Proverbs 24.13 My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. 14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
Psalm 19.10 (of the wisdom, precepts and law of the Lord) More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Hebrews 6.4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again
– enlightened – seen with spiritual eyes, the kingdom, the world, the beauty of Jesus and the church – shared in the Holy Spirit – the common flow, his leading and speaking and our obedience to promptings, his presence, – tasted the goodness of the word of God – the word alive, speaking to one another in the spirit, prophecy – (and) the powers of the age to come – gifts, miracles, answers to prayer, vision
Do you recognise these experiences?
Do you recall times when it was all especially real, when grace was moving in a palpable way, times of blessing?
Money is terrible stuff, but used with love and sacrificially it becomes spiritually valuable.
Grace is the opposite of selfish material acquisitiveness. It is God’s own outflow of his life, his love and even his faith, which runs into and through the new spirit of a saint and on in giving and worship.
His life in your spirit is what makes you truly alive, inspired, awake to spiritual realities, and moved by faith and love. Mere doctrine or opinions are death otherwise. The things of this world are dry dust that chokes the infrastructure of heaven and you can’t see clearly any more.
Faith connects with God in your spirit; it is the connection, the flow. The channels are open, the inflow and outflow can run, the body lives as each limb and organ pulsates with the common life and wellbeing is enjoyed by the whole, a holy wealth and prosperity without the slightest complacency or self interest.
Faith, hope and love cannot be destroyed but stream from God through you and circle back to him with your fragrance.
Profit accrues to your account every time his life flows through you by love in self giving, though it is not your first motive, only an effect. Just as receiving back spadefuls of grace and provision are not the reason you give, only an encouragement, and a proof every time that the fear was safe.
Our poverty is ironic in a rich country, our dryness is tragic beside the ocean of grace. My preferring dust to the riches of Jesus a shame, but drawing from them is sweet water and a fresh waking, a chance to give again.
2 Corinthians 4.7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
It places great demands upon our bodies, souls and spirits to carry the Holy Spirit in this life, to walk in him, to work out his word and will, to keep ourselves clean or cleaned up again, to be ready to serve each demanding day, to interpret his nudges and glimpses, to sometimes be the word acted out, to be puzzled, humbled, trained and tested, to make your body get up and press on, to be conduits of his love.
To keep seeking more, to be surprised every time at how he does it, to get in the Spirit by faith, the place of faith where all things are possible.
To see through a glass, a dark enigma, searching for his face his voice; there he goes upon the mountains, always ahead further up.
To share this life together, tending the flames, the joy, and warming our hearts at each other’s hearth. Letting the flames dance as we worship and minister as one and the treasure sparkles. Aching for others, reaching out. We are your children, born of grace to own you here, we Christophers.
To keep a peaceful mind and heart through the storms of the word or of life. The cares of life that wear you out or the temptations and distractions that drain your life, or the pride that deceives and poisons.
Guarding the flame despite sickness and mental struggles, injustices; falling in love or relationship pain. Despite ageing, parenting, work pressures, or rumours of wars. Despite sleepless nights or fun parties, thrill rides and swimming in the sun, winter’s depth and death’s agonies, suffering’s nightmare.
Hating dullness, accepting ordinariness, waiting and waiting again. Yet he is always close beside your heart and thoughts. Swimming up against the gravity of natural life, gasping the air above, drinking the light, basking in his love again. Ready to obey.
Lord I need you today so much. I accept the responsibility to carry you in my very human being, scary though it is – but also the most amazing gift of love, you in me. Here is my body offered for the task today. Jesus your name, my hope, my all. Help me get a right mind, illuminated by your word till I know your life within and faith’s expectancy that all is well and all will be well whatever comes, because I am your child, your servant.
The Roman empire had a resilient infrastructure and governance. But it was morally rotten and God brought it down like a house of cards. It took a long time to end completely because of that resilience, but finish it did.
I think the Western empire is a house of cards that will fall at God’s hand very soon. There is resilience in its systems – infrastructure, governance, knowledge, which will keep a lot going, but basically it has been weighed in the balance by God and found gravely lacking in its morality, oppressions, a parody of Christianity, greed and arrogance, so he is calling time and the house of cards will fall.
