The common theory is that after contesting with false prophets and running before Ahab’s chariot (1st. Kings 18), the reason that all of a sudden the incredibly bold and apparently fearless Elijah ran for his life at Jezebel’s murderous threats (1st. Kings 19) was that He was tired, exhausted and burnt out. No doubt there is something in that, as God’s immediate attention to him came in the form of rest and food. When God’s Spirit falls upon someone, they are capable of extraordinary things, but nonetheless, those who do extraordinary feats for God are still human beings.

There is a great danger when we are ministering at a time of being aware of the presence of God’s Spirit being with us, opening doors of  opportunity and favour etc. that we forget our humanness. I did that at a time when many doors of favour were opening up for me to minister. I said “Yes” to every invitation and said “No” to no one from anywhere in the world! External work to the parish was done in my own time, days off and annual holidays etc. It was not uncommon for me to travel to a meeting, a five or six hour car journey away, preach, minister, drive back, and feel so alive that I would write a sermon, and work a normal full day following. On some occasions I would come home from another country having perhaps done more than a dozen talks, to conduct a wedding and then preach the following day.  The result was about 15 years of severe insomnia.

During that insomnia, I was driving back to Thurso up the A9  when I was hit with incredible tiredness. I knew it was not safe to drive on, but I did. As distinctly as I have ever heard the tender voice of God in my current illness, I felt and heard his anger there and then: yes, I know He loves me and that is why He was expressing anger, but please don’t take away from the seriousness of this. I experienced His anger. “Pull over now!” I did so with a  degree of reluctance. I felt a command to rest and set my phone alarm to do so. The space between waking and falling asleep is where I often here God clearest. He simply said to me, “You have broken your sleep switch.” It was not up for discussion. It was simply stated as fact.

I don’t believe this is the full reason for the state we find Elijah in in 1st. Kings Chapter 19, a state which eventually leads to us finding him in a cave at Mount Horeb. However, the fuller reason found its entrance through exhaustion, or so I think. I will go on to that another day. In the meantime, learn from my mistakes. If you are in a time where you are very conscious of God using, or wishing and striving and praying in a barren time that He would use  you to bless others and to further his Kingdom, don’t assume you should say “Yes” to everything. In mercy God may cover your back as He sees the intention of your heart, but it cannot go on forever. A diary with no spaces marked in for holidays or days off is a sign of disobedience to the God who made us and made us human, though I found many of my fellow ministers in the Church of Scotland seemed to think it somehow validated their usefulness. (By the way, feeling useless and redundant and not wanted or needed is a part of Christlikeness and a vital experience for  effective Christian ministry, but more of that another time.)  It is a sign of lack of love for Him in that it disregards the principle of Sabbath and a sign of lack of love for those who look on and are concerned at what they see happening to you, and a sign that you do not love yourself with the love and care of God.

I wonder if some of you reading this may even be suffering from insomnia that is the consequence of a good heart toward God, an enthusiastic spirit  but an unwise head? Have you broken your sleep switch as a consequence? I pray God will be kind and have mercy upon you and restore to you His precious gift of sleep and rest. Simple as that.

God bless… and sweet dreams… and what are you doing reading this at this time of night anyway…!?

Kenny

Do sparrows ever self-identify as goldfinches? These are the sorts of things I wonder about with more time to stand or sit and stare and think. It brings back an old question I used to think while driving down the A9 regularly: does a sheep ever think in a sheep way, “That is a really nice view on this beautiful day”? Howard Espie and I talked about such things for many a mile together!

Somewhere these​ eccentric thoughts are connected with the core of my faith: God became a human being.

I cannot remember who said it, but even though God understands all things,  it is reassuring to us that He understands from this inside as it were, what it means to be human.

God bless your eccentric thoughts too. The God who made the Platypus is probably very much involved in them!

Kenny

Note for Conference Speakers, Visiting Speakers etc.  for  this Summer Season:

Be Sensitive to what God was doing before you visited and try not to leave too much mess behind you after you go.

Ask God how to make the Kingdom of God core of your ministry accessible in the culture of your listeners. 

Method is not power, so be adaptable.

Just saying, in Scotland we honour people by quiet thoughtful listening. Any insisted on other expressions of appreciating what you are saying will be very weak and somewhat reluctantly given and leave you more insecure.

Don’t put exaggerated reports on your Ministry web page when you get home: others were there and may start to get confused and think they were not there after all.

Honour in Christ those who honoured you with an invitation into the fold or field committed to their care,  in the Name  of the Good Shepherd.

In some cultures your self advertised chuminess with God will prevent humble souls from entering into true intimacy with Abba.

If you intend to harangue us about a poverty spirit before the love offering, could you take a love offering at your congregation to bring to Scotland? Perhaps you could preach on the verse, “Blessed are those who have the spirit of the poor, for theirs is The Kingdom of Heaven”

Pastor Kenny, MA, BD, Ordinary Pastoral Diploma in Clearing Up.

