Fearfully And Wonderfully

What Great Design!

Over the past few weeks I've seen five medical specialists. This is just part of getting older, and some might say, also from having lived life a little faster than would have been wise. Happily all the doctors were very positive about my wellbeing and immediate future; the bones guy even said that I was "going great"! This helps me to continue to do the things that I am doing right, like eating well and not too too much, exercising and keeping my head busy.

As I received each of these good reports I would wonder at my old worn body and think about Jesus: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are marvelous, I know that full well" (Psalm 139:14).

What great design! What fabulous engineering! And it's (largely) self-maintaining, (largely) self-repairing. Our bodies can convert countless kinds of delicious foods into fuel, and we can even (help) make the next generation of our families!

In my many years I have worn out bikes and cars, cassette and CD players, and skill-saws, and so very many pairs of boots and pants but most of me is still working fine. Sure, I'm not as strong or as fast or as nimble as I once was, but here are some things I still delight to do:

Hang Out

Sedentary things are easy; reading is a joy, studying is a vital part of life, and I enjoy music and movies and TV and hanging out with people.

Get About

I can get about: I walk a lot for housework and getting-on-with-life. The last time I ran for a bus was my last run, thank you. But riding a bike is fun and I can drive cars, busses, trucks and tractors, without prescription glasses!

Sport

Most sport is past tense for me: overnight hikes, sailing, basketball and tennis. But I can still row a machine at the gym and hike in the bush for an hour or two, and I love to walk in our local community pool or along the sea shore.

Work:

Now that I'm a househusband work is quieter, thankfully I'm still a handyman. But no more battling through committee meetings, preparing complex designs or reports or managing staff. No more operating huge mining machines or laying kilometres of farm fencing. In my twenties I spent time in a factory manufacturing farm fencing; one afternoon I put my back out, my boss noticed that my machine was not making its hard-at-work sound so investigated. There I was on the ground curled into a tight ball, completely unable to move. One of my workmates backed his station wagon into the factory and four guys picked me up, just as I was, slid me into the back of the wagon and took me to the hospital. The doctors said they couldn't do much, I had to rest and progress through my physio, but after a few weeks I was back at work (almost) as good as new. Talk about great design and engineering - our bodies truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made"! Another time I was in a car crash, they did a good (and expensive) job fixing the car but it was never the same again and I was happy to sell it. But my amazing body, I'm so very glad and grateful to still live in it.

"For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church" (Ephesians 5:29).

Love:

"God is love" (1 John 4:8, 4:16), and because we are made in the "image" and "likeness" of God (Genesis 1:26), who is Elohim, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are made for love and family and for relationship. Praise Jesus that I still have the strength and energy to be family with my family, and to share in so many relationships .. this adds a great beauty to life. "Love" is a "doing word", a verb. It takes effort and often sacrifice to love. Scripture tells us: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25), so I do ..

Love comes in many forms and it is good to know how to be in different relationships. Trish and I agree that marriage is hard work but extremely rewarding, after 38 years our love, and our relationship are still growing. I believe that this is as close as we humans can get to the uniquely intimate and caring relationship between our Abba Father God, our Saviour Jesus, His Son, and our Comforter and Counsellor, Holy Spirit; these are three persons yet one God.

Many times the Bible tells us that it is what is in our heart that is important. So true. Our relationships are fueled from our heart so I remind myself to dwell on positive things, and not on the negative; a friend said that I am getting sweeter as I grow older; I was greatly touched by that remark! Me? Sweet? How lovely! What a great work our lovely Lord is doing in me. "How precious is your unfailing love, O God! We take refuge in the shadow of your wings" (Psalm 36:7). Ultimately love is what equips each of us to be fully human.

Spiritual Life:

Now that I'm convinced that my spirit is the most important part of me, I worry less about my body and try to balance my living towards Jesus rather than towards my own self. I'm coming into line with how Paul felt as he wrote to the Philippians: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (1:21).

Part of a Christian life is constant learning and I've always seen that Christians never stop studying; we are like those amazing redwood trees Trish and I saw in California, (that is her, by the tree), they start so tiny and grow and grow!

Our salvation happens in an instant, then the rest of our life we are being sanctified; this is where learning and growth are so important. Jesus always has more to teach us and learning becomes part of the "renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2).

Because I'm now more sedentary I have more time to read and pray and praise Jesus. This makes it easy to be positive and to be very grateful for how I'm made and how He has kept and preserved me ..

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’. [And]: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

Amen!

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Praise Jesus.

Is Jesus Visible?

