Photo from Thinkstock / iStockphotos

By Katherine Walden

“Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
clear out the rocks.
Then God’s bright glory will shine
and everyone will see it.
Yes. Just as God has said.”
Isaiah 40:1-11 (The Message)

I HAVE HAD THE BLESSING of being an invited dinner guest in family homes all across North America and in South America and Asia. I have dined on bamboo mats carefully placed over compacted dirt floors; I have eaten in formal dining rooms whose walls were graced with fine and expensive artwork. I have sat at kitchen tables, and at picnic tables and I’ve stood at many campfires, carefully balancing a paper plate and a Styrofoam cup of juice. I have eaten prime rib with all the accompaniments and I have shared a hard-boiled egg with a small bowl of rice between two people. More than once, I ate local delicacies that were foreign to my tongue in many ways. I have been both humbled and blessed by the kind hospitality offered, I have received with a very grateful heart each gift of friendship and fellowship offered me.

PREPARATION
Although my hosts’ circumstances greatly varied, my hosts shared two commonalities: preparation and a desire to bless me as their guest. In Northern Ontario, they literally ploughed a road to their door and had snowmobiles ready, in case their Christmas guests needed alternative transport. In Thailand, my hostess rolled up her family bedding, storing it carefully in a corner then used the sleeping mats to form a makeshift table, carefully positioned under a single red paper streamer that was left over from a neighbour’s wedding. Year after year, I have marvelled at the charming and festive decor of a dear friend who truly loves the Christmas season and loves her friends and family even more.

ANTICIPATION
One of my more memorable dining hosts was my own brother, who invited my best friend and me to his bachelor suite for a gourmet meal of boxed macaroni and cheese, with an exotic touch of a can of tuna and frozen mixed vegetables mixed in. My brother was not known for his housekeeping skills and my friend and I braced ourselves for the worst! We were happily surprised that he made room for three people to sit around his table and he had actually washed the plates and cutlery with soap and water, rather than his usual quick rinse under the tap. Our beverages were served in fast-food cups but at least they were plastic cups and had been washed. We closed our eyes to the rest of the clutter; it was the thought that counted. No matter how simple or lavish the meal; each host carefully planned the meal and prepared their homes in anticipation of my arrival.
Although my own circumstances have made it difficult for me to prepare meals for my guests, I do what I can in order to bless them, even if it as simple as heading down to the local store to buy their favourite soft drink. I dust and tidy up, scrub the bathroom as best I can and select music that I hope will be a blessing to play in the background. I make sure I am well rested in order that I can be an attentive and cheerful host and I greet them with open arms.

ADVENT
The month before Christmas is called Advent in churches that follow the liturgical year. The word “advent” is derived from the Latin adventus and means “a coming” or “arrival”. Advent might be defined as a season of preparatory anticipation. At the time of the Roman Empire adventus referred to the arrival of a person of dignity and great power and importance, such as a king. The season of advent provides the perfect opportunity for Christians to stop and consider what their lives were like before they became followers of Jesus, and what their lives are like now because of all his blessings.
In the same manner in which we clean and prepare our homes in the anticipation of welcomed guests and family members, let us also prepare our hearts in anticipation of the Lord’s coming. Christ, our most honoured and eagerly anticipated guest, desires to meet with us in a heart prepared for his arrival. So eager is he to meet with us that he offers to help us with our spiritual housecleaning, working with us, creating a resting place for himself within our hearts.

© Katherine Walden. Used by permission.
Katherine hails from Alberta, Canada from where she heads up I Lift My Eyes Ministries  (www.psalm121.ca).

This article first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of FIRST!

Photo: Thinkstock/Hemera

Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary doctor to India gave the following insight to help us capture the heart and meaning of the Christmas message. He describes a small child, standing before a picture of his absent father, who, turning to his mother, wistfully said, “I wish dad would step out of the picture!”  This little boy, said Jones, was expressing the deepest yearning of the human heart. We who have gazed upon pictures of God in nature are grateful, but not satisfied. We want our Father to step out of the impersonal picture and meet us as a person. What we long for is a personal relationship with God not just a religious understanding. No philosophy or principle is able to meet the deepest needs of the human heart.

God has revealed Himself through His creation, the psalmist could look up into the clear night sky with awesome wonder proclaiming: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim His handiwork’ (Psalm 191). Yet it is still just a picture, an insight to what God may be like, His greatness and majesty, but not enough to know Him personally.
The Jewish people had the Tabernacle and the Temple, the sacrifices and offerings, but they were still only a picture, a shadow, a type of who was to come. They had the Word of God, the Law and the Prophets, the principles of God enshrined in the Scriptures, but still they longed for a Messiah, someone to come and step out of the picture. Over 2000 years ago in the small town of Bethlehem, in moments words cannot adequately describe, God stepped out of the picture.

When the space craft Apollo 11 landed on the moon and man took his first steps, the world looked on and held its breath. The impossible was actually happening. Just seventy years before, man could not even fly. Commander Neil Armstrong took those first historic steps with the famous words: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was Jim Irwin, however, another Apollo astronaut and moon-walker, who made a far more significant statement: “God walking on earth is infinitely greater than man walking on the moon.”

David Holdaway is a pastor and author. He has written over 20 books, including No more Fear and The Burning Heart.This is an extract from The Wonder of Christmas, and is used with permission. You can buy this delightful little book, and other publications of David’s, from his website, www.lifepublications.org.

