Helping Hands

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.~Exodus 17:12


The words came to me as I waited. "strengthen the arms". While myself and others were gathered around various members of a particular church ministry this Sunday morning, I waited for words from God. There were a fair few of us crowded around this particular chap and as people laid hands on him, as is often the case, I found myself, with a greatly limited amount of viable body parts on which to lay my hand. I slipped my hand between others and rested it awkwardly on the back of his upper arm. Then, as other, enthusiastic and passionate people launched into their prayers I asked God silently for some words or a picture. That was when these words came, "Strengthen the arms".

As is often the way I almost immediately started to dismiss the thought as just a feeble link between my consciousness and sub-consciousness suggested by the location of my hand. And maybe it was. But we do believe, after all, in a God who is in all, and who is working in all things. I explored the words in my mind as I half listened to the other prayers and asked the Lord to make it a bit clearer.

This man is part of our healing on the streets team. It was in this capacity that he was being prayed for in the service in question. The team go out into the streets of our little market town and set up stall, inviting people from the public to come and sit down to be prayed for. And here is the key; payer. As I thought more about it I remembered that this brother is involved in just about every type of prayer ministry going in the church. He prays for people in the prayer room after our services, he attends most of the prayer meetings, is always heavily involved in weeks of prayer and fasting and he personally leads a team of people who prayer-walk the streets of our town and surrounding villages.

I toyed with the idea of simply praying that he would receive strength for all the work he does but as I waited my turn, independently the image of Moses holding up the staff of God (while Joshua battled the Amalekites) came into my mind. I knew this man was a Moses type, a prayer warrior. It occurred to me that he, in his prayers, was like Moses holding up the staff. While he does so we, just as Joshua on the ground was, are winning the battle.

God has been speaking a lot to me about two intricately linked (and seemingly opposed) aspects of our spiritual service. One is our Value as part of a team the other is our value as individuals. I seriously doubt here that I will add anything new to this well trodden pathway but I want to encourage us a little.

1. I am an individual.

In the story there are at least four roles being discussed. We have Joshua leading the fight against the Amalekites. We have Joshua's troops in the thick of the fighting, dying and killing in the midst of the fray. We have Moses on the hill top holding up the staff. Latterly we have Aaron and Hur holding up Moses hands as he holds the staff aloft. It doesn't take a genius to be able to see that in order for this to work we need all the elements to be present. If the army is all Moses or all Joshua, it isn't going to work. If we are all supportives, like Aaron and Hur (but there is no Moses) there is no cutting edge, the effectiveness is lost. You get the picture. It may seem here that I am emphasising teamwork over individualism but that is not so. I merely point out that there are different roles in order to show you that who you are is extremely important. We all need to find our place to serve, our sweet spot. Yes we are asked to do things at times that we are not as comfortable with, to step into the gap and cover for each other but never think that that is all we are to do. God made you YOU for a reason. Knowing where we are most effective is a vital key in ensuring that we are as well placed as possible to serve the kingdom as effectively. No Aaron should be trying to be a Joshua, thinking that Joshua's role is the one with the most honor. That would be a disaster when battle came. Likewise Joshua would be partially wasted only standing up on the hill top while timid Moses leads the troops into combat.

I do not think it an overstatement to say it is vital, absolutely vital, to discover who you are and invest in investigating what bit is that "Tiggers do best" in your own case. Don't be afraid to try and fail at some things along the way. Elimination is a vital part of our walk and with Godly wisdom and grace it can be just as valuable as a prophetic word. Who are you in him? There's a question worthy of exploration. You are Gods valued possession and his gift to the church. Never underestimate your part.

2. We are all individuals (working together as a team)

Just as it is vital to know who you are it is vital to know where your place is and how to work harmoniously with others within that sphere of service.This is all tying in with my personal journey right now because I have recently been liberated by finding that there are some things I have been trying to do that are not part of my gifting or my calling. In some ways, by pursuing these I may have even drained valuable resources away from better uses. Once you know who you are you can step back when you need to and allow others to flourish in what they are called to do. Conversely you can step forward into the breech when you see there is something that you know you can do that is not being done.

In the story each are playing their part and yet working together. Today I had another picture as we were praying for our new youth worker. These pictures seem to grow as I explore them. This one started with a sense of a meeting of roads. Peoples journeys coming together. I felt that at this junction in our churches history we were all meeting at the same place and bringing different experiences and talents together for one purpose. Then the picture transformed into rivers converging, tributaries and smaller rivers meeting and forming a larger more powerful river, one that will go out into our community and bring life in the wastelands, refreshment and healing though what it causes to live.

This team picture is important to me because the worker who we were welcoming today will in some ways be taking over (or at least adding to) some of the roles and responsibilities that I have hither to held. And so it is important to understand that there are no egos here but only one purpose and heart; To glorify God and to make his love known. And the river picture helps me (and I hope it helps you) because it is as we flow together that what we do becomes more powerful, more vital, more effective. In working and walking together we do not LOSE our identity but rather, if we walk in love and reverence of one another and of Christ, we FIND our identity and we find, in our church family, those who are prepared to hold up our arms when we get weary and so we win the war and share the victory the Lord has bought us.

And so I concluded that God wanted to bring people in to "strengthen the arms" of this prayer warrior that I was praying for. He is an amazing man and I honor him and I believe God honours him (and wants us all to) as a man who knows who he is and where he should be serving, as part of the body. But also the word that God bought to me does not absolve me of any responsibility of looking at how I may be a part of this arm strengthening. Quite apart from bringing the word I must look at how best to support this brother who supports us all. This is part of our flowing together. One in mind, heart, purpose and direction. One body, one people, one church, one love and one Lord. To him alone be the glory, forever.

