INDEPENDENCE

Time with Jesus - 6 Oct 2013 

Hi all,

In September 1990, I was boarded by Eskom for ill-health. It was 30 years to the day since I had started working in the power station industry. 

1991 was the year in which I slowly recovered and we remained in Middleburg for that year. At the end of 1991, we moved to Worcester to work for the Methodist Church. Fairbairn Street Methodist Church was a very small English speaking work for the Lord. When we arrived there were only 9 “white” people who attended the English speaking Morning Service. Not far from where we lived, there was a “coloured” Afrikaans speaking Methodist Church with about 300 members. There was another Methodist Church in Zwelethemba. It was a large “black” church. It was a large society. The minister was Rev Joe Mpanza. He was fluent in English and several African languages. The three of us quickly became close friends.

Worcester is a pretty town. It’s also very hot in summer and very cold in winter. One of its chief claims to fame is it was the dwelling place of Rev Andrew Murray. He is the one who was largely responsible for establishing a school for the blind and another for the deaf. That was at the turn of the 19^th Century. 

In his day, the school would have catered mainly for “white” children. For the record, there are schools for the partially sighted elsewhere in RSA. Those who are totally blind would be sent to the school in Worcester.

Worcester town has adopted a number of features to assist the blind. One of them is at the traffic lights for pedestrians. When the light was green, there was a “tweeting” sound from the lights to advise people it was safe for pedestrians to cross the road. 

Industry also caters for the blind. I recall speaking to an engineer. He told me that some of his best machine operators were blind. One man in particular could “read” his micrometre. How it worked, I’ve no idea. But he was accurate to within a tenth of a millimetre! We had a number of partially sighted youngsters in our Sunday school. In addition, their teacher was blind! Incidentally in the “white” church we had a number of copies of the Methodist Hymn Book in Braille.

Life for the deaf children was difficult. They quickly learned to use sign language. Then they went on to learning how to lip read. When these had been mastered, we found that, provided you looked directly at them when you spoke, they could carry on a conversation. To catch their attention, particularly from behind, you had to touch them.

I’ve often wondered, if it came to a choice between going blind or deaf, which one would I choose. Both are terrible afflictions. John Milton wrote about his blindness. It wasn't easy ’or him. The closest I’ve been to being blind was when Phyllida and I visited the Cango caves close to Outdshoorn. The caves were “lit up” with electricity. We walked round with a guide. At one place he stopped and said he would show us how dark it was within the caves. He said he would turn off the lights for ±1 minute. 

Personally, I’ve never experienced such darkness and was relieved when the lights were switched back on. I suppose that is similar to the darkness of hell! When God removes the light of His presence, the darkness will by terrible. Jesus refers to such darkness obliquely in Matthew’s Gospel. ²² "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Mat 6:22-23 TNIV

Deafness is also frightening. Because of loud music as a child, combined with the noise in the power station, when I was young, I now need a hearing aid. A few weeks ago we went to the Johannesburg Tattoo. At one point a solo piper played something. I don’t know what that was. In spite of my hearing aid, I didn’t hear him.

Hearing Aids

Others have experienced deafness. Beethoven would lie on the floor trying to pick up vibrations from the piano. He wanted to “hear” his compositions! He couldn’t. His was a progressive deafness. It may have been treatable with 21^st century medication. He couldn’t hear his students playing the piano so he became a disappointing teacher. I’ve been told that he could “hear” his compositions in his head. How else could he have composed such magnificent music?

Hearing Aid

In this world today, there is a terrifying spiritual deafness. The vast majority of people don’t hear God’s voice. Their ears are closed to such a possibility. Even the boy Samuel needed to be made aware that God wanted to speak to him. Read 1 Samuel 3 for the complete story. In verse 10 we read: ¹⁰ The LORD came and stood there. He called as he had called the other times: "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel replied, "Speak. I'm listening." 1 Samuel 3:10 GW

Sadly, many Christians don’t hear the voice of God either. Actually, they do hear Him. They don’t realise it’s Him speaking. In 1998, the Lord instructed Phyllida to teach a group of ladies to listen for and hear the voice of God. She developed a course entitled, “Hearing from God!” We have taken the course to many parts of RSA and a great number of Christians have benefited from the course. On one occasion we took the course to Nairobi in Kenya. Those who attended the course benefitted. 

Helping others to hear from God is still our passion. It has changed our prayer meetings into “Hearing from God!” meetings. We get together and ask the Lord what to pray for. He tells us or shows us and we pray accordingly. 

Suddenly, “prayer meetings” takes off and become meaningful rather than people ploughing through lists and getting bored. 

For us, there is no other way for us to pray. Let us know if you would like to hear more about our “Hearing from God” course?

