Spiritcode

A Living Hope

A LIVING HOPE 

1Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide (remain, continue eternally), these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The greatest of these is love – beginning with God’s love for us, because it causes the faith and the hope to exist. God’s love is the beginning and end of all things. That is the source of the hope that we can live in at all times. That is the reality of a living hope.

Everybody needs some kind of hope
Everybody on the planet goes through difficult circumstances and situations of uncertainty and danger and loss, and some people make it through better than others. Those who do best in coming through these experiences are those who have clung on to some kind of hope. 

So where do people generally find this regular kind of hope? 
The answer is they find something or someone, perhaps even themselves, to believe in, and our natural skills and experience can give us hope or confidence, for a while at least. And in this world there are many random things on offer to believe in and it can seem like a guessing game because the certainty of a person’s hope depends upon the reliability and credibility of what they believe in, and nothing in this world is certain, or lasts forever. There are also superstitious and religious teachings that Paul cautions the Church about, to not be ‘tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of teaching, by human cunning, or devices {the word for that is kubeia = rolling the dice – what are your chances with this one?}… Ephesians 4:13) Some new method on the internet maybe, about how to get God to answer your prayer – These things just lead to disappointment, and there’s too much of that. I believe that the need that God desires to meet in each of us, is to be drawn closer to him - rather than just for a sincere cause - no matter how righteous it may seem to that person. (We will get to prayer later) 

A certain hope
However for a Christian, life cannot be a random guessing game. Our hope is based on our faith in God’s loving goodness toward us.  
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the basis (hypostasis – basis – that which undergirds something and causes it to stand) of things hoped for, the assurance of unseen things (things=pragma – activity {of God}). So;
Faith is the basis of hoping – the assurance of the unseen activity of God. 

God’s love is for you – All the time
Your faith is for God - and it blesses him (Hebrews 11:6)
Your hope blesses you – because you can now live a life knowing that someone is personally thinking about you continually, working life out for you far better than you can for yourself. That is a living hope that lasts forever.

Hope is something we cannot live without, and we need the certainty of real hope as the anchor to our soul – hope that lasts, and strengthens our soul. 
Hebrews 6:18 That we might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place of his presence behind the veil, where Jesus the forerunner has entered for us.

What is the veil and how does that relate to a sure and steadfast anchor of hope?
That veil hung in the temple in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, and it signified the separation between the people and the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant. Behind that veil was the most holy place, and only the High Priest could enter into that presence once a year on the Day of Atonement. When Jesus died on the cross that veil was torn from top to bottom and the earth shook, and the rocks upon the mountains round about were split. This was an act of God from Heaven telling us that Jesus was the forerunner for us in entering though the torn veil, and breaking down the separation between God and man from that time on – Through his love, forgiveness and mercy, through Jesus our living hope.
Jesus lived each day on earth and went through by that veil because it had no hold over him and created no separation for him, even though he was tempted in all things as with us. He was the first of the New Creation.

That veil is called ‘the flesh’ in the Bible 
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the veil, that is, through his flesh, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, and let us resolutely affirm the declaration of our hope without hesitation, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. 

However that veil for us today is the mindset of the separated-self, called ‘the flesh’ in the Bible. The flesh can generally be described as our humanity in the form of its basic instincts, good and bad, or the ’old man’ or ‘old nature’ that started with Adam when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and experienced separation from God. Jesus came ‘in the flesh’ but he lived ’in the Spirit’ and experienced no separation from his Father. Our flesh, our veil, stands between us and the presence of God until we go through by faith into what Jesus did, in making us partakers of his divine nature through his death and resurrection and sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The separated-self mindset (the flesh) is a negative and distorted self-consciousness that has found ways to cope with all of the things we struggle with in life. There are the struggles of the past – the disappointment and loss, failures and errors. And there are the uncertainties of the future – the anxiety, perplexity, and danger. Our assurance of faith that we are now a new creation in Christ and the unfailing hope in God’s love and good will for us gets us through that veil of separation and into the living presence of God, where all things become new.
When we go through the veil of negative self-consciousness in this way, we experience the positive God-consciousness of faith hope and love in our soul. 

How do we push through the veil?
The first thing we need to do is to reflect upon the love that God has for us. God’s love for us is not a passive love, it is the activity of his goodwill towards us at all times.
Our attentive reflection brings his love into the central focus of the present moment of what is happening. It shifts all the past disappointment and loss out of the way and puts them out of mind. It moves the uncertain future and anxiety out of the way and puts them out of mind. It leaves us only with the reality of the love of God for us – a love that is eternally creative and powerful and purposeful for us 
Psalm139:17 How precious are your thoughts to me O God! 
This is always the starting point. The consciousness of God’s love for us then generates the faith and the hope.

Our prayers
It is from this place of faith with the peace of God ruling in our hearts that we bring our prayers and petitions into God’s presence with a real faith in his love and faithfulness to us. We trust his love to attend to our needs and the needs of others according to his good will for all of us. Real hope and real faith operate through the love of God.

Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two mentions two prophetic fulfillments of Old Testament Scripture. The first was from the prophecy of Joel, that wrapped the whole world up in the love of God because the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon ALL flesh, which means that humanity is now ‘In Christ’, not just ‘In Adam’. The second was from Psalm 16 that wrapped the whole world up in a living hope like David had, who was able to dwell in the presence of God because of the hope of God’s love in his heart.
Psalm 16:7 My heart instructs me in the night seasons. I see the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my speech was glad;
Moreover my soul also will rest in hope. You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

Pentecost was the first great move of God’s Spirit coming to humanity and making history in the Earth, causing us to become a New Creation. There have been many outpourings of the Holy Spirit since, and I pray that this new and certain hope in the love of God for us is going to be the essence of the next move of God’s Spirit in the earth.
This is something that will soften people’ hearts so that their souls will be rescued from the false hopes and disappointments. This will bring a sure and certain hope in God’s healing love to us, Spirit soul and body.

Commandment 2 episode 3

Commandment Two 

Paul OSullivan and Scott Kardash  uncreated.podbean.com

Is idolatry a rare occurrence these days or does it abound prolifically in today’s world?
Do idols have supernatural power?
Does everyone have a self image?
How does a person develop a self image?
What does it mean that God is a jealous God?

Exodus 20:4 `You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, The Lord your God am a jealous God 
For Israel the golden calf was a confused concept of what Israel thought to be God Himself. It was a substantial thing made of wood and gold plated because they had to relate to something tangible that they could make themselves. Their concept was shaped by their past experience.

