Spiritcode

Why God andHow long Lord

WHY GOD AND HOW LONG LORD? (Questions from Habakkuk to God)
Whether we are discussing events in the Old Testament or in the early New Testament church there were two certain questions for which it was hard for people to get an answer to from God, and it is the same in our present-day situation.
Those two questions - WHY has God done something (or not done something) and asking God WHEN he is going to do something. The answer we usually get from God is WAIT – AND YOU WILL SEE! 

In due course God will let us know why the timing was the way it was and why you had to wait, and why he allowed things to happen. But there is one thing that you can know for certain – and that is that God IS at work in the situation and that we must never give up trusting him to bring about his will for us. 
No matter what the situation happens to be, God is telling us to live by faith, trusting him totally. We can’t trust God totally and be anxious at the same time. He wants us to bring our anxieties and doubts to him but at some point we have to be able to laugh at our own anxiety.

What God wants us to get is a greater revelation of who he is, not just a better explanation from him of what he is doing (show me the science please Lord – the formula - so that I can be confident about pulling this off myself when I need to).
No, he always gives us what he wants us to know, not always what we want to know. We get a new view of God and we grow in faith and trust – but we learn to hang in there and endure and be patient and have a living hope. On the journey of patience he shows us his goodness and what he is doing by the many little things that happen - the odd happenstances. He guides us with his eye. He then doesn’t have to drag us along like a horse or a mule (Psalm 32:8). 

There is the story in the Old Testament of a man called Habakkuk. Everything seemed to be going wrong and the prophet thought that God had forgotten them. They had been terrified by the cruel oppression of the Assyrians and come through with God but now he could see that Babylon who had defeated the Assyrians were now going to come and attack them… He still believed in God but the circumstances caused doubts to come into his mind. Habakkuk was writing just before the rise of Babylon (Chaldea) and God was using Babylon to discipline and correct Judah. The big question of Habakkuk is, why does God use a wicked nation such as Babylon for his divine purpose? And how long till Babylon is judged. He could not understand all the strife and injustice that was happening in the nations round about him, nor could he understand the way God’s own people had become unfaithful in breaking God’s laws. This is very much what we see happening around us today. What happened to Israel is always a message for the Church and always a personal message for us
Habakkuk 1:1 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; and justice is perverted.
He wanted a move of God but he was told by God that God’s plan of action would be revealed at an appointed time and ‘It would surely come and it would not be late’ 
Habakkuk comes to realize that though God’s ways are sometimes hidden, his people shall live by his faith as they wait. These words are quoted three times in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).

Habakkuk 2:3 ‘the revelation is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not be late… For the just shall live by faith.

God understood that Habakkuk had doubts and God was waiting for Habakkuk to ask some tough questions. God always wants us to go to him when we have doubts, and he knows we will have them. He lets us know that he is at work in the situation in his way and he asks us to wait and have faith in him. God answers tough questions with direct answers.

When Paul wrote to the Hebrew Christians they were having the same problem – they were doubting whether God was going to rescue them from the persecution from the Romans (and Jews) that was going on in Jerusalem at the time. This was written just a little while before The Roman armies destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, which was prophesied of by Jesus [Matthew 24:1-3] and which was fulfilled in 70AD.  (Why Lord? how long Lord?). Many of the Hebrew Christians wanted to give up but Paul quoted the same Scripture that God gave to Habakkuk – ‘Don’t give up, just wait!’ 
Hebrews 10:32 remember when you were first enlightened by God and you went through persecution and affliction and insults and stayed the distance. Some of your friends even went to prison (some at the hands of Paul himself) and you had compassion for them, then your possessions were plundered but you knew that you had a far more precious and abiding possession on the inside than all of that. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my upright and faithful one shall live by faith, but if he shrinks back, I will feel disappointed in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are rendered useless (go to waste - ap??leia), but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
This is exactly what God had said to Habakkuk.
Our discouragement will always say ‘Will God come and help, and when?’
The answer of faith will always be ‘Yes, wait for him and trust in him’
The very next verse in Hebrews is the beginning of a new chapter (11) which says that ‘faith is the basis of our hope, the assurance that God is at work on our behalf in the world of the unseen (the evidence of things – pragma – not seen). 

For us personally in whatever are our present-day circumstances the answer to how long means that Jesus will arrive in time to reveal to us that he is there NOW and that he has a plan of action. Our faith is not confidence in what we can do, but confidence in what Jesus IS doing. Be still and know that he is God – IN ACTION!
(Ezekiel 37:3 the switch from the natural to the supernatural)

He wants us to have an opportunity to get to know him in a greater way through this warm and familiar experience of hope and faith and to learn that we can share our hearts and minds with him in any situation.  We can be assured that he hears us and brings about the will and purpose of The Father into our lives. 

Habakkuk finally gave glory to God by accepting the fact that it was not about how he could deduce or determine the solution about what he saw going on around him, but it was the fact that he believed that God was at work in a great way – and he said ‘I am going to laugh AND sing about this’. He finishes his message with a great statement of faith.
Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor there be no fruit on the vines; Though the labor of the olive fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,  I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD my God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
His message has the following footnote: A note to the Chief Musician. ‘’Accompany with stringed instruments.”

 

 

 

1

 

Jesus our friend in faith

JESUS OUR FRIEND IN FAITH 

In Psalm 22 as Jesus was suffering and dying for us on the cross he cried out to his Father and said;
Psalm 22:22 I will praise you to all my brothers and sisters; I will stand up before the assembly (the gathering of my friends) and testify of the wonderful things you have done… Let all Israel sing his praises, for he has not despised my cries of deep despair; he has not turned and walked away. When I cried to him, he heard and came."

in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews he quotes these words of Jesus to encourage them to not give up because they are going though times of affliction.  
Heb.2: 12 [Jesus is saying] ‘I'll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you; I'll join them in worship and praise to you. Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says, Even I live by placing my trust in God’. And he goes on to say, I'm here with the children God gave me’. 
14. Since we, God's children, are human beings--made of flesh and blood--he became flesh and blood too by being born in human form; for only as a human being could he die for our sakes. (so that we could raised with him-Ephesians 2:6)
16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham

That means that Jesus stands in the place for all humanity towards the Father and he stands in the place of the Father towards all humanity. He has made us one with him as a brother and as a friend in faith. 
Jesus is not only the heavenly example to us but a partner with us in a walk of faith – in the way that he trusted totally in the love of his Father to guide him through his life on earth. Jesus is saying that he is one with his earthly friends, his brothers and sisters, and that when they go through their afflictions and trials of faith he will give them his faith to go through their sufferings. In other words we can receive now the very faith that he has always had in the Father. Jesus call us his friends (John 15:15 – for all that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you)

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not bring to naught the grace of God…otherwise Christ died in vain.
Tineke and I lived in the Philippines for about eight months many years ago setting in the Filipino leadership in a church that we had been involved in helping to get established established at the time. At the end of one meeting where I’d been talking about faith, a lady asked me to pray for her concerning the shared ownership of their extended family of a small community store, called a sari sari store. There were many opinions as to who owned how much of the store. When I heard her prayer list, of how she felt God needed to give favour to some of the family, and to deal with some of the others to teach them a lesson, I thought it would need a Philadelphia lawyer to deal with the complexity of it all. She said she didn’t have enough faith to pray and that she had told her friends she would use Pastor Paul’s faith. This hadn’t been my plan when I had just taught about having faith but I was quite agreeable about praying and I found myself praying that she would be set free from anxiety and resentment about the situation and find the kind of wisdom spoken about in James re making peace and using entreaty and not starting a family feud etc.  
I felt that The Holy Spirit was with us and she was in agreement and surrendered it all into God’s hands and the Amen was real.
That was just a shadow of what I came to understand about having the faith OF our friend Jesus not just faith IN Jesus.

Our prayers depend on the faith OF Jesus – that is our ultimate act of faith IN him.
Romans 8:25 For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts (Jesus) knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because HE (Jesus) intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (verse 34…it is Jesus who is interceding for us).
Paul knew the Hebrew Christians were fading in faith so Paul is fervently keen for them, and for all of us, to realize how Jesus desires to impart his own faith to us and bring our needs before his Father on our behalf as we go through the trials and testing of our faith. 
Then Paul tells them that we are not to think of our life as one that is doomed to affliction but rather as one that is destined for faith.

After Paul tells us about the heavenly example and heavenly participation of Jesus, he tells us about the earthly example and model of Abraham’s struggle of faith, in Abraham’s awkward attempts to develop that complete trust in a loving Father God.

