[Friday's Devotional] - U-Turn Grace

For those of you who know me and my sister, you will be well aware of our appalling sense of direction and total inability to navigate using a map.  When planning our road trip to Scotland, many joked they would be receiving a postcard from Cornwall - they knew only too well our limitations in this area!

I am pleased to report that we only had a few very minor detours.  My memorable ‘long way round’ was having travelled way too far South on the M6 (and missed the exit to the Lake District) we navigated a roundabout to redeem ourselves.   When faced with the choice of the A66 East (2nd exit) or A66 West (4th exit) in my stubborn impatience I raced off at the 3rd exit…..…….. back onto the M6 !!!!!!! 

My sister had tears of laughter in her eyes but it took a few hours and a few more miles before I could see the funny side.  Our saving grace on the road trip were our ‘magic ears’, we both had phones with GPS maps and headphones under our helmets, which enabled us to enter our current location and destination.  The app would talk us through the route - in some locations the signal dropped out or stuck, but on the whole they were a God-send for directionally-challenged folk like us.

The wonderful news is when we tune into God’s wavelength he gives us direction:

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 [NIV]

God loves us just the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.

There are often areas in our lives that hinder us from moving forward and enjoying the fullness of life God has for us, you may identify with some: Fear, Anger, Abuse, Procrastination, Anxiety, Grief, Insecurities, Unforgiveness, Compulsive Shopping/Eating/Drugs/Drink addictions, Lust, Unworthiness (feelings of not being good enough) Lying, Perfectionism and many more... they keep us chained like slaves.

John Newton, writer of Amazing Grace, knew much about slavery.  He gave his life to Christ and spent the rest of his days scratching his head in disbelief over the change.  When he was 82, he said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great saviour.”

God’s Amazing Grace allows U-Turns, if you have lost your way or need to move forward from things that hold you back, or if you have not rested much in his presence lately, many signs I saw in Scotland echo God’s desire, He implores us to ‘Haste Ye Back.’ It just means ‘Come back soon.’

‘Haste Ye Back’ by Andy Stewart [YouTube - 1 min]

Dawn Milward

[Thursday's Devotional] - The Definition of Grace

The critics are right: Grace is unfair.  We deserve God’s wrath and get God’s love, deserve punishment and get forgiveness.  We don’t get what we deserve.  Paul put it ironically,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Romans 6:23 [NIV] 

If you want fairness, try a religion which says we may have to go through thousands, even millions of incarnations before paying for all our sins or one that lists things we must ‘do’ in order to qualify. 

Thankfully God’s word tells us:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 [NIV]

“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” Titus 3:5 [NIV]

It seems unfair that a human rights abuser like Saul gets forgiven, or Moses whose foul temper led to murder and rebellion against God, or a murderer/adulterer like King David, or a thief hanging on a cross who has a conversion just before death.  Yes, it’s unfair— wonderfully and gloriously unfair I would say.

In this try-hard, perfectionist lifestyle we need to remember grace.  God’s grace is sufficient when we feel like we’ve failed.  God’s grace is sufficient when we worry we have let someone down.  God’s grace is sufficient when we just want to slow down.  God’s grace is sufficient when we feel guilty for something we’ve done wrong, God’s grace is amazing.

Many have penned the wonders of God’s amazing grace, in 2013 Phil Wickham wrote and sang “This Is Amazing Grace, This is unfailing love..…you would lay down your life that I would be set free” you can listen to this modern and upbeat song with the link below:

This is Amazing Grace [YouTube - 5 mins]  

Dawn Milward

[Wednesday's Devotional] - A Sly Side Wind

‘Amazing Grace’ is also the title of a film about William Wilberforce's political fight to abolish slavery, helped by William Pitt and John Newton among others.  The movie shows that after years of trying to get the bill passed Wilberforce is physically ill and devastated that after all this time the laws still have not been changed and hundreds of people are still being enslaved and killed.  

From 1789, Wilberforce regularly introduced bills in Parliament to ban the Slave Trade.  He was fiercely opposed by those making fortunes from the trade, but he never gave up.  The turning point was in 1806 when the abolitionists’ came at parliament with a ‘sly side wind.’ Amusingly (or not at the time) I was reminded of this when being blown side-ways on the M74, I am not sure if it was the solid fenders on my bike or the high luggage that acted as a sail, I only know I hung on for dear life - no wonder there are two massive wind-turbine power stations either side of that motorway!