I must, I must, improve my trust.

 An unusual thing happened to me of late. My little Nissan Micra became financially unviable after it failed its MOT. Nothing unusual about its failing; it failed every year without fail, if you'll forgive the wordplay. As a rather older car it was a bit prone to the old rust and each MOT revealed some new welding job, or other, that had to be done. I accepted the cost of the welding as part of the overall running cost. As not much else went wrong with it, it seemed quite negligible in the grand scheme of things. However the hundred pounds or so that it usually cost was not a negligible sum to me. I scarcely have ten pounds to spare at the end of each month, let alone a hundred. Fair dues though, I have always managed. Some how God has provided for me. This year, however, the overall cost of the repairs were closer to £400. Given that my car was given to me for free and its actual value would have been estimated at a couple of hundred, it made no sense to pursue its repair, whether the Lord provided the money or not.

Now I say that I have always managed but this does not mean that I have always been calm about the situation. I would love to be able to paint a picture for you in which I am a gentle and unassuming man of faith with a steady confidence and unwavering belief in the Lords provision, a certain steel in my gaze as I stride confidently into the future God has for me. The truth, though, is that I am a flapper and a worrier. It doesn't seem to matter what my past experience of Gods provision is, there is always an element of panic. I don't so much stride confidently as shuffle reluctantly.

I have no reason for such panic really. God knows how much I need that car but then, that's just the thing; God KNOWS how much I need it. Its not a material thing, as such, its not a nice extra. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say it's essential to the smooth running of my parenting and many other aspects of my life. Essential maybe a slight overstatement but I would say that it is integral to what I do.

I have no reason for such panic. My first car was given to me by a friend who was something of a mechanic. My second car was given to me as a birthday present by my Father. My third car was given to me by friends from my church. My fourth (and present) car was given to me by an acquaintance through the youth work I do. You see, God and his people have looked after my transport needs so well (and I hear them all say "If only you had looked after your transport well") that I have every reason for having confidence in Him.

And we come now to the unusual thing I spoke off at the start of this blog; a sense of trust in God. As things started to go pear shaped with my Micra, I really started to panic. I knew that this time there was no way I was going to be able to afford to fix it, even if the cost had only been a hundred again. I was so worried that I got my house group to pray that it would pass its MOT. It felt as though I were asking for a resurrection. On the morning of the test I was running around like a headless chicken trying to sort out bits and bobs, spending precious money, needlessly, on it.

 Later while I was at work I got the call to say that she had failed and what the estimated cost of the repair was to be. What I experienced, although I had. in my way, already tried to trust him previously and had placed it all in his hands, was a genuine sense of peace about it all. Not a sort of airy fairy cloud-like peace but a calm confidence that it was being looked after. I think finally all the good he has done for me over the years has started to filter through. I think its my lesson of the moment. I am still in the middle of this car crisis but some really decent saints have come to my aid time and time again and I am getting through it and learning a good deal in the process. I know God will provide for my need and his grace is sweet and it is sufficient no matter what the outcome.

I chose the illustration of the car to show you the passage of Gods faithfulness to me. It is so hard to trust him in the present when all seems to be falling apart. It is hard in those times to remember his past faithfulness. If I told the stories of his miraculous mechanical provision from a pulpit they might sound like victorious faith storys but at the time it never felt like that. It felt like a tale of blind panic followed by embarrassed relief.

But this doesn't just apply to cars. Like I said, it's Gods lesson of the moment to me. I am a very slow learner. I cant tell you how pleased I was with myself when I realised that my first reaction, when I get something tangled in a chair leg is no longer to simply pull harder to free it. Now my first reaction is to stop and then to trace the cable (or whatever it is) to the source of the blockage. When I found myself doing this instinctively, I realised that I really had changed. I found it so moving and such a real source of hope. I know, its a joke, right? But when these things don't come naturally to you they mean a lot more. So this first sign that I am beginning to trust him more is a real relief to me too.


Do not let your heart be troubled. You have put your trust in God, put your trust in Me also.~ John14:1


And so I find myself just starting out on this voyage into the realm of real trust. I feel like a boy in a dinghy just pushing off from the coast into truly deep oceanic waters. But the truth is I can trust him for everything. In the waiting and the surrendering of fear; I am growing, character (no matter how slowly) is forming. He is in every situation and so I can trust him for my future. I can trust him for my children. I can trust him that if I am to be alone or partnered, he is my all in all. I can trust him for my loved ones who have gone on before me. I can trust him for my mother, who trusted him as she worked through the process of healing from the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. She trusted him year after year, turn after turn, from mountain peak to valley floor. She wavered at times, sure, but she proved him trustworthy. That is her legacy to me, that is what I always remember about her faith, her sincerity and her certainty in the ultimate goodness of God. She was given a prophetic picture about three tears that must be shed for her healing. The last tear that had to be shed in this picture was for her fear of death. I believe that God showed her first hand, at the age of 57, there really was nothing to be scared of and he showed her, first hand, for herself. She would have been 65 tomorrow.

Its all an MOT; Matter Of Trust!

I think that for all of us, trust is sometimes the hardest lesson of all. It means relinquishing control (but don't worry, it was only an illusion anyway), it means laying down the idols (yes the idols) that we have formerly leaned on for support, it means walking in darkness with nothing but a promise and a hand to hold. But that hand is stronger and more sure than anything in all creation, it is your fathers hand, the hand of God.

                                                 

 

Jennie Anne Burt

(Mum)

  05/02/1948 - 26/07/2005