Verse 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham 

Paul honours Abraham as the ‘father of faith’ (Galatians 3:7) 
Abraham was also called the friend of God because of his faith (James 2:23)
Jesus and Abraham as ‘friends in faith’ have much in common concerning their faith life, in that they both had to leave their world behind and enter a new one, they learned to trust God totally in times of uncertainty, and they understood ‘resurrection reality’. 
We also have these same challenges in our lives as friend of faith.  

Abraham is called by God to leave the place where he grew up and leave his family behind, taking only his wife Sarah into a new and unknown land, where he was promised he would have many descendants and be the father of a great nation.  He gets the order half-right - he takes his father and his cousin Lot with him too. This was to cause him trouble on his journey. 

We are reminded by this that we who have responded to God to follow Him, can find ourselves still clinging to things 'back there'. We have to leave the old world of thinking that we can control things in life to have them work the way we want them to.
We also cling to trusting in the things of the world that have given us some sense of certainty for our safety and security and satisfaction.
Abraham faced many uncertainties and made mistakes of judgment but he learned to trust in God through them all. He told half truths 
 

The hardest challenges are the uncertainties of life. 
Before Abraham left he was promised a son and many descendants, but he had to wait because despite God’s promise Sarah did not have a child, so Abraham acted impatiently by having a child through Hagar, his wife’s servant girl.  However this did not stop the promised of a son from arriving in due time. 
It meant Abraham had to bear the consequences of his impatience but he had God as a friend (James 2:23… Abraham was called a friend of God) and we have Jesus as a friend.

A miracle happens. God has not forgotten His promise to Abraham. Sarah, in old age gives birth to a son, Isaac. But this is not the end of Abraham's journey. God tells him to sacrifice his only real God given son on an altar on a mountain. This time his obedience is complete. He puts Isaac on the altar of sacrifice, trusting God that He would either provide another sacrifice, or raise Isaac from the dead. 
This is called 'resurrection faith'. 'Resurrection faith' is surrendered faith whereby we place our faith in the hands of the faith of Jesus, who brings forth the will of the Father in our lives... God intervened for Abraham and provided a ram for the sacrifice and tells Abraham He has spared his son. The Father has provided Jesus for us – our resurrection faith. 
This was Abraham’s pinnacle of faith, but what a journey! This is the place where God wants to get us, where He wants to get His Church. 
Jesus left his heavenly world and became one of us. Then he took us back with him into his heavenly world when he rose from the dead and we stay with him, on earth but living from heaven (resurrection faith).

This is where resurrection life flows out of our sacrifice of surrender to God. This where the Church lives in the arena of the miraculous. 
We may have had some false starts like Abraham, we may have an Ishmael or two, where we’ve tried to do God's thing in our own way. 

But God has us on His journey and He will provide supernaturally the completion of our faith. We can live in His resurrection life, partners and friends with Jesus.
Resurrection faith is at the meeting point, where we leave our old world behind and enter into the world that Jesus has prepared for us. That is when we experience the supernatural walk with Jesus that he wants us to have, sharing in his very own faith. This is where there is answered prayer and that is where there is love and hope and faith (1 John 3:19-21).

 

 

 

 

The hidden seed of Logos

THE HIDDEN SEED OF LOGOS 

1Peter 1:23 since you have been born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, through the living and abiding (logos) of God; 

Our New Creation lives are the expression of the logos seed of life implanted within us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the logos Word of God. God is always ‘bringing us into being’ of that New Creation life and our faith causes us to always be ‘coming into being’ of that life. We attend to that hidden seed of spiritual life within.

LOGOS THE BIG IDEA
The Logos was the Word that spoke creation into being, and that designed and ordered everything in the Universe.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him. 

As a Pharisee, Paul used to have what he thought was the best and biggest idea for his life living under God’s Law, but then he was walloped by the greatest idea that had ever existed – the Logos, in the form of Jesus, The Word. Before Paul received a revelation from Jesus on the road to Damascus he was an enemy of Christianity. He had a very stable and strongly approved religion where everybody in his entire personal world validated him. When he was converted he was perceived as an enemy of Judaism by those of the Jewish religion even though they were not seen as enemies by him, and his whole personal world turned upside down.

Paul met the logos, Jesus, born from above, who joined God to humanity for all time. 
John 1:1 And the Word became flesh and lived amongst us. Jesus Christ, the Logos now sustains and upholds all of creation with that Word of power. (Hebrews 1:3).
It is hard to grasp the wonder of this magnificent creative power that is able to order and reorder our whole life as we consciously cooperate with God in that process of transformation. Jesus the Logos Word unfolds to us who God is through the Holy Spirit, and as we get to know who God is, he gets to show us who we are.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD LOGOS
The Word Logos had been around in Greek culture and philosophy for hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Logos was the one overarching thought in ancient Greek philosophy that expressed the wonder and design of an ordered Universe. When John wrote that Jesus was the Logos that created the world as God and that he became a human being that had come to live among us, it gave to everyone who read those words with a responsive faith, a profound understanding of who Jesus really was, as God joining himself to his own creation in us.

It was the Greek belief that Logos is some form of intentional idea or principle that can be seen everywhere; it makes up the earth, trees and even us as humans, and logos does not just give everything form; it also gives it order. In the Greek mind, this meant that logos determines who is who and who is placed where, because logos contains the master plan for all things, and constitutes the ideal way to order them. 

So as Logos had become the big Idea for the Greek culture and indeed for much of the then known world, we now see that God had prepared that then known world with this word logos to describe the person of Jesus – In the beginning was the Logos…and the Logos was God…and the Logos became a human being. 

Logos was the big idea and design plan of God’s own purpose and intention for humanity. When Paul was spoken to by the Logos, Jesus, that totally re-ordered his belief system and his personal world and his whole life. He began to live each day alongside Jesus as his disciple consciously allowing the Holy Spirit to bring the DNA of the implanted logos seed into the unfolding of his life’s destiny and purpose.

THE MORAL CONSCIENCE AND THE LOGOS

The apostle Peter’s tradition gave him a moral conscience of what was right and wrong according to the Jewish religion. Peter had already lived alongside Jesus, the Logos, the Word made flesh, for over three years as his disciple, and he knew him and loved him as a friend, but it took Peter a long time to let go of his former belief system of living under the Law of Judaism that he grew up with.  His Jewish tradition gave him a moral conscience of the letter of the Law, but it was no longer fully aligned with what the Holy Spirit was saying according to the Logos, or Word of truth in the spirit. 
New Testament Scriptures point out the difference between two different types of conscience (Hebrews 9:14, 10:22,6:22). These Scriptures show us that there is
the natural moral conscience and there is the Spiritual conscience which is aligned with the mind and heart of Jesus the Logos. 
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from bondage to the morality of human tradition (dead works) into life-giving service the living God.

All of humanity has been given a natural conscience by God, to discern the difference between right and wrong. Adam and Eve had that conscience before they disobeyed God because they were told that it was wrong to eat of the tree of knowledge. That is why they felt guilt and shame and covered their shame with fig leaves and hid from God. Humanity has been doing that ever since, hiding from God and covering their shame. 

Our personal moral conscience about what is right and wrong has been formed broadly by our culture or religion and it guides our values and our decisions. This means that our natural or personal conscience can only inform us of the right and wrong of our culture or tradition, and in many areas we can be calling right wrong and calling wrong right.
God once showed Peter a vision of all kinds of animals that were forbidden for Jews to eat and he then told Peter to eat those animals as food.  Peter refused to eat what he believed to be unclean food, alright maybe for gentiles but not fit for Jews, and so Peter told God that he was wrong! He said ‘Not so Lord’. 
It is actually a contradiction to say ‘not so’ and ‘Lord’ in the same statement. God then had to say to Peter ‘do not call unclean what I have cleansed’. God was telling Peter that he was inviting all of humanity, and their food, into the Kingdom of God alongside his people Israel as his children and as brothers and sisters to his Son Jesus.
A natural conscience of human tradition is called in the Bible an evil or a harmful (poneros) conscience (Hebrews 10:22). 
Peter was judging all of humanity outside of Judaism as being unclean and not worthy or eat with or to even enter into their house. That judgment was now a morally harmful and unloving act in the eyes of God, who then told Peter to go into the house of a gentile (Cornelius) and preach the Gospel of Jesus to him. 
Peter had to have his harmful conscience gradually transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit who brings our conscience into line with God’s heart of Logos truth and love. 

