What's so good about Mary?

The story of the virgin conception and the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary tells us about qualities of the heart and attitudes of the mind that allowed the Eternal Word of God become flesh (Luke 1:26-38, John 1:14). The work of Holy Spirit in the incarnation and in our own lives is fundamentally the same. We need to know how we must respond to God so that we may experience the reality of Christ in us and know His Kingdom within, remember this is a kingdom which will never end.

Mary displays honesty and integrity in her reaction; she does not put on any religious pretence as is so often seen in many churches today. Some people as they enter the church change themselves their voice and faces take on a religious and often superficial tone. I have realised at times this is something that I have done personally and had to stop myself and learn to be me. Jesus wants us to be honest and open, Mary is clear about her fears and speaks honestly to the angel, she listened to the response given and believed in faith the word spoken. Mary is also clear about her sexuality and experience this should not be underestimated such an honest devotion to God.

She believed in faith the word of God, her motives were not false, she declared herself a 'servant' of the Lord, and the most miraculous event to ever happen occurred without so much as a song and a dance. Such a clear honest statement of being a servant of the Lord combined with obedience to His ultimate eternal purpose of making Christ a reality in humanity is a great lesson for us all to learn, her will and Gods will had become one through listening, believing and simply obeying in faith. When she says "May it be to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38 NIV), the angel just leaves her, there is no prolonged session of prayer, no fasting and praying here, no giving of money, no miracle meeting to attract the crowds and no promise of an easy life either. As soon as she believes and responds, are we to believe that the Saviour had become flesh, how often do we look for the special moment of special feelings before we believe, we expect stars and lights. The Holy Spirit moves as we believe and the silent internal eternal work of the Spirit is done. We can follow her example in honesty and clear motives to give all the Glory to the Lord and see the Saviour nowlive amongst men.

Matthew Armstrong

Blantyre, December 2009.

Defining the mystery of God.

Many people desire to know of the mystery or the secrets of the Christian faith, I have heard on numerous occasions in prayer ‘Lord reveal your secrets to us’, such prayers have an element of faith and trust in the Lord, but yet they have failed to grasp what the bible says plainly and clearly – that Christ is the mystery and that He has been made known to us (Colossians 2:2). This ‘mystery’ can be known, it is not a happen chance that we might discover in a dark cave the mystery and have it revealed to us by a special revelation or spiritual being, No it is Jesus Christ Himself. We can read of the mystery of God in the Gospels and read about His life and learn about the wonder and greatness of God, we can consider His grace to sinners and love to the world in His death.
I believe many people consider themselves insignificant and unable to know the mystery of God unless they can perform a special task or feat. Many people go to great lengths in fasting and prayer so that they might have ‘secrets’ revealed to them. Why is this so when Christ is the glorious secret of the cosmos that has been revealed to men, ‘slain from the foundation of the world’ that which even angels desire to understand. The mystery was revealing in flesh, the Christ became a man, lived, breathed, shed his blood and died for our sins so that we might be forgiven ours. This is a great mystery – that God should love sinners like you and I. Often the clear and straightforward truth of scripture is ignored and considered old or boring, it is known and therefore not relevant or exciting, this is just not the case when it comes to knowing Jesus and the salvation that He was won for us.
In 1 Timothy 3:16, the mystery of godliness is declared…whose godliness? – Christ. Our righteousness is found in the wonder of His, our salvation in His very human death, our resurrection in the power of the resurrection by the Holy Spirit who would live within us. Have we grasped as an hymn says the ‘old, old story’ have we heard the message of the glorious gospel of God, that has been seen and witnessed by the angelic beings, preached about in the nations – yet have people believed the simple message that Jesus is salvation. This mystery is our hope of glory because Christ Jesus was received up into glory by His and our heavenly Father. Salvation is won; it is a ‘no contest’ in the heavenly realm, the hope is now ours.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, December 2009.

Thinking about an avodcado tree.

