As far as the East is from the West… so far has He removed my transgressions and sins from me!
I love you all the way to the moon… and back!
Psalm 103:12
How about all the verses 8 – 12?
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
He says it so much better than I ever could… And look at verses 1 – 5!!!
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
How far does the Lord’s love reach?
How far-reaching His compassion?
How far could we go that His love could not reach us?
We could never go so far that the Lord could not find us and redeem us!!
He sees us to the ends of all time and space, for He created and roams over every part of it.
How far will I go to be free of all that entangles me and holds me back?
How far will I trust Him to mould and shape this piece of beloved clay?
Lord teach us to surrender to your far-reaching LOVE and MERCY and GRACE.
Every Friday, I join an online Christian writing community, Five Minute Friday. We are given a one-word prompt and write – unscripted, unedited, pure free-write – for 5 minutes. The prompt this week is FAR.
I do read through my script afterwards to correct my mistakes; to check scripture references and to find an appropriate image to illustrate the topic.
To read other FMF posts on this subject click BELOW
This morning I read, ‘Do not conform yourself to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ 1– and it reminded me that last weeks FMF prompt word was ‘pattern’, so I want to tell you a little about a pattern that Open Doors have noticed emerging ever more strongly across the church.
I learned more about this last night as I joined Open Doors in an evening of prayer, following the launch of this year’s World Watch List (The World Watch List explains which countries are most dangerous to live in if you are a Christian and why).
The pattern is that the more the persecution of Christians increases, the more the church grows!
Is that not a surprising pattern?
People see how difficult it is to be a Christian and yet they see the joy, love and hope in those persecuted and they choose to follow Christ, knowing the suffering that probably will await them at the hands of the world.
This pattern seems difficult for us in the Western World to comprehend – it certainly does for me! I love my comfort and I run from pain and hardship. I am always challenged when I hear the heart-rending stories of cruel violence, oppression, torture and imprisonment suffered by so many of my brothers and sisters – 365 000 brothers and sisters are severely persecuted in this world – and I feel so humbled… I also feel ashamed that I am often scared to speak out and suffer a little mocking or just disinterest from those around me.
I sometimes wonder if I would even be ‘accused’ of being a Christian in company of those who would persecute!
But this is an acknowledged pattern. It happened right from Jesus and His first disciples. But in places of persecution, the church grows, and in places of relative ease, the church dwindles in complacently.
This is a pattern I acknowledge and I ask for mercy. Mercy for myself and for those of us who slip into complacency.
I ask the Lord to give us courage and grace to declare His goodness in the market-places and homes we inhabit.
Oh that my love would be again fanned into flame and I would sing His praise from the rooftops, unashamed, unabashed and to the glory of my first love.
This is a word that I and others in my church have received for 2024.
The Lord has said He will ‘restore and more for ‘24’ and I am agreeing with that in faith – for myself, the church and for all of my loved ones.
For you too!
As I thought about this, looking forward, I was minded to also look back – because largely our actions and choices yesterday pave the way for our future.
One universal law is that of sowing and reaping – the seeds I sow today will bear fruit in the future, for good or for bad – each according to their kind, and with increase, of course.
Those who know me, know that I always write a public, monthly gratitude list for all of the acknowledged answered prayer during the previous month. Throughout the year, I have written out each of the specific answered prayers for each month.
But, as I wrote out my final lists of thanksgiving for November and December, I felt compelled to stand back in gratitude and survey the whole of 2023.
When we stand back, we sometimes see a more complete, bigger picture that looked incomplete from close up.
As I look at the year as a whole, I see the hand of God guiding the choices and paths I took during 2023, but also in the lives of those for whom I have been praying.
I really am blown away in gratitude to see how long-standing prayers for issues and situations are finally beginning to show good fruit. I see areas of real transformation becoming apparent over the course of the year.
This gives me great hope and excitement for this coming year too.
I will include here a few of the things that stood out as areas to rejoice over, to give all the glory to God, Who has proven that to honour and to trust Him is true wisdom.
I am so grateful for a year of emotional and spiritual healing, leading to real transformation in my heart, showing itself in good fruit in my life.
I am grateful and amazed at the successful merger of two churches who became one, and from which the Lord has birthed a new church.
I am grateful and fascinated how the Lord has brought me back home to the family home, has removed obstacles and has restored and healed many wounded areas.
