Rain

Having been brought up in the country, and being a minister in two rural communities, I have a spiritual attachment to, and regard for, the Australian bush and landscape. The current 10+ year dry-spell/drought has been an agonising period of suffering and hopelessness for many farmers and rural residents. Although there have been glimmers of hope over these years, it has been a geographical and emotional wilderness.

The rains over the past week have been a beautiful, cold blessing of the earth and nature has woken up. Birds singing, plants plunging roots down into the sodden earth trying to establish themselves, new growth on gardens long deprived, and even water running in creeks and waterways that have been dry and barren.

I don't know why our country has suffered for so long under a dry sky. Is it nature's cycle and this part of the earth needed a dry spell to balance and nurture the global climate ? Has human intervention caused our world to lose its sense of balance from which it may never recover? Has God stepped in, declaring that the people of Australia need judgement imposed on them in some form to awaken them to their immorality and Godlessness? In the large cycles of this worlds development are we moving into a dry age, as we have had an ice age in the past?

I don't know, and although it may sound indifferent, a part of me doesn't care!
Let's switch off our analytical brains for a while and simply REJOICE. Go and stand on the verandah at home or the foyer at work or the shelter-shed at school and listen to the sound of rain; watch it as it gathers and runs; listen for the voices of birds and let a smile not only alter your face but warm your heart.

Thanks God for the blessing of rain on a sunburnt country.

Struggling to pray for others

Many of us have had the experience of being really moved and inspired to pray for someone else, but due to our troubled mind, the complexity of the person's situation, or lack of knowledge and insight, we have not known how or what to pray for the person. So we close our eyes and quieten our mind - but words will not come! Our praying stumbles and trips along and we feel our prayer is ineffective.

In Ephesians 1:17 - 19, the Apostle Paul gives us some guidelines for intercessory prayer and I have found them personally both helpful and strong when praying for others, especially when words fail me or I am struggling to genuinely intercede for them.

Paul encourages us to pray for:

• a spirit of wisdom and revelation that the person may know Him better.
• opening of the eyes of their heart to know God's hope in life, and the amazing spiritual inheritance available to Christians
• knowledge and experience of His incomparable great power

Now you may think that this is not very specific for a person who may be fighting depression, or battling cancer, or looking for employment, or in the midst of a fragile relationship and you would be right. But AS YOU PRAY THROUGH PAUL'S INTERCESSORY PRAYER ADVICE, your spirit is aroused, your tongue is loosened and deep intercessory prayer can be offered that is passionate and substantial. As you pray in the Spirit according to the scriptures in this passage, some spiritual mystery occurs which awakens the Holy Spirit in you.

And these prayers are powerful, passionate, and very effective.

If you have a prayer journal, or if you use a favourite Bible to pray from, why not print off the scripture passage mentioned above, and keep it near you for those times when words will not come.

Followership

I sat in a gathering this week, listening to some people who had been involved in high level corporate business, and whose lives had totally changed by becoming followers of Christ. These men are now trying to reach into the business community with the gospel, encouraging business owners to implement Kingdom of God principles to operate their business.

One word kept coming across the conversation - VISION. The emphasis was that businesses could not run only to make money; rather, the owners had to have an idea, a picture in their mind of what they want their business to achieve. For example, Bill Gates vision was a pc on every desk. The day was focused on people who were leading others.

As we were talking and sharing, my mind went to the hundreds of people I have known in my life who do not own a business, or have a vision for their life, or who will not "make something happen". The followers of the world (and it is obvious that we need more followers than leaders!)These are the people who work in factories, hospitals, farms; tradies, office workers, call-centre staff.

These people make our world function. They often do not set an agenda or vision - they faithfully and diligently follow the agenda and vision set by others. They carry out the work.

I have been to many conferences and seminars, and heard many preachers declare that this or that is the most important issue in the church today. Pray more, preach less, reach out to youth, reach in to men, do community services, know your community profile, establish networks, change form, the emerging church etc... Many of these things are true and have their place. One very loud voice over the past 10 years has been LEADERSHIP. That everything rises and falls on leadership.

I would suggest that the main issue for the modern church is quieter and more subtle than all of these - followership. Most leaders and ministers (both lay and ordained) are trained in leadership, have sound planning and strategy skills, great people skills and pastoral skills. They can also work within a leadership team to produce vision and energy required to work with God in this crazy 21st century.

But the followers must follow. Yes, have your say and debate both the means and the outcome; but please, if your leadership team has consulted you, prayed to our Lord and discussed all the implications to come up with a sense of vision or a new ministry or a change in direction,PRAYERFULLY FOLLOW THEM. Dedicate yourself to following your leader. Not blindly, but willingly.

Too often, followers will not follow. to paraphrase Thomas a Kempis, "your opinion is not as important as you think".

The Upper Room

Many of us will have experienced times in our lives when we have been drawn aside into a separate space for something important. A boss at work calling us into the office for a promotion or a sacking; a family gathering taking place in a loungeroom where details of a sickness or death is communicated; a friend drawing you way from the others to inform you of a personal secret.

Nearing the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus informed His 12 closest followers whom He had designated "Apostles" that He need some special time with them, behind a closed door, where He could take them to the highest point of their discipleship. However, the occasion became something irregular and troubling because Jesus stepped away from parables, miracles, speaking to large crowds and took the 12 Apostles straight to the heart of God's Kingdom. 3 moments in this "Upper Room" reveal the essence of all truth about God revealed in Jesus Christ:

1. Jesus revealed that He and God are One in nature
2. Jesus washed His disciples feet, informing them that servanthood was the essence of leadership according to God
3. All that Jesus was about to go through - His suffering, death and resurrection - was planned and predestined by God according to His purpose

We all need an occasional "Upper Room" time with God - where we hear His call to come apart, rest awhile, and listen and learn from Him in faith and humility.

This 2009 Passion, Holy Week (call it what you will) I encourage you to listen for Jesus calling to you to come somewhere apart and spend some sacred time with Him thinking and praying through His ministry in the Upper Room, and what it means for you in your life today. This is a time of prayer, reflection and quietness where the Holy Spirit can take you to the heart of God's Kingdom, and nourish your spiritual life.

However, be warned! Peter got offended; Judas crept out to betray Him; all the 12 were rebuked as Jesus took on the servant role of washing the other's feet. It be uncomfortable but very good for you.