Are we living in the Past, the Presence or the Future? Part 3: Living in the Future.

Are we living in the Past, the Presence or the Future?

Part 3: Living in the Future.

Today in 2012, we are living in an uncertain world and where the certainties of the past are no longer certain.  Throughout the world we see that we are affected in various ways because we live in a time of uncertainty.

Throughout the history of humanity there have been times of social, economic and political uncertainty, we have seen the decline of old nations, old methods of economic structure and old political systems and their replacement by new nations, new methods of economic structure and new political systems.  Many have tried and failed to hold on to the old in the face of the challenges of the new, then again many have embraced the new and dismissed and destroyed the old. Old enemies have become friends, and old friends have become enemies!

We are seeing the decline of Europe and the continuing rise of the so called BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, if anything the replacement of the currencies of some countries in Europe by the single currency or Euro has hastened this decline, instead of making Europe a economic and political superpower, the Europe of 2012 onwards is becoming an ever declining shadow of it’s former glory.

In at attempt to halt this decline we’ve invented new economic structures and new political systems which are really modified old economic structures and political systems, or we have embraced the old ways of doing things because they give us some form of structure in a time when we’re no longer aware of what structure should be!

When we walk down our high streets we see boarded up shops with the for sale or to let signs, we’ve all chosen in the past to forsake our high streets in favour of  the out of town shopping centres or  shopping online with companies like Amazon, because of the word convenience, the religion/s of our fore fathers have been replaced with the new religion/s such as consumerism, our theology and our ethics are no longer guided by religious texts such as the Bible but by the mantras of human rights and equality.

We have turned our backs on the old way of doing things because we have been told there is a better way and a simpler way, and when we’ve travelled this new road. We have found to our cost, that we have been misled.  There are those who would wish to throw the Church and the Christian Faith into the dustbin of history, and see the Christian Faith and Religion in general as an anathema to their new religion of tolerance and equality.

It seems that all hope is gone, and the Church of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God are on their last legs, but as Jesus, our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer has said in Matthew 16:18b ESV, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 54:17 NIVUK. ^“No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”

There is hope, there is certainty, we the Church are God’s Messengers of Hope, Deliverance, Salvation , we are God’s Messengers of Transformation, yes we face challenges and difficulties but he is within us is by far greater than he is within the world see 1 John 4:4-6 read here.

I know that despite all the difficulties, the opposition that we face as The Church,  we like our brothers and sisters from past generations  will stand, God has raised the heroes of faith, both men and women, in the past the people like John Wesley, William & Catherine Booth, Smith Wigglesworth and others some unknown and others known,  that despite what politicians, scientists etc say about us and tell us,  that The Lord is coming back for a victorious army not a defeated army, that are waiting on the beaches for a Heavenly Rescue Mission. God will raise us up to take our place as the Church Militant alongside the Church Triumphant

We the Church need to take our stand, hold our ground and advance, one famous military tactician once said, that the best form of defence is attack, so let us take back the territory that we and others in the past have lost to the enemy, let us as we win the lost for the Lord, and are lead and equipped by those God has placed in the forefront,( see Ephesians 4:11-13 read here) advance to recapture lost terriority

Rise up o Church; let us advance for the sake of our Lord, Saviour & Redeemer Jesus Christ and His past, present and future Kingdom.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport.Merseyside.England

read part 2 of this series here

Are we living in the Past, the Presence or the Future? Part 2: Living in the Present.

Are we living in the Past, the Presence or the Future?

Part 2: Living in the Present.

Has I sit here writing this post, My mind is thinking about last weekend,  and a very important Rugby Match that that was played at the Millennium Stadium,  Cardiff on Saturday 17^th March 2012. For those who are wondering what he is on about !, it was the Wales v France Rugby Match in the RBS 6 Nations Championship that happens every year and is played by England, France. Italy, Ireland, Scotland and of course Wales!

The match between Wales and France was the decider to see if Wales would win, the Grand Slam which goes to the Rugby Team who have won all their matches.  This would have been the 3^rd Grand Slam Trophy Wales would have won in the last 7 years, Wales having won in 2005 and in 2008.   There was a great deal of pressure on the Welsh Rugby Team to repeat their previous successes and win the Grand Slam. Having already beaten Ireland, Scotland.& England away, and beaten Italy at home. they faced the challenge of beating France at home in Cardiff. I watched the Game on TV, and I could feel the electricity of the Welsh Supporters in the Stadium, and I knew in my heart of hearts, that Wales could and would win the Game.  Just a few days before the game, the tragic news of the death of Mervyn “Merv the Swerve “Davies who had Captained the Welsh Rugby Team in the Glory Days of the 1970’s, was announced. Not only did the current Welsh Rugby Team have to face the pressure to repeat the success of 2005 and 2008, but to win for the memory of Merv the Swerve.

There was great deal of hype,  for Wales to win the Grand Slam again, and to go on to bigger and better success in the future by playing and hopefully beating teams like Australia  and New Zealand in the coming months.  I noticed that both the coaching staff lead by Warren Gatland and the players lead by Sam Warburton focused on the present and not on the past, (the wonderful Welsh Team of the 1970’s or the previous Grand Slam wins of 2005 and 2008), nor did they focus on the future by thinking ahead to playing and hopefully beating Australia and New Zealand, they focused on the present and committed themselves to win both the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam.

