Turn To See

John 20:15-16 “ “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She TURNED and said to him in Aramaic,“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). “

Is it possible that the thing you are crying over is actually over and you don’t know it yet?

It was so with Mary Magdalene.  She had reached such a high point in her grieving and was so immobilized by it, that she couldn’t even recognize the Man in front of her to be the One who she was crying over. Jesus, the Risen Lord, stood in her sight as the living proof of the invalidity of her grief and yet Mary could not reconcile it with what she was seeing with her eyes. Are our eyes so clouded with tears that we cannot see that our prayers are being answered, are we mourning over unfulfilled promises, when they are in fact, fully-fledged out and asking us “who is it you are looking for?”

We can get so overwhelmed by what we see or know in the natural that it becomes impossible for us to comprehend when the supernatural occurs, even if it has been promised to us by the infallible word of God. Such was what happened with Sarah, that when she considered her body that had lived out its natural purpose and the age of her husband, she laughed at the promise God gave Abraham, that He would surely bless them with a son within the year (Genesis 18:11-12 “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”“).

It’s a natural reaction, right? ….Well, should it be?

Mary crying at the grave side, is such an obviously expected behavior, that it should have surprised her when she was asked why she was doing it. I believe that Jesus was calling her attention to how she was perceiving what was happening around her, just as the Lord addressed Sarah’s hidden laughter (Genesis 18: 13-14 “The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son””). You see, we are called to be spiritual beings. But when we try to process things as natural men and women, there is a gap in our understanding which can result in our perceiving things of the spirit incorrectly or partially and emoting to the confusion we see rather than the confirmation that it is  (1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”)

YOU CANNOT SEE THROUGH THE FLESH WHAT CAN ONLY BE SHOWN TO THE SPIRIT

Please look at this image below:

What God speaks to us can look like this if we try to understand it in the natural. Just like an encrypted email can only be opened by the recipient who has the password given to him by the sender because of the confidentiality that he enjoys with him, the heavenly secrets can only  be accessed by the children of God who commune with Him in spirit and in truth. God is Spirit and He made us to be spiritual beings who discern things in our spirit and not in our flesh. He gave us the Holy Spirit to aid us in this endeavor. (John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth,…”) The real question is: Are we sometimes anxious, depressed, angry, fearful, doubtful or weary because we have been trying to reconcile the very real challenges we are going through with the promises of God based on our human interpretation and failing ? If we have, then we need to know that there is a disconnect in our life with the divine, because THE DIVINE CANNOT BE COMPREHENDED AT THE LEVEL OF THE HUMAN; NO MATTER HOW INTELLIGENT THE SAID HUMAN IS.

It is our own fleshly knowledge that veils our hearts. This veil is manifested as the grief in Mary’s heart that she wished for the body of the crucified Jesus while standing in the presence of His resurrected self and it is manifested as the defeat in Sarah’s heart that she dismissed the supernatural blessing as impossible. I wonder if we too are looking into an empty grave while the Lord is calling to us. I wonder if we too are standing behind a DOOR and listening to what God is speaking, instead of  meeting Him face to face (Genesis 18:9-10 “They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.”) Our spiritual eyes can be opened wide enough to believe God only when we are truly facing Him. It was when Jesus called our her name that Mary TURNED to Him and realized the risen Lord (John 20:Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).”)

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ”  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit“

When we turn to the Lord, we are are truly unveiled and guess what: not only is our understanding about spiritual truths clarified but we are freed from disappointments caused by our fleshly interpretations and our very countenance begins to reflect His glory. No more weeping in grief or laughing in disbelief, just boasting in the goodness of God, unveiled in Christ Jesus.

