Taking things for granted!

I always find the holiday season something of a difficult time. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely to go away and relax and as the Bible reminds us rest is a commandment! However, it's very easy with a break in routine to forget to do those things which are essential and consequently to take the things that matter for granted. In addition, in many Salvation Army Corps August signals the postponement of all weekly activities which obviously leads to less fellowship with other believers. Together these two ingredients, a disjointed and a irregular quiet time and a lack of accountability, can become a dangerous mix.

I remember reading somewhere (I think it might have been in "mere Christianity" by CS Lewis-although I'm not sure) that one of the devil's greatest and most potent weapons is "normal life". In other words, watching the television, interacting with friends, lying on the beach, going out for meals, playing with the kids, going to the cinema etc can (although all these activities are innocent in themselves) distract us from that essential dependence on Christ which is critical to all effective Christians.
This dangerous complacency can (and will if left unchecked) distance us from Christ and his will for our lives and endanger our effectiveness and even ultimately threaten our personal salvation. Not only do we stop praying and spending time with the word of God we also begin to take for granted the blessings which he has given us - blessings which should be treasured.

Job was a God-fearing and conscientious believer who, when he found himself bereft of family, friends, wealth, status and health, was able to say with absolute confidence "even if he kills me yet will I trust in him." This irrepressible faith does not come to us by chance but is the result of a determined, passionate and disciplined effort to maintain "contact with the life giver."

God has given me so much; a beautiful wife, sensible children, a fulfilling vocation, a nice home, money in the bank, good health... to be honest my blessings are too many to number. Yet I have been guilty over the last few weeks of taking them all for granted and also of neglecting God's Word. Today is the last day of our holiday and I thank God for bringing this dangerous slip into complacency to my attention.

Thank you Father for your grace and patience, for your constant and undeserved love and for the power which is able to keep me free from sin, forgive me for taking these and so many other blessings for granted and for neglecting to spend time in your presence. Amen.

Rest that’s an order!

December is the CO's busiest month! Add to that the complication of a death in the family and one of my children admitted to hospital and the limited time in one's meagre allowance of hours is quickly eaten up. If the early Salvationists had a failing (and they hadn't many!) it was their inability to rest. In the 1880's to rest in the Salvation War was seen as cowardice and neglect of one's duty. The primitive's attitude to rest can be summed up in the following verse written by Horatius Bonar in 1843:

"Go, labour on: spend, and be spent,
thy joy to do the Father's will:
it is the way the Master went;
should not the servant tread it still."

Look at the following quote from O&R's for Field Officers (1908) on the subject of holidays (which were only really permitted where ill-health demanded it):

"The Army does not allow Officers to be absent from their duty merely for pleasure or recreation. The field Officer who could contemplate spending his time for personal pleasure would prove thereby that he had lost the spirit of the war – if he had ever possessed it!"

And again later in the same chapter:

"When on furlough the FO must not take part in such sight-seeing, pleasuring or amusement, or anything else as is unseemly for an Officer. Things may be lawful for others which are not so for him."

It is quite clear that such an attitude to rest was not only foolish but it was in direct conflict with the instruction of God (as set out in scripture) and against the example of Christ who knew the benefits of contemplative rest.

To resist the natural urge to rest is (according to God) as sinful as adultery, murder, lying or worshipping idols. When we break the command to rest we take ourselves outside the providential care of God (as we do every time we sin).

This disregard for rest among our forbears resulted in many of them (Booth and Railton included) being disabled for long periods (sometimes months at a time) as a consequence of complete physical and mental breakdown.

2008 has been a busy year – September to December has been particularly busy. I am on furlough until Monday January 5^th (apart from Sundays of course) and I intend to rest, enjoy myself, play with my children, ride my bike, watch football on TV, walk and generally do nothing. On Monday 5^th I will re-enter the fray, batteries recharged, armour polished and all guns blazing. As far as the Salvation War goes the next few days are the equivalent to a homeland pass. The war goes on but for me there is time for a short break.

Of course I will still pray and read my bible and by God's grace live a life of holiness - if the call comes I will be ready to return to the front (if and when my help is requested) but it is my intention (circumstances willing) to rest.

I need not feel guilty and the battle will not suffer by my absence – the command to retreat comes not from me but from my Commander-in Chief.

Grace and prayers, A.

P.S. The picture's not me!

The 8th of the 8th 2008!

There was no alarm clock to rouse me this morning – we’re on holiday. I woke when I woke, had a shower and drove the few miles to Whitstable. I parked the car in the harbour car park at 8:08!

There’s a lovely little coffee shop at the end of the High Street and it seemed appropriate to start this particular quiet time here in the temple of one of my addictions.

There was a great deal to consider as I submitted today’s entry for ‘The Salvation Soldier’s Guide’ and the following verses (all found in today’s reading) held particular significance.

First 2 Samuel 23:5

“Is not my house right with God?
Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant,
arranged and secured in every part?
Will he not bring to fruition my salvation
and grant me my every desire?”

Then 1 Chronicles 22:11-13

"Now, my son, the LORD be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the LORD your God, as he said you would. May the LORD give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Then, perhaps most significant of all I the light of what Finney has to say about holiness -

"My will be swallowed up in Thee;
Light in Thy light still may I see
In Thine unclouded face.
Called the full strength of trust to prove.
Let all my quickened heart be love,
My spotless life be praise."

