Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

A Guest Post from Dick Woodward: Soar on Wings like Eagles

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And here is the last in my two week series of guest posts. Thank you very much everyone who has graciously written one for me.

The experience of looking at the same verse through the eyes and experience of guest posters from five continents has been an interesting and enlightening one. I hope to repeat it the next time I come across a Scriptural concept I do not understand, such as “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth”–which stumped me.
However, God willing, I shall return to regular programming and write my own blog posts from tomorrow–before I entirely forget how to write.
I hope you enjoyed the series of guest posts as much as I did. I would be grateful for any feedback. Leave it anonymously if you prefer.
And thank you again to the brilliant, wonderful guest posters!

“Dick Woodward can’t move anything below his neck. But that hasn’t prevented him from training and mentoring pastors around the world.”

Dick Woodward founded and pastored both the Virginia Beach Community Chapel and the Williamsburg Community Chapel, where he remains as pastor emeritus. His Mini Bible College, available in print, audio and electronically, has been translated into more than 26 strategic languages and is disseminated by ICM around the world to nurture believers. The Mini Bible College is a survey and topical study of the Bible that teaches practical and devotional applications of every book of the Bible to our lives.


Read previous posts about Dick Woodward at “How to Change the World from Your Bed.” or here.


Dick Woodward’s blog is 4 Spiritual Secrets. Visit ICM at http://www.icm.org/


I am honoured to run this guest post by Dick Woodward!

For those who are interested, Dick Woodward has given me permission to publish his extended reflection on this verse here . So make yourself a good cup of tea, and snuggle up with it!! Here is a brief reflection.



“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles…” (Isaiah 40:31)

The Golden Eagle in the Mediterranean likes to build its nest at least ten thousand feet above sea leve, preferably in a Crag near the top of a cliff. From that elevation the eagle can see a storm approaching while the storm is still far off. With great patience the eagle waits until the winds of that storm reach a very high velocity and engulf the eagle and its nest. The eagle then leaps fifteen feet from its nest directly into the adverse wind of that storm. This adverse wind gives the eagle the lift and aerodynamics it needs to soar over that storm.

When the prophet Isaiah exhorts the people of God to mount up with wings as eagles do,he is referring to this storm strategy of the eagle. When a storm comes into our life, our reflex response should not always be to ask God to deliver us from the storm. We should consider applying this exhortation of Isaiah. We can wait on the Lord until He shows us it is the right time. Then we can leap into the adverse winds of that storm and find in them the spiritual aerodynamics to soar over that storm.

When the Church was born at Pentecost the great miracle happened after the apostles had waited on the Lord for forty days. The apostles found miraculous spiritual aerodynamics by moving out against severe persecution, obeying the Great Commission,and making disciples for Jesus Christ.

When God permits or directs a storm into your life and mine, are we willing to wait on the Lord until He gives us the power to soar over that storm?

Those who Wait on the Lord will Renew their Strength: A Guest Post by Rhoda of Living to Please God

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This week’s theme is a verse from Isaiah

Those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40 :31).

Have you experienced this? Has this been true in your experience? Tell me your story. Email me at [email protected] or contact me through the comments.


Today’s guest post is from Rhoda, the wife of an American missionary and pastor, and a homeschooling mother of three little ones. She is English and they live and minister in Wales in the UK. Her blog is Living to Please God .
Rhoda suggests you check out Compassion

My Journey out of Continual Tiredness


I went to a retreat last year, knowing that my struggle above all else, was tiredness… continual tiredness from caring for three small children. Then I saw this verse come up on the screen overhead and it suddenly hit me.

‘Those that wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.’ Isaiah 40:31

It is a promise from God – ‘those that wait on the Lord will renew their strength’. He will renew our strength IF we wait on Him. I KNEW these verses, but I hadn’t applied them to my situation… and when I did, it was life-changing.

Promises from God never fail because He is eternally faithful. I realise that some people have physical illnesses which go hand in hand with tiredness, and that’s not what I think this is talking about, or that we will never be tired again. But I believe God was telling me I don’t need to live like this!

So if waiting on God would renew my strength, then I had to find out how!

