Have been very blessed with sleep recently! Obviously that is a blessing in itself and brings huge benefits, but one of the benefits for me is that I dream more and often God speaks to me in my dreams.

I will share one of my recent  dreams soon….but not today as my mind is not at its clearest due to medication! In the Old testament it is forbidden to minister while under the influence of strong drink, well today I am under the influence of some pretty major additional medication! I might regret what I write and confuse you and dishonour the Lord, if I say too much today!

This then is just a trailer advertising a dream. However, just as my sleep has come under attack so, so, often over the years, I wonder if the ways that you hear from God are under attack. Does there seem to be a strong force keeping you away from reading the bible? If you are the  solitary contemplative type, is time for that under pressure? If you pray when you walk the dog have you found your walks getting shorter and therefore the prayer more rushed? Just have a think of the ways in which God speaks to you. Is that contested territory at the moment? If there is contested territory,  I hope victory comes in some shape or form quickly. Whatever else spiritual life is about it is about hearing and being guided by the Spirit of God. May your ways of seeing and hearing the Spirit be protected and blessed this day and this coming week.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S. – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I hope this photograph of a painting, “Raising the dead,” kindly gifted to us by its artist, Bonita Clarke, will bless many of you.

I cannot think of anything that better sums up what I have tried to do as a pastor and a teacher over many years, but perhaps even more consciously so since I became minister of Holy Trinity, in Wester Hailes.

This is how Jesus brings us to wholeness and saves us to the uttermost:

Firstly, The Good Shepherd in sheer grace finds us, loves us and picks us up, even from the very lowest places where life and hope are dead and gone. He raises us up and carries us on his shoulders;

Secondly, the Shepherd begins to speak into the lamb’s ear; we begin to hear His voice. Our Shepherd’s words bring us to life. His truth exposes lies that may have been spoken over us and unties the knots of misbeliefs we have carried about who God is and who we are to Him. His word begins to heal us on all sorts of levels of our being as we listen to Him;

Thirdly, the lamb, the sheep, begins to see things from the Shepherd’s perspective, and no longer from their  own perspective. Hearing His voice, we now begin to see as He sees and to look upon ourselves, other people and the world, through His eyes.

Where are you in the picture?

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I know I get a bit frustrated when people speak to me at great length about people I have never met. Forgive me then, because I want to mention Rev. Jim Graham again. I lost track of time this afternoon for one simple reason: I was captivated by Jim’s book, “The God-Life, Letters of the Apostle Paul as personalised by Jim Graham.”  The title, unlike the titles of my sometimes bewildering poems which I post here from time to time,  is a perfect description of what the book is! It is not  a word for word translation of the letters of Paul as such, but his letters interwoven with Jim’s incredible insight and clarity. I found myself stuck to my seat with the same presence and power of the Holy Spirit that attended Jim’s  spoken preaching and teaching ministry. As Rev. Malcolm Duncan says of the book, “I was caught up in the sheer power of the word  of God.” I hope you might be able to buy it and keep it handy when you are reading some of the letters of Paul in your bible. If you didn’t know Jim, you won’t have the delight of hearing in your mind his accent (wonderfully Scottish!) and intonation etc, but it will still benefit you enormously.

I was reading Jim’s personalisation of “Romans” today. I guess it helped me a lot partly due to some uncertainties about my future; what will life or any ministry look like a year from now? Somehow as I was reading “Romans” I saw in a new way that Chapters 9 – 11 are more integral and central to the whole flow of Romans than I had perhaps realised up until now. I remember in the dim and distant past Rev. David Pawson saying so, but somehow I really saw it with Jim’s help. By the end of chapter 8 of Romans Paul has brought us to the point of seeing that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In Chapter 9 he continues with that theme in relation to the Jews primarily. Jim puts the connection in Paul’s thought  like this: “From what I have just written (at the end of chapter 8 especially) it seems completely incongruous  and contradictory  what I am writing now. I have just said that when God chooses us He keeps us and nothing can separate us from His love. Yet, it seems that my Jewish kinsmen have been separated from that  love…” (page 41)

If you have been a believer for any length of time you will probably know the promise of Romans 8 that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in time or eternity. That does not mean however that we won’t encounter times where we are not sure what is going on either in our own life or in the lives of others who have trusted in the promise of God’s unwavering love. That is the question Paul deals with in Romans  9 -11 with a particular reference to the future of the Jews in the purposes of God. As I read Jim’s book, there are 3 words that i seemed to notice in relation to God: CHARACTER, PROMISE, PURPOSE.  I think I was helped to see in a fresh way that God will never be untrue to any of the 3! That is good for me to know as I consider a future whose shape is not yet distinct. I can trust in God’s Character, His promises and His purposes. If I put my trust in Him concerning thee 3 aspects of His being and His ways, then I can be sure indeed that “malign influences in whatever shape of form they come cannot create a chasm between us and the lavish limitlessness of God’s love. The stars cannot hurt, influence or affect you, for they, too, are powerless to separate you from God’s love. Even if by some wild flight of your imagination, there emerged another and different world, you would still be safe, enwrapped by the love of God. So, think of every terrifying thing that this or any other world can produce and be absolutely certain and secure that not one of them is able to separate the Christian from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus; for He is Lord of every terror and Master of every world!” (Page 40)

It was good for me to remember that today, and it may be you are facing uncertainties and need this reminder of what is certain. Perhaps after the last couple of weeks in the wake of several terror attacks in Europe and elsewhere, we can no longer deny the shape of the world is changing, a different world is indeed emerging, in which  uncertainty, lack of safety and at times terror  and terrorist activity are undeniable realities.There is an answer when terror at the worst, uncertainty at at the least seems to want to grip hold of a believer: “Jesus is Lord of every terror and Master of every world.”

God Bless

Kenny

P.S. Buy the book, even if it means sacrificing buying something else. It is wonderful!

P.P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

(Sorry if you have received this more than once – problems with Facebook!)

It was interesting to read this comment today from the Supreme Court as it found fault with the Named Person Legislation which was due to be rolled out across Scotland very soon:

“The first thing that a totalitarian regime tries to do is to get to the children, to distance them from the subversive, varied influences of their families, and indoctrinate them in their rulers’ view of the world. Within limits, families must be left to bring up their children in their own way.”

Whatever the benign intention behind the Named Person Legislation I, for one, am grateful for these powerful sentences, even though representatives of the Scottish Government are saying with confidence that the Scheme will still come to be at some stage after some adjustment.

Looking across “The Pond,” it was worrying to hear Michelle Obama claiming that the Democratic party guaranteed the best values and future for children. I actually admire her; she may not have meant it to sound like this, but it did sound as though the most important value maker in children’s lives should be the state and the governing power. What about the place of the family, the place of parents? It is worrying that Hilary Clinton has already said that Christians will have to change their beliefs while Trump’s views of democracy sound like he is actually describing a totalitarian regime. Our democracies are not as democratic or as treasuring of “freedom” or as tolerant as we like to think and can sound less than enthusiastic when saying they will respect a decision of law

Why blog this? Well, I am just grateful for truth wherever it is stated. When truth exposes reality I think we are dealing with God’s common grace towards the world. In the Charismatic world, frequently the word prophecy is attached to words or utterances whose origin is doubtful, potency almost non-existent, but whose intention may be benign. I consider the words quoted above to be truly prophetic, worrying so, profoundly so… it’s good to look and listen for God at work in grace, mercy and truth in the world. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you eyes to see and ears to hear.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Thou changest not.

‘Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt
our feelings come and go;
our best estate is tossed about
in ceaseless ebb and flow:
no mood of feeling, form of thought,
is constant for a day;
but thou, O Lord! thou changest not;
the same thou art alway.

I grasp thy strength, make it mine own,
my heart with peace is blessed;
I lose my hold, and then comes down
darkness, and cold unrest.
Let me no more my comfort draw
from my frail hold of thee, –
in this alone rejoice with awe:
thy mighty grasp of me.

John Shairp 1871

I just wonder if there are some of God’s precious sons and daughters who read this blog who could do with meditating on these last two lines?  That’s it for today: no more, no less, than an encouragement to look to God and rejoice in this: “Thy mighty grasp of me!”

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

(Put this on Facebook yesterday, sorry if you have already read it, but thought I would make it a blog via WordPress – not my usual type  of blog at all!)

The Divided States of America… so so sad…. “The lesser of two evils” seems to be the way many are deciding how to vote, well amongst those who “decide” rather than just vote as they have always voted and always will. I think what is confusing and difficult for us in the UK is how some of our brothers and sisters in America make “the lesser of two evils” sound righteous. “He shares our values” said a famous evangelical of Trump! What?! I am sure that evangelical leader does not speak for all evangelicals, it is the thought that he speaks for any bible believing Christians that I confess I cannot understand.

The way Trump spoke about ordinary people in Scotland when he tried to bully them from their homes because they were “slums” and spoiled the view from his golf course and luxury hotel was horrific and chilling to watch.  Threat seems to be a fairly frequent tone, and not idle threats at that. “Anything to get my own way regardless of what that means for others” hardly seems a very safe value, let alone Christian value to which America is about to entrust itself and unleash upon the world.

“The alternative is worse still,” say some of my trusted and admired  and much loved Christian American friends of great integrity and genuine godliness when speaking of Clinton. Their concerns in that regard are shared by many non-Christian Americans even from within her own party. I can certainly see how many Christians feel they could never vote for her as regardless of any other policies she too has effectively used the weapon of threat, saying that Christians will have to change their beliefs. However, please don’t sell the soul of Christianity by being so quick to lay hands on Trump with great enthusiasm. If you do see him as your next president and are quick to lay hands upon him, I pray it may be with godly grief rather than simply out of jingoistic anger at what has been happening in and to your country. The anger of man does not bring about the righteousness that God requires. What I fear most for the USA or DSA is that God may give America the President they choose. That is the way He often judges. It may be the way He chooses / is choosing to judge Britain too.