Spiritual And Christ Centred

The kind of Christian events I mostly go to are very encouraging. The people there come because they are passionate about Jesus, His life, His gospel, and His Kingdom. I find these people to be like-minded (Romans 15:5). Even though we may be very different in background, temperament and lifestyle, we have a healthy kind of unity and this is something Jesus asks of us all (John 17:23, Ephesians 4:11).

I see Jesus clearly at these prayer meetings, discussion groups, house church meetings and other places; He is clearly in every part of the meetings regardless of their stated purpose; often the whole time is worship in different forms, and is very lovely. One can feel optimistic about our future when the "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 10:6-8) in this way.

Perhaps it is just me, but these days I seem to hear a great many testimonies, both the kind where people relate the brilliant changes that knowing Jesus has brought to their lives, and also the testimonies of supernatural miracles people have seen or been blessed by.

Recently a fellow told of a desperate time in his life. His name is Colin. When he was only 4 years old he was placed in a Salvation Army foster home because there was so much trouble between his parents. He remembers sitting on the back steps of the house feeling very alone and thinking that he may never again have a dad. Suddenly Colin was aware that his Heavenly Father was there with him and was filling him with the certain knowledge that He would always be there for him, that regardless of his relationship with his earthly parents, God would be his Abba Father forever! Amazing. Colin has never forgotten that moment, or Father God's promise. What I found so compelling was his age at the time, just 4. I have no memories before age 5 and those are vague. Colin's memory of that time is still crystal clear and he has become a man who is sold out for Jesus; he aches for our country and the legacy our generation will leave to our children.

In the Old Testament Israel would often remember what God had done for their country's fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Today we don't have to look so far back; we can see Jesus and Abba Father at work all around us. We have been given the heart and the eyes to see (1 John 2:20,27, 2 Corinthians 1:21), we live under the New Covenant. Not only do we have Jesus dwelling within each one of us (John 14:16-17, Colossians 3:3), not only are we filled with His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4, 4:31), we stand (present tense continuous) in the very grace of God (Romans 5:2)!

When Jesus was ministering on the earth many people could see Him, and many others wanted to see Him. At a Passover festival some Greeks came up to the disciple Philip and said "Sir, we would like to see Jesus" (John 12:21). At the same time the Pharisees, who were very important people in the Jewish faith, were angry and saying "We are getting nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him" (John 12:19). Clearly Jesus was very visible at that time.

These days, I believe, are different. I think that to vast rafts of people, Jesus is not visible. Today the population of our land seems to be little impacted by Christianity.

At Bible College we learned about "the visible church" and "the invisible church". These are terms I had not previously encountered but now find meaningful. The visible church is visible to the world, sometimes seen only as buildings we drive past. At other times we may see Christian people on the panels of TV shows, where they seem to share or agree with the views and values of the non-Christian panel members, (perhaps this is why they were chosen). The visible church often has more form than faith and can be religious, (Jesus got upset when He saw people being religious (Matthew 23:23, 23:25-33)). The visible church is hierarchical and corporate in structure and function, and very concerned with money and celebrity, it also tends to adopt, or at least accommodate, the world's trends and fashions. Happily we also often see strong Christians and moral values, and excellent social programs, in the visible church.

Only God can discern who is in the invisible church. It is purely spiritual and is Christ centred. It comprises God's children (Romans 8:14, 16), and demonstrates a certain unity; it was described by Paul as “we, though many, are one body” (Romans 12:5). Mostly, the people who are the invisible church are members of the visible church but are not its main influencers. They stay focused on Jesus, His Gospel and His work in the world, they are repentant, born again, in-filled with Jesus by His Spirit, and humble; their lives have been radically changed. Many Scriptures tell us what to expect:

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born again they cannot see the Kingdom of God'" (John 3:3).

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).

"For neither is circumcision of any importance, nor un-circumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah]" (Galatians 6:15 Amplified).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).

An example of visible and invisible church can be seen during the ascendancy of Adolph Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the 1930s. Hitler blamed the Jews for everything wrong in the world and set about ridding Germany of the whole Jewish population. In November of 1938 paramilitary forces and civilians were encouraged to round up Jewish men and attack Jewish synagogues, hospitals, schools, businesses and homes. This event is called Kristallnacht, (crystal night), because people all over Germany would remember the sound of breaking glass. Nearly 100 were killed during that night, more than 30,000 men were imprisoned, many never to be seen or heard from again. More than 1000 synagogues were trashed or destroyed.

It may seem strange to us, but the Christian church was virtually silent about this atrocity. Indeed a large portion of the church in Germany commended Hitler for his actions and set about removing Jewish people from their congregations and Jewish references from the canon of the Bible, they began by removing the whole of the Old Testament. These church people were keen to be visible to the world.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a true Christian during the Hitler years. However, moral opposition proved increasingly ineffective as avenues of public dissent were shut down by government authorities; Christian dissenters became virtually invisible to the world. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and then executed a few days before WWII ended. He is now rightly regarded as a Christian hero.

