How did 1 stone kill a giant ?

Hi Guys ,

I wanted to share with you a message from Church last week that really impacted me, you know - those sermons where you just can't stop writing because of all the good theology you're hearing ?


I want to talk about David and Goliath.
Now it's probably one of the most well known accounts in the Bible.
But I saw it in such a new way, it was shocking how much depth could be gleaned from a somewhat simple event.


1SAMUEL 16'1 says : '... I have provided [for] myself a King amoung his [Jesse's] sons'


--- When David was called to be a king, he was seen as anything BUT great.
He was a shepherd (on of the most popular vocations mentioned so much in the Bible) with that came great humility, a great level of isolation, patience and endurance. So much so, that in his time of not having anyone around him, David's talent of playing the harp became a perfected skill that led him to perform infront of royalty.

God was preparing David's heart for the life ahead. He was creating a masterpiece, a man after His own heart [1SAM13'14] 

David's life becomes accounted for in the Bible after he is anointed by Samuel to be the new king of Israel [1SAM16'13]

13So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.


David has the Spirit of God come UPON him for the very special purpose God is about to fulfill in his life, to be the leader of God's nation.
But,
In the meantime, he continues to be a shepherd boy. Until he's sent on an errand to his brothers in battle.

God had prepared him with the bear and lion to defeat a giant : 1SAM17'34
34 But David said to Saul, Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,(37) I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.…


NOW HERE COMES THE PART I NEVER SAW BEFORE


When David went out to fight the battle, He took a few things and was led by God's Spirit.

THE STAFF 

What does a staff do , it leads, guides, and comforts you .

'...Thy rod and thy staff will comfort me...' PSALMS23

Who in our Spiritual walk is known as the comforter ? THE HOLY SPIRIT.

John 14'16 : And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
He is known as the guide : JOHN16'13: When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
David took the staff. = HOLY SPIRIT

THE  BROOK 

The brook is a living stream of 'living water' that flows from God. Word of God, is also, a living stream that replenishes our souls and renews our minds :
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John4'14
Just as David picked out 5 stones for himself in the living brook,
We can also ask God for help to pick out the Scriptures we need to find in His book.
David had 5 stones = THE WORD OF GOD

How did 1 stone kill a giant ?


HEBREWS 4'12 :
'For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword...'


It was not the physical stone that killed the giant. Just like Jericho's walls, the 5 loaves and 2 fish and many other miracles in the Bible ...

What we see is just a shadow, a copy of what is really going on behind the physical world . 

In 2 KINGS 6, when Elisha and his servant were about to be attacked by a huge army, look what Elisha said :

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are morethan those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lordopened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

We must have authority and believe that the Staff will lead us to pick the right stones from the living water. God is good. And He will not give us more than we can handle or bear. 

'... Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us...' ROMANS 12 '3


Let us aspire to the faith of David, and so man patriarchs that carried the torch of faith till this very day.
Our faith, from God, gives us the ability to pick up that one stone and throw it.
The REST is owned by God.

Amen .

Am I really a Christian ?

The Pride Issue

This is a post I was working on to submit to a Christian Girl blog a while ago,
I thought it might be an interesting read and a constant reminder
for the importance of humility in life .
IMTAPA
xx

The Pride Issue

I'd grown up in church my entire life, I had a great relationship with God however the topic of humility never seemed to resonate. I’d always thought that as long as you never externally accept a compliment, you were safe - 

Little did I know, God was planning a years’ worth of lessons to teach me one of the most important values I would ever learn as a Christian.

The Bible says that the Lord ‘hates a proud look’ Proverbs 6’17 – and my, had I given more than a few of those. As a girl who had grown up in my home town church there was a certain position I felt I owned, I blindly thought I was the ‘darling of the church’ and that people looked up to me as an exemplar person. I had perfect grades, always looked my best – hugely active in Church activities and completely lost in my own little world where everything revolved around me. I wasn’t always this way, but these emotions crept up on me almost subconsciously and I never even thought twice about my mounting self-opinion. It was a seed that had kept growing until the fruits suddenly started to show in my behaviour and thoughts towards others.

I won’t forget the moment an elder in my church congratulated me on a presentation I had made as part of a church celebration that weekend, I was feeling so puffed-up, so completely self-sufficient - and proud of it. He said ‘Well done you did a very good work today… but remember don’t let pride enter your life’. I brushed it off, but those words stuck and came back to me when I hit the ground a few months later.

As I entered into the last year of my studies at Secondary School, I realised I wasn’t as capable as I thought. Getting into University in England is not an easy task and everything was not as smooth sailing as I might have hoped for. Despite the constant hours of studying and applying myself to my work, it didn’t seem to be enough. I was beyond disappointed when I didn’t get into my first choice university, my world had collapsed because I didn’t get my way. I was no longer the perfect girl who got everything she wanted, and I couldn’t understand why.

I didn’t have a light bulb moment, and I won’t claim an epiphany, but through a series of events starting with a huge academic mishap God showed me:

The world does NOT revolve around me.

I realise now that God was used that situation to convey how severe the sin of pride is. He was not punishing me, He was re-shaping me. I needed to understand that there is no hope for a man who is ‘wise in his own eyes’ Prov26’12

Pride is a personal struggle, and it is a battle that must be consistently fought on a daily basis. It was pride that made Lucifer the devil and it is pride that causes us to sin, when we think our ways are better than obedience to God, we make the mistake of raising ourselves above God in our own minds.

 I did just that. I thought I was an un-touchable in my own right and that God would never let anything or anyone rise above me, when really, He calls us to do just the opposite. If we really want to follow Jesus by His example, we must first look at the greatest act of humility … [He] emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men.’ Phillipans 2’7. It was Jesus’ humility that enabled the Great Exchange to even take place.

My pride was very subtle, but it was killing my relationship with God and I didn’t even know it. I want to encourage you today to take a look at your life, and see the various times you may have thought highly of yourself, ask God for guidance , confess your known and subconscious pride to Him so that He can honour you with a stronger deeper relationship.

‘One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honour.’ -Proverbs 29’23

Do you think of yourself more highly than others?