Whatever you think of these thoughts about the apparent Canonisation of Trump by  a sector of the Christian Church, perhaps God will lay it on your heart to pray for America.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Had a coffee with Rich Johnson today. Those of you with an interest in Christian Mindfulness will recognise his name. I really appreciate not only his ministry but his friendship. In conversation today he used the phrase “holy ground” and when he did I felt the presence of God in a very strong and immediate way, which gave birth to an  awareness that I had to write something very specific  in terms of this blog when I got home from our meeting together, namely this:  do you know that when you are speaking with a fellow believer, relating to one another, you are both standing on holy ground? It is just as holy as the burning bush where I AM met with Moses; just as holy as the place where Jacob had his dream; it is as holy a moment as when Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up, His glory filling the temple; it is as holy ground as the garden of Gethsemane or “The Place of the Skull”; it is as holy as a visit to heaven, which people in increasing numbers claim to have made; it is as holy as any genuine mystical experience: it is holy, because the Lord has chosen believers as His dwelling place by His Spirit. I sensed the truth of that this morning as I met with Rich. In meeting with one another we were each standing on Holy Ground, separated unto the Lord as His very own.

My fellow believers in Christ are Holy Ground, purchased as the dwelling place for God’s presence.  Remembering that will influence how I speak, how I listen, how I react and behave, for I am stepping onto God’s territory, and I need to honour His ways. I must behave and speak as God would have me behave and speak to someone that is His very own possession, a child of His grace. That means everything I do and say needs to be put through the filter of His warm and gracious and kind love. In my time of illness it is particularly that last aspect of divine love that I have been aware of again and again: the sheer kindness of that love.

Drinking coffee and talking in a setting of friendship today,  I knew I was in the presence of that kind love. Somehow a table in M and S became a safe  place to speak about things that I have been working through, to speak about fragilities and even wrong thinking  that my progress through illness has made me aware of; “It wasn’t just any table, it was an M and S table,” but it wasn’t just any M and S table, but one  made holy by virtue of the fact that two of God’s redeemed  children were sitting at it together relating in the kindness of the love of God found in Jesus Christ.

According to 1st. John there is no fear in love for fear is to do with punishment and perfect love drives out that fear. If we feel fear or shame in any friendship or relationship or within a church setting  it means that particular friendship, that fellowship, that church is not yet perfected in the love of God that is being expressed and shown, given and received; we are not yet fully recognising in one another the holy ground on which we stand. Perhaps in the Protestant Church we still have a reluctance to obey the Scriptures we claim are our supreme rule of faith and life in all aspects: what I mean is that I am not sure that confessing our sins to one another as we are told to do happens very much, not as much as it could or even should. When we do confess wrong thinking, wrong behaviour, wrong attitudes to a fellow believer, areas of struggle to live in the full freedom of Christ , it is wonderful when in one another’s eyes, words, silence, smile etc. we encounter no trace of condemnation but rather see and hear the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour.

Before you keep that arrangement to meet that fellow believer, whatever the purpose of that meeting, whatever you feel you take to that meeting, whatever you are planning to say, perhaps you should just pause and sing;

“This is Holy Ground!
We’re standing on Holy Ground,
For the Lord is here, and where He is, is Holy.”

By the way, remember that too when you are speaking to the Father’s lost children as well…

God Bless

P.S. Interested in Christian Mindfulness? Click here

P.P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I thought I would give myself a day off blogging, a Sabbath rest as it were! However, as soon as I made that decision, I thought I had better bring it into the presence of the Lord and check out His blessing was resting upon it.  I believe, in under a second,  the Lord gave me a picture to blog about: I saw a crocodile with snapping jaws; simple as that. I have found that many , though not all interruptions of my plans are from God. So, I am thinking some of you this very day have endured hurtful, wounding  and potentially very damaging words; that’s what I think the picture means. Make time to be in the presence of your Heavenly Father who says to all those in Christ, “You are my Beloved. You bring me great joy.” Let His Word, His words, cleanse and heal your wounds.

Oh, by the way, if you have been a crocodile today to somebody, just say sorry to that person and to their God and yours.

That’s it.  It is a sort of lazy blog day if not a blog free day. Back to my Sabbath rest…

Will speak again soon.

God Bless

Kenny

“A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.“

(John 3.27)

When I started to think about today’s blog, I found that this verse simply would not get out of my mind, so I share it with you, and really just leave it with you. 

I am tempted to unpack the verse and offer several challenges and comforts from it. I can think of 4 or 5 thoughts to share off the top of my head as I think about these incredible words of John the Baptist which he spoke when he was told about how Jesus ministry was being blessed, but I genuinely think that is a temptation to be resisted on this occasion. As I say I simply leave it with you. Why not take a few moments and ask the Holy Spirit Himself to speak to you through these words? After giving you space to do that, I may share at least some of these 4 or 5 thoughts in a future  blog… if I remember that is, which is not guaranteed!

God Bless

Kenny

I mentioned in my last blog that we are told in the bible that we are blessed if we tremble at God’s Word. Well, here is something that should make us all tremble: according to Jesus it is possible to have an anointed gifting or ministry but be lost. Being able to say “Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons” is no proof that heaven is our true home here or in eternity to come. If God could use Caiaphas who was in a large part culpable for the crucifixion of Christ to deliver a true prophetic word, well that should make us tremble too and should warn us against placing any security in how the Lord may use us for His purposes.

There is one sign that we have received the grace of God in truth: Are we living more and more the way God wants His children to live? Is that the direction of our lives however slow or fast the progress, despite any falls? Ministry, the fact that God may be blessing a gift,  is no proof I am in a right relationship with God.

I hope what we are seeking is not simply the anointing the Spirit upon a gift, but the non-grieved   presence of the abiding Spirit in our lives. It is Sons and Daughters who by grace through faith have come  into a right relationship with the Father that belong to the family of God forever.

Grace does not mean I can do what I want. It means realising that by the love of God and by virtue of the fact that because of that love His sheer white hot and just wrath and anger against my sin was poured upon His Son at Calvary,  my sins are not being counted against me and I am being given what is not my own; a place in God’s family and Kingdom and a power to say “no” to ungodliness. Forgiveness is such a holy thing to respond correctly to that the bible says of God, “There is forgiveness with Thee; therefore Thou art feared.”

Please don’t separate the presence of God attending your gift and working through you from your character attracting His pleasure child of God. Don’t rest in the fact that God may be using you and thereby put yourself into the same company as Caiaphas at worst or Balaam’s donkey at the very best. God, according to  the Old Testament, can even call heathen kings and emperors like Cyrus of Persia His “Anointed” and use them to  bless and help His people just as the New Testament and Jesus make clear He can do with those who are eternally lost.

If it was in my power, which it isn’t, then I would want everyone of you who reads this blog to be or to become today a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven, a Son or a Daughter who belongs in God’s  house and family for now and forever. You may be part of a church and have a ministry that is recognised by the church  and for which people thank God, but are you a child of God? “Come to the Father through Jesus the Son” while there is still time. Tomorrow belongs to no man or woman. None of us know whether we will have another day on this earth beyond today or even a moment beyond the present moment. So then, today if you are hearing God speaking to you in any way through this inadequately expressed blog, I appeal to you by the grace of God, don’t harden your heart. I cannot imagine how anyone can put their head on a pillow, shut their eyes and sleep each night who is not rightly related to the God before whom each of us could be called to appear and give account at any moment…

You may be reading this and not be a Christian yet. Hopefully you know someone  who is and they can tell you now to become the real and genuine born again thing: if you don’t know how to go about becoming a Christian, ask them! 

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

“God chose some…. to be leaders.”  (I Corinthians Chapter 12 verse 28.) So, why is it being taught these days that we are all leaders when we have these words in the New Testament? It is a blessing to the people of God when “the leaders lead” according to the Old Testament and a disaster when they don’t or when those who are not leaders “lead.” Indeed when true leaders are not leading it is a sign of God’s judgement on His people.  Just saying…just wondering… have we left the bible aside to teach some of the things that are being said these days? Leadership is as obvious a gift of the Spirit as speaking in tongues or as evident as the demonstrable fact that a gift of healing is happening, indeed as self-evident as any other gift. It needs no argument to speak for itself though sometimes it requires others to speak for it and make room for it as Barnabas did for Saul, for this reason:  the “some” gifted by God with leadership anointing sometimes make it look like God has got it wrong or at least made an unusual choice given that person’s life story and what human eyes notice about them.

So, I  believe from the bible it is wrong to tell everyone that they are a leader even if the intention behind such error is one of seeking  to give a loving boost to people’s self confidence and sense of value and purpose. What we can do is recognise when and where the gift of leadership is resting upon a person,  observe whether it continues to be obvious over time, nurture it and warn  “the some” against pitfalls  they may meet as their gifting, hopefully,  journeys onwards in progress towards greater maturity. The teaching that we are all leaders is gaining ground. It is like a horse already loosed from the stable. I suspect it may take a decade or two to run on until it runs out of  its own energy. I am not thinking for a moment that this blog  by a retired and not completely healthy minister will make a dent in it, but however out of vogue  with Christian fashion or popular teaching fads  what I am saying here may be, I feel called to say it so that you can think about it. If you dismiss it then know you are saying that Paul was wrong on this point. I for one am not prepared to say that.

It seems to me that as evangelicals or charismatics we can be guilty of that fault which we like to pin to liberals  or “progressive” or “revisionist” Christianity- leaving aside the bits of Scripture that don’t align with what we think or with Christian cultural or secular cultural trends.  We might do that with different themes or bible verses than liberals, but we all do it somewhere or other. Paul in Romans tells us it is a common thing for the people of God to accuse others of  what they themselves are doing also! Maybe we need to recover the blessing that comes to those who tremble at God’s Word.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Today I was thinking back to University Days. I was particularly thinking of one lecturer who when he was approached due to the incomprehensibility of his lectures said, “I am an academic not a communicator.” I think it would be valuable for any lecturer who may indeed be primarily an academic not to excuse themselves from developing their communication skils though that may never become their strong point!

As I was reading Paul’s letters to Timothy a few weeks ago, I was struck by the fact that he is told to do the work of an evangelist. He was clearly primarily a teacher, pastor, leader type by gifting and calling and by the empowering of the Spirit, if not by personality, but nonetheless that did not absolve him from doing the work of an evangelist even if he was not an evangelist primarily.

