A Force To Be Reckoned With

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Britain. More than 200 years ago a central figure in the push to end the slave trade was a Christian named William Wilberforce. Wilberforce worked tirelessly and suffered much opposition, but it was he who introduced the bill that finally heralded the demise of Britain’s organized trade in human beings.
Wilberforce was obedient to God’s call on his life and used his skill and his vocation to help to bring about an end to the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The challenge for the Church to be salt and light in the world, and to live out the Biblical injunction to act justly and love our neighbours, is just as strong today as it was in Wilberforce’s day. There is a great need for Christians to take up the challenge to speak up for those people who are vulnerable, poor and exploited.

Pray earnestly that God will use the Stop The Traffik campaign launched last month on 25 March to put an end to the worldwide evils of human trafficking in operation today.

Not By Choice

I was disheartened today while listening to my favourite talkback radio station as they discussed an editorial on the subject of raising families. The views expressed by the journalist and callers were, in my opinion, narrow-minded as they determined that all it boiled down to was a matter of personal choice. Many circumstances and experiences in life are a byproduct of personal choice. But not everything is. We know this first-hand from deep personal life experiences that are often painful to come to terms with, as well as from our ministry opportunities of supporting people who come seeking welfare assistance.

It's important to recognize that there are moments in life when people find themselves bound by circumstances outside their direct control. It's then that we need to be sensitive to what is going on in their lives and live out Micah's message ~ "act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8, NIV)

Now, here's a matter of choice dear to us ~ "HEART TO GOD, HAND TO MAN".

Autumn Leaves

Looking out our lounge room window toward the backyard there is an array of colour breaking out, much like this. The changing of the seasons brings with it a glorious visual evidence.

On the other hand, when we allow our hearts and minds to be seasoned with God's grace, we too experience a glorious inner evidence of change that eventually has a way of surfacing in our character and deeds.

Here's a poem I wrote today as I pondered the external evidence of autumn and praised God for seasoning us with daily graces.

Leaves, leaves falling down
Like a blanket on the ground.
Red and yellow, gold and brown;
Falling softly without a sound.

Lord, I love the autumn season
Created by you for very good reason.
Fall on me with Your gentle Spirit

That I may live with holy merit.

Lest We Forget

From dawn to dusk on this day every year, as Australians, we salute the memory of the ANZACS (Returned war service men and women) with gratitude and pride, honouring the courage, bravery and mateship that saw many sacrifice their lives for the freedom we enjoy today. It's an opportunity to celebrate the ANZAC spirit and consciously remind ourselves to display that same spirit as we contribute to the life of our nation ~ LEST WE FORGET.

Honourary Aussies, Commissioners Jim and Carolyn Knaggs (Territorial Leaders), were guests of the The Red Shield RSL Sub-branch tonight at Inala Chapel as we gathered for the annual ANZAC Salute. Commissioner Jim's message on the ANZAC Spirit was comprehensive and yet deeply personal and reflective. To top it off, musical support was ably provided by Classic Brass and complimented well the superb congregational singing.

The ANZAC Spirit makes one proud to be Australian and certainly inspires us to continue to model it for generations to come so we can truly "advance Australia fair".

Micah 6:8 (MSG) ~ "But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously ~ take God seriously."

The Business Of Restoration

Carrying on from yesterday's thoughts, I recall an outstanding sermon given by Major Raymond Finger (one of many during his term as Commanding Officer of Box Hill Corps) where he quoted the following.

• "God is in the business of restoration. He desires to take the broken and purposeless lives of people and give new value and meaning both to life and the person who lives life."
• "...God is concerned more with investing His time in rebuilding brokenness and renovating bitterness, than in building up betterness."

Yes, God’s work of restoration is always freely available to each of us. His work of rebuilding is both vital and necessary in healing and strengthening us, so that we will live rejoicing in Him as we experience His worth. As we place ourselves unreservedly in the hands of God, we are assured of His complete work of restoration and rebuilding which will result in His holiness being worked out in our lives.

Will you allow God the opportunity of doing His restorative work in your life today?

2 Corinthians 4:7, 15 (GNB) ~ "Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us... All this is for your sake; and as God's grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving."

Eternal Renovations

Renovation Rescue, Changing Rooms, Backyard Blitz and Extreme Makeover ~ these are all TV shows that deal, in one way or another, with the seemingly popular theme of renovation that is a cultural focus of society today. A theme that resounds time and again throughout Scripture.

For example, God declared through the prophet Jeremiah "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand..." (Jer 18:6b); King David, the Psalmist, shared his heart prayer ~ "Create in me a clean heart, o God" (Ps 51:10) and the Apostle Paul urged his Christian readers to "be filled with the Spirit" (Eph 5:18).

Well, praise God, it can certainly be said that all Spirit-led believers are "works in progress". God is vitally interested in renovating our souls for eternity. In his paraphrase, The Message, Eugene Petersen states well the prayer of a soul "under Holy Spirit renovation".

Psalm 51:10 (MSG) ~ "God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life."

Extravagant Dimensions

In his pastoral letter to the Ephesian church, Paul uses the four dimensions to describe the love of Christ: width, length, height and depth. These were the same dimensions given by ancient philosophers to describe the vastness of the universe ~ terms that were familiar to Paul’s readers. So it is that Paul uses this concept to describe the complete nature of the love that Christ has for us.

This morning in her Bible message entitled "A Power-full Love", Dabak reminded us of the extravagant dimenisons of God's love. Here is a noteworthy quote from her sermon.

The width of Christ’s love reaches the whole world and beyond.
The length of Christ’s love stretches through all of time.
The height of Christ’s love raises believers to the heights of heaven.
The depth of Christ’s love reaches down into the depths of this sin-soaked world to bring redemption.

All Christian believers are the privileged recipients of the extravangant dimensions of God's "power-full" love. Hallelujah!

Ephesians 3:16-17 (NIV) ~ "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."