Spiritcode

God with us

GOD WITH US
The appointed time finally came to heal the earth. It was twisted and torn and it could not heal itself. There were many religions apart from Judaism, and all the rituals, the pomp and ceremony, had only allowed that gap between God and man to remain. God was about to give humanity the perfect answer, not a religion, but Himself. The Divine Being, Jesus God, was to make his transition from eternity into time, from heaven to earth, from pure Spirit existence to human flesh existence.

Father had always planned that a new species was to be born into the earth. He had planned for his son to begin this new species of being, a Spirit species, a Spiritual species in the earth. Humanity has been known as ‘Homo Sapiens’ (Mankind +knowledge) – one who has knowledge and knows. But I believe that this new species that came into being at this time is ‘homo Divinicus’ (Mankind +God) – God with us.
Now was the time for Jesus to go to earth as The Father’s Son, to become the pain of what human life had become, and to walk the path of its sorrow and its lost hope, and to lift human life into a place of shared friendship with The Three in One. Jesus knew and had agreed before the beginning of time that this was to be the plan. He knew that it was the only way for the love of God to be known by humanity. Jesus knew that he would become the expression of that love in the most perfect way.
Holy Spirit was to become a partner with Jesus in the completion of this glorious plan. It was not just Jesus God who would inhabit the earth, but Holy Spirit would also become a person of this planet by sharing every moment of life with Jesus, and in that way, he too would experience human life.

Father would send a divine seed of life from heaven, and He had chosen a young woman called Mary to receive that seed, which was to contain the full genetic potency of their love and goodness and truth. He sent an angel to announce this amazing news to Mary.
Gabriel entered the place where Mary slept. She awoke startled and afraid and sat upright, staring at the heavenly being. Gabriel motioned her to be still and stood quietly in her small room.
Mary was told she had been chosen amongst all women on the earth to give birth to a child who was to be 'God the Son' and that she was to call him Jesus. She answered back that it was impossible and that she never been with a man. Gabriel told her that the birth of this Child will not have anything to do with Joseph, her betrothed, and that The Holy Spirit would shine his life over her and divine life from heaven would come alive in her womb, even though she was a virgin. He told her that this was the will of Father God, and of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit, that they had chosen her to be the mother of this special child who would be the liberator of all mankind. Mary humbly surrendered her being to the magnificent will of God.

Meanwhile Gabriel visited Joseph in a dream also and told him that Mary had been chosen by God to give birth to a son, who would be ‘God The Son’. This was to be a divine work of The Holy Spirit who would cause a holy life to ignite within her being, and that this was the fulfilment of a prophecy in the Scriptures with which Joseph was familiar ‘A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and his name will mean ‘God with us’ (Isaiah 7:14).
Joseph awoke suddenly, and faith filled his heart, and he declared loudly to himself that there would be no shame, and that Mary would become his wife immediately - they would have this wonderful child and he would care for him as his earthly father.

In due course Gabriel put it into the heart of Caesar Augustus to do a census and register every person in the known world. Everyone had to go to their place of birth to be registered, so Joseph had to take Mary back to Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David. 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 chaos 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.
Joseph and Mary were sent to the right place at the right time for the birth of Jesus, fulfilling the seven hundred year old prophesy of his birthplace.

Joseph walked beside the donkey that carried his wife. He was getting weary and the journey was tiresome for Mary and he knew he had to get his wife to the place of his family’s household and out of the cold, and the time was getting close for her to give birth. They finally arrived at the family home where they were warmly welcomed and invited inside. The dwelling complex was the usual cluster of rooms surrounding a central courtyard and it became clear to Joseph that the house was overcrowded, and that all the guestrooms were occupied. The word for guestroom in the Bible is kataluma, and this is the word for ‘Inn’, as in Luke 22:11 which states in the narrative that ‘There was no room at the Inn’. So we are not talking about two travellers trying to book into a local tavern that had already filled its quota in such a busy season. They did not have to go and look for a stable in some paddock up the road. What the story is saying is that Joseph and his wife would have to stay in the stable of the family home, downstairs, in that warm place near where the animals slept and fed. 
He saw the signs of the oncoming birth in the drawn face and the discomfort in Mary’s eyes and he settled her as quickly and gently as he could.  A mother sweated through her mother pain and a baby cried its baby cry of shock as it entered the world. The smile upon Father’s face in heaven became a laugh of joy, which was echoed by Joseph in the earth, who would now adopt the role of the child’s earthly father. Loving mother hands washed the newborn child in a water trough. 
On earth it was the natural and familiar scene of new birth. In the universe it was the most supernatural of any birth in history. It was also ordained that this birth would become the most celebrated event for all time, celebrated annually by millions upon billions down through the ages, many of whom had no idea why or what they were really celebrating.

Nearby, where shepherds were looking after their sheep upon the hills a huge shining star having reached its zenith was lighting up the entire night sky. The shepherds looked up in wonder at this light and suddenly the lights of shining angels dazzled them and they became terrified and ran and huddled together. The Angel Gabriel appeared above them, sent to tell them of the birth of Jesus. He told them not to be afraid, and that he had great and marvellous news for them, for all the world to hear. He told them that they would find a child, the newborn king of the universe, God the Saviour, wrapped in simple clothing in a nearby stable. Suddenly Gabriel was joined by a multitude of angels as the brilliant night sky resounded with their voices singing, and they listened enraptured at the magnificent words. “The glory of God is being seen in the heavens, and his love and goodness is creating a new era of peace for all mankind.” Their singing of this new creation was the magnificent sequel to their song of the first creation – ‘When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy’ (Job 38:4,7,8).
When the singing had stopped and the angels had left they were guided to the place where this extraordinary and singular event was taking place in the earth. These simple shepherds became the emissaries to the world of the birth of this king of kings, this child, and all who heard them were astounded and amazed.

A great light shone that night. The light shone upon a newborn child who would bring light into this world, to every person born into this world (John 1:9). And this light would be contested by darkness as always, but the conflict now rose to a new height. Time waited for the outcome, the verdict, the final encounter between light and darkness on a cross one dark and stormy day. Time would wait until Father was ready, then this light would be able to overcome darkness in every single life.

God with us means more than just alongside us. It means he is within and through our being, and more than that, we are within and through his being. This is how we get to ‘know God’. Holy Spirit speaks into our spirit the mind and words of Jesus, and we ‘see and know’ Jesus in this way. Faith lets us speak to him as a person, person to person. 
1John 2:27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true.
This does not mean we disregard Scriptural teaching. This Scripture simply makes alive and real the personal and individual whisper of God into our spirit as the wisdom and understanding of the mind and heart of God that we need, in any given situation and at any given time. That becomes the light to our path allowing us to express our unique and truest self in the best possible way. That is our faith.
Christmas waits to be truly celebrated. Without Christmas there is no way we could ever have known God and become one with him.

 

Prophetic Pause

PROPHETIC PAUSE 
We are looking at the message of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. It is a prophecy about preparing the way for Messiah to come to his Temple people, and turning their hearts back to God as their loving Father. It is a message for us in these days, as his people, his Temple.

Malachi was the last prophet to speak in the Old Testament. He was speaking to the people who had returned from their seventy year exile in Babylon. They went into bondage in Babylon after their temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the king of Babylon. When they came back to Jerusalem they spent quite a few years rebuilding the temple under Zerubbabel their priestly ruler. Then twelve years after they had completed the temple Malachi prophesied that The Messiah would return to their temple. Here is the key verse; 

Malachi 3:1 I will send my messenger to prepare the way before me. And the Lord (Messiah) whom you seek will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight is coming, says the Lord. (So this verse mentions two messengers…)

You would have thought that now was the time for something wonderful to happen, but nothing wonderful happened – everything stopped and came to a standstill until the time came for God to act. Malachi was actually prophesying about the time of the appearance of John the Baptist, four hundred years later, the messenger (the Elijah) who would proclaim the ministry of Jesus the Messiah, who was the messenger of the New Covenant (mentioned above).
During that silence of four hundred years after the final word from Malachi, there were no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God. This four hundred year time of silence is called a prophetic pause. 
There was another four hundred years of silence, another prophetic pause, at the time of Israel being taken in bondage as slaves in Egypt, after the time that Abraham was told his descendants would inherit the Promised land, the whole land of Canaan. For four hundred years there were no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God, until the Word of God came to Moses, to let my people go’. 

a prophetic pause like this speaks of preparing the way of The Lord in a time of uncertainty and ambiguity, with an expectation for something new and different to happen – a waiting time.

