Category Archives: Abiding IN Christ

“And Five Were Foolish”

by Michael

five foolish virginsHo, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love… (Isaiah 55:1-3 RSVA)

Most of us who read this blog have given our lives to the Lord. Once we started living this new life in Christ we became new spiritual creatures. We set out to find spiritual food, like a new born babe looks for its mother’s breast making sucking movements with its little mouth. My wife, Dorothy, and I have had four children and she breast fed each of them. There is nothing more sacred or peaceful than watching a baby nurse from its mother’s breast.

In the natural the mother lays the child on her breast and it takes to sucking on it immediately without needing to be taught that this is what it is for. But what if the mother puts in its mouth on a bottle with artificial formula or cow’s milk in it? Will it be as good for the baby as her own milk? Scientists have found out that first flow from a mother’s breast is special milk called colostrum. The mother passes her immunity to the baby through the colostrum, and the child will be a much healthier baby with fewer problems. The Bible calls this milk in the spirit world, “The pure milk of the word.” Peter wrote,

As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word (Logos – as “In the beginning was the Word…”) that you may grow thereby: If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. (1 Peter 2:2-4 KJ2000)

According to this passage, whose breast should we be nursing on right from the beginning as spiritual infants? “If you have tasted… the Lord…coming unto the Living Stone…chosen of God…” JESUS is the Word that we should be getting our nourishment and spiritual immunity from right from the beginning, not the breasts of men! But how many of us who have been born again were put on His breast right from the beginning? How many were taught to seek our spiritual sustenance from Sunday sermons and Sunday School classes in the churches we attended? Most of us were taught nothing about the Comforter Jesus sent in His place who would lead us into all truth (see John 16:13-15 also 1 John 2:26-27).

Now to my point. Jesus told a parable about ten virgins that were called to His wedding feast. Five were wise and five were foolish. What do you suppose it is that made some of them wise and the others foolish? Let’s read…

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man comes. (Matthew 25:1-13 KJ2000)

It is interesting that all ten of them were virgins and all were waiting for their Bridegroom to come. Yet the fate of half of them was not good. Their lamps had gone out while they slept and the Bridegroom was delayed. Why? They had been in the habit of getting their oil from other virgins, piecemeal… just enough get by. But the wise virgins knew where the real source of their oil was to be found, Him that has the supply! The later in this dispensation of grace it gets, the more important it is that we have a good supply of oil if we are going to make it through these times of trouble that are upon us.

In the Daily Study Bible they comment about this parable.

It warns us that there are certain things which cannot be borrowed. The foolish virgins found it impossible to borrow oil, when they discovered they needed it. A man cannot borrow a relationship with God; he must possess it for himself. A man cannot borrow a character; he must be clothed with it. We cannot always be living on the spiritual capital which others have amassed. There are certain things we must win or acquire for ourselves, for we cannot borrow them from others.

In the Bible, oil is symbolic of the anointing of God. They who have the Holy Spirit should know where their oil comes from–the same One who gave them spiritual life in the first place. ”Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13 KJ2000)

To the foolish virgins the Lord said, “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” But wait! They were all virgins, were they not? And is it possible for the all-knowing God to not know one of us? This verse is speaking of a lack of intimacy with Christ as our Bridegroom. Jesus knows who have been feeding from His breasts and who have not – who have been taught by His Holy Spirit and who have been nursing from the breasts of teachers and preachers who have no unction.

Jeremiah prophesied this very problem that Israel was also guilty of.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13 RSVA)

So, dear virgins who are called to be His bride, where do you get your oil? Whose breasts are you drinking from? How good is your spiritual immunity? It is crucial that you find out where your Source of spiritual food is!

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spoke he of the Spirit, whom they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39 KJ2000)

What Is the Purpose of the Old Testament for Those Who Walk by Faith?

by Michael

woman_at_the_well

Recently I was asked what is the place of the Old Testament in the life of a believer?

When we read the Old Testament we will soon come upon the importance of the Mosaic laws, all 613 of them and how we must keep them perfectly if we are to live under that covenant.

“‘Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ (Deuteronomy 27:26 RSVA)

But we who are of the New Covenant are IN Christ by faith and are not under that curse.

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that does them shall live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:11-14 KJ2000)

So how did God deal with the filling up of the just requirements of the law that we might live by faith in Christ alone? Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17 KJ2000)

And just before He died on the cross He cried out, “It is finished!” Jesus came and filled up the just requirements of the law in one perfect sacrifice for all. In so doing he did away with the first covenant and introduced the New Covenant. Jesus came to establish a New Covenant for the Jews broke the first one and did not keep it for the law was week because of their flesh (See Romans 8:3).

But now has he [Jesus] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. (Hebrews 8:6-9 KJ2000)

Then what good is the Old Testament to we who walk by faith? It is there to point us to Christ!

And he [Jesus] said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 RSVA)

So what is the nature of this entirely NEW Covenant? Is it more rule keeping as it seems to be in many of today’s churches that make a law book out of the New Testament and mix in with it the Old? Is it one in which Jesus has the power to save us from our sins, but it is up to us to keep ourselves saved like many churches teach? NO! This covenant is ALL about the power of God to save and to keep us.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:10-12 KJ2000)

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 RSVA)

 Here we read God saying eight times how HE will and not a single “Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt not!” It is all about the power of God to come into us and give us a new heart and put His Spirit in us.

