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Do we believe God?

By Dave Walker | November 13, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

He knows what He’s doing even when we don’t.

Daniel 2:20–22 says:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
    wisdom and power are his.
²¹He changes times and seasons;
    he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the discerning.
²²He reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with him.”

And Daniel 4:25 and 4:32 both say:

“… the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”

For the sake of establishing the integrity and transparency of the election, I do think the allegations of fraud should be investigated. However, irrespective of the result of the investigation, as Christians, we must believe that God is in control. If Biden is president, the Word of God says that He placed him there. If the courts validate Trump’s claims and it puts him back in, we’ll know God put him back!

Either way, we must believe He gives the kingdoms of the earth to whom He chooses for His purposes. The Word of God says so.

God’s purposes are for His Church

God’s primary interest is His Church. We do not know what He is doing, but I suspect He is purifying His church for His soon coming. We know His Bride must be pure and spotless. Perhaps He will do that by creating a situation whereby we have to trust Him implicitly and be “blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which we shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the Word of Life.” (Phil. 2:15,16)

Let’s trust God’s wisdom

Let’s not behave like the world, in anger, bitterness and suspicion, but trust God’s purposes. Jesus did not create a fuss against the plotting and treachery that put Him on the Cross. He entrusted Himself to His Father, and those religious hypocrites and Judas were the agents for the greatest act of mercy and redemption the world will ever know. God is in control. Jesus is described as full of grace and truth. Let’s display those same characteristics .

The darker it gets — and it’s looking pretty dark — the brighter we can shine.

As Nike says, “Just do it.”

God of the Song

By Dave Walker | October 26, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

Here’s a quote from God in the ICU in the chapter called Trusting God in the Darkness: A Sister’s Heartache:

“Babbie Mason sings a song, the lyrics of which pointed the only way forward. She sings:

God is too wise to be mistaken God is too good to be unkind, So when you don’t understand, When you don’t see His plan, When you can’t trace His hand, Trust His heart.

We could not understand, so we had to lean on His character. We had to look back on His faithfulness in dealing with us in the past, and, ultimately, to His love expressed so eloquently in dying for us on the Cross.”

Sometimes, in these trying times, it’s good to look up, not to ask why, but Who, and know there’s a God who is beautiful and can put a song in our hearts.

God of the Song



God of the rhythm, God of the beat
God of the music, God of dancing feet
God of the galaxies swirling in space
God of the seasons, God of the race
 
God of the melody deep in my heart
God of the whole and God of the part
God of the orbiting stars and the sun
God of the millions and God of the one
 
Sing to me, Jesus, sing loud of Your love
Sing to the pulse of the stars up above
Sing with the voice of the dove and the lark
Sing to the beat of my trembling heart.
 
My God who created the seasons and songs
To Whom every lilt, every cadence belongs
The song of the Saviour beats loudest of all
It’s the song of His grace, it’s the song of His call.
 
I’ll sing to You, Jesus, I’ll sing from my heart
Of the love that You’ve had for me right from the start
Delight of my life, faithful God, true and strong
Creator of music, the God of the Song

The Big Wave is on its Way

By Dave Walker | September 21, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

God is preparing His church

The virus has taken its toll

South Africa, like many parts of the world, is in dire straits after the lockdown. In fact, the economy was in bad shape before lockdown, racial tensions were fuelled by a radical political party, and violent crime was rampant. The virus has just exacerbated that. I’m sure many countries have suffered similarly.

Nevertheless, there is great excitement in my spirit.

But God is using this time

God is using this time to prepare His church for something great.

Never before have there been so many prayer initiatives, starting as early as March with calls for global prayer. And never have the opportunities for whole communities and beyond been stimulated to join online in ‘corporate’ prayer.

From the start of lockdown Dr Arthur Frost has been holding an online breaking of bread and prayer daily — that is, every day since the end of March till now — for the nation od Soth Africa, , with thousands joining him.