Have you ever given a ‘haughty look’ before ?

Do you consider humility to be an important part of your life?

It's Gods-Team or No-Team People !!!!

So I was reading 2PETER2'8 this morning and a verse was highlighted to me: 

'Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.'

In this chapter, Peter is warning Christians against false teachers. Now this is really poignant, because 'false teachers' are very much part of the end time concept or eschatology (as Paul Washer recently let me know ;) We often think of the sheep dressed inwolves clothing (MATT7'15) concept as a modern-day reality. - But it really started from the early days of the church, (2 PETER was written in AD67.) So false teachers were very much a reality in the church just about from the very start. 

'Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. '2

The real pick up for me this morning was found in verse 8: 

'Yes Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.'

--- I was reading this and thinking, could I put myself in Lot's Position in this particular verse?

Am I tormented in my by the evil that I see around me every day, I mean, does it REALLY torment me? (Defined as, creates a severe sense of suffering in my soul?)

This question reminded me of a message I heard preached from my home church entitled: ‘Desensitisation'. It centres on the idea that Christians who live in the world should not grow cold to the things of God by subconsciously accepting the evil they see around them due to constant exposure. 

One of my really good friends, who just happens to be 80 years old said something so profound to me before she passed away 2 years ago. Whenever she used to watch the news and hear about people dying and the horrors of the world she would cry. She actually began to watch the news less and less because the horrors of so many people without hope and God in their lives made her so sad. In that moment, she made me realise how truly heartless I am. I could hear news of mass murders, wars and distastes and my emotional state doesn't usually exceed more than a 'gasp'/sigh or slight whimper. I realised that I am in danger. In danger of having a hardened heart. 

There’s a scripture that says: 'Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.'

Now I'll say that this context is talking about love for God, but in many cases this can relate to our love for others, our tolerance of sin. 

I'll speak for myself here and say that : I'm not as sensitive as I want to be  to the horrors of the world because I've seen it so often. 

And that worries me, it worries me immensely because I feel like I'm getting used to sin.

If you aren't disgusted by the transgender affairs taking place, if you laugh at crude jokes and don't feel out-of-place in groups of secularists, if you don't freeze on the inside when you hear blasphemy in songs and shudder at the halloween-aisles in the stores. If you can watch explicit movie scenes and listen to secular music all day long. - THEN YOU are being desensitised to the things of God. 

The sad part is... you may not even know it. 

MATT24'12 Says: 'Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.'

These things should scare you, and 'torment' your soul' 

We are only passing through, we are the light, and we have to outwit the darkness. 

We see in the cases of so many Biblical Characters that sin is not displayed on a plate and held for the taking; satan plants a seed, slowly makes you less sensitive to the truth and more accepting to sin, and starts luring you into a concept that you have never expected yourself to do.

'So that we would not be outwitted by satan; for we are not ignorant of his evil schemes'

2 COR 2'11

 --- The more familiar and common we become to pop-culture, and the less we are disturbed by the lesbian and gay agenda the probable and likely it is that we are going to accept it.

And I'll tell you this, it is a sin to accept something that God detests. 

I love the verse in: MATT12'30 that says: 

"Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.'

We can't be a humpty dumpty and sit on the fence trying to please men with your diplomatic political correctness. 

Who cares what they say!?!??

Who even are 'THEY'

THEY are no-one

ESPECIALLY when compared to my God .It's Gods Team or No Team. 

'You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God'

JAMES4'4

And when you accept the things of the world, and the lifestyles being promoted by it, you are dismissing the lifestyle that God promotes. Of following Him.

They are on POLAR OPPOSTIE side of the scale, and not allow ourselves to walk into darkness, without even realising it because it's just such a gradual process. 

So going back to the initial verse, we are living in a Sodom and Gomorrah today. We ARE living in a place where you have to be alert and keep watch, be the watchmen of our souls and our circles. 

Because the COMING OF THE LORD is soooo close, it could be any minute. We do not for 1 second want to let our guards down and be desensitised, and be at peace with what we are seeing around us. 

KEEP WATCH.

Here's the fact: a consistent exposure to sin will lead to desensitisation. Becoming less sensitive/ more open to the things of the world means you are getting further away from God. And as you separate yourself from God, your love for him will grow cold. And that's that. It’s a fact. 

Okay, now if God is convicting you in this (you're feeling guilty)

You're thinking: I'm AM at peace with worldliness. I am insensitive to the things of God.

Immorality doesn’t affect me at all.

Then CONGRATULATIONS!

Why???

Because realising the error of your ways is the 1st step to recovery for a wounded Spirit. 

What you have to do, is go to God, and tell Him what you’re feeling. Say to Him - ' In Your WORD in 2PETER2, You say that Lot was a righteous man, and he was tormented by the evil around him.

I want to be righteous, I want to be tormented in in my soul by the evil I see day after day.'

Go please help me. 

And when you do this, 

God will make a way of escape you for.

It says in His Word in 1CORINTHIANS 10 '33:

'The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.'

We need to be able to endure this world till we go home to be with Jesus, It kind of like eating a rice cake before you go to an expensive Restaurant. The world is not supposed to satisfy us. It only leaves wanting more. And that MORE is eternity spent with Him.

So let’s not get comfortable. 

Let us ask God to Show us the way of escape (HEBREWS4’16) that we need to get to the place that we need to be in Him 

Get into the Scriptures, start reading the Bible.

Read as much or as little as you can, but with understanding. And ask God every day to show a portion of Himself to you. 

You can study scriptures 24 hours a day for 70 years, but in all that time, you will not uncover even a fraction of God in His entirety.

He is too big to capture in our minds.  

When you fill up your mind with the things of God, the things of the world will grow strangely dim.

So fix your eyes on Jesus.

IMTAPA

Lakechia xxx

(In my thoughts and prayers always.)

A Christian Girls response to AUDACITY - The movie

A little Reminder of the Focus.

                Going after JESUS ...

This entire blog's concept is based completely over the second chapter of Acts .

Acts , probably the most ACT-tion (see what I did there ?) packed book in the Bible when it comes to the movement and manifestations of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit.