Jesus had told his disciples that when he went to be with his Father he would send the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin. That means all of humanity after Jesus has the Holy Spirit actively working upon them in their spirit, where the conscience resides, bringing an awareness of the love and forgiveness of God for their sins and turning their hearts (repentance) toward God and away from darkness (like a plant turns towards the sunshine). When we respond to this movement of the Spirit and acknowledge what Jesus has done for us we then actively receive the Holy Spirit so that it is now an abiding of our spirit with the Holy Spirit in a pathway forward of our transformation from a natural life to a spiritual life in Christ.

Paul was literally exploded out of his natural and religious moral conscience under the Law. He had been a hostile enemy of Jesus until he met him on the road to Damascus. 
Paul had been hunting down Jewish Christians and putting them in jail and sentencing them to death. He had actually just been part of the stoning to death of the martyr Stephen before he set off on the road to Damascus. The last thing that Stephen said to the Jewish elders and Pharisees before he died was ‘You are always resisting the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, you obstinate and hard hearted murderers of those who were sent to proclaim the coming of the Messiah’ (Acts 7:51).

Those words were still ringing in Paul’s ears when he was confronted by Jesus on that road that day, and when he was spoken to by Jesus Logos on that road, he had already been getting pricked in his conscience and angrily kicking against those promptings of Holy Spirit

Jesus knew what was happening in Paul’s conscience and he said to him ‘It is hard for you to kick against the pricks’ (Acts 9:5). Paul then asked Jesus ‘What must I do Lord?’
Paul’s conscience was then brought into line with Logos truth and he began to live not as a hostile enemy but as a close friend of Jesus. 

All of humanity have a corruptible human seed of life from the DNA of our parents, and since Jesus we now have the incorruptible seed of life from the spiritual DNA of God implanted by Jesus, the Logos, through the Holy Spirit.  We are encouraged to humbly reach in our hearts and minds and embrace the Logos.
 James 1.21 Receive with meekness the implanted (emphytos) Logos that is able to save (restore and reorder) your soul. 

ONLY BY FAITH IS THAT IMPLANTED SEED GERMINTATED INTO GROWTH AND FRUIT BEARING
Satan has planted into the minds all of humanity the seed of the Lie that we are all alienated from the life of God in Adam. 
God has planted the seed of oneness with himself into the life of all humanity in Jesus.
(Romans 5:18) 

We have both those seeds within us, the natural from Adam and the spiritual from Jesus.
We choose which one to cultivate and live from. The natural seed tends towards disorder and the alienation in our minds from the life of God and the spiritual seed (Logos) tends towards order and oneness with God and the renewing of our minds.
A seed brings something into being. which one will we invest in?
The natural seed is about self and what things I want for myself.
The Logos seed is about working together with God to release to others the goodness of God that we have received.

The Jesus Word of Logos is our blueprint that will live in us and bring understanding, truth and wisdom into any and every situation we face. As we still our hearts and minds and give attention to that one big Idea of the life giving and life changing seed of life within us Holy Spirit will inspire in us acts of virtue and courage, feelings of joy and peace, and God’s love deep within our hearts. It is an odd wonder that the Christmas event of the birth of Jesus, the ‘Word made flesh’ is celebrated around the world every year – even by people who do not understand or believe in the cosmic truth it contains. That is just one more welcome for Jesus to be  believed in by ALL of humanity because it is for ALL humanity, but our lives of love and grace to others is the greatest welcome for so many who are desperately waiting for something better to happen in their lives. So let us gratefully receive that seed of life and invest in that seed and cultivate it so that it grows and bears the fruit of the blessing of God’s love and care that will go out and be that blessing for all those in our world in Jesus name Amen.

 

Commandment 4 episode 5

Some Christians DO observe the 7th Day as their Sabbath, but Most Christians don’t keep this one.  So who is right and who is wrong?

For this Commandment the question of right and wrong involves the problem of us judging one another, as we do about many other things. It was a contentious issue between the Pharisees and Jesus in the Gospels and between Christians in the early church in the epistles. And we still judge each other today.  
Romans 14:1-6. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things...One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. 

What is the Scriptural reason for most Christians to not observe the 7th day?

New Testament scripture reveals that this commandment refers not to a ritual observance of one day in each week, but to the every-day life of faith, which is the rest that we enter into as Christians, in the finished work of Christ. This rest is spoken of in the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. 
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief and disobedience. 
ALSO
Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath days, 17. which are a shadow of things to come but the substance is of Christ. 

Did Israel fully obey the Sabbath Rest?
Yes and no. They obeyed the seventh day but they missed the essential aspect of FAITH and trust in God. They were told to rest for one year in seven and enjoy relating to each other as a family and a community together and to watch God supernaturally grow the crops for them. So they failed to observe that for 490 years since the time of King Saul. Divide 490 by seven and you get seventy. The bible says that they would go into captivity for 70 years in Babylon because they failed to give the land rest… 
2 Chronicles 36:20-21  And to those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 21. to fulfil the word of The Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths, ... to fulfil seventy years.  
ALSO (concerning Israel)
Hebrews 4:4 For the Scripture mentions the seventh day saying: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and in another place: “They shall not enter My rest.” 

 

The hidden commandment

THE HIDDEN COMMANDMENT 
There is a commandment that does not get a mention in the Ten Commandments but that is being indicated right throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, especially in the Prophets and in many Psalms (Isaiah 12:6, Psalm 31:14  John 14:27). 
It the New Testament the commandment is stated as ‘Be anxious for nothing’. 

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

It is about trusting God and having the ‘peace of God’ instead of the ‘peace of the world’, which is what Jesus stated to his disciples that he wanted us to have (John 14:27).
This is a fervent commitment that God wants us to make for our own sakes, but also for him, so that we can develop a loving and trusting relationship with him, which is what he desires above all else.

We are living in a time when there is a pressing need to appropriate God’s peace. 
The elusive peace of the world is the illusion that you can remove any threat to your safety and security and satisfaction in your personal world if you’re smart enough or tough enough or lucky enough. However it is a well known fact that watching or listening to or reading any form of news media these days is mostly an experience of hearing about all the bad things that are happening. Even when good things happen the media does not tend to report them let alone feature them because the bad news gets more attention and getting more attention in a competitive industry like news media means more success and more followers and more influence. 
There are good things that are happening, but the bad things make the news. So, pursuing the peace of the world is problematic, complex, elusive and ultimately false, and all of this of course gets magnified on social media

There is something called the negativity bias. It is that giving attention to a negative experience even if it is overwhelmingly surrounding by positive experiences will cause a longer lasting negative emotional impact upon us than the positive experience. For example if you work with ten people and nine of them say good things about you and one is always speaking negatively about you, guess what will keep you awake at night.

This condition of anxiety and uncertainty because of negative bias is the state of our global emotional existence today, particularly in times of trying to manage a global pandemic. 

There are many good things happening but the bad things make the news.

Let me to some extent offset the effect of negative bias a little by presenting some unnoticed global facts that don’t make headlines in the media. These are some of the many good things that have happened over the last forty years that go unreported.
There are plenty of sources for this information but a handy compendium of facts can be found at - Our World in Data – (Google it)

Here is a handful of good news items…
Global absolute poverty has decreased from 40% in 1980 to 10 % in 2020.

Starvation has been dramatically reduced in India and Africa and China (apart from political agendas) by the introduction of better and stronger strains of the many varieties of wheat grasses amongst many other things. 

Despite the fear of overpopulation in the1970’s and the threat of running out of resources, the world population has grown by 70% over the last forty years but has resulted in more wealth and better health and disease eradication. 

There are also many countries over the last forty years that have a more sustainable lifestyle balance regarding health and longevity and well-being.

There are no horizons to these improvements because of technological advancement and global agreement about them.

Focusing upon the bad news creates an enormous amount of personal anxiety and social instability because of the pressure of having to overcome so many obstacles that threaten our inner peace. This is not only in regard to world news but it touches deeply the anxieties within our own personal emotional and spiritual lives as we carry the burden of our own personal situations and the burdens of those we care for.

The hidden good news in the world is also a reflection of the hidden good news of our personal faith (Hebrews 11:1 faith is the assurance of God’s activity in the world of the unseen) - but we still get drawn in by the devious negative bias in our emotional and spiritual lives.

The word for the Gospel ‘The Good News’ is euaggelion. In ancient times this was the traditional message of victory that was dispatched by the conquering kings and rulers that had to be declared to all the citizens in the region. 
This would mean that everyone could now live in peace.

