It’s been a while since I’ve written a post! As often happens I’ve started the year with a review of the last year, looking back with gratitude and then looking forward with a view on what I want to achieve this year.

Over the Christmas break, I saw a quote that got me thinking and I want to share it with you.

What would have happened to the prodigal son, if instead of receiving the Fathers embrace first, he met his older brother?

I wish I’d taken a note of who said this because it’s really sat with me. Most people who come to church are in need of a Fathers embrace but are often meeting the older brother. People who have been faithful to God but have lost the wonder of their salvation and the blessings they have received.

The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve wanted to be ‘the Fathers embrace’ to everyone I meet. So I’m passing this on to you! In order to do this, we need to get to know who my Father God is! The only way to do this is to stop our busy-ness and be in relationship with Him. Allow Him to lead and guide us. Be aware of His Holy Spirit at work in us.

The older brother in the story, was faithful to His father, but not out of love and devotion. It came from a place of duty and obligation. I wonder if sometimes we get so busy serving, we forget love and devotion. Duty and obligation require our action but not our hearts.

Have you ever seen a child wash up their dinner plate after being asked fifty times to do it! It’s not done with devotion and love! It’s done because it has to be. It’s done out of duty. What a difference there would be if, as soon as that child finished eating, they thought, I’m so grateful for that meal, what can I do to be a blessing? They then not only wash up their own plate but do the others and maybe even clean the rest of the kitchen and say thank you for the meal.

Our Father God isn’t asking anything from us that isn’t for our good. Spending time with Him is good for us. It cultivates a right sense of gratitude and a better understanding of how much we have been blessed. We have to fight to get this time against all the demands of distraction around us.

As we get to know the Father, we’ll naturally find His love overflowing to those around us. We’ll find His compassion and heart for the brokenness we see around us. We’ll welcome the prodigals with open arms and they’ll experience a love that’s out of this world!

So whatever I do this year, I want to do it with this in mind. What would the world be like if we all learnt to be like this.

As I said last time, at this time of year it feels like a long wilderness! Probably more especially this year, with the cost of heating so high and it feels much colder in our homes. So I’ve been thinking about bible characters who experienced wilderness seasons in order to learn from them. Last time we looked at Joseph, today will be David and then next week Elijah and finishing with Jesus.

David was the most famous, and probably the best, King, Israel had. But his journey to the throne was not a straight-forward one. He is anointed king at the age of seventeen, but actually only ascends to the throne at thirty. So he had thirteen years of waiting. Some of that time he was in complete obscurity, then he was in King Saul’s palace and his last season before ascending to the throne. He lived as an exile in the wilderness for years. Pursued by the king he had never wronged. 

It’s in this wilderness that David learns how to lead. He has about four hundred men with him for whom he becomes responsible. He spends time in the wilderness of Ziph, which was a mountainous desert region. It’s thought to be here that David wrote Psalm 63. He is physically suffering as a result of the desert around him, but instead of complaining, he turns his mind to God and talks of his longing for him. Verse 1 says: 

You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

    my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land

    where there is no water.

He knows he is going to be the next king of Israel, but he has to wait. He has to learn what it means to trust God, not just for himself, but for the men he leads. 

In the wilderness, we find David experiencing a time of testing. He is given more than one opportunity to kill Saul, but each time, even though he is tempted to by his followers, he restrains himself to wait for God’s timing.

One time, he is pursued by Saul and his army around a mountain, the situation looks dire. Then Saul is suddenly called away to fight a real battle. It’s here that David takes his men to a place called En Gedi. 

This would have felt like a paradise in comparison to the desert he’s been in. En Gedi was and still is an oasis in the desert, a place of waterfalls, springs and palm trees. After a time of being pursued and longing for water, this must have felt like the garden of Eden. 

Can you imagine how it would have felt for David and his men to be hot, exhausted and constantly pursued? To be looking for refuge, for food, and water. Then to come upon En Gedi. Can you imagine their joy as they leapt into the freshwater pools and stood under the waterfalls? Washing away the sweat and dust of the desert. 

This story is an encouragement for us. We can be in a battle, or a dry season, and even in the midst of that, God is our En Gedi. He is our place of refreshment. We can rest in Him. Enjoy him, drink in the peace of His spirit and find nourishment from His word. 

David went on to have more seasons of wilderness and struggle, but he had a place of ultimate rest, and En Gedi was a symbol of that rest and restoration. 

David is called a man after God’s own heart, and this is because he spent time pursuing God’s heart, learning what was important to Him. We can daily come to God and find our En Gedi moments as we spend time with him. He is our oasis and place of rest. 