This lead me  to think,  that sometimes we focus our minds and past success and sometimes failure, disappointment, hurt etc, and try to live our lives in the past, Maybe it’s sense of regret, a sense of safety, and sense that our best days are behind us, so we set our minds (because we think things can’t, wouldn’t or shouldn’t get better today) on yesterday, then again, because of the disappointments etc of today, we day dream or  dream about tomorrow, hoping and praying that our tomorrow will be better than today, isn’t it better to live in the present ,  than to live in the past or the future ?, because God is in control of our lives,  and despite the pain and heart ache of today, God is blessing and will bless more as we live for Him today.

In 1904, God moved in Wales and tens of thousands were born again, for years since them Welsh Christians including myself have prayed that God would move in Wales like he did in 1904, we make monuments of past success and make our current models of mission copies of the past, But God has a new and better thing and we miss out what God wants to do today because we’re focused on what God did in the past!

I love reading, and for many years I read and re-read books of what God has done so wonderfully in the past, and would dream or day dream that I was in those times and in those places, but I’m not, I’m reading a book at the moment on the great Evangelist Smith Wigglesworth, who died in 1947, it’s great and challenging read but this is 2012 and not 1947. I’m not knocking what God has done in the past, but we’re called to live in today’s world not yesterday’s world.   When I was in my mid to late teens, we sang a song, (don’t worry, I’m not going to sing it out aloud!)I want to serve the purpose of God in my generation, See here for the full words.

The Apostle Paul said in Acts 13:36 ESV, “David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption”

God has called us to love, serve, obey and follow Him by living in the Present, we can praise God for what He has done in the Past, and we can Pray for what God will do in the Future, but we can Praise Him for what He has done in our lives so far, and Pray that He is doing a better work in our lives today than yesterday.

 The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 3: 20-21,  ESV,” ²⁰  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, ²¹  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

Let us then, stop trying to serve God’s Purpose’s for past generations, or try to imagine what are God’s Purpose’s for future generations, or try to serve God’s purposes for other places or people, Let us instead serve with whole hearted commitment God’s Purpose’s for our lives, the places He has planted us alongside the people He has called us to walk alongside and share live and faith with. Let us therefore, “Live in the Present”

“I want to serve the purpose of God, in my generation
I want to serve the purpose of God, while I am alive
I want to give my life, for something that will last forever
Oh, l delight, I delight to do your will.”

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside, England


See Part 1 of this series "Living in the Past" 

One of my favourite Songs, You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham

Are we living in the Past, the Present or the Future? Part 1: Living in the Past.

Are we living in the Past, the Present or the Future?

Part 1: Living in the Past.

I often wonder what is the attraction of TV Programmes like ITV’s Downton Abbey and the BBC’s Upstairs, Downstairs. ? Is it Nostalgia  for an earlier, seemingly more innocent age ?, perhaps with all the upheaval that we both see around us and read about that directly or indirectly affects our day to day lives, is living in or thinking  about the past some sort of safety net?

I live in Southport, Merseyside, and our local radio station Dune FM on Friday night from 7pm to 10pm plays 1980’s Music and I enjoy listening to some great and not so great songs from my younger days ! but I wouldn’t choose to travel back in time, like some Welsh version of Dr Who and try to live in those days.   I grew up in a small village in the South Wales Valleys called Melin Court, and spend time not only there but in other villages like Resolven and Clyne. Overall when I wear my rose tinted glasses I enjoyed my time growing up there, but if I could ask my teenage self the same question what would the answer be?

I enjoy music, and did Cse Music in School, (I also played on one of the School Chess Teams) I had the opportunity to visit the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool with a friend several weeks ago, it’s one of the places the Beatles played, it was packed and overall I enjoyed my time there, there was a live band playing cover versions of songs by The Beatles and The Who. The atmosphere was electric, but one thing struck me, here’s a young band not playing their own songs but playing the songs of a previous generation!

My time at The Cavern Club lead me to think about why we sometimes try to live in the past, we let the circumstances of  our past, the influence of others,  past hurts, past disappointments,  feelings of hurt and sometimes bitterness govern our lives. We let the things that happened 5, 10, 15 or even 20 plus years influence how we live today, perhaps the hurt of a breakdown of a relationship that has happened in the past we don’t allow ourselves due to the fear of rejection or the fear of a failure to move on to a better relationship. Sometimes we try to eat the fruit of past blessings, happiness, success which like all fruit that was picked and not eaten, has become rotten, instead of picking and eating the new fruit for today.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 43:18-19b, NivUk

“¹⁸ Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.    ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

It’s easy to try to live in the past, but God calls us to move on and move forward to both bigger and better things.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:13-14NivUk

“ ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead,    ¹⁴ I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.”

So let us turn away from our past, because it’s a new beginning, a new start and a new season for us all.

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys

*”I have no regrets about what happened in my younger days”