Monthly Archives: March 2016

Lost in Your Love

A few weeks ago, Fiona and I went to a meeting at my dear friend’s School of Supernatural Ministry here in Devon. At the start of the meeting, there was of course worship: the saints lifting up the name of Jesus and drawing near into His presence. We were slightly late and the worship had already begun – and it was like walking straight into the Throne Room of God. His glory was there with such weight, was so tangible, that we were straight into His awesome Presence. Fiona and I have always found it easy to ‘tune in’ to God in our worship; basically we can go straight into worship at just about any time, but this really was something special.

It was one of those worship sessions where the very first thing you do is to fall at His feet in awe of His Majesty. And yet, you know you are welcome there, because He loves us and thinks it’s ace when His kids come to worship Him. The Presence of God is not a threatening Presence, it’s a welcoming Presence, a Loving Presence, a Healing Presence. Huge and overwhelming, but utterly peaceful and utterly beautiful.

At times like this, there is no consciousness of the passage of time, no inclination to stop, no boredom or desire to leave. It’s just Jesus, Jesus, Jesus all the way. Lost in His Love. Conscious of little else but His Presence. When all things that surround become shadows.

And then it happened again, just last Sunday, when Fiona and I were at a healing meeting in Bridgend, South Wales. Again, the Presence of God. Again, His healing Hand at work. I was shaking with His power; I just couldn’t stop it. Simply indescribable. You can’t fake God’s Presence; there is simply no substitute. It’s not music, it’s not singing, its just that He honours us with His Presence. Anything less is simply worthless.

I wish there was a better way to explain, but unless you have been in God’s Presence yourself, there’s just no way I can describe it. Sometimes it seems as if the air itself is sparkling with what is known as the Shekhinah glory of God in the room – sometimes it appears that the air becomes slightly cloudy; sometimes, as I said, it sparkles. And the strong feeling of the Presence of God in the place is unmistakable and indescribable too.

There is simply nothing else that can compare with being in God’s Presence. I would like to encourage you to seek Him earnestly and draw near with faith, into His Presence!

Here is a lovely song, ‘I want to sing until I am lost in Your Love‘, by Malcolm DuPlessis, which reflects this idea of being ‘lost’ in God’s Presence and Love; please feel free to join in…..enter into God’s Presence today.

I want to sing until I am lost in Your Love
Till I am found in Your presence
Worshipping before Your throne.

Filled with Your Spirit
Entering into Your flow,
How precious these moments,
Lord, I want You to know.

It’s You, You who have won my heart,
Taken me into Your arms,
Comforted me like a friend.
Your love surrounded me from the start
I never want to be apart from You ever again.


I want to sing until I am lost In Your Love’ can be found on the tape ‘Celebrate!‘ on my website Vintage Worship Tapes

There is None Like You

Here’s one of the most gorgeous worship songs ever, from the Hosanna! album ‘Pure Heart‘, 1991, featuring Lenny LeBlanc and Kelly Willard on vocals.

Let it bless you and lead you into God’s presence as you worship Him….

There is none like You,
No one else can touch my heart like You do,
I can search for all eternity Lord
And find, there is none like You.

There is none like You.
No one else can touch my heart like You do,
I can search for all eternity Lord
And find, there is none like You.

Your mercy flows like a river so wide,
And healing comes from Your hand.
Suffering children are safe in Your arms,
There is none like You.

There is none like You.
No one else can touch my heart like You do,
I can search for all eternity Lord
And find, there is none like You.

A Criminal’s Death

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ – Gal 6:14

The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross reaches down through time and affects every Christian in so many ways. In a recent post, I described just a little of what Jesus accomplished for us at the Cross. But only today has it occurred to me why He had to die a criminal’s death.

When in Paul’s letters, he refers to the Cross, he’s not just talking about Jesus’s death. I think that Paul deliberately used the word ‘Cross’ rather than ‘death’, because he wanted to refer to the manner of that death, as well as the fact of the death. You see, for me one of the main things for the Cross is that everything that was bad about humanity was nailed there  with Jesus. Simply referring to the ‘death’ isn’t sufficient; the sin/sickness/flesh etc. has to be seen to have been crucified in order to make it helpless and powerless. It all died a criminal’s public death, because it was all evil. It deserved it!

…having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:14-15, emphasis mine)

This is the victory of the Cross. Public and permanent defeat for death, sickness, sin, every evil and every bad thing that humanity has ever been able to cook up. They all died a criminal’s death, in Jesus Christ, and were defeated.

Wow, this Gospel is good news!!

Pastor Chan’s Rope

In our house group recently we have been watching some of the video work of Pastor Francis Chan of California, USA. And while I’m not going to go into it in any detail here, suffice it to say that I recognise Francis Chan as someone who loves Jesus; there’s maybe a lot I don’t agree with in his teaching, but I really like the guy’s style and some bits have been interesting and thought-provoking. Plus, part of being a Christian is to learn to accept that others have a different viewpoint.

