Still Learning

12 Oracles: The Minor Prophets in Verse

Thank you to my wife for the following book review on 12 Oracles: The Minor Prophets in Verse, written by Steve White.

The book, as the author himself states, is a study of the so-called minor prophets in verse form. This is not perhaps an obvious choice of subject or medium but it is maybe all the better for that. This is a fairly short book and you may be surprised by how much you enjoy it and how much insight you gain by looking at the minor prophets through the fresh perspective of verse.

Each oracle begins with a very helpful introduction which sets the scene from the historical standpoint. It is always good to consider the context when reading scripture and the author’s introduction to each oracle helps the reader to do just that.

If you can it is certainly worthwhile reading the oracles one at a time alongside your preferred Bible version. In doing this you will clearly see how the author has taken the central themes of the book and often used quite similar language but then cleverly adapted it to suit the writing style.

This book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in learning more about the minor prophets and the relevance of their message for Christians today. The style of writing gives a fresh perspective to these timely stories in a format that is surprisingly easy to read. For that alone the author should be commended.

12 Oracles is currently only available as an e-book and can be purchased via Amazon.*

*Please note that this is not an affiliate link and I do not receive any payment should you purchase this book.

The UCB Word for Today

Whilst scrolling through my Facebook feed this morning I came across The UCB Word for Today from United Christian Broadcasters. After reading the one for today, which I thought was very good, I read through some of the previous archive ones and a number of them caught my attention.

I have provided some links below to fifteen of those that I particularly liked. I have also included the opening words of each one too.

Learning the hard way (1) – Samson had incredible potential, but he threw it all away. Why?

Start exercising – As you move into your forties, fifties, and sixties, you’ll tend to become more sedentary.

Everything we need – Peter writes, ‘His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life’ (v. 3 NIV)

Get your approval from God – It’s always nice to be appreciated for the work you do, and when that doesn’t happen, it can affect your sense of self-worth.

Recall God’s loving kindness to you – The story’s told of a little boy who was asked, ‘Do you say your prayers every night?’ He replied, ‘No, some nights I don’t need anything!’

Don’t look back – Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, angels of the Lord rescued Lot and his family.

Soak your mind in God’s Word – Are you discouraged because you keep committing the same sins over and over again?

Don’t give in to despair – When difficulties come to us in life and in our relationships, as they inevitably will, it’s easy to succumb to the ‘dominoes of despair’.

God will forgive and restore you – Have you ever heard of the Great Boston Molasses Flood?

The need for rest and renewal – When you’re physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained, you become vulnerable.

The need for repentance – There’s a difference between confessing your sin and repenting of it.

Retrain your mind – The thought patterns you establish put you on autopilot.

Where is God when it hurts – If you could ask God one question and be guaranteed an answer, what would you ask?

The most important thing – Here are two enemies that threaten your spiritual life:

Keep learning – It’s been said that we forget more than 80 per cent of what we learn in school and college.

One of the nice features of The UCB Word for Today, on their website, is that there is also an audio version of each one, in addition to the written version. Like most online devotions you can sign up and have them emailed to you directly if you wish. Although these devotions are relatively short I’m sure you will agree they contain some excellent encouragement for our walk with Christ.

Keep on Praying

At the beginning of Luke 11 the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. They were aware John the Baptist had taught his disciples how to pray and wanted Jesus to do the same for them.

One of the things that Jesus taught, in response to this question, involved a story of a man who went to his friend’s house at midnight to borrow some bread. This was because he had a visitor and had nothing to feed him. The man kept knocking on his friend’s door until eventually he had a response.

Jesus then went onto say these words:

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (NIV)

Many other versions translate this verse similarly to that (e.g. ESV, KJV, NASB, NRSV, RSV etc). However, interestingly there are some other translations who record it slightly differently:

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” (NLT)

Some other versions (e.g. The Amplified Bible and the HCSB) also translate it in a similar way.

When looking at that verse, in the later translation, I find the phrase “keep on” very encouraging. Many Christians have probably been praying about something for several years. At times they may feel tempted to give up as their prayer has not yet been answered and they feel discouraged. This could be the salvation of a loved one, the restoring of a backsliding Christian, the release of a believer in prison for their faith in Christ or God’s justice in a situation to be manifested. Jesus is telling us here to keep asking, keep seeking and keep knocking and eventually the door will be opened.

Therefore let us not give up but keep on praying as instructed by Jesus.

How I Worshipped on Pentecost Sunday 2020.