Tonight, where are you brother, sister, beloved of the Father?

“As close to the edge of the cliff as possible” or “as far away as possible”?

“Where I could comfortably take Jesus,” or “Where He would take me”?

Saying to your own soul, “I would not feel awkward to watch this, listen to this, with Jesus beside me” or “I have made a covenant with my eyes…my ears…my tongue not to look upon…not to listen to…not to utter…” ?

God Bless

Kenny

Dear folks

Some of you have who read my blogs on Word Press have been wondering about why comments you have sent to me have not appeared, or why you have received “awaiting moderation” messages. It is only fair to give an explanation of why I approve comments or not!

Just to clarify

1:I sometimes regret posting a blog I have posted and take it down as quick as I can as I see that they might not be as much from God or as wise as I had thought. Sometimes I get it wrong! However some of you are very quick off the mark  and send comments in the short time  between me posting a blog and removing it!  If you send in a comment to a non-existent blog, I cannot post it!

2: I sometimes cannot see the relevance of a comment to the blog it claims to pertain to, so posting such comments could confuse people and make them scratch their heads. I am a sort of compassionate soul, and tend to err on the side of publishing non relevant comments, but I will be tightening up on this. Best to make sure you have really read the blog and followed its drift if you can and make sure you are addressing its central message and have not just picked up the odd phrase that has set you off at a tangent, even though it may be a very interesting tangent!

3: I am quite happy to post comments I do not fully agree with so long as they do not grieve the Spirit of God within me by dishonouring Christ. We have our bibles to check out what I say in my blog or any comment people make, whether  what is being said is  true to the  text  of Scripture or not. Just remember the text of Scripture may well offend any theological school we consider ourselves to be followers of.

4: Sometimes I have no idea why I have not received a comment that someone may have sent! Be secure in the love of God. No one is rejecting you!

5: Occasionally I get sent extremely offensive messages from people! It is rare but it happens. Sometimes they express a hate and I know some have been written under the influence of alcohol, which makes me sad for the person involved. Such messages genuinely have no effect upon my peace. I have faced much worse words in 34 years in parish ministry!  They do not upset me for me at all, but I  am hardly going to approve  them.

6: Some comments are simply longer than my blog and go beyond being a comment, interesting though they are. Very long “comments” are not comments. They are either a take over, or  take things away often from the original purpose of any particular blog, which I try and make sure as best I can is God given to help people. If you have a desire to write at length , then there is nothing to stop you setting up your own WordPress Account for free. It is easy to do. You may well enjoy it as much as I do.

7: As far as I understand technical things, I believe what I post in Word Press also appears in Facebook. if that is how you read  my blogs I would still respectfully ask that you regard the above comments.

God Bless and keep commenting on Word Press, Facebook or by email. I love reading what you send. It is a great encouragement to me.

Kenny

Well. that is a question folk have at times given differing answers too. I personally believe the bible is very clear on the answer, but I am not writing this blog to answer the question directly. rather I am remembering what Mr. Hugh Black, one of the founders of the Struthers group of churches used to say when someone asked him that question. He would ask them a question back “Why do you want to know?”  Then he would say, “Abide in Jesus, keep following Him.” To me, there is wisdom in that.

God Bless

Kenny

“Where sin did abound grace did abound more and more.” True, thank God! ”

“Grace did abound all the more so sin could abound all the more.” Not true!

May we go into this day, 4th July,  in the effective power of the word of The Word; “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” With Jesus what seems like an impossible command becomes a promise of help. Let’s not make this an Independence Day from Jesus Christ: “Without me you can do nothing.” Any experiment ever tried by any disciple to prove Him wrong on this has failed.

By the way, it wont be fruitful aiming to be the first person in history to  prove Him wrong when He says, “You cannot serve God and Mammon” either.  No individual or nation can ever become great or great again by trying to serve both. It can’t be done. One or other must be Master and the other treated by us as a slave to serve our chosen Lord’s will. Whatever we may think is the clearest sign of departure from God in personal or national life,  Jesus would remind us of the imprisoning religion of Mammon.

May every day be a day of childlike dependence not only on Christ’s  presence but also upon His wisdom as He tells it the way it really is. He is the Great Physician, as expert at diagnosis as healing. Self diagnosis or self medicating is not really a good idea for a believer. We often miss symptoms or pass over something a doctor would know is  more significant than that which  we have noticed! Book an appointment with Jesus today.  You can get through to Him right now. There is no receptionist barring your way! It’s really just a question of turning up and keeping the appointment.

God bless

Kenny

Posted earlier in Facebook:

Tricks of the trade for Sundays for peopled out pastors.

