In Their Image: Friends

It’s relationship .. not religion ..

Do you find that learning by doing is the best way?

Trish was asked to teach some classes for another teacher who was going to be in hospital. The children were originally to have cooking classes and prepare, cook, and present food. But Trish was told, "don't bother with the cooking, just teach some theory classes you've already prepared". Trish was upset, she told me: "but the children learn so much from actually doing, and they remember what they've learned because of their new accomplishment, it's always far beyond what they thought they could do! They achieve and grow by doing and then eating what they've cooked and through sharing". (Some kids have become the family "go to" person for shortbread or muffins or spaghetti bolognaise because of the lovely life skills they learned in Trish's classes).

I find the same thing with Christianity. It's also like friendships which mature by doing and sharing life and thoughts with others, and growing together.

So with Jesus. Christianity is not really a religion. Sure it's spiritual and to do with God, but it's so very relational! Jesus is so real to me. We know from recorded history that He lived and worked miracles and was crucified and then was seen alive by at least 500 people. Jesus rose from death and is alive today. Jesus, God, Son of God, Emanuel, God with us, man (made like you and me in God's image and likeness).

I've learned to give Jesus time and conversation and silence (quiet time) so that I'm present when He speaks to me, or even whispers, or gives me an encouraging (spiritual) punch on my arm or a warm hand on my shoulder.

The Bible makes it clear that the Christian church is Jesus' bride, and that each Christian is His betrothed. That is, you and I are promised to Jesus in marriage .. I find this awesome and exciting. It also makes me realise that even if I think I'm pretty small potatoes, and a bit of a mess up in many areas of life, Jesus thinks I'm wonderful enough to want to marry me! Believe me, any wonderfulness in me comes from Him!

All this implies a big degree of intimacy and that's the "in their image" connection. Even from Genesis Chapter 1 we can see intimacy within the God-head:
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  And God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light" (Genesis 1:1-3).

The original Bible language calls God "Elohim" which is a plural word and includes Father God, the Son Jesus and Holy Spirit. In these verses Father announces the launch of all Creation. Jesus creates and is light, He brings light to the cosmos, and Holy Spirit fills it all with life and order. (The sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day!) Later in the Bible we learn that "God is spirit" (John 4:24) and "God is love" (1 John 4:16), but already we see a tight and inclusive fellowship.

Favourite Bible Verses
"No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (Jesus' words in John 15:15).

Friends
No wonder Jesus wants us to be His friends, it's who He is. Not only did He bring us to Father God and ask that we be made sons and daughters and to be included in their family, their big plan is that we are also to be included in the intimacy and understanding of ruling and reigning, and being stewards of everything on the earth; participating with Jesus in His continuing, and vast, ministry here.

Friends. Beloved. Betrothed. Saved. Empowered. Healed. Us! All over the world. Millions and millions of us. He is so generous, and kind, and patient!

The word "rejoice" is often in the Bible and in those old church songs; I can see how surely it belongs there. At a big praise meeting a year or so ago we were taught the song "My Dad is the best Dad in the whole world". Well, a song in my heart is: "My friend Jesus is the best friend in the whole world .. in the whole world". That's a great comfort to me .. I don't easily make friends ..

Jesus My Friend And Saviour
Here's a true story about my friend Jesus:
For more than 20 years I had a sometimes irregular heart beat. This was called Atrial Fibrillation and dramatically increased my chance of developing a blood clot and bringing on a stroke or other awful thing. AF patients have to take blood thinners and other medications.

For many of my illnesses I go to public clinics at our city's biggest teaching hospital, Royal Perth. There I was assigned to one of Australia's top cardiologists; he's on the heart transplant team. Mostly the clinic patients like me see registrars, not the top person who oversees and reviews; a registrar is a qualified doctor who is learning the skills of a specialist and may have another three years to go before having his or her own patients. One day a registrar told me I was to have a cardioversion; they would put me under general anesthetic and apply a substantial shock to my heart (using the metal paddles you see on TV hospital shows, where they shout "clear" just before the electric jolt makes the patient's body jump about). This procedure has shown good results with people like me.

Well, my hospital booking and pre-admission instructions arrived and I followed them to the letter. I arrived at Royal Perth on time and full of confidence, I believed that prayers (many, over 20+ years!) were being answered. Soon I was prepped and ready.

