Christian Media, Christian Radio, Christianity, Forgiveness

Finding hope in the middle of terror

Posted on by David L'Herroux

Last November I was at home in France in the middle of an exciting week of mission and evangelism at my brother’s church. We were being blessed with God’s manifest presence and seeing many people commit their lives to Christ and be healed and set free. As we rejoiced in God’s goodness, the news hit our TV screens of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris. We had been celebrating what God was doing through the mission, but now our hearts were broken for all the families who had lost a husband, a wife, a parent, a son, a daughter. Whole communities were left devastated, confused, numb and torn apart by grief.

The Sunday following the attacks, it was the last day of our mission, and my brother Daniel stood before his church, which was packed with people who were shocked and devastated at the events of the week. It is difficult to know what to say in the face of such a terrible situation, but my brother began to read from Psalm 37:

Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong. (v 1 & 2)

Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes. (v 7)

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him. (v 39 & 40)

I have been thinking back to that moment this week, after seeing the news of the horrific attacks in Brussels (and the many acts of terror we see around the world). As believers, these cruel and violent acts can seem so overwhelming, and sometimes we can feel unsure of what to say or even how to pray. I believe that God’s Word shows us how to pray in these circumstances.

Firstly, let’s consider people. Let’s pray for those who are fighting for their lives. Let’s pray for the families and those who have lost someone they loved. Let’s also pray for those who witnessed the attack and for the local residents who have to come to terms with this enormous tragedy. Let’s pray also for the medical centres who are working with the injured.

Secondly, we need to pray for wisdom for Governments as they discuss and debate what happens next. Proverbs 14: 12 says: there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. We should pray for wisdom for world leaders – that they choose ways and responses which are inspired by God and not necessarily their own intuition.

Thirdly, what I am about to say may seem unthinkable, but we should also pray for those who plan and plot such evil acts. We can pray for God to change their hearts. Just as He did for Saul of Tarsus, God can change the hearts of these terrorist groups and their leaders.

Is it possible to have hope in the face of such unthinkable terror and hopelessness? It is easy to feel as though the world is an increasingly dangerous and unstable place, and if we look at the darkness around us, we can easily lose hope.

But we need to continue going to God’s Word for our answers. His Word (John 1:5) says that the darkness in the world will get darker, but that darkness will never extinguish light. In fact, that light (His light) will continue to shine brighter and the darkness CANNOT overcome it. That is where I get my hope.

Let’s pray with passion for our world and all those who are suffering and grieving today.  And may God’s light, His in-extinguishable light, shine ever brighter in the middle of the darkness we see.

 

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Christian Media, Christian Radio, Christianity, Easter, Forgiveness

What Easter means to me

Posted on by David L'Herroux

I was blessed to grow up in a Christian family. My father was a minister, and Easter was always a very important time for us. A lot of the local churches (in my home town in France) would get together to hold special meetings. We had speakers and worship, and it was an exciting time for the churches to work together on evangelism. I have great memories of those days!

Today, Easter is just as special for my family and I. It is a reason to celebrate the gift of life that Jesus has given us through His death.

The team at UCB know that I like to use acronyms, and a few years ago, I shared the below with friends and supporters of UCB.

E.A.S.T.E.R.

ETERNAL – (John 3:16) Through the gift of His son, Jesus, God the Father offers the gift of ETERNAL LIFE to all those who believe in Him.

ACCEPTED – (Ephesians 1:6) We are ACCEPTED in Jesus Christ.

SAVED – (Ephesians 2:8) Anyone can be SAVED if they believe because of God’s Grace and God’s unmerited favour.

TRANSFORMATION – (2 Corinthians 5:17) Only real and lasting TRANSFORMATION takes place in Jesus Christ. ‘If we are in Christ … we are a new creation …. old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.’

ENDURES – (Psalm 100:5) God’s love ENDURES forever.

RISEN – (Luke 24:34) Jesus has RISEN, meaning He is alive today and we have access to a living and true God.

Here is a link to one of my favourite worship songs: ‘Forever’ by Kari Jobe. It is a tremendous and powerful song that describes the fullness of the Easter message.

Let’s never forget that ‘Forever He is glorified, forever He is lifted high, forever He is risen, He is alive, He is alive!’ It reminds us that we are worshipping a true and living God.

I learned as a young man that the Gospel has the power to transform every life, even the most broken, and at UCB, we often receive letters and emails from people who have experienced it for themselves.

Sid O’ Neil discovered God’s love after a terrible accident which left him with serious injuries. He experienced the power of the resurrection, which changed his life. Thank God for His sacrifice and for restoring countless lives.

Can I encourage you this week to take time to consider what the resurrection means to you? Why not tell your story to someone who hasn’t heard it before?

