Power of the Spirit

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The door is open

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The door is open

Today Elaine and I visited Hampton Court with our daughter and two of our grandchildren. Hampton Court was the royal palace on the banks of the Thames built by King Henry VIII almost 500 years ago, and enlarged at later dates by other monarchs. It was one of the most stunning buildings in Europe when it was constructed. And still is. Henry seemed to add rooms every time he married, and the fact he went through six wives may partially account for the extent of the building.

I found one thing about it particularly significant. Each wing, no matter which monarch built it, had a similar structure.

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The path to revival

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The path to revival

Every move of God is a sovereign exercise of his will. Let there be no doubt about that. There is nothing we can do to force him to bring the revival that we so desperately want and our culture so desperately needs.

But what we overlook is the significance of our response.

If we examine Isaiah 52 and 53, we see the great redemptive work of Christ, his suffering, his pain, his rejection. But when we look to the beginning of chapter 54, we find that suddenly a completely different note is sounded: “Shout for joy, O barren one... break forth into joyful shouting.”

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The crucial step of faith

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The crucial step of faith

Every miracle begins with a step of faith. The feeding of the five thousand began when a little boy surrendered his lunch to Jesus. For him, that was a massive step of faith. It left him with nothing to eat all day. But there would have been no miracle without it. Jesus had no problem multiplying the loaves and fishes, but he needed something to work with.

And it’s the same today. We often ask Jesus to come in and solve our problems, but we forget that he needs something to work with. For every miracle, there is a contribution we have to make.

Sometimes that contribution is simply making the decision not to give up, not to get angry, not to despair, but to put the matter in his hands, believing he can do something about it. Many times it involves stepping out of our comfort zone to do something God is calling us to do that we could not do in our own strength.

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The challenge of change

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The challenge of change

Change can be lethal. I was trying to exit a congested British roundabout in a large urban centre the other day. I was driving a rented car with everything on the opposite side of normal. Having survived the battle of the roundabout, I fixed my eyes on the busy road at the end of the exit ramp. What I missed was the lady quickly stepping onto the crosswalk with her large umbrella concealing her view of the oncoming traffic. Which was me.

Thankfully in God’s providence and mercy, I whizzed past her and we both went our own ways. Under the cover of her umbrella, she may not even have noticed how close she came to meeting the Lord.

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How to measure your maturity

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How to measure your maturity

Maturity is measurable. Sanctification is measurable. But how?

It all comes down to movement.

The meaning of the Hebrew word we translate “repentance” has the basic meaning of “return.” A person who repents is one who has spent the first part of their life moving away from God. But then they are arrested by an encounter with Christ.

The rest of their life is meant to be spent in a continuous movement back to God.