It seemed very strange then, as I was being wheeled to the cardiac operating theatres, that I should feel real fear. "Jesus", I prayed under my breath, "I'm afraid, why am I suddenly so scared?" Immediately I was aware that Jesus was walking alongside, He was relaxed, smiling love at me; He didn’t speak but I knew not to be afraid, He had everything in His hands. Then I was in a reception area, nurses were bustling about and doing people's notes. I'd found a magazine and was absorbed in a great recipe, I planned to memorise it and cook it for my family. Despite my concentration I clearly heard one nurse say to another, "his INR level is 2.3", and their conversation continued.

Why I then spoke I cannot tell you, but I know that dear Holy Spirit prompted me. There were several patients there that day, and likely all of them, except me, would have INR (blood thin-ness) levels well over 2.0. I found myself saying, "is that INR level of 2.3 for me?" Yes, it was. "But my instructions clearly told me to stop taking blood thinners 5 days ago, my INR will be about 1.5 or 1.6".

"O that can't be", replied the nurse, "your instructions would never have told you to stop your medication before a cardioversion!"

Pandemonium ensued. A brand new register was told to take blood from my arm so they could test the INR. He was shaking with fear at this responsibility and I had to ask him to step away. The nurse became impatient and told me I had to have this test ..

Eventually a very nice young man appeared by my gurney and asked what was up. This was the famous heart transplant cardiac surgeon whom I was meeting for the first time. He asked for the instructions I'd been sent. "They are pinned to the calendar in our kitchen, I can bring them in later if you like". My procedure that day was cancelled; it would have been extremely dangerous to go ahead when my INR was so low, I could have been paralysed or even died. Subsequently I had a cardioversion which went well but did not fix my AF; that is a longer story, but reflects extended blessing from this incident. My AF is now healed.

My lovely cardiac doctor had me bring the erroneous instructions to the hospital. He commenced a departmental review so that in future all pre-admission instructions would be labelled and managed in an improved fail-safe manner.

So my life was saved? I believe so. Saved by Jesus, who, by His Spirit, interrupted my recipe reading and told me to speak to the nurses. So simple. No wonder He smiled at me earlier .. He was planning to make some profound good come out of a potential tragedy!

I think of Jesus as my friend, He has my back, He looks out for me all the time. Not everything in my life or our family is perfect, and I still have serious health issues, but I have lots of vitality and I'm filled and surrounded by faith and hope and love .. Grace upon grace ..

Praise Jesus ..

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Amen.

In Their Image: Father

The Wonder Of Being Father

Trish and I were praying on the eve of Fathers' Day.

A vision filled my senses; it was as though I was in an MRI machine inside a woman's womb as she conceived a child. Awesome! A miracle unfolding! It was so clear that God was there too; our Father, warm, smiling, rejoicing.

There on the right was an egg, the ovum from the woman, waiting .. From the left came a vigorous swimming sperm, the seed. The sperm reached the egg and I saw what looked like a kiss, when hormones were released to allow only that sperm to fertilise the egg. (My heart was filled with wonder, it was very romantic).

Then that which science cannot explain began; the two cells merged .. I could see the membrane of the ovum opening and making way for the sperm cell, then its nucleus opened and its DNA strand moved out to meet the DNA strand from the father, (normally you need an electron microscope to see these building blocks of life).

Father God's hands were there, pairing DNA bases; the billions of DNA base pairs from the mother and the billions from the father do not join to make one longer strand .. The two strands merge, just one base from each two is taken into the baby's DNA making him or her a unique person, yet in every way a child of both parents. The selection of all the characteristics is not a chance event, nor an accident, nor serendipity. Our Father in heaven does the choosing, even if our mum and dad do not know Him, (Psalm 139:13) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

This is how He knows the number of the hairs on our head, and the number of our days. No wonder then that His Word says that we are worth more than many sparrows (Luke 12:7), we are hand made by God!

As I watched, the new baby grew to about the eight-week stage; it was still less than an inch long, about the size of a raspberry. Although everything was only beginning to be formed the baby could move its arms, I could see its heartbeat. A miracle!

I am a father, Trish and I have six children, now grown, four young men and two young women. We are also grandparents of three. From our first conception until today, fatherhood has been thrilling, satisfying and rich for me, and I know that motherhood has been of vast wonder and significance for Trish. Fatherhood is also difficult, demanding and often painful. But what do I most remember? Thrilling, satisfying and rich ..

Jesus' purpose for my vision became clear; my joy at being father to my children is a genuine taste of our Heavenly Father's joy in being our Abba Father ..

