Pastor Darryl

How many of us find it difficult to pray? Although Martin Luther prayed for hours daily, he stated that even he struggled with prayer. “I who teach it and prescribe this to others, have learned from my own example that praying comes close to being the most difficult of all works. Therefore I do not claim to be a master in this task.” Is there a right way to pray? How do I do this to enhance my life?  Firstly, God commands us to pray and in this way we are actually spending time with Him. The second point is that we are acting on Godʼs promise that He will hear us. God invites us (Hebrews 4:16) to approach His throne of grace with confidence so that we might find in His mercy, grace to help us in our time of need. Thirdly, prayer also allows me to examine my need, to look at circumstances in my life where burdens exist, so that I can carry those things and pour them out to God immediately, as He commanded we do. Finally, this is all done in the name of Jesus Christ our brother, who has the purpose of interceding to the Father on our behalf. As His children, God the Father has invited us through Jesus Christ to have access to Him. How do I know that God hears me? Because He has given us His word. So we can use His Word (a passage of Scripture) to pray, thus responding to this Word. Read a passage and ask: What does it say? What does it mean? How does it point to Jesus? and What am I to do? Then, when you have done that, pray what your thoughts have revealed, back to God, asking that it take root in you. Remember, all Scripture is breathed by God for our benefit (2 Tim. 3:16-17) If there is one thing I think the Church needs to learn, and it is that God means prayer to have an answer.

Lord, teach us to pray. Amen

Pastor Darryl

Job 23:1-8, 16-17
We continue our journey with Job this week.  Although the events and time may be different, reading the
Book of Job can bring that same sense of reality of Jobʼs suffering into many lives today. Jobʼs friends have arrived to give him moral support and comfort in his severe suffering.  However, their attempts have made his mental and spiritual agony worse.  For Job, the question remains, “Why should I be under the spotlight? I have done nothing wrong, yet I am suffering greatly. God, where are you?” Job has looked everywhere to find God, north, south, east and west, but canʼt find him. If he could, Job would take God to court over this matter and prove his innocence.  God, however, was very much aware of Job and of his wholehearted obedience.  In fact, it was God who called ʻThe Satanʼsʼ attention to Job initially. Christ reminded His disciples in Luke 12:6-7 that God, who even takes detailed note of the sparrows, is much more deeply interested in the affairs of His own children.  The Father is aware of everything about us, down to the smallest detail.  Even the hairs of our head are numbered.  When we think that “No one understands what Iʼm going through,” Jesus Christ does! We have a faithful High Priest (Jesus Christ) who was tested in all ways like us and is therefore able to empathise and give us the needed help (Heb. 4:15-16).
God saves the world by taking its suffering into the very heart of the divine life, bearing it there, and then wearing it on his own back in the form of a cross for us.

Pastor Darryl

Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Job, a sad story of someone who has it all and looses it all. Each of us know many people who have
suffered loss and ask that same question – Why?  Two questions in relation to that come to mind – What
did they do to deserve that? Or maybe – What did I do to deserve that? As Christians we want to know what role God has in suffering. Most of us have difficulty in understanding how a God who loves us so much as to send his Son to die on the cross for us, could be the source of bad things happening to good
people. This is perhaps where we run into the problem of faith versus rational thinking. The problem that we are confronted with in the book of Job, relates to our desire to understand Godʼs nature, to understand more than God has revealed to we humans. Adam and Eve had a similar problem. Since it is not possible to know everything about God, to understand God (if we could, we would be God), or to obtain an explanation which I donʼt believe we will obtain this side of the grave, rather, ought we not be open to Godʼs grace. For we humans there is a hiddenness of God. The last place one would expect to
find God was in the suffering and death of Jesus; God as Jesus among the sick, the outcast, the suffering, and on the cross where God suffered. We cannot understand God and the nature of God by assigning attributes to God  that are derived from our life and experiences. We can only understand God through the cross. Where is God in our suffering? Right there with us, in the last place we tend to look. Maybe the question we ask is what do we do now that bad things have happened? As Christians and as Job discovered, we live by faith.

Pastor Darryl

Esther 7:1-10, 9:20-22

One of this weekʼs Lectionary texts is taken from the Book of Esther, but to read this without the rest of the story is not very helpful. The story is set in a foreign land, under a foreign empire, with the Jews suffering much racial hatred. They had been a minority in Persia (Babylon) for years, being that they were removed as captives from their homeland. Although the centre of the story deals with the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people, a theme which has continued throughout history, there are also many other issues Imbedded in the story that we encounter in our lives: power, courage, love, fear, hatred, pride, humility and blessings. It is interesting that in Estherʼs story, Jerusalem, the law, prophets, the Promised Land, the exile, or even God, are not mentioned at all. Could it be that these details are hidden within the story? God uses humans to achieve his purposes whether they know it or not. Though we donʼt read Godʼs name in the story, His sovereignty and loving care are interwoven throughout. God is at work, often in ways we canʼt fully see or understand. His timing is laying out every crucial plan at just the right minute. Itʼs never haphazard or thrown together. Itʼs intricately woven into the stories and
purposes of our entire lives.  Donʼt ever doubt that God is able. Nothing is impossible with Him. This story has His miraculous work and power all over it, through every chapter, every word.  There is a constant thread of redemption through Estherʼs story that speaks to our lives still today. When you look at the world and ask, where is God? God says no, get involved and know that I will be there. God says, that maybe you were born for the now (4:14).

Pastor Darryl

Jesusʼ disciples had been arguing, who in their group was the greatest, the best, even the most powerful.  After all, they had been teaching, preaching, healing and driving out demons. Perhaps the inability to drive out the last demon had sparked the debate. I guess that in the disciplesʼ minds there ought to be some formal structure of hierarchy amongst themselves, reflecting their abilities. We all like to succeed, to be number one in one way or another. We generally like to do our best, advance up the success ladder.  I think that God has placed that desire to do our best within us. But such a desire can also have negative effects as Jesus points out. So, Jesus teaches the first lesson: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Most of us are usually willing to serve someone that we acknowledge is greater than us. But how many of us will eagerly extend ourselves to serve someone lower than us. Jesus took a little child and put him in the midst of the disciples and took him in his arms. Jesus made Himself this childʼs servant. Greatness is what is placed on us, when through no worthiness or greatness of our own, Jesus takes you in His arms. Those arms outstretched on the cross, reconciling the Father to you, wrapped around you, taking you into His death and resurrection and His glory. Todayʼs prayer – Lord, help us to be the church in the world, to serve, love, share, give, as you have first given to us. Be with us in all that we do, to be your people and share in your grace.

Pastor Darryl