MetCPA

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

John 3

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Friday 14th July 2017

Today’s exhortation – breaking inner vows

The bible says “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” (John‬ ‭3:16‬ AMP). He doesn’t just love, He greatly and dearly loves us. When we pray, we must know that no good thing will He withhold from them that love Him. Below is a sample prayer to break Vows and inner vows. Please take your list of vows and pray,
1 – Father forgive me for making the vow and inner vow that ………, I turn from it and return to You, and put my faith in You, please cleanse me from its effects.
2 – On the basis of Your forgiveness, Lord I choose to forgive myself for the involvement in these vows, judgements.
3 – Satan I renounce you and all the control you got in me through ……….. (Specifically renounce any areas of control that you are aware of like fear, anger, hate)

4 – Satan I take back from you all the ground that you got in me through ……… (all thought patterns that came from this sin like worthlessness, hopelessness, shame, guilt, etc)
5 – Firmly declare! Satan and all demons that came through this vow or inner vow get out of my life NOW.
6 – Father take the grief and sorrow and shame that came from this sin, I give it all to You now.
7 – Father fill me with The Holy Spirit, filling all the emptied areas with Your presence. Fill me now. (Keep asking God to fill until you get a release in your spirit. Peace, comfort and the sense of feeling lighter are all indications that God is answering your prayers).

Francis Hans-Jorie

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Reflection March/Easter 2017

Sometimes we have to fight the bear!

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

John 15: 12-17

As we approach Easter time we naturally begin to think about the Sacrifice made by our Lord on the Cross!

With that in mind I wanted to share a true story that was shared with me by a Pastor of a Church from Tomsk in Western Siberia! The area around Tomsk is home to the East Siberian brown bear which have increasingly become more accustomed to the human presence in the towns and cities and will when they are hungry enough venture into the towns to seek out food- they have also been known to attack people!

One such incident occurred when a family from the city of Tomsk were out walking through the city and came across a large male adult bear. The bear seeking food ran towards them clearly with the intention of attacking the family- As the bear approached the family the father of the family ran towards the bear shouting for his family to run- the man attacked the bear resulting in him sadly being killed- however his family escaped safely!

 

The clear picture from this incident is that the father/husband stood between his family and danger and sacrificed himself so they could be safe and live on.

When we consider this incident and think about our own lives and the lives of our friends, families, colleagues and the people we interact with that there are ‘bears’ that each of us have to face ourselves- it maybe Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety,  Homelessness, Hunger, Debt,  fear or any number of things that cause us fear or distress. Sometimes in our Policing lives we called to stand between the public and danger- we have seen only recently Pc Keith Palmer tragically lost his life placing himself between members of the public and a man intent on killing.

 

The very nature of sacrifice is that one gives of them self for another – this is a true act of Love that we can demonstrate on a daily basis. Every single one of us in a position to give of themselves to help someone else- it doesn’t mean that we have to face a knife wielding man or actually fight a large bear- it does mean however that you if you can should try and help those around you who are troubled or in need of help!

 

Every single one of us will probably know people around us now who are going through troubles- and many of us will be in a position to help those people who are troubled to face their individual ‘bear’. We recently were in a position to help someone who was facing severe and unexpected financial hardship- the choice we had when we identified the problem was to either:

 

1.                   Do nothing practical and offer support.

2.                   Do what we could practically to help them through the issue!

We decided on option 2 – we were able to provide them a small amount of financial support, engage the services of a local food bank to provide them some food and other essential supplies but also we were able to offer support in terms of prayer and friendship as well as finding them a local support group to help them- we helped them face that bear!

Very often when we are troubled it can feel like we are all alone and not worthy of help- to know that someone cares, is not only paying attention to our troubles but is also practically helping us is truly reassuring and can make any problem seem not quite so bad! When you see the change that can be made in some one’s life because someone else took the time to care and try and help it is amazing- the work of organisations like CAP, Street Pastors,  Street Angels and so many others shows that we can all make that difference to people!

 

What a difference to us that Sacrifice made at the first Easter made:

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

 

When we consider the sacrifice of the very first Easter it is truly wonderful to know that Jesus loves us so much that he sacrificed himself for us- that he faced our bear for us even though we didn’t really deserve it! So this Easter and this year be the person who helps others face their bear, make a difference be the one who makes that sacrifice for someone else!

 

So from the all of us and our families we wish you all a blessed Easter time!