1. Pick up a bunch of papers and walk around the church complex. Folk will think you are busy and are looking for someone and should not interrupt you. Drawback: if the church complex is small people will notice that you have come in and out the same room 16 times.

2: There is always the loo to hide in. Drawback: Pastoral sensitivity. You will soon become aware there are others whose need to sit where you are sitting is urgent.

3: Lock yourself in your church office if you have one, keep the lights off and stay very quiet indeed. Drawback: 96 people have convinced the Property Convener they have a legitimate need for a key to your office.

Tricks of the trade for pastoral visits may follow at some time, but for now, let me just say that when you end a visit with a prayer that God will bless “His child” it is a bit of a giveaway that for the life of you, you cannot remember the name of the person you have been visiting.

God Bless you on day 1. Only 39 years and 364 days to go….

Kenny

There are times when we have quite simply had enough of church! What do we do?

Well let me a share a thought fromPsalm 120 which I will be sharing  in some shape or form, God willing, when I preach this evening.

Psalm 120, the first of a group of songs of pilgrimage reminds us of what the journey together can be like: disillusionment with our fellow believers, justified hurt and anger, wishing we didn’t have to walk our journey with them but could live in solitude apart from the people of God: but nonetheless walking with them all the same in obedience to the good command of a good God. Somehow by the grace of God we get there. By Psalm 122 we sing together, “And now, here we are! Our feet are actually standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” Hopefully in the journey we somehow get closer to the Lord and one another and come to a place of peace with the story of our journey. “To dwell above with saints we love, that will be glory: To live below with saints we know, can be a different story!”

You may well be in paid full time ministry, or doing life, even family life with someone who is.  That can be a blessed experience, but for many it can bring a depth of disillusionment with “church”  that few can understand, other than those who have walked the same road. If that is you, then God bless you, real good! May His help manifest itself to you and those you love  in a way that will bring solace and consolation. There is still time for God to redeem those difficult years.

Sheep bites hurt Shepherds… and at times, let’s admit it, it makes the Shepherd and/or those who care for the Shepherd  bite the sheep too…or want to never see another sheep again, unless now and then when they absolutely have to.

God bless

Kenny

The dearest idol I have known

Whate’r that idol be

Help me to tear it from thy throne

To  worship only Thee!”

We need the help of God to pull down our idols. One of the most difficult for us to dislodge can be our belief in our own understanding of Scripture and the things of God, sometimes inherited from others in the circles in which we were born again.  However come down it must in order for us to hear what God would teach concerning Himself through His Word by His Spirit.

God bless

Kenny

Found myself quite fascinated by this. Just happened to stumble upon it. Can’t remember what on earth I was looking for in the first place. It is long but watch it for about five minutes at least. It is a good reminder that true interpretation is not as easy as one might think. It involves reverence for the original writer/composer, taking time to learn, to study and ultimately also involves intelligent and feeling steps of faith. True with regard to music as Leonard Bernstein (most popularly famous for “West Side Story” and a true genius in my estimation, possessed wth the arrogance that sometimes goes with it) demonstrates here with breathtaking brilliance while speaking about the composer Bach and his works. Strikes me though, this would be a good five minutes for every preacher or bible student to watch. There are lessons here that are transferrable to interpretation of Scripture… anyway, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I realise that it may bore some of you to tears within seconds… but here it is anyway. Look at it for the above reason… and you may go on and enjoy it for many more reasons!

Click HERE

God willing will preach on Psalm 120 tomorrow; it is the first song in a book of pilgrimage songs (120 – 134.) Hearing a sermon on Psalm 121 that touched my heart in many good ways sparked off my initial feeling of being drawn to it for this Sunday Evening. Interestingly after thinking it all through and  jotting down my thoughts a few days ago, my bible reading notes based  thoughts for today and indeed for the coming days as well on Psalm 120!  It is great when God gives that type of confirmation. I need it at this time more than you might understand or think worthy!

Not sure the hymn quoted below is sung much these days, but when it was, in my own experience, there always seemed to be a power that rested upon it’s very simple and almost naive sounding words and tune.  Sometimes I find I have to go back to older hymns to find a note of yearning that fits the cry of my heart. I don’t do so out of simple nostalgia. Rather, I have found that God honours such cries.

“Is this not a bit old fashioned to be quoting this type of hymn at this time of the day?” Perhaps. To be honest I don’t expect this post will set a new trend for singing it anywhere. It would not be considered a very suitable missional tool for sure! It is not in fashion in content or in melody and I would hate to see it suffer the fate of other great hymns which these days are lazily set to new tunes which destroy the original anointing – thinking we are making something better is really a pride that God cannot bless. Oh, ok, a bit extreme there! I will concede that such reworking works occasionally in an outstanding way – probably humility somewhere is the reason for that – but it is usually a disaster that people pretend to enjoy more than the version they are more used to singing. Anyway, as C.S. Lewis would probably say, “What on earth has the time of the day got to do with anything?”