I have been pondering what is happening to our Western style of culture and of our unique constitutional and legal freedoms, all of which can be shown to have come from our Christian heritage. As in Germany in 1938, the Christian church in Australia has been strangely silent during these times where the definition of "family" has been changed and freedoms of speech, religion and association are being attacked and reduced and may soon be removed altogether. Some Christian leaders and some denominations are even accommodating to the new social trends. 

I ask myself how can this be? The answer I get from Scripture and prayer is clear; there is a deceiver in our midst (John 10:10, 2 John 1:7, Revelation 12:9). The deceiver is Satan and he never stops working against Jesus' truth, he spreads darkness. In these days, as in other times in history, he seems to be particularly active and we feel the impact of his work. "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

All this prompts me to remember what Jesus was so clear about. We are not to focus on sin; He has dealt with all sin and will help each of us to grow out of that sin which is in our hearts and our lives. Focusing on sin just makes us judgmental. 

Instead, we are to love God with everything we have "and to Love your neighbour as yourself" (Luke 10:27). Our "neighbour" is everyone around and about us.

Again, I am encouraged. When I gather with other Christians I’ve noticed a clear increase in our mutual desire to unite as one body, a readiness to repent of our own sins and those of our nation, and an increase in prayer life. These are three critical foundations for revival, and we know that revival can turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6), (really, "right side up").

The unity, fervour and glory of the very early church brought the downfall of Rome, the biggest, most powerful, and arguably the most cruel empire the world had ever known.

In the 1700s the church was moribund, (in decline, lacking vitality or vigour), and stiff; it had become religious, with tradition and form rather than the dynamic spiritual life and the light of Jesus flowing in rivers of living water. (Much of today's church is like this). John and Charles Wesley were Anglican ministers; they reached a point where they actively sought Christ and the new life promised in Scripture. 

Ultimately they did meet Jesus in an astonishing way; He came to them personally, and filled them with "a strange warmth" as they discovered His loving forgiveness. George Whitfield joined the Wesleys and they all began to preach the gospel as they had come to know it. All three were ostracised from their denomination, and then travelled far and wide preaching Jesus crucified and risen, Saviour of sinners, bringer of life in the Spirit. This was the beginning of the Methodist movement and one of the greatest times of spiritual and social revival in all of history.

Jesus became visible to millions. Now I, and others that I know, are praying that Jesus will raise up Christians of great stature and humility, and great obedience, to bring His Word in our time and for the next generations.

I now believe that we are in a new time when God is keeping a remnant of His people for the Kingdom of God in the future. Throughout history He has preserved people:

•  Joseph was leader of a remnant during a famine (Genesis 45) 

•  King Hezekiah was assured that a remnant of God's people would grow during the attacks of the Assyrians (2 Kings 18 and 19) 

•  In a time of Baal worshipers, high places, Asherah poles and idols, King Josiah was able to bring God's Word and revitalise the remnant who had suffered two pagan kings (2 Chronicles 34) 

•  In the time of Haggai the remnant of the people began work to restore the house of the Lord (Haggai 1); 

•  Even in New Testament times Paul reported that "at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace" (Romans 11:5).

Am I part of a remnant today? (Or do I think too highly of myself?) I cannot know; it is enough for me to press on, to seek Jesus' face, and His will for me, and to follow Him. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain" (Psalm 127:1).

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:15-21).

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).

Hallelujah! Praise Jesus!

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Praise Jesus.

Worldview

What We Know To Be Real - A Network Of Ultimate Beliefs

Once Jesus made Himself known to me, my spirit came alive by His Spirit. Jesus is now the centre of my worldview, and therefore the centre of who I truly am and how I try to live out my life, how I try to think and act and behave. I say "try" because I am still me and am still being sanctified with much help from Holy Spirit, (even though, all those years ago, I was saved and made righteous in an instant; even my righteousness comes from Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30)). 

It is good to know, now that I am an old man, that God is Lord and loves me and plans to keep working on me right up until the time I die and go to be with Jesus and Abba Father: "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).

All this has shaped my worldview to be Theist. I know that the spiritual world is real and is ruled by God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is central to everything and to who I am. It is inside-out. God is on my inside, in my spirit. My body and soul are just the outward, earthly part of me, the part you can see and hug, the part which I can make available to Jesus to participate in His work on the earth.

