Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, as though he needed a ride, was actually a beautiful moment in Scripture when prophecy about the Christ was fulfilled. Isn’t it interesting that the Christ, the Saviour should enter the city to the mass hysteria of the people, sat on the back of a donkey – a common working animal. Perhaps a horse would have been more appropriate or a fleet of chariots, but Jesus came humbly whereupon he was met with the cheers and salutations of the crowds.

This Christmas, how do our lives reflect the King that came on a donkey? Do our lives crave the praises of men or fear the rejection of them? Jesus’ humility on a donkey was securely rooted in His felt sense of acceptance of the Father Yahweh, which is why he didn’t play to the crowd with chariots and why he didn’t run from the crowds days later when the shouted “crucify him! crucify him!”.  Let us explore and discover how truly loved and accepted we are by God this Christmas and revel in this as the real joy of Christmas present.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. He will be called wonderful, counsellor, prince of peace, everlasting Father!

The Prophet Isaiah

 

 

 

 

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Gday,

So, distractions…..

I want to make this the last entry on Mount God becuase my intention is to encourage you to start ‘climbing’ in your walk with God with new intention, urgency and creativity and to leave you to explore the Holy Noth Face – in new ways!

I am learning that God is continually inviting me to climb higher that I ever have before. If you imagine God up ahead of you waving you through shouting “c’mon!…I can’t wait for you to see this…meet them…do that” – the Creator of the Universe, that we have the incomprehensible privilege of calling Dad, is an excited God. He is like a Child on Christmas eve, anticipating the gifts and treats and festive fun of the next day. And yet His excitement is not centred on Himself, it is centred on our exploration of unchartered territory in spiritual places.

Reading the beginning of Ephesians is like being told about all the Christmas presents that you have waiting for you…except that you already have them. Every spritual blessing is ours in Christ. We are heavenly billionaires with excess and yet we can become overwhelmed witht the prospect that many of the blessings can remain undiscovered – unrealised.

I remember one Christmas as a kid and I got everything I was hoping for. Everything. This included the Optimus Prime figure that I really, really wanted. And I can remember the strange feeling of wanting to give some stuff away because I felt like I had too much stuff to process at once. I needed things in smaller chunks. One present at a time – perhaps one a day for the next week or something. But the mound of presents that I had unwrapped and were sat neatly piled on the carpet in front of me was too much.

I think we read the fact in Ephesians 1 that we have “every spiritual blessing in Christ” and look at it like I looked at my Christmas Mount that day – we don’t know where to start.

God invites us to explore the spiritual realm. He invites us to be more supernatural. He invites us to exercise more spiritual authority and to take risks.

I have a conviction that holiness is the currency of this journey, this ride. Can you commit to the expedition of Mount God, of exploring prayer at new heights and worship as a lifestyle in new depths? Can you relax and allow God to guide you? Can you take steps away from distractions so deadly and yet so subtle?

Just as adverse weather fronts can make natural climbs impossible, so do the distractions of excessive leisure time. We’re obsessed with ‘chilling out’ and ‘relaxing’. Of course this is awesome in its place, but how about getting alone with God for 90 minutes instead of watching a dvd? How about coming before Him with a fresh sense of wonder and excitement and imagination?

Imagine what is up in front of you…imagine what sights…imagine what revelations.

God Himself longs for us to have a holy focus in that place – that’s why Jesus advised going into the secret place and closing the door. What do you and I need to close the door on? I know I need to close the door on voices, thoughts and other desires…maybe it’s ambition at work or perhaps apathy. We all need to close the door on apathy at times. But the reason Jesus advised closing the door and yourself into that place is because there is Someone waiting within.

I find it a stunning reality that every day I can wake up and wait on the One who created all things and yet I find it so difficult sometimes, just to wait patiently.

In climbing Mount God this is the biggest key…waiting on the voice of God…listening. John 15 describes it as ‘abiding’.

I could write on and on about this but perhaps I have been coherent enough to excite you and stir you into exploring this Place with God.

Be persistent at it…that is what I am learning.

Love ya all,

N

Heya

Following on from where I left off earlier regarding Mount God…

The Mountainside was a place that Jesus Himself often frequented as part of His commitment to a spiritually diciplined life-style. You only ever see Jesus with company on a mountain on the occasion when He took Peter, James and John and was transfigured before them as He talked with Moses and Elijah. And on this occasion Jesus set the disciples up to hear the Father’s feelings on solitude, i.e. “This is my Son…listen to Him.” Arguably, listening to Jesus is easier when you’re on your own.

Normally Jesus would withdraw to ‘lonely places’, often in mountainous locations, to pray and be alone with the Father. This is significant. In these times I bet Jesus sang and laughed, cried and asked questions, but first and foremost He would worship. This tells me that I need to do the same – I need to get away from the crowd and be alone with God if I am to climb, as He did. Praying with others is good and important but there is no replacement for the ‘loneliness’ associated with the secret place which is 1:1 – you and God.