Background of the birth of John the Baptist (The next thing to happen)
After the four hundred years of silence from the book of Malachi it was time for John the Baptist to be born and to become the messenger (Elijah) that Malachi was talking about, who would prepare the way of the Lord, Jesus the Messiah! Zacharias the priest was told that his wife Elizabeth was going to have a child. the Angel Gabriel appeared to him to give him the news that Elizabeth was going to give birth. The Angel said; …Your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John… and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God… he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah (John the Baptist), to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the Lord; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. These words are from Luke 1:13-16, but they are taken straight out of the prophecy of Malachi and are in fact from the last words in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament. But Elizabeth was barren and was well past child bearing age, being 60 years old, and Zacharias did not believe what the Angel told him, so Gabriel said to Zacharias;
‘you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time’
So here we have a double emphasis upon the significance of the time of silence when Zacharias is struck dumb, a prophetic pause of a time of further preparation before the time to speak would come. The words of the Angel were a repeat of the message of Malachi but the unveiling of them was nothing like anyone expected (For John to be born and live in the wilderness and prophesy of Jesus), and many rejected or ignored the truth of the message. I believe we are in a global prophetic pause in this current time of global catastrophe. But the prophetic pause is always full of the purpose of God. I believe that the prophetic pause we are experiencing today holds the promise of worldwide Holy Spirit activity and the unveiling of that will be like nothing anyone would have expected.

We can tend to expect God to speak to his people the same way time after time or to do his sovereign acts the same way time after time. But God will not be locked into our expectations or predictions as to how he will speak or what he will do. There have been many moves of the Holy Spirit on the earth and they all came with different settings and circumstances and activities from the preceding moves of God. Some were times of weeping and repentance, some were times of healing and miracles, some were times of teaching and revelation, and some were times of refreshing and release.

An example of God varying his method and manner of speaking to a prophet was after Elijah had seen God do a mighty miracle of bringing rain upon the drought that God had brought upon the nation of Israel. Elijah challenged the bad king Ahab to have his prophets of Baal and Ashtaroth to erect altars on the top of Mt. Carmel and ask their gods to end the drought, while Elijah would set up his altar to Yahweh and call upon him - It was a competition. The prophets of Baal did all kinds of weird rituals but nothing happened. Then it was Elijah’s turn and when he called upon God there was lightning and thunder and a deluge of rain. Elijah won, God won, and a nation repented and turned back to God. Ahab’s wife Jezebel vowed to kill Elijah, so Elijah ran and hid in a cave waiting for God to speak to him again for direction. He heard mighty thunder and saw lightning flash and thought that this was God speaking to him, but the Bible says that God was not in the storm, and God was not in the lightning like before. He then had to wait and listen for the still small voice to tell him of the new thing that God had planned to do. God did things totally differently from before.

We appear to be living in a time of prophetic pause, a time of silence, a time of uncertainty and ambiguity, waiting for the Word of the Lord to come and bring new direction to God’s people (Is the Church like Zacharias waiting for the time to speak a clear word), perhaps unlike anything we have heard or seen before.

This is a time of reordering God’s people to hear from God. 
In 1Corinthians 14 Paul speaks about there being many kinds of voices in the world and they are all trying to declare or proclaim something. He also says that if the trumpet (the voice of proclamation) sounds an uncertain or indistinct sound, the people will not know how to go into battle. This means that the people will not be ready, or prepared.

We are in a time when God is preparing us and reordering many things in the earth and in his Church (Malachi said God would first visit his temple, his Church).
In the Church we are hearing many earnest and sincere voices proclaiming with great zeal what God might be saying at the moment, and there are different perceptions and opinions and discernments as to what is being proclaimed and predicted, and accountability comes with prophesy and prediction.
But just as Zacharias had to wait, and more-so just like Elijah had to wait and hear the Word of the Lord in a new way, as a still small voice after the storm and the lightning, this may be a time when we need to be still and hear and see what Jesus has to say and do, not only through what the Holy Spirit whispers to us personally, but also through what Jesus, the head of the Church, does sovereignly in the earth, and in his church - something perhaps unlike what we have seen before in previous moves of the Holy Spirit. There are many on their knees at this moment calling upon the name of the Lord.  
Hebrews 1.1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world…

God is preparing the hearts of all those who seek him with true hearts to be fully assured in faith that he alone has authority over all that is happening upon the earth and in the heavens at this time.

There are parallels to the Church in the message of Malachi in this strange time in which we live, in a time of standstill and disorientation. The Church today appears to have all it could need in the form of resources such as churches and worship and leaders and helpers and programs and marketing, but is God calling for something more? I cannot predict what it would be but what I would hope for is the presence of God in our midst, melting our hearts rather than just the presence of all the sincere and impressive human ability and performance and Bible knowledge in our midst, exciting our senses. Is there something deeper that God wants to do for his children
From the first verse of the book of Malachi we see that God’s purpose was to assure his people that he still loved them and was keeping his Covenant with them, and the theme of the last verse of the book is also of the love between God as our Father and us as his children. 
Malachi 4:6 I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives… His preaching will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers… 

 

Getting your bearing

GETTING YOUR BEARINGS. 
To be able to go in a direction that will make us sure that we reach the goal or destination we are meant to arrive at in life we need to know the answer to three questions; Who am I? What is happening to me? And What am I meant to do?
We need to know who we are so that we can understand what is happening to us, and we need to know what is happening to us so that we can know what we are meant to do.

Who am I?   In other words –How do you see yourself? If you weren’t sure you could look in a mirror and see your reflection! You see an image. But to know who we are in our inner self we have to get in touch with the self image we have of ourselves – reflected back to us by the ideas of other people that have shaped us and formed us.… we don’t do self-analysis as child – work out how to maximise our potential for a great future. We take on board what we are told we are – the positive - approved, encouraged, loved unconditionally -  or negative - criticised, discouraged or ignored, and we end up with a positive or negative self image, mostly a muddle of both. Some people cope with the negative feedback better than others and hurt feelings and woundedness is experienced by everybody and that can stay with us -  BUT God has made provision through The Holy Spirit for us to be healed from all the pain of that harm we do to one another in our lives.
The one big and amazing truth that sets us free from that confusion and pain is the understanding of the wonder of  what God’s idea is of who we are - created in God’s image and likeness.
Genesis 1:26…Let us make man and woman in our own image (selem) and likeness (demut)…
Genesis 1:27… And God made man and woman in his own image…
The complete plan of God for humanity was to become not just the image, shadow, but to also become the likeness, substance, reality.
Three times in the New Testament it is said that the Old testament Law and Commandments were a shadow of the things to come, because the Substance, or reality was of Christ. (Colossians 8, Hebrews 8, Hebrews 10)

In the Old Testament God gave Israel the Law and the Commandments and these things were  a shadow of  his love and wisdom and goodness and mercy to them that allowed them to pursue and find a knowledge of God and to aspire to live in and as the shadow of the nature of God. Many had a heart to pursue this knowledge of God and many did not. Those that did were blessed and those who did not brought sorrow and grief into their own souls. David saw himself as the apple of God’s eye – a very positive self image from a very merciful and forgiving God. He had that heart after God.

When Jesus came he planted into humanity the greater and even more amazing idea of who we were – not just made in the image of God, but being transformed into the likeness of God. In Jesus, God had joined himself to his own creation in one person, born from above by the Holy Spirit. And we became born of that seed also when Jesus planted himself as that seed into the earth after He died on the cross and rose again. And that seed brought forth us, as the fruit of a new creation upon the earth – not just the image but the likeness of God. 2Cor 5.17 says that; In Christ we are a new creation…and that we are joined in one Spirit with The Lord (1Corinthians 6:17), chosen in him before the foundation of the world, designated beforehand to be placed as sons and daughters in his family through Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 1:4) So that we can say; Galatians 2:20… It is no longer I that live, but Christ is living in me… THAT IS WHO HE SAYS WE ARE!

