Every Day with Jesus

I grew up anticipating that through democratic government, the ills of the world would be addressed. Even after conversion, aged 19, I remained active in special interest initiatives. Today I find myself wondering if the energy I sincerely invested, and the resources I contributed, were the best use of my time.

Enemy’ often means an external, human threat and thoughts of physical warfare. Yet, Scripture reminds us that our greatest warfare is with sin. An unfashionable concept today, sin is anything that leads us away from God. There’s no value spectrum to measure sin against – a minor indiscretion to a major crime. Sin is simply everything, great and small, that obscures the risen Lord.

Over the next six days we’ll explore the six critical issues Solomon lay as the foundation stones on which the temple of the Holy Spirit stands. If a foundation stone falls into disrepair the stability of the whole structure is threatened. Our lives are to be established upon God’s keystone, who is Jesus.

Two questions come to mind when considering prayer. First, how can God personally engage with the individual prayers from all over the world, presented 24/7? The short answer is precisely because God is God. Some struggle with that response, indicating the limits to human understanding. 

For many, the very concept of God is unbelievable. It lies beyond our human capacity to understand. After all if it didn’t, God would be reduced to the level of our understanding. Yet God remains, all powerful, all knowledgeable and present everywhere continuously.

A covenant is a binding promise. Usually made between two parties, it places responsibilities on both parties. The covenant’s benefits are dependent upon both parties keeping their covenant throughout its term. The word simply means to come together, and that is the work of Jesus. He has come and restored the family relationship with our creator.

The great promise of Jesus is that the kingdom of God finds expression on earth. Christianity is not ‘pie in the sky when you die’, as some critics claim. For heaven broke into this world in the person of Jesus. 

Leaving a powerful prayer meeting, we are returned to life’s everyday reality. Living Every Day with Jesus invites us to develop the habit of finding God in our everyday experience. We can then testify to His ever present help when trouble engulfs us (Psa. 46:1–3).

I’ve not attended a prayer meeting shaken by God, but as a friend says, ‘Never say never!’ If we live by faith, today is what counts; where is God present? Peter and John had seen a man healed who had been unable to walk, and faced detention for a breach of the peace and been released – their crime unique and outside legal precedent.

Jesus walked the Holy Land with a simple call, ‘Come! Follow me’. A variety of individuals responded. I wonder how many declined His invitation?

DM. Panton describes revival as ‘the inrush of divine life into a body threatening to become a corpse’ (Revival by D. M. Panton). Revival is a wake-up call to the promised purpose and presence of God on earth. It is the Church returning to Pentecost. Certainly the Samaritan woman woke up to the person and life of Jesus. Such was her testimony that her disapproving neighbours wanted what she’d disc...

Our age celebrates self-confidence and self-help: ‘I’ am the source of my inner angst and many teach that the choices ‘I’ make determine ‘my’ success or failure. While there may lie a kernel of truth here, God’s kingdom turns such popular wisdom upside down.

Eight times it’s written that Moses did as the Lord commanded. God is interested in detail, not just the big picture. We easily ignore ‘incidental’ steps, and assume we’re obeying God.

We read God’s Word to grow in our understanding of both who God is and who we are in His sight and purpose. We must never forget that we are in this world to serve that purpose. 

How wonderful it is that the creator of the universe is ready to instruct us in how to live. I could not have wished for a richer life experience than God has kindly given to me. Yet, none of us find it easy.

At the heart of every strong, healthy relationship lies effective communication. The most important relationship any one of us has is with God and this relies upon regular communication, or prayer. Here, God is angry and threatens to destroy a disobedient people. Moses rejects taking a self-righteous stance.

Converted at university, God called me into evangelism. So I volunteered with Youth for Christ – full-time ministry was voluntary in my day! My father, proud I’d gone to Oxford, had negotiated a place for me in a city accountancy firm. I turned it down. This created a very difficult relationship between my dad and me for five years and we hardly spoke.

It’s easier to criticise than to encourage. Our daughter thrives on encouragement. At parents’ evenings I easily worked out in which subjects she’d flourish: those taught by teachers who motivated by encouragement, not criticism. Media quickly creates a negative narrative, from fears over Brexit to a global pandemic. In contrast, the gospel is GOOD NEWS! It’s good news for us and for all. So we ne...

How can we recognise God’s presence? Here Moses does what he’d done hundreds of times: he take his flocks to pasture. A shepherd is responsible for feeding his flock and keeping them safe from injury and assault. He’s in the shadow of Mount Horeb, where he would one day again encounter God for the Ten Commandments.

It’s essential that we wait for God’s revelation alone. As the disciples awaited the Holy Spirit, they chose an apostle, Mattias, by lot. Was this human action or divine inspiration? Mattias was appointed before the disciples were baptised in the Spirit, and not by Jesus. This is his one appearance in Scripture.

Last Christmas was challenging. Jayne and I spent it alone for the first time. Covid-19 regulations prevented us gathering as a family. Yet, we discovered great joy where we’d first anticipated sadness. Much like that stable, hardly an appropriate birthing suite, joy replaced apparent deprivation, and we found Christ and hope afresh in our anticipated sorrow.

In the past, I’ve made the mistake of assuming the Christian life about my personal development. Sadly, Christianity is no self-improvement programme. Remarkably, in an increasingly self-absorbed society, Christian discipleship can easily become an end in itself, rather than the path along which I travel ever deeper into God’s embrace.

Response is always a matter of our will. We are masters of our personal choices. Poor choices can create habits and fears that cause dither and delay. Yet, I’m created for choices, which determine my life’s course.

Jesus’ resurrection is the hinge of history. Killed on an executioner’s gibbet, this man, who was equally God, broke the curse of death and rose from the tomb. It’s remarkable that I feel embarrassed by what others might make of my Christian faith when humanity’s greatest fear, death, lies in abject defeat at the foot of the cross.

My reluctance to speak up for Jesus comes from my embarrassment. In a world where rationality rules, it’s hard to speak, and to be taken seriously, when describing that which lies beyond reason.