There's a heck of a lot of genealogies in the Bible; lots of such-and-such begat what's-his-name. Have you noticed? If you read the OT you'll definitely notice. Especially in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible), you can barely go a few pages without a good old time line of who bore who.
Now, we are told that all scripture is inspired, God-breathed and profitable to us, so all these lists of names are of use; if nothing else they give us absolute certainty of Jesus' heritage, and we can also see who came from who which is useful when you are looking at lineages. I'm sure deeper study will release even more nuggets of information and revelation.
But I find the nameless people in the Bible very interesting. I was reading Matthew 21 and Jesus tells his disciples to go and get him a colt and bring it to Him. In Luke 19, the same instance is relayed and we see the colt owner asking what was going on, as you would! Jesus had already told them what to say if the owner questioned why someone was nicking off with his animal. Jesus told them to simply say "The Lord needs it". Now we don't know what this colt owner must have thought when the disciples rocked up wanting his little colt. I must be sceptical and untrusting because if someone rocked up to my house and was taking my car out of the driveway, and they said "Oh God needs it" I'd be saying "Hold on a cotton picking minute.....I don't think so!" We are told this colt hadn't even carried anyone before, so it's equivalent of a shiny new car!
What did this dude (or dudette) think? What was his initial reaction? He let some strangers disappear with his colt! We know nothing about this person, we don't even know the name of this colt owner.
Yet what an iconic little piece of history this leads to. This colt carries Jesus into Jerusalem and it was the first time the people addressed Him as He rightfully was - the King Who comes in the name of the Lord.
This very event, not only was iconic and pivotal in Jesus' life, it was prophesied about hundred of years ago. Zechariah 9 v 9, "Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt the foal of a donkey."
God's plans are so beautiful; He had this person lined up ahead of time to loan out his colt to Jesus, with little explanation. He didn't get credit, he doesn't get thanked, he doesn't even get his name mentioned in the Bible. He's just a faithful nameless one. But God knows His name. At times, we will be asked by God to be a faithful nameless one. We'll do something, seemingly insignificant, with no idea what the consequences will be of that tiny act of obedience, and it will lead to something significant, even if we don't get to see that until much later. We may never get any public recognition or thanks, and no one may ever know it was us who did that tiny little act of obedience or kindness, but God knows, and it all fits into His wonderful plan for good. After all, we're here to glorify Jesus, not to earn glory or recognition for ourselves. Remember Jesus' words in Matthew 6 v 1 "Be very careful not to do your good deeds publicly, to be seen my men; otherwise you will have no reward prepared and awaiting you with your Father Who is in heaven." So we must ensure that our hearts are soft and our ears are tuned so that when we are asked, we are ready to say yes to God and the people He uses. There are great blessings in store for the faithful nameless ones, and their acts of obedience often lead to great things in His Kingdom.
Monday, 30 January 2017
Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Told to depart?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day [when I judge them], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands]
Matthew 7 v 21-23
For many years I have subconsciously ignored this verse and others in the mistaken belief that if someone believes in Jesus and says the prayer of salvation, that they are eternally saved. Now, I do believe that the only way to be saved is to trust in Jesus, to believe and confess that He is Lord. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Romans 10 v 9 says that "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved". So we know that his is how we are saved. But we hear preachers calling people to the prayer of salvation, and we see it in Christian books and magazines, and then.....what? Is that enough? Jesus' words from Matthew as stated above seem to indicate that there will be people who call Him Lord (so they must be "saved") and even those who prophesy, and drive out demons and perform miracles who will not be entering eternity with Him. I find this reality very sobering.
I just want to pause a second and say before we continue with this that there are some things that God has put in my heart that are difficult to share, but they have to be shared because I personally don't want to be one of those people who Jesus tells to depart, and I don't want anyone else to be that person either. My heart's desire is that the Body of Christ shine forth as the spotless bride He calls us to be. So I write these words to myself, as well as anyone who reads them.
I just want to pause a second and say before we continue with this that there are some things that God has put in my heart that are difficult to share, but they have to be shared because I personally don't want to be one of those people who Jesus tells to depart, and I don't want anyone else to be that person either. My heart's desire is that the Body of Christ shine forth as the spotless bride He calls us to be. So I write these words to myself, as well as anyone who reads them.
There's more to the prayer of salvation than many preachers and evangelists are telling people about. Evangelists are very good at evangelising, but then when it comes to building up the church and equipping the saved into discipleship, there's a real hole. There's a massive lack of teaching on the next steps because we clearly have this startling warning from Jesus here that is rarely preached on. What does that "depart from me" mean? In all honesty, I'm not 100% sure. I've wrestled with whether it means departing from His presence forever into the lake of fire, or whether there's some kind of hierarchy in heaven that renders some to live in more constant communion with Him, and some who aren't. I go back and forth and still wrestle with the issue but I believe God will answer me soon. Either way, I'm not happy with either of these possibilities. My hope is in Jesus, and I want to be with Him always. I never want to hear "depart from me". The very thought makes me shudder in the core of my being.