We live within the blessing of the ‘Gospel of Peace’.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

There is a way to predispose our mind to God’s perfect peace, whatever the problematic or dismal conditions are that exist. We cannot imagine some set of flawless and ideal circumstances or direct how everyone should behave so that we would not have one single problem in the world. What this perfect peace requires is for our hearts to be awakened to God’s perfect peace under any imperfect conditions. Then we can bring that peace into any situation and respond with effective action and God’s presence. 

How does our heart get awakened to God’s peace?
Peace means oneness, Eirene and that is the key. We share God’s life through the Holy Spirit and he awakens us to the peace and oneness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Joined to thr lord
How can we live as though our problem or affliction is something to not worry about?
The only way is for a person to believe that someone else is taking care of that for us.

How do we know that they will sort it out just the way we want it?
We don’t. It’s not a matter of getting everything the way we want it. We have to trust that the person we hand the care over to will do the sorting out in their own perfect way. 
1Peter 5:7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

This is a commitment. We commit our strategy of sorting it out to someone else.
The strategic activity is now being planned by experts, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
So do we forget about the whole thing and ignore what is going on?
No. 
So what do we do?
We attend to the situation responsibly, with a new measure of patience and calm, confident that God is strategizing situations for us in the world of the unseen. Then we stay on the alert to respond to any signpost that is a pointer to act upon or to speak into the situation as it evolves. One signpost may simply lead to another signpost but our patience in this is our sign of persistence in prayer as we continue to bring before him our faith that he has it all in hand, for his outcome.

We have an anointed guide, the Holy Spirit who teaches us as we go forward 
1John 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

There are actually more good things than bad things happening in our lives as we see things this way, that everything is working together for God’s best for our inner life and inner peace when they are placed in God’s hands. As we trust him and partner with him in this way there are many other things that God is reordering in his hidden way in the circumstances of our lives and in the lives of those we care for. The transformation of our inner lives involves God helping us overcome the hopelessness of the past to open us up to hopefulness for the future. That overcomes anxiety – it surpasses what our mind can grasp about overcoming anxiety and allows faith and trust in God’s hidden power in us, and that surpasses all understanding. That is the peace of God.

The moment we take the anxiety back upon our-selves we have stopped having faith, and things start looking bad again and so we can end up persevering in our anxiety instead of persevering in faith. Faith is about what God is strategically doing, not what we are anxiously claiming what he should do. Faith is about God’s activity not ours. He gives – we receive. What is not of faith is sin (we miss the mark)
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So we pour out our anxiety to God and let him pour in his peace. We can bring to mind the ten second pause of ‘be still and know that I am God’. These precious segments or times of attention if applied more frequently and faithfully in our lives allow us to live more and more in the peace of God, being anxious for nothing. I call this presence prayer.

I was asked very recently whether fasting a good thing to do spiritually. My response was that fasting is not a supernatural activity but it is a spiritual discipline in the sense that it brings us to the place of letting something go so that we can draw closer to God. It is not transactional as in telling God you will fast so then he will do something for you. Letting go of something of self is the opposite of wanting to add something to self. We do not let go of things in order for God to add other things – we let go of things in order to gain Christ. That means food, it means time and it means anxiety. That is the cross bringing about resurrection. How much do we want to gain Christ? We don’t stop eating or using our minds or stop solving problems. We live a balanced life of thanksgiving for the blessings in our lives.  At your right hand there are pleasure forevermore (Psalm 16:11) Footy in wonderful company including The Lord’s. 

We have something to bring into each and every situation – 

A Reality regarding the facts. Face what is happening as things really are. The negative bias is a cunning ally of darkness. Afflictions and challenges are part of the pattern of real life and different challenges happens to us at different stages of life. Where these things occur God’s grace much more occurs.  

A plan of action- we attend to the situation responsibly, trusting that God is at work  doing the hidden good thing that is needed. We don’t give up simply because we are  aware of our human weakness and limitation. His strength is made perfect in our honest 
Confession of our weakness. 

A commitment to persevere. We commit to continually returning to that place of trust when anxiety tries to overwhelm us. We come to you now Lord that we may let go of things that we may gain you. Amen.

 

 

 

 

You will be as God?

You will be as God?
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image (selem – a representation, resemblance), after our own likeness (mut – as us, like us). There are significant differences in the two words, however this statement ‘You will be as God’, or ‘like God’ was declared from the beginning by both Lucifer and God. The first we hear this statement is from out of the mouth of the serpent in the garden of Eden. 
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said, Death will not certainly come to you: For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as God, having knowledge of good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband. 

Those tempting words from the place of darkness provoked a hidden longing in the heart of humanity to be like God.
The very same hidden longing to ‘be as God’ had already been consummated within the heart of pride within Lucifer and was now being passed on to humanity, his greatest rival among created beings.
Isaiah 14:12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground--mighty though you were against the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, "I will ascend to heaven, I will exalt my throne and rule the angels. I will preside on the Mount of the north, the place of the heavenly council. I will climb to the highest heavens. I will be as the Most High." But instead, you will be brought down to the pit of hell, down to its lowest depths.

This aspiration to be ‘like God’ or ‘as God’ is something that is pursued by those who walk in great darkness as well as those who walk in great light. It was said first in the Book of Genesis by the serpent where ‘being as God’ is connected to possessing the knowledge of good and evil whereby each person redefines the meaning of good and bad as being what is good or bad for them personally. However ‘being as God’ is more deeply embedded in the human psyche than we might think. God even corroborates the serpent’s words to Eve in some respects when he drives man out of the garden. 

Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever…” The word ‘lest’ in that sentence allows it to hang in the air unfinished. It is as if the Lord wants us to ask; ‘And…? And what, and why?’ There is a ‘please explain’ there somewhere. and before the verse even allows time for discussion it describes God going into action - therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden. God bans humanity from having access to the way of the tree of life. 
In Isaiah 6.9 (spoken by Isaiah) and in Mark 4:12 (spoken by Jesus) and in Acts 28 (Paul) there is another similarly intriguing scripture that uses the word ‘lest’ in such a way that it also leaves us hanging in the air so to speak, asking the question ‘why Lord?’ and even ‘when Lord?’  or ‘for how long Lord?’ God is telling Isaiah what effect his preaching will have when he proclaims it.
Isaiah 6:9 When you preach to them  tell them they will keep on hearing, but not understand, keep on seeing, but not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Please explain Lord, I have a question… The correct question here is ‘How long Lord’ and that is indeed what Isaiah does ask, and The Lord gives him a sobering answer.
Isaiah 9:11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land”.
This answer in some ways strangely describes the days in which we live…
So back here in the garden of Eden we have the unfinished ‘lest’ sentence swallowed up by; “therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard (sapor – preserve and reserve the way (path, road, journey) to the tree of life”.
God did not let Adam and Eve or any other human being have access to the tree of life (until Jesus) and he guarded the way to it with angels and a flaming sword. God is somehow letting us touch the mystery of eternal life.

THE BAD, THE GOOD, AND THE IN-BETWEEN ASPECTS OF ‘BEING LIKE GOD’
‘Being as God’ is seen in its darkest shadowy form in many narcissistic egomaniacs in their consuming passion of having control over everything in their world, which is impossible, but which is striven for with whatever devious power they can lay hold of. This is seen in cruel tyrants such as Pharaoh, Alexander the great, Caesar, and many others in ancient history and they were regarded by the people and by themselves as a god). Then there are the modern-day practitioners like Stalin and Hitler who acted as deluded savior gods convincing the people that they were needed o save the nation and its heritage and honour and status of dignity and equality in the world.. 
The term for this kind of grandiosity is ‘apotheosis’ (elevated by pride to divine status). 

In its common or everyday form ‘being as God’ sits unnoticed and invisibly nested within the individual sovereignty of all of humanity under God, even if they don’t believe in God, because all of humanity was created in God’s image, or resemblance, or shadow. This includes the responsible citizens of good conscience who honour their social and political freedom which is a God given responsibility and status. It just so happens that nobody generally goes around thinking about this or saying it or discussing it, but this is a hidden reality that has been sown into humanity through a vast range of other expressions of individuality.  A vast number of people worldwide would fall into the worldview of Secular humanism even if they may not describe themselves as such. They may believe that God is not necessary to be a moral and ethical person. In that sense they have become ‘as God’ by replacing faith in God with philosophical truth and reason as the basis of morality and decision making, rejecting religious doctrine or the supernatural, even though they may retain Christian values without Christian faith. Then there are the more energetic zealots of ideological activism who uphold some collective opinion as to how everybody should think and act on certain social issues of social justice or financial equality or health practices etc, and they find their collective identity in those ideologies. They often make their ideological opinions into virtues and become ‘as God’  in judging and even penalizing others for not agreeing with their virtue or morality. 