So no matter where you are today or how you’re feeling, find time to get to En Gedi and enjoy the refreshing of God’s waterfall of grace and love. 

As we start a new year, often we spend a lot of time thinking about new beginnings and what’s next, but often at this time of year it can feel so bleak with it being dark so much of the time and as I’m a summer person, the endless coldness gets to me! But there is something about winter and winter seasons in our lives that brings us closer to God. 

As I was thinking about examples of this in the bible I was inundated with people I could talk about. Overr the next few weeks I want to look at four in particular. Starting today with Joseph, then David and Elijah and finishing with our ultimate example Jesus. 

You may think this is a bleak subject at a bleak time of year, but I want to give you good news. We have one who will lead us through the wilderness, through the desert, and give us hope. Song of Songs 8:5 says – Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? We, the beloved, can lean on the One who is able to bear our burdens and wipe away every tear. 

So let’s start with Joseph. He has an easy start to life. Born to Jacob’s favourite wife, he was much loved and much wanted. His problems began when God spoke to him through dreams and he lacked the tact to hold his tongue and wait to see what happened. A lesson we could all learn from time to time! 

This resulted in the first of two wilderness seasons for Joseph. The first was on his journey to Egypt. He would have walked, literally through a desert to get there. He must have felt totally abandoned by God and his family. How awful to have all that stripped away from you and to suddenly face a future filled with uncertainty. When he arrives in Egypt, he is no longer a favoured son, but a slave sold to a rich Egyptian. 

Can you imagine how this felt? He could have become bitter, chosen to walk away from God, whom he must have felt had walked away from him. But Joseph chose to hold on to God and worked for His glory. The result was that he was given a position of responsibility within the household.  

Then we have his second wilderness season, which made the first seem like a walk in the park. He’s falsely accused of assaulting his master’s wife and put in prison. This time, he has the torment of knowing his master had trusted him and has been perceived as betraying him. In Genesis 39:20-23 we see again that even in this dire situation, Joseph clings to God’s steadfast love. 

While in this prison wilderness, he meets two men and is gifted to interpret their dreams, all he asks in return is to be remembered. Even this request isn’t granted for another two years. Two years of waiting. Two years of wilderness, hope deferred. 

During that time we don’t know what he did. All that’s said is that God is with Him and grants him success in all he does. So even in that place of not knowing his future, of having no idea what was next, he stayed faithful to the God of his Father. 

After two years, he’s finally summoned before Pharaoh to interpret a dream and is able to do it with God’s help. He claims no glory for himself but is given it by Pharoah. 

This is the point at which you think the story ends happily ever after, and in a way it does, but first we see the fruit of his years in prison as he meets his brothers. When he reveals himself to them, he embraces them. He tells them it was God who sent him to Egypt, not them. 

He spent his wilderness years getting closer to God so that when faced with those who had caused him pain and separated him from his family; he can forgive and see God’s hand in all that has happened. 

So when you’re facing times of wilderness, rather than running from God or allowing your heart to get hard, draw close to Him. Look for areas where you can see His hand. He has promised to never leave you or forsake you. If you don’t know what’s next, wait on Him, serve where you are, love the people around you. 

Hold on to Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Not as an empty platitude but as a truth that you can cling to. Seek first His Kingdom and wait to see His goodness come to pass.

Over the last three weeks we’ve looked at different ways we can Reclaim our relationship with God. We already looked at Reclaiming our Identity, our wellbeing, and our power. Today, we’ll finish by looking at reclaiming our purpose. 

When we think of purpose we can think of it as the same thing as our identity. Or you can think of your purpose as some ethereal thing out there that we’re trying to attain. Like putting a destination into a sat nav, we tap in what we want to be and work out how to get there. 

Our purpose is often a part of stepping into who we are, who we’ve been made to be. The first and most important thing we’re all called to do is to Love God and to Love others. This was Jesus’ answer when asked what the most important commandment was. We see this reiterated in 1 Corinthians 13, when Paul talks about how we can do incredible things, even die as a martyr but if we do it without love it’s worth nothing. 

That’s not a glamorous answer that the world is looking for. It doesn’t bring you fame and fortune. It might not even bring you gratitude and appreciation on earth but Jesus says that our Father in heaven sees what is done in secret and rewards it. 

We’re called children of God and so we’re caught up in God’s plan to advance His Kingdom on earth. This means as we see His Kingdom come we’ll see an increase in the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. As His kingdom breaks out we’ll see more freedom, physically and emotionally, we’ll see healings, deliverances, we’ll see clarity come from disorder, we’ll see creativity and beauty. 

What’s incredible is that this Kingdom is within us and so we carry it with us wherever we go. Each of us has individual, unique gifts given to us to demonstrate aspects of God’s character and uniquely bring God’s kingdom. 