1
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Chorus
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
2
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where these abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
3
I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
4
I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till rest I’ve found,
“Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”

Are our hearts set on pilgrimage from where you now are to where God’s Spirit within you beckons? “Happy are the people whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage (Psalm 84 verse 5).”

God bless you and God bless His church with a fresh heart longing for Him!

Kenny

Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. “Yes, I believe that, but…” It’s what we say after the “but” that we really believe and live by.

Let’s not produce congregations and fellowships where members look down on other congregations and fellowships. “We,  only we are left” is a sign we really need to hear reality from the Lord: “I have yet thousands in the land who honour me that you know nothing about.”

God bless.
Kenny

In your life and your ministry are you under authority? It’s where Jesus lived. It is part of reverence for Him.

I feel a prophetic word lurking around:

“As more and more doors open to you, more and more you need to submit to wise human authority ordained by me for your blessing. Can you trust me enough to submit to others, to allow them a “yes” or “no” voice into your decisions? I know it is hard to hear this as you ride the crest of wave after wave of opportunity and invitation. It is a word that will save you and save others from the distress of seeing you drown.”

God bless

Kenny

It amazes me the way that the bible describes what is going on in me better than words and thoughts I could string together. Have found some words in the Psalms that seem to sum up where I am at and where I am heading in this phase of my Father’s purposes. 

Not going to tell you the words! Why not find your own  Life Verses? Perhaps you will search for them like a merchant searching for pearls. Perhaps you will discover them accidentally like a person walking through a field stumbling upon treasure!

God bless

Kenny

Let’s”s go after the “impossible without God”, not the fanciful…

For some that may be aiming for raising the dead. For others it may mean aiming  to get out of bed tomorrow morning…

For you it may be believing you can be happy again after loss…

For some it may be believing for huge financial blessing on a humanly impossible to undertake Kingdom venture. For others it may mean tithing the little you have believing God will fulfill His promises of provision, or believing there will be food on the table come Monday morning and throughout the school holidays.

Who is to say what great faith looks like? We are all at different places and have had different starting points…

But, go after something that you know you can’t do without God. That was where I  ministered, pastored, spoke at retreats for ministers and leaders from; it is where I faced opposition from, spoke at conferences small and gigantic in many places in the world from, faced financial difficulty and family distresses from; preached week by week to precious congregations from and led from for decades….none of it came naturally to me by temperament, personality or gifting. God is faithful. 

That is my joyful, amazement filled testimony to you tonight!  Go for it!

God bless

Kenny

Was reading the story of Elijah today. He had a zeal for the honour of the Lord God. He knew the power of the Spirit giving him great courage to go where many would have feared to tread.  He knew what it was to be given amazing physical strength. Yet there was something that proved to be a burden heavier than contest with the occult and more exhausting than running a marathon. It was a weight that afflicts many servants of God and may be afflicting you right now. 

I will leave you to work out what it was and why it happened. I feel a blog or two coming on but it’s usually best to do our own thinking and discovery. Find the story and read it in 1st Kings if you care to. See if you notice what I am referring to…

Of course, right now it is Friday night. Perhaps you just need to rest and have something nice to eat and a good sleep. Even Elijah, the most austere and fiery of prophets needed to do that. But the need for food and rest is not the answer to the riddle, though the thoughts that crushed Elijah may have flown into his head on the wings of such very ordinary things as exhaustion and hunger. As Hugh Black used to say, “Mark well, the devil often comes in on the wing of the ordinary,”  the very unspectacular, the non supernatural and the apparently non sinister.

God bless

Kenny

P.S. Sorry for the odd changes in font size. That is a mysyery I have not managed to solve!

So said Moses.

The relationship netween prophets and society  in general and national leadership in particular was often very tense in the Old Testament. It often still is…

The pre-election scrambling, here in the U.K. to say something positive about Jesus/Christianity by leading political figures from every political hue is shown by the demand/concession re abortion in the last few days to have been a sham.

I hope as believers we will always be prepared to say the party we support or voted for have got it wrong. Sometimes it seems from Facebook that some Christians can see no wrong in the party they or their family have historically voted for and at the same time never concede when another party is speaking at least a bit more in line with Kingdom of God values espoused by Jesus, about any given issue.

Power or Jesus is a choice all of us will probably have to make at various decision points in our life story. Perhaps for you or for myself  that choice may present itself today. Let’s pray for one another the strength to make the right choice. The lure of power and influence even within church circles is strongly attractive….

…as is the lure of money/funding. I felt a nudge to go off at a slight tangent before ending this blog. Compromising a God given vision for the sake of financial support from a body or an individual is something some of you reading this are facing right now. Don’t yield. It will cost your vision and your soul too much. Watch the offer disappearing down the tube as it were. Rejoice and trust the God you are seeking to honour.