However, ‘Being as God’ in its highest and most noble form is more than just being created in God’s image or resemblance. We are now talking about being made in his ‘likeness’ or ‘’as him’ in our inner being. It involves having a heart to worship God and to trust in his divine love and goodness and to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into his likeness. It also involves being willing to be discipled by God as our Father who delights to grow us in faith and love both for him and for one another, no matter what race or culture or gender or personality or status. This is being ‘as Him in the world.’ (1John 4:17)

2Peter 1:4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by corrupt human desires.

1Corinthians 3:18 … as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.

This was the reality of the life of Jesus.
Philippians 2:7 who, though his essential being was fully as God, did not use the grandeur of being equal with God something to be promoted but he humbled himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And serving obediently to the point of dying on the cross for us. 

So as his disciples we are called to not just represent Jesus but to embody his life. In other words when Jesus died and rose from the dead and went to be with his Father he sent the Holy Spirit to live within us according to our own unique and individual life.
Our inflated egoic self is now constantly being invited to empty itself of pride and independence and self-importance and emotionally opinionated judgments. That tree of life can now live through giving us his wisdom in things through faith and love. 
By faith we dare to become what without faith we are afraid to be - a vulnerable human being, but a real person, with real meaning in our lives. We have a saviour, and a leader, and a commander, in Jesus. If we always come to Jesus in this way and abide in him in utter faith, as vulnerable ordinary people, we will always find his strength and know his power and love. We draw aside from all other thoughts and focus on the one great thought of God toward us, that through the power of his Holy Spirit he is changing us into his likeness. This is an ever present reality of faith.

‘Being like God’ should be front and centre of our minds and being. It is our destiny and the ultimate goal of God for us that gives meaning to our existence no matter what the status or circumstances of our lives. You will be as God, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

The hidden tree of life

THE HIDDEN TREE OF LIFE
In the story of creation, the Bible says there were two trees in the midst of the garden of Eden. They were the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life.
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

‘In the midst’ does not mean ‘in the middle’. The word midst (taewk) is mostly translated as ‘midst’ and rarely translated a middle (209 vs 7) If I told someone that I saw them in the midst of the crowd it would not mean that they were in the very centre surrounded by everyone else. So we are not talking about two trees standing side by side, on grand display in the centre of the garden. However, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the tree that was featured and even showcased in the story.  It was the tree that God told Adam not to eat from and it was the tree that became their literal downfall through disobedience.

THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TREES
A tree is part of the order of living creation and it is rooted in part of the non-living order of creation, the earth. Adam was created out of the earth and the word adamah means the ‘ground or earth’, from where we get the name Adam. So the spiritual significance of the two spiritual trees is that both trees are rooted in humanity.
Both of these trees declare the powerful symbolism of something which has life and bears fruit and is rooted in the earth, or the ‘adamah’, the ‘Adam’ of our humanity. 

THE COMMANDMENT AND THE CONSEQUENCE OF DISOBEDIENCE
Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God gave the man an order, saying, You may freely take of the fruit of every tree of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take; for on the day when you take of it, death will certainly come to you.

THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said, Death will not certainly come to you: For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as God, having knowledge of good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband. And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.

Adam and Eve were the first of human creation to be tempted by darkness to eat of the tree of knowledge and they were the first to experience the TRAGIC downfall of disobedience and sin. All of humanity is tempted by darkness to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and all have eaten and all have fallen, not just because of Adam falling, but as well as Adam falling (Romans 3:23). They just happened to be the first. They had a conscience before they were tempted, so they knew right from wrong just like us, but the temptation was too great for their UNTESTED human nature TO RESIST.
There is one exception, and that is Jesus, who was tempted in every way just as we are, being human, and yet he did not ever miss the mark or fall into disobedience because he had a relationship of perfect integrity and harmony and unconditional love with his Father. He was in alignment with his Father’s heart (righteous) and so he did not sin, and he did not fall. He was born from above and had the seed of life from his Father through the Holy Spirit (UNLIKE ADAM), and so was also born into his mother Mary’s humanity. 

1Peter 1.23   we were born again not through corruptible but incorruptible seed– logos – the seed from above…

Through their disobedience Adam and Eve broke relationship with God from them to God, but it was NEVER broken from God to them – or to us. They were the ones who broke the harmony, the openness and freedom and their trusting friendship with God. 
They were told by the serpent that when they ate the fruit they would NOT die, AND here they were, still alive, so what did ‘you will surely die’ mean?
There was going to be a physical death and a spiritual death. In the New Testament there are two words for life. They are ‘bios’ (biological life) and zoe (spiritual or Godly life).
When they sinned against God and their own conscience something triggered an inner emotional and spiritual mess within them. Their eyes were opened for them to see that they were unclothed, exposed for who they now were. Shame and guilt and fear rushed into their lives uninvited. They tried to cover themselves with leaves, and a life of covering up began for humanity.
Their relationship with God had been one of unconditional love, but now everything became conditional to a new mindset of what good and evil meant.

They had died spiritually by cutting themselves off in mind and heart from the life of God, the source of all forms of life on the earth and they retreated into an independent experience of their own ‘separated self’ life. They had ceased to consciously make the life of God central in their minds and hearts and became confused as to the meaning of life itself. Life from that moment on was now perceived to belong to oneself so that each person had to make a conscious choice whether or not to share the personal rights of their life with God or anyone else. This became the beginning of conditional relationships for humanity instead of unconditional love. 
It became the mission of darkness to destroy Godly covenant relationships between people and God and also with one another, where we can allow certain other people to share our own personal rights as a human being and where people thinking of themselves as ‘belonging’ to another person as in marriage. We all live with the relational consequences of the fruit of that first act of disobedience to this time.

The Bible describes the plight of people living in this state of spiritual death.
Ephesians 4:18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, without the knowledge of God because of the blindness of their heart. 

This is speaking about people who have become self-conscious rather than God conscious. All those things are the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Adam and Eve’s minds had become alienated from the life of God yet they were nonetheless still being impacted by the life of God because they had been created in his image so that his goodness and mercy and blessing still came upon them and could be reflected through them to one another so they could still be kind and loving if they chose to. And even though unconditional love became an uncommon thing for us it always remained in God’s heart towards us. Great is his faithfulness even in our unfaithfulness.

There is actually nothing wrong with the knowledge of good and evil. Knowledge blesses mankind in a myriad of ways and it is powerfully productive and helpful. The problem arises when we contend with the fierce ownership of our own individual rights that we believe are ‘good’ for us. Darkness sows suspicion and mistrust into our judgment of what is good and what is bad. What is good is now judged on the basis of what is good for me, no matter how it seems to someone else, and what is bad is judged by what is bad the way I see it, no matter whether it seems good to someone else. The closer a thing comes to what we like or want to happen for ourselves, the more it is good, and whatever prevents us from having that thing is bad, and that is why we can make such lopsided and discriminatory judgments against God and against one another. 

This is how humanity is tempted to live in its perception of what is objectively good and bad. Our eyes have been opened to see we must defend or assert our exposed and vulnerable selves. We live in a world of wrongly judging ourselves and one another. 

That is why Adam and Eve judged the fruit of the tree of knowledge to be good for them in every way. It was sold to them as being of beautiful appearance, good to taste and pleasing to the senses, and able to bestow special knowledge and wisdom. Mankind at that moment began to prize those things, and they judged God’s advice to them of not eating the fruit as being bad. They believed the lie that what they now thought was good for them was being cheated of them by God himself.
The outwardly self-gratifying life became more important than the inwardly fulfilling and satisfying life of trusting relationships, first with God and then with others.
The fruit of the tree of knowledge was not only on splendid display for Adam and Eve to see, and tantalizingly forbidden to eat, but sitting amongst its branches was a cunning deceitful serpent. Nothing has changed regarding this tree and we are all constantly being confronted by this reality.
The fruit of this tree has deeply affected the way people, especially in affluent cultures, live out their lives.  Even in Christianity there is a tendency to conform to the competitive performance-oriented success culture of the world rather than the inner transformational power of the exchanged life of Jesus. The outward display orientation has its source in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The powerful inner reality of faith and love has its source in the tree of life. It seems that the western culture finds the outward display irresistible, and only when there is either persecution or a sovereign move of the Holy Spirit do the values of the inner life of God change the hearts of humanity and glorify God instead of man. But there is a better way.