Pentecost is one of the highlights of the year as we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, described in Acts 2, and celebrate the birthday of the church. However, this year obviously was very different due to the current lockdown restrictions. Nevertheless, I was glad to have the opportunity to attend a couple of services and decided to share how I worshipped on Pentecost Sunday in 2020.

Our church has been evolving our online services since we first started them. Originally, we used to record a service and put it on our website for people to view. A few weeks ago, we moved to live streaming our services via Zoom and this week in addition to this we also streamed it live on Facebook too. (We are still placing a recording on our website).

Preparing for church is very different these days. On Sunday morning, about 20 minutes before the service, I check the link and password we are using for this week’s service. I normally log on about one minute before the service starts. This is mainly because I do not particularly like looking at myself in the web camera. Once I log onto Zoom I play around with the positioning of my laptop so the webcam is the right level for my wife and I.

It is strange to sit round a laptop to worship but that is how we do this currently. Our service was an all age one which lasted about 35 minutes. The service followed the format of opening song, confession of sin, interactive bible reading, sermon (including animation video), prayer and closing song. The theme was Pentecost and the sermon challenged us to see what God might be doing during this time and to be praying and preparing ourselves for life after lockdown, being ready to share His love with those who do not know Him.

Following the service, we had “virtual coffee”. Basically, the Zoom admin person randomly sends us into breakout rooms with 2 or 3 others and we chat for about 10 minutes. We are then brought back together and repeat the exercise. This has been a good way of getting to know some church members who I had not previously spoken with.

In the evening I attended the Diocese of Guildford Pentecostal Prayer Service which was streamed live via their YouTube channel. The service lasted about 55 minutes and contained prayers, songs, greetings from Bishops in Denmark and Pakistan, a very funny sketch based on Acts 2, a sermon, and a song from a Coptic Church in Surrey.

It goes without saying that watching a service on a laptop or the TV is not the same as attending one in real life. However, sadly that option is not available to us yet. It is wonderful that despite the lockdown we still have this technology that we can use to worship God. There is a lot of work that is put in by technically gifted people to ensure that everything works ok. Many people in the world do not have the freedom to worship and so we should be grateful that we still can.

Interestingly in both our services today we were reminded that the disciples were in “lockdown” themselves before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Whilst we would prefer to actual meet as we used to, God can still speak to people and meet them through remote worship. He is not restricted by this. Both services were encouraging, and one felt some excitement in looking forward to what might happen in our churches once we come out of lockdown and can meet again.

Who do we put our confidence in?

In these unusual times in which we currently live, one of the questions that we need to consider is: Who do we put our confidence in?

Last Monday whilst reading Psalm 146 I came across the following verses:

‘Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.’ (Psalm 146:3-6 NLT)

It is very tempting during these times to place our confidence in political leaders. However, whilst we should pray for our leaders we have to remember that they are just humans like you and I. They fail and make mistakes.

Some might place their confidence in business leaders instead. Just like politicians though they are humans too and therefore not infallible.

One of the temptations for Christians is to place our confidence in our church leaders. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. We should respect and honour our church leaders, not forgetting to pray for them too. However, again they are humans like you and I.

Who then should we put our confidence in if it is not to be political leaders, business leaders or church leaders? The Psalmist gives us the answer in verse 5:

‘But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.’

Our confidence should be placed in the Lord. He is the one in whom we can fully trust. He is the one who made heaven and earth. The one who always keeps his promises. Humans make promises, which sometimes they keep them, but other times they do not. God, unlike humans, is reliable and keeps his promises.

And as Paul reminds the church in Corinth:

‘For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.’ (2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT)

Choose Faith not Fear

As has been said on many occasions we are currently living in very unusual times. It is understandable that people are concerned and worried. If we found ourselves constantly watching the news throughout the day then that can make the problem worse for us. This in turn can lead us to lose our focus on God and give way to fear rather than faith. With that in mind, I thought it would be helpful to share two sermons about choosing faith and not fear that were recently preached at my church. I found them encouraging and hope you are able to take the time to listen to them and be helped by them.

Choose Faith not Fear Part 1 by Russ Smart. The text for this sermon is Luke 8:22-25. The link contains the whole of our service and the sermon starts at 10 minutes and 37 seconds (10:37) on the video.

Choose Faith not Fear Part 2 by Mark Rudall. The texts for this sermon are: Romans 8:18-25 and Matthew 6:25-34. The link contains the whole of our service and the sermon starts at 10 minutes and 04 seconds (10:04) on the video.