I have come to the conclusion that at least two practical things are needed in waiting on God:

1. Time spent with Him in prayer and reading His word

2. Taking time to find out what He wants us to do concerning our decisions, schedule and commitments.
Spending Time with God

Ever since we had our first newborn baby, I had decreased my time that I spent with God, and it was a bit haphazard. I would try to do it in the morning, but often fail because of being too tired to get up early. Then later on in the day, I didn’t have a set time for it, so it was squished in somewhere and not as good.

After the retreat I came to the conclusion that this verse meant I needed to spend more time with God if I am tired, not less! So I increased my devotional time and made a special slot for it in the afternoons when the children were up in their rooms. That way if I didn’t manage to get up early, I would have a scheduled time in the afternoon to doit.

The change has been amazing! It took a few months before the tiredness started easing, but it did, and I know it is due to this change more than anything else.

Finding God’s Will

I also prayed and thought hard to try and figure out what God wanted me to do with my time and before committing to anything. This has meant that I have sacrificed doing some things I would have liked to have done, but in the end I would rather be in God’s will.

There are a tonne of good things we can do, but they may not be the best things, and we can stretch ourselves so thin that we’re not doing our most important jobs well.

I love that now when people ask me how I am, I don’t have to say either “I’m tired”; or “I’m fine” but not really mean it! I am able to enjoy my children, and be more joyful and hopefully more fruitful.

Maybe if you are struggling with tiredness you could figure out how to spend more time with God every day, and pray to make sure that you are doing the things that He wants you to be doing?

Have you ever found that spending time with God has helped give you more strength during busy seasons? I would love to hear about it if you want to share in the comments.

A Guest Post by Jan Sassenberg: The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

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I love this post in which my friend, Jan Sassenberg grapples with the statement that the meek shall inherit the earth.

Jan and Karoline Sassenberg, who were born in Germany, have been serving for the last three years with WORD MADE FLESH in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Find out more at www.wordmadeflesh.org or email thesassenbergsATyahoo.co.uk.

Jan and Karoline Sassenberg


Blessed are the Meek and the Great Commission

As a teenager, I was scared of the Beatitudes. Brought up in a conservative Free Evangelical Church, it didn’t make sense to me that Christ’s longest and best recorded sermon opened with words about the poor, the meek and the persecuted. Why not have the most important come first? Why not start with: “Surrender to me, Jesus, and you shall be saved!” Was Jesus perhaps more political than my pastors and teachers wanted me to believe? Too scared of becoming “a liberal” and of watering down the gospel I did not dare following this uncomfortable train of thought.


By now, 20 years later, without abandoning my love and complete trust in God’s precious word, I am not scared of liberals anymore. I sometimes rather enjoy looking at our faith from their fresh perspective.

Now, I can see the Beatitudes inspiring South American church leaders to instigate peaceful revolutions against dictators and drug cartels. I am humbled when seeing how liberation theology has given a voice to the voiceless and oppressed.

Now, I live in Sierra Leone, West Africa, as member of Word Made Flesh, a community that is dedicated to serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor of this world. We are reaching out into the slums and favelas of the booming mega cities in the majority world, or as I prefer to call it, the oppressed world. We want to be Jesus’ hands and feet, touching the untouchables, protecting the orphan children, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, comforting the broken, sheltering the homeless.

Nevertheless, I still find myself puzzled over Jesus’ radical claim. What is it that Christ praises about the attitude of meekness? How can he promise the meek to inherit the earth? Does this reflect reality in a world ruled by social injustice, cruelty, and the survival of the most brutal?


Matthew’s third Beatitude is particularly uncomfortable as it is the only one with the promise of a reward in this world rather than in heaven. All other Beatitudes could be interpreted as finding their fulfillment solely in the after-world: being comforted, hunger being stilled, shown mercy, seeing God, being called sons of God and receiving the kingdom of heaven.

With the blessing of the meek, however, you need to bend the text far to say that “inheriting the earth” simply means inheriting the Christian’s promised land, our eternal home in heaven. I want to believe that this blessing as much as all of them have direct relevance to our identity in Christ now, on this side of the curtain. We know that the promised kingdom of Christ has already started to appear. We believe that we are not just having to wait it out until we reach the other side.