THE HIDDEN WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE
The tree of life was somehow strangely out of sight or out of mind or both, throughout the time of Adam and Eve and God and the serpent in the garden, They were not given any commandment concerning the tree of life because God didn’t even mention it except at the very end. Humanity was obviously destined to eat of the tree of life in due course and there was access to it, but this did not seem to be the time, and in fact only after eating of the tree of knowledge was the way to the tree of life blocked. Then God did not let Adam and Eve or any other human being have access to the tree of life and he guarded the way to it with cherubim and a flaming sword.
Genesis 3: 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard (sapor – preserve and reserve) the way (path, road, journey) to the tree of life.

There was however an appointed time for mankind to be shown the way of access to the tree of life, but for the time being it was forbidden, and the way was hidden.
There was one exception, and that is Jesus, who is the tree of life, and who is also rooted in Adam (adamah – the earth) as a human being, but who contained eternal life and bore the fruit of the tree of Life (The fruit of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit). He was born from above. The life and power of God was hidden as a hidden tree of life not only in the garden but within the humble humanity of Jesus.

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the LORD revealed his power? My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
Jesus did not try to attract people to himself or to put his power on display to impress people. This was a new kind of behaviour from someone of such power and authority, and even his disciples wanted him to display his Kingdom authority when they wanted to call the fire of judgment down on those who resisted and opposed him (Luke 9:54). 
They had always been attracted to and influenced by the tree of knowledge, but Jesus came as the tree of life and made himself of no reputation to become a servant to humanity (Philippians 2:7). They had no understanding of this hidden truth, the hidden tree.  It’s meaning was mysteriously hidden throughout the OT even though it was mentioned. But now it was with them veiled in his humility like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected.

This is in stark contrast to much of Christian activity today, that wants to be on display as the agent of God’s power and judgment of what is good and evil. 
The Bible does not say that knowledge is bad, but it shows how the self-centred use of knowledge differs from the blessing of a caring relationship
1Corinthians 8:1 Knowledge puffs up (inflates the ego) but love builds up…
The tree of life is hidden in the ordinariness of our New Creation humanity that is joined life to life with Jesus. 
Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
This means that we died with Christ and now live with him. When Jesus went on the cross as a human being he took us as humanity, with him.… We now had access to another tree to live out of instead just the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We can now live our lives choosing the tree of life over the tree of knowledge. The pathway is God’s love - Total trust in Gods unconditional love coming to us – we trust that he knows what is good for us even if we don’t. The inflated EGO me is now constantly being invited to empty itself of pride and independence and self importance and emotionally opinionated judgments and to eat of the fulness of the hidden tree of life that is now able to live through us. We ask for and receive his wisdom in things – and love can grow and flow. That is the fruit that Jesus spoke of that would spring up out of the ground when he gave his life as a seed to die and be buried and rise again with us from the dead (John 12:24). This enables us to bless God and one another and to bring healing and wholeness to a broken world through a life of humble service.

Commandment 3 episode 4

Commandment Three – Taking God’s name in vain

Does this Commandment mean more than just people using God’s name in swearing?

How do Christians use God’s name in vain?

What does God’s name mean?

What does it mean for God to ‘not hold people guiltless’ for taking his name in vain?

Does this Commandment operate for people who do not believe in God?

All the commandments deal with relationships, and this commandment focuses on a very real aspect of a relationship, and a very important aspect, which is the name of the Person with whom we have a relationship. It is bad enough to have one's name forgotten, but even worse, to have it abused or exploited.

Don’t rob God’s name of its meaning and power by using it to promote your own futile campaign. God does not count such harmful schemes as innocent (not hold him guiltless).

Seeking of endorsement for our own name is really the seeking of endorsement for the self -images that we have been building, according to the fault addressed in the previous commandment which was the making and serving of images. 

It is the basic insecurity within every image-maker that does not trust in God that creates a compulsion to attach credibility to that image by borrowing the fame or success of someone else's achievement or reputation. 

 

 

Ascension after forty days

ASCENSION AFTER FORTY DAYS From 'The Plan'  Paul O'Sullivan - Sydney, Australia.   pauloss@me.com  
Jesus had brought millions of souls from the grave to the sky and his time in heaven for the celebration of this victorious journey was momentary, as he had left the tomb just before dawn and had to return to earth that same day. He would now spend forty days on earth as a witness to his resurrection, to seal The Plan of his Father and see it implemented for the rest of time. At the end of those forty days he would return to Heaven, to begin his new mission upon the planet. After that he would wait for ten more days before sending Holy Spirit to begin the new mission of the ‘Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’

Holy Spirit had accompanied Jesus every moment of his life on earth. He had joined himself to the human spirit of Jesus and had felt every feeling that Jesus had felt. He had known every one of his thoughts, and he had communicated every thought from Father God to him. Those thoughts became words in Jesus mouth, and Spirit caused those words to have life and power to all who heard Jesus speak. In this way Holy Spirit had also experienced life within humanity on the earth. In fifty days after his resurrection (Pentecost pente=fifty), and after Jesus had returned  back to  heaven  Holy  Spirit  would  become  the  bond between heaven and earth for all time. He would fall like rain from heaven upon the souls of mankind, seeking to awaken the spirit of humanity to the cosmic truth of what Jesus had done in joining mankind to God. This would now become the mission of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, in Heaven and on earth.

That same day Jesus returned to earth in a glorified body that could never ever die again.  
Mark 16:9 After that, He appeared in another form (heteros morphe – an altered form or nature) to two of them as they walked and went into the country.

His body was without the constraints of a limited physical body, but it could be seen and recognized as a natural body. In this spiritual yet natural body Jesus could appear anywhere and at any time. He could feel and be touched, could breathe and eat, and walk and talk, all of which he did when he resumed his earthly visit. He came back and saw again the bewilderment and confusion in this world of uncertainty that people cling to so fervently, and he wanted to see all this change. He arrived in Jerusalem and heard that the temple priests had fabricated a story that his body had been stolen by the disciples and that they had overcome the temple guards and raided the tomb. He also heard that his disciples were still doubting that he had risen from the dead, even though some of them had come to the tomb and seen it empty, and some women had spoken to the angels.

He set off walking from Jerusalem in the direction of Galilee, where he had said he would meet with his disciples. It was then that he saw the two men walking together in serious discussion and he recognized them (these were the men mentioned in that Scripture about Jesus appearing in another form). They were men who would have often come to listen to him and ask questions along with many other disciples. He greeted them and joined them as they walked, but Holy Spirit had supernaturally veiled their eyes from recognizing him. He listened as they spoke and detected the same mood of bewilderment, if not depression, that seemed to be hanging over everybody. He politely commented that they seemed to be bothered about something that was going on locally, and he asked what that might be.

The one called Cleopas gave Jesus a puzzled look and said to Jesus that he must be the only visitor in Jerusalem that hadn’t heard about what had happened. So when Jesus asked Cleopas to spell out what he meant the two men smiled at each other and the other man began to patiently explain about the man called Jesus, a great man whom they had both followed and believed in. They enthusiastically recounted some of the miracles he had worked, and that he was a prophet, the greatest of them all. Cleopas broke in and added that Jesus stood up for justice and taught them about God. They thought he was going to turn the world upside down and make everything new for them. Jesus pushed them further for more details and they said they had expected that there would be freedom and prosperity for the Jews for a start. 

There was a pause, then one of them gave a sigh and told Jesus how the temple priests had convicted Jesus as a criminal and how he was crucified by Pontius Pilate, and that today was the third day since these things happened. When Jesus asked them to explain the significance of the third day the two men looked at one another awkwardly and one of them shrugged and said that the man Jesus had said he would rise from the dead after three days. Cleopas took up the story again and explained that some of the women even went to the tomb and found it empty and reported they saw two angels who said he was alive, and that some of his very own disciples also went to the tomb and found it empty. He too shrugged as he finished talking.

