Staying Positive in Troubled Times

 As a little boy I loved listening to my father’s classical music recordings. One of my favourite recordings was of a German Jewish men’s choir who sang lovely German folk songs even during the Nazi period.

One of the all-time favourite movies is “The Sound of Music”. It tells of the Austrian von Trapp family, who were strongly anti-Nazi. They had to escape over the mountains to Switzerland to avoid persecution. What is striking in this movie is their love of God and positive human values. They were more for God and people than against the Nazis. It was their faith and love that drove them, rather than hatred of the Nazis.

They were determined to stay positive.

Baron von Trapp sang about his love of beautiful flowers and his love for his homeland.
Maria von Trapp sang about her favourite things. When she was upset, she would think about her favourite things.

When I read the news, I am shocked by what national leaders are doing. I have been crying out for Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. I have seen God work miracles to protect Ukrainians. It is amazing that the Russians have not been able to conquer these people. God must be with Ukraine.
But hating Putin will solve nothing. He is what he is.

Valentin Silvestrov is a Ukrainian musician who fled to Berlin in 2022. In Berlin, he composed music, but not angry nationalistic music. He set the Lord’s Prayer to music. 

In very troubled times, it is so easy to become obsessed with fear and anger, but God is still God.

We can pray:
“Your will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.”

The Apostle Paul’s life was full of persecution and suffering. He was a brutal persecutor of the Christians and then as a Christian he suffered equally brutal persecution himself.
He wrote:

We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Cor 4:8–9 NIV

And in another letter he wrote:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Php 4:6–8 NIV

Positive thinking was not invented by American writers of self-help books. It comes from the Bible, because God is positive and he loves you.

Are you in the Middle of a Miracle?

 The disciples were disappointed, paralysed with confusion and fear.
 
When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he was greeted with jubilation as the Messiah. Everyone expected the Son of David to fulfil the prophecies.

Jesus was to establish a new kingdom in Israel and cast out the Romans.
Instead, Jesus was arrested as a criminal and executed on the cross.

Not only had they lost their champion.
When Jesus was arrested, they had fled like cowards.
They had lost their support and were ashamed that they themselves had failed.

But it was even worse. They were terrified. Would the religious leaders arrest and kill them too?

They were also probably sleepless and exhausted.

How long did the disciples tremble in this fearful despair?

But they did not realise that they were in the midst of a miracle.

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Mk 16:9–11 NIV

Are you disappointed? Have others let you down? Have you failed yourself?

Jesus wants to come to you, but sometimes he waits.

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. Mk 16:14 NIV

Despite everything, God has good plans for you. He loves you.

I prayed for my parents for years. Finally, they both came to faith on their deathbeds.

Are you stressed with the wait? Please never give up.

The desperate apostles were in the midst of an amazing miracle. Are you too? Why not?

Love Growing Cold

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 CSB

Gang violence, terrorism, domestic violence, corruption in politics and business, brutal racism, gender confusion, chaotic sexual promiscuity, sadistic pornography, human trafficking, brutal dictatorships, aggressive military powers, wars and fear of war, live birth abortions.

Lawlessness is multiplying.

Mass media and the internet are making us more aware than ever of the horrors in the world.

It is so overwhelming, that we often shut off our emotions or seek escape in entertainment. 

On the other hand, we can get emotionally involved in this or that issue and we get tunnel vision. We cannot bare to face more than a narrow range of issues.

What is the result? Some people are enraged about abortion, but they don’t look at some of the problems that often lead to abortion.

Low wages, poverty, domestic violence, real estate speculation, unaffordable housing, homelessness and prostitution all produce unwanted pregnancies and women who can’t cope with more children.

When we are overwhelmed by the horrors in a world out of control, our emotions become numb or unbalanced and our love grows cold. If we care for unborn babies, but don’t care for the suffering of many pregnant women, it shows our love has grown cold.

If we are upset about corrupt trade unions, but ignore corruption in business boardrooms, it shows we have lost our ability to judge justly. When our love grows cold, our wisdom is corrupted. 

We may be aware of the Bible text about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Ga 5:22–23 CSB

When we become emotionally involved in the culture wars raging around us, it can lead to a loss of tender feelings, the feelings that are the fruit of the Spirit.