I want to look at the character of Peter, an amazing individual who had his life turned around when He met Jesus one day.

Mark 1"16&17 ' Jesus said unto them, "Come be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people !"

- or for the more traditional ones of us ...

'And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.'

(Good old King James)

To put it bluntly, Peter (or Simon at the time) was called by Jesus to enter His kingdom and change the world.

Looking at this verse more carefully is amazing. You see that Jesus says COME - this word in Greek is 'deute', now I'm not going to get all technical on you but looking at this translation brings a breeze and almost whimsical feeling to the scene. Deute can be : come away. - Almost as if Jesus is inviting Peter (and his brother Andrew) to enter off into a new wonderful world. His Kingdom. Which He (kind of) was.

The second (of many) translations for the word Deute is FOLLOW. Now , for those of you who have twitter, that sort of 'following' is extremely different from the one I'll be sharing with you.

I think that for the most part, the culture and society that we live in. The term : to follow someone has been cheapened. First thing that may come to mind when following someone is : liking their pictures, commenting on their captions. And for those very, very sad ones (no offense) envying the food-pics that are posted. 

But it's so , so much more ...

Peter had no idea of what he was getting himself into, but hats off to him and all respect. He had a family and a lively hood. But he left that all behind.

Q1. Why did God call fishers ?

Lets just say : fishermen were not the most respected people in Galilee- or anywhere for that matter. They were the men that smelled like fish. And although they had to be intelligent, and reasonably advanced in mathematics to sort out their market shares and stocks when it came to selling ; in no way was their brain as intellectually challenged on a daily basis as the day's doctors or teachers of the religious law. ie Pharisees (boo...hiss). 

But they were patient men, they would spend hours waiting for fish. They knew endurance, they were strong and were not fearful of the challenges that sea-storms would bring.

They were perfect.

And in fact Jesus caught Peter and Andrew, and no doubt a couple of other boats with them just coming in from a long hard night of nada. 

No fish at all.

'Master,' Simon replied 'we have worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing

NEVERTHELESS

we will try again.

~ Luke 5v5

- So why have I highlighted the 'nevertheless' in that verse ?

Because we need that same nevertheless attitude! When we are willing to follow the will of God nomatter how little sense it may seem to our tiny peanut brains, then , and only then are we able to see the full glory of God in our lives for ourselves. Peter, Andrew, James and John all caught more fish then they ever had before that day. Why ?

Because they were obedient to God . And I just feel that obedience to the Holy Spirit and His directions in our lives is absolutely more than we could ever ask or think or imagine. Because that obedience will lead us into:  divine happiness and peace , divine health and most of all, divine character, and righteousness  because we will be walking in the will of God !

Now I haven't got this figured out yet, and I do not obey God all the time. But I yearn to .

If your like me in that , you really want your heart to be opened more and more to the amazing blessings of God. Then your in good company, because according to His word, they that hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled -MATT5"6

Now lets get back to Peter - great guy, good guy.

He is called the Rock of the Church (serious business) - MATT16"18

He witnesses the transfiguration - MATT17"1-7

And he stays with Jesus from day one.

However ... 

-He tries to build an alter (ie: worship) Elijah and Moses  -MATT17"4

-He doubts God -MATT14"30

-And he denies Jesus 3 times. -LUKE22"54

So how can a guy like this saves 3000 souls in one sermon .

Millions in His life time .

And even billions of souls after He died ?

Don't get me wrong - Jesus saves souls, but He uses His vessels , people like PETER to manifest and show His love here on earth by spreading the gospel.

Peter was ordinary .

But there was something very extra-ordinary in Him that made all the difference.

LUKE24"49 says :

'And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.'

The only way Peter could change from the character that He was into the man that God had put in Him from the beginning ... the only refining One that could make Peter the Peter we know today is ...

The Holy Spirit !!

It was right after Pentecost when, like a mighty rushing wind , the Holy Spirit came down to earth , and for the first time entered INTO the individual. You see , before the Holy Spirit came UPON people - Samson, David , even Elijah and Elisha - But He never entered into people.

But of course, at this point He did enter Peter - the 120 people with him (or I guess 119) and it worked wonders. Timid, denying Peter turned into bold, anointed Peter who pointed his fingers directly at the Pharisees and said ' ...you nailed Him to the cross and murdered Him. 

However , God released Him from the horrors of death and raised Him back to life ...' 

~Acts 2v14

- transformation or what ? - this was no small talk.

Peter with the power of the Holy Spirit went all-out and saved 3000SOULS.

This thought really touched me. With God power , Peter brought 3000 to Christ in perhaps not more than 2 hours. 

That's more than epic. That's a mega-huge-big-deal.

Now I know you're saying, that was Bible times , I could never do something like that . 

But please, don't limit God with your thinking. Don't stop Him by stopping His vessel = YOU.

In a time where so many people are crying out, so desperate for answers,  hope and safety. Who says you cant save 3000SOULS - or more ?

Just ask God for help to accomplish a dream only He can fulfil.

Will you join me ?

IMTAPA

Lakechia

Press on

I was inspired to write this post from a couple of things I recently heard in the news. Even as Christians, there are traits in us, habits and different forms of sin that tend to stick. We try and try to get rid of them, it can be anything from the habit of being late to a case of selfishness or immorality. Nomatter what it is God promises to help us and lead us ‘into the way everlasting’ [Psalsms139’24].

I was reading Phillipioans 3 this morning, and a series of relatively well known verses hit me like a ton of bricks. Paul here was writing to the first European church he set up of Philippi, a church started alongside Lydia, the Roman business woman.[ACTS16’14] In Chap. 3 he explains the priceless value of knowing Christ Jesus, He goes down to a section entitiled : ‘Pressing towards the goal’ There were so many things included in just a small section so I’m going to try my absolute best to break it down and share what God highlighted to me while reading.

12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Phillipans 3 ESV

Now I know it may seem that I’ve just highlighted the entire verse, but these parts said so much in so little. In a world where, we are used to being handed everything, we may also expect our Spiritual walk to be similar in that way. That when we want patience, it will just come, or joy - it will just appear to us. For some parts of our walk with God, we will need to fight and have an element of violence to 'take it by force' [MATT11'12].

