DUMB PRAYERS THAT I HAVE PRAYED AND GOD HAS ANSWERED OVER THE YEARS

Over the past nearly 29-years of pastoring Legana I have occasionally mentioned that one day I would write about “the dumb prayers that I’ve prayed.” It’s not really that they are all ‘dumb’ prayers, it’s that they are the kind of prayers that are guaranteed to be answered by God (because they are “surrendered” prayers) but have not been fully considered what God’s answer might entail. I do not consider the more well-known and obvious “dumb” prayers – such as praying for revival to bring in hundreds of lost/lonely/broken souls into the kingdom and then being surprised by God’s answer resulting in exhaustion, burn-out, over-stretched resources, spiritual attacks, and the inevitable pride. Neither do I consider the even more obvious “dumb” prayer for patience and humility and the resultant means (difficult people and obvious trials!) by which such a prayer can only be answered. Instead, I begin with a prayer I prayed as a teenager then others that I prayed down through the years which have led me to this unexpected point. What I hope, and pray, you might discover after you have read this is something which will might benefit you in your knowledge of God and how He often answers prayers.

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WHAT’S THE POINT OF PRAYING THEN?

There a different ways to pray. Some prayers can be verbalised. Some prayers can be silent. Some prayers are spontaneous. Some prayers are prepared. Some prayers are prayed in private and are clumsy. Some prayers are prayed in public and are clever. Some prayers are long. Some prayers are short – even just one word. Whatever way you pray, there are three things you need to keep in mind.

¶ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ¶ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
JESUS THE CHRIST, Matthew 6:5-7

Firstly, when we pray, we are talking to God. When praying at a public occasion we are still praying to God and we are praying on behalf of those present. Out of respect for those who are present these public-occasion prayers should be well considered. This is why I recommend writing such prayers out and reading them with passion when prayed in public. Otherwise, the pray-er often sounds confuddled with mindless phrases such as this prayer I have heard many times:

“Father God, oh Father God, Father God Lord, I [pause] I come to You to pray Father God, Father God Lord. Yeah [pause] Amen.”

(Perhaps this should go in the obvious dumb prayer category because I have no idea what is being prayed for.)

Secondly, when we pray, particularly in private, our words don’t particularly matter. There are not ‘right’ words to use in prayer. Prayer is not magic. Prayer is not like a Harry Potter spell. Prayer is coming from your spirit to God’s Spirit (Rom. 8:26; 1Cor. 2:11). God hears your heart when you pray.

Thirdly, God always hears our prayer but does not always answer our prayer/s they way we want. Prayer should be an expression of worship for God and trust in Him. When we pray we should also trust God with the timing of His answer not just the ‘how’ of His answer. One of the most inspirational books on prayer that I ever read — which had an enormous influence on my life — wasn’t even a book on prayer! It was the story of Dawson Trotman. As a young man he came to Christ and together with a few other guys they began praying for people, then nations, to come to Christ. Before his tragic drowning death as he rescued a young drowning girl, he had remarked that nearly everything he had prayed for some twenty-years earlier had been answered positively by God. “I now have” he said, “one regret – not that I didn’t pray enough, but that I didn’t pray for enough!” Dawson Trotman became one of Billy Graham’s intercessors and the founder coordinator of evangelism follow-up ministry called the Navigators. 

The point of praying is that we are invited by our heavenly Father to extend the reign of His Son over the earth through the ordinance of prayer. When we pray “Thy kingdom come!” we may not fully grasp either importance or the impact of our praying. 

 

WHAT’S ‘PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT’ THEN?

Christianity is the only ‘religion’ that regards prayer as a God-focused and God-empowered conversation. Jesus taught that after He had ascended back to the Father that it was imperative for His disciples to wait for the outpouring of the promised gift of the Holy Spirit who had been with the disciples up until that point, but when He would be poured out into the earth He would be in the disciples (Jn. 14:17). Other religions regard prayer quite differently. Some religions teach adherents that prayer is like meditation and needs to be mindless, while other religions teach their adherents that prayer involves the recitation of certain words sometimes in a language unknown to the pray-er such as Latin or Arabic. But Christianity teaches worshipers of the Creator and LORD to pray “in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20). This can be (i) praying a Spirit-gifted language that involves the Spirit-baptised believer speaking in tongues to God in prayer (1Cor. 14:2); or, (ii) praying in your heart-language in a way that the Spirit leads you to pray (1Cor. 14:15).