I suppose, relating this to myself I have been primarily pastor/teacher, but that does not mean I can turn a blind eye to other aspects of ministry that might never be my number one thing. So for example I occasionally prophesy, I am evangelistically aware and try and bring folk to Jesus Christ,  I occasionally see new ground that needs to be taken, and can think about strategy which takes me vaguely into the area of the Apostolic – though everyone seems a bit vague as to what that means and usually give their own definition which sometimes bears little resemblance to what the bible says are the marks of an Apostle. That last one, the Apostolic, in the aspects of being the strategist, the seeing  new ways to new ground,  is something that bores me.  It is not my prime calling and not “me.”. On a scale of interest for me it is somewhere usually about -9 to -6.  It is as well that Ian and Ollie and others on the ministry team of Holy Trinity in Wester Hailes, have a stronger interest, more obvious gifting and even genuine enthusiasm for thinking in such ways as do many other people I know, love and respect. However, I cannot absolve myself completely of thinking in an Apostolic way from time to time even though “taking new ground” and “strategy” and “raising up” talk makes me yawn and become a bit tetchy and puts me on the verge of being sinfully cynical if I don’t nip things in the bud.

Friends, I am not quite sure that we can use Ephesians Chapter 4 in terms of ministry gifts described there to say that gives us the strategy for a healthy church today. Personally I think Paul was speaking historically and factually about how the church was birthed in its earliest years. However, I do believe God still gives the gifts mentioned there for the strengthening of the church. It is best though to think of these gifts on a sliding scale rather than a fixed point. So God gives to the church those who are Apostolic -y, Prophetic-y, Evangelistic – y, Pastoral-y, Teacher -y. I think that is a truer rendering of what is said. So as I illustrated from Timothy and from my own experience, whatever “y” I may most strongly be,it does not mean I can pass on the responsibility for other aspects of ministry to others.  A Prophetic -y person can do immense harm if they do not develop a pastoral sense and say instead, “Well, it is up to the pastors to cope with the results of my ministry.” An Apostolic – y person cannot ignore the need to hear the prophetic word of the Lord, or not care about the pastoring of the flock. Paul makes that clear. He carried every day the needs and concerns  of the Church of God with a pastoral heart. If anyone, even an individual  believer fell in some way then the Paul the Apostle said he felt that keenly.

There has been talk about the five fold ministry now for at least 3 decades but not a lot of fruit from all of that in the UK church at least. Being perfectly honest such talk is probably not received well or favourably in much of the church. It is coming in for renewed emphasis at this moment which could be a promising sign. However, if  people who long to see these ministries flourishing don’t accept the sliding scale, the “y” nature of ministry, then it will kill the work of God and the people of God rather than bring life.

So a couple of questions: Are you progressing in what is your most obvious ministry? Are you ministering in other ways as well, even though they may never be your main thing?

If we don’t get hold of that we will talk about the ministries of the Apostle, the Prophet, The Evangelist, the Pastor and the Teacher for another 3 decades with increasing frustration, suspicion and accusation, muttering under our breath about one another. It would be great to see people arise into their proper ministries, with experiential knowledge of other aspects of ministry and a realisation that thankfully for the sake of the safety of the church and its healthy growth there are people who are not like me at all, people I can learn to love and appreciate fully! By the way none of these five ministries means that a person is therefore automatically a good leader. We have assumed in the past that pastors and teachers are the leaders of a church. Not all pastors and teachers possess the separate gift of leadership. However we must not repeat the same sort of mistake mistake by thinking that all Apostles ( if we can agree what that means for today!)  or Prophets or all Evangelists should be regarded automatically as gifted leaders just because of their Apostolic or Prophetic  or Evangelistic gifting. They may or may not be particularly gifted in that way. Leaders  should gratefully make space for all the ministries in their thinking and practice  and decision making however these different ministries are represented or make that contribution, which will vary from setting to setting because of different church histories or different understandings of church government in the bible. Leadership is a separate  gifting of the Holy Spirit according to Paul…more of that another time.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I found I was really blessed today through reading Paul’s letter to Philemon. If you have never read it or if it is  a while since you have done so, why not read it now? It won’t take you long.

Central to the content of the letter is a man called Onesimus. He was a slave who had stolen from his master Philemon and ended up fleeing to Rome. There he met Paul and was converted. Paul really valued the helper Onesimus became to him and wanted to keep him with him but decided the right thing to do was to send him back to Philemon not simply as a runaway slave but now as someone who was a brother in the Lord to his master. Actually ,in shortly over twice the time I have taken to write that paragraph you could have read the whole letter for yourself!

I know the name Oral Roberts will be a name that will cause differing reactions among my readers: that is probably now the biggest understatement of any blog I have written whatever I claimed in a previous blog was the statement deserving that award!  However, I have to say that one of my operating principles as a pastor came from listening to Oral Roberts preaching on a Satellite T.V. channel. He preached around the meaning of Onesimus’ name. It means “useful” or “profitable.” However he had been anything but true to fulfilling his name! He had not been profitable and indeed had been worse than useless to Philemon. All he had become was a piece of driftwood. Then Oral Roberts said this: “When driftwood catches fire it makes the best fire of all! He became driftwood set ablaze!” Through meeting Christ, Onesimus really did become useful . He was certainly useful to Paul. Some say he became a bishop in Ephesus.

As a pastor, even if it now mostly an online pastor, I keep the story of Onesimus in mind.  I suppose it almost goes with the territory of being a pastor that you are very loathe to write someone off as a useless piece of driftwood. You simply hope that one day they might indeed by the grace of God become driftwood set ablaze. Pastors are loathe to admit there is such a thing as dead wood that needs to be cut out and cut away. They don’t want to simply run ahead with their keenest supporters. Shepherds want to get as many of the flock into a state of health, feeding on good fresh pasture as possible.

Perhaps you are reading this and you feel yourself to be a piece of driftwood. You are maybe on the run from your past. You are maybe even on the run from the Lord. Perhaps you don’t know what on earth is the purpose of your life. Stop right where you are, and call out to the Saviour of Onesimus, the one who can turn a drifting or aimless life into a life that is profitable to God, to others around you near and far and  indeed to yourself.

Or could it be that there is someone you care about that is drifting? Not long ago, I heard of someone who through these blogs found their way back into a relationship with the Lord much to the delight of their family. Can you believe that piece of driftwood you are thinking of can yet catch fire? I hope this may help you to persevere with someone, to persevere in faith, hope and love, just at the point you were maybe thinking of throwing in the towel. I had a dream one night about demons telephoning their hellish headquarters in alarm because they had come across a Christian who was not giving in, but was fighting on and persevering; I may tell you about it one day. For today/tonight though,  I am just saying that the piece of driftwood you are frustrated about, who you cannot think about without sadness or discouragement may one day become the right hand helper of a significant leader, or indeed become a leader themselves. Onesimus was not the first or the last person dismissed by others as  “a useless cause” or “a waste of space” to be transformed by the grace of God to be a much loved and useful citizen in the Kingdom of God, here on earth. Tonight, before you shut your eyes, or tomorrow when you awaken, praise with me  the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Onesimus!

“God of Onesimus, bless the driftwood who may find themselves reading this: bless  too the driftwood loved by those who read this! We pray for a season of driftwood set ablaze!”

God bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

It has been good to be back from parish ministry  and to take stock.  I find that God has been bringing about certain freedoms. I am very grateful for my evangelical and charismatic beliefs, and actually for me there is not a valid alternative that would work for me, though I certainly seek to learn from those from other stables.  I have to say that I have found that “evangelicalism” and “charismaticism” can have their unattractive and unhelpful aspects too. Often evangelicalism can become a sort of Phariseeism. The Pharisees’ main  problem was not, as is sometimes portrayed, legalism or a belief in salvation by works, but more basically they suffered and made others suffer from their self-assured pronouncement of who was part of the people of God, the saved, and who was not. Evangelicalism can become like that sadly, insisting on a certain formulaic approach to salvation, at the very least suspicious of any salvation outside a true blue conservative evangelical church or ministry. Charismaticism on the other hand can often seem to be a very competitive world, where people feel the need to make great and exaggerated claims for their ministries and all that can be done through the gifts of the Spirit. There can be a unintended dishonesty about it all and a damaging of people who are promised much when actually very little of what is promised is delivered.

With regard to the latter, I just have to say it is fact that there are some human situations which do not yield entirely to the operation of the gifts of the Spirit during a ministry time at a conference or on  Sunday, valuable and much needed as such times may be. The reason is very simple: sometimes every part of a person’s humanness needs to grow into freedom through choices and growing trust and faith; sometimes there needs to be a deep work which because of the nature of it can best happen between God and a person in private. God is interested in the whole person and affords each person dignity and indeed times of privacy and the gift of the passing of time when that is required. Let’s not stake out too much ground and claim it for the gifts of the Spirit  mentioned in 1st. Corinthians and a few other places as though that is the only sort of ministry the Holy Spirit is capable of doing.

One of the deepest forms of ministry is when you can do nothing for a person other than be with them, giving an assurance  that you will stay with them come what may, and offering them not trite but quiet and real hope for their future in some sense just by a faithful non-afraid presence in the face of what for them seems too overwhelming.

Over the years a few people have asked me and indeed Morag too “Do you think I will get better, will I manage, will I be ok?.” Where that question is asked, I personally see it as  a hopeful and positive sign spiritually speaking, and more often than not, I have felt liberty to say, “Well, yes, I believe so actually, but I don’t know what God will do or how He will do it. Don’t be afraid.” Words, pictures, the laying on of hands and any gifts of healing that may be around may have blessed these people to a degree, but to limit the ministry of the Holy Spirit to a few charismatic gifts and procedures is almost blasphemous, certainly presumptuous, and to exhibit an ignorance as to  what it means to  regard someone as a person, a human being whom God made, loves and desires to save and help.

The ministry of “being-there-knowing-you-have-done-all-you-know-how” and beyond that cannot do anything other than stay with someone, is not a ministry for quick “laying-on-of-hands-grab-a-word-of-knowledge-shake-them-shout-at-them” type of anxious cavorting around. It is not a ministry for bluffers or “have-a-goers-and-hope-to land-somewhere-vaguely-near-the-territory” approach. It is one of the deepest forms of ministry I know and not for the fainthearted. It may never get applause on a conference stage. I have been on the receiving end of that in the past and each time it was genuinely given and awkwardly received, but there are some things too deep, too holy for that, where we need to just take our shoes of our feet, stand or sit and wait on holy ground with a person and say very little. It is the sort of ministry each one of us will appreciate at some point in our life, even if it is not until our last moment that we treasure and value it. This is ministry that takes us to Calvary. It is the sort of ministry that Jesus sought from the disciples but was denied by them in Gethsemane. They could heal and cast out demons (well, most demons, as they still had some things to learn) but they could not at that point offer what they had first been called to by Jesus,  namely “to be with Him.” Thankfully that ministry was offered to Him on the cross by some. Many were hiding in fear but standing at the cross there were a few who could do nothing for Jesus  other than have love enough and courage enough to stay with Him whatever else they might have longed to be able to do for Him, but couldn’t. The next move was God’s alone to make… and make it He most certainly did! Hallelujah!

God bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

“Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD” (Haggai Chapter 1 verse 13)

I am so glad I was at Holy Trinity, Wester Hailes on Sunday evening past. Rev. Iain Penman was preaching on Psalm 107 and it was quite simply one of the best and most helpful sermons I have heard in my life. It was so life-giving  to me myself, but it was also so sensitive and indeed challenging  with regard to some of the issues surrounding addictions that face some of the congregation. Iain showed us a pattern that recurs throughout the Psalm: Problem, Prayer, Rescue, Praise; that progression is now lodged in my brain! The sermon will eventually appear on the Holy Trinity website. It could help you or someone you know. Perhaps it would  benefit you to read the psalm right now with “Problem, Prayer, Rescue, Praise” in mind.

So I was blessed by the sermon. I was also blessed by people who spoke to me afterwards, including some who have more than a few struggles and difficulties to contend with. In fact they were the first to come up to me. They did so with genuine warmth and affection and also with a real degree of sensitivity: I was moved particularly by the way they spoke to me. Can I be honest with you? They didn’t perhaps say anything that anyone listening in would have considered profound, but what they said was real, full of genuine warmth and was a blessing.

I wonder if there is something for us all to learn from such readiness? Often we shy away from speaking to people because we don’t really know what to say. Perhaps we think we need to say something very profound, or we are scared we will say the wrong thing. When C. S. Lewis was widowed he commented that he really appreciated nervous young students who approached him and very awkwardly, stumblingly and self consciously and non piously  expressed their condolences rather than avoiding him and saying nothing.

A simple word can mean a lot. Remember that same truth when it comes to exercising the  New Testament gift of prophecy, a gift which as believers we are encouraged to seek by the Apostle Paul. At its simplest that gift is about saying something from God that will strengthen, encourage and comfort. Of course prophecies can sound weighty at times. They can  at times also  be quite detailed and even quite lengthy. However we can learn a thing or two from the Old Testament prophets here. Sometimes they spoke at great length, but on one occasion the prophet Haggai simply said this as a prophetic word from the Lord to His People: “I am with you.” The people were strengthened and stirred up by that simple word.

Please rid yourself of any notion that you need to be, or need to pretend to be, or at least need to try to  sound profound! Sometimes it is hearing the most simple thing, even the most obvious or self-evident  truth that one would almost think need not be said that can have the most profound effect on a person or a situation.

Maybe even this very day you will meet someone and you will know that God is wanting you to remind them that He is with them: as simple as that!

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I think one of the most wonderful prayers I have ever heard was a prayer of random thanksgiving in which Brennan Manning thanked God for trout in the stream, chocolate ice-cream, the wind blowing in a woman’s hair, music by Haydn etc… The Reformed part of me thought, “That does not follow the structure or content of Paul’s prayers,” but at the same time, it seemed to fit my heart as a child of God. It is, I must admit, maybe more the type of prayer we pray in private to Abba, but somehow overhearing and eavesdropping on the private prayer of a child of God secure in Abba’s love really blessed me.

There are times when I am just overcome with random thanksgiving for random things. 1001 things can spark that thanksgiving off. Once I was watching dogs swimming in the sea and playing happily on a beach. Somehow a whole stream of joyful thanksgiving seemed to arise, attended by carefree laughter. Out of that I found myself writing this poem about thanksgiving but also about lack of thanksgiving. I guess I am sharing it here because in my last blog I said that if by the grace of God we can live in constant gratitude and perhaps through so doing help a spirit of thanksgiving to be released in somebody else, well that can prove to be a powerful internal evangelist.

If you are not the poetic type, this won’t grab you: I appreciate that. In that case, ditch the poem but not the thrust of this blog. In private with Abba, start thanking Him for something that grabs your immediate attention; begin there, don’t end there. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” That may be an old line from an old song, but it is an ever new truth.

Fractions

For eightsome reels
And twin making waters,
For swimming dogs
And staggering toddlers,
For day-shared thoughts
And songs in the darkness…

Thanks rise … from where to where?

Internal Evangelist
Mostly despised,
One falls to the floor
a leper no more,
Nine dance through the door
Eighteen darkened eyes.

Copyright K.S. Borthwick

(Burntisland, 2012 – inspired by dogs!)

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Luke 17:11-19 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Nine got a healing, one heard the  blessing of “wholeness” or “wellness” being spoken and affirmed over him by Christ Himself. I can only speculate about the other nine as we are not told anything more about them, however in my experience both personally and as a pastor  it is possible for a person to be blessed, healed, set free by God but still not to walk in wholeness as a human being.

When it comes to the deep things from which people need to be set free , I would say they are things that are even deeper than health issues, deeper than social issues though of course a compassionate Christ cares about such things and asks us as His body to bring His help and healing into such situations. Remember that Jesus tells us that it is even possible to experience deliverance from demonic power and yet to end up in a worse state than before. There is something deeper in the heart of man that we need to be rescued from than sickness or demonic attack. Miracles in those realms are miracles,  a sign that the Kingdom of God is near, but they do not necessarily mean the person helped is interested in the food, the help of Christ, by which they could become alive with  eternal life. The easy word to use here to sum up what we need rescued from would be “sin” but what does that look like, feel like, sound like in a human being?

Well, here is another quote from that book “A Spirituality of Living” by Henri Nouwen. I suggested you buy it. It is very short and very readable. It is not “Charismatic” in its claims though it is full of the Spirit. It would not necessarily cross all the “t’s” and dot every “i” enough for some Conservative Evangelical people but it is Good News. Yesterday I quoted the best most angst free, truest to the ministry of Jesus, truest to what all our ministries should be about definitions of ministry I have ever read; I quote it here again for your convenience:

“All disciples of Jesus are called to ministry. Ministry is not, first of all, something that we do (although it calls us to do many things).  Ministry is something that we have to trust. If we know we are the beloved, and if we keep forgiving those with whom we form community and celebrate their gifts, we cannot do other than minister…We have to trust that if we are the son or daughter of God power will go out from us and people will be healed… Trust in that healing power. Trust that if we are living as the beloved we will heal people whether or not we are aware of it…” (“A Spirituality of Living pages 44 – 45.)

But, back on track now: where do we and those we minister to need to find wholeness? What is at least  one of the marks of wholeness in a child of God? What is one of the marks of every Christian minister who seeks to be a channel of wholeness to others? Well, here is another quote to think about:

“Healing often happens by leading people to gratitude, because the world is full of resentment. What is resentment? It is cold anger. ‘I’m angry with him I’m angry with this situation. This is not the way I want it.’… over time, there are more and more things we can be negative about. Resentment makes us cling to our failures or disappointments and complain about the losses in our lives. There is always a lurking danger that we will respond to life’s incredible pains with resentment… Jesus calls us to gratitude. He calls us to recognise that gladness and sadness are never separate, that joy and sorrow really belong together and that mourning and dancing are part of the same movement…the cross is the main symbol of our faith, and it invites us to find hope where we see pain and to reaffirm the resurrection where we see death. The call to be grateful is a call to trust that every moment of our life can be claimed as the way of the cross that leads us to new life…” (Pages 45 – 48.)

It is possible to be healed, delivered, forgiven, blessed, provided for and yet secretly be harbouring a resentment about the way things have been in my life. Wholeness is not pretending evil and bad things haven’t been part of my life, whether I have been the perpetrator or at the receiving end of such things: most of us have been victims at some point, all of us have been villains at some point also. Wholeness is about believing that the God of grace has brought me to this point and asks me to trust Him that everything destructive that has been is not more powerful than His love and what that love can yet bring about. It is about being freed from any resentment about the way my life has been, any resentment against other people, any resentment against God. Sometimes I look back at seasons of difficulties or sadnesses and being honest with Abba I can say to Him, “Father, I somehow would have liked if things could have been another way; if circumstances had been other than they were;  if I could have behaved differently in these circumstances at that time:  but I put my trust in you and in your wisdom and grace that has brought me to this point with you, today.”

Resentment is palpable: it causes life to drain away and poison the very ground on which we walk and damages those who try to walk close to us. Trust and thankfulness cause life to leak out somehow as well, but to leak out irrepressibly to bless those who walk near to us, and bless others way beyond that smaller circle. By the way, when thankfulness is awakened  in somebody who as yet does not know God in Christ, it can be a powerful evangelist within them.

God bless you all  my fellow believers  as those who share the call of Christ to minister out of our belovedness to the immediate and to the deepest needs of the world.

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

It is not often that I have to close a book because it is so good I cannot read any more of it. It happened today as I read a chapter entitled “Ministry” in “A Spirituality of Living” by Henri Nouwen. Every line seemed to have the capacity to open up an ocean of thinking. It was just too much goodness to take in. It is worth remembering something that I mentioned in a blog a few months ago: Moses had to be hidden from the Lord’s goodness as  He passed by: if he had looked upon that goodness full in the face he could not have borne it; it would have killed him.

Well anyway, I thought I might share one or two sentences about Ministry. It seems as though H.N. as he writes equates ministry with “healing” in one shape or form or another and in  the broadest sense as well. That is probably the best and simplest one word summary to cover all different ministries and ministry in general that anyone can come up with. With that in mind, here are some words to mull over:

“All disciples of Jesus are called to ministry. Ministry is not, first of all, something that we do (although it calls us to do many things).  Ministry is something that we have to trust. If we know we are the beloved, and if we keep forgiving those with whom we form community and celebrate their gifts, we cannot do other than minister…We have to trust that if we are the son or daughter of God power will go out from us and people will be healed… Trust in that healing power. Trust that if we are living as the beloved we will heal people whether or not we are aware of it…” (“A Spirituality of Living pages 44 – 45. Buy the book! It is short, easy to read and full of good stuff!)

I do hope you can believe this. Live as the Beloved and you can forget any angst about God using you and can stop worrying about whether or not you have any effect around you. Hoping this blessed you as much as it blessed me,

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

A few days ago I had another pill added to my mix of medication. I am grateful for the benefit I feel already but I noticed myself straying into the edges of resentment as I announced to my wife, “You know, I was never ill before all of this.”