So where's the gap? We are called to be transformed, to renew our minds - Romans 12 v 2: Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. We are told that as we are salt and light in this world, and that even though we are here in this world, we are actually "citizens of heaven" (Philippians 3 v 20). We are called peculiar people in 1 Peter, and peculiar people tend to stand out from the rest. People who don't conform to the world stand out from it. There's something that should happen after we accept Jesus as our Lord that starts to make us stand out. 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 says Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! As a believer in Christ, we are a new creation, a new creature! All the old stuff has passed away - but what is that? It's the sin and self-serving nature that operate in the world and that operated in us before we put on Christ's nature. The problem is no one tells us how to do this. We might be told to "renew our minds" but then there's very little preaching on how to do this. And I believe that this is the key to a transformed life. Without having a transformed life, we're just a person who said a prayer. We may take hold of some of the other promises of God, we may lay hands on the sick and they recover; we may even operate in the gifts of prophesy, but overall, inside, we'll be the same as the world. There's something that has to happen to cause us to be different and a change has to take place. There's a clear distinction in the verse of Matthew between those who do the Will of the Father and those who don't do the Will of the Father, yet still do things like operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Is the Will of the Father something different to prophesying and doing miracles? Clearly it is. This distinction is the difference between being cast away from Jesus, or being welcomed to Him at the day of the Judgement Seat of Christ. Now for me, this is worth careful study because I call Him Lord and I can't imagine on that day being told to depart from Him.
We are beings made of 3 parts: Spirit, soul and body. Our spirit can be saved immediately- that's justification, when we accept Jesus as Lord. Our souls are in the process - that's called sanctification and that is done by renewing our minds, and making daily decisions to walk in love. Our whole lives depend on this process. I'll come back to this in a moment. Our bodies, well they're not going to be saved as such - we'll get a new body. That's glorification (see Romans 8). The thing is though, unlike when we make a decision to accept Jesus as our saviour and our spirits are instantly re-connected with God, we have a choice about the middle bit, the soul transformation. Our souls and our spirits are connected, but we have this very difficult area called "self". We also have a really weak area called our minds, which is a bit like a battleground. Here we are at war within ourselves, often combating the desires of the flesh with the callings of God. The enemy will attack us in our minds too because our thoughts are very powerful. Once a thought starts producing emotions, then that emotion will start producing actions. So if our thoughts are contrary to God's word, then our whole soul will be infiltrated with emotions contrary to God's word, and then actions will soon follow. This is why renewing the mind is SO important. If we don't renew our mind, we'll be thinking the same old thoughts we always have, and our souls and bodies will be full of worldly stuff. Whatever goes in, that is what comes out. But if we are thinking God thoughts, then our emotions will be Godly, and our actions will be Godly.
How do we do this? 2 Cor 10 v 5 and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ. It's a process and it takes time. But it all begins here. Be filled up with Jesus, His love, His patience - the fruit of the Spirit- and that is what will flow from you. Fill yourself with worldly stuff - deceit, pride, anger, violence, gossip - and that's what will flow out of us.
Our "self" will always be at war with God's ways. Even Paul struggled with it, so we're in good company: Romans 7 v 15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns]
So Paul struggled with it too, and it will be an ongoing issue whilst we're here on this earth. The process is continual, we crucify our flesh daily. I think this is the difference between those whom He welcomes into Heaven, and those He says "depart from me". We will always drift back to evil if we don't have the daily infilling of Jesus.
You've probably guessed that the water represents what goes into us. Jesus said in Matthew 6 v 22 - The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. What goes into us is what gets into our souls through our eyes and our ears. We must be really careful about what enters our souls as Jesus Himself warns us that our whole body can become full of darkness. There's a lot of dark stuff out there these days, just take what's on TV these days. Many programs contain bad language, blasphemy, lots of violence, sex and general content that is contrary to God's Kingdom. When we're bingeing continually on a diet of this sort of stuff, what are our insides looking like? Take a vase of water as an analogy for the soul - put a drop of poison in the water for every swear word, and every act of violence you watch. Put a slug of acid in the water each time you view something of the occult on TV or in a book.
If you only pick up your Bible once in the week, and only pray on Sunday morning, see how your water looks in a week. See how your flowers are faring. Our souls are similar, but just because we can't see our souls, and because we can put on a show to the world, doesn't mean we aren't in as bad a state as those flowers.