Photo iStockphoto

When I was a young teenager, one summer morning I set off with a petrol can in hand and cycled three miles to the nearest garage. There I paid the carefully saved six shillings and tuppence (31p!) for a gallon of petrol, strapped the full can to the back of my bike and made the return journey. I was impatient to have some fun on the old motorcycle we used in the field behind our home. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that there was a small hole in the bottom of the can and on arriving home was terribly disappointed to find that most of the fuel had seeped away.

Leaking Vessels
It is my experience that we tend to be a little bit like that in our every-day walk with God. It is not that we deliberately reject God’s Word, but we often neglect to put it into action in our lives and over a period of time the blessing and benefit which God intended us to enjoy simply seep away. I understand that Hebrews 2:1 can be accurately translated:
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest over a period of time we should let them ebb away.”
The pressures of every-day life take their toll upon us. If we fail to keep close to God, hide his Word in our hearts and daily seek the fresh anointing of his Holy Spirit upon our lives, we soon find that we are “running on empty”. Instead of knowing “the peace, the joy, the thrill of walking in his will” we become bowed down with care or weary in well-doing; we fail to be the blessing that he intends us to be.

Blocked Channels
Of course, sometimes the cause of our emptiness is not leakage but blockage. Over thirty years ago, when I was a student at the Bible College, I was deeply challenged while reading the book by S D Gordon entitled Quiet Talks on Power. Using the illustration of a conduit channelling mighty torrents of water from the reservoir to a mill or power station below, he spoke of our lives as being channels through which the Holy Spirit seeks to flow in power, to touch the lives of those around about us. If the conduit is blocked by debris, the water soon ceases to flow and the turbines fail to turn. Likewise, if our lives are tainted with the debris of unforgiven sin, disobedience or an unyielded will, the channel is blocked and the Holy Spirit cannot flow in power and blessing through our lives. That afternoon I quietly bowed to yield my life afresh to God and ask him to forgive me for the blockages that I knew had been preventing the Holy Spirit from flowing through me.

Rivers of Living Water
It is tragic that our natural tendency is to be leaking vessels and blocked channels, when God actually intends that we be rivers of living water to the thirsty men and women around us. In John 7:37–39 Jesus reminds us that to know the fountain of living water we must:

Lucy J Rider summarized this perfectly. In the third verse and chorus of her hymn based on Isaiah 55:1 she penned these words:

Child of the Kingdom be filled with the Spirit!
Nothing but fullness thy longing can meet.
‘Tis the enduement for life and for service;
thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet,
I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
open your heart to the gift I am bringing;
while you are seeking Me, I will be found.

My prayer for The Faith Mission and those who work in it is that God would enable us to be “vessels unto honour” and channels through whom he can flow; that he would bring to our lives those rivers of living water which satisfy our deepest longings and flow out to touch the lives of those we seek to reach.

Had the call of God been frustrated? Image by Hemera

WHILE waiting for something to finish cooking, my eyes absently came to rest on my kitchen timer. The last time I had really looked at it, it was shiny new. That was 30 years ago! I picked it up thinking how old and worn it was. Its imitation wood sides were scratched and there were a couple of marks left in haste by buttered fingers. Nicks on the plastic rim were the results of falls, and its face had become cloudy. As I turned it over, the decorative gold-coloured cap in the middle slipped off as usual, reminding me that although I had planned many times to glue it back in place, once the timer’s work was done, I had not thought of it again. Who thinks about an old kitchen timer as long as it works? And why not replace it by a new, modern version?

Looking at it in amazement and wondering where the time had gone since I’d received it as a wedding gift, I thought of the person who had given it to me: Anna. Tears came to my eyes. I had never really mourned her death a few years ago. Her passing away had happened when I, myself, was facing the desperate situation of my husband’s serious illness.

Ardent witness
I pictured her jolly, smiling face, twinkling eyes, ruddy cheeks, and grey hair, once black and curly, pulled back in a bun. Anna was from a large farming family of Mennonites in Alsace. She had wanted to play the saxophone as a young person, but her very strict father considered that a sin. She had rebelled and gone out into the “world” but early on realized that without God, life had no meaning. She came back to the faith of her fathers and opened her heart to the love of God and to salvation in His Son Jesus Christ. Her life was turned around and she became an ardent witness to His grace and saving power. Her great desire was to serve Him as a missionary all the days of her life and she made known her calling to the elders of her church. Anna was a farm girl with minimum schooling and no qualifications. She was sent to work in the home of a prominent Christian family whose vocation was to send out missionaries. There, she was to clean and cook, and in other words, be their servant. She had her little room up under the eaves on the third floor and was on call twenty-four hours a day!

A call frustrated?
She never made it to the mission field. She spent her life up to her retirement doing what she did best: cooking, cleaning and working in the garden. There may have been times when she was a little frustrated; she had had such a clear calling. But wherever Anna went, be it in a shop or at the market or on the train or talking to someone at the door, everyone remarked her beaming face and cheery presence. She always spoke a word for the Lord. She had the gift of evangelism. Even the most defiant or disinterested could not resist her words of wisdom and truth. Not only did she believe, but she also put what she believed in practice. The children in the Sunday School loved to hear her tell Bible stories and several generations called her “Aunt Anna”. Some of them went on to serve the Lord.