Within an hour as I was out and about I saw a lady in a wheelchair. However what was as obvious as her wheelchair was her wonderful, blazing-like-the-sun smile, visible from a hundred yards away. I looked at the person pushing her chair and she was smiling warmly. As I walked past them their smile was directed towards me. Whatever it was that was bringing them joy, it was producing so much joy that there was enough to share and to give away.

Well, that got me out of resentment, I can tell you. I suppose that somewhere at the root of their joy was gratitude. As soon as I passed them I encouraged my soul into an attitude of gratitude. There were so many things I could thank God for right there and then.

This morning when I woke feeling the benefit of my new medication but experiencing its side effects too, I started looking around me and could instantly think of a huge list of things for which I was genuinely thankful. I thought too of a prayer I heard Mahalia Jackson say on a recording just before she sang: “Lord we are thankful for the measure of health we have.” I have a far larger measure of health than millions of people, far better health care and am surrounded by love and prayer.

Just saying that an attitude of gratitude is a powerful thing. Try it. After a stuttering start, it may surprise you how all of a sudden it just takes off.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I am not sure what the most memorable start to a church service may be for you, but for me it is easy to pinpoint. I was preaching to a congregation of Africans. The prayer right at the start by one of the members began like this: “Lord, we thank you that we are here and we are not dead.” For me it was an eye opener to the situations that many of these dear people had come from, situations in which many of their loved ones were still living,  but it was also a spur to live with gratefulness and to be more aware of the unknown difficulties and memories that ordinary people carry. From that day it bothered me less if some people looked as though they were showing no interest in my preaching. It no longer offended me or irritated me. I just realised from that point on in fresh depth that a lot of people are living with and carrying a difficult story . My worry about whether they appreciate my preaching, is a loveless worry.  Only this morning I heard two ladies standing talking to one another. As I passed them , one was saying to the other, “I mean he is sleeping in shop doorways now…” A son, a brother? I don’t know, but the strain on her face was obvious.  She looked so pale and tired. It was so, so sad to see that strain and quite tragic that anyone in the UK should be sleeping in a doorway.

That prayer from that African Congregation came back to me today as I caught up with the dreadful news from France. Remember today in your prayers those who died and those who grieve;  remember those who were injured and those who  are traumatised by the events, traumatised even to find themselves still alive.  The Prime Minister of France made a chilling remark when he spoke this morning: “France must get used to living with terrorism.” Remember too that as well as in France, there have been incidents in other countries resulting in much death, suffering and grief. Be grateful if you have the breath of life in you. Be grateful if the community you live in is one of relative peace and safety. The veneer of peace is thin in some places. Violence  and things that endanger  life and survival threaten to break through in many countries where people read these blogs from the USA to South Sudan.

We sometimes say almost as a cliche that education is the answer to everything. Well, education is good, but why do we still invest it with god like powers when the last century showed that the most cultured and educated of nations caused the suffering of two world wars and almost annihilated the Jews in Europe?  Many terrorists are university educated. Clever educated people make as much a mess of their lives and muck up the lives of those around them as much as anyone else. The new trust we have is in “dialogue around the table” and political solutions which of course are better than war but in a world so full of destructive ideologies that are beyond the influence of reason, the answer will not be in dialogue or sitting round a table. “Democracy is the answer” … but look  at the problems facing the USA , or  the obvious fact after our own referendum in the UK re Europe that we don’t actually like democracy that much when it goes against what we think is self evidently right and obvious and should be to any decent thinking person. Education and political dialogue are like pea shooters against the irrationality of evil  (which has its source not in reason but in lies and The Father of Lies)  and the reality of human sinfulness. We need help. We cannot save ourselves.

What will it take for the nations to hear the Word of the Lord, “Look to me all ye ends of the earth and be saved,” ? How long will it be until the nations are so aware of their impotence in the face of evil and sinfulness that we bow our knees, lift our eyes to heaven and cry out “Help”?

One more thing; on a day when we are reminded of the sufferings of the world, as I sifted through the usual batch of email and Facebook correspondence about church life and conferences and courses on this and that, I could not help but think that the concerns of the evangelical/charismatic church are too small and narrow as well almost embarrassingly selfish and irrelevant to the world such as it is. It sort of reminded me of the fact that when Lenin and his friends were making their plans for revolution, church leaders were met that very night locked in impassioned debate about clerical dress and hairstyles. Oh of course we think that what we champion is much more a biblical imperative and priority that we need to recover, much more important  than these matters. Is it?  At the risk of offending you, it may be a complete red herring, albeit a popular red-herring in terms of what is really important for the church and for the world. Could you at least be open to considering that as a possibility? God help us not fiddle or jump on bandwagons or soap boxes while the world burns.

God bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Not very busy today, so with some spare time before my evening meal, I will share something I am chewing over right now. Here goes…

I am just wondering why we have been keen to learn from Jesus model and style for healing, but have not paid Him such regard in terms of His style and methods in other aspects of His ministry, e.g . preaching, teaching, deliverance and prophetic ministry to think of just a few off the top of my head. I think what amazes me is how simple Jesus approach to all ministry was in the gospels. He did not always do things the same way, but that does not mean that any way of doing things will do. We do have the gospels and therefore a record of what Christian ministry not only does but looks like even allowing for the wonderful reality of differing personalities.

At times in my life I have known demonstrable healing and been the recipient of the most astounding prophecies and I hope I will know such things in the present and in the future too. The thing is ,there was nothing dramatic or showy or mind-bendingly crazy and weird about the method on these occasions to detract from the ministry of Jesus by the Holy Spirit through one or more of His friends and servants. In fact I have very little memory of how these things happened just that something real happened in a way that I can only put down to God rather than an in your face and in everybody else’s face very definite style or method of ministry. The effects on me were dramatic, but there was no drama in the delivery of God’s blessing to me.

For me as a pastor I have to care for the good of the sheep. So when it comes to matters such as healing, or prophecy or even just teaching conferences, I have a duty not just to ask if any given ministry is true or false, but also to ask is it wise and helpful, even if it is real. I once withdrew an invitation to someone with a significant healing ministry to come and minister in our congregation because I had seen the way he ministered somewhere else. Perhaps some people were healed in the meeting I attended, though I am not sure if they were despite the claims from the front, but there was a lot of confusion and an unsettling of the flock because of the style and method of ministry which was never explained in any way. If you command a person to get out of their wheelchair several times and they fall flat on the floor, as I saw happening, well it causes unrest. If you walk over the heads of people and walk over pews it causes unrest. Indeed if someone out on the street had hit people as hard on the head as this particular healing evangelist was hitting them in the church then they would have been arrested by the police and rightly so: slightly harder and I am sure I would have suffered concussion! Here is the sad thing though: I believe that person had and still has a genuine ministry of healing and evangelism. Similarly, there are prophetic ministries and ministries of Intercession that as a pastor I cannot commend to the flock of God or let loose on the flock, not because they are false, but because the method and the style gets in the way and can cause damage and difficulty beyond all proportion to any blessing left behind.

Of course some people say that God “offends the mind to reveal the heart.” As a Toronto blessing person I say “Amen” to that, however, that is actually one of the holiest ministry truths I know and to use it as an excuse for needlessly confusing approaches and to legitimate thoughtlessness in ministry by it is to turn a fearfully holy principle into something that loses all its inherent power and integrity; it is to steal a truth for a wrong setting and purpose. When I was prophesied to in tremendous power and accuracy, just like Jesus, someone simply spoke words I could understand, and they amazed me. When I have experienced healing in the past, it was just announced with words. It was all very low key. I guess if we have little power we have to put on a show to convince people or even myself as I minister that something of God is happening – which it may or may not be. If you make Smith Wiggelsworth your model then make sure you have his steeped in the Word biblical thinking and understanding, an equivalent Baptism in the Holy Spirit to his experience, a depth of relationship with God and an understanding of faith as deep as his, a willingness to suffer like him and the non exaggerated statistics that would make even the most cautious pastors or church leaders have to do some serious thinking.

Often ministries cause themselves to have a smaller sphere of influence than they could have because of a stubbornness to do with style. They influence a fringe of likeminded people, and that fringe may even be international, but the sadness is they could have had much wider influence if there was a willingness to learn that method and power are not as intimately related as many would claim. Of course no ministry however genuine and sensitive will be welcomed everywhere. I think my ministry is genuine and I think I am sensitive to people and situations, though ultimately God alone knows, but as Morag reminded me a few days ago, I have had invitations to speak withdrawn over the years. It has not happened often, but it has happened. That does not bother me, for me. I understand the way it is when you have a leadership or pastoral responsibility for a gathering or a congregation.

So an appeal to all who minister and to all who wish their leader, minister, pastor would extend an invitation or advertise a ministry, a conference, a speaker visiting town that you happen to like: Please don’t defend styles that have no backing in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the ministry of Jesus. Please don’t appeal to Jesus using spit in healing. As I said in a blog a few months back, that would have made sense to anyone Jesus ministered healing to in His day as spittle was believed to have healing properties. What He did was not weird in the slightest degree. It should not be used as the source text from which to preach sermons pleading for people to accept a style that makes no sense on any level. Many of the things that have been “done” to me over the years for my healing have nothing to do with the healing I was seeking. Many of the prophetic antics that I have been subjected to because the prophet must do it a particular way, have had nothing whatsoever to do with a Word from God that they were genuinely seeking to give to me, but were a distraction and even detracted from the Word and drew 99% of my attention and everyone else’s attention to the prophet and away from God.

So, the Holy Spirit gifted, filled with the Spirit and open to the Spirit pastor knows there is more to consider than whether a ministry is true or false, though it is a good thing to try and discern that first of all! Pastors’ gifting and the calling from God for which they are answerable to Him, means they think carefully about how the flock’s wellbeing and peace and safety will be affected by things. A pastor should know the flock needs fresh pasture and they should lead the flock into new places in God, but they also go ahead of where they are seeking to take the sheep, in order to make sure there is nothing in the grass that could cause hurt or harm to the sheep who, just like Jesus does,  they know by name. It is a shepherd’s right use of the rod to check the grass for hidden poisonous weeds or snakes: better to take the flock somewhere else in the search for new pasture if there is just too much of that around to deal with swiftly and simply, even if there is good grass too. Wounded and harmed sheep, or sheep that are fleeced financially under some guise that they are being set free from the poverty spirit are too high a sacrifice for the odd sheep or a couple of odd sheep being blessed by a more than odd ministry. It is a pastor’s or a leader’s call to make.