GOD BLESS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Spectacle

Colossians 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

It’s the hour when the called out priesthood of the Lord of Hosts is once again reminded of the time when God made a public spectacle of His love by giving His Only Son Jesus to die on the cross for us. How often do we remember this when we absently comment on someone’s common mistakes or intentionally launch into a diatribe over the great injustice done by another- that the Lord not only took a stand to cancel every one of our merited condemnations, but has also taken His rightful seat to continue advocating on the behalf of the entire world? (Romans 8:33-34 “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”)

We live in a day and age when it’s possible to make known our views, opinions and judgements on any given topic or person, simply at the touch of a finger. The technology in communication which reinvents itself every nanosecond to supposedly bring people closer together, has endowed mankind with the power to raise an applause for one and an outcry against another, making anything and everything a sensational news item. There are several platforms on which the most mundane mistakes and the most private misdemeanors recieve avalanches of undue attention from across the globe. We, as the church of God, need to make the difference in the way we use these channels, by categorically manifesting the love of God at every given opportunity, because that is exactly what Jesus did- every time a group of people looked down on someone’s misdeeds, Jesus turned up to embrace that very person in full view of everyone (Luke 19:5-7 “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.””)

What Jesus did in that moment looking up at Zaccheus, was actually directed at the crowds that surrounded Him. Instead of pointing a finger at Zaccheus’ malpractices or demanding a public apology for his unethical means of money-making, Jesus simply made a scene of His reckless love for the sinner-man! He set the perfect example to show that we who are called to be in the business of building each other up in love shouldn’t be tearing each other down (Galatians 5:14-15 “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”)

Christian exhorting is NOT mudslinging a miscreant with an audience watching. It is the private dealing with a sibling, done in utter meekness and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, with a heightened awareness of the ONLY God-desired outcome- to bring home the prodigal (Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”) And for those of us who would persist in unveiling another’s mistakes, the Lord admonishes that we first look into our own closet (John 8:7 “.. “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”) An anonymous writer has rightly said, “for often he who is first to find fault, is the very one who has first transgressed.”

God bless

I am NO VICTIM!

PSALM 34:10 “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

If your relationship is with your SUPPLIER is good, you’ll never have bad inventory. Suffering lack is not for those of us who are aware of our own identity as the sons and daughters of the Most High God (Ephesians 1:5 “He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”).

The children of the King of Kings are not victimised by the fluctuations in the economy. We who know the portion of the promises in store for those who worship God and belong to Him (Psalm 112:1-3 “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.”), also have the perfect perspective from heaven that fully convinces us of God’s ability to keep His commitments (Jeremiah 1:12 “Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it””). Only with such clairty in the line of our spiritual sight, do we confidently and consistently go to the throneroom everyday, not to beg and plead for a morsel, but to sit at His table and eat from His hand what we know has been prepared freshly just for us (Matthew 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread”).

Being God-provisioned is way beyond getting our daily dietary requirements met by God. It is a lifestyle acquired by those who put their belief in the faithfulness of God’s love and choose to rest in Him and in His strength. It’s a place where He joyfully arranges free-flowing food, drink and favor in their lives as an expression of His manner of love toward them (Psalm 36:7-8 “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.”)

God delights in lavishing His love and care upon His own ‘flesh’- for that’s what we are (Ephesians 5:29 “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,”) and He doesn’t find any ask too difficult to fulfill (Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”). The question about the needy and those suffering lack is never about God’s ability or inclination to provide for those that are His, rather it is always about will He be asked, as fathers are by their children. It is those that don’t go to the Father by rightful sonship that often complain that God is partial to some while ignoring others, but the reality is that the Abba Father has never turned away anyone who has lifted their eyes unto Him and asked of Him. It’s delusional to think that created beings know how to bless those that they beget and that He who is their Creator wouldn’t do infinitely more for those that He handcrafted and that depend on Him (Matthew 7:9-11 “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”)

Yes, we are previleged in Christ and we fixate on Him with our lives rotating on the axis of the cross, but we do so for far more than just a filling, and only those that truly seek Him enjoy the enormity of the feast that He has laid up for those that have RSVP’d to His invitation, and trust us – ‘the bread’ is just the sides!

God bless!