Don't give up.

The greatest Apostle Paul himself said 'I press on to achieve it'. The definition of PRESS means to : exert continuous force, to attack persistently and make strong efforts//.

The fight for righteousness is not some walk in the park.

Nomatter how many times you have failed , get back up and keep pursuing, keep persevering. PROV24'16 says :

The Godly may trip seven times, but they will get back up again.

God will never give up on you, you just need to make up your mind to never give up on Him and His power to save you. Sin and immorality may look to you like a vast army, that you will never be able to conquer. And your right, YOU will never be able to defeat sin. But the good news is, 

JESUS ALREADY HAS !!

This is what the LORD says to you : "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.

- 2 Chronicles 20'15

When you make up your mind that despite failure, discouragement and shame you will rise up again and 'Press on towards the goal', God will pick you up in His arms and carry you. But you must be willing because The Father doesn't force anyone to do anything.

If we do not try, there will never be success, and those sins that keep repeating themselves in our lives will grow faster and stronger till they hurt our lives, and the lives of those around us. 

Will you make that decision today ?

Keep fighting, keep striving, keep going - And God will show His Sovereignty in your weakness, He will make you strong.

Zacchaeus - in the right place.

Okay, so before we begin talking about what this story may really mean, in terms of reading between the lines, let’s first read the amazing event, recorded by one of my favourite writers, Luke.

' He [(meaning Jesus)] entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 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.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

~Luke19’1-10

This version was taken from the lovely ESV, one I don’t normally use but it just gets to the point sometimes, and I love that. So… Zacchaeus …

It’s a story us born-in-church-kids have probably hear, but I must admit it’s an event I have seemed to have forgotten about. We all know that absolutely everything recorded in the Bible is of VITAL SIGNIFICANCE, John21’25 clearly reminds us of how much more Jesus did in His times as a physical God-human here on earth. But it couldn’t all be written down! That just tells us that the things that WERE written down were the one we NEEDED to hear.

So you’ve read the story, you know what happened, I just want to dig a little deeper into it though. The Bible described Zacchaeus as a rich chief tax collector. That interesting because his job profile says a lot about his personality. In those days tax-men though very rich, had quite a low reputation among the Jewish people. They were thieves, they took money for the despised Roman Government, whilst taking a little extra for themselves, they were no-doubt socially excluded and in that way quite isolated from the tight Hebrew Community. Similar to today’s version of car-ticket attendants:] And so, Luke, by introducing him by his job says so much in so little time. By the world’s standards, he did not deserve to see Jesus; and he certainly did not deserve to have Jesus in his house. But as we see later, all of that happened and more…

Now the Bible doesn’t often mention height issues, but it seems, Zacchaeus was vertically-challenged. He was short and couldn’t see Jesus. Now I wouldn’t say I can identify height-wise, but I see a lot of myself in that one statement.  Sometimes … no … a lot of the times I fall short of the standards God has set for me, mistakes make me feel inadequate to even see Him as my Father and Friend because I am so sinful. I understand here when Zacchaeus so wanted to see Jesus but he couldn’t because he was not enough.

- And we aren’t enough ROMANS3’23 Says ‘for everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.’ BUT, do not be discouraged because God gave Zacchaeus a way, and He can give us a way too if we just ask.

You know, God is so amazing. I did some research on the life of a Sycamore Tree and found out that they can live to about 200 years of age. Most produce seed and are at their prime at about 150 years old . This means that God, in eternity had decided hundreds of years pre-event to plant a sycamore tree in the street Jesus would be walking in that day for Zacchaeus to climb and give us all this story of hope.

-Do you see that?

God will always make a way for you to find Him, because He wants that for you more than anything. A relationship with the Father IS the abundant life for which HE CAME!! [JOHN10’10]

But Zacchaeus had to be in a yearning frame of mind to be so desperate for God that He had to climb a tree to see Jesus. I’m reminded of …

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled’ MATT5’6

Zacchaeus was hungry and thirsty for the view of Jesus, his heart was in the right place – and therefore his actions were in the right way too. [‘Every tree is known by its own fruit' LUKE6’44] He climbed up the tree.

(HE WAS) ‘IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME’ –ECC9’11

--- And you know, this phrase has been taken and used by the world in the context of business success and even luck.

But this phrase comes from Ecclesiastes 9’11. The wise Solomon even in his older years new the importance of position in the time and place.

In this context we can take this and see...

Are our heart in the right place to see God? [MATT5’8]

Are we in the right mind-set to receive Him – are we in the midst of the crowds and the distraction or have we stepped out of that, climbed the tree and put ourselves in the right place?

Sometimes it takes isolation, sometimes it’s a struggle to get to the place you KNOW you need to be in order to see God. But it is something that needs to be done.

What is this struggle you make ask?

Jesus said ‘For My yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.’ – MATTHEW 11’30

Part of this burden will always be to ‘take up your cross, and follow Me’ MATT16’24

There’s a reason why the amazing hand of God and His plans for us have been called the great exchange [2CORINTHIANS5'21]. We give Him our sin, our ashes, our despair and He gives us righteousness, beauty, praise.

Seems like an unfair exchange doesn’t it?

But it’s kind of like when for example, you’ve been irritable with your mum for some time , and for no other reason (out of the fact that you are her child), she does something really lovely for you, your favourite meal perhaps, a small gift . How much more does God love us and give us the things we need but don’t deserve, His love, His grace and mercy [MATT7’11]

Don’t make it difficult for yourself, accept the gift and decide that within yourself you will do what He wants for your life.

- - - Climb the tree, by surrendering your will and getting to a right place with God to see Him.

No matter what anyone my say [LUKE19’7] Jesus will come into your heart (Zacchaeus’ home) and your gratitude for His amazing compassion for you will intrinsically make you into the generous [LUKE19’8] kind and Godly person that God wants you to be.

Summer Blues ...