¶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26

 

WHAT’S GOD DOING IN ME WHEN I PRAY THEN?

When C.S. Lewis’s wife, Joy, was dying of bone cancer, Jack (C.S.) was seen praying everyday in the nearby Anglican chapel. The Rector asked him if he was praying to change God about Joy’s prognosis? Jack replied, “No, I’m praying for God to change me!” Since prayer is a worshipful conversation with God, there is a high likelihood that when we pray throughout our day as our spirit communes with God that our spirit is also ‘hearing’ unconsciously from God. This perhaps is even more pronounced when we pray in tongues to God. Therefore, what may surprise praying worshipers is just how much they positively change as they wait on God in prayer seeking His face rather than His attention (Jn. 15:7). 

 

MY DUMB PRAYERS

I consider a ‘dumb’ prayer to be one that the pray-er had not fully considered the implications of how God might answer that prayer. The unconsidered implications are especially its cost, discomfort, inconvenience, and potential suffering. At one point I was prayerfully begging God to redeem and rescue the hurting, lost, lonely and broken people of my community. Those who have experienced my pastoring will be aware how God answered that prayer and how at times it was overwhelming. Then I developed a deep concern for the unwell. Again, those who are aware of my pastoral journey will know that I began a season some time ago, when for every significant health issue that someone came to me for prayer, was actually put on me. On several occasions this resulted in me being hospitalised. The list of ‘dumb prayers’ below are only the first half of these answered prayers. I am leaving the second-half — the implications — to your imagination. These are some of my ‘dumb’ prayers over the years that God has answered and as a result I have been transformed and become more responsive to God’s will:

🥺 Father, send me wherever You want – but please don’t make it an easy place. Make it a really hard place spiritually. Make it a place where few of Your servants are prepared to go! [Prayed before Kim and I moved to Tasmania.]

🥺 Lord God, fill me with Your love. Give me Your compassion for the hard-to-love. Help me oh God to truly see people and to truly hear them! [Prayed after Kim and I moved to Tasmania.]

🥺 Jesus, help me to understand Your Word. Show me what Your Word really says and to see past what I have been taught and told Your Word says to see what Your Word truly says! [Prayed regularly while in Tasmania.]

🥺 Holy Spirit, please rescue the lost, the lonely, the broken, the hurting, the confused, and the unloved! Holy Spirit, please bring them into the Kingdom of Christ through Your church! Help me to love them, heal them, and care for them. In the meantime, please fill Your people with Your love and power to be the hands and the feet to offer the love, the care, and the Father’s adoption to these needy people. [Prayed very recently while in Tasmania.]

🥺 Lord GOD, give me the time I need to complete this PhD with Monash and help me to navigate each of the challenges that will arise in doing so! [Prayed very regularly in Tasmania at the moment.]

🥺 Father, help me to hear Your voice and to heed Your Word! In fact, help me to make a difference both now and for the next four centuries by what I will leave behind [Prayed presently while preparing to depart Tasmania for wherever God will lead us.]

🥺 God, have Your way in my life! Make me, shape me, and break me, to be conformed to Your will! [Prayed presently while preparing to depart Tasmania for wherever God will lead us.]

 

PRAYING FOR GOD’S WILL TO BE DONE IS NEVER DUMB

I am a Pentecostal, but I do not hold to the Word-of-faith / Prosperity-gospel. As a Pentecostal I believe that the gifts of the Spirit are still available and will be so until the eschaton (“the Last Day” referred to in John 6:39-44, 54; 11:24; 12:48).Thus, I believe that the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit still performs miracles – including transforming lost souls into saved saints. But I also believe – not because I am a Pentecostal, but because I am a Bible-believing Christian – that God is good and always does good. This means that God has a good will and that I need to pray according to His will — even when I do not like His will! My ultimate example to pray according to God’s will is the record of Jesus in Gethsemane just before He went to the cross. And therefore, so should we.

Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
Matthew 26:42-44

Thus, praying for God’s will to be done in your life is never dumb!