I see how great is Father's joy at every conception .. He rejoices in every new baby, every life .. He longs to add each one to His family .. There are 7½ billion of us in the world and despite all the awful stuff we see, our Father's desire for us has never wavered, He created each one, loves each one and desires intimacy and relationship with each one .. How He must ache at all the hatred and greed and meanness! But at the same time, He must be delighted that so many live loving lives full of gratitude and kindness .. and that so many millions have found Him, the source and object of life and love ..

Come Lord Jesus .. Fill me anew .. Show your plans for me .. Lead me forward .. (Mark 1:17)  And Jesus said to them, "Follow me .. ".

Amen.

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Praise Jesus.

In Their Image: Spiritual

We Are (Much) More Spiritual Than Physical

Do we think and talk enough about being spiritual? Spiritual is our principal mode of being; we are spirit, soul and body (Thessalonians 5:23), (although this thought feels very odd to us 21st Century people who are used to being the centre of our physical world and constantly aware of our senses, and our place in the world).

The story of humankind begins by introducing God, who before the Creation, was all that ever was. God is spirit (John 4:21-23). 

NOTE 1: He is also love and the essence of relationship; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternally loving, sharing and giving as one. This is vitally important to us all, and to the whole universe; it's where love and empathy and ethics come from. Good and bad and conscience all come from God, where else? Even the animals and plants recognise His sovereignty (Genesis 7:9; Psalm 104:21; 148:7-10).

The Creation

God spoke and the Creation came into being (Isaiah 45:12) 'It is I who made the earth and created humankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their starry hosts'. 

Genesis, the first Bible book, tells us that on the very FIRST DAY God created the heavens and the earth and water. Then He spoke and light came, as well as the darkness, these He called day and night. 

NOTE 2: There's no mention of land until DAY THREE .. the sun, moon and stars were not created until the FOURTH DAY, so I believe that the light seen on DAY ONE was Jesus (John 1:4-5; Revelation 22:5). The whole of creation was brought into being supernaturally according to a previously established design, plan and purpose by God who is spirit. 

On DAY TWO, God spoke and created the sky, it lay between the expanse of water that covered the entire earth, and another watery expanse, above ..

DAY THREE, God's words created the land and seas, and vegetation of all kinds.

DAY FOUR, God spoke and created the sun, moon and stars to give the light we see all around us, and introduced the reality of days, years and sacred times. (Genesis 1:17) God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.

DAY FIVE, God filled the waters with creatures and the sky with birds of many kinds, He blessed them all with fruitfulness. From this we know that gender of male and female was a reality from the outset, and all the vast complexity of attraction, reproduction, family and genetics.

Every thing was declared to be ‘good’ at this time. But Genesis 1:1-23 tells of no purpose to the Creation. I believe that this was because only physical elements had so far been created; there was no being with a spirit with whom God could form relationship and no being to share the 'sacred times' of DAY FOUR with God; what God had done was create a beautiful, safe, fruitful environment where He could fulfil His planned purpose.

Then came DAY SIX. God formed livestock and wild animals of all kinds, big and small.

Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground' (Genesis 1:26).

Then He took dirt from the ground and made a human man who we know to be Adam. To give Adam life, God breathed into his nostrils, and he became a 'speaking spirit' (most English language Bibles translate Genesis 2:7 as 'living being' which implies that we are like cougars, or cockroaches, or cows, or cockatoos, but the original Bible language says 'speaking spirit', in the image of God, and unique in creation). God immediately formed relationship with the man and asked him to assist Himself with the work of stewarding and running the Creation. Humankind was immediately included into God's eternal relationship. Spirit to spirit. 

You And I - Every Person

You and I are very special.

God did not stop there, He gave a mate to Adam; Eve, a perfect compliment, giving them together an all encompassing, intimate, personal relationship, (a relationship in the image of what God already knew within Father, Son and Holy Spirit?) The man and woman would be fruitful; they would have children and form a family. As life multiplied throughout the earth, so humankind would grow to fulfil the charge God had given, to be God's ambassadors and agents on Earth.

At this time God knew His Creation to be ‘very good’. His purpose had been established.

We are part of a spirit-created Creation; everything we've ever seen came from the God who is spirit!

It's no wonder that it all works so well together, despite the greed, aggression, and waywardness of sinful, fallen humanity! 

Every day almost all the 7½ billion of us on our lovely planet get food and water, we enjoy children and families, work, study and play, and most are also free to enjoy the God who created us.

