Phil Rowlands

Hello my friends!

So often in life, we find ourselves at a precipice, a place where the old is passing away and new adventures lie ahead. This can be an uncomfortable process, especially considering that God is always drawing us into seasons of growth and consolidation. There is an adjustment we go through, a process we endure when transitioning from one season to the next, which can be unnerving, to say the least.

At the start of this year, I was feeling somewhat downcast in my soul, quite aghast at the reality of another year. It wasn’t a tragic moment, not like the many times throughout my life when I suffered from severe anxiety and chronic depression. It was different; a sort of existentialism had washed over me as I peered out of January and across the months of the year. I felt a little sense of Groundhog Day and business as usual—a whole lot of feelings.

But early one morning, as I sat and prayed, Jesus quietly said to me, “Be in love with the mystery of Me and the mystery of life.” This brought me right back into His gaze, right back into that happy place where we sit and find rest in the grace of God—a place where I was brought right back to the now, a place of abundant grace. For there is no grace for tomorrow, only for today. For in Matthew 6:34 we read, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

I envision this as a picture of a little child who has a wonderful, loving father—a father the child trusts without restraint. The father says to the child, “Let's go here,” or “Let's go there.” The child is safe in the father's arms, knowing the father takes them to good places and gives them good things and experiences. Even though there is a little mystery in the child's heart about where their father will take them, or what experiences they may have, or what they may receive on these outings, the child is safe in the mystery of these adventures and in their father's unconditional love.

A few years ago, I had a dream that seemed to last all night; it was one of the most beautiful and wonderful dreams I have ever had. In the dream, Jesus and I were together. He took me through the life I have here on earth and into our eternal life, showing me everything that I would ever do and what it all looked like. We went here, we went there, and He led me by the hand, often with great excitement and enthusiasm. He was the most wonderful person to spend time with. He had a wonderful smile on His face, and He kept saying, “Oh, and wait until you see this; you’ll love it, it’s so amazing.” Throughout the dream, I was considering, “I want to remember all this; this is just so amazing.” But as I awoke in the morning, Jesus covered the dream over, and I couldn’t remember what He looked like, or what any of the things we went to see looked like, or what the things I was going to do in this life and the next were, and what they looked like. However, I do remember His excitement, His wonderful personality, and His love toward me, and His delight in showing me everything about my future. I do remember that everything was radiantly colourful. Jesus is such a beautiful person, and the mystery of life for me, and the mystery of Him for me, and who He was to me in that wonderful dream, is also who He is to every child of God. Jesus is our very best friend in this life and the next. In John 15:15 we read, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus wants to share everything with us. He shared His very own life with us when He took Himself to the cross and placed Himself upon it so that we could encounter His death and resurrection with Him, so that we, through faith in Him, would be born of God anew.

We were bought at a price, a price that He paid according to the good pleasure of our Father in heaven. Jesus purchased our old sinful, dead-in-Adam life and gave us a brand-new righteous and holy life that is eternally secure in Him. We can have so much peace and rest in that wonderful truth.

So, I don’t know where you are in life, but I know this: if you are in Christ Jesus, He is for you and not against you. He loves you and has a plan and a purpose for you. You may feel some fear and uncertainty about the future, but I encourage you to not only be in love with Jesus but to fall in love with the mystery of Him, and the mystery of this life He has put in you, and all that is yet to unfold in this life and the next.

Be blessed, for you are loved! All the mysteries of life and eternity are contained in Christ Jesus! Think on Him and experience His rest and security today!

Phil