What is happening to me?
There is the good and the bad that happens to us, that this world brings into our natural lives.
AND
There is an absolute and ultimate good that happens to us as God brings His love into our spiritual lives that transforms us into that person that God created us to be.
I am being loved by God. His delight is to love us with all of his heart. Would God want to do anything else, other than to love us as his children? Anything you could think of would have to contain his love, because God is love, and that includes God’s discipline of us as his children, and allowing us to suffer through hurtful and contentious things done to us by others. The Bible says that Jesus had to suffer the contradiction of peoples’ sinful nature against himself. His love and grace is sufficient for us in all these things

That changes our perspective of what is good or bad in all the things that the world brings into our natural lives. We are living in a confused and conflicted global culture in this present time that delights to deal out spiteful and vindictive punishment, person to person, group to group exacting revenge upon each other and some wanting even to cancel out those that do not agree with their ideology. God is using ALL these things to work together for His good – his perfect strategic plan and good will for our lives.
John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment,
But living within the delight of God’s love for us can lift us far above that kind of chaos. We can return love for hate and not fear. 

What am I meant to do?  

I am simply asked to pass this love on to others.

1John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

What about other things that are required of us to do that are part of living for God and with God in this life, like serving God through serving others, and living a sacrificial life instead of putting oneself first, and being obedient to God’s commands? Obeying his Commandment to love him and to love one another as he has loved us, fulfils all of our obedience to him.
All of these things are fulfilled in our living out of a life of faith that works through love. Paul tells us that this is all that really matters.
What about Jesus saying that we will be his witnesses in the earth. Being a witness means living a life that has God on display in our lives. That means his love in action in our lives.
When Jesus was being questioned by the crowd about who he was l the people who he was he said that he could bear witness of who he was and that he knew where he had come from and where he was going (John 8:14) Jesus had his bearings, and he gives us our bearings, so that we can know who we are, what is happening to us, and what to do in all situations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christ of the Cosmos

CHRIST OF THE COSMOS
I’ve been sharing what is happening on the ground in society these troubled times and also what is happening regarding the spiritual darkness in the heavens. Now I want to talk about the God of the heavens and the earth, the God of the Bible, Christ of the Cosmos.

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16. For through him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 
17. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
18. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn (prototokos) from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 
19. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 
20. and through him to reconcile to himself all things together whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you who were once hostile are now being reconciled (re-ordered) into oneness with Him and are made innocent in his eyes if you remain in the faith because of this message which has been proclaimed to all creation. 

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16. For through him all things were created, in heaven and on earth,

Jesus is the Image of the invisible God, the outward manifestation of the unseen nature and essence of God in all love and wisdom and power and beauty.
Before Jesus came as a person in that image into the earth, he first of all had to create that earth within a Universe.
Jesus is called the Firstborn over all creation. The word for ‘firstborn’ is ‘prototokos’ which means the ‘first time seed bearer’ - the first DNA – The beginning of a new order of being. This means that Uncreated being (Invisible and Unseen Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) introduced created being for the first time (Protos) through Jesus, the Logos – the Seed Word.
Created material being began as an explosion of light – let there be light.
Everything created by that Word had a destiny, because the Word (Logos) contains within it the design for its perfect completion. This creation is not there yet.

16 … visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities…
So Angels were created as beings of spiritual light and then there began a creation of a material Universe 
Job 38: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Ezek 28:12 You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; your clothing was bejeweled with every precious stone--ruby, topaz, diamond, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald--all in beautiful settings of finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I appointed you to be the anointed Guardian Angel. You had access to the holy mountain of God. You walked among the stones of fire.
"`You were perfect in all you did from the day you were created until that time when wrong was found in you. Your great wealth filled you with internal turmoil, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you out of the mountain of God like a common sinner. I destroyed you, O Guardian Angel, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride

16b all things were created through him and for him. 17. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
The Universe came into being, through Jesus as the divine agent of creation, and for Jesus as the Lord over it, and this Universe was totally contained in Jesus as the domain of his activity. He is the sustainer of the universe and the unifying principle of its life and form, and that apart from his continuous sustaining activity everything would disintegrate (vs.17 above). This was FOR Jesus so that he could fulfil the plan of the Father to have a family of humanity to share his very being for all eternity.
Jesus began his journey into this material creation the moment he said ‘let there be light’. He was made manifest, prophetically proclaimed as Messiah, yet symbolically hidden throughout the Old Testament, as the Rock that gave forth living water in the wilderness, the manna, the Lord of Hosts that greeted Joshua etc. But this symbolic manifestation had to be hidden in that age. 
1Corinthians 2:7. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the archons of this aeion understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (See also Luke 24 Emmaus)
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as One, were not prompted by any need to become more fulfilled. God as Trinity always was and was always fulfilled in all things in Themselves. 
We can say that The idea of creation was a divine act of an outpouring of their shared love and inclusion. They wanted a family of human beings, spirit soul and body, made in their image and likeness  ‘male and female made He them’.

18. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn (prototokos) from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 

Jesus then became the firstborn from the dead – (prototokos) the first-time seed bearer of a new kind of life and being on the earth – the resurrection and the life). Jesus became the giver of new life, a new creation 
1Corinthians 15:45 “The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
To give this life to us he had to die. He died willingly, a sacrifice of love, the ultimate expression of love, setting for us a pattern of a sacrificial life and love between us. To do this he to not only live it but to find a way to sow it so that we could live it on any given day. He could then become joined to us, as the head of his body, the church.
John 10:17 The Father loves me because I lay down my life voluntarily that I may have it back again. No one can take my life without my consent - For I have the right and power to lay it down when I want to and also the right and power to take it again. For the Father has given me this right.
John 12:24 , truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

20. and through him to reconcile to himself all things together whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
This would mean the return of cosmic peace, as it was even from before the beginning.

Jesus has to bring everything in the universe together to be in harmony with him and his perfect relational order (reconciled). No more thorns and thistles that were part of the curse upon the earth from when Adam fell, or earthquakes, tsunamis etc. This all happens all the time, everything collides, the laws of physics of a natural world. But the earth groans under all of this and is waiting for the next age. A new heaven and a new earth.
Romans 8:19 For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay--the things that overcame the world at God's command--will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom which God's children enjoy.

21 And you who were once hostile are now being reconciles (re-ordered) into oneness with Him and are being made innocent in his eyes if you remain in the faith because of this message which has been proclaimed to all creation.
The hostility between God and man was only on our part. Jesus did not have to change any notion of hostility of the Father’s heart towards us. He came to change the hostility in the heart of humanity towards God, and is still doing that through the Holy Spirit.
The Father wanted a family and a family home. Jesus built the home and then became the home by being born from above by the Spirit. He was in the Father in him while he lived upon the earth with the Holy Spirit. He then rose from the dead and Holy spirit went with him. He then sent the Holy Spirit to come and be with us. And now the Holy Spirit makes humanity the home for Father Son and Holy Spirit to dwell in (John 14:3,23 – We will come and make our home with him).
All of this is for all of humanity but it only has meaning on a day to day basis, here and now, for those to whom this message (which has been proclaimed) is listened to, understood, and taken hold of by faith and lived in with hope.
The Holy Spirit now seeks to fashion us into our uniqueness as a person joined to himself as One Spirit, so that we feel at home with Father’s idea of who we are in his eyes from the beginning. So let us turn our eyes upon Jesus – let the things of earth grow strangely dim – in the light of his glory and grace.

 

 

Image makers

IMAGE MAKERS 

How do we become who we are - how do we see ourselves as that person that we think we are. That is an image – that is an idea in our head – where did it come from?
A person does not make up an image all by themselves. The image we have of who we are is an already formed idea of what gets reflected back to us through our life that we accept and act out from. 

The image of who we are comes originally from God’s idea of who we are, Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

Then came the devil’s idea – his idea of who we are was fist proclaimed by Satan when he said to Adam and Eve ‘God has told you not to eat of that tree because he knows that when you do you will become like Him and God does not want you to have that experience.’ So they believed him, and rebelled against God and were deceived into believing that it was too tempting to throw that short cut of being like God away. They had accepted the idea of darkness which was the actual image that the devil had of himself who also wanted to be like God and that image was now being imprinted onto them. 
They accepted the idea of who they were as being somebody separated from God competing with God for their own autonomy as an independent person apart from God. 