Our calling is so much more than what we do in a church on a Sunday morning. It affects everything about us in every different season of our lives. Our identity remains the same, we are loved, accepted and secure In Christ but our purpose may change.  

Some seasons may be more visible than others. When I was at home with small children I was serving God’s call just as much as when I’m bringing God’s word on a Sunday morning at church. There isn’t a hierarchy of serving God. 

David was called to be a king as a teenager but he had to wait to see that calling come to pass. In the time he was waiting he wasn’t grouchy or complaining. He got on with what God had put in front of him. He looked after the sheep, he took lunch to his brothers, he played harp for the king. He used the gifts God had given him to serve where he was.

We might have a prophetic word over our lives that we haven’t yet seen fulfilled but we can still pursue God’s purpose by following what he’s given us to do right now. 

We might be in a valley season where life is really tough and it’s hard to see the next step, let alone a purpose in this. But we can find God in those Valleys. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. In Psalm 23 it says ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.’

Reclaiming our purpose is ultimately loving the person in front of us and serving God in whatever we have to do right now. Dreaming and planning for the future with Him without forgetting to be purposeful in loving and serving today. 

In all areas of reclaiming our relationship with God, our goal is not to gain control but to surrender it to our loving Father who knows the plans he has for you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Seek Him wholeheartedly and you’ll see Him ultimately work things together for good. 

Over last couple of weeks we’ve been looking the different ways we can Reclaim our relationship with God. We already looked at Reclaiming our Identity and our wellbeing, today we’ll look at reclaiming our power and we’ll finish with reclaiming our Purpose next week. 

In Ephesians 1:18-21 Paul prays that we will be able to understand the Power that we have now that we are ‘In Christ’. When we give our lives to Him we are then given the power of the Holy Spirit to live. 

Often when we think of power we think strength, or control, or things like girl power! But when Jesus considered His power in John 13:3-5 we see something totally different. It says this – 

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He knew He had all the power anyone could ever want and rather than using it to demand everyone does what He wants them to, or to take His rightful place as King. He uses his power to demonstrate His love for his friends. He knows that in a few hours all these friends would abandon Him because one of them betrayed Him. Still he chooses to wash their feet. 

So when we consider power, it’s not about taking control over others but taking control of ourselves. This means in a world that tells us to put ourselves first we put Him first. 

Often we can have things in our lives that control us. The bible calls these things idols. We can think about idols and be very sure that we don’t have that primitive problem. If we do think that we’ve become blinded by our culture. Just because we don’t have a carving of Aphrodite or Venus doesn’t mean our culture isn’t bowing down to the god of sexuality & beauty, or because we’re not carrying a talisman of Plutus doesn’t mean we’re not seeking after and pursuing wealth and possessions. 

We’re deceived if we think we don’t go after these things, and the enemy is happy for us to be deceived because it means we don’t reclaim the power given to us by our loving Father. We have the power to say ‘no’ to these things by the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t mean it will be easy but we can do it. 

I think the biggest idol of our time is the ‘self’. We see this in the exponential growth of social media. I’m sure we’re all aware of how powerful it has become. We are encouraged to share photos of ourselves being happy to show the world our value. We look at others and feel our own inadequacy. It’s almost become automatic that we pick up our phone whenever we become bored or have a moment. We’re all looking for that dopamine hit of validation. 

We’ve had it drummed into us that freedom means doing whatever makes you feel good. Without any consideration of the consequences, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else is the only limit! There’s no definition of what constitutes hurt, or whether it matters that you’re hurting yourself. 

We’re made to reflect the Glory of God, not to try and create a glory of our own. If we start pursuing our own glory, we need to be worried. What if God gives us our desire? Would the glory that the world gives be lasting? Or would you take one step wrong and be cancelled. Our culture at the moment is very quick to just eliminate any good that’s been done by one moment of weakness or even a slightly different opinion to the norm. If you start pursuing your own glory, it won’t be long before all you’re left with are ashes and dust. 

So many things can become idols in our lives, it’s been said that our hearts are an idol factory, and it’s not that the things in themselves are bad but when they take the place of God or they become our go to place for comfort or fulfilment then we’ve lost sight of the power of the One who made us. The One who died for us and fights for us. The One who leaves the 99 to find the 1. The One who knows that we will be most satisfied when we are resting in Him. 

So in order to reclaim our power we need to recognise the one who gives us power, we need to get to know Him through the Word and prayer. 

His power means we can say ‘no’ to things that will actually harm us. We can say ‘yes’ to living like Jesus and loving those around us sacrificially.