The vase analogy isn't the greatest, but it serves a purpose. The more of God that goes in, the more God will shine forth from us. We'll have flowers in abundance flourishing with enough to give away. I'm not trying to sound "super spiritual" or "holier than thou", but I feel we are in an age where you can't tell the Christians from the non-Christians. Christians are the same as everyone else...myself included; we're conformed to the world and there's little setting us apart from non-believers. Copious Christians are living in sin, swearing, blaspheming, lying, gossiping.....and worse! Although with God, there really aren't degrees of sin.
The key is to be daily doing this. If the apostle Paul struggled, then now much more are we going to? You don't just bath or shower once a week to be clean, so it is with our souls. Every day there's a need to be renewing our minds by taking heed of what goes in. By eating a fruit salad once a week on Sunday morning, but eating a hamburger and fries for lunch and dinner every day, your body isn't going to be healthy. One good meal a week won't sustain you. Just like one dose of God each week on a Sunday won't sustain you through the week.
I realise this is a long one but I urge you, take some time to study and pray about this area for yourself. Search the scriptures and seek God in this area. This will be my priority these coming months. I don't want to be anything less than what Jesus has called me to, and when I stand before my King, I am desperate to hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant". The only way to hear that is to do all He commands, and to heed His words carefully.
I like to think of it this way: If I am a vase, my purpose is to hold beautiful flowers. Now, to let those flowers flourish, they need to sit in clean water. If we put in dirty water, the flowers will die quickly. We can put in clean water, but if we leave it, it will get stale and start to smell. If we leave the water, it will get contaminated with bacteria and dirt. Or we can add dirty water, and that makes it even worse. Or we can add clean, fresh living water then we can keep it topped up every day with fresh living water.
Matthew 7 v 21-23
For many years I have subconsciously ignored this verse and others in the mistaken belief that if someone believes in Jesus and says the prayer of salvation, that they are eternally saved. Now, I do believe that the only way to be saved is to trust in Jesus, to believe and confess that He is Lord. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Romans 10 v 9 says that "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved". So we know that his is how we are saved. But we hear preachers calling people to the prayer of salvation, and we see it in Christian books and magazines, and then.....what? Is that enough? Jesus' words from Matthew as stated above seem to indicate that there will be people who call Him Lord (so they must be "saved") and even those who prophesy, and drive out demons and perform miracles who will not be entering eternity with Him. I find this reality very sobering.
I just want to pause a second and say before we continue with this that there are some things that God has put in my heart that are difficult to share, but they have to be shared because I personally don't want to be one of those people who Jesus tells to depart, and I don't want anyone else to be that person either. My heart's desire is that the Body of Christ shine forth as the spotless bride He calls us to be. So I write these words to myself, as well as anyone who reads them.
I just want to pause a second and say before we continue with this that there are some things that God has put in my heart that are difficult to share, but they have to be shared because I personally don't want to be one of those people who Jesus tells to depart, and I don't want anyone else to be that person either. My heart's desire is that the Body of Christ shine forth as the spotless bride He calls us to be. So I write these words to myself, as well as anyone who reads them.
There's more to the prayer of salvation than many preachers and evangelists are telling people about. Evangelists are very good at evangelising, but then when it comes to building up the church and equipping the saved into discipleship, there's a real hole. There's a massive lack of teaching on the next steps because we clearly have this startling warning from Jesus here that is rarely preached on. What does that "depart from me" mean? In all honesty, I'm not 100% sure. I've wrestled with whether it means departing from His presence forever into the lake of fire, or whether there's some kind of hierarchy in heaven that renders some to live in more constant communion with Him, and some who aren't. I go back and forth and still wrestle with the issue but I believe God will answer me soon. Either way, I'm not happy with either of these possibilities. My hope is in Jesus, and I want to be with Him always. I never want to hear "depart from me". The very thought makes me shudder in the core of my being.