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

¶ Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
Luke 11:1

When one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, I wonder if he had been feeling (as many of us have often felt) that our prayers never seem to be answered? This disciple had watched and noticed that everything Jesus prayed for was answered by His heavenly Father. Who wouldn’t want to know how to pray prayers that always get a “Yes!” from God? And what Jesus taught him and his brother disciples was just that: A model prayer for how to always have God say “Yes!” to our prayers. If you want to prayers that are guaranteed to be answered, read on.

BAD THEOLOGY DISTORTS HOW WE PRAY

¶ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Matthew 6:7-8

Many of Christ’s public prayers were incredibly short. This stood in stark contrast to the religious leaders of His day whom Jesus said of them, “for a pretense [they] make long prayers” (Mark 12:40). The effectiveness of our prayers is therefore not dependent on how long they are or whether or not we use ‘the right words.’ But the effectiveness of our prayers is dependent upon us praying according to the will of God. The model prayer that Jesus taught His disciples explicitly includes the phrase “Your will be done” (Matt. 6:10). If you want your prayers answered, pray that! Ask God for His will to be accomplished in your life. But what Jesus taught about praying this way was much bigger than just about what God wants to do in our lives because that phrase continues, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). This presents two equal and opposite potential dangers. Firstly, there is the danger of understanding Christ’s prayerful words to mean that we should think of earth as our ultimate home. It’s not. God Himself is (for a home is not so much a dwelling, but where we are loved and secure). Secondly, there is the danger of understanding Christ to mean that earth is not our home and therefore we shouldn’t care too much about what happens here (since the focus sounds like it’s on heaven not earth).

From my experience, the reason that many believers become disappointed with God and His seeming lack of answers to their prayers, stems from bad theology. Sometimes this bad theology is based on a misunderstanding for how Christ taught His followers the model prayer. For example, I have heard preachers teach that when Christ taught His disciples to pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it in heaven, He was teaching that since there is no sickness or pain in heaven, that living in the will of God on earth meant that we could live without sickness or pain if we only had enough faith. But this is not only a misunderstanding of what Jesus taught us to pray it is also puts the focus of God’s will entirely into this life on earth. It is too easy for us to get so wrapped up in this life that we think this life is the main deal. This bad theology creates an unreal perception of our life on earth and also unreasonable expectations of how God treats our prayers. Bad theology becomes a curtain that distorts our view of both the world we live in, and of God Himself.

GOD’S WORD PULLS BACK THE CURTAIN

The Bible pulls back the curtain on this unreal perception of this world and tells us the truth. A distorted view of this world and of God may lead some believers to believe the wrong things such as “It is never God’s will that people die.” Yet the Bible reveals that we will all die (Hebrews 9:27). It is wrong to think that every disappointment and the setbacks you experience is the Devil attacking you. The Bible reveals that all of creation is subject to disappointment and frustration (Romans 8:20). In fact, the Bible reveals that in this world, you will subject to occasions where you experience distress, disease and the death of loved ones (Romans 8:22). While some believers might assume that these things are necessarily the judgment of God and will ask “What have I done to deserve this?” the Bible reveals that even the most godly and holy of believers experienced this. Consider the brief life of John the Baptist and then take a course in Church History from ICI College and note the lives (and the life-spans) of Savonarola, Latimer and Ridley, and Robert M. M’Cheyne. If we can align our understanding of God and our expectations for our lives on earth with what the Bible reveals, we will have a clearer picture of reality rather than the distorted picture that the world and bad theology affords!

This earth is meant to be a shadow of the ultimate reality that awaits us in heaven. Where this shadow of God’s rule is obscured because of the darkness of evil, we need to earnestly pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it in heaven. The Church is also a shadow of this reality that awaits us all. And in an incredibly powerful way (and something I point out to every couple I prepare for marriage) marriage is meant to be one of the clearest foreshadows of heaven. This is why I always tell a couple that I prepare for marriage, or counsel when they are, that marriage can be one of the closest things to heaven on earth that you will ever experience. But this should not cause singles to feel as if they have no potential to appreciate the heaven that awaits each child of God, because the sweetness of heaven is often glimpsed in those acts of pure friendship, love, kindness, and generosity by a brother or sister in Christ.

AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4

Every now and then it is good to be reminded of how the believer’s heavenly home is described so that when we pray Christ’s model for us we can do so intelligibly. Heaven the dominion where God rules. There is perfect peace there (note the metaphor of the “glassy sea” around God’s throne, Rev. 4:6). There is absolute justice there because the Ultimate Judge has executed perfect justice (Rev. 20:11-12). The things that the King of Kings has declared good are the only things that are valued and sought after. Those things, such as injustice, wrong-doing, selfishness, falsehood, and immorality (which is the fruit of idolatry) are prohibited in God’s heavenly domain (Rev. 21:27). Except for the faithful heavenly creatures, every other citizen of heaven has been rescued and redeemed and personally adopted by the King Himself (Rev. 21:3). Therefore, when we pray as Jesus instructed for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we should consider these expressions of God’s revealed will.

We should pray that:

• When God’s people gather they do so to glorify God.
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• When God’s people gather they should experience a foretaste of the peace of God that comes from being in His presence.
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• God’s people should seek to promote the will of God in society that all people obey God and His Word.
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• God’s people do all they can to promote the most fundamental aspect of justice—especially for the most vulnerable in our society—the right to live.
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• God’s people exemplify to the world what is good, right, honourable, and virtuous especially when it comes to human sexuality and decency. This must mean that publicly object to such things as slavery, sex-trafficking, pornography, sexual promiscuity, and prostitution—all of which degrade human beings and especially demean women to the status of objects rather than persons who bear the imago dei.
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• All people turn to Christ to be accepted by God and that the lie that all religions lead to God be exposed by the light of the gospel as a Devilish ruse designed to ensnare and delude his victims to a lost eternity.
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This is what we are praying for when we pray Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And a final note on what happens in the heart and life of any believer when they pray these big prayers: God often uses the pray-er to help answer the prayers they pray. This is why we protest when certain politicians defy the Living God, who is LORD of Heaven AND EARTH, by their wicked schemes to see the vulnerable treated as objects or an expense on a hospital’s financial report. It is why we take a prophetic stand against the devilish evil that views a child in the womb as a mere clump of tissue cells, or why a frail and ill elderly hospital patient is nuisance in an over-crowded hospital ward. It’s why we object when well-meaning but uninformed believers announce that God does not expect the non-believer to obey Him or His Word. Because, we pray with our Lord that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

 Pastor Andrew Corbett

Portends, iPads, Spines, & Sovereignty

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 
First Corinthians 15:46

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians 'first comes the natural then the spiritual'. This is the essence of a portend. This brief explanation is of course unnecessary for those familiar with Lord of The Rings. The word, 'Portend' was used several times in The Hobbit and each time it was used it added an eerie unease about what was about to happen. I recently experienced a portend and it involved my trusty iPad.

I was packing up my things from my office to head home and uncustomarily I had my iPad under my arm with some Board document folders for a meeting I was off to later that night. (I generally insert my iPad into a special compartment in my backpack. But not this time.) As I reached to turn off the lights in my office the iPad slipped from under my arm and landed on the carpet of my office. "No harm" I thought as I checked it fearing the worse. It turned on and seemed fine and importantly there was no damage to the screen. But then over the coming days my iPad began turning itself off randomly and performing woefully slowly. This was my portend.

I'm not the only pastor who finds it emotionally difficult to take holidays. But I mustered up the where-with-all to request the month of November off. As I approached the first day off my leave I began to notice that two weeks before it kicked in I was stiffening up and my pesky back spasms were flaring up, my sore knees were sorer and my occasional leg cramps were intensifying both in intensity and frequency. "Having a bit of a bad run" I thought to myself. Almost exactly a year earlier I succumbed glandular fever again and about a year before that I experienced another bout of shingles. And around the middle of this year the paroxysmal hemicraniums started. I began signing off my weekly pastoral emails to my church as, "From your frail and flawed Pastor". No one really knew why and I didn't really elaborate that much either.

