Our Redemptive King

                                            

                                              Our Redemptive King

The ring had been very important to her. An oval dark blue sapphire surrounded by many little diamonds.She still loved it though it was a painful reminder of her broken past.Shame and Guilt paid visits to her frequently- deterring her from wearing it. And besides, she needed money.

In her mind, there was  no option but to make an uncomfortable visit to the pawnbrokers. The  churning of her gut made her feel sick but there was no going back. As she handed over that ring, she knew there was no guarantee she would ever find the money to redeem it.

With one quick glance, the man with dirty fingernails approved of the small loan. He told her what it would cost to redeem it and the date on which he would put it up for sale. She had  a 2 week window.

Guilt and Shame followed her out the door as she held the paltry sum of money. How could she leave her beautiful ring in the hands of a stranger with dirty fingernails- who cared nothing for the ring, its value and the story behind it?   Where was she going to get the money from to redeem it back?

Maybe this 2018 has not been your best year. Maybe you have traded something of great value for a song- only to never get it back or redeem the situation somehow.

 However, just maybe, you  DID  realise the value of that situation and you were able to-  with God's help- to redeem it back. It came at a very high price but you were willing to pay whatever it took to redeem it.  Something happened in the transaction....

                                     You saw the true value of what you gave away.

Isaiah 43 verse 18: Forget the former things; do not dwell in the past. verse 19: See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

The comfort of this verse is about forgetting and not dwelling in the past. In verse 19 we see that God is definite about what He is going to do with the future and our messy situations.  His language is confident!                                             He is our Redemptive King!!

 He who knows all about us, can do much with our broken hearts and our stupid choices. He can do much with a broken loaf and a few fish.

 In His redemptive power, He can redeem our lives from the pit and crown us with love and compassion- Psalm 103 verse 4

Handing over our valuables to a pawnbroker has a way of bringing our true values and beliefs to the fore. Handing over the broken pieces of our lives into the hands of our Redeemer has a far richer and greater return.

                   Our Redeeming King has paid the price to the pawnbrokers of our lives.

He places no time demands on us  or charges us an outrageous  percentage  of interest.

Ephesians 3 verse 20: Now to Him who  is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us....

1 Peter Chapter 1 verse 18: For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, verse 19 but with the  precious blood of Christ , a lamb without blemish or defect.

Getting back to our opening line, the price of getting the ring back from the pawnbroker was paid. Finding that money would have come at a great price as well but an even greater price would have been paid  had  she not made the effort to find the redemption money. The price of regret and more shame and the betrayal of her core values. However at that time, she did not know her Saviour or the fact that He is a Redemptive King.

                                

As the sun dips out of sight on Monday evening, may the New Year of 2019  herald in a  refreshing of your dreams, desires and hopes. May you meet up with your Redemptive King and thank Him for the ways he has redeemed you and your circumstances this year.

Lorraine Goulton lives in Masterton, New Zealand.

She works as a Specialty Clinical Nurse 4 days a week.

but would prefer to be retired....

She also manages Granny's Kitchen on Face Book and is a Support Coordinator with Crisis Pregnancy Support - Wairarapa

Pictured with 3 of her 6 granddaughters  on Christmas Eve 2018

Devotion: Unashamed

By Lorraine Goulton @ICFWriters

Luke 15 verses 11-31

A certain father had two very different sons. They all lived on a farm where we are to conclude that the two sons worked. If you know the story of the Prodigal son, you will know that one day, one of the sons decided he was done with working for his father. He asked- in advance- for his share of his fathers estate.  Normally, this share is not given until the death of the parent.

I wonder what was going on in the heart of the son at that time and in the father's heart? The father loved his son very much. He had provided his sons with everything they needed; yet this son seemed to think there was more to be found in Tinseltown.

"I cant wait to get to the Big Smoke" he thought. "I'm out of here".... Out from the Old mans rules...out from getting up early and busting my guts working on the farm.  

I'm going to party hard...with my mates...every single day and night!! Woohooo!! Total freedom is where its at!!

