29/04/20

Let us Pray together.

​

Knowing and loving Jesus is an interactive relationship. Often I write my prayers and sometimes Jesus writes back. First, I read some of God’s words.

My heart explodes with praise to you!
Now and forever my heart bows in worship to you,
my King and my God!
3 Lord, you are great and worthy of the highest praise!
For there is no end to the discovery
of the greatness that surrounds you. (from Psalm 145)

Praise you, Lord Jesus – you are wonderful, our friend, our king. You have brought us back into relationship with the Father and given us the Spirit to renew our minds and transform us into your likeness. Thank you so much. Thank you for the incredible love of the Triune God. We pray you’ll heal our hearts to see you. Please heal our land. Please heal those with Covid19 and we pray this pandemic will cease soon. It is difficult for so many at the moment; we are all grieving in one way or another, for a loved one or not being able to see grandchildren, for neighbours and the billions of people in the world who were doing it rough already and now can’t find enough food. Many of us are frightened, Lord. Give us peace, Lord. Help us trust you.

Make us one, Lord as we, the whole world, fight against a common enemy. Uplift us, Lord, give us joy and thankfulness in the simple things even in the midst of a difficult time. Please strengthen the health workers, teachers, police and others, often working in danger to themselves. Give wisdom to government leaders who must make difficult decisions in unknown territory. Help us all to support each other. Thank you for the renewed ways we’ve found to keep in contact, for the slower pace and when this passes may we not become so busy as to forget our neighbour.

Thank you that you care about the details of our lives. Give us the faith, the inside sight to see you and love you. May our focus return to you. We love you, Lord, and we want to be like you. To be loving like you, discerning, humble, wise, a light, an encouragement in these times. We want to be close to you, listen to you; above all, to be in relationship with you, allowing your Spirit to work through us.

I am with you all the time.

You can listen anytime − make space, I’m here.

I impart strength, peace, joy, love, discernment,

wisdom, restoration, transforming power.

I’m here always. Rest in me.

I am your advocate. I have done everything for you.

I knew you before creation; I am not bound by your time.

Surrender all to me. I hold you and wrap my love around you.

Think only of me as I think of you and long for you. I love you unconditionally.

Thank you, Lord, that we are intimately included in the circle of love and fellowship with you: Father, Son and Spirit. What amazing love. Amen

​

Rosanne Hawke

Weekly Message 

Read: Matthew 18:21-35

Each one of us is loved by the God who created us.

A lot of us seem as if God hasn’t shown love and mercy he gives willingly to everyone. We sometimes act if we have special privileges above others that we come across in our day to day lives. This parable demonstrates from Jesus teachings what forgiveness and mercy looks like for us.

This parable in Matthew demonstrates the idea of the unforgiving Debtor who is shown forgiveness first. The amount of money the Debtor was in is represented by a huge amount for that time, surpassing the tax revenue of all of Galilee. The fact that God, represented by the King, showed mercy on the Debtor amplifies the idea of God’s love. Being such a high amount, the King could have quite easily thrown him in jail or even have his family killed. This was common in these days to do such an action to someone in such debt.

The absolute contrast in thinking to the day was turned a full 180 degrees by Jesus telling this parable to the crowd. The king completely wiped clean, “released him and forgave his debt” of his millions of dollars he accumulated in debt. He could have set a time for him to pay it back or held him to work it off till he died, but no, he released and forgave. How powerful is it we can come to the Lord with our hearts heavy and be forgiven of all our wrong, all of our filth and come out with him clean with our burden taken from us.

The Debtor in this parable wasn’t as forgiving, even after the massive amount of mercy showed towards him. He still didn’t show mercy to the one who owed him a few thousand, this amount being a million times less that what the Debtor owed the king. It’s as if he completely forgot the mercy showed on him, he was given this great opportunity to pass on the blessings and show mercy to others. Instead he prosecutes, “he had the man arrested”, so the debt would be payed to him in full.

We all need to be careful about how we all respond the mercy, love and forgiveness the Lord pours out to every single person. We could respond two ways, the first looks like the Debtor, greedy, using this mercy he has received to his advantage, trying to squeeze out all of the money he can from everyone around him to get more and more. This is how some of us act, pushing others that desperately need our help to the side, thinking that the mercy we have been given is just for us and no one else, keeping it all to ourselves. But this wasn’t what Jesus was teaching.

The second would look like the king to the first servant. We can act out of compassion and kindness, representing what God showed us first, honoring him and what he has done and continues to do for us.

At the beginning Jesus touches on this idea of forgiveness, Peters suggestion of seven times, being a generous amount, again Jesus shifts their thinking 180 degrees mentioning “not seven times, but seventy-seven times seven.” This just demonstrates the limitless amount that God shows us and the readiness for us to forgive from the heart.

My prayer for all of you is to know the mercy the Lord generously has shown you all, responding to it with full hearts of mercy, love and joy for others you meet. That you know that God has a plan for us all, even if we are feeling worthless, forgotten or unloved. God has never left you, in all of your suffering the Lord stands strong for you. This plan is everlasting for your lives, not just to tidy you up a bit, it’s a total renewal of your lives with him. Being comforted when times can seem impossible, allowing you to be in his family of love, joy and peace.

God Bless.

Patrick Prior