God bless

Kenny

“Blessed are those who have regard for the weak…” (Psalm 41.1)

This is part of the same passage I quoted yesterday, only this time, I am using the N.I.V.

If you want to know where a society really stands morally and spiritually look at the way the weakest, those who have no voice, or whose voice is strangled before it can be heard, are treated.

The price of getting the Queen’s Speech through is that the way is to be opened for more unborn babies to be killed.

How sad this must make the God who sees their unformed substance, who watches over them as they are being knit together in the womb, sculpted from nothing into something, to borrow some words from the Message translation of Psalm 139.

Well, I believe that such tiny voices, have given utterance. On the basis of some principles in Psalm 8, I believe they chant the glory of God. It is part justice for now that their choir gets a specific mention in Scripture as being God ordained and appointed. There are so many of these tiny voices, a choir that is being added to daily. It must be a deafening sound of praise. Indeed it is louder than all the atheist babble of all the centuries past, present and to come. Even just one such voice is heard clearly by their Heavenly Father, and will not be disregarded by their Father, come that day.

Click here and take a look at this  and wonder….and pray….

God bless

Kenny

I personally have known instant healing on one or two occasions in the course of my life. Other members of my family have known the same. Perhaps you or someone you know can bear witness to the same thing.

However have we realised that nursing the sick and watching over a gradual restoration is just as much an act of God as an instant healing? I am not sure I have ever read Psalm 41 in the New Living Translation before, but part of that Psalm was one of  today’s readings  in the devotional plan I use: Let me quote the first 3 verses:

“Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor!
The LORD rescues them when they are in trouble.
The LORD protects them
and keeps them alive.
He gives them prosperity in the land
and rescues them from their enemies.
The LORD nurses them when they are sick
and restores them to health.”

It was particularly the last two lines quoted above that struck me. It is a shame when we think instant or miraculous healing is more of a witness to God than caring nursing that aids a  gradual restoration of health. Both are of the Lord, both are His action  and bear witness to Him in equal measure. The Lord who heals us and the Lord who nurses the sick back to health: the same Almighty God,  “WHAM BAM!” is not the only way God brings glory to His name and reveal who He is.

In my time of illness, I have known moments of such tender presence at the times when I have felt myself at points of greatest weakness. Such moments have happened often and in diverse places: the G.P’s waiting room, my car, the bath, on a bus, in the garden, in the cinema, in Dobbies!  I was saying to a friend the other day that if God could touch me at those moments in a tangible way,  then He could have healed me. Perhaps today was an answer to an unspoken question in that conversation with my friend or a reframing of what I experienced at such moments of weakness of body, mind and emotions. God, Father, Son and Spirit was there like a gentle nurse watching over my restoration, being true to His Word in Psalm 41 verse 3.

Those worst moments came and went, thanks to God my nurse and those His nursing and restoring power and care worked through. The display of a charismatic gift of healing, is not “more” of God than the countless people I have known over many years who have lovingly nursed others in their time of need.

Just thinking of a trip to the dentist yesterday. A few years back miraculously given gold fillings were being claimed in some circles. Mine have a gold sheen in some lighting conditions. I think that is just due to them being incredibly old and coffee stained!  Personally, I have no problem believing at least some of the claims to miraculously given fillings to be true – well not quite no problem: the gold sheen on my amalgams takes the edge off my whole hearted belief . However the dentist, the drill, the making of the next appointment is God too! By the way, I think God wants to tell someone today that picking up the phone and making an appointment with your dentist is the way His healing power will meet you in response to those prayers about toothache. Don’t delay and prolong your suffering.  He wants to heal you of pain that way and in the process give you victory over that cold sweat fear. Two healings instead of just the one await you in the dentist’s chair

God Bless

Kenny

“Right now!” seems to be a common phrase in prayer ministry settings: an insistence that something should happen right at that very moment of prayer, ministry etc. I think we need to be careful with that sort of insistence as though “right now” is the only God action that is acceptable. It could rob people of a very precious experience and blessing, namely the wonder that comes from waiting in faith and patient trust long after the “right now” folk have moved on in the ministry line to say “right now” over someone else who will be more cooperative and obliging!  It is a wonderful thing to be able to say, “This is our God . We have waited for Him.”

“Joy!” seems to be another catchword ministry phrase. Over insistence on immediate joy can rob folk of what they really need: the comfort that is promised by Jesus to those who mourn.

I think I am becoming more and more Pentecostal than Charismatic; believing more and more in the action of God rather whether “right now’ or after a wait of indeterminate length,  than following any method that is supposed to produce there and then results and seems not interested in leaving God any options or freedom  as to the manner of His working. 