Shalom

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 06 October 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	INDEPENDENCE
Wikipedia tells us the meaning of: - Independence: A condition of a nation, country or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over the territory. The definition is fine but doesn’t refer to that which is in the heart of the individual. The drive to be free from the control of others. The classic example is surely the freedom demands of an enslaved people. We have no difficulty identifying this in a nation or a part of a nation. A bit of thought, will remind us that, it starts in the heart of an individual and spreads from there to become the desire of many. In many ways, independence is something we all should seek for ourselves. Babies are not independent. They rely totally on the care of others. In most cases this is their parents or other care giver. As they grow, we find each one stretching their boundaries in an effort to explore their own independence from parental control. A healthy relationship between parents and child encourages this. Each youngster seeks a measure of independence as they grow. When I was a baby, my mother washed, fed, clothed and dressed me. If she hadn’t, in all probability I’d be dead! This slowly changes over time. As a 10 year old it would be intolerable for me to be in the same situation, unless there was a medical condition that demanded it. During the teenage years, the young man or woman is given more and more freedom. The wise parent realises it won’t be long before the child reaches maturity and is in a position to repeat the process. Then, as grandparents, we are able to watch our sons and daughters establishing their own homes and raising their own children. Wow! All this is very good. We think so anyway. I wonder what God thinks of it? I’m sure He must have mixed feelings. In the first place, man was never designed to be independent of God. To leave Him is to walk away from life itself. At the same time, He wanted us to obey Him from within a relationship of love and care. We see this in the garden. God gave Adam complete freedom within that garden with one exception. He was not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Defend Adam all you like. The fact remains, he broke the only law God had in place in that Garden. Sadly, through the wiles of the serpent and the gullibility of his wife, Adam declared UDI. It was a unilateral declaration of independence. This declaration had catastrophic results. This messed-up world was the outcome. Adam declared his independence from God and took on the nature of a fallen creature. It was worse than that. He became the slave of a fallen angel who hated him and intended to kill him and all his offspring. Adam lived a further ±900 years. The real death was his immediate separation from God. Physical death only came to get him all those years later. I’ve often wondered why? The answer that amuses me most is that it took Satan ±900 years to figure out a way to do it! In this case Adam changed from dependence on God to be “in-dependence” upon Satan. Cut off from God. From being free, to being a slave of Satan. In this case I don’t think independence was much of a deal! Any comments? Jim & Phyllida Strickland			17 "What was it he said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you." 1 Samuel 3:17 TNIV	It started in a garden a long, long time ago. Adam and his side kick thought things were kind of slow. This diet they were living on was only nuts and fruit; They thought what was forbidden, was somehow rather cute. That’s what the serpent told them and it looked kind of good. And so they tried a sample of what they never should. They wanted “independence”; that’s what the snake implied; And after they had eaten it, the life inside them died. The found that independence was just a “hill of beans”. Not what they had thought about; not in their wildest dreams. They wanted independence from the God Who Reigns on High. And only changed their “ownership” which sort of made them cry. But they were somehow stuck with it and they were then enslaved, By Lucifer, the devil. He made sure they behaved, The way that he intended. He made their firstborn son, Become the world’s first murderer. The dreadful deed was done. He killed his younger brother from jealousy it seems, Because the Lord rejected his offering of greens! By now they’d left the garden. Their time with God was through. It’s clear that right from then on in, the things they had to do, Was what the devil told them; there really was no choice. They’d lost their contact with the Lord and couldn’t hear His voice. But from that very moment, when it was done and dusted, They knew that in the devil’s words they never should have trusted. Independence still remains the people’s heartfelt cry. “I don’t want you to rule me; I think I’d rather die”! How often have we heard this? How often have we thought, It’s time for me to run away; I hope I don’t get caught! We dream of independence. We long to see the day, When we can softly close the door and somehow get away, From the responsibilities which we see all around. But independence isn’t something anyone has found. Not while we are living. We find we need each other. The way that little children need their father and their mother. A wife still needs her husband. The husband needs his wife. We know that their relationship should last them both for life. But still we somehow long for that which we know can’t be. A chance to taste forbidden fruit which everywhere we see. O yes, that man looks handsome. I’ll taste a little bit. But when romance is over, will you own up to it? That woman sure looks sexy. Far better than my wife. I think I’ll try a little taste. It will “spice up” my life! How very, very silly. It is adultery. And you have broken covenant. That isn’t liberty! And just as Eve and Adam departed from God’s will. Your streak of “independence” your marriage you could kill. Jim Strickland Written 6th October 2012
			8 But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what GOD is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously-- take God seriously. Micah 6:8 MSG
			13 Obey the LORD's commands and rules. I'm giving them to you today for your own good. Deuteronomy 10:13 NIrV
			10 And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law." 11 The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God--and that's the real life." Galatians 3:10-11 MSG
			19 The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a first-hand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. Galatians 3:19 MSG
			1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets. 2 In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2 GW
			9 So he said to Samuel, "Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, 'Speak, LORD, your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went back to bed. 1 Samuel 3:9 NLT