Little Learning Fingers – by Sarah Wickham

This afternoon whilst playing with my nearly 6-month-old son, I was leaning over him and he showed interest in the zip dangling from my jacket.  I stopped to see what he would do.  He very slowly manoeuvred his hand into position next to the zip and then I could see him trying to use his thumb and forefinger to hold the zip. He was almost successful and continued to try to do this for ten minutes, never quite getting there.  At times he would briefly wave his arms and kick his legs about in frustration.  Then he would stop to focus and have another go.

It was whilst my son was doing this that I was reminded of an illustration that I’ve heard my Dad use many times in devotions and sermons over the years. It is about fingers and a thumb working together to pick up a ball.  Have you ever tried to pick up a ball with just your thumb?  Or just one finger?  Maybe you’ve tried with two fingers; it’s still difficult to do depending on the size of the ball.  The task is completed much more easily when the fingers and thumb work together to pick up the ball.

It’s a bit like the passage in 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul talks about how the body of Christ, the Church, is one body made up of many members; we cannot say that we don’t need each other, because we do need each other.

Watching my son’s little fingers learning to grasp at a zip reminded me that while we as Christians may be one body in Christ – the Church – it takes time to learn to work together.  Oh yes, there’ll be a lot of frustration and effort required along the way!  It also requires dropping our pride and checking our own ambition.  But the reward is rich if we take the time to learn the nuances of the God-given personality and gifting of other members of His body and learn to work together.

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Sarah Wickham first clapped eyes on her then future husband, Steve, and his three daughters while studying her Master of Divinity at Vose Seminary. Sarah has been a Town Planner, Youth Pastor and Photographer.  She is now a full-time Mum to Ethan, dabbling in photography occasionally and supporting her husband’s family and ministry.

© 2013 Sarah J. Wickham.

The Unreasonableness of Faith

BY FAITH it is said, in Hebrews 11, that the champions of faith existed. We wonder why there is such a fuss made until it is, we realise, we need faith to get through the toughest of times, the betrayal, or the rejection dealt our way.

Faith makes no sense to an unbelieving world. It may make little sense to us, also, even as we ply our faith in a situation of ridiculous calamity.

I’m mindful of a young man who had lost everything that ever meant anything to him; he lost everything overnight, literally. Somewhat a believer-of-convenience (a worldly Christian – if that’s not already an oxymoron!) this young man suddenly had nothing of meaning upholding him. He fell headlong for God, for God was his only option – at rock bottom. What could be an insult to God – that we only reach out, truly, when things have ended disastrously – doesn’t cater for grace. Grace makes faith the conqueror we need.

Suddenly, stricken, and somewhat bewildered as to what life had become – a sense of death experienced – even as life still was – this young man had no choice but to step each step; to take each day at a time.

When Life is Just One Thing At A Time

Faith is an unreasonable thing. It is a mystery flourishing with the need for hope – by credence of its being, by its very definition, hope is an invisible thing; a thing never proven, that which can only be believed in. It would not be hope otherwise.

When life – or a life situation – becomes so bleak, the only way through is by faith. The beauty of a lamentable situation is it takes us to the cusp of the faith experience. We would not know faith otherwise.

Faith is a must when pain bears down continually upon us.

Faith is a need as a vehicle of survival, from the basis of a crushing reality, and, out of that abyss, into a new field of hope, burgeoning with grace and joy.

Faith is unreasonable because it insists we follow God by the strictest necessity, by virtue that we have no option. Not many classify themselves as volunteers of belief. God has other ideas. We found we could do life no longer without God.

***

At the time in our lives when faith becomes the only way we can survive, we suddenly understand it – it is unreasonable, demanding, unrelenting – but, nothing gets us through hellishness like faith. Once we’ve experienced faith, truly speaking, we’ll not return to life without God. The faith-way is just too fundamental. Faith works, especially as we look back, noting the faithfulness of God.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

Won to the Heart of Truth, Reality and Perspective

WE CAN SEE anything we want to see. But is it the truth – an observable, verifiable truth, as others (and God) might see it?

This is a test of our ability to overcome the propensity of our broken humanity – the partiality driven of emotion – the reactiveness of instinctive unchecked thought – and of many other representations of that same thing.