This idea of being able to fashion their own idea and way of being like God which was a lie was sown into the hearts and minds of humanity and made its permanent imprint upon this world. This became the mindset of the human race that in wanting to be so much like God that they made themselves to be their own God, an then made themselves into that image 1John 5:19 ..whole world lies in darkness…

TOWER OF BABEL

That grew to a point that they were not just individuals who had their own individual idea but there grew upon the earth an entire population of people who had one idea and language and under the leadership of a man, Nimrod, who said let us make a city and build a tower that will reach to heaven, and that became the first collective human idea, an identity of humanity that had enormous power in the earth. 
The tower of heaven reaching heaven is not only man’s idea of being independent and making himself like God but being able to build the city of God and to create your own utopia, your own heaven on earth. That became the lie that as cultures developed became imprinted upon the people that developed that culture.

God realized that if all of mankind had one idea in common and pursued that into the fulness of its darkness and deception humanity would eventually destroy itself by giving itself to the devil and become the expression of that darkness.
To save them God decided to bring confusion into their language to communicate to one another and he scattered them on the face of the earth and they all became different cultures in different places in their behaviour, language morality and values. 

So that is three big ideas of the making of the image of humanity upon the earth- God’s idea, the’ devil’s idea and the collective culture’s idea, with spiritual powers of darkness influencing them.

And then there is a fourth idea which is of our own invention and imagination, our voice to ourselves which comes about because of all the different ideas that have had an influence upon us and reflect back to us the image telling us what they want us to be.
This is always the way. 
A person does not begin in their formative years , say from 3 to 7, to sit and analyse what kind of person they are and who they plan to be what they want to pursue as a career and to adopt certain values that they aspire to.
It starts with parents who believe what this little person should be like, what they should think and believe and how they should behave and what they should value, and this is different from culture to culture – a self image is being formed. 
The childhood experience can e positive or negative, helpful or harmful, harsh, provoking the child into reaction ( Ephesians 6:4).As a child grow beyond age 7)
A child then also gets influenced by the peer group and decides to form in their mind how they want to behave in that group in order to belong. That group image begins to define them. This goes on into adulthood in the formation of self-image. No matter how radical or weird or extreme that brand of thought and behaviour is. That doesn’t matter because that’s where they feel at home and where they belong. That is their tribe, whether religious, political, cultural or ideological, or weirdly personal.
So four image making ideas have come into that life.

BUT there is a way that we can respond to the best idea of who we are - God’s idea, and that is found in the Bible. In the Old Testament we can say for the sake of clarity and brevity that that is reflected in the core values of the ten Commandments which reflect back to a person the picture of God’ wisdom and care for relationships, His wisdom and integrity, so that if people as individuals embrace these core values they will be a community of people that not only survive but they will flourish and be the best kind of community that they can be.
In the NT those very same values of love and truth, honesty, productivity in relationships, caring for and honouring one another are imprinted on us by the Holy Spirit.  
When Jesus died for us and rose from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit, who lived a human life in and with Jesus he made way for us now to be in that same empowering relationship with the Holy Spirit.

So there are two things happening within every human being today – there is still that instinct to form your own image of who you want to be in the current day world in which you live that is reflecting its values back to you saying ‘this is how you are going to make it in this world. This is what the Bible calls being conformed to this world. 

However to summarise so far - God is the primary image maker. In the Old Testament the Commandments were the primary model of the image of God because they reflected the nature of the wisdom and the ways of God. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit works upon our hearts to transform us into the image of Christ. 
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
The renewal of the mind takes place when a person accepts the truth of who they were created to be and allows God to do that transforming work.

Then comes the question - What is that world out there?

Just as the Tower of Babel was a community of people with one mind and one language, That tried to build their own heaven, there is in the world today a new progressive collective identity that has a lot of other group identities arrayed within it that is seeking to build its own idea of heaven on earth. They see themselves as an enlightened empowered group of individuals with the freedom to do what they want to do and behave how they want to behave and have want they want to have, and they are being told mostly by one another who they should be what they should think and how they should talk and what they should believe and what rights they should demand in order to be an acceptable member of contemporary new order of society (the internet makes it possible to get all that information in minutes or seconds). This collective identity is based on not having to conform to Biblical and traditional core values and their restraints - and it means fighting for the freedom and autonomy to set up a new set of values, virtues, and entitlements, to be committed to and championed as a social construct – an ideological political system – a new utopia, a repeat of the tower of Babel.

This clashes head on with a conservative traditional value system based on biblical Judao-Christian values – two value systems. But both of these value systems are falling short of producing an expression of an intact and effective ordered human family in these times. Just as Israel in the Old Testament Israel couldn’t obey the Commandments and Christians don’t live perfect lives. There is a lot of veering off the mark. But at least God’s core values remain as the pillar and ground of truth and are there for people to come back to when they fail, and they fail consistently through the self serving human attitudes that we all have in common no matter what our values are. God is dealing with this state of affairs right now this very moment. This is a recurring theme in the Bible.

At one stage of Israel’s history they were taken captive by a man called Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, which was the most powerful and glorious city in the world (Babel/Babylon – the same word - confusion). Israel were placed in bondage under the religion and culture of that place. At one point the king decided to build a huge statue of gold, almost as tall as a ten storey building (Daniel 3:.
He made a decree that at any time when his chosen music was played everyone had to bow down and worship that image. If they did not bow down to the image they would be thrown into a fiery furnace. There were three young Jewish men who had been given high honour in the political and administrative courts of Babylon, and they had been given the Babylonian names of Meshach, Shadrack and Abednego. It was reported to the king by some other Babylonian court leaders that these three men had refused to bow down to the image. They were called before the king who was furious with them and told them to recant, but they said that their God was able to deliver them from the fire and even if He didn’t, they were prepared to serve Him to the death.
So the furnace was heated up seven times hotter than usual and the king had some of his toughest senior military leaders throw the men into the furnace. However the soldiers were burned to a crisp trying to cast the men into the fire, and when the king stood to inspect the destruction of the three Jewish men he was astonished;
Daniel 3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered “True, O king.” He said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like the son of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar then proclaimed to the entire Nation that anyone who speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.
He then declared;’ It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

It says in the Bible that the fourth person with those men in the fire was like the Son of God – That was Jesus with them in the fiery trial.
A true Witness is seen in God’s people today through the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, even as we go through the fiery trials of faith in these days that purify our hearts. 
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses… (Not just talking about God but having God on display in our lives…)
This work of becoming the expression of our true selves in Christ involves going through the trials of faith to trust God’s love and mercy and truth to us in the transformational process (1Peter 4.12… don’t think it strange when the fiery trials come… Peter also says this is the goal of your faith 1Peter 1:9.). Holy Spirit is reflecting back to you who you are, joined to the Lord as one Spirit. We recognize our shortcomings and obtain mercy and find grace to help.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           All of this is happening in real time now no matter what we see happening in the midst of all the emotional confusion and deception and conflict and rage going on in what we see around us. We are being preserved in the midst of fiery trials being made into the image of God, and he will be seen there with us, that is the witness of his presence with us finding meaning and purpose in all that happens.
It takes place when you are still, knowing that He s God, and as you behold Him in this way the Bible says (2Corinthans 3:18) you are being transformed into His image by the Spirit of The Lord

 

 

Unseen Army

UNSEEN ARMY
2Kings 7:1 There is a story in the Old Testament about the prophet Elisha and how the unseen world of spiritual light and spiritual darkness operates. It is the story of Elisha and the four lepers of Samaria. This is a story of the limited power of darkness when it faces up to the unlimited power and purpose of God and his goodness. The spiritual world is an unseen world, the real world of God’s activity, the world dominated by light and faith, and alas, darkness inhabits this realm also but with faith we learn to withstand it and overcome.
The king od Israel was ruling over a fortress city in the high region of Samaria. The city was put under siege by the king of Syria, and because there was a great famine in the region, the people of the city were starving, and the Syians had cut off any food supply lines that might have existed from down in the more fertile region of the Jordan. It got to the point that after a time even a donkey's head sold for fifty dollars and a cup of dove's dung brought three dollars! This angered the king and he was trying to find someone to blame for all of this disaster.
Elisha was sitting at home, the elders sitting with him. The king had made up his mind that Elisha the prophet must be to blame because he had not organized God to come to the rescue, and he finally decided to blame God as well. He had already dispatched his attendant to take Elisha’s head off, but before the man arrived Elisha told his friends he knew what the King was planning and said shut the door and lock it. While he was giving his instructions, the king showed up with his attendant, making charges against God; ‘This trouble we’re in has been sent from GOD! And what's next? I'm fed up with GOD! The Syrian army is outside and the people inside the walls are starving to death and paying exorbitant amounts of money for something to eat, a donkey's head is selling for fifty dollars and a cup of dove's dung costs three dollars!
Then Elisha brings a word from God to the king. ‘by this time tomorrow two gallons of flour or four gallons of barley grain will be sold in the markets of Samaria for a dollar!"
But the king’s attendant tells everyone not to believe it ‘Do you think God is going to open trapdoors in Heaven and pour food though them? 

