Peter Horrobin

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters . . . He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

Psalm 18:16-19, NIV

We were on a family holiday at the seaside. I was a venturesome toddler. My father was playing near some rockpools with my older brother, some of which were quite deep. Suddenly a cry went up, “Where’s Peter?” I was nowhere to be seen. It was one of those “Oh, God help!” moments as my parents looked for their missing second son.

Then, it was as if another hand had guided my father to the deepest of the pools. He plunged his hand beneath the murky water and grabbed hold of the toddler beneath the water and pulled me out. He didn’t know I was there, he just plunged his arm down into the water in the place where the Lord told him to go. And, praise God, I’m still here seventy-five years later to tell the story!

I always enjoyed the retelling of the story – for obvious reasons. Dad, with God’s help, saved my life. And in a similar way David enjoyed retelling the stories of how God’s divine hand had directed his life on many occasions. The whole of Psalm 18 is a psalm of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance.

The final phrase of our Scripture for today reminds us of what God thinks about his children – He delights in them. So be encouraged, the Lord delights in YOU. He loves you with an everlasting (never stops!) love – and for those who are in Christ the experience of being loved stretches from time into eternity.

I pray that as you read this, whatever the circumstances you are currently going through, that you will know the love of the Father’s hand directing your steps and stretching down into the even the deepest of waters to rescue you.

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for Your amazing love. Thank You that You came from eternity into time so that we may go from time into eternity. Thank You Father God for Your rescuing hand which stretches down into the darkest of situations. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

Luke 2:31-32, NIV

On this first day of 2021, I would like to wish every one of you reading today’s Seed of the Kingdom, a very blessed New Year. For no matter how difficult or dark last year may have been, our Scripture reminds us that the Christian message is one of light, joy and hope for all peoples. In spite of all the difficulties that the whole world has experienced in 2020, we have an incredibly joyful message for those who truly seek the One who is the Saviour of the World.

Simeon had spent all his life longing for the day when he would finally see the baby he had been waiting for. Day by day in the temple he had been watching and waiting and when, finally, the day came, and his eyes lighted upon the baby Jesus in Mary’s arms, his spirit was immediately alerted to the words of the prophet Isaiah and he spoke out our Scripture for today. His eyes had seen the salvation which God had been preparing for generations – for both the Gentiles and the Jews.

We didn’t just celebrate the birth of a baby over the Christmas season, but we were celebrating the incarnation of Jesus, the Light of the World. World events are hastening on and it feels as though darkness is closing in. It’s a fact, however, that lights shine with equal power day and night, but during the daytime they are barely visible. Then, as darkness falls they seem to shine ever brighter till in the fullness of the night they shine brilliantly. The night is coming. And the Light of the World will shine ever brighter as darkness falls and the babe of Bethlehem awaits the moment for His return as King of Kings.

Today we can truly give thanks to God Himself that in His mercy He sent Jesus and that His love encompasses all who cry out to Him from the darkness. And, like Simeon, day by day we watch and wait with excitement in our spirits.

May the joy of Jesus fill your hearts and minds throughout 2021 and may I encourage you to pray today for those you know and love who have not yet discovered the Light that soon they will come to know Him.

Prayer: Thank You that You gave Simeon the inner witness as to who the babe in Mary’s arms really was. Thank You Lord for bringing eternal Light into the world. Help me never to lose sight of who You really are and that one day, You will be returning as King. In jesus’ Name, Amen.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love . . . the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jeremiah 31:3 and John 1:14, NIV

A loving Dad makes plans for his children. I can remember many occasions when we did exciting things as a family. For my brother and I, we just lived in the excitement of the moment when these plans came to fruition. But looking back now I can see that Mum and Dad had been thinking about, talking about, saving up for and preparing for the event weeks and months in advance.

Our heavenly Dad, Father God, never stopped loving mankind because man had sinned. Instead He set in motion a plan which would take centuries to come to fruition – a plan which originated in His everlasting love. The Old Testament is full of prophecies telling the world what God was planning to do, such as Isaiah 7:14 which says “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son.”

The Christmas story is not a made up fable – but the true account of what actually happened all those years ago. Prophecy was fulfilled, all that God had planned came to pass. The glory of God was manifest in Mary’s baby – the baby who had been destined to become not just a man of God, but was God made man,“full of grace and truth”, Father God’s extraordinary gift to mankind – the baby who as a Man would become the sacrifice for the sin of the world, and through whom we can receive eternal life.

John 1:12 tells us that “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” This is the heart of the Christmas message. Because of His supernatural birth and sinless life, we who have sinned can be born again as children of God, redeemed and restored to fellowship with our Father God who planned it all for us.