Anyway, one such interesting work is the ‘Rope Illustration’. In this, Francis takes a really long rope which has about a three-inch part at one end that is wrapped in red tape, probably a standard rope end to stop it fraying. Francis’s point is that if you imagine the rope as a timeline, and the length of the rope represents eternity, then the red end of the rope represents our brief life here on earth. And so, he contests, why put so much of our focus into the tiny span of our lives here, when the decisions we make here affect where we spend the rest of our own eternities after death?

In order to follow the rest of my piece, it’s probably best to take a look at the short movie I’m referring to; it’s quite interesting and only lasts a few minutes:

Now I get what he means, particularly because he’s someone who (As far as I can see) believes in – and preaches – the standard evangelical model of a black-and-white heaven/hell destiny for all souls for all time, and where you have to make your mind up in the here and now which it’s gonna be. As my regular readers will know, I have some problems with that doctrine – but I still want to honour Pastor Chan as a fellow believer. I’m not going to knock him in this post (or indeed at all). And there are things you can learn from that video even if you don’t believe in that particular idea.

For me, though, I’d like to turn the idea on its head – and actually end up agreeing with Pastor Chan, albeit from a somewhat different direction.

Firstly, let’s notice that the bit of red electricians’ tape, or whatever it is, is wrapped round the rope itself. It’s the same rope that extends 100 feet; the core of the red-wrapped rope is still part of the rest of the length of rope. And this illustrates rather nicely the idea of ‘treasures in jars of clay’ (2Cor 4:7): the rope of eternity is at the core of our being right now and extends past our current lives and into the future. The eternal life of the future is already part of us – and is ours – now, and is at our very core. The idea of eternal life does not simply mean ‘lasting for ever’, it also means life of an entirely different quality than that lived by an unbeliever.

chans_rope_2

Actually it’s not so much that our lives here affect that greatly what happens in the future – it does, but that’s not what I’m talking about here; it’s more that what we are in the future greatly affects what happens here and now in our lives. Or at least it can do, and, if we are believers, it should do – this is what you might call the ‘normal’ Christian life. Bear with me here. Jesus came to bring us life in all its fulness, as He said in John 10:10 – “The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have lifelife in all its fullness.” Jesus came to preach the nearness of the Kingdom of God and proceeded to demonstrate what that Kingdom is like in terms of wholeness, health and healing, and the immanent presence of God Himself amongst His people, upon whom His favour rested. That is the life that Christians are called to live and demonstrate.

So, you see, that hundred feet of rope is the identity we have as believers: we are eternal beings who are part of this world with the purpose of being Jesus to others, in bringing His Kingdom blessings into this present day. Because of that eternal future, and all the riches it contains, we can make a difference in this world, just as Jesus did. Jesus actually came to give real help to real people in the real world when He came, and we should be no different. Spiritualising it into a heaven/hell discussion is not what it’s about. Jesus’s life and teaching was about the Kingdom of God. Sure, He did speak to his listeners about things related to afterlife issues, but any non-prejudiced reading of the Gospels must show that Jesus was more concerned with how people relate to God and He relates to them in this life, not because of the threat of some sort of eternal punishment, but simply because He loves them and wants them to have life in all its fulness – eternal life – here in this life as a taster for what comes next after the physical death of our bodies.

If this were not the case, some may even ask the question, “What’s the point of staying here on earth when Heaven is going to be so much better? Why not obtain our salvation and then go enjoy it?” Well, we want to stay because, as I’ve said above, our job is to demonstrate Jesus to the world, by living life in the freedom that He’s already bought for us, and to let others see us working in that freedom. That’s what makes the Gospel attractive to those on the outside who look in – seeing the real joy of those set free to enjoy life to the full. Not the ‘gospel’ of an ‘angry god’ who has to be placated and really isn’t that keen on spending time with miserable sinners. Nothing could be further from the truth!

So, then, because we have the eternal perspective – knowing that our lives with Jesus will continue in this life and then through the veil into the unseen Kingdom – we do live differently in this life. That piece of long rope does make a difference how we live. Not so much that we adhere to some legalistic code of rules or believe exactly the ‘right’ things, but that we live a Kingdom life of wholeness and power, fed from our eternal identity, that infinitely long rope into the distant future, in Christ.

chans_rope_2

So actually I do agree with Pastor Chan in that the everlasting life is the most important, and yes it does influence how we live our lives in the here-and-now – but not in the sense that this life determines our eternal destiny. Our ‘today’ lives are important too, otherwise God wouldn’t have arranged things the way they are. Instead, it’s the other way round; because the eternal life is far bigger, more powerful and more significant than our earthly life, its influence extends into our everyday lives right now.

That’s what I call Good News!