Wasted prayer.

Anyone who truly knows me, might be more than a little surprised at the title of this post.   I am always encouraging people to pray and, of course, I pray regularly myself!    

However, there is such a thing as "wasted prayer"!  Indeed, it could be argued that useless, senseless, prayer is one of the greatest dangers in the life of the disciple of Jesus.  What I mean by that is that we constantly ask for things that the Lord, Himself, has already promised in His written Word.  Now, if I have told one of my children that I am going to provide her with some item or other, is it not a waste of time and effort for her to keep coming back to me to ask for it?!   Yet this is what so many of us do with Father God.  Instead of thanking Him for what He has declared He will do, we act as if we don't actually believe His Word.

The Bible is a book that contains thousands of promises.  Each one may be seen as a blank cheque signed by the Saviour Himself!  When you come across one that is directed to the members of His Body, and that meets your particular need, please don't ask God to keep His word - as if He was unwilling, and had to be coerced and urged to do so!  Sometimes I have heard Jesus' parable about the persistent widow (Lk 18: 1-5) used as an example of how we have to "wear God down" with our prayers.  That is, of course, utter nonsense!  The point of the parable is made by Jesus in the following verses.  It is a parable of comparison - if an unwilling judge can, indeed, be "worn down" by the persistency of a poor widow, to grant her her petition, "... will not God vindicate His elect, who cry to Him day and night?" (Luke 18:7).  The unspoken answer is "Of course He will!"

Don't ever ask God to keep His own promises!  If we think about it for a moment, that is really just an insult to His integrity!  Rather, pray according to His will, and praise Him for the blessing that He has already promised to provide, and that you know is on the way!  Perhaps if we were to approach our personal prayer-time like that, there might be less petition - and more adoration!

An example of this may be seen in these familiar words from the book of the prophet Isaiah: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Isa 55:10-11).  This, surely, is an unconditional promise that God's Word will never return to Him empty, or unfulfilled.  Yet how often have I stood on a platform, or in a pulpit, and prayed that the Lord would bless His Word as I preach it?!  Hasn't He said He would?  Of course He has - so my prayer before preaching should be one of thanksgiving for that promise!  I may then preach in confidence, and full assurance, that He will fulfil that promise!

Whether it is in a preaching situation before a gathering of people, or in personal evangelism to a friend, workmate, or family member, I may be certain that, if I am faithful in sending forth the truth, I can happily leave the results to Him.  That's one reason why we should study the written Word of God - that we may pray properly, and with full power and assured results.

Someone has said that we need not twist God's arm to remind Him to keep the promises He has made!  Let's cease from "wasted prayer"!

When the dust has settled.

So, the U.K. General Election of 2015 is over - perhaps!   Some will be very happy with the result; others less so.  Certainly, almost four million voters are more than a little disappointed that UKIP have only one sitting Member in the House of Commons - and even more disappointed that Mr Nigel Farage is not there!

The results have confirmed what many have suspected for a long time - that the current "First Past The Post" system of electing the UK Parliament is well past its 'sell-by' date.  It is a simple mathematical fact that, e.g., only 34,348 national votes were required to elect an MP representing the Conservative Party; while 3,881,129 UKIP votes resulted in only one MP being elected!  In any definition of 'democracy', that cannot be right!  In the wake of the election results, a number of online petitions have been organised.  One such may be found at http://action.makeseatsmatchvotes.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1754&ea.campaign.id=38262&ea.tracking.id=msmv

Of course, the conspiracy theories now abound.  Normally, I am not one to give such theories much credence, but some of what I have read on social media (sometimes more accurate and truthful than the MSM!) would indicate that there is definitely a case to be answered.   Stories abound of missing boxes; delayed counts; and names of candidates missing on ballot papers.  It may all be the result of over-active imaginations - but with so much involved, it is surely worth a formal investigation.

This will, I hope, be my final 'political' post for a wee while.  My next one is planned to be of a more moral/spiritual flavour.  If you have started to check out my blog on the basis of the past few posts, please don't abandon me!  I would like to think that you might find the other matters that I raise, and the information that I share, to be of interest.  Of course, you won't know if you don't check it out!

Polite request!

Earlier this evening, I signed a pro-family petition against the E.U. Lunacek Report.
 
The link to the petition is: http://www.citizengo.org/en/2410-withdraw-eu-commission-proposal-make-declaration

The agenda of the Lunacek Report is extremely dangerous in that it would:

• Give LGBT individuals special rights that no one else is afforded.
• Potentially be politically misused to force Member States to allow "same sex marriage for all.”
• provide, for same gender couples, in all Member States, access to full adoption; in vitro fertilisation; and surrogacy.
• Guarantee freedom of assembly and expression for gay activists, and use language like "hate speech” and "hate crime” to silence Preachers of the Gospel, and critics of homosexuality and LGBT activism. In doing so, the European Parliament wants the EU and its Member States to apply double standards: unrestricted freedom of speech for the LGBT community, but restricted freedom of speech for possible critics.

It is an important issue, so I would appreciate it if you would also join me in this fight by signing the petition.

Strengthening marriage?

In the latest of the Marriage Minutes from the Coalition for Marriage, Dr Sharon James explains how, in spite of claims to the contrary, the introduction of same-gender 'marriage' will not strengthen an already beleaguered institution, but will actually weaken it.

As always, it's only a couple of minutes long - well worth using to inform yourself of some of the indisputable facts!