What an incredible and amazing gift. I pray that as you share gifts to celebrate the coming of Jesus, you will begin this special day by thanking God for the most amazing gift of all – the gift of Jesus, the gift of Life – everlasting Life, from a Father who loves us with an everlasting Love!

Prayer: Thank You Father God for Your everlasting love. Thank You Jesus that You came in fulfilment of all the Father’s plans. Thank You for being willing to die for me. Thank You for being my Saviour. Help me to always live for You as Lord of my life, alive in You for evermore. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

“It is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.”

Job 32:8-9, NIV

There are many profound truths hidden away in some of the more obscure parts of the Bible. I’ve recently been working my way through the book of Job and there are many places where I have marked verses that I need to go back to and think about, including the words which are our scripture for today.

The world often assumes that because a person is full of accumulated knowledge that they are also wise. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’ve prayed with quite a lot of people across the years who were both very clever, very knowledgeable and sometimes wealthy as well. But when I heard their life story and saw the deep pits they had fallen into, on the inside I was shaking my head in disbelief at the foolish mistakes they had made.

When they had stood at life’s cross-roads, or faced different temptations, they had made choices which were sourced in the emotions of the moment and not the wisdom of God. They hadn’t learned to listen to God’s spirit speaking to them within. It doesn’t matter whether we are young or old, we are all capable of listening to the voice of God’s Spirit within us and then making choices which line up with the wisdom of God.

We may not have the knowledge of an highly trained and qualified individual, but we don’t need any qualifications to hear the voice of God – what we need is a humble and a submissive heart which recognises that God’s wisdom is better than ours! That may sound as though we are stating the obvious, but man has a huge capacity to switch off the voice of God at the moment when they should be listening intently for His voice and most need to hear it.

God offers us His wisdom – it is the breath of the Almighty that gives us His understanding. And God breathes His breath into our spirit at all ages of our life. If only we took more time and care to listen!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the incredible privilege of being able to hear Your voice in our inner being. I pray that Your wisdom will guide my life’s decisions so that I will be able to walk in the destiny that You have prepared for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord . . . . “

Ephesians 6:21, NIV

Whenever I have reason to visit a graveyard, I’m particularly interested to read what is carved on the stones, by way of a short epitaph on the life of the person whose body lies there beneath the ground. Sometimes they’re witty, sometimes profound, sometimes generous and occasionally a beautiful commendation of a godly life, well lived.

These words of Paul were not an epitaph to a man who had died, but a commendation to a much loved Christian man who was serving an apostle of God, in order to be a blessing to the people of God in Ephesus. But I can well imagine that if Paul, at a later time, had the opportunity to write on a stone over the grave of Tychicus, this is exactly what he would have said. “Dear brother and servant in the Lord.”

As I read these words, I found myself being challenged by their powerful simplicity and began to ask myself questions about what it might really mean to be a ‘dear brother’ to all my fellow believers. And then I dwelt on the importance of being a servant and remembered afresh how the best example of being a servant in Scripture is seen in the life of Jesus. He came not to lift himself up, even though he was the Son of God, but to serve others so that one day in eternity they will be lifted up to a place of blessing in glory.

Tychicus had clearly learned well what it means to be a follower and servant of Jesus, so much so that two thousand years later we are still reading about him in these words of Scripture through Paul’s amazing commendation on his life. May each of us be challenged to live out our lives so that perhaps one day, when we have passed on people will think about our Christian character which made us what we are, rather than any achievements we might have been privileged to do. Everything we have ever done for Him has only ever been possible by His grace. It is to Him that the glory goes.

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for this powerful testimony to the life of Tychicus. Help me, Lord, to so live my life that people will recognise You in me and be blessed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

… but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 John 3:2b-3, ESV

My interest in trail running led me to understand a term I had been unfamiliar with. It is ‘aspirational regret’. I came across it when I watched a documentary about a guy who is without a doubt the most accomplished trail runner of our generation. His feats have been truly remarkable. When he discovered at a young age that he had a knack for this sport, he set himself the goal of winning all the big, prestigious races in the world. This was meant to be a life-long pursuit, but he reached his goal in his early twenties. At that point something interesting happened. In the middle of a race (which he was winning), he suddenly stopped. His energy left him and he fell into a severe depression.

Psychologist say this was because of ‘aspirational regret’. This occurs when someone finally accomplishes their goals and they find that they have nothing left to live for. People aim for the top of the mountain, but, when they get there, they find that it gives them nothing. Life becomes meaningless.

We may not have athletic ambitions like this man. But could we too, be chasing dreams which will leave us empty in the end? It could be fame, wealth or the pursuit of lusts. In that case, we find that all we’re doing is feeding our selfish nature, which is never satisfied, but only increases in hunger when it is fed. Or perhaps we have loftier goals of accomplishing great things for the sake of humanity That is great, but there is still the question of what drives us. What are we looking to find? When we get to where we have always wanted to be, will we really feel fulfilled?