He has raised up enemies against it that are harrying it now. The order of things in the spiritual realm and invisible powers are changing, and the West’s day has come to be humbled.
It is time to look to God and his kingdom that cannot be shaken. The lowly Lamb of God offers forgiveness and the caring love of God in the midst of frightening events and uncertain futures. His children hang on to each other and are safe in the ark that is Jesus. Then watch out for his presence and miracles…
If you think I’m bonkers, overheated, or simply wrong, fine. It’s only my take on things, so take it or leave it, but please don’t be abusive. Bless you.
Normally twice a week at about 0615. First thing is better for me; it feels harder later in the day perhaps because I’m a morning person.
I am blogging it because it might help others, not to impress anyone. Most gym goers (I have never used a gym) will hardly be impressed anyway!
Plus doing something creative in a day, like a blog, gives me pleasure.
I started the regime in 2012 when I had turned 60, with only a few elements, and developed it over time. Press ups especially took a long time to peak at 32.
It isn’t based on any professional advice, just accumulated, with some friends’ suggestions.
As you age you have to work harder to counter muscle wastage and joint stiffness. I found that my strength increased significantly with this regime.
I have also built in pelvic floor exercises at the same time, because I had my prostate out in 2014 which affected my waterworks. Combining this with exercises helps the routine and saves time.
I use counting in seconds (saying to myself ‘1 second, 2 second…’) for timed units, and my phone timer for the plank (reading the news at the same time).
The whole thing takes only 15-20 minutes depending on gaps etc.
It also helps mental strength, overcoming resistance to the effort.
If very tired or ill it can take time to recover enough to restart exercises.
The Exercises
32 press ups.
– For shoulders, arms and upper body strength. The key is speed. Each person probably has their own optimum. Start with 5 and you soon be able to do more.
Calf stretch ten seconds each leg, pushing against fixed furniture, on toes.
– Against cramp (and muscle tear if running).
10 straight arms up, swing arms in backward rotations.
10 thigh stretch, standing holding ankle, other hand holding on.
– Leg strength and freedom of movement.
10 seconds, upright static knee bend.
– Back strengthening.
5 hip rotation as far round as possible, standing hands on hips, with neck rotation. 5 the other way round.
– Suppleness.
5 pull ups on door lintel, high enough to see on top of hanging picture.
– Hand and arm strength.
20 straight arms standing lifting a weight (stool etc) high.
– Arm and shoulder strength.
Second half.
Lie on back, head on cushion:
20 flip folded legs, feet on floor, side to side.
– Hip flexibility.
10 pull each leg up in turn holding knee front pulling folded for 3 seconds, then pull back of knee a few times, leg stretched out high 6 seconds, repeat folded 3. (Pelvic floor exercise: 3 sec light, 3 medium, 3 strong, 3 medium, 3 light.)
– Suppleness of hips, leg strength.
Lift one straight leg 6 inches (15cm) off the floor (other leg either flat (harder) or folded with foot down (easier), hold 5 seconds, leg sideways hold 5, back to centre hold 5, up higher 5, high sideways 5, back to centre high 5, lower to 6 inches 5, sideways 5, centre 10. Repeat with other leg. Shape is like an old TV aerial.
– Abdominal muscles and leg strength.
30 seconds arch back high with feet underneath.
– Strengthens lower back.
5 seconds kneel folded body relaxed, then unfold knees with arms straight and hands on floor, hinge forward, 5 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
– General flexibility.
The end.
Total time usually 15-20 minutes.
Frequency is normally twice a week now but originally daily, then alternate days. Settled at twice a week for the last few years.
Twice a week on different days I also aim to run 3km+. I listen to a podcast on bluetooth headphones because running for me is a boring ordeal.
– Cardio, general fitness, mental strength.
Some people might think ‘I couldn’t possibly do all that.’
Well for one thing, as with couch-to-5k, you’ll find that from a small start you very soon get stronger.
For another, even a little amount of exercise is good for just about every health benefit.
I think that it’s time I came out with my position on gay marriage, gay pride, homosexuality and all that.
Breaking news: I’ve just finished reading Exchanging the truth of God for a lie by Jeremy Marks, and it’s overturned many of my assumptions. The following blog must be completely revised…
This blog is very much subject to review and update, because it is too easy to think you’re right and say things that offend or hurt without intention. But all attitudes that condemn or disapprove of others as people are wrong. Loving the sinner (of whom I’m up there among the chiefs) and hating the sin, whatever it is, is beyond us frankly.
