The Lightfoot Lane Blog

They say you should preach messages that impact you first, and in preaching on Fighting your Giants With Faith this was certainly true for me. There were many things that come out of this passage, but for me one of the most helpful came from comparing the reactions to Goliath of the Israelite armies and David. (1 Samuel 17:25&26)

Linda and Tim just before her cancer returned

It’s an old chestnut I guess, but one that takes on greater urgency when you are facing giants. The Israelites compared their giant to themselves. David compared his giant to God. Who had the right perspective?

I find that facing the cancer giant is tough, scary and hard work. It saps my energy, strength and battles my will, forcing me to have to make conscious decisions and choices. There are also no guarantees - David could have been killed! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could have burnt in the ovens (Daniel 3) but chose to say instead “We know our God can save us, but even if he doesn’t…” Choosing to fight giants means counting the cost of authentic Christianity, living in the battle with faith, hope and love. We say we want to see God move in power, but to engage in a battle means we will get battle scarred before we get battle hardened. If you don’t believe me, just read through the book of Acts! 

My giants may not be your giants, but your giants are still giant to you. Don’t put yourself under even more pressure by comparing your giant to your situation, or even to someone else’s giant. Instead, try looking at them through eyes of faith that compares them to God and says instead “Still my heart will say, blessed be your name.” “Come Lord Jesus, come.”

It’s exciting when you see God at work. It’s REALLY exciting when you see God at work among people you know and care about!!! It makes you think that this God stuff really works…………!

Each One Reach One picks up this excitement by encouraging us to INTENTIONALLY walk and journey with those we care about towards the cross and beyond into the church. Taking responsibility for our friends is at its heart, recognising that your friends actually like you (!) and are more likely to be interested in what is important to you if you are interested in what is important to them!

But isn’t being intentional cold? Is it wrong to have an agenda? What if my friends turn round and say “You are only my friend because you want me to be a Christian?” Surely we should just let things happen?

I was reading Mark 4:26-29 (the parable of the growing seed) recently and this intentionality struck me afresh. As churches across the UK, we don’t have hundreds of people breaking our doors down wanting to become Christians, our expectations are more likely to be to “eat what grows by itself.” I’m not a farmer, however, if a farmer’s approach to his crops was to harvest what grew by itself, he’d go out of business quickly! No, a farmer intentionally sows seed, nurtures and cares for it (fertilises it!) and then harvests it. God may well make it grow, but the farmer has a part to play!

So being intentional in walking with our friends far from being cold and uncaring is actually the most loving thing we can do for people we care about. Loving unconditionally means that if our friends do turn round and say “You are only my friend because you want me to become a Christian” we can reply ”Whether you respond or not, I’ll still be your friend! But the Jesus I know is so amazing that how could I be a true friend and not share him with you?”

5th February 2007 - a brilliant night for our church. We took a massive decision for the future when we decided to build a new annex and to re-develop the front of our building. Buildings are definitely not the be all and end all of church life, but when you personally have journeyed for twelve years towards something God put in your spirit, you can breathe a huge spiritual sigh of relief when your people come to a place of unity and hope together. And that’s worth waiting for!

You see it’s not really about a building at all. It is about a people walking as one together in the faith that God is and will use us to bless others with His love and the Good News about Jesus…buildings can help!

“Blessed be Your name, On the road marked with suffering,
Though there’s pain in the offering, Blessed be Your name.

You give and take away, You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say: Lord, blessed be Your name”

For a while now I’ve been encouraged to write a blog about Linda and facing her cancer together; the words of this song sum up a lot of how I feel! After a great weekend together in London, this week has been especially hard, being told that her cancer has progressed and her liver is now beginning to fail. With 4 young kids, that’s tough.

Linda on the London Eye Sat 27^th Jan

Sunday night I’m preaching in our David series on Fighting your Giants with Faith and for me, and I guess many, giants don’t come much bigger than terminal cancer. That’s my giant, but I know I’m not alone. And then when you try and give answers to the “why does God allow this to happen” question, anything you say ends up sounding trite.

In living with cancer I have learnt a few lessons, which I’ll try and explain in time. For now, a few lessons I’ve learnt as a starter for ten…

• We all face giants, and my giants may not be yours, but yours are still giant to you
• Better to face them with God than on your own
• We were never meant to try and do life on our own
• Faith isn’t faith until its all you’ve got to hang on to
• Better to put the armour of God on in a time of peace before the battles start
• Better to get yourself straight with God in a time of peace than when the bullets are flying
• Christians weren’t saved to be safe, but secure
• God is very, very real and worth trusting
• With those you love, intentionally and deliberately create special, memory times

Yesterday at a minister’s fraternal we looked at Colossians 1 v15-23, the whole passage is great but v17 jumped out at me – “In him [that’s Jesus] all things hold together.” For me, in tough times I have learnt that for real peace, I have to choose Jesus, to drive back into him, place my trust and hope in him. In all of that Jesus is no fair weather friend, and I have learnt that my faith is not dependent on whether or not he comes through for me.

“Blessed be Your name, On the road marked with suffering,
Though there’s pain in the offering, Blessed be Your name.

You give and take away, You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say: Lord, blessed be Your name”

[If you don’t know this song, see

http://shop.kingswaysongs.com/product_info.php?products_id=22  

For those not familiar with our story see my testimony http://www.fulwoodfmc.net/content/view/17/26/ or the second issue of our magazine "Heart" (copies available on request!)]