So where's the gap? We are called to be transformed, to renew our minds - Romans 12 v 2: Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. We are told that as we are salt and light in this world, and that even though we are here in this world, we are actually "citizens of heaven" (Philippians 3 v 20). We are called peculiar people in 1 Peter, and peculiar people tend to stand out from the rest. People who don't conform to the world stand out from it. There's something that should happen after we accept Jesus as our Lord that starts to make us stand out. 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 says Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! As a believer in Christ, we are a new creation, a new creature! All the old stuff has passed away - but what is that? It's the sin and self-serving nature that operate in the world and that operated in us before we put on Christ's nature. The problem is no one tells us how to do this. We might be told to "renew our minds" but then there's very little preaching on how to do this. And I believe that this is the key to a transformed life. Without having a transformed life, we're just a person who said a prayer. We may take hold of some of the other promises of God, we may lay hands on the sick and they recover; we may even operate in the gifts of prophesy, but overall, inside, we'll be the same as the world. There's something that has to happen to cause us to be different and a change has to take place. There's a clear distinction in the verse of Matthew between those who do the Will of the Father and those who don't do the Will of the Father, yet still do things like operate in the gifts of the Spirit. Is the Will of the Father something different to prophesying and doing miracles? Clearly it is. This distinction is the difference between being cast away from Jesus, or being welcomed to Him at the day of the Judgement Seat of Christ. Now for me, this is worth careful study because I call Him Lord and I can't imagine on that day being told to depart from Him.
We are beings made of 3 parts: Spirit, soul and body. Our spirit can be saved immediately- that's justification, when we accept Jesus as Lord. Our souls are in the process - that's called sanctification and that is done by renewing our minds, and making daily decisions to walk in love. Our whole lives depend on this process. I'll come back to this in a moment. Our bodies, well they're not going to be saved as such - we'll get a new body. That's glorification (see Romans 8). The thing is though, unlike when we make a decision to accept Jesus as our saviour and our spirits are instantly re-connected with God, we have a choice about the middle bit, the soul transformation. Our souls and our spirits are connected, but we have this very difficult area called "self". We also have a really weak area called our minds, which is a bit like a battleground. Here we are at war within ourselves, often combating the desires of the flesh with the callings of God. The enemy will attack us in our minds too because our thoughts are very powerful. Once a thought starts producing emotions, then that emotion will start producing actions. So if our thoughts are contrary to God's word, then our whole soul will be infiltrated with emotions contrary to God's word, and then actions will soon follow. This is why renewing the mind is SO important. If we don't renew our mind, we'll be thinking the same old thoughts we always have, and our souls and bodies will be full of worldly stuff. Whatever goes in, that is what comes out. But if we are thinking God thoughts, then our emotions will be Godly, and our actions will be Godly.
How do we do this? 2 Cor 10 v 5 and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ. It's a process and it takes time. But it all begins here. Be filled up with Jesus, His love, His patience - the fruit of the Spirit- and that is what will flow from you. Fill yourself with worldly stuff - deceit, pride, anger, violence, gossip - and that's what will flow out of us.
Our "self" will always be at war with God's ways. Even Paul struggled with it, so we're in good company: Romans 7 v 15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns]
So Paul struggled with it too, and it will be an ongoing issue whilst we're here on this earth. The process is continual, we crucify our flesh daily. I think this is the difference between those whom He welcomes into Heaven, and those He says "depart from me". We will always drift back to evil if we don't have the daily infilling of Jesus.
You've probably guessed that the water represents what goes into us. Jesus said in Matthew 6 v 22 - The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. What goes into us is what gets into our souls through our eyes and our ears. We must be really careful about what enters our souls as Jesus Himself warns us that our whole body can become full of darkness. There's a lot of dark stuff out there these days, just take what's on TV these days. Many programs contain bad language, blasphemy, lots of violence, sex and general content that is contrary to God's Kingdom. When we're bingeing continually on a diet of this sort of stuff, what are our insides looking like? Take a vase of water as an analogy for the soul - put a drop of poison in the water for every swear word, and every act of violence you watch. Put a slug of acid in the water each time you view something of the occult on TV or in a book.
If you only pick up your Bible once in the week, and only pray on Sunday morning, see how your water looks in a week. See how your flowers are faring. Our souls are similar, but just because we can't see our souls, and because we can put on a show to the world, doesn't mean we aren't in as bad a state as those flowers.
The vase analogy isn't the greatest, but it serves a purpose. The more of God that goes in, the more God will shine forth from us. We'll have flowers in abundance flourishing with enough to give away. I'm not trying to sound "super spiritual" or "holier than thou", but I feel we are in an age where you can't tell the Christians from the non-Christians. Christians are the same as everyone else...myself included; we're conformed to the world and there's little setting us apart from non-believers. Copious Christians are living in sin, swearing, blaspheming, lying, gossiping.....and worse! Although with God, there really aren't degrees of sin.
The key is to be daily doing this. If the apostle Paul struggled, then now much more are we going to? You don't just bath or shower once a week to be clean, so it is with our souls. Every day there's a need to be renewing our minds by taking heed of what goes in. By eating a fruit salad once a week on Sunday morning, but eating a hamburger and fries for lunch and dinner every day, your body isn't going to be healthy. One good meal a week won't sustain you. Just like one dose of God each week on a Sunday won't sustain you through the week.