The word “meek” implies peacefulness although it does not only mean the act of peacemaking. The peacemakers receive their own promise later. With the word “meek” Jesus uses the same expression as in His self proclamation: “Come to me, all you who are weary for I am meek and humble in heart.” (Mat. 11:32) The NIV translates “… for I am gentle…”. Jesus is calling to himself the weary and a few verses later Jesus refers to himself as the one who does not quench the smoldering wick.


In Jesus’ own ministry, meekness and humilty are inseparably linked to ministering to the weak and broken. Jesus himself demonstrates his mild and humble approach when he kindly rebukes Martha’s busy bitterness towards her sister Mary. His loving gentleness is woven into his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. But despite the softness of his gloves, Jesus is never a conflict-avoiding harmony seeker. He corrects in love.

So how will such a meek disciple inherit the earth? As with all Beatitudes, Jesus does not come up with new ideas but refers here to the Old Testament. Psalm 37:11 says: “The Meek will inherit the land.” From the patriarchs to Jesus’ day, the Israelites had been anticipating the fulfillment of this promise. Becoming again a sovereign independent nation was the ultimate Jewish dream.


But now that Jesus, who said he did not come to abandon the law but to fulfill it, announces his own mission, he goes way beyond that. He promises the whole earth but he does not refer to political power. Jesus speaks here of the new worldwide “Kingdom of God“. We see this wider perspective throughout all his teaching. Asked about taxes Jesus says, “Give to Caesar, what belongs to Caesar and give God what belongs to God.” He refuses to be made king. And nearly all his parables are starting with the phrase: “The kingdom of God is like…” (a mustard seed etc…) All Jesus cares about is to birth this kingdom. Jesus promises “the earth” because it is His declared intention to expand his father’s Kingdom to the very last corner of this planet.

So, how does meekness empower us to reach this world for Christ? Is global mission a question of converting souls, large stadium crusades, and efficient strategies?


Are we in our churches more interested in the message than the recipient? How often do we in our churches and missions run our programmes by means of superior knowledge, skills, finances and powers? And how much do we really achieve with that? Jesus invites us back to caring for the one in front of us. Investing our time, resources and compassion in the “hopeless cases”.

In our community in Freetown, Sierra Leone, we find ourselves often overwhelmed by the vastness of the suffering around us. Children beaten mercilessly and dying needlessly, young women forced into prostitution, hopeless unemployed men turning to crimes and drugs. But in all this we find that God can use us best, when we turn away from programmes and let God use us in our weaknesses and limitations. Where He brings us low we are ready to truly meet our friends in the slum of Kroo Bay at their level. And when we gently touch wounds we see God touch and heal and restore.

Guest Post by Virginia Woodward : “The meek shall inherit the earth”

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Virginia Woodward has spent 12 years as a relief & development worker, primarily with World Vision International (Jerusalem-West Bank/Gaza, Kosovo, Tanzania). For the last five years, she has been helping her parents, Ginny and Dick Woodward, author of the Mini-Bible College (who will be writing tomorrow’s guest post).

Virginia blogs at Roses in the Rubble.
She suggests you might visit World Vision International WVI.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth…”


Anita asked us to unpack this Beatitude theologically (exegeting & all that),but with all those heavy-duty theological types over there in Oxford, I’d like to focus on what it means to BE meek. Practically. What does meekness look like?

It’s simple. Look at a crucifix (I know, I know…Jesus is risen, but he DIED first.)
Jesus Christ on the Cross: meekness personified, exemplified…deified.
To be meek means to lay down our lives for others after laying down our very ‘selves’ – for GOD. This laying down of self is quite different from putting ourselves down. It’s very tricky walking the Heavenly meekness line, reaching the end of self, yet recognizing the beauty of our belovedness in God’s sight- letting our lives and gifts be all for the Glory of GOD’s Kingdom vs. the Kingdom of ME.
Meekness is in the ‘how’ – letting go and letting GOD work in and through us. If we are TRULY meek, we will love (I Corinthians 13 style) with a love that reaches even our enemies. We won’t be so quick to condemn but will put ourselves in others’ shoes. We will be quick to forgive (although it’s still quite hard!) Meekness makes the hard stuff possible by letting GOD dish out the grace-filled-means that makes what seems impossible,possible.
Meekness and mercy go hand in hand. Meek folks are usually on-their-knees Mercy groupies, recognizing their need for God’s mercy…and the need to BE MERCY in this whacked-out-whack-everyone-to-get-ahead world.
Back to the crucifixion. See Mary standing at the foot of the cross. Did she flashback through images of angels, shepherds, three kings, ministry & miracles? Her son, God’s son, hangs crucified. Yet she stands: humble in meekness to maybe not understand, but in meek persevering faith to STAND.
Being meek does not mean being a doormat. It means courageously opening the doors of our hearts, minds and spirits to let God in …and then… again and again.
Lookat the cross. Really look at it.
“Blessed are the Meek, for they shall be like Jesus.”