If you haven't yet signed the petition - either from C4M (for Westminster), or for S4M (for Holyrood), please do so.  Every signature counts, and the momentum continues to increase.  Politicians are, at heart, pragmatists.  If they realise what a vote-loser this proposal is, they will find a way to back down.  However, the only way in which they will realise it is if we tell them!  Please sign the petitions!

Redefinition of marriage.

I have signed a petition calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government not to redefine marriage and thought you may like to sign it too.  Marriage has served Scotland well for centuries as the fundamental unit of our society and I do not believe that it should be changed.  Redefining marriage to include same-sex marriage will have huge implications for what is taught and promoted in schools and in wider society.  It is likely, over time, to cause an erosion of religious freedoms and freedom of conscience.  If you feel the same it is important to let the government know.  The link to the petition is at the right-hand-side of this page.

I'm sorry if you've heard about this before or if you've already signed but I have no way of knowing, and I wanted to make sure that you had a chance to be included.

P.S. If you and a spouse are both signing, please do so separately so that you count as two signatures rather than one!

An EU Referendum for the U.K.?

Mr Cameron, the U.K. Prime Minister stated, only a few days ago, that the vast majority of the British public don't want to leave the E.U., merely to have it reformed!!

I do wish that he would explain to us the basis on which he arrived at that conclusion. Polls, we are constantly informed, use a representative cross-section of our society. I am unaware of a single such poll that has shown anything other than a majority (sometimes a substantial majority) taking an alternative position to that of the PM.

Indeed, today's newspapers report that a petition signed by 100,000 subjects of H.M. the Queen, and demanding a referendum on the U.K's. continuing membership of what must be one of the most discredited organisations in recent history, was delivered to 10 Downing Street, yesterday.

What we need is a mass demonstration marching on Downing Street - when the PM is there, of course. Whilst not advocating a repeat in the U.K. of some of what we have seen on our television screens across North Africa and in the Middle east, these people have shown that even dictators of long standing can be deposed.

If we are to get out of the corrupt, and insatiable, E.U. we may have to first of all get out on to the streets!

God is good - all the time

It's almost 9.00 p.m., and delightfully balmy here in L'Isle-sur-le-Doubs, in north-eastern France. The temperature, this afternoon, was about 40 degrees Celsius, but the river was very refreshing as we splashed around, and swam. This morning, there wasn't a single cloud to be seen in the sky. The site at which we are camped is quiet; well-appointed; and the owner and her daughter (neither of whom speak a word of English!) couldn't be more helpful.

That's the good news! The not-so-good news is that there is no car parked beside the caravan - or anywhere else on-site. Yesterday, as we headed south towards Lyon, I was aware that there was something not quite right with the car. However, I had had some work done on it before we left, and I just made a mental note to get it to my mechanic as soon as we returned home, for a more thorough inspection. We were on the motorway, having just passed an exit, when I noticed that the oil-pressure warning light had come on! Those of a technical mind will now be 'way ahead of me! We came off the motorway at the next exit - unfortunately, some 16 miles later - but, as it was an automatic paying system, my dear wife was taking a little longer than would have been the case if the exit had been manned. For the sake of the engine, I decided to stop it for a few moments. BIG mistake (I think!). When I tried to restart it, it just didn't want to know. :-(

The upshot of all of that was that we had to send for the breakdown truck - that had to come from beyond the previous exit. The driver was superb. He poured in some oil, but we quickly noticed that it was pouring out from the bottom of the engine! That was when he pronounced the engine 'kaput'! - and it is only 20 months old, and has only got about 13,000 miles (21,000 km) on the clock!

He took it to his garage, here in L'Isle-sur-le-Doubs but, as a Peugeot garage, he was unable to do anything with a Vauxhall (Opel). He had to contact the nearest Opel dealership to come to L'Isle to collect the car - but he arrived in a truck that couldn't tow the 'van! Thankfully, this site is only a couple of miles away, and the local garage man arranged for one of his vans to tow us here. We have been advised that the problem may require the replacement of the engine - and that it could take two weeks!!!!!!!

Yet we can still say, with absolute conviction, that God is good. We did not have an accident; He provided some very helpful people to assist us (including our younger daughter who is attending to the 'paperwork', back home!); the sky is blue; the sun is shining (okay, the forecast is for rain on Friday!); the river is free for swimming; we have wi-fi internet access; the local Lidl store is within walking distance; etc., etc.

When I read, in today's e-mails, of further atrocities against the Christian community in Pakistan, where two brothers who had been accused under the infamous Section 295C of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, were cold-blooodedly murdered, I was reminded of how richly blessed we are. Pastors Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel had reportedly just left the courtroom in Faisalabad District and Sessions Court, Punjab, when five masked gunmen opened fire on them. Zafar Hussein, a (Muslim?) police officer who was escorting the brothers, was also shot as he tried to protect them, and is reported to be in a critical condition in hospital.

Rashid and Sajid were arrested, earlier this month, and charged with blasphemy after they were accused of distributing a pamphlet that local Muslims regarded as blasphemous against Muhammad. Handwriting experts have since told the police that the brothers' writing did not match that on the offending leaflet.

This is but one in an increasing number of incidents of overt persecution in Pakistan (go to http://mail.google.com/mail/#search/release%2C+petition/128ac3979672f673 for further information, and access to an online petition). So, as we give thanks that our 'problems' are so few, and that they don't effect our personal safety, we do not forget those who, on a daily basis, are suffering for the sake of the Lord Jesus - many, like Rashid and Sajid, to the point of death.

Please join us in our remembrance, and in our prayerful support.