God Of All Comfort

Isaiah 66:13 “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

When we picture God as God the Father, it is natural to visualize Him in a perfectly paternal way as the Planner, Provider, and Protector. But we are also promised in the Word of God that we will receive a kind of nurturing care in God’s hands that is like that of a mother to her new born. Actually, even more mindful than that is He in His compassion toward us (Isaiah 49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”) When we think of the Lord as compassionate we expect the expression of such a compassion to take the form of readily available soothing arms to hold us whenever we are hurting, lonely or in need for such an affection. But today, we are encouraged to have a bigger understanding of the greatness and timelessness of the love and the motherhood of our Abba Father, which is not just about hugs and kisses to make a boo boo go away but it is about the Great I Am using his own body to provide comfort to His people as nursing mother does her child!

The comfort of a mother’s arms paint a picture of a mother holding close to her bosom her child to satisfy every last bit of hunger and thirst that  the child was wailing because of.  Just as a mother cannot biologically turn away from the cry of a child but is compelled to attend to it so urgently because her body responds to that plaintive call even before her mind can process the situation, God cannot and does not miss the sincere cries of His people, instead He hastens to hear us and cannot help but respond in His great love for us (Psalm 66 :19-20 ” But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”)

Because we so often cry out against our situations and tear up about this thing, that thing or the other in our prayer, we might anticipate that our God who is the prayer answering God would rush toward us like a relay race runner with the answer like a baton which He would pass to into our outstretched waiting hands so that we can grab it and run forward without even looking back. Sometimes we simply want God to quiet our tantrums by handing us the exact missing pieces to fit the puzzle that we scattered all over the place- meet the immediate need with an immediate feed. But then no mother treats her child’s requirement like a drive thru fast-food joint does its customer’s order. A mother takes the time to read her child’s face and knows what her child is really hungering after, even without being told and feeds her child accordingly and certainly not with anything junk if she can help it! So does our Lord. He knows that though we may be famished and all cried out, our prayers don’t need breaded answers, rather a supernatural provision that comes not from the ground up but heaven down, the living Word which when we consume ravenously we would be satiated in a more real way (Deuteronomy 8:3 “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”)

We are not simply at the receiving end of the maternal care and nurturing at the hands of our God but are called to be an extension cord to whoever needs plugging into His love. The nursing mother comforting her infant with the warmth of her own body is also a divine display of how our God, the Balm of Gilead, intends for His body, the church, each and every one of His own chosen people who have received loving kindness at his hands to be the source of comfort for all the ailing and wailing who are in desperate need of soothing (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”).

God Bless

 

 

Hiding in Glory

Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

Mankind has been seeking a hiding place to harbor deepest fears and darkest secrets since the first Adam sinned and lost the glory covering (Genesis 3:7-8 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden”). Adam hid himself from God and from the ensuing judgement that would arise as a consequence to his sin and even today people are hiding from God. The real force against which we need to hide ourselves is Satan and his temptations, for he’s constantly on the lookout for a target who will fall prey to his charms (1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”) The enemy’s intent is that we take one step in disobedience and blow our God-given cover and hide from one another and from God Himself instead of in Him!

It is no wonder then that when one thinks of a hideout, they think of a dimly lit or a non-or illuminated, desolate place where no one is likely to discover them. Some are cleverer still and hide in plain sight by displaying their guilt and shame as nothing more than a mundane occurrence in this big bad world where everything goes and no one would give them a second glance. For those of us who know the good news that Jesus won us back our glorious garment, we also know that we are reinstated to our original hiding place:GOD (Ephesians 5:27 “ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”) The presence of God is better than any other safe-house we can think of on our own to take cover from the principalities and powers of darkness, because in that place is the resounding echo of a victory that has already been won. There is a tune of our escape being at hand in that atmosphere that is not available elsewhere (Psalm 32:7 “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”).

It may be called “shadow”, but it is actually radiant with God’s power.