Chief Justice Magoeng Magoeng, an outspoken Christian, has arranged ongoing prayer and fasting initiatives, with the reading of appropriate scriptures every day. See here.

Many church leaders are calling the nation to combined prayer and repentance in an online meeting.

There are so many initiatives it is difficult to participate in them all.

God’s people are showing Him to the world

While God’s people are turning to Him in prayer, they are also being His hands, feet, and voice to those whose lives the virus has devastated. Millions of food parcels and practical help has been given to those in dire need. Comfort has been shown to the bereaved and retrenched. Hope has been instilled in the fearful. As I say, in God in the ICU, when we pray for someone in need, we should listen to God’s response. Could it be we are the answer to our own prayer? Certainly, in South Africa, the church has taken this seriously.

God has taken the initiative

However, it’s the prayer that excites me most. Whenever God is about to pour out His Spirit, he stimulates His people to pray. God is clearly at the centre of the prayer initiatives.

Let’s learn from the surfers

I’ve hung around surfers a bit and learned their big wave compatriots. They can predict when the big waves will hit a coastline weeks before they do so, and make their arrangements to be there when they hit.

I feel a bit like one of those guys. I sense a swell in the spirit ocean that is heading inexorably to shore. There’s a wave of revival heading for our coasts. Let’s be like the big wave surfer who prepares himself and makes sure he’s in the right place when the wave makes landfall.

When revival comes, let’s be ready to embrace everything God has for us. It is going to be an awesome, exhilarating time as He prepares His Bride for His return.

PERSEVERING, ENDURING AND WAITING

By Dave Walker | September 7, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

Ensuring you finish well

As lockdown in its various forms, drags on and we wonder if we will ever get back to normal — and what that ‘normal’ will look like — I’m reminded of a recurring theme throughout the Bible. That theme is perseverance, with its sisters, waiting and endurance.

Derek Prince makes the distinctions clear, and each one is relevant to our situation.

Perseverance: Keep doing the right thing in spite of..

Perseverance is continuing in our pursuit in the face of adverse circumstances. How vital that is in these times. Physically it is so tempting to drop our guard and neglect social distancing, mask wearing and sanitising when it gets irritating and tedious. Spiritually, when we’re feeling depressed and God doesn’t seem to be coming through for us, it’s tempting to neglect our time with Him — to allow our spiritual disciplines to lapse.

This hit me in an unexpected way. With our church providing daily devotionals, an online prayer time with hundreds of our congregations participating, and an online church service, I’ve found my personal one on one time with the Lord taking a back seat. And yet I desperately need that time to hear from God personally, meditate on His Word and pray – just me and God. This is when the Bible urges me to persevere in what I’ve always done. I’ve had to deliberately discipline myself in this, making an appointment with God early in the morning and sticking to

Endurance: Don’t buckle under pressure

Endurance, Derek Prince says, is not buckling, and giving up under difficult circumstances. It is tempting to give up on God when He doesn’t seem to be coming through for us. When we can’t see how Romans 8:28 can possibly be right when it says, “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” and we’re going through such hell with a job loss or loneliness or illness. But the Bible calls us to endure to the end — and there will be an end, when God who, perhaps imperceptibly, has been with us through it all, will show us His faithfulness.

In my book, Prayer, Medicine and Miracles, I describe how messy a cleft lip repair looks halfway through the operation. Imagine if the mother had to see what the surgeon is doing at that stage and, in horror at the appearance of her child, snatched it away from him. She would then live with a deformed child, blaming the surgeon, who, if she’d only waited, would have had a beautiful lip in place of an ugly cleft. Sometimes, I think, when we fail to endure, this can happen to us as we do not allow God to finish the work He started.