Jesus nodded and remained silent for a few paces as he walked alongside the two men. He then very pointedly asked them why on earth they didn’t just believe what they had been told by Jesus himself. The other man condescendingly and a little impatiently, replied that they hadn't seen anything, so what were they expected to believe? 
It was then that Jesus quietly declared to them that they should have opened their hearts to what God had revealed, and simply believed what Jesus and all the prophets had spoken, that the Christ should suffer these things and then enter into his glory. He then began to speak about all the Scriptures concerning himself. He spoke in detail of the Plan of Father to send The Son into the world. He taught them from the words of Scripture about prophesies which outlined the details of his birth, and his life and death, and his resurrection. Something happened in their hearts as they listened to him, even though they still didn’t recognize who he was. And the next thing they knew they were close to Emmaus, which was their destination.

They didn't want Jesus to stop talking so they appealed to him to stay with them, even though he told them he was going further. They asked him to at least stay and have a meal, so Jesus accepted their offer. During the meal Jesus took some bread, and gave thanks for it, and as he broke the bread their eyes were opened and immediately they recognized who he was. This was the ordinary, extraordinary moment, sitting at a table, life happening, very natural yet very spiritual, eye to eye and heart to heart. Jesus heard Father speaking to him from heaven, telling him that this was the way it was going to be. Holy Spirit would be the one who would open peoples’ eyes to see him and know him as he really was, and that was the way The Plan would be implemented from heaven to earth. Jesus then heard Holy Spirit whisper to him; “People will speak the truth about you, and I will reveal you to them.” 
The next moment Jesus vanished from their sight

After Jesus vanished from their sight the two men decided to go back into Jerusalem and find the disciples who were in hiding, afraid of what was going to happen to them because of the rumors that were going about that they had stolen Jesus’ body. They found them and were whisked inside and the doors were locked behind them. They told them of their journey with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and their miraculous meal with him where he had suddenly vanished. The disciples were ecstatic that Jesus was back from the dead, and while they were still talking Jesus appeared in their midst while the doors remained locked. The disciples panicked, and thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus explained to them that he was not a ghost because a ghost didn’t have bones and flesh, and he asked them to touch his hands and his feet and to see for themselves. 
 
Jesus stretched forth his hands and his peace hit their hearts. He breathed his Spirit upon them and they received the impartation of his peace and they immediately felt at one with Jesus and with each other. This was just a mere foretaste of what was to come, as it would only be after his final ascension and being seated at the right hand of Father that Holy Spirit would be sent to dwell within them. On the day of Pentecost Holy Spirit would be sent from Father and from himself upon all humanity. That peace is also the air we can now breathe and that peace is what we can also now impart to others.

He could still see their bewilderment, and he knew he had to convince them in some ordinary way that he was real and alive again. So he asked them if he could have something to eat. James scurried to the fire and brought back some steamed fish, and some honeycomb, and held the mixed platter out at arm's length as Jesus accepted it and ate it with gusto. He looked around the room and noticed that Thomas was not amongst them. He asked them why they didn't go to Galilee where he said he would be going to meet them. They shuffled about without giving an answer, and Jesus told them he would see them in a few days at Galilee, and he vanished once more.

The disciples gathered at Galilee where they used to gather in the large boat shed that belonged to James and John's fisherman father, where they tended to the boats and net repairs. It was situated snugly in a grove overlooking the beach. Peter had been waiting with the others and had then become restless and asked James and John to come fishing with him to get some food for Jesus to eat. While the three were out fishing Jesus suddenly appeared to the others as they sat patiently, waiting for his arrival. When Thomas saw Jesus appear he walked hesitatingly towards him and stopped in front of him. Jesus knew that Thomas had not believed that he had risen, even after the other disciples had said that they had seen him. Jesus held out his hands towards Thomas and told him to touch his hands where the nails had pierced, and to touch his side where the Centurion’s lance had entered his side. Thomas broke down and wept, and told Jesus that he believed. Jesus gently acknowledged his faith, that in seeing and touching he now believed. He went on to tell Thomas that there would be many who will believe without even seeing him and that they would be greatly blessed for that kind of faith. Jesus comforted him and he disappeared again. 

Jesus appeared to them again one morning after seven of them had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing. He stood on the shore and watched them fishing but they didn't realize that it was him. He shouted out to the fishermen from the shore, asking them if they had yet caught anything. A disgruntled ‘No’ came from Peter to this expert on the seashore, who responded to Peter by telling him to cast his net on the other side of the boat. Peter was about to explode when he heard John cry out that the expert on the seashore was indeed Jesus, The Lord. Peter then yelled to the others to do what Jesus had said. So they threw the nets to the other side and began to pull so many fish into the boat that they could hardly keep the boat afloat. But by this time Peter had plunged into the sea, swimming for all his might to get to his friend on the seashore, leaving the crew on the boat to work together on the haul. When Peter lurched his way up onto the shore he headed straight for Jesus and collapsed in front of him. He saw that Jesus had already prepared a fire with burning coals and had fish and toasted bread ready for them to eat. He didn't ask Jesus how he got the fish. Jesus reached down and helped Peter into a sitting position and told him to go and get some more fish from the catch so they could make breakfast for the others. 

After they had all enjoyed breakfast together Jesus called Peter aside. He knew there were things that had to be said between them. Peter’s soul was in a turmoil of regrets, shame and guilt. Time and again he had asked himself why he didn’t stand up for Jesus instead of disowning him three times when he was asked if he knew him - and could that have made a difference? He had remembered when the rooster crowed that Jesus had predicted that he would do just that. What was Jesus going to say to him now – would Jesus disown him, even rebuke him three times? But Jesus asked Peter three times, in three different ways whether or not Peter loved him. The love of Jesus owned Peter, and Peter passionately gave himself up to the ownership of God’s love. As a true representation of a flawed humanity owned by God’s love, Peter was mercifully forgiven and accepted. It was also this moment that owned him, not the past, or the uncertainty of the future. This would also continue to be his greatest gift to God, seeking to give each moment to his loving presence. After having his spirit and soul fed with this Word of love from Jesus, repeated three times, Peter was commissioned three times to feed God’s lambs and feed his sheep. As Peter would go on in life, he would face his many imperfections, and he would learn to return to each present moment, as in that special moment, where he could surrender to the ownership of love, shed his fears, and grow in faith as a participator in God’s nature.

Jesus met with hundreds of people over those forty days, but on the final day he gathered with just over a hundred of his disciples and followers, including his mother. Jesus then took the eleven disciples aside to give them some final instructions. He told them to go into Jerusalem and to wait for Holy Spirit’s empowerment. They were to wait in the same upper room in which he celebrated the Passover feast with them the night he was taken captive. He then told them about the fulfillment of The Plan. 

Jesus explained to them that Father had always wanted to have a family of sons and daughters to share his love with them - the same way that Father had shared his love with Jesus himself. Lucifer had tried to block this Plan from the beginning of time by blinding the mind of humanity with darkness, causing a chasm of separation from the living God to exist in their minds and to devise independence in their souls. But Jesus had overpowered darkness and Holy Spirit would come to them and bring them the power of the life that he now lived. He told them he would join their lives to his risen life and they would become one in Spirit with him. Holy Spirit would take Father’s love, and his own words, and place them in the hearts of men and women, as a deep consciousness of indwelling abiding life. He told them they would together be as his body in the World, and each in their own way, gifted with grace and faith from Heaven. People and things that happened around them would change, as they themselves became more and more changed into being more like him.

A dazzling light shone within a billowing white cloud above them. Jesus turned to them all and raised his hands in blessing. He did not need to say goodbye. As he began to rise slowly heaven-wards he was enveloped in the cloud, and as they stood together looking into the cloud that had taken him they saw the shining figures of Michael and Gabriel standing to one side (Acts 1:10). Gabriel told them that the same cloud that they saw taking Jesus into eternity would also bring him back one day - in total glory and triumph, and The Plan will have been fulfilled. he End.

 

 

 

From the Grave to the Sky

When Jesus gave up his Spirit to his Father he then descended in his Spirit on a mission of great purpose. Below him was a place called Paradise, and next to Paradise was a place called Hades. Jesus had spoken about these places when he told the story of The rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. The rich man who lived sumptuously in arrogant self indulgence all of his life ended up in Hades and Lazarus who lived the life of a humble beggar ended up in Paradise, with Abraham (Luke 16:19) 

Jesus had now descended to these places. Paradise was where there were millions of souls who had been waiting for him from the beginning of time. These had lived their lives on earth in hope, many of them guided by the Commandments through Moses, but many simply by a good conscience. They were locked away from eternity till eternity would now come to get them. He would also visit Hades, the grave, the prison of lost hope.