Instead, we see the works of the flesh, manifestations of the sinful nature, even in zealous Christians.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,
idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, … Ga 5:19–20 CSB

We are seeing Christian leaders involved in culture wars but being exposed for secret sexual sins. 

We see zealous Christians engaging in moral self-righteousness, hating cultural, political or theological opponents, Christian factions furiously denouncing each other.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 CSB

Some American preachers are trying to redirect people to the Sermon on the Mount, to humility, empathy, love of enemies, but they are fighting a losing battle. So many Christians are absorbing culture wars every day on the internet.

When the pastor preaches humility and gentleness, he sometimes gets a hostile response from the culture warriors in his congregation.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 CSB

The Never Ending Love of Jesus

• Have you been trying hard to do what God has called you to do?

• Have you sacrificed your time and strength for the people you help?

• Have you prayed with a sincere heart for the people God has given you to care for?

Yet you feel dry inside. The heavenly music that used to encourage you no longer stirs your heart as before. You no longer feel the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit as at other times.

You are fighting an ongoing  battle with problems in your family, in your job, with your health or your finances.

One or two problems would already be a challenge, but in so many areas of life you don't see a clear path, but messes on every side.

As if that wasn't enough, you see a world around you that is overwhelmed by crisis after crisis.  

And you see this not only in the daily news, but also in the high prices at the petrol station, in the supermarket and in the never ending pandemic.  

Sometimes you feel so weighed down that your fresh enthusiasm for God is compromised, though you never give up in your dedication and caring for others.

Jesus sees your daily struggle and his compassion is still a blazing fire. Jesus loves you and his grace is new every morning.

Jesus has a word for you today.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. La 3:22–25 NRSV

The Future will be Different

 We are in a kind of no man's land, a waiting time.

We are waiting, but we don't know what lies ahead. The future will be different from the past, but we don't know what will come and when it will come. We have promises from God. We may expect revival, but what will revival look like in the unknown future?

The revivals of the past often appeared unexpectedly. We read history, but we know the world of yesterday is never coming back.

We are like Abraham in the Bible who set out on a pilgrimage not knowing where God would lead him. Abraham went from his homeland to a completely different destination. We stay where we are, but the world is changing around us.

Abraham and Sarah had to trust God for their unknown future, just like we do today. 

Abraham really had to trust God because he was 75 years old when God promised to give him a son. He had to wait about 25 more years until Isaac was born.

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. Rom 4:19 NRSV

We often get tired of waiting and with many trials. I am sure that Abraham and Sarah were sometimes tired and discouraged.

But God wants to encourage us. He gives us his word and his loving promises.

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
 
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;

but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isa 40:29–31 NRSV

We are in an unprecedented global crisis. In such times can expect God's miraculous intervention. Millions are sick and yet millions are cowed in the shadow of death. So many are dying.

The Second World War was also a terrible crisis. Millions died and but millions were sick, injured and traumatised.

Shortly after the war, God was at work with great mercy. Great revivals appeared in different countries. Evangelists appeared in America and thousands of seriously ill people experienced miraculous healings.

In Solingen in Germany, a German evangelist emerged who exercised amazing healing gifts. 

Hermann Zaiss was a very gifted German evangelist at the end of the war. Already in 1945 thousands and thousands from all regions of Germany and also from other countries came to his meetings. Many seriously ill people were miraculously healed, but these were not the greatest miracles.  

There was a young soldier in the British occupation force. He burned with a terrible hatred against the German people. His commander was a Canadian officer who regarded this young man with Christian compassion because his uncontrollable bitterness was poisoning his own soul.

This young man was not a monster. As a Jewish child from Germany, he had found refuge in England, but his entire family was murdered by the Nazis.

The Canadian officer brought the traumatised young soldier to the meeting to hear the German evangelist.

Also in the audience was another badly injured man. He was a hard-core Nazi from the Waffen-SS, a devoted disciple of the Führer.

In the last days of the war, he was hit by the explosion of an artillery shell. When he awoke from a coma, he saw a black American nurse smiling at him with Christian Mercy. He no longer understood the world. One of his legs had been torn apart and he was permanently crippled.