I realise this is a long one but I urge you, take some time to study and pray about this area for yourself. Search the scriptures and seek God in this area. This will be my priority these coming months. I don't want to be anything less than what Jesus has called me to, and when I stand before my King, I am desperate to hear the words "Well done, good and faithful servant". The only way to hear that is to do all He commands, and to heed His words carefully.
I like to think of it this way: If I am a vase, my purpose is to hold beautiful flowers. Now, to let those flowers flourish, they need to sit in clean water. If we put in dirty water, the flowers will die quickly. We can put in clean water, but if we leave it, it will get stale and start to smell. If we leave the water, it will get contaminated with bacteria and dirt. Or we can add dirty water, and that makes it even worse. Or we can add clean, fresh living water then we can keep it topped up every day with fresh living water.
Sunday, 8 January 2017
Living in Victory - No excuses
As I was reading and meditating on the Word a few days ago, I felt that God was telling me something: basically that I have no excuse to not live victoriously. You see, God's equipped us as New Testament believers to deal with anything that comes against us. Jesus said in Matthew 16 v 18 that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. We have the armour of God, we have the name of Jesus to use when we pray, we have the body of Christ to stand with us, we have the mind of Christ, we have the Holy Spirit.....so many promises in the Bible of victory. Victory that has already been won FOR us. We just need to stand, believe, use our faith and keep our eyes on Jesus.
The words of Jesus to cherish and meditate on are at our fingertips. We have dozens of translations of the Bible to help us understand the text better. We have concordances, and we now easily have Bibles wherever we are, at the touch of a button on smart phones and tablets. The old testament prophets would have been floating around with joy at all the things we have at our disposal to live victoriously. I'm willing to bet that they would run rings around the modern day believer if they were here now. We have no excuse to not live victoriously.
Yes, we are at war. Paul warns us that we "wrestle not with flesh and blood" (Eph 6 v 12) and that the "weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (2 Cor 10 v 4); so we know we are in a battle. We know we will face trials and persecutions and general troubles in the world. But we are told by Jesus in John 16 v 33 that "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Jesus has overcome! He tells us to be of good cheer. Are we being of good cheer when we face tribulations? Although we are in a war, God doesn't leave us defenceless. We have weapons as we saw from 2 Cor 10 "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal". We have a full armour (Eph 6) and God supplies it! Each day we should be able to walk in victory.
We don't have any excuse to be defeated. Unlike the men and women of the old testament, we have everything we need to live a life of victory right within us. I like the story of Elijah from 1 Kings. He has an epic and triumphant day. He makes an absolute mockery of the false gods and prophets of baal. He has it all going on - God performs a stonking miracle and Elijah and God are like the dream team.
Then a woman threatens him and he goes to pot! He runs away, and falls apart. He sits under a tree and asks to die! God has to send an angel to give him a bit of food as he's completely lost it. How can you go from rocking and rolling in miracles and triumph, to running away and wanting to die later that same day? Yet sometimes we're a bit like that, and this is why I can totally relate to Elijah and I like that God put this in the Bible. Sometimes, even though we've had it all going on for God, we step out of victory and we get defeated.
Now I may not experience it on quite an extreme level as Elijah; I haven't mocked people by suggesting their idols must be "on the loo" because they're not answering them (although I've paraphrased that, it is what Elijah says basically. Cracking line, and yet another reason I relate to Elijah, He's got a great sense of humour and he's a bit cheeky!), and I don't get death threats, thank goodness. But I do have days where I start the day in good spirits, thanking God for the wonderful day he's made, and by tea time I can be falling apart. I've let every little thing get to me,got angry at the bully on the road who cut me up; had people be rude to me and I've lost my joy, and my patience is a distant dot on the horizon it's so far away from me. And I can bet I'm not alone.
We all have those days, be honest. We've been defeated by the bills that keep piling in - or it could be the area of health, relationships, bad habits, or it could be a sin we've fallen into or a sin we've never dealt with. Whatever it is, we haven't used the armour of God, we haven't walked in the victory that the Bible tells us we have. When he took his eyes off God, Elijah didn't have the Holy Spirit indwelling reminding him that he is more than a conqueror, or that God's grace is sufficient for him. We do. We have God's grace and His promise that He never leaves us or forsakes us, and that when we do slip up, and we will occasionally, we have Jesus at the right hand of God, ever interceding for us. When we take our eyes off God and we put them on our situation, then we are in danger of losing the victory. There's only one place that victory is found, and that's in Jesus, and that's why we must be continually connected to Him.