31 Days to Finding your Blogging Mojo by Bryan Allain

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I slowly worked my way through some of Darren Rowse’s encyclopedic ebook

http://www.problogger.net/31-days-to-building-a-better-blog/ last month. It’s freely available online, though I bought the ebook, so I could read bits when offline, i.e. on holiday–well, until my laptop got nicked.

I found it so helpful that I volunteered to briefly review Bryan Allain’s 31 Days to Finding your Blogging Mojo.

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Though I would recommend reading Darren’s ebook (which is hundreds of pages, including links) first, I think Bryan’s book might be useful to a beginner, or to someone who has lost her focus, stalled, whose blog is not growing, or who is no longer sure why she is doing this silly thing in the first place. It’s a nice “get back to basics, and start afresh” kind of book.

Bryan has useful chapters and lots of good ideas on the philosophy of blogging, on discovering content, and on finding and keeping readers. He’s good at helping you see your blog with fresh eyes. I have worked through a few days, and will work through the whole book–once I have got through the Rowse one.

If one has decided to blog, it’s worth making sure one does it well–writing (mostly) good posts and finding an audience so that your blog is a growing, thriving, satisfying one.

Both these books will help you in this enterprise.

Blogging is a rapidly developing art form, and part of its pleasure is that there are no rules. Some blogs are conversational, with lots of comments, but the posts won’t be worth reading a year later. Some, like John Piper’s or Ann Voskamp’s are more magisterial, carefully-thought out, well-written. These have turned off comments, for the most part, and the posts have the evidence of time spent on them, and will be worth reading five years hence.

So one needs to develop one’s blogging philosophy. Write prolifically, but stuff which has little lasting value? Or write less, but things which you are proud of, and which can be re-posted a year later, and still be a blessing to people?

Bryan’s book sets out his philosophy of blogging. I personally did not agree with several chapters, since my own philosophy is different, but read it, and develop your own philosophy, which suits your time, energy, talents, values and goals.

Thank you, Bryan for the preview.

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth: A Guest Post by Julian Clarke

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Today’s lovely guest post is by Julian Clarke, a Husband – Father of 4 – Mission-minded Marketeer and Musician–Volunteer and supporter of the most wonderful organisation in the world: Viva – Together for Children http://www.viva.org/home.aspx—Sales Director of Caseco a company supplying opticians www.caseco.co.uk
Follow Julian on twitter http://twitter.com/julianclarke

Tune in tomorrow for a wonderful guest post from the remarkable Virginia Woodward, who worked as a relief and development worker with World Vision in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Kosovo and Tanzania

On Saturday, we’ll hear from her remarkable father, Dick Woodward, author of the brilliant Mini Bible College, and pastor emeritus of Williamsburg Community Chapel..


Julian Clarke

Jules’ Meek Speak

The first time I heard “The meek shall inherit theearth” it was sung, spliced between power-chords and drum fills, the likeof which I’d never heard before (for those who’re familiar with the Canadian band Rush, you’ll know what I mean).
As I was swung left and right in a coach climbing through the Alps (on a school skiing trip) the red Walkman introduced me to music that on reflection seemedto alter the trajectory of my adolescence. The ensuing period of my life, ironically, could be described more as care-less than care-free.
I went there, did that, bought the T-shirt and thankfully buried it with Christ just over a decade later. This was not however before being threshed by the words of 2 Timothy 3: 1-9. After I read the list it was safe to assumeI had a distinct lack of meekness.