James Anderson says that a worldview is an overall view of the world .. specifically, “a philosophical view of all of reality”. Everybody has a worldview and it is something uniquely personal like our fingerprints. “A worldview is a network of ultimate beliefs, assumptions, values, and ideas about the universe, and our place in it, that shapes how each of us understands our life and experiences, (and the lives and experiences of others), and how we act in response”. It reflects how you would answer all the “big questions” of human existence, the fundamental questions we ask about life, the universe, and everything".(James Anderson, "What in the World Is a Worldview?" Parts 1 to 5, 2014)

Worldviews can be seen as similar to air .. we don't see the air but know it's there, we look through it and breath it and it keeps us alive. Likewise, we don't look at our worldview, indeed many people are unaware that they have one, but it is always with us, we look at the world through it and it shapes our responses and our behaviours.

Our worldview is informed by what we know to be real and what we know to be unreal. From this we work out what is true and establish our beliefs. This gives a foundation to see what is good and what is bad, and this leads us to finding and holding to our own value system.

And all of these: What is real? What is true? What is good? shapes and determines what we do, our actions and inclinations, what our passions are and how we are uniquely in the world.

Four Worldviews

It can be said the there are four main worldviews: Theism (one god), Pantheism (creation as god), Polytheism (many gods), and Humanism (each person and all humankind as god).

Theism (one god) - Theism is the belief in the existence of one god who is personal and the creative source and sustainer of the universe and of the human race, who transcends yet is immanent in the world. All things are dependent on the one supreme ultimate reality. In Judaism and Christianity this ultimate reality is called God. The Islamic god is called Allah, which means "god" in some languages, but the Islamic god is very, very different from the Jewish/Christian God, and cannot possibly be the same spiritual being.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines of our theistic Christian God as a listing of His attributes: "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth". We Christians also see Him as love, as sovereign, triune (three persons yet one God - Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit), as omniscient, faithful, omnipotent, self-existing, self-sufficient, immutable, merciful, eternal, gracious, and omnipresent, and more ..

When we are "saved" we are brought into God's family as His children; fully into His inheritance, as is Jesus. Also, we are filled by His Holy Spirit (more inside-out-ness), and given Jesus' righteousness. This is spiritual, mysterious and miraculous; it is grace upon grace.

Pantheism (creation as god) - the view that the world is either identical to God, or an expression of God’s nature: “god is everything and everything is god”. Everything shares the same spiritual essence, rather than having its own distinct spirit. A pantheistic god does not have a will and cannot act in or upon the universe, so is not a person and is not transcendent as Christians know God to be.

Polytheism (many gods) - It's hard to find a clear definition of a polytheistic religion. The term characterizes virtually all "isms", religions, faith relationships or positions, other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Humanism (each person and all humankind as god) - non-religious (but often faith filled) people who believe that this life is the only life we have, that the universe is entirely natural with no spiritual or supernatural aspect, and that we can live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason, the scientific method, humanity, autonomy and moral equality. Humanists tend to have strong faith positions on unproven things such as the age of the universe, the theory of evolution and even what gravity is, and on what moral equality is. (I find it interesting that "the scientific method" will not consider anything supernatural or spiritual, that is, anything not physical; "scientists" seem to be seeking answers to the biggest questions while looking at only half of all reality, (more than 4 out of 5 people believe the spiritual to be real)).

How Are We ?

As I've thought about these things I have come to see that humanism is now the dominant worldview in the Western democracies. People seem to be happy that we ourselves, and our governments, focus almost entirely on material and physical things. Because so many of us want more and more stuff, our governments borrow more and more money, millions and billions, at the eventual cost to our children and grandchildren. This satisfies our desire for more so is accepted as being "good".

"If it feels good, do it" was a mantra of the hippy movement (my generation), now it seems to be true of almost all Westerners. "I just want one" is the very catchy advertising line for one of Australia's more exotic car brands. The humanist desire for more and newer applies to everything in life, more material things, more travel, more entertainment, more sex, and on and on .. This is also where Ancient Rome was, the richest, most powerful regime in history, which eventually imploded. It seems to me that in many ways this is where our culture now is.

We can see humanist trends within the Christian church. In many of the local congregations I visit I see an ever an increasing level of physical comfort, corporate culture, and celebrity, and at the same time, a decrease in humility, prayer, sacrifice and love. The musicians sing about our urgent, even desperate, need for Jesus' presence, while seeming to not know that Jesus is so close that He is within every Christian, and that every Christian is within Him, our spirit is joined to His Spirit; truths often spoken in the New Testament:

"In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me" (John 15:4).

"My prayer is .. that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me" (John 17:20-21).

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19).

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).

.. and there are more similar verses .. this is a great stream of Scripture ..

Also in the New Testament we are told that, although our life will be more satisfying and fulfilling with Jesus as our Head, it will not be all beer and skittles, we will see tough times. Jesus assures us that we will have troubles (John 16:33). I'm so reassured when reading Paul's testimony of mistreatment and hardship (2 Corinthians 11:23-30), our loving and so very articulate hero from the earliest Church years just kept pushing forward (Hebrews 12:1)!