I've barely scratched the surface with the promises that are ours in Christ. To lay hold of them, we need to know what they are, so we need to be reading the Bible to find out. Find out what God says about you; find out what He wants for your life. We need to be implementing all of God's promises in our lives, so we need to be speaking the Word, declaring His victory in our lives. We need to use our faith at all times, speaking faith-filled words into our circumstances; and we need to be thanking God for what He has done for us, and we do that through worship and the outpouring of His goodness and love in our daily lives.
When we stand before Him and He asks us what we did with our lives, there won't be an excuse for being defeated. He's purchased our freedom and redemption at the Cross. By His stripes, we are healed. He is our provider and His grace is sufficient for us. He's given to us HIS faith (Rom 12 v 3) and He's told us that we are more than conquerors (Rom 8 v37) and that nothing can separate us from His love.
It's time for the Body of Christ to rise into the victory that God calls us to live!
Be blessed
The words of Jesus to cherish and meditate on are at our fingertips. We have dozens of translations of the Bible to help us understand the text better. We have concordances, and we now easily have Bibles wherever we are, at the touch of a button on smart phones and tablets. The old testament prophets would have been floating around with joy at all the things we have at our disposal to live victoriously. I'm willing to bet that they would run rings around the modern day believer if they were here now. We have no excuse to not live victoriously.
Yes, we are at war. Paul warns us that we "wrestle not with flesh and blood" (Eph 6 v 12) and that the "weapons of our warfare are not carnal" (2 Cor 10 v 4); so we know we are in a battle. We know we will face trials and persecutions and general troubles in the world. But we are told by Jesus in John 16 v 33 that "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Jesus has overcome! He tells us to be of good cheer. Are we being of good cheer when we face tribulations? Although we are in a war, God doesn't leave us defenceless. We have weapons as we saw from 2 Cor 10 "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal". We have a full armour (Eph 6) and God supplies it! Each day we should be able to walk in victory.
We don't have any excuse to be defeated. Unlike the men and women of the old testament, we have everything we need to live a life of victory right within us. I like the story of Elijah from 1 Kings. He has an epic and triumphant day. He makes an absolute mockery of the false gods and prophets of baal. He has it all going on - God performs a stonking miracle and Elijah and God are like the dream team.
Then a woman threatens him and he goes to pot! He runs away, and falls apart. He sits under a tree and asks to die! God has to send an angel to give him a bit of food as he's completely lost it. How can you go from rocking and rolling in miracles and triumph, to running away and wanting to die later that same day? Yet sometimes we're a bit like that, and this is why I can totally relate to Elijah and I like that God put this in the Bible. Sometimes, even though we've had it all going on for God, we step out of victory and we get defeated.
Now I may not experience it on quite an extreme level as Elijah; I haven't mocked people by suggesting their idols must be "on the loo" because they're not answering them (although I've paraphrased that, it is what Elijah says basically. Cracking line, and yet another reason I relate to Elijah, He's got a great sense of humour and he's a bit cheeky!), and I don't get death threats, thank goodness. But I do have days where I start the day in good spirits, thanking God for the wonderful day he's made, and by tea time I can be falling apart. I've let every little thing get to me,got angry at the bully on the road who cut me up; had people be rude to me and I've lost my joy, and my patience is a distant dot on the horizon it's so far away from me. And I can bet I'm not alone.
We all have those days, be honest. We've been defeated by the bills that keep piling in - or it could be the area of health, relationships, bad habits, or it could be a sin we've fallen into or a sin we've never dealt with. Whatever it is, we haven't used the armour of God, we haven't walked in the victory that the Bible tells us we have. When he took his eyes off God, Elijah didn't have the Holy Spirit indwelling reminding him that he is more than a conqueror, or that God's grace is sufficient for him. We do. We have God's grace and His promise that He never leaves us or forsakes us, and that when we do slip up, and we will occasionally, we have Jesus at the right hand of God, ever interceding for us. When we take our eyes off God and we put them on our situation, then we are in danger of losing the victory. There's only one place that victory is found, and that's in Jesus, and that's why we must be continually connected to Him.
I've barely scratched the surface with the promises that are ours in Christ. To lay hold of them, we need to know what they are, so we need to be reading the Bible to find out. Find out what God says about you; find out what He wants for your life. We need to be implementing all of God's promises in our lives, so we need to be speaking the Word, declaring His victory in our lives. We need to use our faith at all times, speaking faith-filled words into our circumstances; and we need to be thanking God for what He has done for us, and we do that through worship and the outpouring of His goodness and love in our daily lives.
When we stand before Him and He asks us what we did with our lives, there won't be an excuse for being defeated. He's purchased our freedom and redemption at the Cross. By His stripes, we are healed. He is our provider and His grace is sufficient for us. He's given to us HIS faith (Rom 12 v 3) and He's told us that we are more than conquerors (Rom 8 v37) and that nothing can separate us from His love.