Our working model self image is an outcome of what is reflected back to us by others throughout our life - of -who -we -are, which has a mixture of either helpful and loving feedback or harmful and negative feedback. This working model of a self image is incomplete and distorted however it is perceived. Its perception of itself is flawed. It is always looking in a mirror at itself and doesn’t know who it is seeing.

We can be tempted to make a better self image for ourselves by having a better position in life, by way of a more prestigious job or status of some kind, and life can become an endless pursuit for this kind of self-worth

The truth is we have been created in God’s image to become the unique person we were created to be. To find that we have to go on a journey of trust in God to reveal to us our special giftings and abilities as well as our shortcomings

 

Justice and mercy

JUSTICE AND MERCY 

Micah 6:8 ‘He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’

The prophet Micah had a burden for justice to be seen amongst God’s people Israel. In chapter three Micah opposes two groups in Jerusalem, the spiritual and the secular authorities. First, he opposes some of the other prophets, because they were misleading the people and unjustly using their position and power for their own advantage. He said the prophets ‘lead my people astray’ (Micah 3:5). The second group against which Micah speaks are the political leaders and rulers in Jerusalem ‘because they eat the flesh of my people’, that is, financial extortion and oppressive control over the people. In all these passages it is clear that what motivates Micah is concern for this unjust use of power against his own people.
JUSTICE
Jesus also had a burden to see God’s justice amongst his own people, Israel, and like Micah, Jesus confronted the religious political power base of his day, the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus told them they were ignoring the most important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23). 
The Bible tells us that when he was threatened and insulted he did not threaten and insult back again but committed himself humbly into the hands of his Father, who judges righteously on our behalf – He settles the score – His way in his time. (1Peter 2:23). Jesus didn’t have to fight against injustice because he knew where to find true justice – it comes when you put things into God’s hands. That is why Jesus talked about turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, doing good to those who hate you – all those Scriptures that annoy everyone. They’re especially reinforced in the new Testament (Matthew 5:39, Romans 12:19)

This is not the way that we in our entire human history have ever organized our system of Justice, which follows the simple reward and punishment model that we see everywhere.
The Scriptures that talk about that in the New Testament are about the need for law and order in society, honouring the king, obeying the laws of the land, being subject to magistrates. This is because they have the authority under God to protect all of us by punishing the evil doers and approving of those who do good, so that we can live an ordered peaceful life ... (Romans 13, 1Peter 2.14). That common justice ultimately belongs to God.
God even said in the Old Testament that the consequences of peoples’ evil deeds will catch up with them in due time because justice ultimately belongs to God.
Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them because vengeance is Mine, and recompense. (Deuteronomy 32:25)

But Jesus made it clear that the Law was not only about judgment of good and evil but the most important aspects of the law were justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23).
That is because God didn’t create us just to devise a judgment system to deal with good and evil and maybe enjoy a relationship with us on the way. He created us to enjoy a loving relationship with him as his children and to unfold the amazing mystery of his mercy and forgiveness to deal with the problem of good and evil on the way. 

Jesus didn’t have to fight evil with power and violence. He absorbed the full sum of all of the evil of humanity on the cross, using another kind of power called forgiveness. His last words were ‘Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.’ His death became our freedom from judgment and his resurrection became the powerful way of living a transformed life. Jesus was showing us the nature of the Father towards his children – forgiveness and mercy.

Forgiveness and mercy are not commonplace in our social dealings with each other, because unlike God, we have made forgiveness and mercy conditional upon who deserves it. We have learned that it is more efficient to negotiate our own reward and punishment systems of justice. 
This includes the blaming and shaming and judgement of people against one another that is seen everywhere today. It is a payback power play that invites the same payback treatment in return. It never transforms anyone, it just creates a cycle of further resentment and payback.

Many people align themselves with a group ideology or set of policies and they will blame and shame another group with a different ideology. God sees these people as individuals that he is mercifully and patiently trying to redeem and transform.
If we don’t see these people as individuals in this way we can be blinded to the darkness within our own individual souls that God is also mercifully and patiently trying to redeem and transform.

There are of course wonderful examples all around us of individuals showing compassion and mercy for other people who are weak and vulnerable no matter what group they belong to. This is a startling reminder that humanity is created in the image of God, so that capacity for compassion is very much a reality within every heart. And it is an observable fact that comforting and caring for someone who is suffering softens the human heart that is doing the caring. 

An even greater dimension of that kind of comfort and mercy is ours when we we receive an understanding and revelation of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who lives within us. The Holy Spirit shows us the compassion that Jesus had for all of for us and that we can have for one another, thoughts of kindness and mercy.

The prophet Zechariah spoke to all of us through a prophecy to Israel about the heart of kindness and compassion we would receive when we would finally come to understand the Father’s heart of  grief that he felt when he sent his only Son to die on the cross for us. Holy Spirit has carried that mercy and compassion from the Father to the Son and to us for one another.

Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and  mercy, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child… and from that mourning will flow ‘a spirit of kindness and prayer’ and ‘a fountain of living waters will flow out from them’ (Zechariah 13:1; 14:8).”

WALKING HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD.
Just as Jesus showed a humble trust in committing all justice into the hands of his father against the threats and insults of his enemies, we see how King David also walked humbly with his God.
There is a story of King David which shows that he had an understanding of the balance between his status as a king, and humility. In 2Samuel 16:5 David is accosted by an aggressive person called Shimei. This man cursed David as he rode along, and threw stones at him, from a hillside opposite him, accusing him of being a man of blood, a murderer. David's companions, who were riding on his right and on his left hand side, wanted to take off Shimei's head, saying - 'why should this dead dog curse the king?'. But David showed a Godly restraint and humility and replied to his men along the lines of: 'If God has sent this man to tell me what I'm really like, then I cannot destroy him for that, and on the other hand, if God has not sent him, then God will deal with the matter and even repay me good for this cursing of me today.' 

When we can have faith that humbly accepts that God is at work to show himself just and faithful and merciful on our behalf we find his grace to surrender the power of justice and judgment into his hands. We are mistaken to think that God could never be that generous with his amazing grace to actually bring perfect justice to bear for us. It takes a certain kind of humility to accept it, and not make it all about us and what we deserve. If we can receive that grace we can then live in peace and bring peace into our world.

Episode 2 Commandment 1 - Putting God First

 

FIRST COMMANDMENT – Putting God First. 