God promises to meet our needs (Luke 12:22-32). My testimony, (and many more that I've heard), is that this is true. However, God works out what our needs are, He meets those needs rather than what we may desire. Once we get used to His working, it is great, we can stop striving and relax, focusing instead on our blessings, (most of which cannot be measured in money terms), and enjoy what we do have. Our energies can be directed to our life and relationships and the work Jesus has uniquely for each one of us (Luke 16:17-18,John 14:12; 15:16).

Strongholds

We live according to our beliefs; wrong beliefs build lies which are called strongholds in the Bible (2 Corinthians 10:4), then we put our trust in these strongholds. This is deception. We are free to take on wrong beliefs (being made free in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26)). But we are equally free to take on truth (John 1:1-4) and make it a part of our very self, our worldview! I actively seek truth.

Only we ourselves can change what we believe. God our Father gives us Jesus, God's Word. Jesus is truth, God's plumb-line. Jesus will always abundantly equip us: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

Jesus brought us to freedom as Children of Father God "Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

Praise Jesus .. bless us all!

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Amen.

Grateful

Filled With Gratitude

"Rejoice always;

 pray without ceasing;

 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus”

 (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Every day there comes a time when I'm filled with gratitude. Whatever sparks that moment I am reminded of this verse, and that makes me even more grateful because I'm also reminded of so many really cool things that our Abba Father and Jesus have done and are doing ..  As a kid I knew an old lady who used to say: "count your blessings"! I do .. I count my blessings ..

AND I'm very grateful that I live under the New Covenant and not the Old.

As New Covenant people we have blessings in abundance. Paul said that we live in the time of the "ministry of the Spirit" and the “ministry of righteousness" and that these bring glory (2 Corinthians 3:8). I know that I get great glimpses of the glory of our God (Romans 1:20; Hebrews 1:3)!

Many of the blessings we so easily take for granted were totally beyond the reach of Old Covenant people, even for the heroes of our faith like Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Daniel, Ruth and Esther. We can see a fullness like that which was present after the Creation, then lacking after the Fall.

I’m so very grateful to know that I am part of God’s Creation.

As we get to know more about who God is, we can deduce that His purpose will always be “good” (Genesis 1:12), indeed, "very good" (Genesis 1:31). His purpose brought about the Creation where matter and life first came to be. Time and history began. God created over six days then rested. Almost all the creation came into being when God said "Let there be".

Once a vast and beautiful environment had been established, people were brought into being with the words: "Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Humans were to be in family relationship with God, and to be fruitful and to rule and have dominion over all the creation; their work was to care for it, to be its stewards. God considered this to be "very good".

"Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7 Amplified); here "living being" can be translated from the Hebrew as "speaking spirit"; we humans have language and can speak and we are spiritual.

Humankind are the ultimate created beings. We are not part of any other "kind", like monkeys, spiders or whales. Humans are unique in the universe because each of us is created in "the image and likeness" of God (Genesis 1:26). “God is spirit” (John 4:24). This tells us why, of all the creatures, we are the only spiritual beings.

(More than 80% of the world's 7.6 billion people believe that the spiritual world is real and that humans are spiritual beings).

Our spiritual life is the most important part of us. This explains why we are so creative and also so varied; we have free will just as God does, and, in part, we can see “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). We can visualise things and then make them:

music, art, books, sticky date pudding, aircraft, puffer jackets, bridges, football .. No other creatures do any of these things ..

The Creation centres on family. Family takes the shape of the God-head:

•        Lord God, or Jehovah, or Adonai is Father.

•         The Son, Jesus, is Son.

•         Holy Spirit is the enabling power, the counselor and the helper in the Trinity (John 14:16).

They were and are eternally family, the original family. This is why family seems natural and desirable to us, and is the building block of every human culture in the whole world, and has been so throughout all of history.

We were designed to be in eternal, intimate and loving relationship with God; you just have to look at Adam and Eve, before the Fall, to see this. I can't figure out what they thought they would gain by eating that forbidden fruit!

I believe that this spiritual reality is little recognised, particularly in Western countries and in the Media. It seems that whenever we see Christians on TV panels, they, and those with them, talk entirely in physical or psychological terms, and never mention any spiritual truth .. Christianity is referred to as "a religion" which it is not! Jesus loves faith and strongly disapproves of religion; Jesus explained to the Pharisees of His day: "What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them" (Matthew 15:11).

I’m so very grateful that Jesus brought the New Covenant.