The day my leave commenced I had to do one more thing to ensure that I could take my leave with all the necessary boxes ticked. As I left that mentoring breakfast meeting I hobbled to my car in pain and feeling intense back spasms. These had started over 5 years ago and my doctor had told me not to worry about them as it was probably just a torn Gluteus Medius muscle. But every few months after that initial diagnosis it seemed I was once again tearing my now pesky Gluteus Medius muscle. I drove to my office to collect some final things from there so I could switch off and commence my leave. As I hobbled into my office I received an acute jabbing pain near my right kidney region and collapsed to the floor. Nothing I could do relieved the pain or even made it comfortable. I lay on the floor in agony for about half an hour both grateful that it was a Saturday and the offices were closed (because then no one could see me or hear me screaming in pain) but at the same time concerned that I couldn't move. "I must have really torn it bad this time" I thought. I rang Kim and she came, brought some Voltaren for me and somehow managed to get me into the back of my car after half an hour or so.

For the next week I was involuntarily bed-ridden. Muscles generally take 3-4 days to come good. After 4 days I was still in intense pain and began to wonder whether this was just soft-tissue damage. On Day 6 my 9 year-old daughter rang the doctor and booked me in. He did some tests and said that my troubles were indeed not coming from damaged Gluteus Medius muscles. More than likely, he said, it was my spine. He arranged for me to have a CAT scan straight away. In the meantime he prescribed Movalis and Tramal SR. If I ever meet the industrial chemists who invented these two gifts to mankind I will shake their hands and buy them a decaf skinny latte to show my eternal appreciation to them.

I rang to get the result of my CAT scan a few days later. It's always a bit of a concern when the nurse says I can't discuss this over the phone, you need to meet with your GP. She made an appointment for me to see him immediately. "I'm sorry to tell you, I only have bad news for you" was one of his initial comments. He then shared some of the main points from two page CAT scan report. None of it was good. "You have the back of a 90 year-old former professional rugby player who has been in a traumatic motor-vehicle accident" he said. "At some point, you have broken your back and your back has made several attempts to repair itself, and in the process it has made things worse." And starting with double scoliosis, Baarstrup's Syndrome, extensive facet joint damage, several herniated discs, nerve entanglement, a compressed neural cortex, he began to go through the list of some of the things which the CAT Scan had detected. He then finished with, "And it's only going to get worse."

Since they only scanned half of my spine, I now have to have an MRI to determine how badly the rest of it might be damaged. This information will be analysed by a specialist neurologist in a few weeks to see if there's any point to attempting treatment or whether I am just given a management plan.

Like my iPad, my damage was not immediately evident. Like my iPad, I now occasionally 'shut down'. Very much like my iPad, everything I now do is much slower. And possibly like my iPad, there may be little to nothing that can be done to rectify my situation. Yet I rest securely in the sovereignty of God. When I came out from the doctor's surgery, I sat in my car stunned for several minutes. I've always considered myself relatively fit and able - and with a strong back! When I read Andre Agassi's book, "Open", I discovered that he too had developed a seriously worn back from playing tennis. The game which I love, and was committed to playing professionally, may have also prematurely worn out my back.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

While all this caught me off-guard, none of it has surprised God. He is sovereign and beautifully so. I don't just preach Romans 8:28, I believe it and worship God with my life because of it! But my challenges are pathetic and utterly inconsequential compared with those of some of my brothers and sisters - especially in those parts of the world where being a follower of Christ comes at an incredibly high price. I conclude elaboration on my recent portend with a beautiful YouTube clip from an Egyptian church in Minya to illustrate my conclusion.

Ps. Andrew

MY 3 BIGGEST PASTORAL PARADIGM SHIFTS, PART 2

CHANGING PARADIGMS

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—
Galatians 3:5

As I reflect on my upcoming pastoral anniversary I've also had cause to reflect on three of my most significant paradigm shifts over my pastoral career. I began to formally prepare for pastoral ministry in 1983 when I undertook my first Theological subject with ICI College. After completing two Advanced Certificates with them, I completed my Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies in  1996 with Emmanuel College. I was then invited to undertake Doctoral Studies with Cambridge Graduate School which I completed in 2002.

I found my Doctoral studies both enjoyable and humiliating. I had to undertake a lot of course work and begin a Dissertation. I was so confident that my first complete of my Dissertation was so perfect that I had it hardcopy bound with an expensive blue fabric over card binding by the University of Tasmania print shop. I had to get multiple copies done to be sent to my two supervisors. After my supervisors examined it, a copy was returned to me with the red ink of their corrections, suggestions, and questions on every page! I was gutted. My dissertation would eventually go through another six drafts before it was accepted. The result of this humiliating and painful process was an increased ability for research, clearer thinking, and how dogged determination is always needed to help complete things that matter. This training contributed to my three significant pastoral paradigm-shifts.