Waiting: Anticipating a good outcome

Waiting is more a case of being expectant. In these amazing times, I’m eagerly waiting to see what God is doing. As those in the world become lovers of money, more and more narcissistically lovers of themselves and hooked on pleasure-seeking in all its forms; as children are being encouraged by educational authorities to disobey their parents (see 2 Tim 3:2); as Christians are being persecuted even in the West; as violence and aggression escalate, it seems we are nearing Christ’s return. Of course, we don’t know the time, but we can read the signs, and I’m waiting with eager expectation. But our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Saviour from there… (Phil. 3:20)

It’s the expectation that fortifies us to endure. Jesus, for the joy set before Him — the eager expectation of our being united to the Father — endured the Cross, scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2)

So, no matter how long the road, or how invisibe the end, let’s persevere in doing good and maintaining a close relationship with the Lord; let’s endure the hardship, trusting God to see us through and to work it for our good; let’s wait with eager expectation to see what God is doing through this pandemic and all its ramifications, anticipating that this, in a sense, is the beginning of the end.

Derek Prince, when asked what he would say, in one sentence about God, said this: “God is faithful.”

That means, in everything He is true to His loving nature. You can trust him to come through, no matter what.

Social Distancing and Prayer

By Dave Walker | August 18, 2020 | Comments 0 Comment

How is it affecting your prayer life?

We can no longer connect physically as we pray

In these days of social distancing (which, as someone has rightly said, should be called spatial distancing, since our social interaction should still be close), we have little opportunity to pray with others. Much of our prayers need to be offered from a different location from that of the person for whom we are praying.

While that is, in fact normal practice for much of our prayers — we ask others, for example, in church or via social media to pray for those whom we know need our prayer —, I miss not having the opportunity to lay hands and pray directly with someone, rather than just for them.

Jesus prayed at a distance for healing

Praying from a distance is not new. Jesus, on three recorded occasions healed from a distance. The centurion asked Jesus just to say the word and his servant would be healed, and He did. (Matt. 8:5-13); a royal official asked Jesus to come and heal his dying son and Jesus merely told him his son was well (John 4:46-54); the Syrophoenician woman remonstrated with Jesus and He healed her daughter from a distance.(Matt; 15:21-28).

In my Quiet Time, I am used to praying for my family and friends who are far away, but I have to confess when it comes to corporate prayer, though I know there are sometimes hundreds of others praying with me on Zoom or YouTube, it doesn’t feel the same as when we are in the same room and I hear the murmur of voices echoing around the room.

We can employ our imagination as we pray

It is then that I use my imagination as I think God intended us to use it. I believe He has given it to us to picture the invisible. Now, as we pray in our weekly times of ‘corporate’ worship and intercession, I picture all those on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube joining with the angels in heaven — all of us before the throne of grace in praise and intercession. I have often pictured angels joining in with our prayers, so it is not a big step to picture our church members participating with them.

The norm for Jesus was to be present when He healed

Nevertheless, as Garth Wiebe points out in his blog, only once did Jesus pray from a distance of His own initiative. Otherwise, when He healed in this way, it was at the request of the centurion and because the Syrophoenician woman was not a Jew. So, the norm was for Him to be present and I must say, I have found there is such a different dynamic praying with a person rather than just for them. Nearly always, as I was in practice, when I prayed for my patients, I laid hands on them. In fact, I describe in God in the ICU how a young boy was not responding to treatment until I asked the whole family to come into the ICU and lay hands on their son or brother. Then God responded miraculously.

Now, the closest one can get to a personal prayer encounter is to pray over the phone with someone. I have felt the Holy Spirit’s presence on occasions as I have done this.

God is not restricted by time or space

But I’m so glad God is not restricted by time or place or method. Let’s, by faith, not slacken off with our prayers. Let’s continue to pray for healing for our sick — particularly those who have been infected with Covid 19 — for protection for those on the frontline in fighting this pandemic, for godly decisions for our leaders, secular and spiritual, and for ourselves that we may make our petitions with thanksgiving in our hearts so that the peace of God, which passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in an intimate knowledge of our wonderful, faithful God.