Taken for granted
When I was in the home where Anna served, she was such a joy and encouragement to me. Somehow, she made life easier, smoothed out the rough places and made me feel at home. Yet, Anna was only a servant. Everyone took her for granted. She was always there. No one seemed to notice that the years were passing, that time and work were taking their toll. Who cares about an old servant? When she can’t work anymore, she will be replaced.

Faithful and fruitful
Anna has gone home to be with the Lord she loved and served so faithfully. She didn’t get to be a missionary and go to a foreign field as she had dreamed, but she didn’t let that stop her from being a true witness to Christ where she was. Anna served a number of God’s servants. Some of them may not have even taken much notice of her, but it wouldn’t surprise me that when we all stand before God’s throne and the rewards are passed out, Anna might just be up in the front row among the most faithful!

Lessons learned
Now when I pick up my timer, I always think of Anna, and thankfully remember that God is not like us. He doesn’t use people and then replace them when they are old or no longer physically useful. He sees and knows the hidden motives of the heart. He does not stop at the outward appearance, the superficial spirituality, the ‘importance’ of the person in men’s eyes, the apparent usefulness or success or education. He looks at the heart, the love there for Him and for others, the humble service where there is no place for self-glory.
I’ve learned so much from my old kitchen timer and from Anna! ■

Virginia lives in France, where she worked for many years with her late husband, Etienne, as members of the Mission-Foi- Evangile.
This article was first printed in Life Indeed, November/December 2004

Is there a remedy for a bad temper? Image by Bananastock

Three remedies for a bad temper

Which do you think is best?

Julius Caesar was troubled with a bad temper and we read of him repeating the Roman alphabet backwards when he felt his temper rising.

Matthew Henry gives an instance of a married couple who were both [given to extreme feelings], but happily lived together because they observed the rule never to be angry at the same time.

“JESUS…he shall save his people from their sins.”

“He is able to save to the uttermost.”

“From all your filthiness will I cleanse you.”

From the magazine of The Faith Mission, Bright Words, July 1892.

Image by Hemera

By John Townend, General Director of The Faith Mission

When I was a young teenager, one summer morning I set off with a petrol can in hand and cycled three miles to the nearest garage. There I paid the carefully saved six shillings and tuppence (31p!) for a gallon of petrol, strapped the full can to the back of my bike and made the return journey. I was impatient to have some fun on the old motorcycle we used in the field behind our home. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that there was a small hole in the bottom of the can and on arriving home was terribly disappointed to find that most of the fuel had seeped away.

Leaking Vessels
It is my experience that we tend to be a little bit like that in our every-day walk with God. It is not that we deliberately reject God’s Word, but we often neglect to put it into action in our lives and over a period of time the blessing and benefit which God intended us to enjoy simply seep away. I understand that Hebrews 2:1 can be accurately translated:
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest over a period of time we should let them ebb away.”
The pressures of every-day life take their toll upon us. If we fail to keep close to God, hide his Word in our hearts and daily seek the fresh anointing of his Holy Spirit upon our lives, we soon find that we are “running on empty”. Instead of knowing “the peace, the joy, the thrill of walking in his will” we become bowed down with care or weary in well-doing; we fail to be the blessing that he intends us to be.

Blocked Channels
Of course, sometimes the cause of our emptiness is not leakage but blockage. Over thirty years ago, when I was a student at the Bible College, I was deeply challenged while reading the book by
S D Gordon entitled Quiet Talks on Power. Using the illustration of a conduit channelling mighty torrents of water from the reservoir to a mill or power station below, he spoke of our lives as being channels through which the Holy Spirit seeks to flow in power, to touch the lives of those around about us. If the conduit is blocked by debris, the water soon ceases to flow and the turbines fail to turn. Likewise, if our lives are tainted with the debris of unforgiven sin, disobedience or an unyielded will, the channel is blocked and the Holy Spirit cannot flow in power and blessing through our lives. That afternoon I quietly bowed to yield my life afresh to God and ask him to forgive me for the blockages that I knew had been preventing the Holy Spirit from flowing through me.

Rivers of Living Water
It is tragic that our natural tendency is to be leaking vessels and blocked channels, when God actually intends that we be rivers of living water to the thirsty men and women around us. In John 7:37–39 Jesus reminds us that to know the fountain of living water we must:
• Thirst for Him
• Come (and keep coming) to Him
• Believe in Him
• Be surrendered to Him
• Be (being) filled with the Holy Spirit

Lucy J Rider summarised this perfectly. In the third verse and chorus of her hymn based on Isaiah 55:1 she penned these words:

Child of the Kingdom be filled with the Spirit!
Nothing but fullness thy longing can meet.
‘Tis the enduement for life and for service;
thine is the promise, so certain, so sweet,
I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
open your heart to the gift I am bringing;
while you are seeking Me, I will be found.

My prayer for The Faith Mission and those who work in it is that God would enable us to be “vessels unto honour” and channels through whom he can flow; that he would bring to our lives those rivers of living water which satisfy our deepest longings and flow out to touch the lives of those we seek to reach.

This article was first published in FIRST! magazine, March/April 2009

Fishermen cleaning their catch. Image Stockbyte.

First-Hand Impressions of the North-East Scottish Revival, 1921

By D. P. Thomson

Accompanied by a fellow-Student, I travelled north on Monday morning. Not until Fraserburgh itself was reached did we see any signs of the revival. But there, as we were coming up from the station into the town, the strains of gospel singing were wafted to us on the evening air; and at the Cross we found a company of about 200 men gathered, listening to the simple, earnest, unaffected testimonies of the converts—young fishermen in their picturesque blue jerseys.