Perspective is the outcome of genuineness.

“When we are genuine, people meet us in a human way and get a glimpse of our personal life of faith.”

— RICHARD M. GULA

God invites us into Reality,

In our meeting with His Son,

In every sense of Morality,

He shows us He has Won.

As we stand convinced,

Of this Saviour of the Ages,

His words are not to be minced,

His perspective comes in Stages.

The greatest gift of the knowledge of God is truth, weighed upon the soul, such that we would be able to accept and live abiding to our reality. There would be no inherent complaint; a humble acceptance abiding. It comes in stages; nobody is granted passage to perfection. But we strive for progress toward truth, such that God would win us to greater perspective and that blessed of all states: genuineness.

What We All Want Deep Inside Ourselves

We all want a deeper sense of relational congruence.

That is, we want to feel at home within ourselves, with others, with God.

When we do such a thing – travel toward a sense of genuineness that is integrity – we then tend toward the expression of our purified inner selves as we live and breathe. As we go about being ‘who we are’, we shine our inner light outwards, without thought or effort. This is surely the greatest, most fundamental evangelistic method. We forget about spruiking out of a sense of dissonance. Our ‘spruiking’ is intrinsic to who we are. People can begin to trust it, to a point where we are credible witnesses.

What we all want deep inside ourselves is to realise that which God has given us sight of all along: to find absolute contentment in who we are, where we are at, and where we are headed – even as we exist, today!

This inner vision that God has inspired in every human being (see also Ecclesiastes 3:11) is what we all earnestly seek – though many are so confused because of the evil in this world. We overcome such confusion as we draw ever closer to the unfailing truth in God, by simply living our realities, and accepting them, which offers us perspective, so we can live as genuine persons in this fallen world.

***

The greatest gift of the knowledge of God is truth, weighed upon the soul, such that we would be able to accept and live abiding to our reality. There would be no inherent complaint; a simple humble acceptance abiding. It comes in stages; nobody is granted passage to perfection. But we strive for progress toward truth, such that God would win us to greater perspective and that blessed of all states: genuineness.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

The Only Safe and Prosperous Identity

THERE ARE SO MANY certain distractions in this life that we are bound to lose our way. Not only are there a billion possible distractions, they sway our minds into the outcome of excess – and our identities are driven there, to be founded there, to replace God; and to find misery there, also.

Any identity based in anything other than God will find itself ensconced in misery.

Cases in point:

There’s the dancer who is dropped from the season’s final performance, having performed every date through the season. He is distraught and cannot sleep. He vacillates between anger and tears and is unbearable to live with. His soul is wedded to the consummate performance. His identity is entwined within something he has no control over. It is humanity, and a whole bunch of reasons, why it’s ended badly. He blames everyone bar himself.

Or, there’s the pastor who has been ‘given a vision’ of an ‘empire for the Kingdom’ – and clearly they’ve heard wrong. He or she is driven to grow a ministry that will not last; their passion is their downfall, for they want to please God so much they miss the vital importance of valuing people in their journey to a sense of ministry greatness (a ‘great’ oxymoron in itself). His or her identity is in the ministry – in a thing human beings can create, devoid of need to rely on God. The work is right, but there is a tragic and flawed underpinning.

Finally, the shy person has an identity in being hidden to the outside world, for their lack of confidence is their safety. They invest in what destroys them. Like those who battle addictions, the identity is placed in that which has them trapped.

Sowing Into a Beautifully Solid Identity – the Only One

We can do no harm to ourselves or anyone else when we encamp within the Almighty Shelter of the Lord our God. From the home base that is God, we screen all our decision-making. We have found the source of wisdom. God is power for both awareness and action. But within such an identity there is the requirement for change – people will notice, and not everyone will be thrilled.

The inherent safety of an identity in the Lord Jesus Christ is this – we are saved from grounding ourselves in anything else. Our worship is spent righteously on a righteous God. Without such a worship we find another thing to worship – it takes us on a road away from the safety of God in righteousness.