V 14: After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. V15. so he went off and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. Vs 16. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything.

Wasteful living! We have all done it- in our own fashion and in some measure. Some of us start waking up to ourselves when we reach a scenario that is as attractive as a pigpen.

The mood changes. Gone is his money... The pumping music, his drunk mates, ladies of the night- they have all  lost their appeal and have split the scene. Funny that! While he had money, he had lots of.... 'mates'.

The face of his father comes to his mind.

V17: When he came to his senses...

The son starts rehearsing  a speech to his father. He remembers his fathers wise counsel: "Tell the truth and shame the devil."

V18: I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and and against you. v 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men v 20 So he got up and went to his father..

Shame has a way of pounding in our ears and telling us lies. Shame can also motivate us to make new choices if we turn our back on it and tell the truth to ourselves and then to a loving father.

Every man and every woman gets the opportunity to rehearse their own speech. As we go to our earthly and our heavenly Father and speak from the heart, we are released from the shame and become unashamed!  If we hold onto our pride and  collude with shame, we risk being  unforgiven and bound.

What about you ? Have you ever been in a position where you either held onto your pride or you starting rehearsing a speech?

This story is a picture of the love of a heavenly father who loves all of us but puts no pressure on us to come to him.

So where are you in the story of the prodigal son? Do you identify with either son?  Do you get a sense  that this was really about a fathers love for his children?

In reading the parable many times, I had no sense of pressure or coercion to come to the father for relationship. However that is what our Heavenly Father is actually more interested in. Yes- its one thing to go to our parents and ask for a loan but a parent longs for relationship. At the end of the day, the prodigal son sees it was all a waste of time to indulge in temporary thrills. He wanted his relationship with his father restored. 

It all comes down to identity. The prodigal son now had a revelation that he was already a  son  in his fathers house and had been, all along.   The father loved him enough to let him  go and try out the temporary things of this world that he believed would bring him life.

The father wasted no time after hearing his sons confession. He asked his servants to quickly bring the best robe and then a ring, then sandals on his feet. He had to celebrate the return of his son.  His son  now had a revelation that he was and still is a loving Father. Our Heavenly Father also puts on a party when we acknowledge His great love for us and with our free will, recite our prepared speech 

The son was beginning to see he had a whole inheritance to step into that was heavenly, invisible and eternal.  Is this something you have ever given thought to?  His earthly father appeared to be quite rich but a heavenly Father has far more for us in terms of inheritance.We dont know how long it took  the son  to get to a heart  shift from "Give me" to "Father I  have sinned against heaven and against you".

The father was so patient and kind towards his sons- both of them- and yet the elder brother changed  his tune and resented the attention shown to his brother by his father upon his return.  God equally loves the son who remained at home who spurns  the love and the inheritance that his father has for him. For those who spurn His love, they still have the opportunity to accept what the father has for them.   

It seemed to be unjust to the faithful son who had stayed at home. We do not know how long his brother had been away. Is it possible that this faithful brother was harbouring anger at his brother and at his father because maybe in his mind, this killing the fatted calf was just too unjust??? Or was this about the fact that this son had actually chosen to harden his heart at the perceived injustice of a feast! 

Maybe this was the older son getting a revelation of the grace and forgiveness of God. 

The last word comes from the father Vs 31. " 'My son,' the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.vs 32. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead(spiritually) and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

In conclusion,  in the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep, someone went looking for them. These reflect material possessions however how much more valuable is a soul who is found!!!!!! This time, the Father waited for the son to come to himself. That is where God comes in. He waits. And Waits. And waits. He waits for US to make the first move back to Him. He; in His great love for us MUST let us decide if we want to be found. His heart more than desperately wants us to come to Him but  He also gave us a freewill. This means we are FREE to do as we WILL.... and that can be for good or bad. We get to choose what we WILL. 

What a risk God takes!! All LOVING!!!  He allows us the respect,  dignity and  the honour to CHOOSE for ourselves the bend of our will.  God is a perfect gentleman and he will let us do what we want. 