If you are a pastor or a leader or both you will agree. If you don’t agree and see this as resistance to the Holy Spirit then don’t become a pastor or a leader but don’t be surprised either if your ministry whatever sphere it may be in is resisted and has doors shut against it, when with a bit of humility and common sense  more doors would have opened to you and your ministry and could yet do so. I am saying this because I care as much about ministries not being curtailed but being released to spread as widely as they can possibly go under God, as I do that these ministries bless the flock of God, lost and found.

Anyway, it is tea-time. Time for a different type of chewing…

God bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I am thinking today of someone who cheers me up every time I meet him.There is genuine warmth in his eyes, his humour is quick, he is very ready to encourage and express his good hopes for my future while showing genuine sadness at my health issues. I get the impression that he rejoices in me simply being Kenny and  most definitely feel that he makes no demands on me as a minister or as a person. Here’s the thing though: he doesn’t come to church very often. That does not bother me as much as it  bothers some. I just think that given his situation and life story it is a miracle that he manages to come very occasionally and that faith is there at all.

In short, to pick up a thought from the opening paragraph, he makes no demands on me, I make no demands on him. We receive what one another can offer with gladness and do not get frustrated about what is not offered and not given.

The reason I was thinking of him today was that I read in a book today that community, whether it is two or three or more, happens in a healthy way when we come together in forgiveness and celebration of one another.

Why “forgiveness”? Well, any one of us in whom the Spirit of God dwells can reflect something of the Lord’s love and care for one another, but we cannot be everything we need the Lord to be to one another; we need to forgive one another that none of us can completely satisfy each others every need and longing, or bring healing in the depth we need to one another at every place where we may be broken.

What about “celebration” the second key to community? Well, once we have forgiven one another for not being God, we are set free to celebrate one another with gladness and thankfulness for who we can be to one another and what we can bring and offer. I think it was Henri Nouwen who said that to celebrate one another is much more than to celebrate one another’s gifts: you can play the piano well, sing beautifully etc. To celebrate someone is to receive them thankfully in their humanity, with their gifts but also with their limitations. It is to be able to receive the  unique reflection of the love of God we are able to be to one another. In short, it  is to celebrate one another as the beloved of God.

So two or three questions:

Is there anyone you can celebrate today to whom you have been showing frustration, rage or even violence? Violence  is how far things can go when we cannot accept that another loves us with a reflection of God’s love; I have been physically attacked by believers, Christian friends over the years on two or three occasions because of their needs which I cannot meet.

Are you placing a demand on someone as a test of their love, or can you accept that at this stage of their lives and experience of salvation they are offering the most they can? You may angrily want to say,  “they are most definitely not trying as hard as they could” but my experience as a pastor would say that is not as often the case as we like to assert. Given the whole story “he” or “she” is probably being all they can be and bringing all they can bring more so than you may have the grace to accept.  You may have to either accept that or walk away, but don’t keep demanding or you will damage “him” or “her” as well as causing inner turmoils  and sadness to yourself. Demanding  or clinging won’t lead to anything but heartache; if you don’t walk away, they will, sooner or later “even after 30 years of marriage…”  ( A phrase I believe I heard prophetically  for someone to hear and to heed.)

Do you need to forgive your church family for not meeting all your needs? Is it time to give up resentment or frustration about church and celebrate your brothers and sisters in the Lord. If you do that, you will probably find that the negative things you thought the church thought about you were not actually their thoughts at all!

One final thought: praying to The Father in the hidden place for “more” of the release of His good purposes for one of His children yields much better fruit than demanding “more” from that same person  face to face.

I hope this gives you something to chew over and that the chewing releases something of spiritual and/or  relational nutritional value. Let’s give and receive the love of God as we are able at this point in time by the grace of Christ and create forgiving, accepting, non demanding  friendships, fellowships and communities of celebration as far as it depends on each of us.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Empathy: Course 101: Without this you cannot go on to take part in the courses on the ministry of The Apostle, The Prophet, The Evangelist, The Pastor or The Teacher: there would be no point; in fact you would be a danger in any of these ministries; you may be psychopathic.

God Bless

Kenny

I guess he should have known not to stray into theology when debating with  The Revd. Dr. Ian Paisley MP. However, he clearly thought his doctrine was something any follower of Jesus could not possibly object to. Ian Paisley was in full combative abusive (not necessarily commendable) mode, when “Sunny Jim” Callaghan interrupted him and said, “Come, come Dr. Paisley, we are all children of God.” It was an early example of PC theology being laid out for the church by the PM or soon to be PM, I can’t remember which. Unsurprisingly Rev.I.P. MP did not bow to PC theology from the PM, but immediately roared at him, “We are not! We are children of wrath!” quoting chapter and verse from Ephesians. Actually the MP was right and the PM was biblically wrong, though to say so today is even more against PC thought  than it was then and would probably get a few tut tuts in any religious gathering backed up by a claim as to what Jesus said, ignoring or butchering what He actually said. Unless there is a Holy Spirit revival there will come a day when “We are not all children of God” preaching will be outlawed (literally) and dubbed as racist, intolerant and loveless or at the very least an old embarrassing doctrine that decent progressive type Christians try and underplay or keep under wraps and not mention along with other unmentionables such as being washed in the blood of the lamb.

The thing is that Jesus is too convenient a coat-stand for many different coats in a PC world. Hippies saw him as a hippy; he wasn’t.  Activists see Him as an activist; he isn’t.  Yuppies from Yuppy  friendly churches in Britain saw  Him as a yuppie – indeed I am not sure He has ever escaped from these clothes that He seems to have been made to wear since the Thatcher years and Blair years; He is apparently into helping His people nowadays to be upwardly mobile “beautiful” people, the envy of the world,  rather than helping them to bear being considered the scum of the earth who along with Him are hated because we testify of this world, P.C. and non P.C , that its deeds are evil.

It is so strange that in our own day, many on the religious right of America seem to see Jesus as someone who would support gun ownership and putting up walls to keep out Mexicans, who wants them to vote for a presidential candidate that owns casinos, who applauds all the actions of the Israeli government even when they are acting wrongly and in a morally indefensible way. Personally I think our attitude to Israel should be the same as God’s: love them, tell them when they are wrong and want them to turn to Christ, the only Saviour of Jew and Gentile. On the other hand , this side of the pond, members of the liberal elite in Britain  and for that matter in Europe seem to think it is beyond question that Jesus (the myth or the decent tolerant man, not Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, God made flesh crucified, risen and coming again to judge all the living and all the dead)  shares their outlook on moral issues of the current century, somehow seeing Him as an avid supporter of same sex “marriage” and of children having two parents of the same “gender” (which is now becoming a word with an altered accepted meaning, just like “marriage”).  There seems to be no end to the insanity of the PC world in Britain and in Europe. Of course insane folk can often think they are perfectly sane;  it can be very hard for them to conceive let alone believe otherwise. Is it not an astonishing thing that Andy Murray is allowed to say that being a parent helps his tennis and for his remarks to be reported with warmth in the press, but Andrea Leadsom is more or less dismissed as an old fashioned ridiculous dragon for saying that being a parent would give her an advantage as a PM ? It may not be the best thing to say along with some other not very sensible things she said, but it does not deserve scorn  or to be invested with the undertone of being immoral or unfair for a parent to say that she understands the needs, fears hopes of parents better than someone who has not been a parent. I can see a more obvious link between being a parent helping you to understand parents better than I can between being a parent and winning Wimbledon! It may not be nice of her to have said that of herself in relation to an adversary for the leadership of the Conservative Party and the keys to No. 10, for the pain of childlessness can be very real, but it was not completely illogical or old fashioned to say it.

Strange then that in America a gun toting Jesus seems to be seen as the authentic one by many though thankfully not all, while here in Britain He is one of the liberal elite ignoring, ridiculing, or  even hateful  of anything that is either traditional or just sheer common sense and logic or, perish the thought, shows the influence of a Christian heritage.  As I say, “Jesus” is just too convenient a coat stand for just about every coat  and cause to be hung upon.

Well, that is the political commentator bit over. It is a passing interest, so dont bother picking me up on it as I will not fight back! On to other things now. What is worrying me more than anything I have said so far in this blog  about the whole issue of PC is the  PC influence that modern worship songs and song writers have on the church. Preachers may not like to admit it but probably more people take their theology from the most popular current Christian songs or Christian artistes  rather than from expository sermons, apart from certain smallish reformed circles. Worship leaders have a great responsibility therefore to see that they are presenting Christian truth and not being yet another group of people who hang their own ideas on a too convenient Jesus who is used to staying silent and opening not his mouth while being made to wear clothes that mock Him.

That is why I was delighted (huge understatement) to listen today to a CD, or is it an EP(?) by Olivia Comley called “Favourite.” I almost sighed with relief and let out a shout of joy as I listened to such beauty and truth! Here was someone who is clearly sure of the love of God but not at the expense of the doctrine of salvation and the power of the cross to make “a sinner” “a son.” Why do I sigh with relief? Well, slowly in the evangelical world and even more so in the charismatic world there is so much emphasis on how beautiful we are in the eyes of God that the truth that we are rebel sinners who needed to be saved and set free by the shed blood of Jesus Christ is receding into the background. We are now wounded people only; we like to keep a bit quieter about the “s” word; our problem is our poor self-image rather than our sin; we simply need to see our beauty rather than repent and be saved and see our sin and our beauty through the the eyes of a love that is perfect, and specifically perfect  in sheer undeserved mercy . Well, as I listened to Olivia’s songs of worship  I was listening to someone who has seen the beauty of the Lord’s love and yes, the beauty that divine love sees in us, however in her songs sin is seen as a non-fudged reality from which Jesus alone can save us and free us by the grace of the God who is perfect in mercy.

