MetCPA

Supporting officers and staff to be the best that they can be

Ephesians 2

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Tuesday 13th June 2017

Today’s exhortation – Royal family

Not long ago, I observed the royal family of England on Tv and the confidence and poise with which they carried themselves struck a cord with me. I’m sure they all have their own problems but the way they carried themselves, you wouldn’t have known it. Which leads me onto us, we belong to a more Royal and prestigious family and therefore we ought to carry ourselves even better than they do. We are called to rule and reign with Christ and the bible says, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians‬ ‭2:6‬). It doesn’t get any higher than that! No doubt we encounter many hardships but it doesn’t change our DNA. When God sees us, He sees overcomers, warriors and above all He sees Himself in us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I can’t imagine Prince Charles begging to get into Buckingham palace and neither should we beg to go into the throne room of our Father in heaven. Sometimes the world may seem to be on our shoulders but in reality it’s not, It’s under God’s feet! The bible says, “This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool….” (Isaiah‬ ‭66:1‬). We ought to walk into any place expecting to see God’s favour and we ought to be shocked when we pray for healing and don’t receive it because it’s His will that we’re healed. May Almighty God open our eyes, hearts and minds to the reality of who we are in Christ and may He remove any lies and inferiority complex we may’ve carry in our lives. Amen

Francis Hans-Jorie

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Tuesday 18th April 2017

Today’s exhortation – I’m blessed

A good way to encourage ourselves when we’re down or think we’re poor is to count the things we’ve that money can’t buy. Things like salvation, peace of mind, being able to sleep, having no fear or anxiety, good health, being able to use our arms and legs, ability to feel, see, walk, talk, even our freedom, peace in our country, getting home safely at the end of each day etc. These are things we can’t buy, we can only receive them from God. There are so many people who are super rich, but have no freedom. Some are constantly living in fear and others are so ill they can’t enjoy the simple things in like. It’s not to gloat at their misfortune, but to point out that we are blessed. It’s my hope that at the lowest points in our lives, we will allow ourselves to reflect on all our intangible blessings.

It will help put our temporary set backs into perspective because though we may not have money or a lot of material wealth, we have priceless assets that money can’t buy. Take salvation for instance, it can’t be bought! We can’t get it without accepting the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. It is written, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9). It’s priceless! Count your blessings today and you will see, you are so blessed and highly favoured. Amen

Francis Hans-Jorie

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Prayer Letter 24th March 2017

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, Wednesday 22nd March, I left Woking Football Ground where for the third Wednesday in a row, I had been working with Woking Police, in the area of educating children from local schools in staying safe. My privilege was to be the “Stranger Danger”.
As I left the car park, I switched on the radio and heard of the horrors that had just hit London. I drove home as though I was listening to a radio play. Surely this was not true. I know a number of Police Officers in The Met.
Today I am putting together this Prayer Letter, which will be read by our Brothers and Sisters in The Lord in The Met. On behalf of us in Surrey and Sussex Police Forces, we send to you our love and Prayers at this very difficult time. A number of you may know PC Keith Palmer. A man who yesterday walked towards, when others would have run away and stood up to terror on behalf of the rest of us and Members of Parliament in particular.

I do not know how to express my sadness to you. I know it is very deep inside me. But I want to do again what I have often done, say how much I admire you all, the Met Police, Sussex and Surrey and total gratitude for all you are and do for us the public.
I have the opportunity this afternoon to visit Woking Police Station as their Chaplain to again listen, support and to say a very big thank you.

The “Bible Slot” was given to me by the Lord well over a week ago for this week’s PL. With the aftermath of yesterday, I decided as I lay awake in the night it was not suitable, but no, I can see now why it is very suitable. “You Lord have made me unique, help me to realise my gifting and to use it to proclaim Your Kingdom” (writer unknown).
Yes each one of you is unique, God built you together with capabilities that are totally different to everyone else around you, what He asks you to do is not the same as He would ask of someone else. He knows what you can carry out for Him and in your case – a very special calling, to be a Member of the Police Service.

“You are created by God in Christ Jesus to do good works which He has created in advance for you to do”.

Ephesians 2:10.

As you move on from yesterday may you know His enabling Power in your life, at work and at home.