Meanwhile four lepers who are sitting just outside the gates wondering what their fate might be. ‘Well. what are we sitting here for, just waiting to die "We will starve if we stay here and we will starve if we go back into the city; so we might as well go out and face the challenge – we’ll present ourselves to the Syrian army, and they might even feed us and let us live, if so then so much the better; but if they kill us, we would have died anyway. So that evening they went out to the camp of the Syrians, but there was no one there! 

To understand what was really going on here we have to look at the previous chapter and see what had happened to the previous king of Syria with regards to Elisha a year åor two beforehand. That king had been marauding the outposts of Israel whenever Israel sent an army to protect the people, but Elisha knew from God what the Syrian king was up to so he warned the king of Israel every time so that they escaped attack. When the Syrian king found this out he sent his army out to capture Elisha who was not living in the fortress city at that time but in another area of Samaria called Dothan. When the Syrian army surrounded Dothan to take Elisha, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, woke up one morning to see Dothan surrounded by the Syrian army and collapsed in panic, but Elisha prayed for God to open Gehazi’s eyes to see the Unseen Army of the Lord arrayed against the Syrian army, and said to him ‘greater are they that are with us than they that are with them’ and the servant calmed down. Then Elisha prayed for God to put blindness upon the Syrians so that they were groping around in the dark, then he walked and asked the commander of the army who he was looking for, and when the commander told him, Elisha said Oh, he doesn’t live here any more but I’ll lead you to where he lives, and he led them all to the fortified city of the king of Israel (the one in our current story). When they all arrived he prayed to God for the eyes of the Syrians to be opened, and they found they were in the hands of the king of Israel, who wanted to take them all into captivity, but Elisha told the kings to give them a good feed and send them home (he obviously knew there were better things to come).

So getting back to the four lepers finding the Syrian camp deserted the Bible tells us (2Kings 7:6) that God had made the whole Syrian army hear sounds of a host of  a great army approaching and the clatter of speeding chariots and a loud galloping of horses. "The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us," they cried out. 7. So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else. 8 When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp they went into one tent after another, eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it.  9 Finally they said to each other, "This isn't right. This is wonderful news, and we aren't sharing it with anyone! Even if we wait until morning, some terrible calamity will certainly fall upon us; come on, let's go back and tell the people at the palace."

10 So they went back to the city and told the attendant what had happened--they had gone out to the Syrian camp and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there was not a soul around. 11 Then the attendant shouted the news to those in the palace.
12 The king got out of bed (trying to guess what had happened – and guessing wrongly!) and told his officers, "I know what has happened. The Syrians know we are starving, so they have left their camp and have hidden in the fields, thinking that we will be lured out of the city. Then they will attack us and make slaves of us and get in." 13 One of his officers cautiously replied, "We'd better send out scouts first to see. Let two charioteers of take chariots out with our four remaining horses and if something happens to them all it won't be any greater loss than if they stay here and die with the rest of us!" 
14 So the king sent out two charioteers to see where the Syrians had gone. 15 They followed a trail of clothing and equipment all the way to the Jordan River-- thrown away by the Syrians in their haste. The scouts returned and told the king, 16 and the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So it was true that two gallons of flour and four gallons of barley were sold that day for one dollar, just as the Lord had said!

All the players in this story had an opinion about what was going on, and they had a reaction to it or a response in it. Some were panicking, some had given up all hope, some were weighing it all up, and like the king, suspicious and getting it wrong, some decided to act with due diligence and caution like the officer who suggested to do a scout patrol. What were they seeing? Did they see that God was at work with the Angel Armies – greater are they that are for us than they that are against us …. 
These are the things we ask ourselves when there is a crisis – are we being driven by fear or are we being inspired by faith, or guided by wisdom with ears to hear…

The four lepers had to make a choice. They could sit around in despondency and wait to die or they could face the challenge of facing the enemy, so they went into the enemy camp and saw with their own eyes that God had been at work. God had not only supernaturally defeated the enemy but he had poured out his provision for his people. If they had not taken this initiative no one would had moved in the entire city and they all would have starved, despite the fact that they had the word of blessing from the prophet. Elisha had done his part - he had shared the Word of the Lord.

We have the word of blessing, the good news of God’s goodness to us through Jesus. We have to move on that and take initiative against the bluff of the devil. All Satan has in his armory are the weapons of darkness and deception. Satan has no creative power. He is a deceiver and a confuser. The battle between light and darkness is not hanging in the balance. The battle has been won. God is not in a defensive position against darkness – He has defeated it. Darkness can only work on us, and the Bible says that when we align ourselves with God and his authority and resist the devil the darkness HAS to flee (James 4:7). His target is our minds and our hearts where he wants to plant confusion and deception and fear (2Cor. 4:3). We have to take the initiative and withstand him.

The Bible says the whole world lies in darkness, and we have all experienced that. But if we have the truth the darkness cannot harm us. Satan likes to put himself on display but when his bluff is called he has to back down. We are to walk into the darkness bravely and confidently.
The four lepers walked boldly into the enemy camp, and we are to do the same. The risk for us is NOT in being harmed by the enemy – the risk for us is in NOT putting our trust in God that his goodness will come to us. That is not a good path for us to go down.
The word of God about the blessing and the relief of the famine had been spoken by Elisha and was already in operation. The name ELISHA means ‘God of Blessing’. The word of spiritual blessing has been spoken over us in Jesus (Eph 1:3) and we are to trust that it is working in our lives and it will come to pass in every situation. 

We accept that the current adverse or confusing situation is being used for God’s greater purpose and we give thanks in purposeful prayer. That is so that we can be strengthened in our faith in times of sometimes painful uncertainty, rather than going in to negative resistance like Israel’s king did and look for who to blame (He blamed God and God’s messenger or like many people do we just blame the devil!). No, instead we accept that God is at work in the Unseen, with his Unseen Army, even when the uncertain situation discomforts us. This strengthens our faith. Paul said he did not run aimlessly or fight to beat the air but his commitment to spiritual fitness was by taking on reality with hope and faith.
That will always lead to our finally seeing the supernatural effect of his working in our lives and in those we bring before him in our prayer. We realise that the battle is ongoing until God’s a victory is apparent for all to see. 

Ephesians 6:12 tells us to throw down the spiritual powers. Then it tells is what armor to put on. Truth, peace, faith, love, which will overcome anything the devil throws at our We are not feebly struggling against a powerful dark force but aligning ourselves with a powerful God force – and throwing down the darkness..
We assume our place of authority with Jesus ABOVE the powers of darkness.
We declare that we are serving the purpose of God in our generation.

2 Cor 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds

War in Heaven

WAR IN HEAVEN

The distress and confusion and uncertainty that people are experiencing everywhere in the earth at this time is not just because of our own limited and vulnerable humanity. And it’s not totally because we are in the midst of a global calamity – a pandemic that is getting worse by the day. We are also in the midst of a global spiritual battle. There are spiritual forces that are active in the heavens that have been operating for thousands of years upon the human soul to oppress and deceive and provoke people into reactions of fear and anger and despair, and greed and resentment and malice – imprinted onto the soul of humanity for the first time – then Cain and Abel. In this current world crisis the spiritual activity of the dark powers is ramping up. These powers seek to blind peoples’ minds from believing in an all loving and all- powerful God and to influence them in their minds and will and emotions. These powers intensify the sense of conflict and hostility we are seeing acted out on our streets and on our tv screens and media as news reports in real life - not just a movie. There is a battle going on in the heavens and on the earth. 

THE BIBLE TELLS S WE ARE IN THIS BATTLE STRATEGICALLY 
Ephesians 6:12… be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deception of the devil. because we are not wrestling (pallo/ballo – throw down) against flesh and blood, but against principalities (arche), against powers (exousia – delegated influence), against the rulers (Kosmokrator) of the darkness of this age, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
So we are not fighting other people - the battle is against spiritual beings.
There are three major categories of spiritual activity involved;

Powers (exousia) influence individuals – To assail peoples’ minds and will and emotions and create confusion, division and separation.
Principalities (arche) influence demographic areas to shape an ungodly culture. This involves cities and regions and towns. It is a feed-back loop of human power struggles being fed by spiritual power bases of darkness and then the earthly confusion and deception and hostility is fed back into the heavens again, and around it goes.
Rulers of darkness (kosmokraters) These exercise strategic global influence to disrupt God’s plan and purpose in the earth and to incite corruption at high levels of government. Much of this corruption is being brought into the light in these tumultuous times.