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Christian Media, Christian Radio, Christianity

Trusting God in the middle of the storm

Posted on by David L'Herroux

In March 2014, our son and daughter-in law were expecting their third child, when our daughter-in-law Debbie was taken very ill. To this day, the doctors cannot confirm for sure what happened, but an infection caused her body and organs to shut down. Very sadly, at eight months pregnant, Debbie lost their baby and was soon in a fight for her life as she slipped into a coma. It was a desperate time for our family, and I felt personally that we were in a very intense spiritual battle and that we had to fight. The team at UCB and so many dear friends gathered around us and prayed for Debbie’s full restoration. We did not know in human terms what would happen, but we held on to God’s promises. I felt God was saying to us repeatedly, ‘I am with you… I will not leave you… this storm will pass’. His Word was a rock we were depending on; our anchor in an uncertain time.

Debbie

The breakthrough came about seven days later. We visited Debbie one evening when she was still in a coma, attached to machines. The following day we went to see her and she was sitting up in a chair and eating a meal. Praise God for His faithfulness and His goodness! We know that our miracle-working God was with us during this terrible trial and that even in the middle of a fierce storm, He would not leave us. Today, Debbie is fit and healthy.


About 6 weeks after Debbie was very ill, I went to France to join my brother, Daniel, for a crusade at his church. As a family, we had been through loss and heartache but had still seen God’s faithfulness in the middle of the storm. Those next few weeks in France were very powerful – we saw God work in a mighty way through many people being healed, restored and saved. God was bringing testimonies out of the many tests we had faced.

Experiences like these remind me of this verse: ‘The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree’ (Psalm 92:12 (NIV). Palm trees are designed to withstand severe tropical storms. When the storm comes, they bend with the wind and rain. It looks as though they are breaking, but they are actually just bending. When the storm passes, the area where the Palm tree has almost been torn in two is actually stronger than it was before the storm. During this difficult time, I felt God saying, ‘You are like a palm tree in the storms of life, but when it passes, you are going to come right back up stronger and will flourish more than ever before.’

As believers, the Prince of Peace lives within us. We can look at the storm and feel as though we will break. We can easily forget that He who is in us is greater than the circumstances that we face. If you are facing your own storm or tragedy at the moment, I want to encourage you to trust in His Word. He promises to never leave or forsake us and is our Rock even in the middle of the fiercest storms.

Have a blessed week.

David

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Christian Media, Christian Radio, Christianity, Uncategorized

God’s plans are so much bigger than ours

Posted on by David L'Herroux

Hello

I often meet with the UCB staff team and in our meetings, will share what is on my heart that week. The team has been encouraging me for a while to write down some of these thoughts, so here is my first blog post. I want to use the blog to update you on things at UCB and also share some of the things that have impacted me during the week. We may even persuade some of our visitors to write ‘guest blogs’ from time to time as well.

This week, I have been thinking about a wonderful lady who we hosted at UCB some weeks ago: Margaret McGuckin. Margaret was put into an institution as a child due to severe family problems, and while there, she endured terrible abuse and trauma. When she left the institution (as an older teenager), she didn’t understand what it meant to be loved and believed she was damaged forever. But God had a different plan for Margaret’s life, and after several years of being in trouble with the authorities, God met Margaret in a remarkable way and touched her life incredibly. She discovered that having a personal relationship with Jesus was the key to being truly loved – her life began to change from that point.

Margaret (and her friend Kathleen) came to visit us a few weeks ago so that we could share her story on UCB TV and radio. I had lunch with Margaret and Kathleen, and although I was saddened to hear of the trauma she had suffered in the past, I was excited to see how she was using what had happened in order to powerfully help others. Part of Margaret’s healing was reading the Bible every day, along with the Word for Today.  She said that the Word for Today is very much like an appetiser for God’s Word, and she now tells everyone to read it as a way of encouraging them to get into the Scriptures. It was exciting to hear of her passion for God’s Word and the big impact that she is having on so many other people through her testimony and campaigning.

Margaret’s story is a Holy-Spirit reminder to pick up and read our Bibles. We are so blessed as a nation to have access to God’s Word in a way that many others don’t. But even so, many of us have lost the discipline. I call the Bible ‘The Divine Manual’ – if you want direction or instructions, you always go to the manual. And yet when we need instruction in our lives, we often first go to friends or to the Internet. Our good friend R.T Kendall recently wrote a wonderful blog post about the importance of going first to God’s Word: How much do you read your Bible?

Can I encourage you this week – if you are facing difficult times or need God’s direction (or re-direction) in your life, go first to God’s Word. He has given us the Scriptures as a divine source of wisdom and instruction for every situation we face.  Margaret McGuckin found healing and new purpose in God’s Word, and I know personally through my own life that wisdom for many of life’s problems can be found in His Word.

As you seek Him this week, I pray that you will be blessed!

David

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