Hey guys,

So it's summer . and I feel absolutely terrible to say that I although inexcusably have caught the summer-teenage-bug of LAZINESS.
Thats right,
I said it.
Now everyone has different extents of this and it can mean very different things to different people. - I would never be allowed to spend a morning in bed post 9AM. And I've been on holiday, seen friends blah blah blah.
But...
Everyone has a personal knowledge,that despite the exterior 'busyness'- you know if you've been using your time wisely . More importantly you know when you have not.
Being proactive in your daily lifestyle is a choice, that turns into a way of life. But its those initial steps of deciding you want more out of your day that really make it happen for you.
And the funny thing is : It's a Biblical concept.

Scriptures could not be more clear on the valid sin called : 'idleness' and its something that isn't focused on enough in our minds because mentally we tend to put serious sins into one category, and the other sins into another- but truthfully all sin keeps you away from God.
Titus 2'12 says that we should live 'self-controlled, upright and Godly lives'. And laziness is the complete opposite of all of those things. Sometimes (and I've seen this recently) the body just wants to lay down on the sofa and do nothing, lie in bed all-day and occasionally get up for crisps.

WELL ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
There is something brutally wrong when generations senior to us can do more for the Kingdom of God physically than we can.
We are told as youth to bear the yoke of God's discipline in our lives. LAMENTATIONS3'27
So I'm here to say to you and myself; condition yourselves. Stir up the gift [2TIM1'6] that God has created for you to posses, reach out and use it to impact one more life for God - He deserves every inch of our lives, lets make it a life that He wants.

We need to be diligent people who can take the work of ourlives , the work that God has provided for us to do, and present it to God as something of great value and worth. A work that we do not need to be ashamed of . [2TIM2'15]

Run , and run fast so that you will be the one to obtain the prize.
1COR9'24

SHUT DE DO

Ahhh, The first of June.

I want to apologise for the lack of content over the past couple of months, Even though I have been incredibly busy with various things, exams, travelling and what not. I have had opportunities to write, but haven't. I turned 19, finished my first year at university a couple of days ago, and honestly, the after-math is slightly anti-climatic. But here I am getting ready for my last tutorial of the year; and I just had to write.

It's funny how my last post was about the same topic, but in all honesty- TEMPTATION is probably, if not the biggest struggle in a Christians life, over time, things get better but as you are transformed and renewed daily [ROMANS12'2] there are always new element of yourself, new character traits that you didn't even know existed from the surface, that just creeps up on you and exposes itself at times of weakness.

For examples, if you have been struggling with anger, and you ask God for help and you physically see the change in character over that time, suddenly the sin of gluttony is exposed to you and it catches you completely un-aware.

I was watching a GAITHERVEVO youtube clip the other day from the Martins, and it was an epiphany that God has been working on me with for a long time, The song was called : SHUT DE DO -(- Shut the door). the lyrics goes like this: 'Shut de do, keep out de devil Shut de do, keep de devil in the night...' 

- And then it dawned on me. Most of us, meaning, myself like to leave 'the door' open. For example we like to relish on un-Godly thoughts on people , and rile up emotions of un-Godly character. By the time those thoughts want to turn into actions of anger and resent, we wonder why. Why are we feeling so aggressive, so weak and uncontrollable. It's because we didn't shut the door. 

The Bible says in 2CORINTHIANS10'15 that we must take every thought captive and make them obedient to Christ. That means, when bad thoughts enter into our minds, we should stop, take that thought in hand (without attachment) and make is conform, make it obedient to the word of God. Use the Scriptures, ask God for wisdom that His SPIRIT gives, and transform your world by the renewing of your mind. 

It's so important, because 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is He.' [PROV23'7] - 

Who do you want to be . 

It's easier said than done, and I am far from having it all together but when we humble ourselves, we will receive grace - and grace is the ability that God gives us not to sin. JAMES 4'6

I'll leave you with this verse :

 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

TEMPTATION

Temptation ... That word said in isolation brings a complete sense of eeriness. – and rightly so , it’s the main , and most powerful tool that the devil uses to try and lure the ‘very elect’ into the kingdom of darkness [*MATT24’24].

We all face it , YOU all know what it’s like to flick the rubber band on our wrist to try and snap out of something that seems to be controlling our lives. It’s a terrible thing, and the enemy is cunning. The subtlety in which he brings things our way is an established skill that he has been using from the very beginning:

‘Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden’ [GEN3’1]

I am perplexed at the audacity for satan to try and use these same cunning methods on our LORD JESUS.

In Luke 4, we see Jesus being tempted with bread after He had fasted for 40 days and nights … in a desert. – This is not the easiest circumstance in any case.

I have never been to Israel before , but I have watched enough Bible movies to know what a desert in the Middle-East is like. All that time without nourishment . And the enemy sees an opportunity to step in in a moment where Jesus felt physically weak. What the enemy did not know, however was that Jesus was Spiritually stronger than ever.

What I love is that in verse 1, it sets abit of background knowledge :

- Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost

- The Holy Ghost led Him into the desert

  --- My first instinct here is : WHY ?!?!?!?

Why, Spirit of God did You lead Jesus into the place where You knew He would be tempted ?? Why into the desert without any form of physical nourishment ? Why.Why.WHYYY ?

But then I step back and see, if we Christians did not have this example of Jesus in the Wilderness being tempted, then we, for centuries would have never known how to deal with temptation.

And more importantly we would have never seen the strength that the Holy Spirit gave Jesus to resist the devil and ultimately The Holy Spirits' ability to refine Jesus’ character into a God-Man ready to take on the Ministry of saving the world. [*LUKE4'14]. 

It is absolutely no coincidence that the beginning of Jesus' ministry only took place after the temptation, His time in the desert was that final event that made Him ready to Change Mankind Forever.

From verse 1, we see the importance of character refinement, Jesus was -and is- perfect, but there were elements of His Character that needed to be brought out to use in the purpose of ministry.

Again , there is nothing imperfect about Jesus, but we must see here how He dealt with these temptations  :

‘This High Priest of ours understands our weakness, for He faced all of the same temptations we do , yet He did not sin.’ [HEB4’15]

It is not a sin to be tempted … I repeated , those who are tempted do not sin in that temptation … The sin , however comes once you accept the temptation , and partake in the action you are tempted to do .