Prosperity – true and sustaining prosperity – is dependent entirely on being in the lap of God’s will. This is because nothing else is of defining importance as we view life from the aspect of eternity.

***

As we put the Kingdom first, we allow God to fashion within us a safe and prosperous identity – interdependent with the flow of life and dependent on nobody else.

Safe, prosperous identity is this: because of where our faith in Christ is pointed, we have a healthy God-balanced interdependence in the world, having transcended both independence (selfishness) and dependence (childishness).

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

Loneliness Inside a Crowded Life

NOTHING COMES CLOSE to helping when we are faced with that lonely contemplation in the noisiest of lives, with needs voiced and going begging everywhere it seems. Consciousness of helplessness in the flurry of anxiousness: can there be anything worse? We have nothing to offer ourselves let alone anyone else.

***

Chasing a sense of peace – or even a sense of connection,

For, if anything, all that’s on board now is hellish dereliction,

Hoping my way through such a soup – painted into a corner,

Perhaps the only advantage here is to become a faithful mourner.

***

Loneliness can occur to anyone at any time, but it saves its poignant blows for the one blindsided by a family crisis, loss, betrayal, unexpected hardship.

We may say to an afflicted one, “Cast all your cares on God, who loves you,” and then we might truthfully realise that such a cliché is not intended through love – it’s a quip, that’s all. How are we to turn something about that leaves us feeling utterly inadequate? Tears help, or do they? Can we control them? Do the floodgates open up and with gargantuan pressure gushing through be stemmed by closing them again mechanically. Do we even have the time to invest in our sadness?

There must be a way we can obtain the therapy we need; from God.

Receiving the Love of Our Need

In all such seasons of mercilessness there is a comfort so paradoxical – so ironical – we scarcely know it ever existed before. This comfort comes welling up from within, as we converse and pray and seethe and cuss and sob. Better always to lament with God than alone; we very well lament with God when we do these things in any event.

God is home in the lamenter. God is there as we connect even within ourselves. As we peek into the mirror, God stares back at us, as we know only a part of ourselves in ‘the one’ looking us in the eye. Grace should afford us a pleasant looking face. God is in us.

When we face the literal crowded room – unable to gain any empathy – we may draw into ourselves, and inwardly also upon God. If we are aware God is all around, the mere thought should soothe.

***

God is home in us as we contemplate the lonely reality of being disconnected with people all around. As we connect with the truth of our loneliness, God connects with us inside. There is no better loneliness than a loneliness with the Lord.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

Holding Onto God In The Grip of Spiritual Attack

Climbing, climbing – the state of fear,
That’s when feelings constantly leer,
In the midst of the spiritual – a knowledge of lack,
There is only one thing to do when under attack.

Nearer, nearer – going into the Lord,
Going to the One Who can be adored,
The bridge to grace is just a step away,
Make that step – today and each day.

***

Many forms of spiritual attack occur via loneliness or fear or anxiety or depression, etc. They spring up without warning and they take us on a journey away from God. Ours is to draw close. As we draw near, quietly adhering, we sidle up to the Lord by the Word or prayer or fellowship. As God speaks into our lives by comfort and compassion our feelings of estrangement diminish. God will give us strength for this moment as we draw close; we draw close by routine of habit, as we continue to practice this thing – by faith that it will work. Only in faith to risk does it work.

Becoming an Adherent of God

Whilst many people call themselves Christian – thinking that such a person believes in ‘values’ only – not so much in the person and God of Jesus Christ – these many are not adherents nor followers, but worshippers of many things other than God.

Becoming an adherent of God is the safest concept for the overall spiritual journey that every single person alive is taking. Being an adherent of God is routinely drawing close into the heart and Presence of God. But we are apt to think we have little from this experience – like, “Is God really there?” or “I don’t feel much or even any better!”

Drawing comfort from the compassion in God may not usually occur in the instant; as we draw close we do so in faith – that soon enough we will experience the quiet joy and smooth peace of God’s favour as we are relieved of our attending emotions.

Becoming an adherent of God is the perfect answer to every question of life, even though it won’t appear, in the moment, as the perfect answer. But as we journey by faith, adhering to God, in the starkest of emotional situations, we are soon graced by the power of God that we need to our definitive need.