I see this 1:1 audience with God as a key to climbing the ‘Holy North Face’. A.W.Tozer writes about the “knowledge of the holy” and to be alone with the Father is the only place we will be empowered to climb Mount God, pursue peace and lives of Christ-exalting holiness.

What are the main distractions from our mountainsides?

We’ll look at this next time.

Think on dudes,

N

Hey All

Picture the scene, (actually try to imagine and feel it): 

It is AD 111 in Antioch and a man is facing the prospect of a horrifying death at the hands of Emperor Trajan (and his lions) for being a follower of Christ. You can hear almost silent mumblings that, as you draw nearer, can be deciphered as prayers,

“O Lord, I thank You that You have guaranteed to honour me with a perfect love toward You…”

His fervent prayer provokes a sense of holy unworthiness in you and of respect and admiration as you reflect on this man’s dying request: there is no mention of some kind of supernatural anaesthesia to numb the pain, or of an other-worldly way of escape to be granted; rather, the prayer is for an increase in his capacity to love his God.

I find this prayer fascinating and sobering because Ignatius clearly esteemed the permission to love God as an honour, indeed to the extreme of the giving of his life. It is humbling that a man on death row would use his ‘one call’, as it were, to further explore what it means to love God, recognising that only God Himself can grant the permission to be more abandoned to Him.

It is a much undiscovered mystery within Christendom that to love God is the greatest pleasure possible – the greatest. Ignatius understood and lived this out in reality as it spilled out of him in prayer as he contemplated being eaten alive by wild beasts.

The Challenge

My desire as a follower of Christ is to love Him as I should – i.e. perfectly but my understanding of the Bible is that I will never be at this stage this side of eternity. However,  I do want to be as far along the journey as possible before I die or Jesus splits the sky.

This supernatural relationship with God is a pursuit. A.W.Tozer talks about seeking God with ‘urgency’ and ‘creativity’ and these are two keys in moving towards loving God more perfectly. Tozer’s ‘prevenient drawing’, that, briefly stated, says that there has to have been a supernatural work in our hearts (by God) before we could show even the faintest interest in Him (We love Him because He first loved us), has to be understood in this context. This should propel us into the fascination that Ignatius was bound by.

Loving God is not about sentiment or goose bumps even, it is about the giving of everything as an expression of preferring God above all things, even life itself. Paul boldly proclaimed to the church in Philippi: “For, to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil.1:21). I can imagine Ignatius declaring these words too. Are they a true reality in your life or are they the lyrics in a song, perhaps? A neat idea? A post-modern paradigm?

Let us pursue the love of God in prayer, in worship and in life that He might allow us to fall more in love with Him. Let our love for Jesus take us to new places, to new people and to new burdens. Let our love for God swell into a crescendo to replace every proud ambition or selfish desire and that we might have our eyes opened to His fantastic love for us.

Let us esteem the honour of being enabled to love Him as the greatest reward possible.

Amen

Nick

Dear Reader

“With Him all things are possible”

Ten months ago, the term “Blogging” meant about as much to me as complex world of mathematics, or the equally bizarre world of abstract art. It was the kind of thing that I would have heard about briefly in a commercial break, or possibly overheard being discussed in a telephone conversation between two people I didn’t know, and weren’t likely to know because they weren’t my ‘kind’ of people.

But this electronic world of journalling on the Net was opened to me by a modern-day legend called Rob Waller. I say “legend” because with friends you can always over-exaggerate, and he is a good friend – a very good friend. I would like to briefly say a little about him here as without his influence on my life I would still think that a “Blog” is a Star Trek term used to denote a specific alien life-form from a so-called planet.

Rob is the founder and director of Mind and Soul, a Christian organisation committed to bridging the historic gulf between mental illness and Christianity. These subject areas of mental wholeness and Christianity will no doubt form part of the content of my blog as the connection between Rob and I goes beyond being merely ‘Chrstian brothers’. (It is always noteworthy when two human lives have a sharpening effect on each other). Without wanting to give inaccurate information, it will suffice to say that looking at http://www.mindandsoul.info will provide the best over-view of Rob’s heart. So I will endeavour to relate some of what I write to Mind and Soul, its creators, its partners but also to the wider array of what ‘makes me, me’.

I will chat about Jesus Christ a heck of a lot – He is the true author of life and the reason I live, and that you do too, for that matter. The Word of God and worship of Him will also be areas that I will write about, as will football (that is soccer to you ‘non-Brit’s’), the world of fitness and health, sports injuries – things like that.

I want to also formulate some of my thoughts about the issues of sexual purity and Christian leadership. Your thoughts about this specific area are welcomed, guys.

So, it is my pleasure to warmly invite you to sit back, read, think, write, comment and contribute to this Blog that, for the time being, will be called Firebrand. Maybe, like everything else in life, it should be sub-titled, “Under Construction”.

C ya

Nick Franks