¶ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul 
Acts 19:11

Canon John Chapman

After my parents settled in Corio, Geelong, they became members of St. Matthew's Anglican Church in East Geelong. The minister of this church at the time was the Reverend Peter Payne. My recollection of Mr Payne was that he was the real deal. He led me through Confirmation which became a transforming experience for me at the age of 15. While I wasn't aware of the politics behind the scenes at the time, he left shortly after this as apparently too many in the church objected to him continually proclaiming the need to be converted to Christ through the new birth experience. But before he did, he organised for Canon John Chapman to hold a series of meetings. This was revolutionary. He presented the Gospel in a passionate and compelling way. He was humourous and very engaging. He made a huge impression on me and helped me to see that Christianity was not a religion, not just a Sunday deal, not a label for the Census Form, but a life of surrender and devotion to Christ that made every facet of life an act of worship of God. This was revolutionary! From the time of Mr Chapman visiting St Matthew's and calling for everyone to fully surrender to Christ and make Him the centre of our lives not merely the appendage to it, my parents (and therefore me and my brother and sister) became "full Sunday" Christians attending both the Sunday morning and evening services. I have maintained a passionate commitment of this expression of my devotion to Christ ever since then too. 

Mr Chapman introduced me to the previously unknown ministry of an evangelist. But shortly after this, Rev. Payne was compelled to leave St Matthew's and this new spiritual experience of my parents created a desire for a deeper experience with God. At the time their chain of furniture stores was hit by the rise in interest rates in Australia to around 18% (they are around 4% now). Business became difficult and my parents faced the real possibility of losing their home. They looked to God for help. Murray Harkness, who had recently been employed in my parents' business, suggested trying a Pentecostal Church. We went to his Pentecostal Church one Sunday night in Ocean Grove. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen in my life up until that point! But that night marked the beginning of a life-long journey for me. From that time I was introduced to the person, presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I began to see in the Gospels how Christ spoke about the coming Holy Spirit who would regenerate, sanctify, empower, comfort, gift, lead, the believer.

¶ "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Matthew 3:11

As I read through the Gospel of John and the Book of Acts, I was struck by the Person, presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I saw that what Christ said about the Holy Spirit was still relevant for today. As a result I began to seek God for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. On a Wednesday night in a small Apostolic Church chapel in Cox Road Norlane in 1979, where a guest preacher from America invited people to come forward for prayer to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I responded. Something very strange happened to me that night. A short time later, I had a Pentecostal experience which has abided with me to the present day.

When I moved from Geelong to Hoppers Crossing for work there was no Apostolic Church there at that time and I joined an Assemblies of God Church. I became the youth leader. It was during this time that I experienced acute loneliness and an unnatural heaviness. I went on a three day fast to try and shake this off my life. Nothing particularly happened during these three days of fasting but within a week or so I had a strange, very vivid series of dreams about a girl. I saw her face, I heard her name, and I heard a part of her recent story. I told some of my non-Christian work colleagues about this dream. It was about a month later that I was at the regular Overseas Christian Fellowship meeting at Deakin University in Geelong, which Pastor Richard Winter had introduced me, to that I first met this girl. In my dream I heard her name was "Ken" and I was thrilled to discover that her actual name was Kim. She and I were the only Australians present in a meeting comprised almost entirely of Malaysians (at that time nearly all my friends were Malaysian). I asked Kim about some of the things I had seen in the dreams and she instantly began to cry and soon slumped to the floor. We talked for a long while and 18 months later we were married.

I cite these notable experiences among the many I enjoyed so that there may be an understanding that I was, am, and will be, ever open to what the Holy Spirit can do. In 1990 I was credentialed with the Assemblies of God as a pastor. This was an amazing time to join a really great movement. The period from 1977 to 1997, under the leadership of Pastors Andrew Evans and Phil Hills, the Assemblies of God in Australia movement had grown from 140 churches to over 800! 