The bible says that Jesus then preached to all those prisoners of time the message of the plan of Father, the Gospel. Father had sent Jesus into the world to set people free from the captivity of sin and to bring his New Creation life to humanity. This latter part of the mission of setting people free was one of setting prisoners free from the captivity of time, as they had waited as captives for heaven to come to them. Many listened and heard this message of freedom at this time. The Scriptures speak of this moment about Jesus.
1Peter 3:18 He died once for the sins of all sinners although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. But though his body died, his spirit lived on, and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them-- spirits of those who, long before in the days of Noah, had refused to listen to God, though he waited patiently for them while Noah was building the ark. Jesus would have sat with Noah, and Adam and Eve, and Moses, and Abraham and many many others in Paradise, talking and resting with them, and he was to wait there until the end of the third day.

When John writes in the book of Revelation concerning his visions and the angelic messages of the seven angels through whom Jesus speaks to the seven churches there is the declaration of Jesus having received the keys of ‘Hell and death’ 
Revelation1:17,18 Fear not; I am the first and the last: -- I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.
With one of the keys darkness would one day be locked away and set aside for another encounter, reserved for an appointed day at the end of time. With the other key he would now unlock the prisoners of the past from their patient pause and take many into an eternal heaven.

When Jesus turned the key of freedom in the prison gate a tremor hit the universe. Power from Father and Holy Spirit in heaven was released into and through Jesus to overcome death and the grave that changed the nature of every atom of matter in existence and brought all things that existed into a new kind of union with Christ. 
This was the beginning of the ‘power of the resurrection’, bringing all things that existed into Christ.
Colossians 1:16 He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile (bring into a state of harmony) with himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, bringing them into unity with himself by the blood of his cross. 
Prior to this moment, all of creation was separate in its state of being (a lower order of being) to the creator, the highest order of being, called ‘uncreated Being’. That consciousness mindset of separation was there, as far as humanity was concerned, in latent form, from the beginning of the creation of humanity. This conscious mindset of separation was waiting to be triggered by disobedience to the will of God, and that disobedience caused mankind to go his own way and miss the mark of going the way of God – and that is sin. 
This is known as the law of sin and death in humanity. The disobedience caused guilt and shame and separation, the death blow to relationship from us to God, but not from God to us. It was on our part, but God remained faithful. And now Jesus, who had done the work on the earth to overcome this law of sin and death through perfect obedience and perfect relationship with his Father had made a new way open for humanity to walk in God’s ways in the new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). Now that our creator Jesus has joined himself to his creation in humanity we can rise above this mindset of lostness and separation called the law of sin and death. The Bible says that the whole creation is groaning for this glory to be fully manifested and that we groan within ourselves also for its complete fulfillment which will be at the end time resurrection. 
Romans 8:23 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth (the bringing forth of a New Creation) until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.

The time came for them to leave and Jesus led them on a triumphant upward journey, to their new home, his home. The entire company was escorted by Michael and Gabriel and the hosts of angels around them, as they ascended ever upwards until they reached the earth, from where they, and Jesus most recently, had come – from the grave to the sky. There they all stopped for a brief period of time, because there were things for Jesus to do there. The first thing that he had to do was to go to his tomb where his earthly body lay in its shroud. Michael and Gabriel flew before Jesus to the tomb and found the guards there that the temple priests had appointed to stand watch at the tomb. As the angels alighted the ground shook and the massive stone rolled away as a huge burst of lightning hit the place sending the guards reeling headlong to the ground. They leapt up in fright and bolted. Jesus entered his tomb and united himself again to the wounded shell of his body, leaving the headpiece and shroud lying separated from one another in the tomb (John 20:7). 

Michael and Gabriel waited inside the tomb while Jesus walked bodily from the temporary resting place, out into the garden. He walked about, recalling vividly the events that had so recently taken place nearby. He remembered his time of kneeling in an agony of prayer, when he accepted his cup of unbearable suffering. 
A very strange thing was also happening in other parts of Jerusalem. Hundreds of souls who had just accompanied Jesus from below and who had recently died were making the briefest of appearances to their loved ones. 
Matthew 27:52. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had died were raised up and came out of the tombs after his resurrection, and they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

At that same time some women had prepared oils and spices to anoint Jesus’ body. On their way to the tomb they were discussing the problem of how to move the huge stone that covered the entrance. When they arrived they were astonished to see that it had been moved and the guards were nowhere to be seen. They peered inside the tomb and were met by the majestic appearance of Michael and Gabriel, sitting in the place where Jesus had been laying.

”Are you looking for Jesus? Gabriel said. He has come back to life as he said he would. Go and tell the disciples that he will be coming to see them, and that they are to wait for him in Galilee.”

The women ran to tell the disciples but one of them dropped behind and walked slowly through the garden, still confused and weeping. She almost collided with Jesus who was also walking in the garden, and she apologized, not recognizing him, thinking he was the gardener. This was Mary Magdalene. And he called her by her name and said,“ It's alright Mary, it's me, it really is.”

When she recognized him she ran towards him but he held up his hand and said, “Please do not hold me because I cannot be touched until I have presented the complete offering of my body and blood to my Father (Leviticus 23:9-16). I will be back with you very soon, so go and tell the others.”

Jesus then regrouped with all those he had set free and the magnificent procession began to move in splendour with its escort of glorious angels, from the grave to the sky. As their ascension took them closer and closer to the throne room a mighty voice could be heard proclaiming his majestic entrance;
Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in. 
Who is this King of glory? 
The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!

At this command the heavenly music began. The sound of thousands of pipes, the voices of hundreds of harmonies, the deepest of vibrating bass and the ascending range of every stringed instrument created a majestic symphony.  The cascading melody and the volumes of resonance pulsed with rhythm, flooding and receding in this moment of triumph. Jesus had come home.

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he sustains everything in the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…
This was the moment, purification for sin had been made and now everything in the Universe was upheld by his power.

Ephesians 1:19-21. how vibrant and powerful is that divine energy that comes from God to us when we simply believe that he is the creator and generator of this supernatural power 20. Which exploded into reality when he raised Jesus from the dead and took him into heaven to sit next to him at his right hand. 21. This heavenly place and position took Jesus as God and man above any other force or realm of authority that can be named, whether on earth or in the heavens…and he has become the center of all consequence and meaning in the universe.

Father led Jesus to a throne in the throne room, and sat him at his right hand, where the most glorious of all crowns was placed upon his head, which still bore the marks of the cruel wreath of thorns from his flogging. All the angels and all those who had come with him on the upward journey beheld their king in his place of honor. Those of the faithful company who had waited throughout time also took their places of honor in their new home and joined in the magnificent celebration. Jesus’ time in heaven for these celebrations was momentary, as he had left the tomb just before dawn and had to return to earth that same day. He would now spend forty days on earth as a witness to his resurrection, to seal The Plan of his Father and see it implemented for the rest of time. At the end of those forty days he would return to Heaven, to begin his new mission upon the planet. After that he would wait for ten more days before sending Holy Spirit to begin the new mission of the ‘Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’

Holy Spirit had accompanied Jesus every moment of his life on earth. He had joined himself to the human spirit of Jesus and had felt every feeling that Jesus had felt. He had known every one of his thoughts, and he had communicated every thought from Father God to him. Those thoughts became words in Jesus mouth, and Spirit caused those words to have life and power to all who heard Jesus speak. In this way Holy Spirit had also experienced life within humanity on the earth. In fifty days after his resurrection (Pentecost pente=fifty), and after Jesus had returned  back  to  heaven  Holy  Spirit  would  become  the  bond between heaven and earth for all time. He would fall like rain from heaven upon the souls of mankind, seeking to awaken the spirit of humanity to the cosmic truth of what Jesus had done in joining mankind to God. This would now become the mission of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, in Heaven and on earth.

Within the contradiction of the experience that we call human life, there would exist at one and the same time the cry for, and the resistance to, the oneness of spirit with God for which mankind was created. And within the human pain of this struggle would be found the cry of Holy Spirit wrestling to join the minds and hearts of people to God. This struggle and wrestle would exist throughout time as the Spiritual energy of God’s love that would never cease its activity in the hearts of humanity. It would be the sign of the divine heart exercising its love in the subduing of human nature that it might resonate with the nature of God. Whenever this truth would be embraced by a human heart, that heart would at last find itself at home, around the Family table, where it was destined eternally to be. To be continued.

(Excerpt from ‘The Plan’ – Paul O’Sullivan – Sydney, Australia)