All of these spiritual entities are under the sovereign power of God and he uses them for his purposes. So why does God allow this? 
So that God’s people will grow in courage and character and faith and spiritual authority and be a demonstration of his Kingdom power in the earth – (Jesus in the wilderness Matthew 14. AND Peter being sifted as wheat Luke 22:31).
There is really no neutral ground. 
Every spirit and angelic power exerts a spiritual energy into the spiritual, emotional, cultural and relational atmosphere in which we live and breathe. 
We either come under the influence of God’s Spirit or under the influence of a dark spirit.
This has been happening since Adam came under the influence of Lucifer in the garden of Eden. Darkness began to hold sway over humanity.
1John 5:19 We know we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway- (influence) - of the evil one).
BUT WE HAVE THE UPPER HAND. Please do not forget the heavenly hosts of good angels that God sends to minister to us – (Hebrews 1:14) and the angels that stand before the throne of the Father on behalf of little children (Mathew 18:10)
 
What do the Scriptures say about where we stand spiritually in all of this?
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image (Eikon – representative NB 2Corinthians 3:18 regarding ourselves) of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or kdominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. (again – his purposes)

Jesus was the image (eikon) of God which means he represented the nature and being of his Father and his Kingdom of Light, imprinting his image of Truth and faith and love upon humanity. 
John 1.9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
That was his work for his short time on the earth. Jesus working his image into us through the Holy Spirit.
We are all ‘imagers’, bringing the influence and spiritual energy of Light or Darkness.
An imager imprints that image on the world. We are here to bear the image of Jesus (2Corinthians 3:18) and imprint his influence and energy into this age in which we live.
Satan bears the image of the kingdom of darkness and imprints his pride, rebellion and deception upon humanity.
The dark angels imprinted their images onto the idols that were worshiped throughout the Old Testament. 

So we are no longer having to break through from below because since Jesus was raised up to seated above all powers in heavenly places in god’s kingdom we are now seated there with him.(ephesians 2:6).
We are now above all those angels…but in the old testament everyone was underneath those heavenly powers and here is an example of the Old Testament pattern of spiritual warfare. 
Daniel 10:12 Then the angel said to me, ‘from the first day that you set your heart to understand, your words were heard; and I have come. But the prince power over the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief rulers came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the prince power of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”
“O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!”
So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.

We do not operate that way anymore. Jesus has also given us his power over the principalities and powers that seek to influence us
Colossians 2:15 he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

We now have a new perspective of our place with Jesus ABOVE those powers of darkness.
God has given us a new kind of faith and the grace that empowers us in a new kind of prayer with a new kind of understanding that we are partners with God in his reordering of all things in accord with his will and purpose in the earth - truth and faith and love. This means that we will see the supernatural effect of his working in our lives and in those we bring before him in our prayer. 
We assume our place of authority with Jesus ABOVE the powers of darkness.
We become aware of our measure of faith through which we enter into the grace that empowers us. 
We realise that the battle is ongoing until God’s a victory is apparent for all to see . 
We accept that the current adverse or confusing situation is being used for God’s greater purpose and we give thanks in purposeful prayer. 
We declare that we are serving the purpose of God in our generation.
We choose what we will image and imprint and WE CAN apprehend how we are influencing our world for the will and purpose of God.

We choose this life alongside Jesus as being the centre of purpose and meaning for our lives.

 

 

 

Age of Innocence

AGE OF INNOCENCE 
We were chosen by God to live our lives in a state of innocence before him.
Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be set apart for him (holy) and blameless before him, In love.

Our English word ‘innocence’ comes from the Latin word IN-NOCERE – not to harm, blameless, and also means not harmed or violated – a sort of spotlessness. 
There is also the Biblical Greek word akeraios; of pure motivation – KJV blameless and harmless also 'unharmed,'. 'Intact,' 'innocent.

Where do we find this innocence? In our natural lives it is our early childhood experience. And today I will discuss the spiritual reality of our innocence in the eyes of God.

Let us look at those years of early childhood, up to about the age of seven. Here is where it is required that we receive unconditional attention and love from our parents, but we must keep in mind that there are no perfect parents.  
This is the requirement because we have not yet learned to manage our way through this world of accountability for doing wrong, or developed any resolute commitment for doing what is right. This period of time is our age of innocence where we start to become obedient and cooperative and be spontaneous and even be annoying, but it is here where we do get heaps of mercy and forgiveness and at the same time become aware of consequences for breaking the rules, as there are rules and we accept these rules as being authentic because we trust our parents that they know how life works, and for the most part we are patiently nurtured through this formative time. This is the same in most cultures. And of course, so much depends upon the relational integrity and empathy of the parents. Some parents and especially some cultures are more aware of this requirement and even formalise it up to about age seven.IE the Japanese culture.
I experienced this when I ministered in evangelical churches in Tokyo and the kids ran around and played right through the church service and everyone was smiling, even me after a little while. One of the mothers explained that this is the way it is with children up to about age six or seven- and then they really get into the discipline – for the rest of their lives.

Going back to the opening Scripture - This was the destined state of our life experience from eternity from God as our Father.
That word blameless (innocent) becomes a way of life as a grown responsible adult when we discover by faith that we have been given that status through Jesus. He has won back that place of innocence for us that we fell from when Adam disregarded his place of oneness and trust in his Father God by disobeying him. Adam and Eve were charged with the responsibility of being obedient to the commandment about not eatig from that tree of knowledge. They then suffered the consequences of guilt and shame and the disintegration of their souls and they hid from a loving God. And so did all of us.
Then Jesus, the second Adam, or last Adam, lived a complete and sacrificial innocent life before God on our behalf. He sowed that innocent life as a seed into death, and then the seed germinated and his life sprung to life in the earth through the Holy Spirit,who was sent after his death and resurrection and ascension into Heaven.
Paul tells us that we can now live our lives out from that state of bestowed innocence. 

Philippians 2:15 … that you may be blameless and innocent (akeraios; of pure motivation – KJV harmless also 'unharmed,'. 'Intact,' 'innocent.), children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Jesus explained this state of innocence by using the innocence of children to show us what it meant to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. If you receive these you receive me!’
Matthew 19: Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 
The Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus spoke about is the relational framework of the unconditional love that we receive from our Heavenly Father, just as a perfect parent would bestow that unconditional love and attention upon a little child. The Kingdom of Heaven is not just a destination of going to Heaven one day – it is a state of relationship with God and with one another here and now on earth. We enter into this childlike trusting place through faith.

Why do we lose this lovely freedom and sense of innocence after our early childhood.
It is after these first seven years that we learn to devise our own ways of getting the love and attention we want. We suffer from the clumsy attempts at trying to earn or demand that unconditional love and attention and we get hurt by others who also want the same thing. Unconditional becomes harder and harder to find – hurt people hurt people. We can only find the unconditional loving attention by becoming as a little child and entering the Kingdom of God, which is the relational framework of unconditional love that makes us whole – that is the saving of our soul. 

This integrates all of our pain from our past and our anxiety about the future into the place of oneness and communion with God. 
Discovery is the act of faith that allows us to dwell in the unconditional love of God towards us that is God’s framework of relationship towards us from eternity. This is where we experience the wholeness of our soul in our mind and in our emotions because we are joined in oneness of spirit with God’s Spirit.  

This is entering the kingdom of God. It is living another kind of life.
It is called in the bible ‘living in newness of life’. It is another world. It is becoming as an innocent child as Jesus said we should do.