Of course God regards faith  and the action that comes from genuine faith with favour; that is clear from the ministry of Jesus. However God is God. He does not have to dance to  the time beat of our tune much as we would like Him to. He is quite happy to be the out of sync dancer in the “Dashing White Sergeant”  or “Strip the Willow” and to joyfully throw everything and everyone else out of sync, turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to the frustration and annoyance of those who know how to perform the dance perfectly as they have many times before.

God Bless

Kenny

Listen for Jesus  today, the expert of the well placed question: “What were you talking about together?” “Do you see this woman?” “Why worry?” “What is that to do with you?” etc.

God bless

Kenny

If you believe in the bible you will not ignore God speaking to you by dream. Most often we associate dreaming with times when we are asleep but actually we can have dreams when we are awake as well! That is not odd. It is not new age, or occult, though there are new age and occult versions of the same thing. Sometimes we forget that and dismiss what is of the Spirit as being the work of the devil.

Believing that the God of the Old and New Testaments speaks to people through dreams, visions etc., is not even particularly charismatic. It is biblical and is actually very much part of Highland and Islands Scottish Christianity – as is prophecy. It is in our spiritual DNA. One of my greatest encouragers in this type of thing was a Free Presbyterian Minister who gave me books to read showing this was an intrinsic part of Scottish Spirituality in the past. He had no problem when I shared some of my experiences with him which surprised me as I had made wrong assumptions about him. I really don’t agree with the insistence that God will not do the same thing twice or just because He has done something before He will not do it again. On the contrary water tends to flow where it has flowed before, although of course it can appear in completely unexpected places – springs and pools in the desert!

The thing is, God has already been speaking to you in your dreams whether you believe it or not. Fortunately He is able to do above what we ask or think possible. He is even able to do things we do not agree with! When God walked on the earth in Christ, He consistently did what many thought was wrong and never asked permission so to do! God is God and gloriously Himself! There is help out there to learn what God means you to learn from your dreams, which, by the way, is often very different from lessons a non Christian interpretation would give to the same dream.

For me it is not a major thing I rely on but I don’t ignore it either. For example years ago I dreamed I was attending a church where there were trees planted outside. I went to the church in real life and there were no trees. However in the course of the meeting the city council came and planted trees on both sides of the road leading to the church. What was that about? it was to alert me to realise something else much more important I had seen in the same dream time should not be ignored and should be acted upon and prayed about. I saw a lady arriving at our manse door in great distress. I was away from home at the time, indeed I was in another country, but it was so vivid I phoned home and asked Morag if this particular lady was OK. Ten minutes later Morag phoned to say the lady I had seen in my dream half way across the world had just arrived at the manse door in great distress as she had just received very bad news about her Father.

I had a dream last night  in which the subject of my nitrogen levels had been very vivid. I asked on Facebook if some medics could help me make sense of that also describing my lung condition and my medication. I got back some very helpful leads that I will pursue with my GP and consultant basically to check whether something is being monitored and whether something else should be checked out. I took that dream seriously because in the same dream, I saw landscapers coming to a spot near our house that had never been attended to before. There was no word of it being attended to either! However, guess what? Landscapers did arrive and put the bit of ground right.

It is so kind of God to give these sorts of confirmations to help us know the more important things that we have seen in a vision or a dream are not nonsense and are not to be ignored.

Now, let me stress that there is about twnety years in-between these two types of dreams with their own confirmation as it were. As far as I recall it has never happened like that apart from these two occasions. For me, they fall into the category of almost being a sign or a wonder. For me they are not usual or normal occurrences. They are signs pointing away from themselves to our Mighty God, our caring Father, His Son our Shepherd, who by the Holy Spirit still declares and demonstrates the presence of the already here but still to come Kingdom of Heaven. These things for me are signs that tell me the day we hope for of no sickness, no more death, no more pain, no more tears is really coming. It is not a vain hope. The confirming signs that give the flavour of the full day that is to come are a great comfort. Necessary? I guess not. Comforting? Yes.

Facebook is about the only way open to me now to speak or teach regularly about the things of the Spirit. I guess I am saying simply, don’t ignore your dreams. Learn to learn when they are from God and some pointers in seeing what God wants you to see.

If you want to honour the bible, honour the God who speaks in your dreams. He does so to honour His own word and to honour the Name of His Son, and because of HIs own kind affection for His people, the people He wants to lead, to guide, to encourage, to warn.

God Bless

Kenny

I find that for me the best type of Counsellor is one in whose quiet presence I am invited to do my own thinking. The right question at the right moment can help. It can feel like a helpful hand on the rudder when thoughts are perhaps all at sea.

Why not sit down with Jesus today as He asks you to talk through and think through the question Elijah was asked: “What are you doing here?” God knows the answer to that question already. He asks it so that we can come easily or with a struggle  into true understanding of reality. That’s where we meet the real God.