The very Person of God and His presence to which we are freely given free access to because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, is not a dark dungeon nor is it empty. It is marvelously incandescent with God’s glory and brimming with His awesome power (Habakkuk 3:3-4 “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.”) Such is the hiding place God wants us to seek, where the pursuer will be blinded by His light and completely undermined by His omnipotence and so will not be able to touch us.  It is also where God’s glory varnishes us to face our challenger (Isaiah 49:2 “..in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.”) He invites us to abandon our worldly and self-made hideouts and make Him our refuge. He desires above all that we tuck ourselves under the fetters of His wings instead of trying to be self-reliant or making war and violence our bunkers or using offence as our defense (Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”)

Our God, seeing that He fashioned us after His own self, has also bequeathed unto us the ability and the means to be a sanctuary to others who are needy and has placed a mighty calling over us that we should be the fetters to His wings taking in a shelter-seeking brother or sister.  For such a ministry as this, He promises that He will light our way and His glory will be our sentinel (Isaiah 58:7-8 “when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”)

Men of the earth seek refuge to protect themselves from harm’s way (that usually means other men of the earth) and hire the services of armed personnel (again, other men of the earth!) in whom they put their trust to guard them. Buildings have watchmen, people have personal bodyguards, even national leaders have entire departments paid with public monies entrusted with the security surveillance and safekeeping of their lives. But, only the children of God can truly identify the real enemy (Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”) and also be completely aware that the target of such an enemy- our flesh, is dead, and what life we have is securely hidden in God with the Only Undefeated One – Jesus Christ, and that it is continually preserved in glory (Colossians 3:3-4 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”)

God Bless.

 

Off-loading the right cargo

Jonah 1:5 “Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.”

There are times when God allows a gale to blow over our lives, not to topple us over but to sever some associations that might have climbed aboard and lying dormant somewhere around. The reason is not that they’re wrong associates but that their purposed destination is quite different  to where we are headed and God does not want us to facilitate someone’s disobedience however passive the facilitation may be. 

GOD BLESS 

Boast in Christ Not in Past

2 Corinthians 10:17-18 “ “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”

We can be boastful without even meaning to. That’s the fact. Humility doesn’t come by accident. It is not the default position of the heart to be humble. If it is our desire to do the will of God, our heart must first, consciously, take the right position- an inclined posture leaning on His works, His testimony, His words of wisdom. Or else, we stand at risk of making a move or speaking a word that can unintentionally be self-serving or self-appraising (Psalm 119:36 ” Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”).  When we are constantly watching reruns of the past from which Christ Jesus has rescued us, it ceases to be boasting about God and turns into boasting about ourselves, even with the ‘Hallelujahs’ and the ‘Praise the Lords’. It is like looking at a picture in of you in a roller-coaster and remembering the ride and not the guy that opened the gate and let you out. 

The tendency to pat oneself on the back arises especially when we take a trip down memory lane. Oh those days! We see the great gulf between the ‘Where-I-had-been’ to the ‘Where-I-am-at’, and our heart swells with inadvertent pride. A splendid opportunity to accredit God with the logistics really! (Psalm 40:2 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”) Sometimes, we reminisce about how lengthy the trials had been and how tricky the mazes were out of which God’s righteous right hand has navigated us.When we love telling tales about our own wicked past, we are indulging in a perverse glorying in the suffering or in the ignorance that was part of us in the past. If we are talking about “the bog” more than “the Rock”, we need to know that we are ‘gossiping’, because it is a story about someone that has died to those works (2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”)

Our humility is in the boasting of God’s work that is alive in us, that is producing a new fruit in us everyday, not in the dead works that we have walked out of (Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— “). The difference between boasting in Christ and boasting in self is how often we remember what He is doing over and over again in us versus what we did once upon a time.  We are called to count our blessings, His benefits, and not keep the books of the losses before that. When we do this we truly enjoy the rewards of God’s approval- we soar high in His commendation of who we are in Him  (Psalm 103:2-5 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”)

We need to be careful of what memories we choose to relive and what we choose to keep in their graves. If what God has chosen to forget is something we choose to remember, isn’t that prideful? And He has chosen to remember our past no more for His name’s sake. There is no glory to God in our resurrecting the dusty old bones from the closet (Isaiah 43:25 ““I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”) If we insist on doing it we need to be aware that we are idolizing our ‘has-been’ and actively blocking our visibility of the ‘will-be’ plans of God for us. That is why God asks that we let go of the past and look forward (Isaiah 43:18-19 ““Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”)

Today is a great time to quit looking in the rear-view mirror and get the wipers going on the windshield ahead and put the gear on God’s Drive into our future.