I am grateful and excited about the growth in most other relationships and the opening up of opportunities for more transformation, the blessing of others, and for the Lord to be glorified.
I am so grateful to also see real answered prayer and blessings for other loved ones – physical and emotional healing and transformation, new homes, new jobs, breakthroughs, growth, restored hope, and so much more.
I am grateful because I can see the transformation that has happened in so many areas over the course of the year. It increases my faith and strengthens my courage to go forward as a blessing, not an apology.
I am excited!
I receive with faith that this year will see a continuation and escalation of good fruit and transformation in and amongst us, for the glory of God.
If He can do it in my life, don’t give up hope for yourself and those for whom you are praying.
The Lord can breathe life and resurrection into dry bones, if we invite Him.
May your 2024 ‘restore and more’ and may you receive all that your Heavenly Father longs to bless you with.
I’m almost amazed to see how many entries there are in my ‘thanksgiving for answered prayer’ log! Yet why am I amazed?
My Lord is the God of surprises!
I also can’t help but look over the year as a whole with such gratitude – but that might have to be a separate post!
‘When human-beings give thanks to God, something at the heart of the universe comes back into proper shape’ … ‘when lots of people are praying for something and God then grants it, the thanksgiving is increased’. (Tom Wright)
As always in this post, I want to give thanks publicly to God, for all the specific answers to prayers that I recognised over the months of November and December, acknowledging His care shown to me in these details of life which are important to me.
I give glory to God for His care and compassion.
Specifically I give thanks for –
– for healing S’s ankle and back in response to prayer,
– that C is now dismissed from nephropathy clinic,
– for the vision, time and strength to mend and decorate the guest room, in time for Christmas guests.
– for re-establishing the cosy home-group at our house and for the growth in love and relationship,
– For the dedication of ‘Re Church’.
– for your inspiration and courage to reach out to D and others with Your heart.
– for protecting and blessing J in Xiamen,
– for clearly showing me the new season You are leading me into
– for the powerful start to the ministry with Suzie
– for the enforced rest and for causing the infection to leave, in the name of Jesus,
– for the honour of being asked to lead the small group,
– for reassuring L about her feet issue,
– for enabling baby W to thrive,
– for N’s successful surgery and for finally allowing him home,
– for keeping T on board in the ministry
– for finding the key for us!
– for the new glasses
– for teaching me and preparing my heart for the last days,
– for a successful and fun staff Christmas meal
– for the opportunity to bless S and me with the wonderful ‘Messiah’ performance
– for a successful and warm church-family Christmas meal
– for the bus at just the right time in the snow
– for teaching me lessons through my frustration and anger at the bad customer service and for resolving the whole problem,
– for the new cooker and installation in time for Christmas guests,
– for the opportunity to re-watch all the EH videos,
– for a lovely night out at C’s and a real strengthening of love,
– for my ‘conversation’ with R&P
– that I can be a ‘trunk’
– for continuing to demolish the power and roots of bitter judgments in my life
– that S’s motivation and productivity has increased
– that D was able to visit and stay
– For a wonderful opportunity to get to know L, W, and many others over the Christmas holiday celebrations – that I was able to successfully host them all and make them welcome in Your love and grace.
– that J & L came to and were blessed at the Carol concert
– that J, C, L and W all came to the Christmas mass and You spoke to them.
– that the hopping and cooking was all a success
– that the grand-children had 2 great sleep-overs
– that I could borrow K’s scanner again and was able to re-scan over 500 of my old film negatives and over 500 slides for my dear friends.
– for all the little promptings throughout each day – reminders, ideas, thoughts and words of encouragement – spirit nudges that bless Your children. Thank You!
One of the blessings of publicly acknowledging the answers to prayer in my own life, is that you may be encouraged and your own faith strengthened.
If God has answered my little and big prayers, He will surely answer yours too!!
Can I encourage you in 2024 to write down your prayer requests – the ‘big’ requests and the smaller things that maybe you think is insignificant to God – and regularly look over what you have prayed for and are continuing to pray for… don’t give up praying for those who need a touch from God. When a prayer is answered, acknowledge it, celebrate, give thanks and write it down.
Always give thanks and always keep praying.
Philippians 4: 4 – 7
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And verses 8 – 9
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
dawnfanshawe 