Eg : When Eve saw the snake, she did not sin. When Eve had a conversation with the snake (though it wasn’t very wise,) she did not sin.  When Eve looked at the fruit, she did not sin  … HOWEVER , When Eve ATE the fruit , that was when the sin stepped in.

A lot of people (especially women) say “ When I get to Heaven , I’m going to have a couple of heated-words with Eve” , I guess it’s all in good fun , but Eve didn’t do anything we haven’t done in our lifetime, it just so happened that she was the first to do it . She disobeyed God, went against her conscience and ate the fruit.

Let’s  see what Jesus did in the face of temptation :

' And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' LUKE4'3-4

Jesus answered with Scripture , remember , The Bible was not The Bible that we know today. At that time , the New Testament was just beginning , and parts of the Old Testament were known as the TORAH.

I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Luke 4 specifically says in the first verse that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. It shows here one of the many Way’s, that the Holy Spirit can help us in temptation:

‘He will bring all things to our remembrance’ [JOHN14’26]

The Holy Spirit will remind us of scriptures we have read in the past, that are relevant for this sort of temptation.

What does this mean ... we MUST read the Word of God , how will the Holy Spirit bring these scriptures to our remembrance if we haven’t read them in the first place ?

What we may not realise, is that our self will , of just saying “no” is not enough. Our fighting-selves cannot fight the temptations that come our way, but the WORD OF GOD can.

‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ [HEB4’12]

So when we face temptation , it should be our hearts desire to resist [*JAMES4’7] ; by claiming God’s word over that situation and trusting in God’s ability to fulfill us in the True Valued ways that only He can.

God will not let us just suffer in temptation without out the hope of an end of redemption.

‘No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.’

~1COR10’13

100 shades of immorality

This weekend has brought a movie premiere that has raised such a hype I don't think I've ever seen it before.
And it's disgusting, absolutely pathetic; it lets me know how far away the world is from everything God truly loves .
So much for *not* objectifying women , we as young Christians will not stand for it, in fact we will not partake or endorse it in anyway.


God calls us to purity of heart and mind, and I know that with movies like this coming out and other media outlets it is a struggle for all of us young Christians to maintain our thoughts and stay away from temptation and the sin that can come from temptations.
But it is no credit to God or for our testimony for that matter to be flaunting ourselves out to the desires of this world.


'Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;' 
- 2 Corinthians 10'5

 For any of you all that will be going out with friends (or sit at home by yourself to see this movie ...  I have nothing to say to you because : it's wrong and we all know it . You know it. I know it, and most of all God knows . You say: " you can't judge me ONLY GOD can judge me"
--- well that should scare you !!!

We can't go around pretending to be someone that were not. Either we declare all our hearts for God or we don't.
It would be your best interest to question your own personal relationship with God when caught in a movie theatre with inappropriate content.  That's just something for you to think about.


 Its St. Valentine's day and although it's another example of the worlds ability to take something Christ centred and turn it into a commercialised brood of thieves [MATT23'33]. we must remember that if Jesus wouldn't do it, then we shouldn't do it.

For us young people we should think of it like this:
 the majority of our lives, we will spend valentines day with the person that God has put in our lives forever (ie: our future spouse).
So let's use the days we have now to celebrate valentine's day with our friends and family appreciating their role in our lives and appreciating God for His love in our life . Everything has its season and a time. [ECC3.]
Let's not awaken and cultivate the desires that we don't need for another couple years ...

Lastly remember this Scripture philippians 4 v 8 :' Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.'

The Perfect Combination.

I went to church yesterday, and heard the absolute most amazing message I had heard in all the months while I’ve been away at University. The following is an attempt to capture in a couple hundred words the main points I received from yesterday.

We started off by reading Exodus 20”20, Moses has just come down from the Great Mt. Sinai, His face all aglow with the glory of God that He had just seen and experienced, when he says to the Israelite people:

“Don’t be afraid, “ Moses said, “ for God has come in this way to show you His awesome power, From now on, let your fear of Him keep you from sinning!”(Ex20”20)

In the process of Moses asking Pharaoh to ‘Let his people go’ we often forget what shortly followed that statement, here’s to remind you from Exodus 7”16 :

16"You shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, that they may worship/serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now."

= The promise of a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ [Exodus 33”3] was only a part of the reason for the Israelites to leave Egypt. The most stressed reason by Moses and Aaron was to go into the wilderness and Worship/Serve God.

The Israelites had been in a foreign land for more than 400 years (430); from this, we can boldly suggest that their ways of living, serving and communing with God had been tainted, tarnished.   God want them for His own people, and in order to do that, they had to leave the land of Egypt, the place they were used to being held in captivity and go into the wilderness to find and seek God. (That’s a message in itself ;)

Once out of Egypt God used Moses in various ways to start rebuilding the relationship He once had with the Israelites. God, Himself, showed Himself to the Hebrew nation through amazing acts of miracles and terrifying appearances, and through this Israel, bit by bit became closer to Him through reverence and fear.

I want to juxtapose this Historic turning point for mankind with the biggest turning point that man has ever seen…

Jesus came and brought us, His children out of sin and death in order to have the ability to serve Him and have fellowship with Him through worship in our lives. His miracles brought reverence and fear: Luke 5”8 ‘8 When Simon Peter saw it, he got down at the feet of Jesus. And He said, “Go away from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man.”- He had the Fear of God. Ultimately, His death, in showing the love He had for us, made us, the New Church: love Him in the knowledge of the exceedingly high price He paid as our LORD.

And so, from Jesus’ life, we now receive the perfect combination for our walk in the Christian life:

LOVE and (reverential) FEAR.

Jesus showed us the importance of both love and fear through living His life as the Son of God, He calmed the raging storms - Luke 8:22-25, fed 5000 men- Luke 9:12-17 And walked on the water - Mark 6:45-52, I don’t know about you, but if I’d been there, I would not have seen Him as just an ordinary man, I would have been completely awed. And even now, reading these historic events give me a sense of reverence to Him as God.  