During this period of quiet reflection it seemed appropriate to read Romans 8.

How can a Christian refuse the validity and (therefore) justified claims of holiness when faced with this chapter?

Verse 8 seems to take the necessity for holiness beyond debate to anyone who wants to be useful to God – “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”

I definitely want to ‘please God’ - it is (as it should be for all Salvationists) my raison d’être. Finney has helped me enormously this week and I believe that thanks to him I now fully understand what needs to be done.

‘Christian perfection’ happens when Christians experience and respond to the love of God. This response must be what Finney calls ‘disinterested benevolence’ – that is love which is given naturally with no thought about what it costs us or what potential blessing it might deliver. This is proper Christian love, it results in a life naturally focussed on God and his desires without room for any other consideration. It is only love like this that can enable us to give up all that is ‘sinful and doubtful’ and devote all that remains to God.

There is a struggle associated with the attainment of holiness, however this fight should not be with the minutiae of our consecration – holiness doesn’t begin with a comprehensive list of those things we must give up. Our struggle must be the struggle that Christ had in Gethsemane. This battle must centre on our will and the will of our Father in heaven.

The ultimate question every believer must answer is who am I going to serve? Who am I going to obey? This is the issue that determined whether Calvary went ahead or not and this is the issue that Paul devotes so much time to in his letter to the Romans.

What then does God expect of us? What standard of behaviour is he hoping to see in our lives? ‘If you love me’ says Jesus ‘you will obey my commandments’. It is loving that matters most, love involves the heart and it is within our hearts that our motives and desires are born – “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.’

How do I know if my love is genuine? The answer is simple - If I obey then I love, love and obedience are inextricably linked. Where can I find such love? The answer must always be in our own Gethsemane. Seekers after holiness are still required to go ‘beyond the brook’; for it is only here that ‘the whole of love’s demands’ can be resolved.

Today will prove to be a significant day because I choose to make it so, if I employ my will to meet God full on and in that encounter declare my complete love for him then holiness (and all it promises to give to me, my family and Dartford) will be mine.

Will this happen on the 8th of the 8th 2008?

I see no reason why not – watch this space :-)

Much love and prayers A

Finney and Holiness on holiday!

It's 7:55am and all the family are asleep. I've just posted today's entry for The Salvation Soldiers Guide and have just concluded a short time of personal prayer and reflection.

I've almost finished Finney's 'Lectures to Professing Christians' and it has been well worth the wrestle.

I like reading Finney because (although he wrote 150 years ago) he has a fresh approach to the bible - nobody else quite sees Christianity like he does.

Take for example his attitude to 'Christian Perfection'. Finney says things about holiness that out of context would sound like heresy - for example - Finney declares that everyone (whether regenerated or not) has within them the natural ability to obey God. At first this sounds unbiblical but then Finney unwraps the statement. What is it that really hold us back? Is it inability or a lack of desire? Is the problem that we can't obey God or more properly the fact that we choose not to? Finney then goes on to say that a change in our attitude depends upon two things working together in harmony - the power of grace through regeneration and the submission of our will to God.

Finney is very big on the importance of the will.

I am, according to Finney, what I choose to be and I do what I choose to do. Christian Perfection is nothing more than a man or woman simply obeying God - moment by moment. Such a thought of course calls to mind Paul's 'living sacrifice'.

I have always though that these verses in Romans 12 are key verses in the understanding of holinesss and I further think that the way they are rendered in the message is excellent.

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

It is this 'living sacrifice' - the complete and utter consecration of my 'everyday, ordinary life' my 'sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life' that will become the focus of my prayers between now and Friday.

Love and prayers

A

Holidays...

I’ve always believed that God commanded us to rest because he knew that our commitment to him and our love for the lost would drive us to work for him until we drop. I think that an annual holiday falls into the category of legitimate rest.

Of course people like Booth and Railton (who never took holidays) were constantly breaking down. Railton, in particular, was confined to bed as a result of nervous and physical exhaustion on more than one occasion (sometimes for months on end!).

Holidays are good for several reasons; the following are just a few of those reasons.

Like Christ’s frequent sojourns in the desert - holidays provide us with quality time when we can be alone with God – while the children build a sandcastle – we can close our eyes and meditate on God (with no interruption from a phone call or an email).

Holidays afford us time to read – we can chew over some solid stuff whilst sitting in a deckchair (I remember one year on holiday I got through Finney’s systematic theology).

From my experience our demons don’t follow us on holiday but are geographically bound – I have no biblical evidence for this it is an assumption made purely from experience. I’m still involved in spiritual warfare on holiday but the battles are invariably different.

So for the next two weeks I’m legitimately holidaying in Seasalter (just along the south coast from Whitstable). I’m reading Finney’s ‘Lectures to professing Christians’ and (hopefully) the same author’s ‘Revival Lectures’. I’m also expecting a positive time of close communion with God.

My good friend Carol Young told me once that during a time of prayer the number 8 came to her in relation to me – our last day on holiday will be 08-08-08 (rightly or wrongly) I’m expecting great things from this holiday J

Love and prayers

A