Eight years ago I bought a few avocado tree seedlings for 20 Kwacha each; one of these survived the trials of a building site and began to grow into a healthy young tree. Each year would go by and I would joke with my friend that if the tree didn’t produce any fruit I would like my Kwacha back! Well after five years it did begin to flower and produce fruit, however I was back in the UK. While I was away the avocados were almost ready to pick and someone else wanted to pick them, but they were stopped because I had mentioned that I wanted to be able to pick the first fruit. Well I returned to Malawi and I was able to pick and taste of the first fruits of that tree after five years waiting, we have had another 3 years of blessing from this one little 20 kwacha worth seedling. Also my children have enjoyed climbing the branches of this tree, helping to pick the avocadoes and just having fun, climbing up and down.
This story makes me think about how important the little things in our lives are to God, He knows the potential of our lives when they are planted, watered and feed by the grace and love of Christ. Things that at first don’t look like much can become in Christ fruitful and a blessing for others. Such a steady year by year fruitfulness enduring and producing fruit in season. Wonderfully God’s fruitfulness enables the children to enjoy the blessing of the Lord also, can you not imagine the children climbing up into the arms and sitting on lap of the Saviour, He is not so untouchable as some would present Him to us, He desires us to come close to and know Him, remember when we touch Him in faith, His power moves within us, to change our inner being cleansing us from sin and declaring us righteous and clean in Christ (Mark 10:13-16 ,Luke 8:42-48).
The Lord God is patient, and sometimes fruit takes a number of years to appear on a tree, yet the tree is planted in good ground, the capacity of producing fruit is within the tree, let us seek the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives with perseverance and faith, don’t give up – if you are not the most patient person, seek the Lord, touch Him and let Jesus do His work in you. His work is eternal and not a ‘flash in the pan’, it lasts and year by year can keep being fruitful, it is not produced by personal effort, but by the inward change of the Spirit of the Lord, let Jesus pick and taste the first fruits of your heart.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, December 2009.

Whose directions are you following?

This question should if we considered it in relation to the various parts of our lives be a very challenging statement to answer. Often we like to say we are following Jesus, but often we follow the ways and practices of the world. We follow the advice of those whose knowledge is founded in anti-Christian belief, and at times the advice and following action of an individual or even a congregation may be against Jesus himself. The wonderful and yet simple call by Jesus to some of his disciples was "Follow Me." Have we heard this call to become disciples – that is followers of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world?
Jesus Himself in the New Testament is described as the Cornerstone, and from and upon this ROCK the Church, the family of God is built. The direction of the Church must be consistent with the standard of Jesus. Where do we deviate and compromise? Where has the Church of God turned back to look at what it has accomplished behind it and moved its focus from the present directing of the Holy Spirit and become lost in its traditions and methods rather than the present experience of Jesus. He who with His Shepherd heart leads the Church after Him to green pastures. The Holy Spirit never leads the Church in a direction which is contrary to Jesus Christ, never against the fruit and gifts of the Spirit. If the Christ has not changed, how can the Church decide to change?
May be we must again consider our lives and what we do and think and align ourselves with Jesus, something which is a work of grace, that brings freedom from the condemnation of sin and guilt. Should God’s people be full of grace, as they have received so shall they do to others? Are we willing to be cast upon the rock and follow it in the direction it will take us, the obstacles in our paths we yet do not know, but will we change our direction when Jesus does not? Remember faith as little as a small seed can move mountains. Come close to Christ and you will see how He will be your rock of salvation in the reality of your life ; supporting you; uplifting you; showing grace and mercy to you; forgiving you; cleansing you; supplying you both materially and spiritually on the path that you tread out as you follow the Great Shepherd of your soul.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, December 2009.

Is the Spirit of Prophecy today a testimony to Jesus?

How wonderful it is that the Christ we worship is a God of prophecy. Many would consider this dangerous to the point of ignoring the reality of the Spirit, who would choose to speak today through men and women in the context of a church functioning as the body of Christ, where each person with their part to play may have an ability by the Spirit to voice the word of God through the use of the gift of prophecy.
The coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of those believing in the saving work of the cross of Jesus Christ has brought the ‘Spirit of Prophecy’ which is a strong Old Testament concept into the New Covenant of Christ, where prophecy is under the constraining element of the spirits of men and women – much of what is spoken as prophecy today is far removed from the Spirit of Jesus. The prophetic gift is to be used in Christ, those who use the gift are not free to voice their own opinions through this gift. With the gift of prophecy, the Holy Spirit gives the fruits of self-control, love, joy and peace etc… these are vital so that the gift can be used in the Spirit of Christ. Jesus brought to us grace and truth, truth at times demands judgement, yet it will be wonderfully brought first to us through His grace so that the truth would come alive to the hearers. The righteous indignation of some prophets today leads us to ask what about the fruit of longsuffering, is it not part of the work of the Spirit also – or is the prophet excused!
Today there are people putting themselves forward as ‘prophets’ and even have the title before their names, yet is their message consistent with the message of Jesus? Is it a message of good news; full and free; liberty from sin and bondage; a spiritual renewal through the death of Christ. Does their message demand money from you? Does it demand that they are respected above others? Rather than take their humble part in the body of Christ where all are to be honoured because Christ is the Head, who is to receive the glory, because He is God. Yet it seems in many prophetic ministries and the use of prophecy that Jesus is not even considered as being in authority – rather the man, the woman, or the ministry has taken control. Test the spirits…accept the Spirit of Jesus only, have courage to exercise discernment. Let us confer rather with the Holy Spirit that truly ‘Jesus is Lord’ (1 Corinthians 12:3) in more than just words, but also in spirit, truth, right attitude, motive and action. The prophet is not greater than Jesus.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, November 2009.