I think that the best way to ensure we never regret pursuing our life’s goals is by pursuing goals which are anchored in eternity, rather than on earth. As I have been reading more about the lives of those who have gone before us, I am learning that, in ages gone by, Christians placed a much greater emphasis on becoming more like Christ than we do in our generation. Becoming more like Jesus, being transformed into His image, surely is a goal worth pursuing!

Changing sinners to become more like Himself is one of God’s great aims in salvation. And the beauty of it is that, while we walk the earth, we are never truly done. The Apostle Paul said, ‘Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect …. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 3:12-14).

It’s brilliant to have a life-goal that is anchored in eternity. It provides direction and meaning to every day of our earthly lives. And we will never fully ‘get there’ on earth and have this horrible depressing feeling called ‘aspirational regret’. We keep being changed until the day we meet Jesus face to face. And I am certain that in heaven we won’t regret any efforts we spent on earth in becoming more like Him, but we will be reaping eternal rewards in heaven.

Prayer: Father, I am sorry if I have set goals for my life which in the end will prove to be empty and unfulfilling. Help me to set my sights on heaven. And until I get there, please help me to become more like Jesus every single day. Amen.

“In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”

2 Chronicles 31:21, NIV

Prosperity is not a bit of magic that lands from Heaven on God’s special ones! And prosperity is not always measured by wealth and worldly success. There are principles that need to be applied and also a realisation that to be prosperous in God means walking a path of humility and being content with whatever version of prosperity God blesses us with. To be at peace and know that all is well with your soul is a form of prosperity whose value is beyond gold and diamonds. And one of the dangers of material prosperity is the temptation to pride – which became a trip wire in Hezekiah’s life which caused distress and sickness in his later life.

There are three principles in our Scripture for today which are foundational for a prosperous life: Firstly, obedience to the laws of God; secondly, seeking God’s input on everything we find to do; and, thirdly, working wholeheartedly – and that can sometimes mean working really hard as well. These three basic principles are a powerful recipe for living a godly and successful life.

Jesus made it clear that love and obedience go hand in hand – saying that if we really loved God, then we would want to follow and obey Him. The Bible is full of stories of how God blessed people’s lives, when they chose to do what he had shown them. Sadly, there are also the stories of how things went badly wrong when they ignored what God had said! When it comes to guidance it’s easy to start doing what we want, and then asking God retrospectively to help us – much better to seek His plan for our lives first and His guidance on the daily steps of life, than to do our own thing and then cry out to God for help when we get into deeper water than we intended!

Working wholeheartedly is an important principle for entering in to God’s prosperity. We can’t expect to receive when we don’t give our all into anything – and when it comes to serving the Lord, does He have the whole of our heart? And that’s an important question for us to consider.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You gave everything You are to save and rescue mankind. I’m sorry, Lord, for times when I have expected You to bless me when I have been less than wholehearted in serving You. Help me now, Lord, to put everything I am into loving and serving You for the rest of my days. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“He chose David, his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, and of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them.”

Psalm 78:70-72, NIV

Wherever you are just now in life and whatever it is you are doing, there are two things God looks for as He prepares a future for you. Both of them are highlighted in our Scripture for today from a Psalm of Asaph.

David is described as having been among the sheep pens, a simple shepherd boy with an everyday task to do, caring for the sheep. But he isn’t firstly described as being a servant of his father, whose sheep they were, he is described as having been, firstly, a servant of God. At that time in his life shepherding was his human responsibility, but the over-riding calling of his heart was firstly to serve God.

To choose to serve God as the primary calling of your life deals with all the pride of self-importance and puts everything else in life into its true perspective. Whatever it is then that you are doing in life, is then covered with a cloak of humility. And it was James who told us, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up” (James 4:10). And that’s exactly what God did with David. God saw his humility and picked him out.

But there was something else that God saw in David’s heart – and that was integrity. A person with integrity is someone you can trust and depend on. They are not going to change their mind depending on which way the wind happens to be blowing! In good times and in tough times, they remain constant and faithful. As a boy David wouldn’t leave his sheep to fend for themselves if there was something more interesting to do. He provided grazing for their food and protection from the wild animals. He was faithful to his calling because, ultimately, he was faithful to the God he served.

God looks on our hearts and when He sees humility and integrity he knows that He can trust you with His plans for your future. Being a servant of God has to be the first calling of our lives. And serving Him with integrity of heart equips us for His future. You may feel as though you are ‘serving in the sheep pens’ just now. But God has His eye on you – and who knows what God is preparing you for!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for showing me from your word that humility and integrity are the vital qualifications for godly living. Help me, Lord, to always be glad to serve You, wherever You have put me, and to always do my work with integrity of heart and faithfulness both to You and my work. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.