Many generations after the Fall of Adam and Eve the world was in a terrible mess. Every human effort to overcome sin had failed. So God sent Jesus, as the only sinless human being. God had a plan, and through Jesus' perfect life, paid the price for all sin for all time. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection redeemed humankind and defeated death and the power of sin (Romans 8:2).

With the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31, Luke 22:20) Jesus brought:

Light: "In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5).

Redemption: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18)

Salvation: "Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ .. by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:5)

Justification: "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" (Romans 5:9)

Peace with God: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1)

Righteousness:  "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Relationship:  Because we are spiritual beings we are able to be in intimate relationship with God, who is spirit (John 4:24). Indeed we are in Him and He is in each one of us; Jesus said: "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20, see also John 14:16-17, John 15:4, John 17:20-21, Colossians 3:3).

"I am so very grateful that Jesus made me spiritually alive".

Donald Miller (2003. "Blue Like Jazz": Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson).

Donald Miller is of my children’s generation. He sees things clearly and is able to explain them. I borrowed this book so many times that I bought my own copy: He explains the faith position of Christians:  

“For me, the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a non-political mysterious system that can be experienced but not explained”.

And: "Christianity is a relationship with a living God who, as a man as well as God, can be experienced – this experiential life is modelled on marriage (or marriage on this heavenly relationship?) It is not an intellectual assent to a set of ideas; it is not propositional".

The Bible says we are "spirit, soul and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23), with:

§         our spirit first, that is the part most intimately interfacing with Father, Son and Holy Spirit;

§         then our soul, which is our personality, our will and emotions, our consciousness, our "self";

§         then, least of all, our body, our physical being.

These three parts of us are inter-dependent:

§        we know that "the joy of the Lord" (spiritual) can be "our strength" (physical) (Nehemiah 8:10);

§         and that laughter (from our soul) can be a great medicine (physical);

§         my testimony is that Jesus (spiritual) took away fear from me (from my soul, my emotions).

§         And as a Christian I know that I am free from the curse of sin and alive with Christ: "even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God (spiritual)] made us alive together with Christ .. by grace you have been saved (all of our person)" (Ephesians 2:5).

§         And I am free: "For freedom Christ (spiritual) has set us free; stand firm (our soul) therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (physical)" (Galatians 5:1).

These are spiritual truths .. take away the spiritual element of humanity and what have you got?

Fear, want, depression, anxiety, loss of identity .. all epidemic in our society,  and all are fueled by the media relentlessly bombarding us with "politically correct" propaganda. Political correctness is just another name for untruths, lies. Scripture calls these lies “strongholds” and tells us that Jesus can set us free from all strongholds.

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine [spiritual] power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"  (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV).

I’m grateful for all that happens when Jesus comes into our life.

At the time of our salvation several almost unbelievable things happen. Because you have repented of your sins and believed on the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. They are now so far removed that God can no longer see them. You are now redeemed, you have been bought back; someone else paid the price for all your wrongdoing!

Jesus immediately brings you to His Father God and says something like: "Abba Father, here is John, will you please adopt him into our family and make him a son, just as I am?" Father God always says "Yes". I've heard a great many testimonies from Christians; everyone remembers the moment that these glorious changes took place.

We are "born again", born into the Kingdom of God: "for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23).

We become a "new creation": "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We are brought into Jesus' family and are one with Him "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27).

We are made alive in our spirit: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).

We will have “rivers of living water flowing from our belly” (John 7:37-39, Psalm 46:4).

We become witnesses and ambassadors of Jesus and His gospel: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

We become a temple housing God Himself: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19).

We are able to pray in partnership with God: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27).

I’m so grateful that I know the grace which pours forth from Jesus.

"For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:16-17).

We get to "stand in the grace" which flows from Jesus (Romans 5:1-2)

The Bible talks about grace as though it has physical properties; I found this to be a strange notion until I began to see how Jesus' grace has a real impact on my life and our family life. I see it in other Christians too.

We can stand in this grace, just as we can stand in the flow of a river, it is a constant stream:

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in [certain] hope of the glory of God"  (Romans 5:1-2).

I’m so grateful to have received spiritual gifts.

Paul prays that we may be transformed in our very selves:

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know

[1]  the hope to which he has called you,

[2]  the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and

[3]  his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 1:20).

I went to Scripture Union Masterclass which was great. It was intended for senior High School kids. Some of my readers are young people so I was able to attend. The MC spoke of his theology teacher who said that:

God is very big; so big that we can never know Him fully, probably not even very well .. but we can know Him truly !!  How very profound .. our God is personal!!

We see movies where the hero (or heroine) gets special powers and is able to perform amazing supernatural feats. Of course, this is all imaginary and nobody takes it seriously .. right ??

Well, we can take it seriously because Paul's prayer is answered when we are "baptised in the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 3:11)

We receive spiritual gifts of extraordinary and supernatural power.

