A prayer for filling with the Holy Spirit
Loving Father I ask you in Jesus name to fill me with your Spirit.
Fill me that I may know your presence and and that I may know in the depths of my being that I am your child.
Fill me that I may be anointed to follow in Jesus footsteps and
preach good news to the poor,
proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
release the oppressed, and
proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.
Fill me that I may be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control, and
Fill me that the Spirit might manifest through me as required for the common good wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation.
Thank you Father that you know how to give good gifts to your children and that you are answering this prayer. Amen.
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David Wanstall, 18/11/2008 |
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What is eternal life?
In the famous verse in John 3:16 it says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Often we think about 'eternal life' in terms of quantity, but there is another equally as important way to think about it and that is in terms of quality. These are in fact linked. If we think in purely material terms, some things we buy are designed to last only a short period of time before they wear out or break down whereas other items will last for a very long time. The difference is usually in the quality of the materials used and the quality of the workmanship.
Eternal life with God involves both quantity and quality. It was defined by Jesus in John 17:3 'Now this is eternal life: that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent'. Now this knowing is not an intellectual knowing about God but a close personal interaction that shapes our lives to more and more take on the qualities or character traits of the one who has lived forever.
This extract from a new book by Jan Johnson talks about this and how it can hapen. |
David Wanstall, 10/11/2008 |
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My prayer for each of you - Dallas Willard
That you would have a rich life of Joy and Power, abundant in Supernatural results, with a constant, clear vision of never-ending life in God's World before you, and of the everlasting significance of your work day by day. A radiant life and death. |
David Wanstall, 10/11/2008 |
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Discipleship Deferred?
Through this year we have reflected a number of times on the main method Jesus uses to help us grow in discipleship. We see it clearly in the gospels where time and time again Jesus uses various moments - the transfiguration, forgotten lunches, and arguments among the disciples - to bring teaching and change into the lives of his disciples.
Since Jesus is the same today we can expect that the main way we learn and grow is through processing these moments of our lives (be they big or small, positive or negative). The way we do this is by changing our thinking and then changing our actions through a process of observation, reflection, discussion, planning, accounting and acting. (see this blog entry and these sermons part 1 & 2)
However, just because a kairos moment occurs in our lives doesn't mean that learning and growth is guaranteed. There are some responses that can prevent the learning:
- Stop it happening again (this is response at a functional or surface level that doesn't touch issues of our view of God or our own identity
- Avoid personal implications by not owning the experience (this may involve focusing on other people - 'they are responsible for me feeling this way' or 'I am upset so they need to change'
- Continue as best we can which is stoicism (we bury or swallow our kairos experience and soldier on)
Now all of us probably have these responses at different times. However if they become more of a repeating pattern or habit, we begin to experience the hidden costs of deferred discipleship:
- No discipleship benefits of peace, freedom and spiritual strength
- Failure to thrive
- Chronic immaturity
- Getting stuck.
If you identify the beginnings of any of these things in your life, can I encourage you to commit yourself again to learning from the moments of your life. It will help if you have a conversation with a trusted Christian friend and ask them to help you in that process. |
David Wanstall, 04/11/2008 |
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Everything Jesus Said to Do - reflections on some specific areas
In our conversation at church last Sunday we talked about growing in Christlikeness involving three elements from Romans 6:
- A fresh vision of the new life that God gives us in the person of Jesus
- An inner intention to die to our old life and to step into that new life, and
- The means of offering the parts of our bodies (thoughts, words, small actions) as instruments of righteousness (ie starting to do something good and trusting that God's goodness will flow through us)
Three specific areas were raised:
- loving your enemies
- forgiving people
- being salt of the earth
Part of the vision we need to have in loving our enemies comes from Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want ..... he prepares a feast before me in the presence of my enemies. In other words, we can trust his presence and provision even when we are in the presence of people who have or are trying to take things away from us. Romans 8 which talks about nothing separating us from the love of God is another crucial part of this vision.
We also need to hold before us, the vision of the new sort of life that Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the mount. A person that is progressively free from:
- contempt and anger (Matt 5:21-26) then
- domination by sexual lust and disgust (v 27-32) then
- the desire to dominate and control verbally (v 33-37) and then
- grudges, ‘fairness’, and ‘paying back’ (v 38-42)
will begin to find it easier to desire and to act for the good of the other person (even an enemy).
Following that vision with intention and means will lead to loving of enemies. Now loving enemies is not about letting them trample over you, rather it is seeking to overcome evil with good, and it is about praying for those who persecute you.
That is, if you like, the overall process, but in the middle of that process, where the rubber hits the road is when someone does something bad to us and we are confronted with the challenge to forgive. Vision is again critical. We need to live in the light of God's goodness and provision (ps 23, rom 8 etc) and particularly be aware of our own failings and the forgiveness that he freely gives. That will enable forgiveness to flow more easily. But particularly in large matters forgiveness is a process. We need to
- take steps to stop or contain any ongoing damage/danger.
- be honest about what has happened to us and what we have lost. This can involve acknowledging and processing grief associated with that loss. It is not about glossing over what has happened
- we need to ask God to help us see the situation from a different point of view. It can take some time but we might begin to see that holding on to bitterness will just compound our hurt; that inspite of what has happened there is resurrection hope and life in our future; that the wages of sin is death in the life of the sinner as well as in the lives affected by that sin; and that in the ultimate analysis seeing the other person free from the grip of sin is the route to preventing future harm to us or others. All this can help us tap into the compassion of God
- Drawing on God's compassion and forgiveness, and asking for him to help us, we can begin to choose to forgive.
- Reconciliation and restoration of trust are further steps that may or may not follow - but that is dependent on the response of the other person. They are separate from us coming to an attitude of forgiveness towards them.
Becoming 'salt of the earth' kind of people is about becoming the sort of people that overflow with a non-legalistic goodness, and that seek to overcome evil with good. The two areas above are crucial to this but it is beneficial to keep filling our minds with the vision of way Jesus lived his life as portrayed in the gospels (see his mission statement in Luke 4:18-19). The vision of life given in rest of the sermon on the mount is also important:
- Lives free of contempt and anger (Matt 5:21-26)
- Is free from domination by sexual lust and disgust (v 27-32)
- Is free of desire to dominate and control verbally (v 33-37)
- Is free from grudges, ‘fairness’, and ‘paying back’ (v 38-42)
- Is able to love enemies and bless those who curse, etc. (v 43-48)
- Does not ‘perform’ for human credit (6:1-18)
- Does not trust in physical substances (money etc.) (6:19-34)
- Does not manage others by condemnation ... ‘condemnation engineering’ (7:1-12)
Again intention and means can then flow from that vision.
These comments are general and they need to be worked out in the specific circumstances of our lives. Talking and praying through them with trusted friends can help in that process.
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David Wanstall, 28/10/2008 |
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Tags: anger, christlikeness, condemnation engineering, forgiving, intention, jesus, loving enemies, lust, means, Psalm 23, vision
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