Paul O’Sullivan – Go to http://uncreated.podbean.com/  to view complete series

Is it logical to say that if people would have obeyed the First Commandment there would be no need for any other Commandments?

 

This commandment is actually the be-all and end-all of the commandments. It tells us that we should look to no other person or thing than God Himself for our ultimate meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.

 

Are the Ten Commandments actually a Biblical course in character growth?

 

the first commandment begins a logical sequence of challenges to faith and obedience that produce a process of spiritual and emotional growth to maturity.  The next commandment, which deals with the making of images, only becomes relevant when a person has not remained dependent upon God as the source and means and end of his life, and so builds for himself or looks to some other source, or finds some other means of strength that becomes a 'god' to him.

 

How does emotional pain and abuse affect a person’s ability to accept support and comfort?

 

God had to release Israel from bondage before He could give them the commandments. He knew that the bondage had caused bitterness in their souls by reason of their cruel taskmasters in Egypt, and His loving response to them was one of compassion.

God told Moses to tell them of His promises for them, but they were unable to respond. God's most formidable task was to convince them of His love for them, let alone transform them.

 

Why do people resist putting God first in their lives?

 

We can only be transformed when we see the need for that change of heart and mind, and many people do not realise how much they need to be changed, and so they resist it.

 

 

 

 

The Kingdom Within

THE KINGDOM WITHIN   Paul OSullivan    spiritcode.podbean.com
When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested by the temple guards, he was then tried by the Jewish High Priest and the council of elders and then handed over to Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor of Judea. When Pilate questioned Jesus about being King of the Jews he asked him why he had been tried by his own people and why they had brought him to a Roman Governor for trial. He asked Jesus what he had done, and why was he claiming he was their king.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting for me and not allowing me to even be put on trial. But my kingdom is not of this world.”- John 18:36

Jesus did not ever urge his disciples to protest against Roman authority or consider any hostility towards Roman rule, even though that is what they expected would happen, They were all convinced that the Kingdom would be an outward Kingdom ruled over by Jesus, and that the Roman Empire would be overthrown and that they would rule alongside of him with great power and authority.
But Jesus did not come to try and change the outward kingdom in which his disciples lived; he came to establish the kingdom that would live within them. 

In Matthew 20:20 There was an occasion when Jesus was teaching his disciples principles of the Kingdom of Heaven when the mother of James and John, a woman well known for her religious zeal came before him to ask a request of him. She knelt down, facing Jesus, with her two sons standing behind her. She said she had a favour to ask of him concerning her two sons. She asked if Jesus would give them a special place in his kingdom, to be seated next to him, one on his right hand and one on his left. 
There was a stunned silence and then irate sounds and heated words were hurled at the two sons from the rest of the disciples, and then even at one another, as it became clear that they were all coveting some special position themselves.
Jesus knew he had a difficult situation on his hands, so he addressed the mother first.
“You don’t know what you are asking for. It cannot be done that way.” Then Jesus addressed the men. He told them that what they were all wanting for themselves was not even his to give. He said that Father had given them all to him, and that Father alone gives place and position as he sees fit. He said that if they were to follow him then they must follow all the way. He told them that he had a cup of pain and sorrow that he must drink, and an ordeal of suffering that he must go through. He asked them if they were able to share that with him, instead of some position of importance that they thought they deserved.
They were all sobered by the rebuke, and surprised at the meanness that they had witnessed in their own hearts. Jesus went on to say that they could not behave like the Roman rulers, or their own religious leaders, who use their authority and positions of power to dominate others to get what they want out of them. He told them that true authority was serving one another, not competing with one another, and that he had been sent to serve, not to be served, and to lay down his life for others. 
That day they learned a lot about God and a lot about themselves. 
And it was obvious that they had been secretly coveting and competing for a special place in the order of this new earthly Kingdom that would be happening any time soon.

Jesus had to correct their tendency towards the power plays of political activism, some of them more than others. Peter would not be slow in lopping off the ear of the temple guard when Jesus was being arrested on the night he was betrayed by Judas, and Judas was the most zealous political activist of all who was bitterly disappointed when he realised that that Jesus had planned no imminent earthly Kingdom. James and John were also quite happy to hurl some fire from Heaven against the rejection shown to them once by the Samaritans, their political and religious opponents (Luke 9:54).

Many Christians today have a similar Christian activist mindset to that of those disciples. Jesus had to correct his disciples and prepare their hearts and minds to live in the power of a Kingdom within them rather than seek power in an earthy kingdom around them. 

The power of the Kingdom of God within is the power of God’s love, and it is that love that created us and that sent Jesus to die for us, and it is that love that was sent at Pentecost into our hearts through The Holy Spirit who releases that same love out to others. 
When we live that love out in caring and practical ways is what it means to be a witness to Christ. A witness is not just saying words. It is in being an influence for godliness wherever we are. The word for witness in the original Greek is ‘martus’ which also means martyr, so we need to have realistic expectations about how people will respond to that influence. Our godly influence will either be accepted and honoured or we will be penalised and intimidated.

That love is what Paul encouraged Timothy to focus on so that he would not fear the intimidation of those of corrupt power and influence in the church in Ephesus who were resisting his godly ways and rejecting his faithful teaching of the Gospel. 
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the spirit of power and of love and of an ordered mind. 
Paul lived in that love that expresses the Kingdom power and that renews our minds. 
Paul started the church in Ephesus and appointed Timothy to care for the church after he left, and he had written to that church about the powerful work of the love of God in us through the Holy Spirit praying that they would ‘know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that they may be filled with all the fullness of God, giving honour to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to that power at work within us. 
Paul also wrote that ‘the love of God compelled him’ (existemi). It held him together and ordered his life (2Corinthians 5:14). 

The kingdom theme in the New Testament is part of the great cosmic battle of light over darkness, and everything in God’s plan is now according to a new order that flows from the life of God in the person of the Holy Spirit, who is changing us into the likeness of Jesus. That new order of the Kingdom love of God is influencing everything in our world around us and many will respond and embrace the message of the love and light of God, but many will reject it and continue in darkness despite ongoing global shakings and afflictions (Revelation 9:21 tells us that many harden their hearts and will not repent).