The Bible says in Philippians 2”12 that we need to ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’ – the worship of our God should not be taken lightly. We are serving a powerful God who could zap the world and the galaxies in an instant if He wanted to. It is only by His mercy and grace that we have been saved from an eternal abyss away from Him.

PROV9”10 says: ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.’

We must understand that: Jesus came to save us from our sins. [Matthew 1:21], and so, in pursuing a sinless life through the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit, and also in wanting to please Him, we must have the combination of love and fear.

So... why do we need to have both?

-The Israelites had the fear of God, but kept on murmuring and complaining to the point that God Himself called them a ‘stiff-necked people’ in Exodus 32”9. Once they had forgotten God’s marvellous acts, they would continue in their ways again. The fear of the LORD in-itself can keep you from sinning, BUT to have the optimum level in your Christian walk with God, there needs to be more…

-The Christian church today that I’ve seen (and for only a part)  has a love for God, a committed way towards Him, but the problem of sin still reigns within Churches – and people are wanting out.

=The only solution to this problem is to have a combination of both. To love God enough to want to follow His commandments and to fear God in His power and glory, to be petrified of sin. Joseph in Genesis 39:9 when faced with temptation for fornication from Pharaoh Wife said: How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" – The thought of sinning against God in itself was such a vile thing to Joseph. Why? Because He had the fear of God.

Do YOU?

*** Today was a quick overview, there are so many things to be said. I’ll definitely carry on explaining some key points in the posts to come.

Finding Rest ~ A good look at HEBREWS4

I have a couple of weeks off from studies right now, and I've been coming up with various ways to find what to do. Catching up with my emails, going on errands, writing and even painting. It's been a really productive few days so far. But waking up this morning and opening up my curtains to let in the tremendous amount of light from the great outdoors put me in a really different head-space.

I was so quiet and so still , I looked up and saw a bird, in the far distance just gliding on the wind - in total serenity.

And then He spoke. (after all of our good mornings of course)

'I want you to be like that bird, gliding on the wind ... Go to Hebrews.'

I went straight to Hebrews and found chapter 4, that I had read a couple of months ago [John 14:26 (ASV)], Took my notepad and pen , and started at it. 'Promised Rest for Gods people'

In reading this, I plan to go through a couple of things...

- Why do we need this Rest ?

-What exactly is this Rest ?

-What were the past mistakes concerning this Rest ?

-And How do we enter the Rest of God.

Okay ... so why do we need this rest, honestly - this really isn't a question we should be asking, because whatever the Bible says, that is what we should trust, and honestly it is our love and  for Christ that leads us into the knowledge that is is our DUTY to obey Him. [evidence for this in Luke 17:10 (NLT)] 

Anywho... in answering this question we get to look at a lot of the chapter- so lets do it.

Why do we need rest ... its a funny thing, but with all of the cares of the world and every responsibility that lies on each and every individual, the stresses and worries that can come to people of all ages everywhere, I'd have to ask the question ... why wouldn't we need rest ?

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." -MATT11"28

One of the many benefits in following Christ is having the ability to take your worries and burdens and hand them over to God. Much alike the bird I saw this morning, being able to glide on the wind and not go through laborious heartache in order to reach a goal is an amazing place to be.

Why wouldn't you want to have a life free from self-worry and stress ? - Now this doesn't mean that bad thing's can't happen. But it does mean that when they do, the knowledge that you have of a Supreme God who oversees everything in the universe, and that He is looking out for you, and has a bigger plan that only He knows is such a comforting and revolutionising thought.

-Think of it as this, its like having a birds eye view on a maze, you may not be able to see whats around the corner, but God in His Sovereignty knows everything, absolutely everything.

28 'And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.' -ROMANS8"28

And so, if you love God ("Check") and you are earnestly wanting and seeking His will and His purpose for your life ("Check") - then you honestly have nothing worth worrying about... and I have seen this in my own life, when the world seems to crash down on you, and you fear the very thought of another day. Just look up. Be still and know that He is God [Psalm 46:10].

And instead of stressing out about something you can't control, seek God for His REST.

That brings me on to : 'What exactly is His Rest ?'

Hebrews 4"9 says : 'So there is a special /*Sabbath rest still waiting for the people of God.'

Now this entire concept must be taken in context of Hebrews chapter 4 . And from reading this, my interpretation of the Rest of God is a :

SPIRITUAL PLACE

resulting in a PHYSICAL STATE.

- I'll explain... when you seek God so much that your Spirit is able to reach His amazing realm to experience His glory and presence, there is a rest that comes from it.
 A peace.
It's something much deeper than what words can describe. But when you're Spirit becomes one with God through your own desire to reach God; this supernatural place, seeps into your soul (your feelings, emotions , personality) which then depicts how your body feels. (for every human has a body, soul, and Spirit).

This experience only comes when your Spirit is able to dominate your flesh (soul and body). And the steps towards this are few but very big.

I feel like my Spiritual self does dominate my life, but only in glimpses, some days are better than others, but its something I strive for, and God is working on me . I do get bogged down with the worlds affairs, and I know I shouldn't, but I feel like its a progressive walk or journey, and the fact that I am on this journey and growing more knowledgeable in my Faith in God means so much to me and makes me so abundantly grateful. 

So ...  How do we enter the Rest of God. ?

Good question. With a very simple answer ...

ASK FOR IT.

Matthew 7"7

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Similar to what I said /typed above, it can be a progressive journey once you've asked. But ultimately asking is the first step. 

After which (asking) you are Spiritually fertile and open to let the HOLYSPIRIT guide you into all truth. JOHN16"13.

Its something we can't do by ourselves- and God works in amazing ways : Sometimes, I ask for rest, and I haven't even finished praying, and I just feel an amazing gushing wave of peace and rest just overflow on me - that's what normally happens.

But sometimes, and in a darker situation when I'm less receptive, a sense of peace is planted on the inside, and day by day it continues to grow until the state of perfect and complete rest comes.