Amos the 'Burden Bearer'.

Since I have been in Malawi, it has been my privilege to be able to teach on the book of Amos on a number of occasions. What I have found very interesting is that the message is relevant for life to today more than we might at first imagine, this is true whether we are living in the West or in Malawi. Amos’ strong message of judgement upon Israel is very striking and reveals the heart of God that is serious about sin and blatant disobedience in the light of His word.
Amos is a man who is often considered as rugged and rough, uneducated and a little bit simple – after all he was only a keeper of sheep. Well, all is not as it might seem at a first glance. In Malawi we could say that Amos was an ‘Abusa’ – a shepherd, but what type of shepherd/pastor was he? He was not a loner, but a man respected by his community and was probably an elder in his own small unknown little town of Tekoa. He would have known Gods word and Law and been able to apply it into the lives of people with compassion and truth. It seems that his message is one sided with judgement, but closer inspection shows that it is filled with the grace and sovereignty of God. Amos was a man who was not afraid to speak truth, but spoke it with life and compassion, and had the desire to see people enter the life of God (Amos 5:4). Today there are many ‘prophets’ of doom and judgement, but where is the grace in their message, where is the song of the sovereignty of God? The fullness of the shadow of the man Amos is seen in Jesus’ death and sacrifice on the cross. Too many seem to love preaching people into hell, rather than preach a gospel of the life saving power of the grace of God. Amos bore a heavy burden of having to take a message of destruction and end to a nation, yet his heart was that the nation would not be destroyed. He considered the reality of God’s word more important than the popular religious opinion of the day, which as the bible reveals was full of idolatry and worship that was mixed, the hard and fast opinions were based in a 200 year history of unaccepted worship because the ‘golden calf’ was still present. What are the golden calves of today’s Christianity?
There is only one sacrifice that needs to be made for sin, and that has already been once and for all in Christ. Another prophet cried out "Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29 NKJV) – pointing to merciful Jesus.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, November 2009.

Is my God in control or not?

Often the troubles in our lives and the changing circumstances around us that affects us can bring to our minds and hearts the consideration of whether God is in control or not?
The Bible teaches of a Sovereign God who reigns as King and whose will is done, the prayer which Jesus teaches His disciples to pray speaks of asking God for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10) – this is somewhat risky because we don’t always know what is the will that God has for a situation in heaven, it is known by God alone. But the fact that God is a God who loves and has our best at heart means that we can trust in Him even when circumstances turn against us.
As a person you are more than a random chance of reproduction, rather you are known by God and fearfully and wonderfully made through Christ, who is the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, this is far before you were conceived or born. God’s will in heaven is that you would know Him and know the life and faith that He can give to those who would believe in Jesus Christ.
Can you still trust the Lord even when things don’t seem to be going well, whether materially, or if your harvest fails or the rain washes away your seed? Consider the prophet Habakkuk declares that even though everything around him is failing, he will ‘rejoice in the LORD’ and ‘be joyful in God’ because God is his Saviour (Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV). Trusting in the Lord as ‘Sovereign’ gave him strength and put power in his feet beyond his own ability to keep going - to rising to heights of real faith and he continued the difficult path upon which he had found himself, which to the world around him would have seen as complete failure and that he may have even been cursed, it looked like God had abandoned him, but the Lord was in control of the events of his life and he believed it, and was able to say such a prayer of faith which became a song to be sung.
Why do we so often doubt that God is in control? May be it is because we don’t consider God’s rule when things are ok and we are prospering. We need a God who is Lord of the good days and the bad days as well, a God of the day and of the night.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, November 2009.

