Gentleness

Phil 4:5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

What a great reminder and encouragement, that we should be known for our gentleness; that’s what people should remember us by – by our gentleness ; a Christ-like gentleness.

What a credit to the LORD if we are known as gentle people!

I’m glad that the Word is grafted or implanted into us, otherwise, no chance.

Therefore laying aside all filthiness and abundance of evil, in meekness receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

(James 1:21-22)

…The grafted or implanted Word.

Beautiful.

Need a Word implant?

Coming to Church MUST be coming to The Light

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”
(John 3:18-21)

We live in an age when many, who don’t come to the Light, come to Church anyway and even build their own Churches. They’ve come to the Church, but they’ve not come to the Light, and the Light has not come into them.

Within these verses there’s a definition of what conversion is, and what the true Church is : both are defined by the Light, and what the Light does – He exposes all the darkness and replaces it with Himself, who is the Light.

The Light has come into the world…  – there’s our definition of true Christianity and the true Church: The Light has come.

Where the darkness is not exposed and not removed, we can’t call such a person a Christian, nor their Sunday meeting a Church.

When the darkness can be ‘at home’ in a Church setting it shows there is no Light there. Where the Light is, the darkness cannot hide, for long, anyway. Sooner or later the true nature of people is revealed, and, if they love the darkness, they will be repelled away from the Light.

Isaiah 8:20  To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

It was the wisdom of God to build His Church with Light. Where His Light is people see Jesus. Darkness blinds.

Praying ‘Your Kingdom come’

Therefore pray in this manner: Our Father in heaven, sanctified be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
(Matt 6:9-10)

When we pray for anyone that the Father’s Kingdom come to them, we are asking Father for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them as on the Day of Pentecost; we’re asking for the Holy Spirit to invade their lives and bring the Reign of Christ Jesus into their hearts and minds and bodies, powerfully; for the outpouring of Grace, and we’re believing that the enemy’s kingdom be dispersed and it’s power destroyed in their lives. One Kingdom displacing another.

If not, what are we expecting to happen when we pray ‘Your Kingdom come’ ?

Why does God whisper to us?

Why doesn’t He shout? That way His voice would be unmistakable, right?

He whispers so that He can only be heard when we’re in the place where we should be: in the quiet place of rest, the rest of faith in Him, in intimate communion with Him. His “still small voice” is so quiet that we can easily shrug it off as being just from ourselves.

If the King is whispering all the time it probably means that He wants you to get real close to Him; He only wants you to hear Him when you’re close to Him, and you are close to Him if you believe Him and love Him, closer than your own heart.

Then, it’s clearly a question of love and of honor.

If man will honor Him then man will hear Him. If anyone really wants to hear His voice, they will.

Many times we hear but we don’t take heed. What can we learn from this? Why do we sometimes miss Him? Bcos there was a mixture in our life, crowding Him out to a certain degree, so that His voice was indistinct among other voices, or things craving our attention. So these missed opportunities are really golden opportunities to learn the way He relates to us; how He wants us to relate to Him, according to His wisdom.

We sometimes mistakenly think that as we mature in the Lord He will speak in a louder voice to us, but it aint so. Rather, as we mature we grow to honor Him more and esteem His communion and fellowship more and more precious to us, therefore we can hear more clearly, bcos hearing His voice is so precious to us.

If hearing and obeying His voice is extremely precious to you; more precious than anything in this world, then you will hear.

To the self-willed, hearing God’s voice is irrelevant, and they even contemptuously consider such a thing a sign of weakness.

Another reason some believers struggle to hear God’s voice is that they haven’t yet fully and unconditionally surrendered their own agenda to take up His agenda – not denied themselves and taken up their cross to follow Jesus wherever he goes. They’ve already made up their mind what they’re gonna do and made their own plans, so God doesn’t disturb them with His plans.

When God speaks to a man or woman in their spirit it is the most wonderful thing in this life. But it’s reserved for those who will honor Him with their lives, with the obedience of their whole heart and soul and mind – i.e. His friends.

It will never be chit chat from heaven for man’s amusement or entertainment, or ego’s sake.

Writing notes in your Bible

I stopped writing notes in my Bibles, or underlining verses, in about 89, bcos i found that every time i tried to read the text my eyes would be drawn to the notes or to the highlighted verses. The Holy Spirit won’t draw our attention to the same verses all the time, He will give us fresh manna morning by morning. He will esteem every Word of God as vital.

