{"id":1361,"date":"2010-09-29T17:31:12","date_gmt":"2010-09-29T16:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2011-08-26T11:15:36","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:15:36","slug":"how-does-he-do-that-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/09\/how-does-he-do-that-again\/","title":{"rendered":"How does he do that again?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In yesterday’s post<\/a>, Libby asked how God does what he does, and came to the conclusion that God does the impossible through the power of his love.<\/p>\n

Sometimes he does it in the form of an amazing miracle, such as sending manna and quail to feed the Israelites in the desert. Sometimes he does it through the voice of Jesus, who told Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Sometimes he does it through Peter’s shadow, healing the sick at the side of the road, and sometimes he does it through the great evangelists of today. Sometimes it is spontaneous, mostly it is through prayer, always it is because of love.<\/p>\n

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10<\/sup> Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 <\/sup>Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12<\/sup> Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13<\/sup> When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.<\/em><\/strong> (Romans 12:9-13, NLT)<\/p>\n

We are told in this passage to love others, really love them, no pretence. We are told to work hard and serve the Lord with enthusiasm. We are told to keep praying. So that’s it, eh? If we do that, then God will continue to help us, to give us reason to rejoice, reason for a confident hope. Great stuff!<\/p>\n

But wait…. that verse at the end. What does it mean?<\/p>\n

That verse is how we do what it says in the first verse in the passage. That verse is how we stop pretending to love. That verse is what we <\/em><\/strong>have to do. That verse is how we can be the support in a wilderness, the voice calling somebody back from the brink, the shadow that lifts someone from the gutter.<\/p>\n

That verse is how we <\/em><\/strong>can be the answer to someone’s prayer!<\/p>\n

Our Father does what he does through the power of his love, and it just might be that it is our<\/strong><\/em> <\/strong>love which he uses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes he does it in the form of an amazing miracle, such as sending manna and quail to feed the Israelites in the desert. Sometimes he does it through the voice of Jesus, who told Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Sometimes he does it through Peter’s shadow, healing the sick at the side of the road, and sometimes he does it through the great evangelists of today. Sometimes it is spontaneous, mostly it is through prayer, always it is because of love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[17,413,38,41,48,56,64],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-god","tag-healing","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-prayer","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-lX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3919,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2018\/05\/praying-at-the-right-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":0},"title":"Praying at the right time","author":"Robert Pender","date":"08\/05\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I once went for an interview in London and I was having a lot of trouble finding a parking space. I finally found one in a multi-storey car park and then ran to the place where the interview was being held. I arrived just in time, but after the interview\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":1},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. 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If we have faith that big, we can move a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3915,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2018\/02\/compared-to-others-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":4},"title":"Compared to Others (2)","author":"Robert Pender","date":"22\/02\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hands up anyone who is imperfect \u2026\u2026. Of course, anyone who didn\u2019t put a hand up is full of pride and has therefore fallen from a state of perfection, so you can put your hand up too! Now that we all have our hands up, I thought we would just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4337,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/04\/all-in-the-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":5},"title":"All in the Head","author":"Robert Pender","date":"25\/04\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4338\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text]Anyone who knows me knows that I've got a head. I think it's to do with the lack of hair. My head is very visible because of that. There is no hair to hide it. 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