So we cannot achieve a perfected earthly kingdom on this earth in this age where every kind of corrupted kingdom authority will fight to maintain its flawed and limited power base. It cannot be perfected until Jesus returns from Heaven to rule and reign, and puts down all rebellion in the earth and in the heavens. And at that time it will come to pass; ‘that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9).
We finally take our place with him in that new Kingdom.
Until that time of his return, we live in an age where every kingdom on earth is being shaken. The only Kingdom that cannot be shaken is the Kingdom of God that dwells within us. We read that in Hebrews 12:28 … This means that all of creation will be shaken, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we have received a Kingdom that can never be shaken, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

It is good for us to live in this this reality in our soul, our mind and emotions and will. It is the reality of the inner kingdom that can never be overcome, but finally overcomes all others. 
Our life and peace and refuge are found within our faith and trust in God’s love, as we identify as his bride being made ready for him, in purity of heart and faithfulness to his love and protective covering over us. Where he is we are, and where he goes, we go.

 

 

Yielded prayer

YIELDED PRAYER

Our acceptance and patience and trust in God as our Father in times of adversity is the measure of our growth in faith. We do not grow in faith if we think faith is getting what we want simply because we pray for it and think it should happen. 

God allows contrary and painful circumstances to confront us. These things challenge our trust and faith in him as a good and loving Father who wants the best for us. 
Our response needs to be to believe that his motive is to do us good and bring us closer to his heart. 

The examples of faith in the lives of the gallery of heroes from chapter 11 such as Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Moses reveal how they accepted and embraced the circumstances of their lives, believing that God was at work in the unseen world, doing his will through them, and they left the results to God.

Hebrews 11:39 And all of these, though they won divine approval by means of their faith, did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised,
Hebrews 12:1. The faith lives of this gallery of heroes are set before us as a witness of what is meant by yielded faith. We can now throw off the attitude of being weighed down by our problems, and the individual failures and flaws of our human nature. Let us now run the race set before us with a well-timed and measured pace 

Paul writes to the Hebrew Christians who are going through times of affliction and persecution because of their faith and he encourages them to not give up. 

Even when our circumstances are adverse and difficult, our inner life of faith can fill our hearts with hope because it is surrendered to God’s will and is not fixed on demanding a self-determined desire of the soul. Our hope is in the fact that God is working out his perfect plan. He doesn’t need a perfect prayer, just a yielded prayer and a joyful expectation. We always end up enjoying his answers to our prayers rather than our own idea of what we wanted.

Hebrews 12:2. We can keep Jesus in our sights, the one who initiates and completes our faith life. He kept in his sights the joy and happiness that awaited him as he set himself to persevere the ordeal of the cross. He shrugged off the scorn that people threw at him, and finally took his place at the right hand of the throne of God
3. Just think of that barrage of self-centered and evil attitudes that he had opposing him. Compare this to what you are going through before you decide to give up because it is all too hard.
4. You have not yet had to battle against evil to the extent that your life-blood is drained out of your body.
11. This kind of faith challenge does not seems like fun and games at the time; it is painful. But when you go through the pain of it you do end up with the gain of it. You end up experiencing a peaceful harmony with God and with your own soul.

Even when the circumstances are favourable, we can let our faith life down because we can negatively perceive them as not favourable enough. That kind of ungrateful mindset can be destructive and disappointing to our soul and foster a negative perception of God, which is a wrong realty that says that God doesn’t really love me, that I’m a victim, or life is unfair. The Bible tells us to give God thanks in ALL things because that brings us into alignment with his true heart of goodness toward us. We then experience a release of his transforming power toward us, and as we change, our world changes around us, because God is at work releasing his supernatural power that reorders everything in our world into a better place.

So is there a model of the perfectly yielded prayer in the scriptures that can guide us in this? 
YES!

Romans 8:25 …The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought (which is a necessary thing), but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He (Jesus) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He (Jesus, see vs.30) makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together, (fitting in to a plan) for good to those who love God, to those who are the called (invited) to be aligned with His plan and purpose

This verse tells us that we don’t know what we should pray for. It does not say we don’t know how  to pray – we know that – it is praying to the Father through Jesus (in his name). It is the what that counts as that is necessary for the prayer to be perfect as being in God’s will. We may hardly ever know in our own mind and soul what God’s will truly is, except we sincerely know what we would like it to be.

So the Holy Spirit helps us in this weakness and limitation of ours and he makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Why would Holy Spirt be groaning? Is he struggling about something going on within us?
Yes he is. This very chapter eight in Romans has a great deal to say about the inner struggle of God’s Spirit within each of us as to what is of the soul and what is of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5 For they that are exercising their soulish self (flesh) the flesh are mindful of the things of the soulish self; but they that are exercised in their spiritual being are mindful of the things of the Spirit.
It is at his point that Jesus enters the picture and takes the prayer baton handed to him by Holy Spirit… . Now He (Jesus) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He (Jesus, see vs.30) makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Why would Jesus know the mind of the Spirit who is struggling within us concerning this very thing?
Because this is how Jesus operated in partnership with Holy Spirit in his prayer life on earth, as he would only do what his Father directed him to do. Jesus knows the mind of the spirit and he also knows our human soulish mind o he identifies with us in his humanity, having been tempted in all things like us but without sin. That is why he cried out to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane ‘Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless let not my will but yours be done.’
So we can be assured that this second phase of intercession for us in our prayer, which comes through Jesus will be answered according to father’s plan and purpose for us (Romans 8:34 Jesus is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us…)
It is then that our world changes around us, because God is at work releasing his supernatural power that reorders everything in our world into a better place. 
Vs.28 And we know that all things work together, (fitting in to a plan) for good to those who love God, to those who are the called (invited) to be aligned with His plan and purpose

There are five things that you will find good to bring to remembrance at the start of each day. 

1. Remember that Jesus is still the same.  He never change, even if yesterday everything around you changed. 
2. Remember that his love for you is an everlasting love, and the reason you exist is because he wants to share his love with you today. That is his greatest desire.
3. Remember that he can do all things, and that nothing is impossible for him, who created you, and the Universe, just for you. 
4. Remember that he only wants the best for you, and he will surprise you with his goodness. 
5. Tell him you will not worry or be anxious today, for there is no need for that – he will make life work out for you if you let him.