So first I want to say that I have good friends who are gay. And I shared a room in Christian community with a gay brother, with no problems at all.
The lady who taught us at junior school shared a bed with a woman who dressed as a man. My parents in the 60’s referred to some people as queer, with good humour and no criticism.
I have been a Christian for over 50 years. I don’t believe in sinner-bashing: God loves all people and Jesus died for all. But all people do need to repent of their sin, which everyone is born inclined towards by nature. Our only hope of escaping sin’s deadly grip is to be born again by the Spirit of God through the blood of Christ that bought our forgiveness. One problem, one solution.
So dear gay people, give your lives to Jesus and let God lead you from there, as we all need to do.
At this point I declare an anxiety: that many will only hear ‘rejection of gays’ or ‘condemn gay people’ or ‘we don’t want evil gays in church’ – nonsense that I’m not saying and I do reject.
I want you to hear that I think that it is not a sin to be gay, but that gay sex is a sin – no more or less than any other sin. Again I think that many react to anything being called sin, as if it is self righteous and ‘holier than thou’. If I was saying that sex in marriage is good but outside marriage it is sin, would that be any more acceptable? I suspect that calling anything sin is simply out of fashion.
Biblically, God made people male and female, and marriage is for a man and a woman with part of the purpose being procreation. The old testament is pretty harsh about homosexuality. The new testament hardly addresses it except for Paul’s clear disapproval in Romans 1. He implies that homosexual practice is a choice that people make in defiance of God. Is that nonsense? Well all human sin is in defiance of God. I maintain, for instance, that atheists do not reject faith in God because they are rationalists (I’m one of those too), but because they hate God. Check it out. Richard Dawkins was my tutor briefly at university, and his hatred of God is extreme – but why?
I am aware of various views about other references in the new testament, including the idea that pederasty was in view. But the fact that people have got equally strong views on either side means it’s best to avoid dogmatism there.
I believe then that gay sex is wrong and gay marriage should not be endorsed by churches. However gay people and even couples should be welcomed by the church as much as anyone else, because everyone needs a place where God can speak to them as only he does.
All Christians have their own temptations and weaknesses, and gay people no less or more. There are many difficult issues for Christians and churches to work out and this is another one. Let grace prevail but sin be avoided.
What about gay pride with its marches or carnivals? I think they also defy God. I understand the joy of being united in a cause, and for being free from persecution, so I won’t rant like some do. Gay bashing is just another form of racism, or the self righteous attacking the outsider.
As I understand it, no one is born homosexual. We vary genetically but I don’t think there is any evidence for gay genes. And if it is not nature then it must be nurture, possibly including group pressure. I do allow that some may be born with a disposition more susceptible to homosexual temptations, but others will incline in other ways. We all have to choose between right and wrong.
I do not agree with conversion therapy. I do believe that homosexuality is largely rooted in childhood experiences and especially parenting. Those issues can be addressed with faith and grace, but it doesn’t mean that a gay person must become straight.
I know a gay woman who is a serious Christian and has asked God earnestly to change her to straight, without effect. She has also yet to find a church that makes her feel unconditionally accepted; shame on us, though the Church of England church that I and my family belong to, would do as well as any, I’m sure.
Are gay people therefore condemned to being celibate in terms of gay sex, and possibly lonely? To the first, and in a word, that may be the case, though God knows each person’s needs. I was celibate and a virgin for 36 years with no expectation of marriage. Then I fell in love and ended up happily married with two children – hardly a standard example, but at least I lived happily without sex for decades.
On the other hand, some gay Christians have found grace to be with a straight partner, as God led them. Each story is unique. But again I am not saying that every gay person ought to be able to change their sexuality, or that I endorse any ministry to bring that about; I don’t. Only God can lead each person on their best path as lovers of Jesus.
But to the second aspect of accepting loneliness – no. All people need friendship and a sense of belonging. The church above all should provide it, and I have experienced that as well. Friendship exclusively among other gay people would make it extremely difficult to remain pure. Celibate partnership in gay couples is possible, which seems ok to me; but in the end each must respond to their conscience.
So am I anti gay? No.