God bless 

Kenny

Not breaking my promise of refraining from manic posts, but feel the urgency of a prophetic word so have to go with it. Someone needs to hear this from God. How will you know it is for you? Well, even though it seems general, though indeed many may benefit from this word to a certain degree,  there will be something in it that will seem so specific to you that you will know. So:

“You worry the Lord is no longer with you as there seems to be less power, less anointing when you do what you did before. Am I like Samson? Has something been torn from me like Saul in judgement because of that sin I fell into again this last week more than once?  Am I “Yesterday’s person”? The Lord says, ‘No. I am inviting you into courageously walking a path you have not walked before. Did you not sense my presence resting on you yesterday and wonder what it all meant? It meant, “This is the road, the new path. Walk here.'”

I hope this may help you walk into ths Lord’s Day in joy and peace, released from worry and shame. You have often known the strength of the Holy Spirit behind you like a helping hand. This is a season for walking into a breeze that is coming towards you, the breeze of the ever coming Kingdom and your Father’s approaching will. Don’t look back in concern about something that no longer seems to happen. Lift your head, lift your nose  to the wind that blows towards you and catch the scent of the God who invites you into your unfolding,  ever moving forward destiny. You may well find the next stage of God’s purpose for you fits the truest redeemed “you” more than any road you have faithfully walked thus far. Joy is in the air! Sniff and see! Sniff and believe! Sniff and follow, seek and find!

God bless

Kenny

Remembering being taught in Practical Theology never to get the sermon and then search for a text to fit it. Well, I guess there is safety in that, but as a pastor I sometimes felt led to speak quite deliberately to needs and situations  I saw and sensed within the life of the congregation and then thought what Scripture might best be applied to that purpose. Seems to me some of the new Testament writers were quite pragmatic and pastoral in their use of Scripture and not as purist as the advice given in P.T.. They sometimes chose the Greek over the Hebrew Version of the “Old Testament” and sometimes the Hebrew over the Greek, whichever suited best to get their teaching/pastoral point over most clearly. Even Jesus did that (no, I am not telling you where, search it out for yourself, it will do you good) ….just saying….

Who makes up these rules anyway? Useful guidelines perhaps, but not if they become so rigid they prevent a minister from speaking The Word of the Lord effectively to their flock. Occasionally some people would ask me after preaching, “Were you speaking about us this morning.” I would usually reply, “Of course I was, who else would I be speaking to other than those of you who were here? It’s my job.”

God bless

Kenny

A quick heart felt open letter to Conference Speakers:

Well, not such good health has saved me from something I hated having to do: provide biographical information for Conference brochures! Note to those who are part of that scene: please stop writing about how much you enjoy fine food and wine; that is a form of gluttony and an insult to the poor who are happy on the days when they have any food. It can be an insult to your fellow ministers. At a conference where all my food and drink were being provided as well as my accommodation, I met a fellow minister who has humbly and quietly and effectively served the Lord for decades: he was longing for Friday, salary/stipend day, to come as until then he and his wife would be continuing to eat tea biscuits. He was hoping Friday would not be too late to contribute to the Conference thanksgiving offering…

…and another thing…

… perhaps be careful about advertising your cool and expensive likes and hobbies too, unattainable to most…. people don’t really need to know how trendy and exciting you are… if you need them to know that, then perhaps step down from the conference “stage” until you get things sorted out….

May you be a blessing to God’s people this summer and bring God glory,

Kenny

I may have told you about one of the most powerful illustrations I have ever seen being used in a talk. I was in Glasgow in a meeting where several people were sharing their stories of the reality of poverty. One young man talked about how he had missed an appointment in connection with a benefit claim. As a result he was invited for another meeting and told that he was being “sanctioned.” Effectively this mean no money for several weeks. As he recounted the story, the young man picked up a snow globe and shook it so that the “snow” was whirling around wildly and haphazardly. “See, when that word “sanctioned” was spoken, this is what happened to my mind.”  He went on to describe a near breakdown, because of that word and the fears it released. As the “snow” settled, he shared with us that  his mind was more settled now, but then he shook the glob again ever so gently, to illustrate that chaos and panic were easily revived by the slightest nudge.

Why have I told, or perhaps retold that story today? Well, I felt there was a blog I was to write today, but to be honest it has been a day of low energy and meandering thoughts and I have struggled to write it. I have not managed to pray today without instantly falling asleep. I have no idea what I read in the bible this morning. Indeed I had no idea ten minutes after I read it, so I cannot share something of the Word that has struck me. Yet, the pressure was there, in a good sense, that there was something to be said. I was left with no other resort than to simply ask the Lord what I was to write.

When I asked that question, it came to mind almost instantly that the Lord wants to speak to some of us whose lives are being held captive to a word, literally a word spoken over us by someone. It may be a word that they spoke  about us, about our circumstances, about our looks, our personality, the effect we have on other people, our ministry, our health, our background, our future; on and on the list could go.