And here are the Scriptures for those things

1. Hebrews 13:8 ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.’ (TLB)
2. Jeremiah 31:3 ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you to me.’ (NKJ)
3. Luke 18:27 ‘“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”(NKJ)
4. Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the thoughts I have towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ (NKJ)
5. Philippians 4:6 ‘Don’t worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a grateful heart (Good News Bible)
 

 

 

 

 

Citizens of Heaven

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN
When Paul wrote to the church in Philippi they had been living under Roman rule for a couple of generations. They had a proud cultural and philosophical heritage and a fierce sense of citizenship going back to the first Greek culture in Athens five centuries before which was the first ever democracy, and all the citizens of Athens had the opportunity to vote. They had a proud cultural and philosophical heritage that aspired for excellence in diverse areas of life. The two prominent ideological philosophies were the Stoics and the Epicureans.  The Stoics cared about virtuous behaviour and living according to principles of discipline, while Epicureans were connoisseurs of good food and good wine and cared about avoiding pain and seeking comfort and pleasure.

Philippi was the most significant Roman colony in Europe, the gateway city that joined Europe to the Middle East, and it was the first European city where Paul preached the gospel and established a church. It was also the place where in March 44bc the senators of Rome under Brutus and Cassius assassinated Julius Caesar to try and preserve the Roman Republic. They killed Caesar but the new idea of a republic also died and went nowhere. It has been called ‘The suicide of a Republic’. Paul was a Greek scholar and understood their philosophy and culture and their politics and he was mindful of the importance of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship, being himself a Roman citizen.
He had heard that dissension had come amongst the church at Philippi and he writes to them to appeal to their better selves to live at one with each other. So when he writes to them he focusses on the whole citizenship issue and powerfully points them to their ultimate Citizenship, their newly won Citizenship of Heaven. 

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, Our way of life reflects the atmosphere of heaven, where we live in constant hope and expectation of the supernatural redeeming work of Jesus, 21. Who will finally take our weak mortality and change it to be like his mighty immortality, using the power that only he has, to subdue all things to himself. Philippians 4: 8. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things

‘These things’ that we are asked to meditate upon are down to earth qualities of intentional behavioural and attitudinal conduct, within the capacity of every human being made in God’s image. Paul knew that the Philippians esteemed these qualities as a mark of being an exemplary Greek Citizen also, so he was urging them to acknowledge and appreciate the potential of these qualities in one another, and be inspired to want to live them for themselves, not just as part of their Greek heritage but as spiritually transformed Citizens of Heaven. 
In his letter to them Paul encourages the Philippians to consider one another in this way. He urges two of them who were his helpers in his ministry when he was there to patch up their differences and start to agree with each other. In another place he says; if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. (Philippians 2:2)
 
Meditate – logizomai – focus the mind – allow the meaning of each one of these words means not just a definition of the word but the personal meaning us, to be imprinted on our soul.

True/truth  – alethes - The basic reality that defines you. Certain limiting life conditions may be true circumstantially but they are not the real truth of the inward person of the heart (Joni Erikson free and not trapped). There can also be distorted negative personal thoughts about ourselves and our circumstances through things that other people have emotionally put upon us in our vulnerability, that are not the truth of who we are, and these can create in our soul a painful and severely limited sense of who we really are. But the truth of who we are in Christ is there in our spiritual DNA – we just have to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the reality of that true self that abides in the Father’s unconditional love.

Noble - semnos – character. Noble – That is our character, he highest values that characterize us and what we aspire to – yes that’s me, that is what I set for myself. Meditate on these things, what do we give ourselves to. And that will draw us into being the best we hope to be. Nobility is true stature, inward stature.
The virtue of this kind of nobility is that in itself it is a far more effective influence of what you would like people to hear and understand and perhaps agree with you on. It’s better than just pushing strong opinions in an argument till you win an argument. People in politics who want more power and influence often scrap and fight and disparage one another, but nobility outclasses this kind of one-upmanship and ranks number one as the most persuasive and convincing influence of all. 

Just - dikaios – Balanced like the scales of justice – justice and mercy. It results in what is upright and fair. Those who practice this are counted as being trustworthy to judge fairly, not putting a spin on things for one’s own advantage because of some kind of prejudice, and not fearing injustice, but knowing that it is God who finally justifies. Jesus knew where true justice was, in the hands of his Father
1 Peter 2.23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of a just God. 

Pure - hagnos- innocent motivation.  What awakens a child like wonder and even awe of good things the beauty of the creation around us. The Bible says ‘blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God…’ This awakens an innocence and purity in us that cleanses our souls. It brings a childlike acceptance of life that doesn’t mind not knowing everything, or not being in control of everything. It is not naiveite but a simplicity that is not dominated by other peoples’ opinions as strong as they might be.
PSALM 131 God, I'm not trying to rule the roost, I don't want to be king of the mountain.
I haven't meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans.
I've kept my feet on the ground, I've cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother's arms. Wait Israel, for God. 
We can live like that as a way of being, expecting God’s goodness to bless an innocent motivation from a pure heart.

Lovely (prosphiles)– To move towards and friendship. What creates a friendly atmosphere. What brings about a warm attachment, a sense of an attractive atmosphere that draws someone closer rather than make them feel unwelcome. It could be the kind of words that uo say or the tone of voice or a kindly look upon the face. What draws someone into the circle of your life in an appropriate and fitting way.

Good report – euphemos (eu=good, phemos=shines forth) - What is positive and worth sharing – the good report. The can-do attitude.

A good report and a bad report can have the same facts but a different can-do attitude. The facts of the matter concerning Israel’s decision to not enter the promised land at Kadesh Barnea when they were a few weeks into their exodus from Egypt, and God told them to enter in resulted in a bad report and a good report, a can’t do and a can do attitude. Moses sent twelve spies in to give the people a report of the land they all agreed that it was a delightful and magnificent looking countryside, there was an abundant produce of grapes and fruit that they all carried back and showed the others, and that the land flowed with milk and honey and one more thing, there were giants in the land. Ten of the spies emphasized the giants in the land and said “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land. But Joshua and Caleb said “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” 
Think of how you come across and meditate upon this. Take up the challenge of what God would have you do that is facing you. Through him you can do all those things. It is then really God that does the work, and that is a work of faith.

Virtue – aretes. The good decisions that create good character - Good values create good decisions and these make good habits and these create good character. We can have good intentions but to have virtue we have to follow through and make good decisions. Find the wisdom, have the intention, find the motivation then follow through with decisive action – that is virtue and that too is a work of faith.

Praiseworthy – epainos - Anything worthy of God’s commendation, not just impressive in the eyes of man. We are doing these good things for God – It is through and for him and of him.
It is God that then says well done good and faithful servant! 