Not far from the open-air meeting we espied the Congregational church, into which crowds were already pouring, although it was fully an hour till the meeting was due to begin.

Jock Troup

Pressing in with the eager throng, we found the building already uncomfortably crowded. In the little vestry close by we encountered one of the revival leaders—Jock Troup, the Wick cooper.

He is a man short in stature, thick-set, and dark, and his frankness at once disarms criticism. Five minutes in his company is enough to reveal the secret of his power. Here is a man of no intellectual attainments and little evangelistic experience, but a man consumed with a living passion for souls, an intense love for humanity, and an overwhelming sense of his own impotence apart from divine power. The depth and intensity of his own spiritual experience, the transparent sincerity of his life, and the consuming fire of his zeal, are combined with a touching humility and a desire to be nothing that Christ may be everything.

Notorious characters transformed

And he certainly has been marvellously used in this town. God has laid hold of him, and through his instrumentality many have been brought into the Kingdom. The testimony of the candid onlooker among the [locals] is that not a few notorious characters have been transformed, and the number of careless and godless young men now brought out on Christ’s side is remarkable. The enthusiasm in the meeting is great; but of undue excitement, or ultra-emotionalism, we have seen nothing. Few more significant or touching sights can be imagined than that of a company of a hundred and fifty, nearly all men—and the vast majority young men—gathered for a two-hours prayer meeting on a week-day afternoon, and yet that is a daily occurrence in Fraserburgh. The quiet reverence, the simplicity, earnestness, and sincerity of the prayers, and the homely way in which the needs and thanksgivings of the human heart find expression in these meetings is very touching.

Let us join in a mighty stream of intercession that this movement of the Spirit of God may make itself felt all over our beloved land, bringing joy and peace into individual hearts, healing estrangements and sweetening and purifying home life and the whole life of the nation.

United to evangelize

During this week the Parish Church has been open nightly for united evangelistic meetings, running concurrently with those in the Congregational Church, and I have had the privilege of addressing three of these. Although the numbers attending have not exceeded 400, we have been very conscious of the Lord’s presence and power. So far, the classes outside the fishing community have not been deeply stirred, although signs of quickening are not wanting in all the churches. The elders of the four Presbyterian churches are anxious to see the movement spread, and the spirit of expectancy is growing.

The fisherfolk

We have not been able to get beyond the neighbourhood of Fraserburgh so far, but signs are not wanting that right along the coast the tide of blessing is beginning to spread. Moving in and out among the fisher-folk, one becomes conscious of the intellectual strength of these men. As a class they are far from shallow or emotional, and only a real movement of the Spirit of God could have created the impression and wrought the change that has taken place. Everywhere one goes there are evidences of happier homes and brighter faces, and of a new interest in the things of the Spirit and a desire to explore the possibilities of the Christian life. It is good to know that the churches generally are alive to the situation, and are anxious to conserve the results and carry on the work.

The future

Much remains to be done. Many here in Fraserburgh are still critical, and often even hostile. It is the evidence of changed lives, growing from day to day, that will convince many whose attitude is not yet clearly defined. News from the South seems to show that the movement is spreading. Let us join in a mighty stream of intercession that this movement of the Spirit of God may make itself felt all over our beloved land, bringing joy and peace into individual hearts, healing estrangements and sweetening and purifying home life and the whole life of the nation. If Scotlandis thus moved, all the ends of the earth will feel the impact of the blessing.

D. P. Thomson later became a prominent evangelist with the Church of Scotland.
From Bright Words 1922

Image from Liquid Library

A selection of Easter quotes to stir our hearts.

Does God really love us? I say: “Look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross. “ By every thorn that punctured His brow, by every mark of the back-lacerating scourge, by every hair of His beard plucked from His cheeks by cruel fingers, by every bruise which heavy fists made upon His head God said: “I love you!” By all the spit that landed on His face, by every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground, by every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross, by every beat of His loving heart God said, I love you. - Billy Lobbs

The Christian community is a community of the cross, for it has been brought into being by the cross, and the focus of its worship is the Lamb once slain, now glorified. So the community of the cross is a community of celebration, a eucharistic community, ceaselessly offering to God through Christ the sacrifice of our praise and thanksgiving. The Christian life is an unending festival. And the festival we keep, now that our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us, is a joyful celebration of his sacrifice, together with a spiritual feasting upon it. – John R. W. Stott

We see in that cross a love so amazing, so divine that it loves us even when we turn away from it, or spurn it, or crucify it. There is no faith in Jesus without understanding that on the cross we see into the heart of God and find it filled with mercy for the sinner, whoever he or she may be. - Robert G. Trache

When Christ died He left a will in which He gave His soul to His Father, His body to Joseph of Arimathea, His clothes to the soldiers, and His mother to John. But to His disciples, who had left all to follow Him, He left not silver or gold, but something far better– His PEACE! - Matthew Henry

Take with you the joy of Easter to the home, and make that home bright with more unselfish love, more hearty service; take it into your work, and do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; take it to your heart, and let that heart rise anew on Easter wings to a higher, a gladder, a fuller life; take it to the dear grave-side and say there the two words “Jesus lives!” and find in them the secret of calm expectation, the hope of eternal reunion. - John Ellerton

This selection was published in FIRST!  Mar/April 2007, by The Faith Mission, Edinburgh

How did Jesus communicate? It’s tempting to think it was because He was a great orator. He clearly was. But as you read the biblical record, you’ll find few long speeches or lengthy sermons. So He must have been doing something else.  When Jesus spoke to or ate with people deemed unworthy by others, He sent out powerful signals. Eating together spoke of acceptance, acceptance sparked trust, trust released hope, hope sought salvation.