In this example, the younger son -of his own freewill- chose to return to  the silent but steady love and waiting Father. It would not be love freely reciprocated, if He demanded the affections of our heart.

About Lorraine Goulton

 

Hi, Im Lorraine Goulton from Masterton North Island New Zealand. I love writing and passionately working on my first work about our Identity in Christ.  I know what it is to stuff things up and rehearse speeches. I enjoy shaming the devil!

Married to Colin, we have 7 daughters between us and  have 13 granddchildren.  Currently working  as a Registered Nurse with Wairarapa DHB. Also a volunteer Support Coordinator for Crisis Pregnancy Support-Wairarapa.
https://www.crisispregnancysupport.org.nz/

DEVOTION: It's about the one.

And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” – John 4: 4-7 (ESV)

The Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The story in John 4 (4:1-10) is well known: Jesus encounters a divorced woman at the well, they chat, and He tells her all about her life. She in turns run into town and tells everyone about the man that could be the long awaited Messiah and brings half the town back with her. For me, it is a great story, one of redemption and grace and a beautiful reflection of the heart of God. But there is one verse that really speaks to me in this story and it's verse 4:4 'Now he had to go through Samaria.' Seven words that, for me, are some of the most profound words in the Bible.

Jesus had to go through Samaria. He wasn't just strolling through; He intentionally made his way through Samaria to Jacob's well. He detoured on purpose, going out of His way, and when He gets there, He finds a woman, alone in the heat of the day, drawing water from the well. This is no mere coincidence. Jesus knew He would find her there and He knew she would be alone at that time, so He sat, asked her for water and proceeded to tell her about her life. But He didn't stop there; He then goes on to reveal His identity to this woman, telling her that He is the Messiah. Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, reveals himself to a woman who in that day and age would have been an outcast in community. Divorced five times and living with a man out of wedlock, she is the last person he would have been expected to, or allowed to, engage with. But Jesus was never interested in social rules and religious restraints; He was more concerned with showing His Father's love to those who needed it most.  And in this case, He 'had to go' through Samaria so that He could show this Samaritan woman that she is not beyond the love and grace of the Father.

Jesus shows us, time and again, that He is interested in the 'one', but not more so than in this story. When his disciples returned, they were shocked that He was talking with her, but Jesus didn't even flinch because He had achieved what He set out to do and that was to touch the woman's heart. He let her know that she was seen. That despite what society said, she was important and loved and known to the Father in Heaven. And that hasn't changed today. Jesus still wants us to know that we are seen and loved and important. Jesus still wants us to know that He will meet us at our 'well at noon' and will sit with us because that is the love of the Father. We at times may feel that we are too far from God, that we have fallen too far, but we are never far enough that God won't meet us with open arms if we come with the right heart. A heart that wants to know Him and love Him. You may feel today that you are too far, or disconnected, but He see you and loves you just as much today as the day He created you. Or you may have a loved one that you have been praying for that seems too far. Be assured that God sees them; He has His eye on the 'one' and is interested in their heart just as much as He is interested in yours. Because for our Father, it's always about the one.

Leila Halawe is a Sydney based coffee loving nonfiction writer and blogger. She has published a short devotional, Love By Devotion, and shares her life via her blog Looking In. You can connect with her via Facebook at Leila Halawe Author and Twitter @LHalawe.

Caring for Fictional Characters by Janet Sketchley

As readers, the characters we love best are those we can relate to, but we need a connection with each one of them. Not that we'll love the characters we're supposed to fear or find irritating, but if something in them resonates with us, we'll accept them as real.

If writers don't bond with their created people, readers definitely won't. I struggled with this in my first novel, Heaven's Prey. How to find a point of contact with a serial killer, so readers would want to see him redeemed – and not throw the book across the room in anger when it happened?

In that case the answer came in exploring the man's past, meeting him when he was a regular Tom, Dick or Harry (bad joke: his name's Harry). Seeing the hurts that led to such horrible choices. Seeing his good side. That didn't make him good, but it made him redeemable.