These are what you meditate upon. That is what heals the emotional pain that the soul suffers, especially when the moral and ethical climate of attitudes and behavior in society degenerates into people disparaging and belittling each other and putting one another down and fomenting resentment and revenge in hurtful angry speech. This seems to be the age in which we are live right now. Have these virtues disappeared in our society? No they are there, sown into our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit, even breathed into humanity from the beginning, but it just means that they have to be sought for from within ourselves

Change does not come quickly – There must be patient steady effort. This transformation means sitting with the pain of life in God’s presence and allowing him to subdue the negative self consciousness and hopelessness, and awaken our positive God consciousness and be made whole. That becomes our reality.

Meditation on these things allows a transformation into our truer self as God pouring himself into our spiritual povertywith his richness of being. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’. 

We can learn to make our own hearts a place of peace and integrity. We can let our own pain and suffering be healed and become part of his healing wherever we are. The Bible shows us how to do this. It is nothing new, but it cannot be neglected. 
What we can do is give up all hope of a better past, that’s gone, and take hold of a new hope that opens up a better future.

 

Extraordinary Gifts

After their meeting with Herod the Wise Men followed the star which remained bright in the sky and were guided to the house where Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus were still staying. When the men were invited to see the child they went down on their knees and worshipped him. They then presented him with gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These peculiar gifts have a spiritual message for us today who understand what it means to live a life shared with God. Gold speaks to us of the nature of God. Frankincense speaks to us of prayer and worship. Myrrh speaks to us of the suffering of grief and loss.

For Jesus these were not just fancy Christmas presents to be put away as keepsakes and forgotten about. Rather, these were for Jesus, symbols of the realities of an ever present consciousness of sharing his life with an ever-present God every level of experience. We will take the gifts one by one and apply them to how to live an every-day life in the conscious awareness of sharing life with God.

GOLD  Gold speaks to us of the nature of God on display in a human life. Why? In the hierarchy of the attributes of grandeur and majesty and radiance of material things in the earth gold is ranked number one. In the same hierarchy of attributes of a heavenly being worthy of worship and awe and respect there is the idea of a god. The bible says that people who make idols makes them out of gold and silver (Psalm 115) with gold as the first choice. When the people of Israel came out of slavery in Egypt and began their trek though the wilderness they came to Mount Sinai and Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments from God and was up there for six weeks, a very long time. They became impatient and worried that if Moses had gone then maybe his God was gone too. They wanted a god they could visibly relate to so they made a golden calf, their chief idol deity of Egypt and began to worship it. It was a wooden calf plated with gold. For that they were severely judged and punished by God. Then some weeks later God commanded Moses to make a tabernacle, a tent of worship where he people would gather daily and worship and make sacrifices. The central item of worship was the ark of the Covenant to represent the presence of the living God that was with them. 

Exodus 25:10 … Make an ark of acacia wood… and overlay it with pure gold, inside and out…

This ark travelled with them on their wilderness journey and was carried on the shoulders the priests with poles, made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. This was not a wooden calf covered with gold, it was a piece of acacia wood, a gnarled and twisted species of timber, difficult to work, and overlaid with pure gold. The acacia wood represents the distorted nature of humanity, grown out of the soil, and overlaid with the glorious nature of God, speaking of their defects and failings mercifully forgiven and covered with the perfect and unflawed nature of God – God with us. He gave them something to see with their own eyes, but this was a shadow of things to come, and prophetically signifies Jesus, who took our distorted human nature becoming one of us and yet displaying the radiant and glorious nature of God. He became the fulfillment of what Israel had been seeing as the ark for all that time. This remained a mystery until Jesus came.

It says in Colossians 2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.  And Jesus said ‘if you have seen me you have seen the Father’. Jesus knew this gift of gold as an ongoing reality in his life. This also is prophetic of what God had in store for us, after Jesus died and rose again and sent the Holy Spirit to join us as one Spirit with him. So in the New Testament we are the twisted acacia wood on the outside and Jesus is the pure gold that dwells within us, so how do we get to be the gold on the outside, as Jesus was In the New Testament? The Holy Spirit draws that radiant nature of God through us so that as we live closer and closer with God in your heart that nature will start to shine on the outside, even though we still have that old dead acacia wood there but we choose to let Jesus do the living within us and the shining through us… we live by faith (It is no longer I that live…).  The gold appears through the trials of our faith. God is looking at us as the finished product, and we are the potential of what we can be, and what we shall be, through our growth in faith 1Peter 1:7 The tested genuineness of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire… (also 1Peter 4:12 – the fiery trials)

INCENSE - Prayer  We see in the Bible that Incense speaks of worship and prayer. Psalm 141.1 O Lord, I call upon you. Accept my prayer as incense offered to you… Frankincense has a sweet perfumed aroma and speaks to us of sweet prayer ascending from a true heart and pleasant to God.  Revelation 8:4 The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s people ascended up to God from the altar. Incense was an offering, a sacrifice to God, so prayer is actually an act of giving towards God rather than an act of taking from him. True prayer to God comes from a surrendered heart. What we offer as a sacrifice is our yielded will to God – not my will but your will be done.

This is a sweet aroma to God. God wants us to bring our prayer requests to him, with thanksgiving but with a yielded heart. This releases the faith in us that knows with assurance that God is powerfully working all things together for his good will to be done and gratefully received in our lives.  MYRRH –

The presence of God restoring lost hope because of grief and loss in our lives.  Myrrh is symbolic of death and of grief and of loss. We see in the Scripture that Jesus was offered myrrh mixed with wine when he was on the cross but he refused to drink it.  Mark 15:23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh… He knew he was going to die and that myrrh was symbolic of his death but for the joy that was set before him he endured the suffering of the cross, so he rejected the symbol of death and his heart of faith and hope was his resurrection. Accepting the reality of suffering and loss has meaning for our life when we know that God suffers with us and his presence through the Holy Spirit restores lost hope that comes through our grief and loss. We don’t always get back the very things that we have lost. What we have really lost is hope – we cannot live without hope.. The grief that all the followers and friends and family of Jesus suffered when he died on the cross was almost inconsolable. But that inconsolable grief turned into the most resounding of victorious joy at his resurrection. So the greatest human tragedy became the greatest human and divine celebration. The greatest paradox of all time.

Somewhere in between his unparalleled experience of grief and death and his exuberant joy and resurrection is the story of our life of griefs and sorrows and lost hope that can become the story of the restoration of new life and new hope and a new future. Jesus was buried, and his body anointed with myrrh (John 19), and included in his burial was all of our sin and failure and fear, all of our griefs and loss. He suffered and died and was buried for all of our disappointments and resentments and bitterness, all of our doom and gloom and depression. He wants to teach us how to bury these things and as we let them go that becomes his precious gift of myrrh to our lives. The continual burial of all of these things in our lives waits for the continual command of ‘arise’ and go forward in a new and risen life.  This is our powerful pathway of growth designed by God to give us a future and a hope that cannot be extinguished.

