In Their Image: Revelation

Faith Shows What Jesus Reveals To The Spiritual Person Through Hope

A couple of weeks ago I was almost hysterical because I had become so stressed.. Bless Jesus though, He had already had me plan to come South to this lovely seaside campsite to spend lots of time with Him and to write .. 

We've been planning to do some serious renovations to our house and now those plans have gained substance. Trish and I make the big decisions together and then I do the project planning for which I need to get many balls into the air, and then keep them there, all totally coordinating with one another, while we still live our lives and be family with our big lovely brood. Also Australia is having an election early in July and I will want to participate in the campaign for our outstanding candidate, this, for me, is an unfortunate complication ..

Now is a critical time; we have begun several processes and a number of expensive things need to be accomplished, not just by Trish and I, but also by professionals who will do their parts of the work, and with our children who we need to do most of the heavy lifting. It's all pretty scary for me because, now that I'm older, I'm less strong and can get much less done in a day than I could in my 40s and 50s.

Happily, I belong to Jesus who, not only always has an ear ready to listen to my burdens, but is always there to give comfort, and bring peace; He is, even more than usual, my Rock. (Trish too is a rock .. she is so lovely!)

Here are three verses which have been coming into my mind (and my heart) over these days:

"For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?"  (Psalm 18:31)

"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever, the Spirit of Truth .. for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you" (John 14:16-17 Amplified)

"For out of His fullness we have all received grace upon grace" (John 1:16).

When I really  pause and take a breath I am aware of who I am in Jesus, and  remember that He knows all my pressures, and that I can rely on Him to talk to Trish and me, and to help out, then it all becomes "possible", rather than seeming totally beyond our resources. We are receiving "grace upon grace"!

We know that God speaks (Genesis 1:3), and He particularly speaks to His people (Revelation 1:1). When we hear Him speak to us, whether it's just for us, or for another, or for a number of people, this is revelation from the God who reveals Himself (Amos 4:13). We know this as the prophetic. Prophecy is simply hearing God speak and then speaking out, or responding, to His thoughts (1 Corinthians 14:1-4).

"He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to humankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the Lord God of Hosts is his name" (Amos 4:13).

"However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries .. "  (Daniel 2:28a).

Paul wrote about the prophetic very clearly:

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.  The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort [and] edifies the church"  (1 Corinthians 14:1,3,4).

From Paul's words I understand that prophecy is a normal part of the life of every Christian and of the Church, Jesus' gathered people.

An example of my hearing Jesus speaking to me: 

We're going to remove wallpaper and then paint the walls, we’ll replace flooring, curtains and light fittings. These are big changes in the first three rooms we're working on. There is a need to store whole rooms-full of stuff, (we have so many books and bookshelves!) and I'd planned to put everything out in the patio (maybe with a tarpaulin over). 

Well, my spirit caught the word "container". I would never have made this "lateral" thought, even though I have two brothers-in-law who make their living with sea container freight lines. There is now a shipping container in our driveway and it will safely hold all that's needed, and be in easy reach for our sons to carry everything. Economical. Safe. Easy. Just the other night we had a big storm and winds reached 104 km per hour (63 mph) .. Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! Our things were warm and dry!

Because every Christian has been made a child of God, just as Jesus is a child of God, and we all share in Jesus' inheritance, we can communicate freely with God:

•  with our Heavenly Father,

•  with our lovely Lord, Saviour, Rock and Brother, Jesus, and

•  with our Counsellor and Comforter, Holy Spirit.

Scripture makes it plain that our talk and chatter and prayer and sharing and receiving can be just as we see in the closest Earthly families we know!

Adam and Eve knew free and open conversation with God, much as we experience with those we love. Then they sinned by believing Satan, that he would make them "like God, knowing good and evil"  (Genesis 3:3-5). They ate of the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened and sin was in the world. After that their conversations were not the same; they were afraid of God, and would hide from Him. 

As Christians today we feel the weight of our sin but it no longer cripples us, we can confess and ask God's forgiveness. Jesus paid for all our wrongdoing and meanness and will forgive us again and again and again. He is always ready to talk and to hear from us; we are His "friends", not His "servants" (John 15:15).

Now this trip. I'm here because I felt Jesus' call to come at this time. It's real work to write these PsalmsOfJohn posts; I think that Jesus wants them to sound as if they just wrote themselves, fell off my fingers. But first I pray; what will be our idea Lord? And from the idea, our theme? Jesus always responds. Sometimes He doesn't even wait for the questions! Then I make lots of drafts, write down heaps of thoughts, remember many Scripture verses and write them, and then Jesus comes and helps me edit. His are the thoughts you see here, it's just me who types.

Bless you .. give Jesus your attention .. give Him some quality time .. listen, He will reveal Himself .. and follow Him ..

Favourite Bible Verses

"He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the Lord God Almighty is his name" (Amos 4:13).

"[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him" (Ephesians 1:17 Amplified).

"Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God's favour and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!" (Matthew 5:4 Amplified).

"[Blessed] Happy are those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given courage and comfort" (Matthew 5:4 J.B. Phillips).

"Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me" (John 12:26). 

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27).

Amen.

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Praise Jesus.