God Bless.

 

 

 

 

 

Get In Touch!

Matthew 9:20-22 “ And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.”

Our God is REACHABLE!! No matter how crowded it can get, if we are willing to put out our hand in faith we will find that “His Garment” is accessible. The garment of Jesus was typically one of the Jewish attire, just as that of any other Israelite. It was inclusive of the tassels on the corners which consummated the law (Numbers 15:38-39 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner.And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them…”)  To the hurting woman the hem of Jesus’ garment represented the fulfillment of all the commandments that she knew she’d not been able to fulfill. After all, she’d been “ceremonially unclean” for twelve years until then and could not be declared as clean until she had made an offering for the cleansing which would require at least 7 days of not discharging any blood.

The woman recognized her need to get in touch with Jesus because she believed that if she would ONLY touch His garment she would be made well. Physical wellness, a sense of wholeness and well-being is most often a motive for reaching out to God. The sick and hurting have been known to throng to places that are great distances away and to experts that are almost unbearably unaffordable, just to receive healing in their bodies. But this woman had realized that her HEALING is both accessible and available at the stretching forth of her hand in faith. To the one who believes that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of ALL the commandments and that His garment (His righteousness) can bring salvation, their faith can and does relieve them of bodily suffering and restores them to perfect health (Romans 10:4 “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”)

The stigma that would have been attached to the disease the woman was carrying around for twelve years is at best unimaginable. She had to have been looked down upon for her “ceremonial uncleanness” by the society at large. We may be considered as outcast in the midst of our own people because of our circumstances and maybe people don’t want us near them for fear of contagiously acquiring our situation. It might be that we have reached out to people but haven’t found anyone who would want to take our hand or may be we have feared soiling others with our distasteful past and so have steered clear of them. But if we come into CONTACT with the “Living Word” we are purified. Jesus, ‘The Word who became flesh’ cleanses us from every defilement through His Word (John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”) Our spotlessness matters to Him because we are His dwelling place and He is the “Temple Cleanser” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”)

Twelve years of “Haemorrhoissa”- continuous menstruation would mean that for the entirety of that period she was unable to conceive a child. Her identity as a woman with child-bearing abilities was compromised. Her fertility was masked by her physical condition. We may possess the potential to be productive in something specific but if there is a constant outflow of our time and energy into other causes we are hindered from conceiving God’s purposed gifts for us. But today, if we are ready to reach out and experience the tangible presence of God in our lives and CONNECT with Him in faith, He is ready heal us of our infirmity and end barrenness in our lives (Exodus 23:25-26 “You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”)

Are we prepared to blindly reach our in faith and touch the hem of Christ’s Garment?(Mark 5:56 “..And as many as touched it were made well.” His Righteousness is easily accessible and available. Let’s Put our hands in the hands of the Man from Galilee.

God Bless.

 

 

 

 

 

Anoint the shield

Isaiah 21:5 “They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; OIL THE SHIELD“

For godly men and women, being engaged in warfare is nothing more than an exercise of  our spiritual office as we are always found in one of three stages – Going into war, in the middle of war, coming out of war (having been victorious or defeated until next attempt).We are called to suit up in the armor of God and be found armed and dangerous at all times not so we can instigate the enemy but to combat the assailant in the face of assault, and above all, to be preserved at the end of it (Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”) Equipment for doing battle is both of the offensive and defensive kind, both of which require anointing. The preparation of arms with oil is done for a three-fold purpose – to preserve them, to polish them and to make them slippery and difficult to be countered by the enemy’s attack.