INSTRUCTIONS

Jesus’ words to His disciples as He sends them out to prepare the way for Him are instructive. Consider the order in Luke 10:5-9. ‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house.” If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, “The kingdom of God is near you.”’

Part of the challenge of this passage lies in the order in which Jesus suggests things be done.

1. Declare peace

This formed part of a common greeting at the time. But it was also a prayer. Does it provoke us about our tendency to pray ‘against’ things when we begin to think about how to pray for our area, town, or street? Jesus is inviting us to invite Him to bring peace to that area. The mere announcement that God’s peace is coming to that place is a form of spiritual warfare that drives away destructive forces that may have strongholds there.

2. Eat with people

Eating together allowed discussion, signified acceptance, and was a redemptive act in its own right when practiced by Jesus with the social outcasts of the day. It reminds us to be with people in the ordinary rhythms of their lives, building friendship and trust.

3. Take as well as give

Creating strong friendships depends on mutual care. It’s OK for us to lean on our unchurched friends. Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. He then gave her living water!

4. Pray for their healing

In our culture people seem ready to be prayed for, even if not all acknowledge the Healer who might come to their aid. In the Bible, healing prayer seemed to be a gateway for the message of Christ’s life. It enabled trust to grow and readied people to hear the message of the Kingdom.

5. Declare the Kingdom

The story is told of a concert in an American city, featuring a militantly anti-Christian band. Their fans sweltered in the sun as they waited for the doors to open. At one end of the street, a church group held up banners proclaiming that God hated gays. Further down the street, another church group, noting the plight of the queue, made gallons of cold drinks and offered them to people as they waited. Hundreds of young adults had some of their caricatures of Christians (encouraged by the banner wavers) undone by a simple act of acceptance and help. A church group declared peace to the crowd and helped feed them. They were much more likely to get the opportunity to pray for their needs and declare the good news of Jesus’ Kingdom to them.

Jesus often met with those considered ‘sinners and publicans’ in the company of several of His followers. We will not want to face alone some of the challenges of the culture we live in, but we will never change it by hiding in our castles and staging confrontational raids on the hearts of the lost via occasional street preaching or door knocking.

THE CHALLENGE

In towns and cities around the world, door knocking is starting to work again because its primary purpose is not to engineer a conversation but to simply make contact, offer prayer, or convey information about church events or children’s clubs. At first, you are given seconds at the door, but in time trust is built; people become your acquaintances and then your friends.

The challenge is this: Will we for ever regard the not-yet-Christian as ‘them’, objects of spiritual pity, rather than objects of God’s love? Will we be their friends whether or not they make an immediate response to our talk of faith? Are we prepared to enjoy life together with them on shopping trips, in the stands of a sports stadium, or relaxed around a late summer barbecue? Are we willing to connect with non-Christians and dare to believe that we can influence them for good, rather than them corrupting us? Do we believe that He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world?

Pity or compassion?

As we consider matters of social justice, are we motivated by pity or compassion? Pity says: ‘I will help you because I feel guilty, or maybe because I feel superior.’ Compassion says: ‘I will help you because you’re human, made in the image of God and worthy of dignity, friendship and aid.’ Jesus was colour-blind, status-blind, and gender-blind. He didn’t see the divisions we often see. He created a Church where there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free.

Jesus did not come with mere words of wisdom before scurrying home to a spiritual fortress. He lived among and ate with the ordinary people of His day. He was their friend as well as their Saviour. Who are your friends? Will you follow Jesus in befriending the lost?

© Web Evangelism Guide(web-evangelism.com), used with permission. The insights in this article are excerpted from Following Jesus by Dave Roberts, (Relevant Books, ISBN: 0-97292-763-8), with additional material by Gary Gibbs.

From Life Indeed November/December 2005

By Lin Pearson

In 1991, Derek Redmond was part of the British 4 X 400m relay team which took Gold at the World Championships.  From that peak, the events of the following year were shattering.

It was the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Derek had a sizzling start, in the semi-final of the 400m.  He overhauled the three runners ahead of him on the stagger.  Then – disaster!

His right hamstring tore.  He crashed down onto the track.  But, before the medical team could reach him, he was on his feet.

In excruciating pain, he began hopping forward.  He still had 250m to go, and all the other runners had passed him.

Film of the even show Derek gritting his teeth against the pain, frustration and tears of bitter disappointment .

Then, out of the grandstands, ran a man.

He rushed toRedmond’s side, hugged him and supported him. It was his father.   Jim Redmond told his son “You don’t have to do this.”

Derek replied: “Yes I do”.

“Then we’ll do it together” responded his father.

Together they hopped and staggered to the finishing line, to the cheers and tears of all who witnessed the scene.

In our lives, too, we may feel that disaster has struck.

Hopes can be shattered; plans and hard work may come to nothing.  Ambitions and dreams may be thwarted.  Our best intentions may be rejected.  Yet, for the Christian, these events need not bring the crushing defeat you may imagine.  Our Heavenly Father is with us all the way, through disaster, to triumph!  Here is what the Bible promises for those who have a personal relationship with God, through Jesus.