***

There is but one answer for addressing the striking spiritual attack. We draw close to God, in faith that we will soon experience a quiet joy and smooth peace. What may not seem to work in the moment always works out as we look back. Faith works as we look back.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

God’s Pleasure By Plain Prayer

“Prayer is the guide to perfection and the sovereign good; it delivers us from every vice and obtains us every virtue.”

— Madame Guyon

“The fewer the words, the better the prayer.”

— Martin Luther

The Lord Jesus counselled us to pray with reverent brevity. He says, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases...” (Matthew 6:7a).

Yet, it’s clear by reflection over most prayers, especially corporately, that longer prayers are given in a sense to appease God. It’s a common temptation. Who, for instance, hasn’t felt self-conscious about their prayer language? Ever felt you’ve performed poorly in prayer, or can’t pray well?

That’s an accusation from the father of lies. So often our overblown prayers are motivated in this spirit far from God. Satan loves it when our prayers are lost for meaning in many words and fake, manufactured emotion.

The Lord’s Prayer

The essence of a simple, yet powerful prayer is the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus must have despised sermonising through prayer; an insult to the Father by showering a sacrifice of words to impress God rather than simply love him by true worship.

The version of the Bible I normally read, the New Revised Standard Version, has the Lord’s Prayer running 57 words in Matthew’s gospel. That’s a 25-second prayer!

Yet, such a concise prayer encapsulates so much meaning, and as we pray each of those lines, a richness of meaning is exigent enough upon our consciousness; we human beings think in simplicity; complex prayers defeat the purpose.

More and more as we think on the topic of prayer are we to pray short prayers. In such a way we can pray unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 5:17) connecting our prayers in series. Our days are sprinkled with thought for our need of God, and others’ need as we’re led. Such thought converts into spoken and unspoken prayer, and God knows what we need, and wish to intercede for, even before we think of the words (Matthew 6:8).

Still Not Dissuaded By Long Periods of Prayer

We are still afforded the licence of long periods of prayer, often combined with meditation and fasting.

The truth is we need prayer to serve us, sending us toward our needs of God. Whilst there is no sense in verbose prayers just for the sake of them, long and detailed prayers are appropriate as we press in on the Lord privately. We don’t pray long for legalistic reasons, we pray long because of our need of God.

***

Prayer is divine privilege. It is communication direct with God. We don’t cheapen it by our own efforts; by the sound of our own knowledge-scented words or by pretence of emotion. We pray in the effortlessness of the Spirit. Then, our prayers are beautiful.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

We May Stumble, But We Shall Not Fall

“Our steps are made firm by the Lord,

when he delights in our way;

though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong,

for the Lord upholds us by the hand.”

― PSALM 37:23-24 (NRSV)

Years ago a CEO of a large and reputable investment bank lost everything when it was discovered he was involved in organised crime – albeit disconnected with the financial sector. By day he seemed in control, running a conglomerate; by night he swindled, coerced and bullied small time operators by stealth. Eventually his world unravelled and a horrendous fall from grace ensued.

He was a broken man – and, as it would occur, broken beyond fixing. He suicided.

This executive-come-criminal epitomised what we all know is true; if you are dodgy, eventually you get caught out. Wisdom is that clanging warning bell in us that rings when we even consider getting involved in impropriety. Wisdom is when we hear the gentle tinkle of that bell even midway through a dangerous manoeuvre. Wisdom counsels us against taking that slightly attractive risk that has a faint chance of ending badly. Wisdom is that sense for hearing that bell. Wisdom means we will stumble but we won’t ultimately fall, for even in falling there is a response to jump back up.

Those who are favoured by God – those he delights in – are those who commit their way to the Lord (verse 5). He upholds them by his hand. God gives these the ability to discern their way, and a moral conscience that is an asset.

Falling headlong is a metaphor for plunging uncontrollably toward a fatal end; by a spiritual modality. It is both ungainly and unnecessary. Falling toward an abyss makes forlorn the status of the future. That was our CEO – who had everything in the world but the contentment to enjoy everything he had, or even some of what he had. He was bound to eventually and ultimately fall.