The bewildered SS officer and the bitter young Jew listened to the sermon, saw the healings and felt the presence of God with His love and mercy. Then their hearts became warm and soft. They converted to Jesus and testified of their experience.

Then the most amazing miracle of all occurred. They became firm friends.

In dark times we can expect amazing miracles.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
God's love never changes. God is love. 1 Cor 13:7 NLT

God's Way out for our Ruined Planet

God loves music. He invented music. God loves you too. He planned you before the creation of the world.

God wants everything in creation to shine like beautiful art and sound like exquisite music.

We see this glorious beauty in nature. The poets and artists of the Romantic period celebrated this beauty.

We can still see this beauty, but we also see how we humans are spoiling nature. There is a huge pile of rubbish in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Dolphins eat plastic bags and choke on them.

God has given us beautiful poppies and we have made effective painkillers from them. The best painkiller for dying cancer patients is heroin, but tragically this very good medicine is horribly abused.

God created us as sexual beings, not just to produce children, but so that we should have love, companionship, pleasure and joy, but what do we see in the world? Pornography addiction, human trafficking, rape and forced prostitution.

God has made us different. Who can run or dance like the black Africans? But we have so misunderstood our differences that cruel hatred and racism is ruining humanity.

God created us as spiritual beings to live eternally with Him as His own image, but we have corrupted our spirituality. We see cruel religion and witchcraft everywhere. 

God's is watching all this and He is suffering.

Creation itself is in agony because we humans have failed as stewards of nature.

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1:27–28 NRSV

This was in the beginning, but many years later the apostle Paul wrote.

for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; Romans 8:20–22 NRSV

Many today see how our planet is corrupted. Our very existence is threatened. They want to save our planet through political action. Without God, that would be the only way.

They understand that the fate of the planet is inseparable from humanity, but they do not understand that without God our humanity and our existence has no future.

Nature is corrupt because we humans are corrupt. God did not make us this way. We have corrupted God's creation. Only with God can we find the way out.

God's Protection in War and Crisis

 1944 was a terrible time in Germany. The war was all but lost, but the Nazis were still in power. British and American air raids became increasingly fierce. Day and night, many thousands of civilians were killed.

During this traumatic time, a German preacher, Hermann Zaiss, lived in Ohligs, a suburb of Wuppertal. He had suffered much in his life.

During the First World War he was a prisoner of war for 4 years.  Then he served as an evangelist in Germany, but he was persecuted by Christians because he was a Pentecostal. Then his wife became mentally ill, and chronically psychotic.

His heart was broken. He could not bear it any more. He decided to turn away from God. He still believed in God, but he told God he wanted nothing more to do with Him.

I did just that, and I told God, "If you are alive and have an interest in me and your love for me is so great, come and call me again after 20 years!"

Schneider, Peter. Lahme tanzen unter der Kanzel: Zeichen und Wunder in den Gottesdiensten von Hermann Zaiss (German Edition) . Asaph Verlag. Kindle Edition.
(Lame men dancing under the pulpit: signs and wonders in the services of Hermann Zaiss)

He divorced his mentally ill wife, became very successful as an entrepreneur and remarried.

Then came the terrible bombing raids in Germany. Everyone was gripped by panic and despair.

Already in 1939, his wife Clara had found her way to God through prayer for their seriously ill daughter. God had healed her daughter and she pleaded with her husband again and again to take up his ministry again and help the suffering people.

On 22 July 1944, on the very day when his twenty years away from God were over, Hermann and Clara knelt down in the bombed Protestant church of Ohligs and prayed: "Lord, if you want us again, here we are." He received a clear commission from God to proclaim the gospel radically, without any compromise.

Schneider, Peter. Lahme tanzen unter der Kanzel: Zeichen und Wunder in den Gottesdiensten von Hermann Zaiss (German Edition) . Asaph Verlag. Kindle Edition.
(Lame men dancing under the pulpit: signs and wonders in the services of Hermann Zaiss)

Hermann started a home group and God blessed this small beginning. A great many desperate neighbours sought God's help.

The meetings grew larger. They prayed together and trusted God to protect them from the bombs.

In November 1944, nearby Solingen was bombed and thousands were killed. Then Hermann Zaiss heard on the radio that the bombers were on their way to his neighbourhood in Ohligs. He went into the garden and prayed for protection and peace.

