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.

Avoiding the Sandcastles

LUKE 6”46-49

So it’s 2015 !!!

It’s so amazing to think that we are in the New Year, Lets start on the right foot shall we ?

This thought had been in my mind for a while, but I only recently decided to write about it - sitting in a café in the middle of a new city. It has one of those large floor-to-ceiling windows, and I can literally see everything going on outside. The hustle and bustle in one of Europe’s busiest cities is completely astounding.

Yet,

What is it all for? Why do you routinely wake up in the morning? Why do you rush around town waiting for the next surge of energy to come from your next cup of caffeine? Why do we live our lives in a constant state of rush and urgency to get ‘things’ done – Can we look back on those ‘things’ and find a sense of worth from our achievements ?

A little while ago I was reading Luke 6”46 that contains one of the most visually stimulating, yet simplistic; most well-known parables of all time – The ordeal of the Sandcastles.

In essence : one man went out one day in a quest to build a home in the quickest way possible, he chose an easy foundation to build on … Sand. He built it reasonably stable (at the time). And in feeling rather smug thought he had made a great accomplishment, meanwhile, a man not so far away from him was toiling all day on one piece of rock. Seeming completely absurd in all of his efforts. However , eventually both the houses are complete-  But a storm comes and the sand-castle man is not as snooty as he used to be : “49- ‘… When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins’.

Now there are many ways in which we can interpret this visual aid Jesus gave us to see. But the one that Jesus used for us to understand is the quality of obedience. He says : “47 ‘I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then obeys me. “48 it is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation…’

Look at this in the context of someone’s life. They believe they are a Christian, they’ve been baptised-at-birth, confirmed and attend Church on all major holidays (i.e.: Eastmas - a Christmas and Easter kinda guy). Maybe they go even more regularly than that! But a storm comes in their life. They lose a loved one, they become ill. Their life falls apart. And what happens? Their faith crumbles into a ‘heap of ruins’

-          Why would God let this happen?

-          I thought God was loving?       

  

Which one of the men are they? = the Sandcastle-man !

 What people forget to realise is that extremely similar storms face the lives of the believer, they experience the winds and the waves. But their foundation is built on the rock. They don’t suffer a fall into an abyss of unbelief.

For the non-Christians reading this. Never think that those happy-faces you see in Church-Fellowship have had a happy-go-luck life. I was speaking to a man recently who had so many questions about evil in the world, suffering and heart break. He looked at me and said “You can’t talk!” = In other words: You’ve had a happy-go-lucky life all your life, and you are in NO position to talk about suffering and pain.

I was offended at first at his presumptuous judgements, but later on The Lord showed it to me in a different light, and I took it as a compliment.

It simply means that all the experiences and challenges I have faced has not affected the God-given joy in my life. – Do not be misled.

Challenges come, and it is heart breaking, but Jesus says that like a doctor to the sick; He comes to mend the broken hearted. - We live in a fallen world. Bad things happen, storms come The Bible says that Nature cry’s out ROMANS8”22.

But Jesus is there to protect us in the ‘shadow of His wings’~Pslams63”7

So how do we exempt ourselves from the wretched fall that often follows a challenge – well it can go two ways, like a marriage a big challenge can either bring the couple closer together or tear them apart. Make the decision today to draw closer to God in the midst of dark times.

There are three steps we see from Luke 6”49

1 –Come

2- Listen

3- Obey                                                                                                                                               

Come – make the decision today to go towards Jesus and away from sorrow and bitterness from the pain of the past. All you need to do is ask in the quietness of your heart for you to be drawn To Him ~ And He will draw near to you. James

Listen – When the Holy Spirit comes inside of you, Listen to His voice, and guidance. Let Him do His job please (I beg of you) Hi is the comforter, and He will give you such peace about the pains you have experienced. You will be overwhelmed with His peace and joy.

Obey – Now I know some of you may cringe at this word. And honestly, and quite frankly. That is completely sad. Only a teenager intentionally doesn’t listen and obey those around him/her with more wisdom. And everyone has regrets from their teenage-hood (no matter how big or small). - Make the wise decision today and take advice from the creator of the world (And beyond) – trust me, He knows what He’s talking about :)

In all finalities. Being Confirmed and whatnot, (and some other religious obligations… exempting Baptism!!) – are so absurdly religious and not even mentioned in the Bible!! They come from the old church (mainly in from Europe) and are all in linkage with the controlling government need of like  the 15th century. – Honestly, who needs it?

No offense, but if it’s not in the Bible, I am absolutely not going to be part of it :))

Religion, is not giving people freewill, it’s telling them what to do.

 Don’t be part of it. Build your house on Jesus, and not religion.