But it is different for us who know we cannot get life right without the sponsorship – the hand – of the Lord; to be humble enough to seek guidance on this serendipitous journey of life.

***

Great is the comfort to know, that, to be upheld by God, we may stumble but we will not fall. He who loves us, who delights in each of his servants, never leaves nor forsakes us. Wisdom is in knowing truth from lies, and living according to the Voice of Warning ushered through our spirits, by the Spirit.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

Discerning and Doing Kingdom Work

“God’s part we cannot do — our part God will not do.”

― JAMES ROWDY

Playing our part – that’s what we must do,

By playing that part through discerning what’s true,

God’s part, of course, is beyond our understanding,

Ours is to surrender and not be demanding.

***

Oh what a delightfully delicious rendering of truth this is, above; resplendent in simplicity for the living of our faith-lives such that we will go about our work humbly rejoicing that we are given into such roles.

We are helped in the living of our lives by discerning the above truth and acting on it, separating out what we, alone, can do from what God, alone, can do; knowing as we might the things that God cannot do, because he will not do them for us.

But what God will do for us is show us the way, and in such a way we will be shown how to enact his will in achievable ways. God is no hard taskmaster like those we are used to here on planet Earth. If anything God makes things simpler for us than we feel comfortable. We are the ones who complicate matters.

Discerning Roles in Being Blessed by Balance

Whenever we understand what God will do as opposed to what he won’t do, we are blessed, immediately, with a serene sense of peace, for many vanities and worries fly out the window.

As soon as we understand what God will do as opposed to what he won’t do, we see more of the divine design in life; that humanity has capacities ordained to work toward the manifestation of God’s will in this life. We are ordained, as human creatures, to do God’s bidding on this earth. That might be our only function. When we understand this, life is never simpler and it’s never more abounding in a pure holy joy.

What will God not do for the servant who intends on discerning and doing their work, whilst they leave him to his?

Living in the lap of God’s will is that portion of balance we all so richly need. Never is life better. Life feels good, understandable, tolerable.

***

Discerning and doing Kingdom work is what we are ordained to do. By allowing God to be God, and surrendering to his will, he shows us this work. Only we can do it. And when we do discern and do it we are blessed.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

Healing Prayer to Resolve Bitterness

There are issues of hurt that strike us all; whether it is people’s intention to hurt us or not; whether our expectations, alone, are to blame or not. Often it is a blend of the two.

It doesn’t really matter what has caused our bitterness, apart from acknowledging the fact that bitterness – whatever the cause, and whether we are vindicated or not – has seen us turn from God.

Bitterness has seen us turn from God

Bitterness always requires repentance. It seems hard to say this, because it lacks compassion, perhaps; the important fact is not that we have been ill-considered, but that we have turned from God as evident by our attitude.

Repentance, therefore, like forgiveness, is not really about the other party at all; it’s about us and how we are relating with God, because bitterness and a close relationship with God are concepts that cannot coexist.

When we venture within our bitterness for any length of time we experience what is detrimental, and not just to ourselves. Others are always impacted by our bitterness. But we have an opportunity...

What Such a Prayer of Repentance (for Bitterness) Looks Like

Recently I needed to pray a prayer, something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,

In acknowledging your Sovereignty over all creation and even over my own mind, heart, and soul, I bring before you an offering of my bitterness in order that you might heal me. This is a simple prayer, Lord, where I recognise I have turned from you and have journeyed within my own hurt – to my and others’ detriment.

Thank you that you have shown me the trick of the enemy in having perceived these slights against me. Thank you that because of you I can see the spiritual attack, which calls me, afresh, to go after you with more passion and commitment. I recommit to you, now.

I beseech you, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, for your healing in cleansing me of my hurt. I pray that you would redirect my thoughts, having healed me of my bitterness, such that you would consume my focus.

I pray this in my Lord Jesus’ wonderful name, AMEN.

***

Bitterness will be the end of us, spiritually, if we do not arrest the slide. When we submit our bitterness to God, repenting of it, turning back to him, we can be healed in having been made right in him, again. Bitterness is not about the other party; it’s all about our relationship with God. It’s not about them; it’s about us and God.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.