Am I anti sin? Yes, including mine. And including the sin of being judgemental toward gay people.
Is it a sin to be gay? No. It may be a result of damage in early life, or a lifestyle choice, or both, or something else – I don’t really know.
Is gay sex sinful? Yes. It runs in the face of God’s creative order, defies biblical teaching in my view, and is ultimately self destructive for that reason.
Is gay marriage sinful? A grey area to me, but I am inclined to say yes, even if the couple are Christians. But the label ‘sinful’ isn’t really helpful because it’s so loaded. Better to say that it isn’t in line with God’s way for us.
And just as we should not reject or condemn someone for smoking, though it is hardly a godly practice if your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit – so we should treat a gay couple with the same grace, leaving God to speak to them about where to go from there. Spurgeon and his pipe apart, we should think carefully before making a smoker a leader in the church, or a sexually active gay person. I hope that doesn’t cause feelings of rejection too. How others see us is far less important than how God sees us, and he always sees each person first with love.
Black lives matter, transgender issues, so called woke liberals, political correctness, and various backlash responses are for another blog, if I feel the need.
I’ll leave it there and pray that it is more help than hindrance.
It’s me being pretentious about stuff that’s not the end of the world, but leaning that way.
The West rules ok, right? The dollar calls the tune, same old. Britannia rules the waves or maybe the tea cup; party on and thank the bankers. The people eat cake, lies, and play the fiddle. That’s what Meta’s for.
Game on, mine and wolfy.
A pack is on the prowl and close in on their big fat prey while it tramples the planet and the devil claims tomorrow by right.
A pack called Barrels, Iwreck, Udrain, Ham, His and Who, add an Ass, and sheer Puppeteer; some sunny intervals.
Pax with bricks, tigers and wolves; all players twist their own agendas. One is playing chess, smartly, by proxy.
The West, fat as a container ship full of plastic, tech and souls, is in trouble – like a big slow boxer lumbering from one corner of the ring to another taking big swings, collateral damage, gets a blind sider.
Towers, sand banks and bats were heaven’s call to the greedy, proud, savvy, preacher West, but we didn’t catch it in our net. We had it coming.
The northern partner made a shot to the back of the net, and plays a long tedious game. Kamikazes keep coming from the shrewd wolf
… who took a knight with Ham, and pawns; cornered a raging lion. Now in the red bottle neck Who makes a move that puts us in check.
Here comes 2024, with a bang – and the whimper of victims. Listen up.
Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation (Mark 14.38, Mark 13.37).
It sounds a bit removed from my daily life of busy-ness and not being very fired up as a Christian. Maybe it’s just for apostles…
But it’s the crux of the spiritual life. Each day I have the choice to look to God and find his life in my spirit, or to allow distractions and, by default, temptations, to pull me down into the flesh, the unspiritual mind. Seek or weak.
King David, who had such love for God, and deep prophetic insights, fell into big temptation when he was idle, and the consequences spoiled the whole nation (2 Kings 11).
When I am alone, tired and at a loose end, I can find myself in the zone where resistance to temptation is very weak. It’s never worth it.
Or temptation comes as the chance to treat myself, to be passive and browse.
In conversation my tongue so often runs away with me, boasting, gossiping…
I’m sure we all have our flesh magnets.
Seeking God sounds like trying to pray in the early morning, or going on a pilgrimage. I think it is just as much cultivating a daily habit of turning your heart to God in the middle of the day’s business, to say Help or Hello.
What about ‘watching’, which comes before praying in Jesus’ words above? Well the first step in falling into temptation is forgetting that you can. The second is imagining what you could do; the rest is falling.
The battle and struggle of the Christian life is not just for those under real persecution. Probably more than for them, it is for us who live in a society that is chock full of distractions, pleasures and pressures that ensnare the believer who is not on their guard. Like me.
If you fall then it can be a slippery slope through guilt, weakness to hardening (Hebrews 3.13). There but for the grace of God go I.
So I need to always be on my guard against the traps that magnetise the flesh.
And I need to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5.17), keep my channels of communication open with God and keep seeking and finding (Matthew 7.7).
Does this sound like hard work, an extra demand on top of the cares of life (Luke 8.14)?
Seek or weak, there’s no third option. Wake up my soul.
Piersblog 