Oh I know what I am about to say is not PC even in the church and may cause a few of you, especially those of a generation who don’t even know who Sunny Jim was  to roll your eyes: I  long to hear more songs from up and coming song writers in Scotland, or anywhere for that matter, that honour the power of the cross of Jesus to save us and bring us into freedom. Song writers, give us in your  wonderfully varied styles an opportunity to sing of where and how we found freedom and life! I have been refreshed today to hear a tremendously gifted song writer and beautiful singer and excellent musician honouring the blood of the cross who  has also clearly seen and stood in the beauty of the Lord and who sings about that beauty in a beautiful way! Thank you Olivia…and the rest of you, get hold of her EP/CD “Favourite.” If you are still at CLAN in Largs, then get it there. It will be £5 well spent! Pray for song writers and worship leaders and those who minister by singing to people  (that last category has been almost outlawed in PC churches, by the way): they carry an awesome responsibility to be witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ, rather than ride the crest of a PC church wave or PC world wave. How wonderful it was for me today as I listened to Olivia to be enabled to see Jesus in His own “chosen and designed by the Father  clothes” of humility and suffering, triumph and victory.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I have been consistently overdoing things a bit…tired; so just the briefest of blogs. I have noticed over the last couple of days that the joy of the Lord and even His delight and laughter seem to be very present when I consider my future and look forward to what is coming rather than when I look back.  His Spirit within me seems to leap for joy as I allow myself to think on the way to a whole myriad of unknowns, such as what kind of curtains will we have in our new house or pondering the shape of any future ministry. Actually at the moment He seems to be happier when I am thinking about curtains etc. than ministry! I guess He is wise and knows the shape of future ministry might take longer to bring together at the right rate and pace for what my health is like now whatever it may be like  in time to come, after we have settled in our new home, which is His gift to us which He wants us to receive and enjoy.

If you find that good things or bad things from the past seem to hog your attention and mesmerise your attention and focus, I pray that the Lord who gives His  people a future and a hope would break the spell. That’s it for today.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

It is happening less and less, but it still pokes its head up now and then as I retire early  from parish ministry on the basis of ill health:  the feeling of “What have I actually accomplished?” in the course of life and ministry. Please don’t rush to reassure me. It is a passing problem and thought! However today here is another thought I had that greatly strengthened me:I found myself mulling over the words of Jesus about the ministry of John the Baptist. He said that John had restored all things that he was the Elijah who was to precede the Christ. The interesting thing is that John himself said that he was not Elijah. At the end of his life he needed to know that his ministry had not been a waste of time pointing in the wrong direction. He was far from thinking he had restored all things.

Has it ever crossed your mind that Jesus’ estimation of you and what you do  is much more generous than your verdict on your own life, your own ministry? Perhaps you have been ministering this very day and wonder about the worth of what you have done today or indeed over the years. It may well just be that Jesus looks and thinks that you have done “all” in one way or another. That verdict may seem as over the top as what Jesus said about a prophet whose life was ended by some of the very powers he had prophesied would fall.

I remember an icebreaker at a meeting: we were all asked to share with the person sitting next to us what helps us get up and going on those days when we don’t feel like getting up and going. My answer was and remains this: “I get up because I know there is someone who loves me more than I have yet learned to love myself and who thinks more highly of me than I think of myself.”

If you have got faith to ask Him, why not ask Jesus to help you see who you are and what you do through His eyes. I posted a blog on my thoughts and appreciation of the life and ministry of Rev. Jim Graham a few days ago. The first time I met him was when he came north to preach and teach ad the first of several conferences in Thurso. I remember him saying to me after a few days among us, “Kenny, there are remarkable things happening; miracles are happening in this congregation.” He pointed out realities he had encountered of changed and changing lives through  speaking with people. Much of what  he mentioned, I had not even noticed. Ministry can be tough and sometimes we are so close to the things that are tough or discouraging that we can get a slightly jaundiced view of the way things really are: our outlook on others and ourselves can become jaded. I remember Jim’s comments to this day; the generosity of what he said seems a mark of true Christlikeness. It would be good for all of us to listen for Christ’s tone of generosity and to speak in that tone to one another.

God Bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I was out on my recently acquired electric bike today. I love it! My previous bike was proving too much for my lungs. With this one I can overtake Lycra clad exhausted riders and runners without expending very much energy at all. It is particularly delicious to glide past them on hills, without a bead of perspiration on my forehead! This thing can fair whiz along! Sometimes its speed catches me out. I have nearly ended up in the canal once or twice. However, I am getting the hang of it now.

I am faced with the choice of writing about a couple of reactions to me on my bike. The first reaction I could write a blog about was from a lady I passed who could not hear my friendly  but persistent  bicycle bell, as her ears were stuffed with earphones and her IPod was turned up loud. When I rode past, well my next fifty or a hundred yards  were accompanied by her rather choice language! I could blog about that. In fact it would make a very good black and foreboding Presbyterian blog, full or warning abut the danger of being deaf to what we really need to hear. Well, true as that may be, that guilt inducing blog can wait; there are enough of them around…

It is rather another reaction  to my bike that is uppermost in my mind. I passed a man who was really struggling on his bike. As I went past and he heard the gentle hum of my bike motor, he said, “That’s cheating!” I could not be bothered dismounting  my bike to dismount him from his own bike to talk to him about the ins and outs of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis and how it was just envy  on his part because he wanted an electric bike himself, but I started thinking about his comment. It is a sort of Scottish way of thinking that anything that makes a task easier must be frowned upon! There is a sort of strain of thought in Scottish spirituality that exalts what is hard, and difficult as being more likely to be the right thing for us, the will of God for us, and conversely encourages us to push away anything that might make for a pleasanter or easier life journey at any particular moment.

I just felt quite strongly as though there are some who will read this blog who need to hear from the Lord, “Don’t be afraid to receive what will help you.” It might be the offer of a financial gift that you feel bad about accepting; it might be that you are reluctant to start a course of medication, especially if it is medication for depression or anxiety; it may be an offer of practical help from someone, an offer that you feel like rejecting as you don’t want to be an inconvenience; it may be that you need  a holiday, that  you know a holiday would really help you  and you saw one in a travel agent’s window today but immediately felt  you should not be spending money on yourself in a world where many have a lot less than you.

God the Holy Spirit amongst other blessings, wants to be your Helper, to help you carry whatever it is you may be struggling with. There is a verse in the Old Testament that says, “The Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon.” Don’t push away The Helper today because of the clothes with which or with whom He has chosen to clothe Himself in order to draw near to you and bless you.

God  bless

Kenny

P.S – You are very welcome to enjoy these blogs and share them with anyone “without money or price!” However, if you ever feel grateful for these blogs and are able to do so, then please make a donation to Open Doors, Scotland. Their website is

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/scotland

In case you have not heard of them, Open Doors works to help our persecuted brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I think that part of what is happening through these blogs is that it affords me an opportunity to keep things simple! I believe that following Jesus and being His disciple is very simple. The only problem is making the choice for the Jesus Way! That way conflicts with where sin would want to take us. It conflicts too with the world’s view of what makes a person important or worthwhile. The Jesus Way also conflicts with what the church at times throughout her history has seemed to value and treasure and get excited about and motivated by. What I saw today though was that the Jesus Way conflicts with those who take themselves too seriously! How much more harmony could there be in families and in church families if folk did not take themselves so seriously?

The Jesus Way is so simple a child can grasp it. Indeed we need to be childlike – not childish –  in order to walk His way. I think in my heart I am so committed to how simple it all is that I don’t really want to be part of any expression of Christianity that is not simply about helping people live the Jesus Life and walk the Jesus Way. Anything beyond that is not for me whoever it may be for. Anything beyond that may indeed be right, but right for others, not for me or those I feel called to minister to whether in person or through writing this blog.

I had a dream last night about an encounter with someone who I have known for many years and who has achieved wonderful things in terms of ministry. In the dream they simply walked past me and sort of contemptuously called me “Boy” as they themselves got into a lift to go up to a higher level. It was as though what I was saying and what I encourage people to lay hold of in terms of Christian experience, commitment, security, discipleship  and service was too simple, too naive in their estimation.

I guess some people who perhaps started to read my blogs will have stopped by now,  because they are not weighty enough to satisfy them and don’t seem terribly concerned about being up to the minute in terms of current ideas floating around the Christian scene. That is ok.  It causes me no offence, neither does it make me feel I should change my approach to make the appeal of the blog broader. For many years when people have asked me what my ministry is I have  usually replied “ Well, I don’t know really. I just show up and chat about God; that’s about it really.”  I believe Jesus likes it when I keep things simple for me and for those my ministry is meant to touch. My simplicity blesses Him  too, though I am sure other things bless Him  through others just as simplicity blesses Him through me.

Remember I told you in a blog that I use my spiritual imagination helped by the Holy Spirit to go into a cellar to meet with Jesus? He is always sitting there and I simply come before Him and see what He says or does or shows me. I went into the cellar today to meet with Him. The contemptuous and condescending “boy” dismissal was not in my mind as far as I know. This is what Jesus did: He produced a child’s Xylophone. It reminded me of one that I think belonged to my much loved cousins when they were younger; it had brightly coloured metal keys and it did not sound tremendous but was fun to play. Jesus seemed to invite me to play something simple to him on it, and when I did, He laughed with great joy!

I know there will be some who read this that are sure the music of Bach and Bethel will ring throughout  heaven. Perhaps it will, for both are tremendously beautiful and inspiring in their different ways, and such beauty does glorify God. I wonder though if heaven will also ring with the tinny plink plonk sounds of coloured xylophones and the laughter of Christ as God’s  children, His cherished boys and girls sing simple songs of joy and love from their hearts.

May these thoughts, this chat,  bless you.

Kenny

“Play something simple for me…”

I found out from my daughter last night,  that Rev. Jm Graham, the former senior pastor of Goldhill Baptist Church has passed away. So many people in so many places will have heard that news with sadness mixed with a profound and heartfelt thankfulness for Jim and his ministry. I have reposted in this blog my thoughts that I expressed when I first heard he was ill with one or two slight alterations.

“I am so thankful for Jim’s influence and the influence of his ministry upon my life personally as well as to the church in general. I am remembering today times when he used to come up North to Thurso to speak at conferences. Whatever else people may remember from these days I remember being stuck to my seat by the presence of God that attended Jim’s ministry to the extent that I could not get up to close a meeting, and Jim, the visiting speaker, had to do that instead of the host!

Jim was one of these people that I always think of with a smile but also one of these people who intrigues me still even after the sad news of his passing. His ministry among us in Thurso was so powerful and blessed. Why?

I can think of 2 or 3 reasons, which I want to share with you briefly. Whether you are a pastor, leader or not, I think they are lessons which could hep us all to carry the presence and fragrance of Jesus in the way that I think of when I think with thankfulness of Jim today.

1 – He was someone who honoured the Word of God as the Word of God. One of the things he often said when teaching something that he knew might be difficult to receive was, “I did not write this stuff. I am only telling you what it says!” God honours above all things His Name and HIs Word according to the Psalms, and He blesses the man who trembles at His word, who reveres His word. A word for preachers and teachers;  have you forgotten to tremble before the word of the Lord and are you seeking to earnestly and correctly divide the word of truth for your listeners? A word too for those of you who don’t preach; are you carrying something in your heart each day from the bible ,seeking to live it out? That will help give your day direction and make you aware when opportunities to live out what you have read come along.