Here is a summary of Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4: 

§         "There are different kinds of gifts, of service, of working, but it is the same Spirit in all of them, and in everyone, it is the same God at work, and for the common good.

§         There are gifts of wisdom, of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, helps, leadership, evangelism, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues and ministry and teaching.

§         All these are the work of one and the same Holy Spirit, and He distributes them to each [Christian], just as He determines".

These gifts can be seen in the Christian church today. I have been involved in hundreds of workings of spiritual gifts and witnessed many hundreds more. 

Trish and I went to a school of the prophetic and learned to hear what God is saying and see what He is doing .. and how to share these things .. what a great blessing this has been. We have also attended schools on healing and prayer with some outstanding results .. we see miracles!

This is supernatural power from God. The New Covenant has transformed how humanity may live on this beautiful planet.

God is love.

We know that God is love (1 John 4:16). How much is He demonstrating His love for us in His care and anointing towards us? And we also know that: "[we can be] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)

I thank Jesus for including me in His life and work in these days.

Yes, I have so very much to be grateful for .. Thank you Jesus ..

Amen.

Note:
CNBC says that "Studies show that taking the time to be thankful and appreciative for things you have received, tangible or intangible, makes you feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improves your health, helps you deal with adversity and builds strong relationships".

Praise Jesus.

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Amen.

Purpose

This Purpose Was A Mystery

It is good to know that God has a purpose and that we live in a time when that purpose has been made known to humankind. Until Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2) this purpose was a mystery (1 Corinthians 2:6-7, Ephesians 1:9-10, Ephesians 3:6, Ephesians 5:31-33, Colossians 1:27, Colossians 2:2-3). But now we know that God's purpose in the Creation was three-fold. It is all to do with Jesus and bringing glory to our heavenly Father.

Firstly, our Father, the Father of the original family, wanted to give a bride to His eternal and beloved Son Jesus. We are that bride, we the Church, the "ecclesia", the gathered ones (Revelation 19:7). 

We are adopted as children of Father God when we are saved and become Christian (Romans 8:16), we are part of the "new Jerusalem" (Revelation 21:2). God's purpose is that we Christians shall be Jesus' bride, His wife for eternity, and to share in His life and His work here on Earth.

"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son" (Matthew 22:2).

Secondly, our lovely Lord Jesus wanted to give His Father many children, to bring them into the glory of God. Often in Scripture the word "son" or "sons" says that the person has all rights and is fully in the family's inheritance. When used like this in the New Testament the word includes daughters, not just the boys, everybody equally (Galatians 3:28), in Christ.

"For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering" (Hebrews 2:10).

Thirdly, glory: "To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen" (Philippians 4:20). Yes. Everything is to be for our Father's glory! Hallelujah!

I was at a prayer meeting and my (long ago) theology teacher was there, I asked him if I was on track with my understanding of God's purpose .. he grinned broadly, (clearly happy with his student), and said: "Yes .. Yes .. And it is all for the Father's glory". Paul's letter to the Ephesians tells us of God's purpose, as we read, say Ephesians 1:3-12, we can catch something of Paul's excitement at being able to share the good news. (These verses are in the Favourites at the end of this post).

God's purpose flows from His character and nature. Amongst God's many attributes we know that:

•   God is love (Ephesians 1:4-5, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16)

•   God is spirit (John 4:24); God is the Spirit of truth (John 1:17, 16:13, 1 John 4:6)

•   God is relational; God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4) yet at the same time Father, Son and Spirit.

•   God is personal; although infinite and omnipotent, God deals with each one of us in a personal way (Isaiah 49:15, John 10:28). I know that I am God's child and that Jesus is my brother!

•    God is holy (Psalm 99:9); "sacred, consecrated, hallowed, sanctified, divine, blessed, dedicated".

•   God is omniscient; of infinite understanding (Psalm 147:4-5).

•   God is immutable; He does not change in His essence - He is eternally the same - "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 1:12,13:8).

As we get to know more about who God is, we can deduce that His purpose will always be good (Psalm 145:9), indeed, "very good". His purpose brought about the Creation where matter and physical life first became extant; time and history began. God created over six days then rested. Almost all the creation came into being when God said "Let there be"; and God declared it all to be "good". 

Then when a vast and beautiful environment had been established, people were brought into being with the words: "Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness .." (Genesis 1:26). Humans were to be fruitful and to rule and have dominion over all the creation; to be stewards and care for it. God considered this to be "very good" (Genesis 1:31).

"Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7 AMP); here "living being" can be translated from the Hebrew as "speaking spirit"; we humans have language and can speak.