His righteousness – His innocence
We are told many times (over 70 times) in the epistles that we have the righteousness of Christ. I believe we are also told that we have the innocence of Christ. I found that the Greek word for righteous (dikaios) is also translated innocent. 
g1342. ??????? dikaios; from 1349; equitable (in character or act); just, right(-eous). innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively): — 
Many people find it difficult to see themselves as ‘righteous’ before God in Christ even though that is the profound truth of being in ‘right standing’ with God because of what Jesus did for us. However the picture that many people get is that ‘righteous’ only applies when we do everything ‘right’, and can end up making us feel we are falling far too short of the mark that we can never believe it. 
Having the innocence of Christ gives us a picture of receiving unconditional care and attention from a loving Father God.  He sees our still imperfect falling short, but also sees the yielded trusting heart of a child that is growing more and more responsible for cooperating with our loving Father and desiring more and more to please him. This is something we can believe in and confidently aim for and hit the mark.
This act of faith allows our innocent self to now ‘act out’ the peaceful life of being unconditionally loved. The word ‘peace - eirene’  means oneness - oneness with God, the source of our being. So we come to him confidently and wholeheartedly trusting in his powerful work of renewal within us. Everything that has been put out of place in our disintegrated souls is put back in its right place. Everything becomes integrated into our shared life with God as we bring ourselves into that place of abiding in him. 

This yielding response can be practised till it is entered into without struggle. We set aside time to be mindful of our oneness with God, and of the continual flow of his Spirit to us and through us that touches everything within us and in our world around us with transformation and renewal.  We learn that when life makes us feel ‘upset’ we are being ‘setup’ (Up-set = set-up) to spiritually enter the innocence that Jesus spoke of when he said ‘let the little children come unto me’… 

We are also fulfilling the prayer of ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven because we are causally connected to God in the outworking of this as co laborers , participating with God in his Kingdom in action here on earth.

Carrying this presence as a reality of faith in our life changes the people and the circumstances in our world that is around us. We are not trying to change it, because we can’t. God can and God does and we are co-workers with him. 
This is living life ‘on purpose’ – it is The purpose.

 

 

Jericho

JERICHO 
Today we are looking at the story of Joshua leading Israel in the defeat of the city of Jericho, where a miracle of God caused the walls of the city to fall down so that Israel could begin their actual entrance into the Promised Land after crossing the river Jordan. This city was the first of many that Israel was to occupy in their conquest and possession of the Promised Land.  

We saw how God brought Israel through the Jordan into the Land of Promise through the miracle of holding back the waters of the flooding Jordan River. The miracle came about through the ark being carried into the water by the twelve priests. The ark represented the presence of God - and the twelve priests, one for each tribe represented ALL the people. This also represents ALL of us as humanity, entering into a new way of life through Jesus (our Joshua)

It could have seemed at the time of the crossing of the Jordan that Israel had arrived at last and were now IN the Land, and in one sense they had arrived and were IN the Land, but in reality, possession of the Land had only just begun. The promise of possessing the Land was tied to the promise; 
Deuteronomy 6:11 I will give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant. 
All this was yet to come and besides, they were to grow into a mighty Nation in the Earth that represented a living God in the Heavens. 

We now come to the first obstacle in their way to going in and possessing the Land – They had to conquer Jericho. They were told that Jericho had to be defeated and devoted to God as his holy place, and it was for Israel an enemy enclave occupied mostly by the Amorites.
Jericho means ‘a place of favour’ and ‘the place of palms’, regarded as the oasis of all oases in Canaan. Jericho is the most ancient walled city in history, its walls having been destroyed and rebuilt over thousands of years. In Joshua’s time it had outer walls 2 metres thick and 5 metres high plus one tower, with higher inner fortification walls. Surrounding the outer wall was a ditch over 8 metres wide by 3 metres deep, cut through solid bedrock. The total area of the upper city and fortification system was about nine acres, and the city at the time housed only a few thousand people. However more people from the surrounding area would have fled to Jericho at the time, terrified by the sight of over two million Israelites with thousands of head of cattle creating an enormous cloud of dust that would have been visible from afar as they slowly advanced.  

Everything that would happen from now on for Israel would belong to a new order of the plan and purpose of God. They were now called upon to take responsibility for their part in the accomplishment of God in his purposes. One small example was that now having crossed the Jordan the manna ceased falling from Heaven and they had to get their own food from the land. The battle of Jericho was a strategic disciplined operation for all the people of Israel. 

THE BATTLEOF JERICHO

Joshua 5:13 Joshua went and stood before Jericho. He looked up and saw a man standing in front of him, with his drawn sword in His hand. Joshua went to Him and said, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”
He said, “Neither, for I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped. Then he said, “What does my Lord wish to say to His servant?” The commander of the army of the LORD said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” 

This special place was not just to remain an enemy fortress but a holy place of God and everything in Jericho had to be devoted to The Lord. The commander of the army of the Lord was obviously Jesus and not an angel, because he allowed Joshua to worship him (Whenever people worshiped angels in the Bible the angels told them not to worship them because they were not God but just an angel), and Joshua called him lord (the same root word as Adonai).

Joshua 6:2 the Lord said to Joshua, "Jericho and its king and all its mighty warriors are already defeated, for I have given them to you! Your entire army is to walk around the city once a day for six days, followed by seven priests walking ahead of the Ark, each carrying a trumpet made from a ram's horn. On the seventh day you are to walk around the city seven times, with the priests blowing their trumpets. Then, when they give one long, loud blast, all the people are to give a mighty shout, and the walls of the city will fall down; then move in upon the city from every direction."

When they first came to the Jordan after being in the wilderness for forty years they all crossed the river safely because the twelve priests were obedient in their responsibility to carry the presence of God, even into the turbulent Jordan. The rest of the people just had to follow at a distance, but in this new way of life they were partners with him in the execution of his plans and purpose as his children and as the heirs of his inheritance.
This was a disciplined operation of both marshalled action and restraint from every one of them. Israel were not a battle-ready trained army and they didn’t have to be just yet, because God was giving them the victory in a miraculous way.

This time instead of twelve priests carrying the ark, seven priests carried the presence of God. There were another seven priests in front of those priests blowing the trumpets. A company of armed men was to lead the priests and a rear guard of armed men was to march behind the priests, and as they were to keep silence for the whole period of that time – in contrast to the murmuring and complaining from the previous generation that wandered in the wilderness. 
And ALL the people were to give the victory shout at the end to bring down the walls.

The number seven is significant in the Bible and is symbolic of the completion and fulness of meaning of the finality God’s purposes in the earth.
(Seven days creation and rest – the complete work of both the creative work of God and of our communion with God). 
Seven priests carried the ark. (The completeness of the presence of God).
Seven trumpets were blown. They walked once around the city each day and seven times around the city on the seventh day, and the seventh time on the seventh day the trumpets were to sound the victory blast then everyone gave the victory shout, and the walls.  

THE STORY OF US TODAY.
1Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were lessons for us, written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the age has come.
These lessons for us, is the ‘us’ of all humanity. The Apostle Paul did not just write this to a church in Corinth but to all of humanity, to know the story of the redeeming work of God throughout history.  

WHAT IS REDEMPTION? 
To redeem means to bring something that was lost into being found again, something that was out of order to be reordered, something that was malformed to be transformed, something that was broken to be restored. 
What had been broken between God and ‘us’?
Communion with God and humanity had been broken in Adam, but God did not give up on the fulfillment of his original purpose for the whole human race, to be in communion with him and to be his friend and partner in his plan and purpose for his creation. God chose one Nation Israel to represent all of us as the example of his redemption for all mankind. So Israel had to go through trial after trial of faith and trust in God, and the trial of those lessons show that they could not fully trust God. Finally Israel gave birth to Jesus, who fully and completely trusted God on our behalf. 

So what do the walls of Jericho represent spiritually, for us today?
For us those walls represent the wall of resistance around our hearts which is our human struggle of independence. We need to allow the presence of God to surround us just like the presence of God was walked around the walls seven time seven and the walls came down. God desires to capture our hearts and is able to bring us into communion and partnership with himself by surrounding us with his presence.

In those days the territory of the Promised Land was actual land but now the territory is the soil of our hearts. They were told that Jericho had to be defeated and devoted to God as his holy place. So just as Jericho behind the walls had to become holy so do our hearts. God also made a decree that the walls of Jericho were never to be rebuilt – and they weren’t! (Joshua 6:26). This work of God in capturing our hearts is a step by step process and it can be painful as there are lots of things in our personal garden that have to be uprooted or pulled down. 