When i was a WOF-er i underlined all the verses which seemed to promise that God would make me rich, or promise healing, and every time i opened my Bible those verses would be the first ones my eyes were drawn to, to the exclusion of all else, especially the ones which warn of covetousness and self-seeking. Over time it can become a form of brain washing; anyway, it’s unbalanced.

And i realized that my furious (frantic) note taking stemmed from a wrong (natural) understanding of His Kingdom, a lack of faith, and a hint of my own self-importance ; all of which i think is part of the normal process of growing up into the Head in all things.

A revelation of Servanthood cleared it up for me. Ever been anxious that the revelation or gem you’ve received may be forgotten, so you rush to grab a paper and pen to jot it down? That’s ok, but what God communicates to us by His Spirit is eternal; it’s to stay with us forever, it’s not a little cloud that descends and one puff of wind can blow it away.

Rather, a servant waits on God as a student and as a servant – the onus is on the Master to teach the student, and, as a servant, he receives from God for a PURPOSE higher than just his own benefit, and with a responsibility, as a faithful steward. A student believes that His Teacher is the One who sets the curriculum and decides what he needs to learn, when he needs to learn it, not the other way round. Our learning is maintenanced by our Master, we only need to take Him seriously, by faith.

What is deposited into our spirit stays and changes the way we live and believe. But many thoughts come to our minds which appear to be important but are soon forgotten.

Our Justifier

Therefore by works of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law has been revealed, being witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and upon all those that believe.

For there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for a demonstration of His righteousness through the passing over of the sins having previously occurred, in the forbearance of God, for a demonstration of His righteousness in the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. Through what law? Of works? No, but through the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? But is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, also of Gentiles, since there is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith. Therefore do we nullify the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
(Romans 3:20-31)

The JUSTIFIER of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Glory! What a Justifier!!

Is Christ the one who justifies you? Do you have a Justifier?

If so, rejoice forever!

What a Justifier!

Honey bees learn to count: researchers

An Australian and a Swedish researcher say they have proved honey bees are more intelligent than previously thought. Professor Mandyam Srinivasan from Queensland University and Dr Marie Dacke trained honey bees to count by placing food at different markers.

Professor Srinivasan says he has also found bees can learn colours and smells and be trained to fly through complicated mazes. “The more we look at these creatures that have a brain the size of a sesame seed, the more astonished we are,” he said. “They really have a lot of the capacities that we so-called higher human beings possess.”

The scientists also say they have proved honey bees can count to four. The put five markers inside a tunnel and placed nectar at one of them. When honey bees were put in the tunnel, they flew to the marker with the food. Professor Srinivasan says when the experiment was repeated without nectar the bees still flew to the marker that had contained the food. “We find that if you train them to the third stripe, they will look subsequently in the third stripe,” he said. ‘If you train them to the fourth stripe, they will look in the fourth stripe and so on. “But their ability to count seems to go only up to four. They can’t count beyond four.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/26/2401396.htm?section=justin

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Only intelligence can design and create intelligence. It’s extremely unintelligent to think that intelligence came into being thru a random – chance – coincidental – accidental linking up of elements, atoms and molecules.

Just the fact that we observe such a thing as intelligence in creatures, and acknowledge that we have been given a faculty to appreciate such things ( a spirit), should be reason enough to bow our knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How’s the weather underground?

Obama knew full well what Bill Ayers believed and stood for when he associated with him years ago. Obama may be many things, but he ain’t stupid.

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Bill Ayers’ Terrorist Group Discussed Genocide of Americans
Politics | Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 3:14:17 pm PDT

Former FBI informant Larry Grathwohl infiltrated the Weather Underground and helped prevent several bombing attacks by the group. In this clip from the 1982 documentary No Place to Hide, Grathwohl describes a Weather Underground meeting at which the terrorists discussed the need to murder at least 25 million people—those diehard American capitalists who would resist “reeducation.”

Quote

I asked, “well what is going to happen to those people we can’t reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?” and the reply was that they’d have to be eliminated.

And when I pursued this further, they estimated they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers.

And when I say “eliminate,” I mean “kill.”

Twenty-five million people.

I want you to imagine sitting in a room with 25 people, most of which have graduate degrees, from Columbia and other well-known educational centers, and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people.