It's time for the Body of Christ to rise into the victory that God calls us to live!
Be blessed
Friday, 6 January 2017
The Obligatory New Year post
I didn't really want to ponder over last year. I think for many, 2016 was just one of those years. It certainly was for me. There was all kinds of set-backs for us including three deaths in our families, and a large unexpected debt. I personally also had a very dark period in 2016 that was tough to get through. I am not sure how I did get through it. Well, that's not true actually, God got me through. Although I felt like I was drowning, I had a Lifesaver keeping me afloat. Then when I look back at my journals and notes from the beginning of last year, I can actually see that although 2016 had some really low points, spiritually I have come a long way.
It's a relatively new habit, but I find it a great tool to journal what God reveals to me, and I like to write down questions that I can't find the answer to. Or things that don't make sense in the Bible. I wish I had started to do this years ago. It's quite remarkable to see from my journals how much I've learnt, and what God has revealed in the last 12 months. It never ceases to amaze me how God lovingly answers these little queries we have. Sometimes it's just a matter of weeks later, sometimes it takes a bit longer, but He is so faithful. All the things that God has been showing me over the year are starting to piece together too. I've studied areas I never would have thought of studying. The more I learn...about anything!....the more the Bible makes sense. I don't know why God's shown me some of the areas I have been studying, but I'm going to have fun finding out.
So although 2016 was a bit of a stinker, actually I'm in a much better place than I ever could have imagined. I'm still heavily 'under construction' and I know there's areas of my life I need to submit to God and sort out; but I think that if I hadn't had the year I had last year, I'd be going backwards now, and not forwards. That's not to say God brought bad stuff into my life, because I don't believe He does that. God is way to clever and powerful that He doesn't have to resort to catastrophe to get our attention. But when the bad stuff does come, as it does occasionally in life, He will use those situations for good - for our good. There should always be a testimony after the test.
So what's my testimony? Well, there's probably too much to explain for this little place. But I want to share two things I've learnt from 2016 that are really at the forefront of my mind right now:
1) God is faithful - He is so concerned about our welfare that we can't even begin to comprehend. He loves us dearly. He wants our love too. How about that? God desires you, your time, your affection, your company. But He won't force us to do anything, and He won't force Himself upon us. We always have a choice. It always begins with us as He's already done everything He can to demonstrate His love.
2) Eternity is a long time. Sounds a bit of an odd thing to have learnt, but anyone who's unsure about what happens when our time on this little planet is over has to consider that there is something else. Whatever you believe that something else is, you have to consider the prospect of an eternity. The Bible says that God has put eternity in the hearts of men. So although we don't understand it, and our minds can not comprehend that concept of never-ending, infinity, eternity, forever.... doesn't mean it isn't real. There's a part of us that inside doesn't "feel" our age. You hear grandparents or senior citizens (trying to be politically correct here!) saying "I still feel like I'm 21". Their bodies may be a bit creaky, and their hearing not so good; maybe their eyes are growing a bit dim, but inside, they feel like they are in their 20's. I don't think that's a coincidence. There's a part of us that doesn't grow old. Our physical bodies may age and grow weaker, but our souls and our spirits are made of the everlasting, and I think that's where we relate to eternity.
That being said, this little life, even if we live to be over 100yrs old, is nothing in comparison with eternity. It's a drop in the ocean, yet what we decide here and what we do with our lives will impact our whole eternity. Our decisions on whether we believe this beautiful universe was created and designed, or evolved from nothing; our decision about whether God would send His very Self in the form of Jesus to reconcile the creation He so loved, and our decision to follow His Son and live for Him, will affect our entire eternity.
Seems trivial in the business of the moment and the cares of this life, but it is anything but trivial. Our whole lives here on earth are focused on the physical world, yet we need to pause and really think about the forever and ever and ever that is facing us. It's a deep concept, but there's not a moment to lose. Last year saw so many celebrity deaths, and it really brings it home that we can't predict when our time is up. It may sound gloomy and it may not be what you want to start your new year thinking about, but if you don't consider it now, you may end up spending eternity regretting not taking this seriously.
I don't know why this matter has my attention right now but it is laying on my heart and I feel an urgency about this matter. I don't know why I feel such a sense of urgency about it, all I know is that there is nothing on this earth - no religion, no practise, no person, no way of life, not even a million good deeds or donations, that can alter your eternal destination. None but Jesus.There's nothing we can do to earn our place in heaven, It's not a case of good works, although of course they are important - but all the good works in the world are useless if we aren't doing them through the love we have for God and His people. Jesus paid for us with His very life, and He wants all His creation with Him when we step into eternity. Gloomy? Absolutely not; there's nothing gloomy about Jesus and spending eternity with Him. It's the most joyous subject one could ever ponder. He's the most joyful, loving Person you will ever encounter. He is eternity, He is everything. My prayer is that anyone reading this will take a pause, and consider what your eternity might look like. Forever is a really long time.