We are the ultimate created beings; humankind. We are not part of any other "kind", like monkeys, spiders or whales. Humans are unique in the universe because each of us is created in "the image and likeness" of God. This tells us why, of all the creatures, we are spiritual beings, God is spirit (John 4:24); our spiritual life is the most important part of us. (More than 80% of the world's 7.6 billion people believe that the spiritual world is real and that humans are spiritual beings; that is, more than four out of every five people believe this). It also explains why we are so creative and also so varied; we have free will just as God does, and, in part, we can see the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). We can visualise things and then make them: art, music, books, sticky date pudding, aircraft, puffer jackets, bridges, football .. No other creatures do any of these things ..

The Creation centres on family. Family takes the shape of the God-head:

•   Lord God, or Jehovah, or Adonai is Father.

•   The Son, Jesus, is Son.

•   Holy Spirit is the enabling power, the counselor and the helper in the Trinity (John 14:16).

They were family and are family, the original family. This is why family seems natural and desirable to us, and is the building block of every human culture in the whole world, and has been so throughout all of history.

We can get a sense of the wonder of the original Creation, and the purpose behind it, when we look at Adam and Eve before the Fall. Often when people talk about these first two humans it is to talk about the Fall and sin.

But before that terrible day they were living the life we've all been designed to live. They were in loving and intimate relationship with God and would walk and talk with Him in the garden at the end of each day. They had been given authority to rule over all the creatures, to raise a big family with lots of babies. They were to subdue the earth and look after it, "using all its vast resources in the service of God and man" (Genesis 1:28 Amplified), this would have been their work and would have been part of the "very good", (John 5:17), advancing the Kingdom of God and keeping their minds and bodies active. They were free to eat (almost) everything which grew in the beautiful garden. 

They would have been so very satisfied: spiritually, emotionally and physically. They didn't even need or desire clothes. They would not have had any wants, or need to strive for anything. Just as God rested on the seventh day, Adam and Eve would have lived their lives from a place of rest (Genesis 1:26-2:3, 2:8-15).

When Adam and Eve believed Satan's deceitful (John 8:44) promise, that they could be independent of God, trouble came to the world (Isaiah 41:10): the glory and majesty of their life was taken away; work became toil, they even had to work for food; having children became painful; they became ashamed of their bodies; death came into the world; they lost a son in awful circumstances.  Worst of all they lost their intimate relationship with God. Yet they continued to fulfill God's purpose, they persevered and continued in their life together, having more children and stewarding their environment. They found that love is a doing word and relationships often need conscious effort to hold together.

Now, as Christians, we see glimpses of life as it was before the Fall (Matthew 5:3-12,1 Corinthians 13:12). We are blessed as being children of God, we are included in Jesus' inheritance, we have been given great spiritual authority (Luke 10:19), and are participants in the earthly work of our lovely Abba Father God, our Saviour Jesus and our counselor and helper Holy Spirit. Each Christian, and every Christian. We are included in the inner circle.

The world may be in a mess (Acts 2:40), but we are moving forward to the glorious day when Jesus will return and dry all our tears (Revelation 21:4). We await this day in faith. Hebrews 11 shows us how to wait with joy; this chapter reminds us of many heroes who lived great and godly lives as they looked forward to "the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). They "were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth" (Hebrews 11:13). 

We can emulate them, and many, many others who have gone before us; missionaries, evangelists, and teachers, pastors and youth leaders, and simple, loving, helpful Christian people who have been a unique blessing to us.

The Purpose Of Jesus' Incarnation

                     

For many years I did not understand how Jesus fitted into God's plans and purposes. I now see that God's purpose in bringing Jesus to the Earth was two-fold and very simple:

"You know that [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5). 

"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). 

The Bible says "He appeared" because Jesus is God and has always been .. He called Himself "I AM" (Exodus 3:14). Forever our God had been three Persons in one God, (Elohim is a Hebrew word for God and is used throughout the Creation narrative, it is a plural word, yet does not mean "gods", this name helps us understand the Trinity): Father God, Abba, loving, generous, just, logical; and His Son, Jesus, who Scripture tells us is the great Creator (Colossians 1:15-16, Psalm 8:3), and Servant (John 5:19); and Holy Spirit who makes all things possible (John 14:16). 

So, unlike us, Jesus did not begin his existence in His mother's womb at conception, (like us (Ecclesiastes 11:5 ESV)); this is all part of the miracle of His becoming human, incarnate, (in the image and likeness of Elohim). So "He appeared".

" .. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10b).

Favourite Scriptures

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will -  to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,  he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,  to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment - to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,  in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:3-12).

"If you love me, keep my commands.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" (John 14:15-20).

"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come'. And let the one who hears say, 'Come'. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost" (Revelation 22:17).

Amen.

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Amen.