 

Blessings

 

Keith

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Monday 27th March 2017

Today’s exhortation – the greatest gift

Birthdays and Christmas are not the only time for exchanging gifts, the greatest gift of all is this, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John‬ ‭3:16‬). In the lead up to Christmas 2015, I visited an elderly man and when he came to open the door, he was hobbling badly on a walking stick. As we spoke, it became apparent that he was lonely and without hope so I asked him if he believed in God and he said “no, because if there was a God He won’t allow bad things to happen.” I thought whether this man believes in God or not, it is my belief that it’s the will of God that he be healed. As the bible says, it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

I asked him if he would like me to pray for God to heal him and to my surprise he said yes. I knelt down and prayed for God to heal him. After praying, I asked him to have walk around to see if he was healed. He did and said his legs felt stronger than before. I prayed again and though he wasn’t completely healed, he was better than before. I pointed out to him that the God he didn’t believe in was responsible for what he was experiencing and then asked him if he would like to invite Jesus into his heart and he said yes and gave his life to The Lord. The greatest gift of all, is for everyday, so share about Jesus today. Amen

Francis Hans-Jorie

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Refelection Christmas 2016

Dear all good afternoon!

25 things!

 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called    Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

Isaiah 9 6-7.

In the words of the song ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year!’ and as Christmas rapidly approaches our thoughts turn to all the things associated the Christmas season. Over the past few weeks every time someone has mentioned something ‘Christmas related’ I wrote it down until I had 25 things that we associate with Christmas and here they are:

Christmas tree, Christmas dinner, Father Christmas/ Santa, Presents, Cards, The Queen, Bond film, Decorations, Family, End of Term, Christmas jumper, Christmas party, Mince Pies, Christmas pudding, Carol Singing, Crackers, Pigs in Blankets, Turkey, Goose, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘It’s a wonderful life’, Reindeer, Letter to Father Christmas, Chocolate Advent calendar and The fairy tale of New York……. Oh and one more for luck….. Brussels (Sprouts!).

 

These are things that friends and family have spoken about in front of me this year- many of the things on the list you will probably have in your mind as being associated with Christmas in your own family or household-  there will be things that are not on this list that mean ‘Christmas to you’ for instance if you ask anyone in my extended family what they are looking forward to they will probably say ‘home made stuffing’ that is the highlight of Christmas dinner every year in the household Evans….. (Yummy!)

The truth is that every single household does Christmas differently, for some it is noisy (us) and hectic (again us) for others it is a quiet time that is spent peacefully. Some go away to warmer climes every year, some cook, some get cooked for, some look forward to Turkey others don’t! However you spend Christmas and whatever means Christmas to you is unique to you and your celebration….. some of you may even not like sprouts?

 

So what is the one thing we have in common at Christmas?? The answer as they say is in the question- the common theme is Christ! The connection that cuts through all the other stuff I listed above and all the things that make this time of year special to you is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ so beautifully predicted around 700 years before his birth in Isaiah 9!  

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and saviour and it is this that should be the first thing we think of at this time of year- with this in mind we have been running a social media campaign on Twitter and Facebook called the ’25 tweets of Christmas’ focusing on the real and beautiful reason for the season! There is still time for you to see all of the tweets and posts if you check out the details of our twitter/Facebook accounts below!

 

The birth of Jesus is truly something to be celebrated- when we think about that first Christmas night it was night of celebration excitement and wonder:

 

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”

Luke 2 8-14.

 

That first Christmas, no mince pies, no tree, no home-made stuffing….. none of the 25 things above! Just the perfect gift given to each of us!

Christmas is a time for giving and sharing- I decided that this year my ‘Chocolate advent calendar’ at work was going to be just a small thing that I shared with others- I have given away every single chocolate to someone in my department this year- and when asked why I simply reply that I am sharing Christmas…. In a small way!

 

The real and true message of Christmas is Love- God loves us so much that at Christmas he gave us the ultimate gift- one that we didn’t deserve or earn but one that was given to us freely-

‘For God so Loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’

John 3:16

Christmas truly starts with Christ and the message of Christ is that he loves us- this is something that we need to share with others at this ‘most wonderful time of the year’.

So this Christmas enjoy the 25 things above (26 including the sprouts) but don’t let them replace the one important thing-Jesus. It is important to remember the true reason for the season and share that reason with those around you if you can.

So from the Branch Leadership team and our families God Bless you all this Christmas and we look forward to continuing to serve you in 2017.

God Bless

Keith