So its all very unique in the way you experience it - but that's what makes it so special.

** The steps of being open to The Holy Spirit in order to let Him start His work in you is a small category in itself. I wrote about it last year, titled : GET CLOSE TO HIM. -It will be a great help to look further.

And finally ... What were the past mistakes concerning this Rest ?

- Now this is what the majority of Hebrews 4 is all about...

The most prominent mistake made (in example by the Israelite nation fleeing Egypt with Moses is) ...

UNBELIEF

- what a horrible word , it always seems to come up eh ?

But, yet again, it was unbelief that stopped the Rest of the Children of God in the past, and guess what, it can be the same horrible word that stops the Children of God today. 

Throughout any of this did you think :

'argh, Spiritual place , she's mad !'

'this is absolute nonsense'

'progressive journey my foot.'

-- if you did, then you are suffering with the horrible contagious endemic disease that has continuously plagued the world's population for thousands of years. 

But not to worry, it is most certainly curable.

(the medical treatment dose is yours for the ASKing;) --- Take a look at Mark 9:24

And it MUST be cured ~ "3 'For only we who believe can enter his rest.' (HEBREWS4)

The 2nd  Worst mistake to ever make is (drum roll please....)

DISOBEDIENCE

"6 'So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God'

- When you are led by the Holy Spirit, don't slap it back in His face by disobeying Him. God is very protective over His trinity [**Key statement alert**Mark 3:29] and He most certainly will not provide you with rest after you misuse Him intentionally.

But the fact it ... You CAN do it ... you can enter into His rest !

'So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

“Today when you hear his voice,

    don’t harden your hearts.” ~ "7

But you really must desire it from the depths of your heart, live and work to seek God and His perfect plan for your life, part of it, I can assure you, is to enter into His Perfect Rest.

'Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.'

-  Hebrews 4"11

'Commiting EVERYTHING' ~ Where does it stop ?

Psalm 37:5New Living Translation (NLT)

Commit everything you do to TheLORD.

    Trust him, and He will help you.

Its's the 3rd of January today, a crisp winter morning in the Western Isles. And I'm recovering from a busy time of boxing-day sales and movie watching with My mum. 

I had been looking forward to watch this movie for about a year now.  Online blogs had given me information about it before it started production and I heard about it in a few others places later down the line. Needless to say I was more than thrilled to watch the trailer for the first time (multiple times after that). And even more thrilled to see the movie yesterday .

I'm not going to say what exactly the movie was, but its a recent re-make of a classic American tales from the 1900's and after watching it at the age of 9, during my own first visit to America it also became a personal classic for me. The songs are engraved in my mind as a taste of my childhood years, and I sing them to this day . 

While watching the movie, it was interesting to see the remix of practically all of the songs, of which I had nothing against, and the controversial change in character appearance wasn't anything that particularly bothered me at all. But throughout the movie, I just sensed a continuous seeping in of 'subtle darkness' - that's the only words I can used to describe what I felt. I knew it was definitely not as light-hearted and 'innocent' as the originals...

But something wasn't right about it,

I couldn't put my finger on it. 

This feeling was confirmed through moments in the movie of actual horror-scene-type images. And the cameo of some other well known faces was most deeply unsettling indeed. 

I put it aside and continued watching. - I didn't realise at the time, that my mum beside me was feeling the exact same way until we both said after coming out of the movie: "That was dark."

It wasn't until I got home, and looking over the credits, the names of the executive producers came up, and again I'm not going to mention who they are because I do not intend to glorify the enemy in anyway on this, but they were prominent hollywood names mainly in the music industry involved in a whole heap of the enemies work (that seem to be seeping into movies). That input confirmed my suspicions completely . I nearly felt ill. I could not believe I had just given my money to these people. 

Then suddenly, the the pieces started coming together. 

About a year to two ago, another movie came out. A remake from a famous book from the 1920's or there-abouts, A book that I've read, and loved . Alot of parties have it as a theme, and quite frankly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. (the book at least)

BUT

A movie came out, a group of us were reading it at the time, and there was a huge hype to go and see the movie. I watched the trailer .

And The Spirit told me no : NoNoNo. Not in an obvious way like that. But something was very wrong about it. And I just knew the movie wasn't for me . There were scenes in the movie that were actually extremely similar to the one I just watched yesterday. I remember a scene in the trailer of pure decadence.

I decided not to go see it.- and even more so when I found out who some of the producers were. 

 Well ... (bobsyouruncle)

You'll never guess, that the same people who produced that movie are the same people who produced this one. And there, I saw it . How this subtle darkness is seeping in a taking over everything the media is . 

Not that the media was anything great before, but now more than ever, it is beginning to enter into a level of darkness that we Christians need to be aware of . 

And pray against.

I felt cheated, duped into following this occult-ic scheme to slowly trap the minds of individuals . 

I was so distraught. So sorry to God for getting caught up in the hype of a movie that I didn't even properly look into.

I selfishly and full of pride ignored the warnings God put in my heart, and went with the crowd thinking my way was better. 

I was bamboozled, abit emotionless and in my evening studies of The Bible couldn't think of what to read. God put in my heart PSALMS 37 - A few verses in, my mind was caught on verse 5 : 

'Commit EVERYTHING you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.'

Then I thought of the question : 'Where does it stop ?' -- what detail is too detailed for God ?

- further down I saw : verse23 : 

'The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.'

-- Hear that ?

EVERY DETAIL 

-that includes the movies we watch.

Slightly AWED at the profound AMAZING-NESS of God to show me this , 

I started writing about it ...

I should have picked up the hints God gave me. Just because it was a movie I was waiting and wanting to see , I failed to see God and his warning signals. A movie recreated in a subtle spirit of darkness and I regret it. To the flesh, and in the flesh it was a good movie. With blinded eyes I would have 'enjoyed' it. 

BUT

'my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge' - Hosea 4"6

And for me ...

 'Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required'

LUKE12"48

This is a warning, Please take heed . (Not just for this movie, but in all things, please)

Psalm 37:5New Living Translation (NLT)

Commit everything you do to the Lord.

    Trust him, and He will help you.