Rescued into a Kingdom of Love

We have through the death and resurrection of Christ been saved from the kingdom of darkness and as Paul describes it been ‘brought into the Kingdom of the Son he loves’ (Colossians 1:13 NIV). This Kingdom is one of love…not just love in itself, but love between the Father and the Son, we are surprisingly included into such a community of love, a heavenly relationship that for us has been gained through the sacrifice of Christ and not through what we can offer to the conversation – the world chooses by what is on offer, something new or different, clever or sophisticated. But the Heavenly Father desires us to know the community of His love even though we are sinners; despite the fact that our hearts are hard and often cold to the moving of His Holy Spirit.
This Kingdom is God’s; the power of the Kingdom is the wonderful power of the life giving love of God, a sacrificial love of which the death of Christ is the example. Life in the Kingdom for us as believers of Jesus can be no different, bringing to our experience the love of God personally; love between the saints which will be as sacrificially based as love to those who do not yet know Christ. Often many people would rather the power of Christ could be just used, and turned on when they want or kept for a rainy day when the world has nothing to offer them, but because the Kingdom is based in relationship this is impossible. God’s life is not a method or denominational rule, it isn’t found in how you pray or how much and how often you give your money or fast, it is rooted in personal relationship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit. This is not an A, B, C gospel, rather Jesus is the A to Z, He is complete. So often we hear that we need to do this or that, but rather we should seek the presence of Jesus and pray to the Father.
The power of God is rooted in His LOVE. Can we know the power of God in our lives if we don’t want love? No, of course not – our Christianity will not be an expression of the Father’s Kingdom. There is a lot which has the name of Christianity, but fails to fit into the description of the Kingdom of love. A Kingdom that deals with the truth of sin by the grace given by the offering of Jesus’ death on the cross, this love is real and effective, public and shameless. Do we know such love?
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, November 2009.

Thinking about the face of Christ.

We often consider Jesus in our own likeness rather than looking at ourselves from His perspective. Jesus Christ was both man and God, in His humanity the fact that He was God was seen in the way He lived, talked and acted. When we seek to know the presence of Jesus in our lives, we need to consider that the presence of God is closely linked to the concept of the face of God. How wonderful is the face of Jesus! Yet when He lived on earth, men and women saw no beauty in His appearance, they despised and rejected Him (Isaiah 53:2-3). Isaiah says that men ‘hide their faces’ from Him. To follow Jesus is not always the most outwardly appealing thought; it is not always the fashionable or stylish thing to do. Yet the face of Jesus is blessed, most wonderfully and awesomely scarred by the crown of thorns which they pressed upon His brow. He is our King.
When we consider our own spiritual life, are we more concerned with our outward appearance of the Christian life rather than the inward reality of the Holy Spirit cleansing us by the blood of Jesus? Are we more concerned with fitting in with the rest of society by the way we look, rather than following the ways of Jesus and considering not our lives unto death?
In Revelation 1:14 -16 we read of the exalted and risen Christ, glorified in the presence of His Father, His head and hair are white like wool and snow – this is not skin deep, it is inner beauty and holiness, it is part of who He is. His eyes are like blazing fire, full of passion and love, true ‘vision’ of which many people speak about should come out of the eyes of Jesus, giving us clear motives and pure intentions. Many churches and ministries fail at this point, Jesus who is to be the head of the church is never consulted, or worse ignored, many still turn their faces away from the face of Jesus today because they see no beauty there.
The full vision of His face is described as ‘the sun shining in all its brilliance’, a life giving power, so awesome and devastating that like the apostle John, that as we see who Jesus is would fall at His feet as dead and feel the comforting touch of His hand and hear his words of authority and blessing.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, November 2009.

Living Beyond with raised expectations.

There is a great need for us as Christians to be able to live a life which is beyond the normal experience of those who are not Christians. What is the difference? Well it is simply the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who enables us to rise on wings like eagles, how wonderful it is to know such a relationship with Jesus. Allowing the Holy Spirit to help and comfort us when all else seems to have failed, when our strength has gone, when nothing seems to work, we can have hope in a God, who as we patiently wait upon him, can give us strength. Many Christians today in Malawi are seeking the power of God, many are seeking miracles…but how many are seeking the power of the Holy Spirit to persevere in their difficult circumstances, we would rather simply be delivered rather than go through tough times, illnesses and suffering. Yet the Bible simply tells us that through suffering we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven as we join ourselves with Christ, we are not above our King, but we shall share His Glory (Romans 8:17-18).
We must ask ourselves do we really trust in God, do we really allow the Spirit of the Lord to give us strength? Are not patience, self-control and long suffering also fruits of the Holy Spirit?
Think of Abraham who when he had nearly reached the place where he was to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, left his servants behind, telling them that he had to go ‘beyond’ to worship God (Genesis 22:5). Those who choose to worship God will go beyond; they will endure and suffer hardships and persecutions; they will face temptations and not give up; they will consider obedience to God of more importance than being accepted by the social norm or the cultural expectations. Jesus Himself will become the vision rather than a project, Malawi is full of projects, churches and missions – but where are the Christians who will follow Jesus wherever he would take them, those who follow His teaching even when it means being ignored by the many. Should we not be more interested in living lives worthy of the Lord, lives which seek the reality of God more than acceptance by the world. May the Lord Jesus help us to show the world a life lived beyond, even though we are just ordinary people with life problems of our own, but we can choose to face them in the knowledge of a Christ who loves us.
Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, November 2009.