It's a relatively new habit, but I find it a great tool to journal what God reveals to me, and I like to write down questions that I can't find the answer to. Or things that don't make sense in the Bible. I wish I had started to do this years ago. It's quite remarkable to see from my journals how much I've learnt, and what God has revealed in the last 12 months. It never ceases to amaze me how God lovingly answers these little queries we have. Sometimes it's just a matter of weeks later, sometimes it takes a bit longer, but He is so faithful. All the things that God has been showing me over the year are starting to piece together too. I've studied areas I never would have thought of studying. The more I learn...about anything!....the more the Bible makes sense. I don't know why God's shown me some of the areas I have been studying, but I'm going to have fun finding out.
So although 2016 was a bit of a stinker, actually I'm in a much better place than I ever could have imagined. I'm still heavily 'under construction' and I know there's areas of my life I need to submit to God and sort out; but I think that if I hadn't had the year I had last year, I'd be going backwards now, and not forwards. That's not to say God brought bad stuff into my life, because I don't believe He does that. God is way to clever and powerful that He doesn't have to resort to catastrophe to get our attention. But when the bad stuff does come, as it does occasionally in life, He will use those situations for good - for our good. There should always be a testimony after the test.
So what's my testimony? Well, there's probably too much to explain for this little place. But I want to share two things I've learnt from 2016 that are really at the forefront of my mind right now:
1) God is faithful - He is so concerned about our welfare that we can't even begin to comprehend. He loves us dearly. He wants our love too. How about that? God desires you, your time, your affection, your company. But He won't force us to do anything, and He won't force Himself upon us. We always have a choice. It always begins with us as He's already done everything He can to demonstrate His love.
2) Eternity is a long time. Sounds a bit of an odd thing to have learnt, but anyone who's unsure about what happens when our time on this little planet is over has to consider that there is something else. Whatever you believe that something else is, you have to consider the prospect of an eternity. The Bible says that God has put eternity in the hearts of men. So although we don't understand it, and our minds can not comprehend that concept of never-ending, infinity, eternity, forever.... doesn't mean it isn't real. There's a part of us that inside doesn't "feel" our age. You hear grandparents or senior citizens (trying to be politically correct here!) saying "I still feel like I'm 21". Their bodies may be a bit creaky, and their hearing not so good; maybe their eyes are growing a bit dim, but inside, they feel like they are in their 20's. I don't think that's a coincidence. There's a part of us that doesn't grow old. Our physical bodies may age and grow weaker, but our souls and our spirits are made of the everlasting, and I think that's where we relate to eternity.
That being said, this little life, even if we live to be over 100yrs old, is nothing in comparison with eternity. It's a drop in the ocean, yet what we decide here and what we do with our lives will impact our whole eternity. Our decisions on whether we believe this beautiful universe was created and designed, or evolved from nothing; our decision about whether God would send His very Self in the form of Jesus to reconcile the creation He so loved, and our decision to follow His Son and live for Him, will affect our entire eternity.
Seems trivial in the business of the moment and the cares of this life, but it is anything but trivial. Our whole lives here on earth are focused on the physical world, yet we need to pause and really think about the forever and ever and ever that is facing us. It's a deep concept, but there's not a moment to lose. Last year saw so many celebrity deaths, and it really brings it home that we can't predict when our time is up. It may sound gloomy and it may not be what you want to start your new year thinking about, but if you don't consider it now, you may end up spending eternity regretting not taking this seriously.
I don't know why this matter has my attention right now but it is laying on my heart and I feel an urgency about this matter. I don't know why I feel such a sense of urgency about it, all I know is that there is nothing on this earth - no religion, no practise, no person, no way of life, not even a million good deeds or donations, that can alter your eternal destination. None but Jesus.There's nothing we can do to earn our place in heaven, It's not a case of good works, although of course they are important - but all the good works in the world are useless if we aren't doing them through the love we have for God and His people. Jesus paid for us with His very life, and He wants all His creation with Him when we step into eternity. Gloomy? Absolutely not; there's nothing gloomy about Jesus and spending eternity with Him. It's the most joyous subject one could ever ponder. He's the most joyful, loving Person you will ever encounter. He is eternity, He is everything. My prayer is that anyone reading this will take a pause, and consider what your eternity might look like. Forever is a really long time.
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