I won’t spoil the film for those who’ve not seen it, but I love how the breakthrough comes as the result of a brainwave by James Stephen, a maritime lawyer who struck on the ingenious tactic of coming in by a ‘side wind’ and proposing a bill, seemingly unrelated to abolition, regarding ‘the use of neutral flags on French cargo ships’ - if you don’t already know how this began to change the course of history you will have to watch the film.  The scene in the film is so amusing - a very boring politician spouts his case for this bill and only one of the opposition gets wind there is something amiss.

If you feel like you are currently in an impossible situation, with no change in sight, remember the side-wind tactic.  The Lord of heaven and earth is about to release His winds of change.
“The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in their depths. He … releases the wind from His storehouses” Psalm 135:6–7 [NLT].
The Lord will release His “winds of change” for His purpose and plans for us at the appointed time “…fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him,” Psalm 148:8 [NLT].

Amazing Grace trailer [YouTube - 3 mins] – Full movie can be viewed on YouTube/Netflix etc.

Dawn Milward

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Amazing Grace

This is my all-time favourite hymn and I know it is loved by many.  It is hard to comprehend how these words, penned by John Newton one frosty December day in an attic room of an English vicarage in Olney in the late 18th century, still have life-changing impact.  In the 21st century these words still encourage, challenge, comfort and even stop people in their tracks.  I heard a Scottish piper playing these notes only 2 weeks ago in Edinburgh when I was with my sister and was moved to tears of gratitude. 

“Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind but now I see.”

What wonderful news.  I remember singing these words 19 years ago, my eyes and heart still closed to the truth of God’s great love for me, but God is in the wretch-saving business… so I qualified!  John Newton qualified too: once a slave trader, alcoholic and violent man his heart was changed by the power of God’s spirit during a violent storm at sea.  Newton had previously been a slave himself, starved and brutally abused at the hands of his captain’s African mistress in Sierra Leone - later in life if he ever felt tempted to feel proud of his natural abilities or his moral calibre he would think back to the time when he was a ‘wretch’, lower than slaves.  No one is too bad for God... and no one is too good either!

These days I still mess up, we all do, we make wrong choices, say wrong things, but encouragingly ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ is a realistic picture of the Christian life.  Virtually every time the pilgrim faces a choice, he makes the wrong one and makes bad detours all along the road.  I am thankful that in Scotland we did not make too many bad detours, more down to Amazing Grace than our Amazing Navigation!

The wonderful message of grace is that although we fall down, God picks us up and dusts us off.  Again, and again, and again…..

If you can find time listen, reflect and give thanks as the piper plays Amazing Grace [YouTube - 3 mins].

Dawn Milward

[Monday's Devotional] - What is Grace?

There is a wonderful book I read many years ago by Philip Yancey called “What’s so Amazing About Grace?” and the author was once asked “Can you define grace?”

Philp Yancey replied “I don’t even try. Jesus talked a lot about grace, but mainly through stories.  I remember once getting stuck in Los Angeles traffic and arriving 58 minutes late at the Hertz rental desk.  I walked up in kind of a bad mood, put the keys down and said, “How much do I owe?”  The woman says, “Nothing.  You’re all clear.”  I said I was late and she smiled, “Yes, but there’s a one-hour grace period.”  So I asked, “Oh really, what is grace?”  And she said, “I don’t know.  [They must not cover that in Hertz training classes.]  I guess what it means is that even though you’re supposed to pay, you don’t have to.”  That’s a good start to a definition.

I know this may seem very basic theology to many, but during our recent road-trip to Scotland, my sister and I were showered with God’s grace in so many areas that it just had to be my theme for these devotionals.

The most amazing thing about grace is that it requires no action on our part other than to hold out our hands and receive it.  We don’t need to try to earn it, we don’t need to work for it, we don’t need to have some kind of super-spiritual life-style. Grace is an attitude completely on God’s part, it comes entirely from Him and it is given unreservedly in abundance.

We live in a world where we are driven to do more, make more effort, give a little extra and keep going for longer.  Do you ever wonder if you are doing enough?  If your house is clean enough?  If you’re managing to do enough at work?  If your kids are learning and developing as they should?  If we’re not careful these pressures can all get on top of us and chain us down.  Thankfully, God doesn’t measure us by these standards – He tells us “My grace is all you need”.  2 Corinthians 12:9 [NLT]

If you have time listen and reflect:

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) by Chris Tomlin [YouTube, 8 mins]

Dawn Milward