Power – Look, See, Pray

I’m trying to teach myself the skill of seeing the signs of light and life in an unsettled world.

My photo is of bamboo- which can be VERY destructive if it gets its roots deep enough- and my eye was fixated by the one highlighted strip. The intensity of the light overexposed this strip: the camera couldn’t handle the contrast, so all the colour has bleached out leaving stems and leaves a silvery white. If you look closely, you can see some of these parts glow as they reflect glare which made the lens “flare.”

Bamboo, certainly many of the common varieties, can grow with extraordinary speed. Several inches in a day. Stems and shoots can force through soil, rock, or concrete: it can ruin the foundations of a building, or grow up through solid floors. At which point, it’s too late even to panic!

Bad governance, sometimes careless and sometimes evil, grows like bamboo. Ambition, greed and a lust for power afflict many of those who rise to prominence via wealth or political manipulation. It seems to me this process is clearly at work in the “great super-powers” and in many autocratic states.

Such darkness is not inevitable. The Berlin Wall was brought crashing down by people demanding liberty: Poland and the Czech/Slovak people shone a bright light of hope.

Putin will, one day, die. So will Trump. So will we all. Some of those deaths will make the world a better place for their passing! But ONE death makes the Light shine through Resurrection. Jesus, who was crucified by the “Establishment” of religion and Empire, inaugurated a new Kingdom of hope, of Love, grace, compassion, mercy, and justice: raised from death, Jesus reigns as Lord of all lords and will one day be acknowledged by all. Commoners, lords and ladies, rich and poor…

So if you see darkness growing in leaders, nations, and societies that do not show the values of the Kingdom of Jesus, don’t despair. Their day will pass. The Day of Jesus will never pass away. We see this Light in the actions of love and kindness, of bravery and boldness for the good, and in the transformed lives of those who are becoming like Jesus day by day. The light glows brighter against gathering darkness- and the darkness neither understands nor can overcome the Light of the World.

Please pray for leaders: not in blind approval of their actions, but that they be accountable to both God and the people they rule. Pray for any “outburst of light” you see, pray that Christ brings His Light into every dark place.

The Early Church often greeted each other with “Maranatha” which means “Come, O Lord.” It’s a word in need of more use…

Revelation 22:20 (NLT): “He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”.

Yesterday’s storm blew over during the night. Calmer air greeted the small group of watchers and walkers wandering the sands in the cool morning. Looking out to sea, the wind turbines were rotating briskly as squalls processed along the horizon. Power being harnessed from the wind.

Clever engineers constructed the turbines, and linked them to shore-based power grids. But the wind itself is beyond their mastery.

John 3:8 – The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Jesus used this mysterious wind power to illustrate the sovereign work of God. Even with our modern satellites and weather computers, we cannot forecast with any accuracy more than a few days ahead.

The Spirit (or “Breath”) of God is completely beyond our control. The Lord works when and where He Wills: and with whom He chooses.

Standing and watching the power of the wind was quite humbling. The high tides and strong winds had smashed the waves into and over the sea defences. Stones, weed, and seashells left a trail of its passing. Out there in the Channel megawatts of power were still being generated to light homes, heat houses, even run my computer as I write.

When Jesus described the “Wind of God” as a life-breath, a bringer of new birth and new beginnings, he both highlighted our limitations and proclaimed our potential. The power of the wind is immense. Just imagine… Almighty God “breathing” life across the sea and land, touching lives unexpectedly, and generating fresh hope and purpose.

God specialises in wind power. May that Breath of Life generate living grace in you today.