When we stop and think, we see that our own spirituality is uniquely real and alive:
•  We pray.
•  We seek the Lord and receive help every minute, especially in times of trouble or doubt.
•  Many of us have been healed supernaturally by a miracle, beyond what any doctor or medicine could do.
•  Many too will have seen a person supernaturally healed after prayer. Spiritual healings! Miracles! Physical, relational, emotional, mental, spiritual healings!
•  Our very salvation was a miracle. Millions testify that Jesus came and took us to Himself, although we were weak, unfit and soiled by sin. Amazingly we can always remember this spiritual event, it is etched in our memory as our name is carved on our Father's hand (Isaiah 49:16). 

And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding, shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7 Amplified).

Here is a true scene; here Jesus and you are sharing about your life together, in the Spirit, and in truth:
'Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women'.   
'Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men'. 
'I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.  Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.  Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.  His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me' (Song of Solomon 2:2-6). 

Jesus and you are betrothed. Regardless of how your life seems to be going it will have a very, very good outcome, eternally!

Praise Jesus.

NOTE 3: You may ask; what about the Big Bang and the billions of years and evolution of the species? Well, none of these concepts are more than theories, there is not one shred of real evidence that any of these theories are true despite all the professors and books and TV shows. Every theory describing these ideas has fatal flaws in its foundation, and without the foundation they are all just ideas. The Creation and Noah's Flood are very well evidenced by science but denied by most scientists and most popular media; the Flood changed the whole world, gave us our continents and poles and weather and seasons. Many of the fossils were formed during the flood event, they are found all over the world and tell of a single-climate planet.

Bless you, bless us all. Amen.

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Praise Jesus.

Simeon and Anna

Prayer Is So Very Precious

When Jesus was eight days old, Joseph and Mary brought Him to the Temple to be dedicated to God. Simeon and Anna were already there, praying in the certain knowledge that God would send His Messiah in their lifetime, "on their watch". This is the promised Messiah who would redeem Israel and all of humankind at "just the right time".

Simeon and Anna had separately been spoken to by the Lord that they were to pray; each had persued this lonely task for years.

Right now, in our own time, many, many Simeons and Annas have been praying in affirmation of the hundreds of prophetic words which have been spoken over our city of Perth, Western Australia, in recent years.

There is coming a time when Jesus will reveal Himself to our fellow citizens as never before.

It is always good, where-ever it happens, when someone has that wondrous moment of clarity and they know, beyond any doubt, that Jesus is welcoming them into His life, that their spirit is awakening and lives are coming into a previously impossible fullness .. We are to expect tens of thousands to come like this to Jesus, gladly and hungrily, like thirsty wanderers reaching an abundant oasis in a vast desert. Our very materialistic and hedonistic city will change ..

These words have been given, in my hearing, by dozens of visiting missionaries, Bible teachers, evangelists, and by local ministers, intercessors, and preachers, and a great many "ordinary" Christians too. The words "tens of thousands" are a part of what Jesus has been saying to His Church.

Simeon and Anna knew only a little of what God was already committed to do, yet they prayed. Our prayer is part of our participation in God's work on the Earth. His work is sovereign yet in a great and powerful mystery, our participation seems to be vital to His timing.

I see it like this: when Jesus came to the Earth, He was fully man and, at the same time, He was fully God. When Jesus became a creature, with physical attributes, He was made a creature as we are, as a human being, a creature in God's image. A physical being with a spirit and the ability to speak; (this makes our humanity spectacularly awesome, doesn't it?)

So then, when Jesus had been crucified for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, He rose as a man; there are many witnesses, both in our Bible, and in histories of that time, which clearly state that the Man Christ Jesus lived, was crucified and rose into heaven. 

Very simply, this means that all of us Christians, who are children of God and who are in Christ, are also risen into Heaven with Jesus where we also participate in ruling and reigning with Him, hour by hour and day by day.

This makes prayer seem much more important, a vital part of our life with Jesus ..

Meanwhile, we wait and pray, and go about our lives in obedience to what Jesus has asked of each one.  Simeon and Anna are examples for us, we can see their work and be encouraged to press on.

Bless us all Lord .. Come quickly!

Favourite Scriptures

It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him (2 Timothy 2:11-12 NASB).

And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.  And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.  When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.  "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth" (Revelation 5:6-10 NASB). 

".. golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" .. our prayers are so very precious, and every one of them gets heard in Heaven!

Amen.

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Praise Jesus.