God wants to grow us as well as to console us.

Isaiah 61:3 To console those who mourn; To give us a crown of beauty upon our heads instead of ashes upon our heads, the oil of joy for mourning, and the spirit of praise for the spirit of heaviness…

He wants us to appreciate and to share with him in the treasure of all these precious gifts, the gold, the incense and the myrrh.

The Ten Commandments Episode 1 Overview

Relationship is the key value in the whole theme of the commandments, because God wants us to be fulfilled in life through relationships, both with Himself, and with one another. We find then that the first four commandments deal with our relationship with God, and that the next six deal with our relationships with one another. That is why the New Covenant had a promise that the law would be written in our hearts by The Holy Spirit, a person, who can indwell us and make alive the spirit of the law, and the standards of God's wisdom for our relationships. This can now be done on the powerful basis of love and grace, instead of legalism.

God has designed the Commandments as a sequence of steps where success in any one commandment leads to an understanding of the next. Obedience to the first commandment gives understanding of the second commandment, and in the same way, failure in say, the sixth commandment means a lack of understanding in the fifth. The fifth commandment says ‘Honour your father and your mother’, and the sixth says ‘You shall not kill’. So how are these related?

If we look at the personal relationships Involved, we see that commandment number five, honouring our parents, speaks about the very first relationship we experience as human beings, a relationships with authority. In this relationship we are being taught, in a very natural way, to trust another person for the needs in our life. In a perfect world, with perfect people this trust would grow and grow, but we don't live in a perfect world. Have you ever seen children get angry? That is because they’re frustrated at not getting what they want, even from parents that they trust and that loves them, and so we all fail in the fifth Commandment.

The reason that this relates to the sixth commandment is found in the statement that Jesus made in the sermon on the mount, when He said 'In the law it says thou shalt not kill, but I say unto you, be not angry with your brother without cause. Put in simple terms - anger kills. Anger kills relationships and it kills people. So by experiencing frustrations in not getting our own way as children in an imperfect world under the authority of imperfect parents, we carry this mistrust and independence into our lateral relationships and display the anger, moodiness or aggression, which kill relationships, and so we fail in the sixth Commandment. 

Here we see another Divine design. That is, that the growth pattern of the ten commandments is not like going up a stairway, it is a circular spiral that takes us all the way around to commandment number ten, and then leads us right onto commandment number one again. In a positive sense, that upward path is an upward spiral, and spiritual growth is taking place. This growth will always take place if a person is willing to honestly admit where they are failing and go back one step and correct the response to the previous commandment, and then leap forward in revelation and faith. And of course the downward path is in fact a downward spira.l 

The evidence of the circular nature of the progression of the commandments is seen graphically when we get to commandment number ten and find that the next progression is to commandment number one.
This can be explained by the fact that the nature of the problem in commandment number ten, which is the commandment against covetousness, is that of idolatry and discontent. Those persons who are not content with what they have, live their lives out of coveting what someone else has, and so, the source of their fulfilment is what others have. This is a form of idolatry and is called such in the Bible (Colossians. 3:5). And there we have the circle completed. The answer to this covetousness and idolatry of course, is found in commandment number one, where we acknowledge God alone as our fulfilment. This is why commandment number ten, and commandment number two (on either side of commandment number one), both deal with idolatry.

At any point of failure at some level of experience, we need to go back to the previous commandment, and let The Holy Spirit reveal truth to us in this way.. This also affords a most effective chart of diagnosis for the serious counsellor who wants to see a life transformed by the truth and power of The Holy Spirit

 

An era of peace

AN ERA OF PEACE 
A prophet called Micah made an amazing prophecy that foretold the birthplace of Jesus over seven hundred years before Jesus was born. This verse also tells us that he would be our peace.

Micah 5:2. "O Bethlehem, you are but a small Judean village, yet you will be the birthplace of my King who is alive from everlasting ages past!" God will allow the conflict and disorder to remain until she who is to give birth has her son. And he shall feed his flock in the strength of the Lord… and he will be greatly honoured throughout the world. 
He will be our Peace.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph had to bring Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated. The prescribed time for dedication and purification was forty days according to Jewish Law. 
A man named Simeon was also in the Temple, The Holy Spirit having prompted him to go to the Temple that day. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen Jesus, God's anointed King, which was Simeon’s lifelong prayer, forever waiting and expecting the Messiah to come soon. And so when Mary and Joseph arrived to present the baby Jesus to the Lord in obedience to the law, The Spirit bore witness to Simeon that his prayer had been answered, and he greeted them, taking the child in his arms and began praising God.
‘Lord’ he said, I have seen him as you promised me I would. I have seen the Saviour you have given to the world. He is the Light that will shine upon the nations, and he will be the glory of your people Israel! now I can die in peace. (Luke 2:29)
On that day this prophetic man Simeon took his place in entering the era of peace that had come upon all of humanity. 

Joseph and Mary just stood there, marvelling at what was being said about Jesus.
Then Simeon blessed them all and said to Mary about her son Jesus;
‘This one is assigned for the fall and rise of many in Israel and as a sign that will be opposed and denied by multitudes in all the earth, so that the thoughts of their hearts might be revealed. 
This momentous prophesy declares Jesus as the one who stands at the centre of the scales of every life. This challenges us to either respond to or reject the truth of his virgin birth, his life, death and resurrection. This truth is the challenge that provokes opposition and denial in the human heart, where all of our inner conflicts between light and darkness are deliberated and judged, bringing every human heart into account. 

Jesus now stands in the middle of every decision we make, to give us his wisdom and truth. This is ours if we let him into our heart - and it is on offer for all of mankind. But who wants it?