And they were dead serious.

http://sheepleblog.net/community/index. … en#msg3505

(There’s a YouTube clip on this link)

Bcos of His joy we can carry on

Bcos of His joy we can carry on, against all odds. Bcos of his joy, and the joy set before us, we can move ahead confidently amidst this rapidly collapsing world. It would be a bleak life without His joy.

The house of this world is collapsing with a great noise, in fulfillment of God’s Word, yet the House of God, which we are, is being established forever. It is established on Christ and in Christ and for Christ.

I will fear no evil for You are with me…

You might as well have His joy, what have you got to lose?

Marturia – Martyr – Testimony

Rev 6:9  And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony (marturia) which they held.

Many saints have been martyred for their faith in Jesus. The very term ‘martyr’ means ‘testimony’; the act of martyrdom being a testimony of the martyr’s faith – He/she loves Jesus more than their own life.

Similarly, our whole life is a martyrdom, a living sacrifice – a testimony to what we hold dear and to where our faith is, for better or worse.

Specifically, our congregating together in Jesus’ name (Church); is it a testimony (marturia) of Jesus? Does it prove who He is and demonstrate His nature to the world? Or does it deny His nature and Kingdom?

No claim, no blame

Todd Bentley recently fell from fame when it was found that his claims did not match what really happened.

But if he had not claimed anything – not claimed to have healed anyone, could he have been blamed when people’s expectations were not met?

Don’t claim to be anything or to have done anything, just serve.

That’s the Spirit of Christ.

No saint is disadvantaged

Can any saint legitimately say, I am disadvantaged!  Bcos of my present circumstances, my background, my whatever… ??

No.

It’s a wonder…

It’s a wonder sin ever came into existence (anon.).

It’s a wonder that people need to be cajoled into repenting and turning to God.

It’s a wonder that God is not in people’s thoughts all the time.

It’s a wonder when people are amazed when God works a miracle or a healing.

It’s a wonder that people still rebel against Him.

It’s a wonder that God was manifest in the flesh and crucified on behalf of sinners.

It’s a wonder when Christians don’t want to talk about Jesus all the time; more interested in other subjects.

It’s a wonder when Christians are frightened or ashamed to tell others about Jesus.

Ossie again

“And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2

The key to the missionary message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus. Take any phase of Christ’s work – the healing phase, the saving and sanctifying phase; there is nothing limitless about those. “The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world! ” – that is limitless. The missionary message is the limitless significance of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins, and a missionary is one who is soaked in that revelation.

The key to the missionary message is the remissionary aspect of Christ’s life, not His kindness and His goodness, and His revealing of the Fatherhood of God; the great limitless significance is that He is the propitiation for our sins. The missionary message is not patriotic, it is irrespective of nations and of individuals, it is for the whole world. When the Holy Ghost comes in He does not consider my predilections, He brings me into union with the Lord Jesus.

A missionary is one who is wedded to the charter of his Lord and Master, he has not to proclaim his own point of view, but to proclaim the Lamb of God. It is easier to belong to a coterie which tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, easier to become a devotee to Divine healing, or to a special type of sanctification, or to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Paul did not say – “Woe unto me, if I do not preach what Christ has done for me,” but – “Woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” This is the Gospel – “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!”

– Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 213, 214

Make your own life

Ever heard the quip, Make your own entertainment! ? Like, when people live in an isolated place, without any connections to the outside world, it’s sometimes said that they have to ‘make their own fun’.

Its good advice for disciples of Jesus living in this condemned world – make your own life in Jesus; don’t look to the world or even to religion to give you a life.

In some respects Jesus’ holy remnant are like castaways on a deserted island, bcos we are in this world but not of it; we are like a tiny island in a vast sea of iniquity; therefore, we have to create our ‘own world’, parallel and separate to the world, yet in the midst of the world as a lighthouse.

* “There’s no real churches or fellowship where I live!” – Make your own church; make your own fellowship; begin by faith today. Don’t go looking for one, make one. Of such is the Kingdom of God. But the ‘kingdom of christendom’ says, ‘You can’t do that, that’s being independent’.

* “I’m all alone, single, barren, lonely, without a family!”. – Make a family; begin by faith today. Don’t go looking for a partner and a family. Walk in faith, boldly, and the LORD may draw a partner to you with like faith, so you can truly be one. But whether or not you get a natural family, believe for a spiritual family – a 100 mothers, brothers, sisters.