‘…the Lord … goes before you; He will march with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; … fear not, neither become broken  in  spirit…(depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm)’ (Deut 31:8  – Amp.)

Maybe in your ‘life race’ you have fallen, perhaps even been grievously hurt.

You may think: ‘Nothing can get me back on my feet again.’   Don’t be ‘depressed , dismayed or unnerved’!

Turn to God in your need.  He is waiting for you to welcome Him into your life.  The problems may not go away, any more than Derek Redmond’s did in Barcelona.  But with the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and Friend, you will have a Helper and Companion who will never leave you and never forsake you. ■

This article was printed first in FIRST! magazine, published by The Faith Mission.

Failure…?
Failure does not mean I’m a failure;
It does mean I have not yet succeeded.

Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I have learned something;

Failure does not mean I have been a fool,
It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.

Failure does not mean I’ve been disgraced;
It does mean I dared to try.

Failure does not mean I don’t have it;
It does mean I have to do something in a different way.

Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.

Failure does not mean I’ve wasted my life;
It does mean I have an excuse to start over again.

Failure does not mean I should give up;
It does mean I must try harder.

Failure does not mean I’ll never make it;
It does mean I need more patience.

Failure does not mean God has abandoned me;
It does mean He must have a better idea.

It has been said…

Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully- and imaginatively- for its hidden assets. - Michael Korda

Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. – Helen Keller

Failure is an attitude, not an outcome. - Harvey Mackay

Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

The Inventive ‘Failure’

Success did not come easily to Thomas Edison, the man who invented the electric light bulb.  Time after time his experiments failed.  Or did they?

When asked is this lack if success discouraged him he said:

I did not fail 1,073 times. I found 1,073 ways not to do it.

He always asked himself:

What can I learn from this? How shall I do it differently next time?

There were quiet missions with just a few professing, but some of these were interesting enough. One tiny village with no church had quite good meetings gathered from the villages around. Three church elders got blessing and made no small stir in their different sessions and churches. The station-master was markedly changed.

A bedridden man got out of bed and was helped to the school. He insisted on getting down on his knees, and God graciously gave him the assurance of salvation at once. He went back to bed, and there witnessed to all who visited him.

He dropped his spade and said: “Yes, I’ll go.”

Another elderly man was busy digging in his garden when he heard the open-air march singing Oh, say, will you go to the Eden above? He dropped his spade and said: “Yes, I’ll go.” He found his way to the school and got soundly converted.
We are constantly hearing of fruit remaining from the smaller missions.

Faith Mission Prayer Unions are dotted all over the Lothians still; not all flourished, it is true, for many reasons, but there is much to rejoice over. Whole villages were brought under conviction of sin.

A policeman told the Pilgrims (as FM workers were called in those days – Ed.) that the publican in one place was bemoaning the fact that not one man was in his bar on Saturday night, and that before they got saved the men were there constantly. The mighty power of God was manifest in the case of wild, drinking, swearing men. In some cases the craving for drink was destroyed straight away when they got saved, in others there was a struggle with the appetite. The same could be said of smoking.

An extreme case might be mentioned to the glory of God. One night, during a mission, a man, helplessly drunk, was almost carried in between two Christians. They brought him to the penitent form and God saved him. He walked out of the hall sober and erect.

"Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives."

In worship God gathers his people to himself as centre: “The Lord reigns” (Ps. 93:1).
Worship is a meeting at the centre so that our lives are centred in God and not lived eccentrically.

We worship so that we live in response to and from this centre, the living God.
Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives.

We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by spectres and soothed by placebos. If there is no centre, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.
- Edmund Clowney

MIKE BECHTLE writes:

Baby turtle peeping out by Atif Gulzar

5. Evangelism is a team effort.

The Bible compares the church to a body with different parts. When we demand that everyone witness in the same way, it ignores the value God places on all the members. When Christians ask someone to receive Christ, they don’t do it alone. God has already brought a string of people (including introverts) into the person’s life to move him or her closer to faith. I Corinthians 3:6 reinforces the value of each person in that chain:  “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

6. I have to hang out with non-Christians.

Introverts might be uncomfortable pursuing a lot of relationships. For them, quality is more valuable than quantity. But the relationships have to be formed through interaction with unbelievers. Introverts specialize in “going deep” in those life-on-life connections.

7. God uses us the way He made us.

If you try to be an extrovert, evangelism will get harder. If you try to be yourself, it will get easier. That’s why God designed you as you are. People aren’t attracted by our methods, they’re attracted by our lives. Don’t use your introvert temperament as an excuse to avoid tackling a task God is calling you to undertake. While he doesn’t want you to be someone you’re not, God may lead you out of your comfort zone in order to stretch and build your faith.

8. Communication doesn’t always involve talking.

Most evangelism methods emphasize verbal techniques. But introverts are often more effective in writing than speaking. If it’s demanded that introverts verbalize       their faith in every situation, the value of their written communication is minimized. For example, writing through exchanged emails can be an effective way to evangelize.

A BIBLICAL APPROACH FOR INTROVERTS

Colossians 4:6 describes the most effective approach to evangelism for introverts: “Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.”

God hasn’t designed introverts to be aggressive in evangelism. He made them sensitive, patient and thoughtful—characteristics that will be extremely effective in the lives of others. Our responsibility, according to this verse, is to prepare. When God brings opportunity, our responsibility is to genuinely care for that person. When that caring leads to a faith discussion, it won’t be forced. It will be a natural expression of that caring.

