rev 21:1 NIV

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Rev 21:5 NKJV

We often hear preachers invite people to turn to Jesus and receive eternal life. God has a wonderful plan for your life.

But after you turn to Jesus and join a church, no one talks about God’s wonderful plan for your life.
You find yourself just pleasing people at home, at work and at church. You were saved from sin, from condemnation, from hell but where is God’s wonderful plan?

If you have believed in Jesus and you are on your way to heaven, it is time to talk seriously to God about his wonderful plan for your life. Jesus wants you to know him personally and to follow His leading in your life.

Finding your Direction in Life

 Where is your life going?

Are you choosing your direction, or are you reacting to life as it comes? Are you navigating towards your promised land, or are you serving as a crew member on a ship going somewhere else? 

Do you know what your destination is, or who is directing your course? Is your life being pushed and pulled by your employer, your family or your church?

God designed you to be a unique agent of change, to impact this world for Him. God made you in His own image, not to be a second rate copy of your parents, your teachers or a preacher or leader. If you live to please other people, you have missed your reason for living.

Does that mean you should forget other people and just please yourself? Of course not. When you live only to please yourself and fulfil your own dreams, you make yourself the God of your own life. Any sensible person should realise that this is crazy, yet it is a popular idea today. And look what a mess people have made by playing God!

God gives us families, friends, jobs, churches and leaders. They are all important but they must not be God to you.

God created you in His love, and He loves you. He has a wonderful plan for your life. He wants you to find Him and to work with Him to live out his plan. He won’t do it for you, and He won’t do it to you. He wants to live with you and for you to live with him.

For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB)

God wants to speak to You

 What is God saying to you now?

There is nothing wrong with seeking wise counsel and teaching but this must not be a substitute for growing up in faith yourself. A Christian who is spiritually healthy is able to receive direct personal communication from God Himself.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; Jn 10:27 NASB95

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Mt 4:3–4 NKJV

Here Jesus shows His faith in the Written Word of God but also in the spoken word of God. God speaks today and He speaks every day.

The Spirit of God brings the written word of God alive, so you know when God is speaking to you personally through a particular Bible text. But the Holy Spirit also speaks to your spirit in many different ways and He does it much more than most of us realise.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20 NKJV

In the New Testament, every believer is invited to hear the voice of God and to share with others what he hears.   

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17–18 NKJV

Of course God also speaks to his children privately. Many of the things you hear from the Holy Spirit are for to keep to yourself.

 

Old Age

 Retirement and old age can be a curse. Are you full or regrets over your failures and bad choices? You can look back at so many mistakes in your life. You wish you had made better decisions. What would have happened if …

You can look at the horrible things people had done that hurt you. You wish you had not allowed this or that person to dominate you and rob you of your independent thinking.

I saw my father in his eighties, as his health and his intellectual brilliance deteriorated. He went to bookshops and bought piles of books that he would never read. He so much wanted to keep thinking, although he knew his brain was ageing and his mind was fading and failing.

He progressively slipped into despair, just waiting to die and disappear into nothingness.
But old age can also be a time to rethink, to reconsider, to be open to another dimension.

As my father became helpless and bedridden, he could not read or watch television, but there was an openness to something he had pushed away from his mind when he was mentally and physically able.

My wife and I asked him if we could read the bible to him. He was happy to listen. We would read a chapter to him and ask him if that was enough. As time went by, he even asked to hear more.
Then there came a time when he was happy for us to pray for him.

Eventually he was 88 and my wife asked him if he would like to believe in Jesus and make peace with God. She prayed for him and he squeezed her hand. From that day he was never the same again. The black cloud of despair left him.

I talked to him about his mother and brother who were already in heaven. I told him they were waiting to see him again. Now he listened with positive expectation. Eventually my father died in peace at the age of 91.

Never stop praying for your loved ones. Many people in old age become more difficult, more irritable, more negative, but that does not have to be the end of the story.

Death can be a dreaded departure into darkness, or it can be a wonderful release into a better world with a good God.

I am now 75. Every year is a year closer to heaven. I am learning to let go of negative attitudes that I learned in past years. I am learning to be more tolerant, less critical, less judgemental, although that it still often a challenge.

Old age can be a time of hardening or a time of softening, a time of resignation, or a time of learning and teaching others with the wisdom of reflection.

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; Eccesiastes 3:1–2 NKJV

God Created you for a Purpose

 God is our creator. We are all different because God did not make any two people the same. God made one person to be a musician and another person to be a mechanic. 

Frederick Handel wrote the Messiah, perhaps the most wonderful Christian music of all time, but if he had tried to be a preacher, he would probably have been a terrible failure.

I know a man who was a devoted Muslim fundamentalist until he became a Christian. He became an amazing personal evangelist for Jesus. Then people in his Church told him he should become a pastor, but he answered emphatically: “That is not my calling.”

He was a biologist. God called him to go back to university and study for a doctorate in biology. Every Muslim at that university heard the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, there are people who were created by God for one purpose but they go a different way. They may be Christians and they may go to heaven when they die, but they never fulfilled their potential.

A Christian pastor was discussing a difficult problem with the elders of his church. He was frustrated because he could not find a solution. Then he seemed to blow a fuse and resigned on the spot.
“I never wanted to be a pastor but it was what my mother wanted me to do!”

Did you choose your path in life or did others choose it for you? Most importantly of all, did God create you for what you do?

God told the prophet Jeremiah to visit a potter’s workshop. God showed the potter struggling to make a piece of pottery for a specific purpose, but the clay had a flaw, so the potter started again, trying to form the clay into the shape he wanted.

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Jer 18:4 NIV

If you have spoiled your life, God is not finished with you. You may have committed serious sins or you may have simply chosen a path in life that God did not create you for.

If you are too old to do what God wanted you to so when you were young, God can still create a new you with a new calling to follow, a calling that fits your unique God given nature.

Some Christians misunderstand the parable of the potter. They think everything is determined by God, and we are simply clay in the hands of the Creator.

But in the story of the potter, God speaks to Israel, pleading with the Jews to submit to His will for them. God appeals to them to use the free will He has given them.

Then the word of the LORD came to me.
He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. Jer 18:5–6 NIV

“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ Jer 18:11 NIV

God is also speaking to you and me through this story. He has given you and me a free will to choose His purpose or to go the wrong way.