2 – Jim was someone open to the Hoy Spirit. So often it is the case that some preachers and teachers are open to the Word, while others are open to the Spirit. In my experience I am not sure I have ever met anyone who honoured both in equal measure better than Jim Graham. I recall a time when he prayed for me personally, Things were going well in the church, in fact we were the fastest growing congregation in the Church of Scotland. However things were not going well with me. I had worked myself to a place of exhaustion and was not at rest in the Father’s love. For years I had carried about a feeling of not being good enough or successful enough. Over these years I used to have a recurring dream of looking into the picture gallery of heaven. I would see portraits of those who had achieved great things for God. I would wake up distressed, longing that there was a place in God’s picture gallery for me. Jim, not knowing about this recurring dream started to pray for me. He stopped after a moment and said, “Kenny, I don’t understand this but God is saying there is a place in his picture gallery for you.” I was stunned and started to cry gently. I said, “Jim, are you just making that up?” He became quite serious at that point and said, “Kenny, I don’t make this stuff up. This is what God wants you to know.” That moment became the start of a journey which a month or two later led me to find rest in the Father’s love, a love that is not there because of my achievements but because, I, Kenny am simply loved.

A question to us all based on that  personal experience: Are you open to hunches given by the Holy Spirit. Follow through that hunch today to say something, to do something that inexplicably you find laid on your heart, so long as it passes the tests of being encouraging, strengthening and comforting. By the way if you are particularly passionate about truth, something being true is not the go-ahead to say it in an unacceptable way. Ask also will it help and is it kind? That may not alter the truth but it may alter the way you which you say it. Jim simply shone with the kindness of God.

3 – Jim had a ministry in encouraging the church. It is easy to see the faults in any congregation. That usually takes no prophetic ability or insight of the Spirit. In fact as Jack deere said once at CLAN gathering, always seeing what is wrong with a person or a church, does not mean you have a prophetic ministry, but it may mean you have a psychological disorder that requires treatment! It takes the Spirit of God and a loving heart to see what is good and to encourage it. Jim was great at that. He made me personally feel as though he had been waiting all my life to meet me, which he made everyone  he met feel. But he also talked about good things about the church. In these days there is a lot of cynicism about the church, which seem to come as a mix of bright new ideas but a rather scathing and sarcastic and judgmental  tone towards the church as it is at the moment. Those whom God significantly uses harness more than the frustration of disaffected people. People like John Wimber and Jim Graham had a love for the church, not blind to the faults of any situation but very keen to encourage the good.

4 – I add this one thought today, which I cannot believe I left out first time round: Jim was just so full of the love and compassion of Christ. He was simply one of the most loving people I have met in the course of my life. One can champion the Word or the Spirit or both, but without this we are nothing.

Paul had the temerity to say on one occasion, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” These words are applicable to my memories of Jim. I hope that the brief thoughts I have share about someone you may never have met will give you fodder for thought and for life this day.”

Click here to read the sad yet inspirational announcement  from Jim’s family.

God bless

Kenny

I thought quite early on that the claim that there were WMD in large numbers in Iraq which could be easily deployed within 45 minutes was a myth.  That seems to have been confirmed in the Chilcot report which makes pretty uncomfortable reading for the Prime Minister and the Government at the time of the Iraq war. I felt a sadness that Robin Cook and Charles Kennedy were not around for its publication.

I believe that George Bush and Tony Blair changed the world and its nations as we knew it to the world as it now is and the tragedies  its nations are experiencing in terms of  displaced peoples and lack of peace and security.  I believe that is fact, just to underscore the point. Only they ultimately know whether they were following facts or knowingly following something that was less than fact for less  then honourable motives.

What interested me tonight on the 6 0’clock news was hearing the reporter John Simpson say  that he felt that the Iraq war and its now discredited justification has had a lasting effect. By that he meant not just what is happening in Iraq and surrounding nations, not just the spread of terrorism to nations far beyond that region, but a cynicism as to what governments and leaders and experts tell us. He believes that is partly what lay behind the Brexit vote. He may be right or wrong in his opinions about the Referendum vote, however I don’t think this is simply opinion: people do not trust leaders or governments, or for that matter experts any more. Perhaps that is the cynical aftermath of the decision Blair made to back Bush “whatever.”

Truth was the first casualty of the war, and perhaps has never recovered the place it should have in our national life or in the government or  political leadership of our nation. Spin, myth, fear, exaggeration and lie are common place, and we know it.  How this must hamper MP’s and MSP’s who possess integrity and principle. Of course the same type of thing , happened long before Bush and Blair. I am not being political in the narrow sense here in this blog. I have voted in various ways over the years and will continue to do so. Frankly I cannot understand those who always vote the same way, regardless or “whatever,” to borrow Blair’s most tragic word. Long before Blair and Bush became unlikely pals,  I remember thinking “Was the Belgrano turning?” If you are too young to understand that reference, Google it, to save me making this blog too long to fit its title.

Well, my blogs are about faith matters. So what is there to learn from this? Hugh Black used to say,”I encourage you to be a realist.” Mature faith is one that can keep pace with an expanding body of facts encountered in life. I think Henry Nouwen said that about faith or about the process towards maturity in general. The faith in Christ crucified that was awakened in me 45 years ago or thereabouts has had to keep pace with the facts of death of loved ones, world poverty, seeing the hell of the suffering of mental illness in others, hearing of the child abuse of a large number of people, the ordinary problems and strains of being alive for my 58 years and now my own ill health and early retirement and the struggle to come to terms with that, which of course is nothing  if not less than that compared with earlier facts mentioned in this long sentence.

Sometimes when I listen to folk expounding what they think about spiritual things, there seems to be a commitment to a theology or reasoning that may be based on well meaning but ultimately non mature faith or just general immaturity, which treats factual truth as an enemy to be suppressed, ignored or even scorned. Sadly some of the current Christian Apologetics scene can seem like this too but by no means all of it. Too often though it  seems to me to be based on catching out an opponent in a debate rather than addressing any facts or claimed facts an opponent may have presented. Looking merely “smart” rarely looks good. It is more for adolescent debating halls. I am embarrassed looking back, how smart I thought I was as a teenager and how humorous I thought I was in making my points and rubbishing others.  Well, as I say, sometimes I feel the same listening to some apologetic type presentations; sad and embarrassing jingoism for the benefit of the faithful but worried and insecure  which rarely causes anything but anger or returned scorn beyond that narrow circle; it is the law of sowing and reaping at work. If my faith does not keep pace with facts  as I meet them, as they actually exist,  we will probably wreak destruction upon ourselves or others. Now of course we need to remember that not everything presented as fact is fact as the Chilcot report makes clear. However many facts are facts, and faith needs to live with them.

Our faith is actually based on true facts: the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Don’t use faith to clobber any type of fact  old or newly discovered that is part of the reality of life. If your faith survives such an approach, it won’t commend itself to others who perhaps more than we realise are desperately looking for something trustworthy to base their lives on that fits how they are experiencing life in fact and not in myth or theory.

God bless

Kenny

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Well, today there were lots of thoughts buzzing around my head. At first that pleased me then it concerned me. Is it the Holy Spirit, or is it steroids? This is quite often my dilemma at the moment, as you will have picked up from previous blogs. Actually it could be both, as I discovered during a short blast of steroids before this longer course that they did make it easier to sense the presence of God and even to pray and get hold of prophetic insight! That is ammunition being put in the Cessationists’ hands by a Charismatic…it’s nice to be kind.

However I don’t like the thought or feeling of medication having a control over me beyond curtailing what is wrong with my lungs. Today that thought led to a whole batch of other concerned thoughts. From wondering if I could get through to the truth of God while on medication, I started to feel concerned about others being able to access God. What about those with some sort of mental illness? What about those who can’t pay to go to somewhere where the Spirit of God is really moving, the latest evangelical or charismatic show? What about those who unlike myself in my upbringing have never experienced what love is, how can they understand let alone receive the love of God and whatever blessings that love would give to them?

Just as my thoughts were running away with me, I started to think of the phrase, “Eternal love sees a way.” These words brought rest to my soul, though they also opened  up even more tangents which my mind clamoured to wander! It relieved the “Steroids or Spirit” panic. It brought rest to my concerns for others. Of course God’s love finds ways of breaking through any disadvantage or difficulty.

I found that simple thought released prayers for some situations that were bothering me, for people that I care about: “Thank you Father that your love sees and can find a way through to their hearts, to their situations.” Perhaps it is just being a pastor too long; perhaps it is the current driven sounding emphasis in church circles about finding out our ministries and our giftings and using them for the church’s mission in the world; perhaps it is neurosis:  however it got there, there is an overdeveloped sense of responsibility that I sometimes become aware of bubbling away in me, and it deprives me of rest and peace. How fruitless! God is God. HIs love for his children was there before any of us were ever born, before we achieved anything, before anyone had advantage or disadvantage, before things went well for us or things damaged us, before sin, before steroid medication, the love of God has known has been set upon you and I, has delighted in His sons and daughters from forever to forever. How foolish to think anything can stop His irresistible grace getting through to His children somehow. Which is greater; the love of God or my capacity to muck up life or anything or anyone’s capacity to muck up life? That brought rest to my soul for me and to my worries for others. May it bring rest to your soul too, and rest concerning those you love and care about.

Here is the same thought in a poem that came to me today, if it is worthy of being called a poem. I apologise it is in rhyme once again. I prefer to write in other ways.  At the moment however, I can’t seem to write a poem in any other way! It is driving me up the wall… Aaargh!! This too will pass…. what a relief that will be! Anyway here it is. If it helps anyone, then praise God; if it just helps me, then be thankful with me. It’s another for the “Steroid Collection” of poems, of which there are a slowly growing number…

God bless you this day and always with an awareness of your eternal belovedness.
Kenny

The Steroid Collection: number 3

My hands are fidgeting
My thoughts are flitting
Too many signals, too much light,
too many horses to jump on and ride…
Is my bed of thoughts this day steroid sprung?
Is it the caffeine, the sun or The Son?
Life emerging or mere straw snatching?
What direction is this, sinking or rising

This calms all, and brings a settling,
“I have loved you with love everlasting.”

Copyright, K.S. Borthwick