This becomes the unrelenting redeeming process of the mindfuness of God toward us in bringing order out of disorder. Our response of faith to God in his creative reordering of all things trusts in his working all things in our lives together for good. God’s first act of creation was one of bringing light into darkness, and that creative act has never ceased to operate.  Everything at any one moment in time is in need of that reordering process because nothing is yet completely transformed. We ourselves constantly create disorder within our lives because of our own limitations, and creation is always colliding within itself, changing from one form of arrangement and energy into another. But we have within ourselves in union with God the creative power to see our lives and everything in them being transformed according to God’s plan, from hope to hope, one moment and one day at a time.

We can be co-workers with God in creating the future with God through what we do with him and through him in the present moment. This is the responsibility we are given. The world at this time is in its greatest need of change. You or I cannot change the world; we cannot even change another person, but we can let God change us. When we do that, that is when everything in our world is invited into the space of creative transformation that we have created. This is how the world could be changed. If there were enough people today ready and willing to accept and embrace that privilege and  responsibility we would witness the transformation of humanity, spirit, soul, and body.

This is the hope that is always before us, that this transformation is happening moment by moment as we become consciously mindful of his presence and creative goodwill towards us at all times and in every situation. 

Mindfulness and collective suffering

MINDFULNESS AND COLLECTIVE SUFFERING

God’s mindfulness towards us is a two way thing -  God starts the process of mindfulness towards us and invites us to respond. And right there begins a divine process of inner wholeness and transformation. (Romans 12:2 -  being transformed by the renewing of the mind). So What becomes transformed? – it is more than just behaviour - it is the consciousness of who we really are in union with God through Jesus. This consciousness is what captures the present moment and It fills the now with its fulness and focus. It is not simply hanging around in the background somewhere – It is front and centre in the mind. It becomes the eternal Now of our existence – always active. 

We develop in the growth of mindfulness with God through the challenges of life. We each have different personal situations to contend with; relational, financial, self-worth, general fears and anxieties. But the greatest challenge is not what the actual external situation is but the fear on the inside that needs to be faced and met with faith.

Our state of mindful faith in these situations determines the quality of peace and stability in our personal lives. Otherwise life becomes a series of reactions because we are not in that settled place of mindful faith within ourselves and this affects the quality of our wisdom in decision making and the ability to recover from the consequences of our mistakes and from the mishaps that happen unexpectedly.  

When we are flowing in mindfulness with God we can not only find a place of peace within ourselves but a place of empowered faith in God that makes us more aware of his compassion for the pain and suffering that others are going through so that we can touch his compassion and be more effective in providing help and care and prayer.

In this way we can come together in many places as communities of faith, love and care, being mindful of one another that we are all going through different things at different times at different levels, and being aware of a ‘faith safety net’ of common goodwill and care in the group.

But - when the entire global community comes under a shared existential threat of common adversity and danger there is a level of collective stress and anxiety that intensifies each person’s personal challenges and causes a collective consciousness of unresolved hardship or suffering. It is felt or discerned as a silent suffering that seems to hang in the air over people everywhere as a spiritual energy of darkness and uncertainty. This causes an accumulation of distress, physically, emotionally, financially, politically and spiritually, as fear and darkness invade the minds of people. 
Light has to come into this darkness.

It is at times like this that God provides grace for us to operate at a deeper level of focussed faith that his power is at work in the entire situation. 

At times like these there is such a thing as standing in the gap. The Bible says God looks for someone to stand in the gap for others on his behalf. 
Ezekiel 22:30 So I looked for someone among them… who would stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the whole Land (eres-  earth), that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

This is the cry of the Father’s heart that was answered by Jesus almost two thousand years ago when he stood in the gap for us in his death and resurrection, and brought us into union with himself and the Father through The Holy Spirit. 
There is a story of this in the Bible that represents this standing in the gap principle. It is the story of Joshua when He led Israel across the river Jordan, out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. (Joshua is the Old Testament name for Jesus, Yeshua)

Joshua 3:1 Joshua and all the people of Israel left Acacia and arrived that evening at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped for a few days before crossing.
On the third day officers went through the camp giving these instructions:"When you see the priests carrying the Ark of God, follow them. You have never before been where we are going now, so they will guide you. However, stay 2000 cubits behind, with a clear space between you and the Ark; For tomorrow, the Lord will do a great miracle."
In the morning Joshua ordered the priests, "Take up the Ark and lead us across the river!"And so they started out.
"Today,"the Lord told Joshua,"I will give you great honor, so that all Israel will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses. Instruct the priests who are carrying the Ark to stop at the edge of the river."
Then Joshua summoned all the people and told them; Today you are going to know for sure that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites--all the people who now live in the land you will soon occupy. Think of it! The Ark of God, who is Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the river! "Now select twelve men, one from each tribe, for a special task. When the priests who are carrying the Ark touch the water with their feet, the river will stop flowing as though held back by a dam, and will pile up as though against an invisible wall!" Now it was the harvest season and the Jordan was overflowing all its banks; but as the people set out to cross the river and as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river's edge, suddenly, far up the river at the city of Adam, the water began piling up as though against a dam! And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was empty. Then all the people crossed at a spot where the river was close to the city of Jericho, and the priests who were carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan and waited as all the people passed by.

Joshua told the company of twelve priests (representing the twelve tribes) to carry the ark upon their shoulders. The ark contained the presence of God.

The people were to follow this company at a distance of 2000 cubits. Everything that happened to them was a pattern for us to learn from in these days. 

The priests were commanded to stand at the edge of the Jordan River and God said he would do a great miracle and drive out all their enemies before them. The people were told ‘When the priests who are carrying the Ark touch the water with their feet, the river will stop flowing as though held back by a dam and will pile up as though against an invisible wall (all the way back to Adam!’).
This was the work of God, not the work of the priests; all they had to do was to carry the ark, the presence of God, but they had to have faith that God would do the mighty miracle work in the world of the unseen. Their natural minds would have said ‘You are going to drown in there’, but they would have had no doubt that they were bearing the presence of God on behalf of all those people.

Then all the people crossed at a spot where the river was close to the city of Jericho, and the priests who were carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan and waited as all the people passed by.

The people would never have entered into the Promised Land or entered into a new life under God where they could give thanks to have his spiritual blessings and his provision of fields and crops and houses. They had become used to struggling and straggling in the wilderness without hope or confidence – and now their time had come. But it required that the priests stood in the gap. 

THE STORY OF US TODAY.
1Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
The people were told in that Scripture to keep at a distance of 2000 cubits as they followed the priests who were carrying the ark of the presence of God. The obedience of the priests carrying the presence of God and stepping into the turbulent Jordan river prepared the way for the miracle of God in stopping the river from preventing all the people to cross over on dry land into the blessings of the Land of Promise.

Those priests were a prophetic picture of Jesus as our High Priest overcoming darkness and death for us so that we could enter into the fulness of the Promise of God in Jesus.
What could this 2000 cubits signify? 
Consider the fact that it was about 2000 years ago that Jesus was born, but it was some years later at around thirty years of age when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan and carried the presence of God in that river for all of humanity. His baptism in the Jordan river was a picture of his death and resurrection, just as our water baptism is described in the Bible.
Romans 6:3 we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we can also walk in newness of life. 
Jesus stood in the gap for all of us so that we could be included in his life.

In these days of global confusion and darkness God is calling for a people like those priests, to stand in the gap and to create a pathway for others to find light and truth and to enter in to a place of confidence and hope in the fulness of God. 

Today we can be that company of priests that can stand in the gap for others. We can carry the presence of God. We carry that presence in our hearts by faith. We are able to live in the two-way mindfulness of God, being conscious of his desire to express his life through us and with us.
We can become the light of God in the midst of great darkness.
What does it mean for us to put our feet in the Jordan like those priests did? They faced a huge challenge of faith; they would have thought they could have drowned in that turbulent river, but they trusted God because they had been told; ‘The Lord will do a great miracle’.

We are following in the footsteps of those priests, but more than that, it means that we are following Jesus in our willingness to experience the cross in our lives, for ourselves and for the sake of others. Taking up our cross is that same kind of challenge of faith that those priests faced. It is the challenge of denying ourselves for the sake of being aligned to the miracle working power of God.

This is because we know that the experience of the cross always leads to the experience of his resurrection. We find faith for his supernatural working in the world of the unseen for us, not only in our lives, but also in the challenging situations of those people in our world that we stand in the gap for.

There are many people that you may have been praying for, that are struggling and straggling, but God wants to make a way for them to enter in to a new life of faith and hope and love. He hears the cry of the suffering hearts and he has made a way. There is still time for them.