Miracles were central to Assemblies of God ministry at this time. I think it would be fair to say that in every AoG church on any given Sunday during this period, there was prayer and ministry for God to work miracles in people's lives. This was a major thrust by evangelists. It was a major emphasis at the Conferences. There were teaching seminars and courses being taught and offered- How To Hear From God ... How To Heal The Sick ... How To Move In The Prophetic ... How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit. For the most part I didn't question this. But as I continued on in my studies and growth of God's Word I became aware that none of these things were prescribed or practiced in the New Testament. I also became increasingly convinced that the Reformed Theological views of God's Sovereignty and His grace were correct. This challenged me to examine some of my understanding about miracles - especially the miracle of salvation. I became convinced that salvation was by God's grace and not by human effort. This meant that there was nothing - nothing - any person could do to merit their salvation. Putting your hand up in a meeting didn't save you; coming forward in response to an altar call didn't save you; deciding to follow Jesus didn't save you - only the miracle of God's gift of salvation could save a soul!

¶ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.Acts 6:8

In 2006 I was invited to speak in London. I had been wrestling with how I could harmonise my undoubted Pentecostal experience with my emerging Reformed theology. My visit to England at this time helped to galvanise how this was possible. The Peniel Pentecostal Church held to Reformed theology and yet had a healing and miracles service each Friday in which people travelled from all over the U.K. to attend. The Pastor was clearly gifted. The first Friday night we were there we saw some extraordinary miracles. I still recall them to this day in amazement. The pastor spoke about the grace of God being the source of any miracle. Just as with salvation, there was nothing we could do to merit a miracle. Healing, he argued was not in the Atonement - but was an act of God's grace. I had prior to this began to explore this very notion, but it was now becoming very clear to me. God did not heal anyone because they got the words of the right prayer spoken, or because they had paid their tithes, or because they had fasted - or because they had done anything, except ask in faith (trust) - and even this was the result of God's grace. 

So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Acts 14:3

This was a huge paradigm shift for me. No longer could I think that God was subject to human efforts. On the contrary, I now realised that any move toward God or seeking Him was the result of God first doing something in that person. That is why we call it grace. 

¶ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
Acts 13:48

This was a tremendous weight off my shoulders as a pastor. No longer did I think that someone's salvation was dependent on how well I did that Altar Call. Now I believed that it was the Holy Spirit who worked in the hearts of the unregenerate through the preaching of the Gospel. My role was simply to be prayerful and faithful to the Text as I discharged my sacred duty as a preacher. I became convinced that the working of miracles, such as healing, was also by God's grace. That is, no one had a "right" to it. If God chose not to grant healing, He was still a good, faithful, adorable God. If God did grant healing to someone, He was gracious to them. 

As with my first pastoral paradigm-shift, this second paradigm-shift magnified my vision of God. In the Creation events, I saw God as careful, methodical, patient, grand, organised, deliberate. The sheer vastness of God's Creation displays a glimpse of His immense glory. Because God saves, heals, delivers, regardless of someone's undeservedness, these miraculous acts are given by God graciously. This magnifies God's limitless love and reveals Him to be impeccably good, compassionate and merciful. I have just now returned from speaking with a large group of Year 11 and 12 students at the local Public College. The question that came up in the Q & A session over and over was, "Why does God allow people to suffer?" After explaining that God Himself has graphically answered this question by sending His Son to the world to suffer after experiencing rejection, humiliation, scorn, and mockery, and then to die the cruelest death, He is well qualified, willing and able to bestow the grace of comfort to all those who are similarly (but to a lesser extent) suffering and hurting. But there are no magical formulas to make God do miracles. And there is no miraculous reward for those who worship longer, louder, deeper. Yet, we are given this amazing promise from God that if we ask of Him anything, we will be granted a hearing. By doing so we are asking in faith because our 'ask' is in itself an act of faith. This is why every Sunday at Legana we will pray with and for people through the laying on of hands as we often seek God for a miracle. And it has been our delight that many times God has indeed been gracious and granted our petitions. And in the meantime, we worship Him as infinitely adorable whether He grants our request or not (Dan. 3:17-18). This paradigm-shift helps me to pastor those God has charged me to care for.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16

Next week: 

Ps. Andrew