My Prayers are with you all and in particular for those closely involved with yesterday’s happenings and also Keith’s Family, Colleagues and Friends.

If you wish to contact me please do so by clicking here, or by adding a comment below

Many Blessings in His Name, may you know His Strength and His Healing.
Alice.

 

NB For officers and staff who are affected by the attack in Westminster please see our Health & Support page

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Lawlessness

I recently heard a sermon from a pastor from Hawaii who relayed the story of his travels through Indonesia.  He was walking through remote hill tribes to bring the Gospel to the people, many of whom had never heard the name of Jesus.  On one day he passed a Buddhist temple and one of the monks walked by.  The pastor’s interpreters explained that he was a Christian.  The Buddhist had heard of Christians and asked the question “Is it true that you Christians can do whatever you like and you are forgiven?”  The pastor was taken aback for a short while at the simplicity of the question but shortly realised that it required a simple answer “Yes, it is true” he replied.

This Buddhist monk seemed to have grasped the concept of grace more that most Christians that I have met!  Could it be true, that as a follower of Jesus Christ I am free to do whatever I like without fear of judgement?  Well, shockingly, the simple answer, just as the pastor told the Buddhist monk is “Yes it’s true”.  Christianity truly is the most lawless faith on the planet!

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Romans 5:17 “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Romans 6:14 “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

The bible is stuffed full of verses about grace.  We are told that we no longer live under the law, the law has been nailed to the cross once and for all.  Did you know that in the secular UK the only person who is not under the law is the monarch (for now the Queen).  She actually could never be prosecuted for anything.  It’s only recently that she started paying tax, but this is entirely voluntary.  Even her car doesn’t have a number plate and our fine traffic officers can do nothing about it!  The same applies for us in the spiritual.  If I am not under the law as the bible tells me, then I can’t break the law, and just like the queen, I cannot be prosecuted or judged.

You see the problem of sin between us (followers of Jesus) and God was dealt with at the cross of Calvary once and for all.  Thanks to Jesus, sin can never be a block between us and God, ever!  If sin still blocked the followers of Jesus access to the Father then Jesus utterly wasted his time on that cross.  The big issue post Calvary is whether we trust in God or not, that’s where the true blockages come in.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not in any way condoning sin, or suggesting that we crack on with anything we like.  No, our Father in heaven is a good, good Father.  He knows what is good for his kids and he knows what will harm us.  The law, even though no longer applying to us, has always been, and always will be good.  If we as Christians ignore the law, even though it won’t make a jot of difference to our salvation (and it really won’t!) we will live appalling lives.  All the ills of the world will inevitably be visited upon us and those around us as a natural and spiritual consequence (spiritual not from God but from Satan).  So, yes, sin is bad and hugely unhealthy and damaging and will lead us to misery.  If you are not saved (not born again), then even a single sin will also lead you to eternal separation from God (a place Jesus referred to as Hell).

So if you are a follower of Jesus, then as the bible tells us, you are free indeed.  As the Holy Spirit lives in you from the day you put your trust in the Lord, He will be your guide to the life your Father in Heaven wants you to have, free, free, free!  So shake off your guilt and condemnation because these are worldly things and you are no longer of the world.

It is truly wonderful to have the revelation of just how vast grace is, your walk with Christ will never be the same again as you enter into His rest.

If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus yet and would love the unbounded freedom this brings, then please contact us and we’ll be happy to show you how easy it is to break your chains!

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Reflection October 2016

Why does it always rain on me?

God Saved Us from Sin

At one time you were dead because of your sins. You followed the sinful ways of the world and obeyed the leader of the power of darkness. He is the devil who is now working in the people who do not obey God. At one time all of us lived to please our old selves. We gave in to what our bodies and minds wanted. We were sinful from birth like all other people and would suffer from the anger of God.

But God had so much loving-kindness. He loved us with such a great love. Even when we were dead because of our sins, He made us alive by what Christ did for us. You have been saved from the punishment of sin by His loving-favour. God raised us up from death when He raised up Christ Jesus. He has given us a place with Christ in the heavens. He did this to show us through all the time to come the great riches of His loving-favour. He has shown us His kindness through Christ Jesus.