Draw that word out of your thoughts and take a look at it and ask some questions:

Why does that word still affect me so powerfully in a negative way?

What did the person who said it represent to me? Why did it wound me much more that it was said by them than it would have done if someone else had said the same word to me?

What part of your growth as a person and as a child of God has been stunted by that word? Where did it rob you of a right sense of confidence

I feel I want to leave it there, rather than pass too quickly on to talk about the way to victory over this. Sometimes we step in too quickly to comfort, instead of allowing the distress to crystallise past an emotional release to the place of insight.  We offer consolation instead of allowing someone who is hurting to do some valuable thinking for themselves and coming to a place of better understanding about what is really going on within them. Anytime I have talked over anything that is distressing me with another person, which I confess I am very slow at doing, I find that the people who help me the most are the ones who say the least and just allow me to do my own speaking and thinking things through.

So have a think about that word that is still like a barb in your mind and heart, that seems to be so susceptible to being painfully tugged at intentionally or unintentionally by others or life experience.

One word of advice: best not to think too long or you will manufacture a problem that you don’t have! If that “word” does not come to mind almost instantaneously, then this blog today is not for you in a particular way. Be very glad about that and pray for those for whom this might be, at least in part, a  life giving word from Jesus.

God Bless

Kenny

Jesus defines what a word means. Want to know what it means to call God Abba? Look at His baptism and Gethsemane… Abba has been hijacked by sentimental violin music, 20 th and 21st century psychotherapy and soft lighting and teaching that fits that tear jerking atmosphere…  The healing aspect of the word seems to have all but drowned out the reverential honouring of God as Abba by meekly embracing His will as our delight. 

The centre of the Abba experience for Jesus was both delighting in being delighted in and delighting to do Abba’s will above any reluctance. It is about trusting Abba’s love and the goodness of His will. It is about a 30 plus year old  man setting anything he might have thought of pursuing and saying “Amen” to the Father he loved and who loved him. “Abba” = true intimacy and reverential obedience.

I am no one’s judge, fortunately! If someone thinks Papa or Daddy or whatever are words that captures both security and a chosen decision to embrace the Father’s will though it may involve suffering rather than pleasure, then fine. It is a matter of simple fact that there  was no other word available to Jesus to describe His relationship to Abba than Abba. No alternative word actually existed.  If He was speaking in today’ s diverse cultures where there are alternative words such as Daddy, Papa and Father I wonder what word He would pick to describe secure joy filled intimacy and making costly blood sweating submission my chosen delight above all things? 

“Abba” for Jesus was not simply a “me-feeling-secure-and whole” word but a “me-submitted-with-ease-or-struggle” word. It was as much a word to be accompanied by a trumpet call to battle and a fully grown and equipped warrior’s enemy-terrifying cry of victory as a time to “just be still and receive.”

..oh yes…in the bounds of these parameters place a daily trust that Abba knows, is constantly with His child, and provides practical provision and every needed grace and more.

God bless

Kenny

In the gospels, “Discipleship” is much more than a development of personal piety and sanctification, though of course it includes these fundamental building blocks. It is about being apprentices to Jesus in the spreading Kingdom of God. “What work of Jesus does He want to show to me and help me to learn to do this day?” is a good question to ask on a regular basis.  As we ask that in simple faith, in some sense may we hear His “come-and-see” invitation and be willing to be “stay-and-watch-and-learn-to-do” Kingdom of God apprentices this day. However, remember this too: in a world of endless Kingdom of God opportunities, the Master cares for the wellbeing of His apprentices. The psalms tell us that God delights in the welfare  of His servants. In the gospels on one occasion,  Jesus  took the Apprentices  out the country for a rest and a retreat!

We know that there is so much appalling need on the earth, calling us to works of compassion. Jesus knew that with greater clarity than anyone and yet we see clearly in His teaching that it is not wrong to look at the birds of the air or consider the beauty of the flowers of the field. It is not escapism to deliberately rest, or to focus on lovely things. In fact we are told to do so, not only by Jesus, but by the Apostle Paul as well, who certainly lived in the reality of a world where dreadful and unjust things happen and indeed had happened to him himself:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4 verses 8 and 9)

Perhaps the Father’s will for you this day is to consider the lilies. Perhaps His Work  through you this day could be to be His apprentice to feed the birds, so they might continue to be His tiny messengers and sing their witness to an anxious and fearful heart somewhere near you, in your street or neighbourhood.

God Bless

Kenny

Feel you have been careless with an entrustment from God? “Before long, Samson’s hair began to grow again.”

Think you have no future because of your own folly? Remember heaven’s severe mercy to Nebuchadnezzar:  “Cut down the tree. Lop off its branches…but leave the stump and the roots in the ground.”

If you are listening to a voice that offers no hope, STOP IT!

God bless

Kenny