Housegroups with Zoom

Like many church groups, our housegroup decided that we would continue meeting during these unusual times, using Zoom instead of meeting physically, as the lockdown restrictions do not permit us to meet in the normal way. Now that we have done this for a few weeks I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences of meeting virtually.

The format we have used each week is:

• Welcome tea and coffee / catch-up

• Opening Prayer

• Worship song

• Bible reading and short reflection / discussion on passage.

• Prayer time

• Worship song

• Saying goodbye

Our housegroup normally has 10 people who attend. Unfortunately, 2 of these are unable to join the Zoom meeting, leaving 8 of us who have meet each week from 4 households.

I think we all found it initially quite strange looking at each other, and ourselves, on our computers / laptops. One starts to feel self-conscious of everybody looking at you!

It obviously goes without saying that it is not the same as meeting together and cannot replace that. However, currently we cannot do that and therefore this is the only option available. We all agree that it has been good to see and talk with each other again.

As far as the individual parts of the meeting have gone, I would say:

• Worship – the host of the meeting plays a worship song via YouTube. It is a good way to start the meeting, but the videos sometimes suffer from pixel issues when played back via Zoom. We discussed this last night and the problem is with the speed of the broadband connection when streaming the video via Zoom. I think it is something which we are just going to have to live with!

• Bible reflection – We have found that it does not really flow in quite the same way as when we normally meet together as a group. One of the problems is that sometimes it has been difficult for the group leader to gauge the mood of others in the group and if they want to contribute. This is a lot easier to do when we are all in the same room and you can see people’s expressions. That said our reflection last night did flow well and we may find that as we get more used to meeting virtually this might improve.

• Prayer time – I think the prayer times have worked very well. We have a prayer list which is shared on the screen and we quickly run through it, adding anything new, and then we pray together. I would say that the prayer times have probably been the best part of the evenings.

On a personal note there have been times during our meetings when I have struggled to hear exactly what one of the others have said due to the poor quality of my laptop speakers. I could put my headphones on to resolve this but then my wife would not be able to hear anything! I did investigate downloading the Zoom app to my tablet, however they wanted what I considered excessive unnecessary access to my tablet, which I was not prepared to grant.

Anyone who has used the free version of Zoom will know that meetings are limited to 40 minutes. We are fortunate to be using one of the subscription versions so do not have this time limitation.

One of the drawbacks of meeting virtually is that there is the risk that two people in different houses might start talking at the same time. Zoom does have a facility where you can put your hand up if you wish to say something. However, that facility is only available to the host of the meeting and in our group the leader is a different person to the host.

When all is said and done the majority of the issues we have experienced are not major ones. Some might call them “first world problems!” We as a group have enjoyed being able to meet again, even though it is virtual and will continue to do so until we are permitted to meet physically again.

We are very fortunate with the advances in technology over the last few years that we have this option which enables us to continue to meet during these times. I would certainly recommend that if your housegroup has not tried this yet then you consider doing so. You do not necessarily have to use Zoom as there are other options available e.g. Jitsu. Whichever option you choose it is worth meeting virtually to encourage one another.

Giving Thanks

It’s not unusual for Christians to wonder what God’s will is for their life. Normally when pondering God’s will we would be thinking of the big decisions in life for example: whether to marry a particular person, take a specific job, buy a house, become a missionary etc. However, if we search the scriptures for God’s will for us we will see that it covers far more than the big life choices previously mentioned.

In the final chapter of his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul says:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5:16-18 NIV)

As we can see from these verses, God’s will is that we give thanks in all circumstances. I wonder, when we ponder seeking the will of God for our life, whether we spend time thinking on this verse?

The will of God is very practical and simple here: give thanks. Whatever our circumstances we are instructed to give thanks.

There are obvious occasions in life when we might be feeling down and find being thankful hard. During these current unusual times in which we are living that would not be unexpected. Perhaps we are finding it difficult to know where to start. If you are unsure of what to give thanks for hopefully the following might help:

Give thanks that Jesus has forgiven your sins and given you new life.
Give thanks that Jesus has given you a new family of brothers and sisters to worship with.
Give thanks that you have food to eat today.
Give thanks that you have somewhere to live.
Give thanks for your health.
Give thanks for friends and family.
Give thanks for your job.

I recently read an interesting testimony from a young girl who had grown up in a Muslim country. She said that she happened to see a Christian woman thanking God in prayer on television. This caught her attention because in her experience of Islam they always asked God for something, but had never thought of thanking Him for something.

As Christians and disciples of Jesus let us be known as people who give thanks to God in all circumstances.