A woman named Anna was also there in the Temple that day, a prophetess of the Jewish tribe of Asher, and was eighty four years old. She lived a cloistered life in the Temple, dwelling there night and day, worshiping God in praying and often fasting.
She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and The Spirit also bore witness to her that this was the promised Saviour and that the Messiah had finally arrived. She began thanking God and proclaiming this truth to everyone in Jerusalem.
She too had now entered that era of peace that had come upon the world.
The word for peace in the bible is Eirene. This word actually means ‘oneness’ which in its fullest sense means oneness and harmony with God. That is why we say ‘He is our peace’

Meanwhile, a group of highly esteemed Wise Men called Magi set out from Babylon in the East. Babylon was the first civilization in the East to study and interpret the movement of the stars and planets as far back as 700 BC. Planets in those times were also referred to as stars and sometimes as wandering stars. There were many such Magi, astrologers and astronomers who served the kings of Babylon. These men also knew the writings of the Jewish scrolls, and would have had knowledge of the prophesies concerning the Messiah and the predicted whereabouts of his birth. This was because of the influence of the Jewish religion during the seventy years internment of Israel in Babylon, where there was a cross assimilation of both cultures, and the impact of such an inspirational prophetic hero as Daniel 
They would have also studied any unusual or momentous activity of a night star in the heavens, as this was often interpreted by astrologers to be the sign of the birth of a great ruler. 
These Wise Men would have been observing the charts of the heavens and calculated the timing of a convergence of two great planets that would have shone as an exceedingly bright star for some weeks in the eastern night sky, and which would have shone at its brightest as that great light that shone at the birth of Jesus. 

They had followed this great light to the region of the special birth and had been asking questions around Jerusalem. They were asking about the birth of the new king of Israel and his whereabouts, and their presence in the city and the line of questioning and discussion they were having with the local people came to the ears of the local ruler, Herod. 

Herod had been appointed by Caesar Augustus to oversee several local regions, including the region of Jerusalem. Herod was a local tribal king who acted as an intermediary to Caesar, and he worked with the proconsuls and the military leadership. He had become extremely agitated about the news of this supposed special child whose birth had been predicted, and he was threatened by it. He heard that Israel had a record in their Scriptures of such an event heralding the birth of a Messiah or a new king to rule over them. It was rumoured that this special child would begin a new kingdom in the earth, and Herod did not quite know what this meant, but he didn’t want that sort of competition. He had his own dynasty to create.

Driven by his urgency to know all that he could about this child, he called for a conference with the priests and leaders and pressed them concerning the predicted time and place of this special birth. Certain scribes and teachers knew from the Scriptures the Bethlehem region of the child’s birth, as we first read in Micah 5:2, and   that a great star would appear at that time. Armed with this knowledge Herod secretly summonsed the Wise Men to his palace and told them the whereabouts of the region where they might find news of the child. He asked them to come back and inform him of the child’s exact location, telling them that he too wanted to worship this new king. Afterwards he congratulated himself. They were no match for his cunning and had promised to report back to him. All he needed to know was where to send his garrison of soldiers so that the child could be killed.

After their meeting with Herod the Wise Men followed the star which remained bright in the sky, and were guided to the house where Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus were still staying. When the men were invited to see the child they went down on their knees and worshipped him. They then presented him with gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
These peculiar gifts have a spiritual message for us today who understand what it means to live a life shared with God.
Gold speaks to us of the nature of God on display in a human life. 
Frankincense speaks to us of sweet prayer ascending from a true heart. 
Myrrh speaks to us of accepting the necessary reality of suffering, and its meaning for our life, because without that there is no spiritual growth.

That same night Gabriel gave a message to the Wise Men in a dream warning them not to report back to Herod, so the men departed and returned to their homeland another way. After their departure the Angel also appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, and to stay there until he brought further word. He warned him that Herod was seeking the young child to destroy him, so Joseph took Mary and the young child and departed for Egypt that night. 

Then Herod, when he realized that he had been out-manoeuvred by the wise men, became infuriated and he commanded a garrison of soldiers to go out and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding districts, from two years old and under. This tragic event was prophesied by Jeremiah; ‘In Rama a voice of weeping was heard and lamentation and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, unable to be comforted because of her loss. (Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:18)

Herod died soon after this, and Gabriel spoke to Joseph in another dream that it was now safe to leave Egypt, fulfilling another prophecy which was spoken through the prophet Hosea; ‘Out of Egypt I called My Son’ (Hosea 11:1). 

However when Joseph learned that the son of Herod, who now ruled in his father’s place, was as treacherous and murderous as his father, he was afraid to go back to the area, but Gabriel appeared to Joseph again in a dream and told him to go to a quiet lakeside village in Galilee where they would be safe. So they came and settled in a city called Nazareth, and yet another prophesy was fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene’ (Matthew 2:23). They settled there as a family for many years, where Jesus grew from a child into an adult. 

During this growing up time in the life of Jesus there is an account of one special incident when Jesus was twelve years old. His parents took him to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, which they did every year. The feast was always very crowded and lasted for seven full days and there was a lot of activity and celebration of Israel’s exodus out of Egypt, and they travelled to and from the feast in a caravan of hundreds of people, pitching tents and camping on the journey. 
When they were on the journey home, and one day out from Jerusalem Mary and Joseph noticed that they had not seen Jesus for the whole day, and they supposed that he was mingling with relatives and friends in the crowd, but when they asked around it was clear that he was not with the caravan, and when they couldn't find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him. It was only after three days of searching and making inquiries that they finally found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers of the Law, discussing deep questions with them and astounding everyone with the depth of his questions and the wisdom of his answers. However his parents were perplexed, not knowing what to think, and his mother asked him in her distress why he had done that to them. Mary told him that she and his father had been frantic, searching for him everywhere.

Jesus asked them why they felt they had to search for him and why they didn’t realize that he would be here in his Father’s house, sharing in his Father’s work. But they didn't understand what he meant. It could have appeared to be insubordination, which was puzzling and very uncharacteristic of him, to not respect his sonship in their family.

But Jesus had not betrayed his sonship. In fact he had had no intention of dishonouring either of his sonships, either to his earthly family or his heavenly Father. Here, however, in the encounter with his distressed parents, this maturing child was wisely coming to grips with the complexity of the relationship between his identity as Son of God and as a son in the family of Joseph. He did this for us too, as with everything else he did for us, knowing we would grapple with this earthly and heavenly fatherhood quandary in our own lives, and would graciously come be made whole in God the Father’s unconditional love. 
So he went home with them and was subject to them. Jesus continued to grow in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and was admired and respected by all the people in that place. 

Through the birth of this child divine life had been embedded into human life. This had never happened before, this new form of life, God and man together, a new creation. Because of this new creation a new connection between man and God would be possible. Through what this man would accomplish in his short journey in the earth, the bond of oneness (peace) which he would experience with his Heavenly Father would become available to all of us, to grow and mature together as sons and daughters in his family.