Now the ointment that we oil our artillery with is the anointing  of the Holy Spirit that is poured out upon us from above. We might have acquired our divine armor and ammunition but it is the heaven-sent anointing that turns it into a mighty spiritual weapon in God to fight our spiritual wars (2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”) 

Two things happen when the Holy Spirit readies us and our equipment for battle- the enemy becomes a visible target and the Lord of Hosts sends an army to take its position behind us

The Enemy : 

It can be difficult at times to perceive what form and shape the enemy takes to come against us seeing as we are not fighting an incarnate (Ephesians 6:12 “or we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”) But it is not the intention of our Heavenly Father that we be in the dark or be uncomprehending about our attacker. When we choose to use our faith under the government of the Holy Spirit, the formless enemy will not only be forced to reveal his identity but will also be unable to counter this deadly combo (Acts 6:8-10 “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.  And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.”)

The Army:

Seldom are we aware of all the help that God makes available to us in the face of peril. At best we feel ill-equipped with our faith being shaky at the knees and at worst we feel all- alone. But when we in our one-man capacity are willing to partner with God, our enemies are as good as conquered because He chooses to stand by our side and be our army and our ammunition rolled into one (Judges 6:16 “And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”) But sometimes, we yearn for a physical evidence of support for our cause which we are convinced no one else cares about as passionately as we do (1 Kings 19:14 “He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”) It is then that the Lord pours out His Spirit on us and causes a host of soldiers to be enlisted to back us up, only to comfort us and lift up our morale (Judges 6:34 “But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.”)

Dear Church, let us ready ourselves for war-waging. All we need do is seek the instructions of the Commander in Chief of the Lord’s army, polish our armaments with His Anointing and wait and see His Salvation….because the battle belongs to the Lord.

God Bless

 

 

 

 

 

 

Israel of God

Galatians 6:15-16 ” It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by THIS STANDARD are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!”

The most coveted identity for a child of God is to be the ” Israel of God”, God’s own, chosen set of people. The phrase brings with it such a strong feel of belonging and commitment between the Creator and His creation, a hope of God’s permanent accompaniment and a fulfillment of all of His promises. This is because that is exactly what God intended for us to experience according to His word to Jacob (Israel) in their very first encounter (Genesis 28:15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”)

The ONLY way for us to truly acquire the title of “Israel of God” is in our BEING and not in our DOING.

Can we take a moment to turn around, look back and watch ourselves in slow-motion? At those failed attempts to do the right thing, unsuccessfully trying to free ourselves from oppressive bonds, strenuously striving to live according to guidelines and rules, all in the name of “achieving” righteousness? What little success in our relationship status with God we birthed through our rule-keeping and sustained by our own strength has slowly but surely passed away. Cause of death: We did what we did nullifying the GRACE of GOD that was given to us through the finished work of the cross. We told God “We’ll be your people and we’ll DO whatever it takes to be that”, not taking into account that God already DID whatever it took for us to be His people (Galatians 2:21 “I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.”)

We can go to spas, boot camps, therapy, counseling, but rest assured that THERE IS NO REHAB LIKE JESUS! All the above mentioned facilities work from the outside in. They find out our needs and then attempt to restore us to the last known stable version. But in Christ Jesus, we are created newly all over again from the very first cell that joined together with another cell (2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”) and restored us to our original version- that of the image of God. And we can be reconfigured to our new creation status as many times as needed as long as we opt to remain in Christ and allow Him to program it in us. After all, a corrupt software cannot fix itself, but can only be debugged by its Proprietor!

“Israel of God” is an exclusively all-embracing club with the only precondition that all members are required to live in the reality of God working a renewal in us. The Holy Spirit working the restructuring and re-fabricating of our lives to match God’s brand standards is one of the key benefits of our association with the identity, not a pre-qualification for it (Ephesians 2:22 “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”) This is something we ought to remember no matter for however long we have belonged to this privileged society. Occasionally, with the passage of time and the view of the skeletal framework that has taken shape we take false confidence in our ability to pursue the perfection of what was initiated by the Spirit of God in forking out the rubble and cementing in the new. But the license to carry out the rebuilding and renewal of our lives rests with the Holy Spirit alone and where He has already begun construction we cannot hope to take control back into our hands at a later date and complete it successfully (Galatians 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?)

 Shall we then issue God with the work permit and choose to receive deeply and personally the assembling of our lives into a new creation that is being granted to us so freely?

God Bless.