Shortly afterwards he heard again on the radio that the bombers had turned away for unknown reasons.

On the British side there were also faithful Christians praying for protection.

Colonel Whittlesey was the commander of a British regiment in the Second World War. He was a Christian. He ordered his soldiers to recite Psalm 91 every day. The regiment was in fierce fighting for five years and not a single man was killed.

Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Psalm 91:7 NLT

Now we are again in a life-threatening crisis. Many are dying in India, in Brazil but also in North America and Europe. Many are terrified of the virus and others dread the vaccine.

If God protected many German civilians from bombing during the war and also saved British soldiers, you can be sure that he can also help you at this time and wants to save you.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. Ps 91:1–3 NKJV

For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. Psalm 91:3 NLT

Roller Coaster Ride

A few years ago I was a guest preacher in a small fellowship in Germany. I was in my guest room when this old pop song floated through my mind.

Everyday, it's a gettin' closer
Goin' faster than a roller coaster
Love like yours will surely come my way
A-hey a-hey hey … (Buddy Holly)

I felt this was a message from the Holy Spirit, and I shared this in the Sunday morning meeting. The pastor responded very positively. He said a visiting preacher five years before had shared a prophecy about a roller coaster experience which we should be expecting.

I was praying this morning at home in Perth. We are in the middle of a three-day lock down because of an unexpected Coronavirus case.

When I asked God for inspiration, this message about the roller coaster came back.

The message I believe God wanted to share is, “Hold on tight!”

As the return of Jesus Christ draws nearer, things will not stabilise or slow down.

Habakkuk chapter two presents a grim picture of a world in chaos and corruption, but in the middle of this horrible chapter, there is a verse which is often quoted out of context.

For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14 NKJV

It is usually quoted out of context because the context is the opposite of glory.

I believe that God is telling us, that in the middle of the horror of terrorism, human trafficking, pandemics and moral chaos, precisely at this time, we should expect God to manifest His glory on this planet in a way that has never been seen before.

So the message from God is, “Hold on tight!”

We are on a wild ride, and it will not settle down. We must not expect normality, but we can hold on tightly to the loving presence of God.

Seek His presence and expect miracles every day. God is still God, and He has not stopped being good and kind.

When I read my bible I see the greatest miracles in the times of the greatest stress. We are in just such a time today.

God has not changed.

God has Better Plans

Are you discouraged? Disappointed? Anxious?
Are you really down?

Before the Last Supper, the apostles were disappointed and deeply shaken.

But how was that possible? They were Jesus' closest friends. They believed he was the Son of God, their Saviour and Redeemer. He was with them in the flesh. And they were dismayed?

A few days earlier, Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem. The crowds had acknowledged him as the Messiah with great excitement.

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9 NIV84

The Jews, and also the apostles, expected that Jesus as Messiah would then establish the Kingdom of God, that Jesus would rule the world as King in Jerusalem.

But Jesus did not. Everyone was disappointed. The religious leaders could now manipulate the disappointed Jews.

Instead of the expected triumph, the disciples stared disaster in the face.

What did Jesus say to this?

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1 NIV84

You have expected a great revival, prayed for it for years, heard wonderful prophecies.

Yet the Corona disaster came. Where is God? You no longer understand anything.

What is Jesus saying now?

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1 NIV84

You were expecting something wonderful from God. You have waited a long time for it, and now you are shaken.

My father was 70 years old. He had been smoking 40 cigarettes a day for many years and his lungs were black inside. I had prayed for him for years but there was no sign of faith. 

He was tormented by emphysema. That was a death sentence.

Then I started praying a new prayer. "Please let my father live until he comes to faith."

At the age of 88, he converted. He was very weak, but there was no sign of emphysema.

Finally he turned 91. He was half blind and life had become a burden to him.

Then I read in the Bible:

With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:16 NKJV

I gave thanks and praise to God. And then I prayed a very bold prayer.

"Dear God, you have heard my prayer, but my father is really suffering. How would it be if my father goes to heaven exactly 16 days after his 91st birthday?

Exactly 16 days later, Jesus took my father to heaven with no pain.

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:2–3 NKJV

God has good plans for us, and that includes you.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1 NIV84