Future Plans

In my job our holiday year runs between September to August. I decided last summer that I was going to be super organised and apply for all my leave for the 2019-20 holiday year early, as I already knew which weeks I wanted. Therefore come September 2019, my leave had all been approved and I knew exactly which weeks I would be on holiday. Additionally I also knew what I had planned for those weeks too. Yes there were one or two things that I still needed to do, but most importantly I had got the exact weeks I wanted. Privately I was impressed with my forward thinking and efficiency in organising everything early! What could possibly go wrong and hinder my plans?

The simple answer is a word I had never heard of until recently: coronavirus. All my carefully arranged plans were suddenly shattered. Instead of visiting lovely coastal towns, I’m faced with the prospect of holidaying in my back garden, if the lockdown restrictions remain in place. Now I realise that I’m fortunate to have a back garden. At least I can sit out in my garden. For those people who do not have a garden it must be very difficult at the moment.

During the last 3 years or so some of my family members and friends have had serious illnesses. One of my friends had a major stroke and is now confined to a wheelchair. Future dreams and plans that had been discussed are suddenly shattered. Life looks very different for them now. Obviously my holiday frustrations are small fry compared with life changing illnesses.

In the light of the uncertainties of life we might well ask ourselves whether it is wise making plans for the future. Some might argue no, whilst others would still feel it is appropriate to make plans. I think we should hold any future personal plans we have made lightly in our hands and submit them to God. We should avoid holding on too tightly to these plans, but rather instead pray: “Not my will but yours be done”.

The ups and downs of working from home

I have now been working from home for the last four weeks and it looks likely I will be continuing to do this for a few more weeks, as there is no sign yet of the lockdown restrictions being eased. In view of this I thought it might be interesting to explore the ups and downs of working from home.

I’m fortunate in that I can do my job anywhere and do not need to be in a fixed location. The only tools I need are a laptop and a reliable internet connection. Once I get those I can connect via a VPN to our network and it’s just like being in the office.

For me one of the best things about working from home is that my commute is very short! Normally it takes me 30 minutes from leaving my house to when I’m sitting at my desk. Although the journey is short compared with some commuters, that still means I waste an hour each day travelling to and from work. I have often pondered why we commute to work when we can do our jobs at home. Surely it’s a better use of our time and also beneficial to the environment not to unnecessarily drive to work.

Working from home also means that I get less interruptions from people disturbing me and enables me to concentrate better. Invariably when you work in a busy office there is going to be a certain amount of noise. Sometimes this can be distracting and therefore working from home avoids this problem.

Thanks to the wonder of modern technology I can still keep in touch with my work colleagues. We have been having weekly departmental meetings using Microsoft Teams which works well. I must admit that I do switch off the camera facility for these meetings. I don’t wish to frighten my work colleagues needlessly!

There are some who feel that working from home can cause issues with loneliness. I personally so far have not found this a problem, but that is probably due to me being more introverted than others. However, I acknowledge that for those who are more extrovert and prefer being with people this could be a huge problem. Although being in a busy office does not necessarily prevent one from suffering from loneliness.

There are though obviously problems in working from home. The biggest one for me is my house is not suited for full time working from home. It’s ok for the odd day. I could probably make it work for once a week or once a fortnight but not for every day. I’m currently doing my work at the dining room table on a normal chair.

Additionally I am doing all my work on a 13 inch laptop. In the office I have my laptop plugged into two big screens with another keyboard connected too. I also have a special chair and a block under my desk which raises it to a level more suitable to someone my height.

Therefore I’m encountering two main issues here: my productivity and a sore neck. Yes I can still get my work completed, but not as fast as when I’m using two big screens. I also need to manage my neck so that this problem does not escalate. This means taking regular breaks during the day and doing stretching exercises.

Another problem at home is my internet connection. For some reason my internet normally crashes between two or three times per day. I’m not sure why this happens but it does. Fortunately I have not lost any work or missed anything important but I always have an eye on it checking that it is ok. It’s somewhat ironic that when we are in the office we complain about our internal IT systems yet encounter our own IT problems at home.

Whilst I have not felt lonely at home I acknowledge that there are times when you want to run a problem past a colleague. Yes you can still email them but it’s not the same as asking them a quick question.

When working from home, if you do not have a separate room for an office like me, it can be a challenge separating work from home life. The temptation exists to have a quick look at your emails outside working hours. My personal approach is that I am trying to work exactly the same hours at home as I do in the office. The laptop is switched off at the end of the day and put away until the next morning.

The next few weeks will no doubt be a challenge and it will be interesting to see whether the lockdown leads to any long term change in people’s attitude to working from home on a more regular basis.