Matthew 28:19 instructs us to “make disciples.”  Discipleship involves guiding people closer to God from whatever place they are. For unbelievers, it’s moving them one step closer to salvation. An introvert is called to be intentional in his efforts to engage in that process.

Introversion isn’t something to be cured; it’s something to be celebrated!

If you missed earlier posts in this series you can read

Part 1,  Evangelism for Introverts here.

Part 2 - Introverts are different – and that’s good!

Part 3 - Introverts can evangelize the Bible way

MIKE BECHTLE is the author of Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style (Baker Books), on which this article is based and used by kind permission.
You can visit Mike’s website www.mikebechtle.com for more information and resources.

MIKE BECHTLE writes:

Baby turtle peeping out by Atif Gulzar

I had certain ideas about what evangelism should look like. When I prayed to be a better witness, I assumed God would supernaturally change my desire so I would want to share in those ways. But that didn’t happen. Instead, I found that many of my ideas weren’t biblical. When I finally discovered what the Bible actually says, it all began to make sense—and I had the desire to share in new, appropriate ways. So, what did I learn?

1. Evangelism isn’t our job—it’s God’s job

We’re responsible for building relationships, pointing people to Christ and allowing God to use those relationships to draw people to himself. We have to be faithful in delivering God’s message when he calls us to do so, but trust him with the results.

2. I don’t have to use sales techniques.

We don’t have to convince people to come to Christ. God does that. Our role is to introduce one friend to another (Christ), and let them develop that relationship. Take the time to get to know the person well and discuss spiritual concerns that directly relate to that person’s life. Ask open-ended questions, listen carefully and seek to learn something from the person.

3. I don’t have to witness to everyone I meet.

Introverts aren’t made for quantity of relationships-they’re made for deep relationships. When an extrovert walks into a room full of people, she surveys the crowd to see how many people she can talk to during the event. But when an introvert walks into the same room, she surveys the crowd to see which one person looks the “safest” to have an extended conversation with.

4. “You shall be witnesses” is a description of a person who has firsthand experience with something.

If we know Christ, we are qualified witnesses—whether we feel like it or not. As we deepen relationships with people, the things we’ve seen and experienced become a natural part of our conversations with them. [To be concluded]

The final part of this article will be in our next post.
If you don’t want to miss is, you can follow us in Twitter, visit our Facebook page or sign up for a free update by email.

If you missed earlier posts in this series you can read Part 1,  Evangelism for Introverts here.

Also, Part 2 - Introverts are different – and that’s good!

MIKE BECHTLE is the author of Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style (Baker Books), on which this article is based and used by kind permission.
You can visit Mike’s website www.mikebechtle.com for more information and resources.

Brett is an extrovert. He gets energized in a large group, and feels drained when he spends too much time alone. He’s action-oriented and learns by doing. He thinks out loud, and makes decisions easily. Brett’s pattern is “act-think-act.”

Jill is an introvert. She doesn’t mind being in a group, but finds it draining after awhile. She recharges by being alone. She’s thought-oriented and learns by watching. She thinks best when she’s alone and needs time to make decisions. Jill’s pattern is “think-act-think.”

Which is better for evangelism? Both.

Photo by Atif Gulzar

Don’t beat yourself up

It used to bother me that I could come up with great answers for people’s questions about 30 minutes after the conversation was over. I’d beat myself up thinking, “Why didn’t I say such-and-such?” I envied extroverts who could think quickly in a conversation.

Introverts might take a while to formulate their answers, but an answer will be well thought-out and sensitive. Just because we can’t think of the best response right at that moment doesn’t mean we’ve failed.
It means saying, “That’s a great question. I’ll have to think about it. Give me a day or so, and I’ll email you my thoughts.”

Advantages of introverts

Introverts have some real advantages in evangelism:

They care what people think, so they’ll be sensitive in their approach to others.

They recognize their inability to reach people through an outgoing approach, so they’re more aware of their dependence on God to work through them.

As fishers of men, they see themselves as bait rather than the hook.

Quiet people who think deeply can reach other quiet people who think deeply (the ones who are turned off by a hard-sell approach).

They have the patience to let God use them in reaching another person over a long period of time, rather than focusing on an immediate decision.

They might reach fewer people but they build deeper relationships with them.

PART 3 of this article—Strategies from Scripture –  will be in our next post.
If you don’t want to miss is, you can follow us in Twitter, visit our Facebook page or sign up for a free update by email.

If you missed Part 1, you can read Evangelism for Introverts here.

MIKE BECHTLE is the author of Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style (Baker Books), on which this article is based and used by kind permission.
You can visit Mike’s website www.mikebechtle.com for more information and resources.

The material is so helpful, and we received such good feedback from our readers, that we are running it again on our online digest only a year after it was in print. Part 1 is below and the remaining parts will be posted throughout the week.

MIKE BECHTLE writes:

Photo by Atif Gulzar

IF YOU’RE A TYPICAL INTROVERT, you’re probably starting this article thinking “maybe it’ll give me hope”.
When you saw the title, you expected to see suggestions to be more bold, more obedient and more committed in sharing your faith. You don’t really want to read that, but you’re thinking, “If I can learn some new techniques, maybe I’ll be more successful and see more results, and God (and others) will be pleased with me.”  You really want to share your faith, but it seems so hard.
Sorry—this article won’t go there.
Witnessing will never get easier if you’re focusing on techniques. If it’s hard and you inwardly dread sharing your faith, it’s probably because you’re trying to do something in ways that don’t match the way God designed you.
For years I wanted to be an effective witness. I took classes, listened to sermons and read books about evangelism. I tried every method I could find, but it seemed to get harder instead of easier. I wondered, “If God wanted me to share my faith, why didn’t he give me a more outgoing personality? Why should it be so hard?”
I finally gave up on evangelism, because I got tired of feeling guilty.