It's just as important to invest in our ordinary characters, the ones who aren't in-your-face offensive or worse. I had to get into the heroine Ruth's head and live with her through her experiences. Let her react in ways true to herself, not in ways I wanted for purposes of the plot. It made for lots of rewrites before she felt real to me.

When I started work on the next novel, Secrets and Lies, I was more intentional about creating emotional links with the heroine Carol. She had begun as a peripheral character from Heaven's Prey: mom died young, dad abusive, raised by repressive aunt, teen pregnancy, loser husband, miscarriage, husband died, preteen son died of overdose... oh, and her only brother's a dangerous offender.

Plenty to work with story ­wise, but I match exactly zero of those descriptions. How would I relate? It turns out we both have control issues, and we both spend too much time living in our own heads.

I didn't know that in the beginning, so I gave Carol a few things I like: she's fond of tea, chocolate and baking, and music helps her de-­stress. I picked a favourite singer for her: Billy Joel. It was a fairly random choice; I liked some of his songs, and knew he had a large body of work. If she's listening to music all the time, it better not be the same three songs.

I also gave her something I'd like to acquire. She's a very good housekeeper. It comes back to control: if she can't keep order in the rest of her life, she can at least run her home.

These minor details helped me get close enough to discover our shared emotions and attitudes. What did I add to her life? As well as those conscious choices about tea, food and music, I helped her find her way into a relationship with the God whose heart we can trust to pick us up when we're broken.

What did she add to mine? Sadly, not the housekeeping. But I find myself drinking more peppermint tea (her favourite), and I listen to a lot more Billy Joel now.

What about you? Can you point to fictional characters who've taught you a life lesson, given an insight, or from whom you've picked up a trait or an attitude?

Janet Sketchley is the author of Heaven's Prey and Secrets and Lies, two novels of suspense and redemption. She also blogs about faith and books. Like Carol in Secrets and Lies, Janet loves music and tea. Unlike Carol, she isn't related to a dangerous offender, has a happy home life, and has never been threatened by a drug lord. May those tidbits continue to hold true!






You can find Janet online at janetsketchley.ca. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join Janet's writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.

Website: http://janetsketchley.ca/

Join Janet's author journey – sign up for her monthly newsletter: http://bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews

Secrets and Lies page (includes purchase links): http://janetsketchley.ca/books/secrets­and­lies/

Sample Chapter: http://janetsketchley.ca/wp­content/uploads/2014/10/Secrets­and­Lies­Chapter­ 1.pdf

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BOOK REVIEW

    Today I bring you a review of  A Tumbled Stone by our own Marcia Lee Laycock.
    In this book she picks up the story begun in One Smooth Stone, where Alex Perrin searched for the truth about his birth, A Tumbled Stone continues with the story of his sister, Andrea, and her search to find love in her life.  Unlike Alex, Andrea has been fostered into a good, well-meaning family on the Canadian prairies, but old secrets, guilt and the weight of sin have put a distance between Andrea and her foster parents, Edna and Earl.  The same unresolved issues have cast a pall over Edna and Earl's marriage.  So, when Andrea finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and single, she is frightened and desperate. The baby's father is out of the picture, her friends have gone away, her pastor is a hard man who sees God as One who condemns.   Panicked and alone Andrea runs away, landing on the door step of Evie's Rocky Road Diner in Regina.  Here she finds the compassion of a generous woman and learns of a God who loves and forgives.
    Here, Andrea also learns that she has a brother who has been searching for her.  She is thrilled to discover  a part of her birth family, but her life is in such turmoil, it takes time, patience, courage and lots of love for her to discover her own heart and open her life to Jesus.
    A host of secondary characters add their own stories and their witness to Andrea's tale, all revolving around the theme of forgiveness.   
  Marcia keeps the reader turning the pages with hints of danger, whispers of mystery and a longing to see the characters through to a happy ending.
    A Tumbled Stone is a story of the lost restored, the fallen redeemed and the loveless wrapped in the arms of Jesus.  Thank you Marica.

