Hudson Taylor is one of my heroes, no doubt about it. If you have read any thing about how the Lord used him, and those close to him, then you know what I mean. The man had learned to trust His heavenly Father in all things and through all things.

Da 4:34 And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. 35  All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”

These verses of Scripture shout the awesome sovereignty of God. I would love to hear the Church shout such a declaration from the pulpits and in the market places. Our God, the One True God, is rules over all!

I love reading and hearing about my great God’s works. One way is in Church history.  I have been enjoying a bio of Hudson Taylor, titled: “Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission” by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor. It is a two volume bio and it drips with inspiration, insight, and wisdom. Yes, I highly recommend it, but it is long and detailed, just the way I like them. It is one of those books you enjoy so much that you don’t want it to end.

Hudson Taylor is one of my heroes, no doubt about it. If you have read any thing about how the Lord used him, and those close to him, then you know what I mean. The man had learned to trust His heavenly Father in all things and through all things. I want to quote Mr. Taylor from a message that he gave during one of his stays in Britain, his home.  He was commemorating the 21 years of ‘goodness and mercy’ that the Lord had shown them, and the faithfulness of providing their needs.

“The Lord is always faithful…People say, ‘Lord, increase our faith.’ Did not the Lord rebuke His disciples for that prayer? It is not great faith you need, He said in effect, but faith in a great God.”  He went on to say, “We need a faith that rests on a great God,…”

There is a huge difference between trying to have great faith and having faith in a great God. How many times have you been told to ‘build up your faith to over come’ or ‘You don’t have enough faith”?  Yet, Jesus’ lessons on faith were clear. He always pointed His disciples to God and to have faith IN God, in Him and His Word. We are never to have faith in our faith – that would be a shipwreck waiting to happen. Nor are to have faith in our confessions – another shipwreck, and not faith in what Satan does or can do.

This may help you understand what Biblical faith is:  Trust. Have trust in God, and in His Word.  For salvation, we must put our trust in Christ’s work of redemption. For our daily bread, we must trust our heavenly Father. For every promise in Scripture we must trust our God. In Him alone do I trust; nothing else. My trust doesn’t even have to be much, just trust.

Let’s take another angle at this and put another layer on my point.  The straight truth is: the focus is not me, it is God. It is always to be God. He is the one who not only deserves my full attention and affection, but He is the only one who is worthy of such devotion and effort. In my prayer time, it should about Him. In my worship time, it should about Him. In my church, it should be about Him, and so forth.

I dare you to examine where or how you spent your spiritual attention.  God cannot be just the ends to your spiritual efforts, and the journey be about you. In other words, you should not be focusing on ‘your’ faith - what you want, and justify such self-focus with something like, ‘Well it is so I can be more like Christ.’  Wrong. Because I want to be more like Christ I will pursue Him, to know Him, to exalt His name, and not my own. If the way that I am thinking actually focuses more attention on my 'me', and how spiritual I am and how spiritual I need to be, then have I not molded a Christianity about me?  Is my focus about me rather than on Him? He is first. He is the means to the end. He is the who, the what, the why, and the how. I am none of those things and never will be. The apostle learned the hard way that the weaker I am, the less I emphasis 'me' the stronger HE IS IN MY LIFE. The bumper sticker could be:  Less of Me = More of Christ Jesus. 

We do not need great trust, we just need to trust in a great God, and great He is. As the psalmist reminds us, He is not man that He should lie; trust Him we can.

Ps 31:14  “But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

On April 15th, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional, saying the day amounts to a call for religious action. Todd Richmond, an Associated Press Writer, wrote on ABC’s web news site a good article on this at http://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=10386492.

Todd Richmond wrote, “U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic.”

Okay, I can see the Judge’s point. But follow her reasoning with her quote: "In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual's decision whether and when to pray.”

Judge Crabb went on to say, "It goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context."

Stop here; can we analyze this just for a moment, because she actually helps make the Biblical case for prayer. She said, “prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community.”

She is Right On! Prayer is both “personal” and it has a “powerful effect a community.” It also has a powerful effect on individuals, especially the one praying.

So why does she want to STOP our Country from praying for our Communities and Country?

The Epistle of James, Chapter 5, verse 16, the Apostle tells us that, “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Prayer does have an effect on our country. So why, Judge Crabb, are you discouraging the practice of prayer?

Yes, the Epistle of James is written to believers, who access the throne of heaven through the one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ (I Timothy 2:5). But I think that it is these people in particular--Christians, whom her arrows are targeted towards, whom she doesn’t want to pray.

I am reminded of something that Queen Mary of England, AKA Bloody Mary, said about John Knox: "I fear his prayers more than I do the armies of my enemies.” Is Judge Crabb afraid of Christian prayers or that more people will become "Christian"?

She should welcome the prayers of the Christian community, which by the way includes praying for her. We are called to pray for our leaders and those in authority over us (I Timothy 2:1-4). The Judge does not deny the influence that prayer can have, so…is it prayer or is it Jesus Christ and the Christian faith that she has an issue with?
 

As I am writing this we are almost three months into the year.  Already I am thinking, "Where as the time gone?"  That is a pretty common question, slash, statement, for most of us. It is a good question / statement. It is time that  we consider this in the front-end instead of always from the back-end, looking over our shoulder as we are making our Christmas plans.

This calendar year will come and go and if the Lord wills for you to be here on this earth nine more months then please take what I am going to write with a serious pill. Swallow and wash it down with some water to make sure it goes down - and not get stuck half way down and comes back up and forgotten. Okay, that was maybe a bit too much. You got the idea though, right?  We do that with this kind of motivational stuff. We have good intentions, get motivated up, and after a portion of time we fall back to the mundane. Maybe my graphic picture fits, so I'm leaving it in.

From experience we know that this year will pass right by and it will be "gone before we know it." Then we will wonder "where did the time go." Now is the time to stop and plan. Consider what you are going to do with the next nine months that are in front of you. How about asking yourself this, "What am I going to do that will LASTING?"

I threw that last word on there to help keep priorities in their place. For something to be LASTING, it has to meet certain criteria. In a nutshell, it has to be Christ Exalting!

So, as you consider this challenge remind yourself:   Should I be thinknig about me?  What can I do for myself this year? But let me ask, would anything that I do for myself really be LASTING anyway?  Let me answer that for you just in case you hestitated:  NO!

Shouldn't I be thinking about what (and how) I can do that would glorify Christ? Shouldn't it be something that would put an emphasis on His Name, His Character, His accomplishments of redemption? 

Some people would say, "Do something, anything, even if it is wrong!"  I disagree, strongly. Wrong can be futile AND it can be harmful.  Seeking what pleases and glorifies YOU over seeking and glorifying the name of Christ is ..huh...putting the car in reverse. Doing something for YOU will feed the sin nature, and we know that it doesn't need encouraged. Doing something for YOU is selfish, and when does that become a good and profitable thing...for anyone? Doing something that is all about YOU also gives the enemy an opportunity. I don't think we need to argue that point either.

The bottom line is, you have nine months to do something LASTING or to do something futile and fleeting. Either continue to plod day in and day out trying to keep self happy and thereby keeping the Old Man on life-support, which actually he is supposed to be dead, or strengthening the New Man by glorifying Christ and magnifying His Name before His creation.

What can I do this year?  I have time to plan and execute and I want it to be LASTING. I want to do something that will glorify Christ on and on and on and on.  Are you wanting ideas? You will find plenty of them in His Word.  Sixty-six books full of what pleases and glorifies our God. One more piece of advice:  Pray about all of this, asking for guidance, humility, faith, and grace.  Amen!

Pastor Jeff