As Luke Tarassenko expressedexpertly in a previous pondering, the Greek word “meek” does noteasily translate into English and does not mean “weak” as our culture would deem. Moreover it embodies a regard to the inner life, the attitudes ofthe heart, in a way that suggests strength in gentleness.
Jesus explains of Himself in Matthew 11v29 “Take my yoke upon you andlearn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest foryour souls.” That “gentle” is the same Greek word translated”meek” in Matthew 5. In the same measure that Jesus was gentle, Hewas also strong and powerful. He rebuked men, demons and the elements with authority;and finally endured the cross (over which he was so troubled he sweated blood) without faltering or being discouraged. (Isaiah 42: 4).
He pushed through fear. Now does that sound like our take on “meek”to you?
Thatstrength is difficult to comprehend but is present and grows in all who suffer and persevere, all who are oppressed and remain steadfast, all who cleave to Him who is close to the broken-hearted.
Forgive me, I can’t remember who said (when considering ministers regretfullycaught in sin that so easily entangles) “We can only go as far as our character runs deep.” For me meekness encompasses that quiet quality ofcharacter that embraces perseverance – sheer bull-headed single-minded perseverance that doesn’t shout about it or perform to the camera.
Brendan, from the Viva Project, Kampala, Uganda


This quality is exhibited by someone who madea great impression on me last month in Kampala, Uganda. As Brendan approaches his 21st birthday the orphanage he started (with one boy called Juan* rescued from the gutter, washed by a recent downpour’s run-off,shrivelling and showing a fever) now houses and cares for 70 children all withstories to tell of trauma and suffering like Juan (who incidentally is now one of the brightest in the local school).

Brendan explained that when people see abandoned children in Kampala they feararrest whilst the police corroborate the child’s background – so the children are left for the authorities or NGOs to identify and rescue – if they’re not too late.
Brenden did it anyway. Not only that but every morning he opens the compound doors to another 120 children from the nearby community to share breakfast.
Some of the 120 children rescued by Brendan, aged 21. Kampala, Uganda

Stories from all over the world in projects like Brendan’s, part of the Viva Network, point to that elusive kingdom where suffering andlack seem to be doorways to beauty and abundant life.
I often say that in Uganda life seems more “alive” and I wonder why that is – the extremes of life there maybe. Or perhaps it’s because amongst the desperate ashes there is true beauty manifested by the hearts and actions of young men and women like Brendan giving up their lives to help the poor, marginalised and suffering (can you see the parallel with our Lord?)
Is that the nub of it? That meekness emanates from the cross of Christ and that the fruits and evidence of heaven can be glimpsed (inherited from his last will and testament) in the here and now. That inwardly we should aspire to meekness defined by the cross and the pull of that which we all struggle against with futility – to die to ourselves and to our preferred ways of doing life.
In summary – “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will beadded to you” Matthew 6v33
How will you seek it?


*The names of children and adults mentioned in this blog have been changed in accordance with Viva’s confidentiality and safety policies.

The Methodist Covenant Prayer

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I am no longer my own but yours.

Put me to what you will,
Rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
exalted for you or brought low for you;
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.


I love this beautiful prayer, and was trying to pray it this evening. Big fail!! I think if things don’t work out as I hoped, I can honestly pray it. However, in the middle of doing and striving, in the middle of embarking on a challenging and joyful enterprise, it’s hard to even contemplate the possibility of its failure, as the Methodist Covenant Prayer so clear-sightedly does. 

And I think it is fine to ask God to bless and prosper the work of your hands, with the understanding, of course, that you will still love him with all your heart if your plans and enterprises do not succeed.



Why, when you learn to trust God, you smile!

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Irene at 4
I have heard Jack Miller of World Harvest Mission tell this story, and Max Lucado too.

Tom walks down the street and meets Dick, who is grinning from ear to ear.
Tom, “What are you so happy about?”
Dick, “Well, I’ve met a man who promised to do all my worrying for me for $40,000 a year.”
Tom, “40,000 dollars a year! How are you going to get that?”
Dick, grinning, “That’s HIS worry!