For by His loving-favour you have been saved from the punishment of sin through faith. It is not by anything you have done. It is a gift of God. It is not given to you because you worked for it. If you could work for it, you would be proud. We are His work. He has made us to belong to Christ Jesus so we can work for Him. He planned that we should do this. Ephesians 2 1-10

So why does it rain on me? Is it because I lied when I was seventeen- This is a line from a song by Travis from 1999- have you ever felt that it always seems to rain on you? How many of us associate rest days or weekends off with bad weather and working days with the two days of summer we get in the UK?

Sometimes it seems that we have to ‘pay for’ the good things that happen by experiencing the bad- It was hot and sunny on my last rest weekend so I should expect this one to be rainy’

It is very easy to get drawn into this thinking when we consider our own lives, the lives of our family or close friends when things happen to us or them. We can get drawn into the belief that in some way we have to pay for the good that God bestows on us by accepting a bit of bad as well- For example- you may think that God has made you ill because someone in your family is massively successful at work or in the sport that they take part in- you hear yourself thinking ‘Is God punishing me because of their success?’

It is almost like we think that there is a large cupboard in Heaven marked ‘Good things’ that has a finite amount of good for God to give out…. And when it is gone it is gone; and once it is gone we feel in some way God has to in some way restock it by taking back the gifts he has given to others. Or that in some way God has to ‘balance the books’ between good and bad by handing out some illness, loss or ill fortune to keep everything in order……

Well I firmly believe that this is not how our father in Heaven works at all! We shouldn’t try and measure God by our own understanding because simply put God doesn’t work the way we do- God is gracious and giving without measure and taking away the gifts we have been given out of spite or because ‘he can’ is not in that nature; in Psalm 103 we read:

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:10-13)

When we think about loss or ‘bad fortune’ we often think about the bible story of Job.  In Job, we see a man who God allows to be directly attacked by Satan. He is an example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to God. Its purpose is to illustrate God’s sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering.

But what if you have suffered loss, like Job? He lost his health, his wealth, and his family. The temptation may be to blame God for your loss, as if God had a change of heart. But God is not fickle. He does not change like shifting shadows. He is an extraordinary giver who never takes back his gifts.

“God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty – never cancelled, never rescinded.” Romans 11:29, MSG

So if God is doing the giving, who is doing the taking?  Jesus provides the answer- The Enemy-

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

We ought not to be confused about these two different roles. One is a giver, the other is a taker. If you have been given something good, then give thanks to God. But if you’ve been robbed, don’t blame God. He’s not behind your loss.

Karma versus Grace

If you think that God gives and takes away, then you may have missed the point of Jesus. Jesus came to reveal a generous Father and to destroy the work of the Thief (1 John 3:8). Jesus came that we might have life to the full, not to the half.

If you think that God gives and takes away, then you have more faith in karma than grace. Karma says what goes around comes around. If you’re healthy now, you’ll likely be sick tomorrow. If you’re prospering now, poverty’s waiting just around the next corner. When disappointments and hardships come, you won’t be surprised. You’ll just throw in the towel and say, “I knew it was too good to last.”

The world works according to the principle of give and take, but God just gives. The only thing he’ll take off you – if you let him – is your sin, your shame, your sickness, your worries and your fears. He takes away those things that harm us and only gives us good things that bless us.

God Bless

Keith

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Friday 21st October 2016

Today’s exhortation – ‘Salvation’, priceless!

I believe Joseph’s relationship with his brothers also speak about own relationship with Christ. In this story, the brothers represent us. However, there’s good news. The bible says, “Both the One who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” ‭‭(Hebrews‬ ‭2:11‬). What’s more, just as Joseph gave his brothers food for free, so Christ gives us salvation for free! But, they tried on more than one occasion to ‘buy’ the food and that’s what we do sometimes. We think that we can buy or earn salvation by our good works. No! It’s free! Praise The Lord!

We can be like the prodigal son, saying to our Father, “Make me as one of Your hired servants” (Luke 15:19) but, He just wants us back as sons and daughters, not servants. The message of the cross is powerful because it’s God freely offering something that can’t be bought or earned. He offers it free because it’s priceless and it can be hard to imagine something so priceless can be free, but that’s the love of God. We can never pay for our sins so He paid it for us. The bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” ‭‭(Ephesians‬ ‭2:8‬). Thank You Jesus. Amen

Francis Hans-Jorie