That began a journey from guilt-based sharing to grace-based caring and sharing. I discovered that God made me in exactly the way he wanted so he could work through that temperament. He didn’t want me to become something I wasn’t; he wanted me to be me.

The Value of Being an Introvert

When David fought Goliath, everyone assumed he would wear Saul’s armour. They thought it would be ridiculous to go into combat without that protection. But when he tried it on, it didn’t fit. It was only when he used his unique set of skills that he found victory, even though it didn’t fit the pattern that worked for everyone else.

How God made me

Most books on evangelism focus on witnessing methods more suited for extroverts. There’s nothing wrong with those methods. But for an introvert, those methods don’t go far enough. Reading them, I always felt like a turtle being taught by birds the best way to walk. I discovered that my guilt in sharing came from trying to use methods that didn’t fit.

When I heard sermons on boldness, I assumed it meant “outgoing and forceful.” But that wasn’t how God made me. I was designed for quiet persuasion, reaching people who will never respond to an aggressive approach.

Other people’s patterns

If God designed introverts, doesn’t it make sense that he would want them to do his work through that personality? When introverts spend time trying to function like extroverts, they’re doing more than just wasting time. They’re actually robbing themselves of the very tools God gave them to do his work. If sharing your faith is something you inwardly dread, it’s probably because you’re working outside of God’s unique design. You’re following other people’s patterns instead of God’s.

PART 2 of this article—Introverts are different – and that’s good!— will be in our next post.
If you don’t want to miss is, you can follow us in Twitter, visit our Facebook page or sign up for a free update by email.

MIKE BECHTLE is the author of Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style (Baker Books), on which this article is based and used by kind permission. You can visit Mike’s website www.mikebechtle.com for more information and resources.

Does God really love us?

I say look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross.
By every thorn that punctured his brow,
by every mark of the back-lacerating scourge,
by every hair of his beard plucked from his cheeks by cruel fingers.
by every bruise which heavy fists made upon his head, God said, “I love you!”
By all the spit that landed on his face,
by every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground.
by every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross.
by every beat of His loving heart, God said, I love you.

– Billy Lobbs

By Lin Pearson

There are many different gardening styles seen on the allotment site I go to. But I have never seen anyone who, having planted potatoes or sown seed, regularly scoops back soil to view any progress! We leave what we have planted and wait patiently.
Gardening is an activity of faith. We till the soil, plant and sow. We do all we can to prepare the way for productive life to emerge from the ground, and we expect an outcome.

Do you need a miracle?

When you think of it, it is a miracle that a tiny seed, lying in damp, dark soil can produce life which will not only fight to the surface, but bear a crop.
Sometimes we have other situations which are equally in need of a miracle. Maybe we have done all we can for a wayward child, or we can see no way through a trying work situation. It may be that, despite being prudent, times are hard financially, or that the responsibilities of life seem increasingly overwhelming.

Stop doing and start waiting

Regardless of the situation, there comes a point when we must stop “doing” and start waiting for God to step in. We mustn’t dig over ground best left undisturbed; we mustn’t cajole or manipulate people or situations. Instead we should simply trust that the Creator who put vitality and fruitfulness into a dry, tiny seed will step into our dark situation and transform it.

Do I have enough faith?

You may feel: “But my faith is so small. I just cannot believe there is a way through.” It’s an old saying, but still true: “You may have small faith, but put your small faith in a great God.”
You may have to wait for the big breakthrough, but waiting in faith can be a time of many smaller, but nonetheless important blessings and victories in your life.

Do all you can—and no more than that—then leave the rest to God and you can expect an outcome!◄

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.org

A CHRISTIAN BLACKSMITH, whose life was full of suffering and pain, was once challenged by an unbeliever to account for all the suffering God had allowed in his life. His response to the challenge went something like this:

As a blacksmith, I often take a piece of iron and put it into the fire to bring it to a white heat. Then I put it on the anvil and strike it a few times to see if it can be tempered. If I think it can, I plunge it into cold water, suddenly changing the temperature.

I repeat this heating and quenching process several times. Then I put the iron on the anvil and hammer it and bend it. After it cools, I rasp it and file it, turning it into some useful article which will serve for many years. If, however, when I first strike it on the anvil, I see that it cannot be tempered, I throw it onto the scrap pile and sell it for a few pennies.

I believe my God and Father has been testing me to see if I can be tempered. He has repeatedly put me into the fire and into the water. I have tried to bear it patiently and quietly, and my daily prayer has been: ‘Lord, put me into the fire if You will. And put me into the water if You think I need it. Do anything You please, Lord, . . . only . . . don’t throw me onto the scrap pile.’”

The Lord’s testing of us is not only a sign of His preparing us for usefulness, but it is also a sign of His love for us. The Scriptures say, it is “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness” and “afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:10-11).

It is a solemn thing to find oneself on the scrap pile, and this, because we have refused being tempered. May our prayer be, . . . “Let it not be so, . . . Lord . . . . in my life.”

Excerpts taken from the tract A Blacksmith Speaks