BIOGRAPHY




Marcia’s writing has won awards in Canada and the U.S. Her devotionals are distributed to thousands and her novel, One Smooth Stone, won the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award from Castle Quay Books and The Word Guild. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was just released. Marcia is also a sought-after speaker for women’s events. Visit her at www.vinemarc.com

Book reviewed by Alice Valdal.  For more about her, visit www.alicevaldal.com

The Occult

Over the past weeks I have shared some of my experiences with meditation, Buddhism, the Silva Method, and Scientology. Today I would like to talk about things that fall under the broad label of "the occult". Happily, my experiences here were always as an observer and not a participant. Looking back, I really feel that God was protecting me while allowing me to witness, first-hand, the detrimental effects of the occult in peoples' lives.

I was not raised in a Christian home, so I had no guidance when it came to spiritual matters. My journey started as an attempt to improve myself while seeking out the truth about the universe and my place within it. It started with meditation and went from there. Harmless enough, it seemed, but then this is how the enemy works. He ensnares you with the harmless stuff then, before you know it, you are dabbling in things that can put you into deep trouble, even placing your very soul in mortal danger. This is very much the case with the occult. For Christians, it conjures up all sorts of dark ideas, but it can start with something as simple as reading your horoscope in the newspaper, or having your palm read at a funfair. "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matthew 7:13).

The word "occult" comes from the Latin occultus, meaning "hidden" or "secret". In terms of religion, it refers to things of a spiritual nature, not observable by science. Practitioners of the occult attempt to pull back the curtain separating the visible world from the hidden world of the spirit realm. As such, it covers a wide range of practices, from ESP (extra-sensory perception) to astrology. It even encompasses meditation, if that meditation is used as a tool to attain spiritual awareness.

During my teens, I seemed to be surrounded by people who were interested in the occult. A school friend (I'll call him Steve) tried his hand at Tarot cards and Ouija. He was struggling with feelings of rejection from his family and was trying to find a sense of control in his life. He once told me that he woke during the night to see a wall of evil-looking faces staring down at him, mere inches from his own face. Not long after that, Steve and I were talking with the parents of a friend when Steve became extremely agitated and kept insisting we leave. I eventually relented but, as we were saying our goodbyes, the father collapsed and died from a heart attack right in front of us. Later, Steve told me that he had dreamed that very thing a few nights earlier, which is why he had been so determined to leave. He knew the man was going to die. Steve, it seemed, had found a way to view "hidden things" and, even though it frightened him, he seemed to enjoy the sense of power that came with it.

Another person close to me, the mother of a school friend, was heavily into all things occult. She was a lovely person and extremely intelligent, but she eventually slipped into paranoid schizophrenia. For years, she practiced daily the I-Ching and the reading of tea-leaves. Like so many people who get involved in the occult, she seemed to be driven by a desire to know the future. Every person I have ever met who is involved in these "hidden" things is doing so to gain some sense of power in their lives. They want to know what is going to happen tomorrow, and this makes them feel in control of their destiny. Sadly, what they do not realize is that by delving into the spirit realm they are opening themselves up to all sorts of demonic activity. A woman who worked as a nurse at a mental institute once told my wife that approximately eighty percent of the people admitted to her hospital with paranoid schizophrenia had been involved in the occult at some time in their lives. If this is accurate, then the dangers are clear. People may think it is harmless fun, but dabbling in something forbidden by God is never a good idea.

I believe that God forbids this kind of activity for a very good reason. The Bible warns us: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12). By taking part in occult practices, by attempting to draw back the curtain covering hidden places in the spirit realm, we are inviting attention from "spiritual wickedness". Our single point of contact in the spirit realm should be God. He loves us and has a plan for our lives. We should trust Him and turn to Him for all our needs, including our future. The enemy, on the other hand, will lie to us and try to deceive us. God wants to lead us down paths of righteousness whereas the enemy wants to drag us down to our destruction. The Bible instructs us to "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" (1 Peter 5:8).

In my next post I would like like to share my conversion to Christianity. Not, as it turns out, the end of my spiritual journey, but the beginning.