We are to shake off the ‘helpless’ mentality, as disciples of Jesus. We are not to look to Egypt (the world, or worldly church) for help. Christ is our help and the Holy Spirit our Helper.

No matter how tough our circumstances are, we are above the circumstances, seated with Christ in the heavens. He is our Life, and He lives! Lift up the hands that hang down!

Ask for help

Heb 4:16 Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

From His Throne, our LORD sees some who come before Him and ask for His help, and He sees many who don’t come to Him for help. They’ve chosen not to come. They’ve chosen to go it alone. I spose that asking for God’s help is humiliating for human nature.

The “Throne of Grace” – what a lovely description, and bcos grace is available now to all, bcos Jesus died on behalf of all, anyone can boldly approach Him to obtain mercy and help.

What is your doctrine?

My comment on another blog:

It’s good that the term ‘doctrine’ is being inspected under the surface: yes, it’s NT application was surely wider than it’s use today;

e.g.

Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are–the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be muzzled, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit threw him into a convulsion, and crying out with a loud voice, came out from him. Then they were all amazed, so that they were disputing among themselves, saying, “What is this?

What new doctrine (didache) is this

, that He commands even the unclean spirits with authority, and they obey Him?”
(Mark 1:23-27)

Clearly, there was no separation between what a person taught and their actions; both, together, comprise our doctrine.

A man’s actions ’speak’ – represent what he believes.

In this sense, we can’t be other than ‘doctrinal’.

I have not found your works perfect before My God

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He that has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name, that you live, and you are dead. Be watchful, and keep that which remains, which you were about to cast out, for I have not found your works perfect before My God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and by no means shall you know what hour I will come upon you.
(Rev 3:1-3)

Note, that the Head of the Church brings our works before His Father and evaluates everything by His standard.

We may have a ‘name’ – reputation that we ‘live’, but before the Father may be dead, just as these Christians were.

Before each other and the world they had a reputation of being alive, the outward appearance of life, and before each other they looked good, but the Head of the Church speaks into the situation and says that before God their lives are not acceptable to Him. Acceptable to each other but not to God.

This is where the ministry of the Word thru the Spirit is paramount – we need heaven’s judgment, evaluation, and not a consensus or happy medium; we need the Head of the Church to be speaking IN His churches.

Prophecy glorifies Jesus

Just a thought i had while away:  When you read the letters of Paul the Apostle (and all Scripture, this is just an example) you don’t see Paul, or hear Paul, and you don’t even get interested much in Paul, even when he describes his own work, or gives his testimony ; there is something Divine (inspired) about what he wrote, which we call prophecy.  Of course, the Canon of Scripture is closed; the Holy Spirit bears witness to that, and also that there is no other inspired words/truth than the Canon.

Yet, it’s the ‘spirit of prophecy’ i’m referring to, and of which the Prophets of old, and the Scriptures which were given to them, are our example of prophecy and teaching.

(2 Peter 1:21, Rev.19:10, 1 Cor. 14:1)

I’m suggesting that just as Paul’s letters exclusively reveal Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ; in the same Spirit we should prophesy/teach/preach today, as the Holy Spirit brings forth the Word of God we have received, from within us; as we have received we speak.

Compare with false prophets and teachers: people get fascinated with them ; they see them, they don’t see the real Jesus.  It’s a comparison, or juxtaposition, we would do well to ponder on.

When you read Paul you don’t get interested in Paul, you get a passion for Jesus. We should also follow their example.

In South India for a few days

Arrived in Thanjavur S. India yesterday to spend some time in the Word with a few brothers and sisters and also preaching the gospel. Yesterday, a lady in a house we visited said she will follow Jesus.

It’s been a joy, we’re having great fellowship, night and day, in the LORD Jesus. Please keep Richard and I and also Paul, who is traveling with us, in your prayers, and also my family at home.

One thing that has been impressed in my heart on this trip is how the LORD Jesus personally calls each one of His own, and they are His. What a mighty thing it is to be called by Him and to be His! …And to live for Him.  What a high calling.

Many times, due to wrong conditioning/learning, we don’t acknowledge each of God’s elect as personally called by Jesus Christ ; we don’t give them that most basic of honors as co-redeemed people – if we look down upon them or exalt ourselves above them or claim a superior or higher knowledge of Jesus than them.

We simply commend people to the Word of God, exhorting them to cleave to the LORD, just as we do.

The LORD knows who are His; He knows who loves Him and who does not.