What is this law written upon our hearts in this NEW Covenant. Is it the 613 commandments of the Old Covenant? Not at all. In Hebrews we read,

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levit’ical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest [Jesus] to arise after the order of Melchiz’edek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. (Hebrews 7:11-12 RSVA)

What is this NEW Law? Jesus told us what it is saying,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 RSVA)

As for the old law and where are we with that as we walk by faith? Paul wrote,

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.. (Romans 8:2-4 RSVA)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 RSVA)

Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. For this, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10 KJ2000)

So, as long as we read the Old Testament and look for how it points us to Christ and the vast difference between the Old Covenant based in the weakness of the flesh and the NEW Covenant based on the power of the Spirit of Christ in us, it is good. But if we read it as a pointer putting us back under the law of the first covenant, we are totally missing the point.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17 RSVA)

 Let us not be as foolish as some who worship the shadow and have missed the ONE who is casting that shadow.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. (Hebrews 10:1 RSVA)

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17 RSVA)

May God bless each one of you with a new heart and His spirit within you as you walk by faith in Christ alone.

(Note: All bold and italic type in scripture verse was added by me for emphasis – mdc)

Growing Into the Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings

by Michael

Woman and Jesus

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”~ C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

I recently posted this in a comment on another blog and felt the Lord wanted me to share it with you all.

When we suffer pain, God has a purpose in it. First it makes us to turn to Him alone when everything else in our lives has “gone south.” I had to reach the end of myself before I surrendered to Christ in 1970. If He had not come to me when He did, I would have ended my life. He picked me up and gave me His beauty for my ashes, His joy for my mourning, and His praise in my heart for the spirit of depression and suicide.

Then phase two started, God’s child training. After a wonderful honeymoon with Jesus that lasted ten months, the pain started again, but this time it was my Daddy taking me out to the woodshed (see Hebrews ch. 12). I then went through years of church abuse and disillusionment with what calls itself “the church,” because I found it to be the same dysfunctional family that I grew up with. My father was an alcoholic, but this time the booze of choice was power over the people. God had to let me get kicked around in that system until I quit looking to men for what only He could give. Jesus’ words, “Call no man father, teacher or Rabbi (pastor)” finally took on new meaning and scope. Christ was to become my all in all and He shares that place with no man.

More recently another thing has been happening along the lines of what Paul alluded to in his letters. For years I have licked my wounds and felt the pain of what others have done to me, but now He is letting me feel the pain of what I have done (and am doing) to others instead. It is part of “the fellowship of His sufferings” (See Philippians 3:10). Paul said about a healthy body, “when one member suffers, all members suffer.” I rarely saw this in all my years of church going. Most of my life I have been so absorbed in my own pain that I could not feel what I was doing to others and could not feel Jesus’ pain. He stands before the Father ever making intercession for us as our High Priest who is acquainted with our humanity and sufferings in a very real way. He has been making me feel His empathy as well – feeling the pain and sufferings that others are going through whom I have not affected directly. Paul spoke of wanting to “know the fellowship of His sufferings” and “filling up the sufferings of Christ” in himself. This happens when we finally start to walk as He walks upon this earth, and gladly start embracing the pain that death might work in us so that life might abound to others. It is no longer about “our little owie ” any more, but us reaching out beyond our pain in Christ’s love for others because of our love for Him–such a great love that we even want to be conformed to His death.

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

Love you all,
Michael

It’s a Great Life IF You Weaken!

by Michael

jesus_calms_stormHow often have we heard the saying, “It is a great life if you don’t weaken”? It sounds great at first, but is that the gospel of the cross of Christ?

I was comparing the following two passages written by James and by Paul…

James wrote:

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 KJ2000)

Paul wrote,

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. (Romans 5:3-5 KJ2000)

Here we read that trials and tribulation work patience, and patience works experience, and experience works hope, and hope works the love of God in our hearts because of the Holy Spirit whom God has given everyone who puts their trust in Christ alone.

T. Austin-Sparks wrote:

Experience with God is much more than knowledge. We may be very greatly informed, and have a great deal of knowledge, but, lacking experience, our knowledge will remain purely technical information. Experience is more than knowledge. It is also far more than human cleverness. Clever people may be able to do a lot of things and seem to be successful. The absence of this quality of experience will find that their structures will sooner or later come crashing down, for there is no body there. Experience is something that we can never inherit, nor can it be transferred from one to another in any other way; it has to be bought. It is therefore the sole possession and property of the individual who has it. It is something very personal. If it had been possible for the Father to bring His own Son, the Lord Jesus, to the designed and determined end in any other way, He would have done it. The only way was experience: “…yet learned (he) obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb.5:8); He was made “perfect through sufferings” (Heb. 2:10). Even Jesus Christ (and I speak in a certain sense) had to buy His experience. He had to come to the full end, or the end of fulness, to be made perfect, made complete, by the way of experience.
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/001978.html

It seems that God puts a high premium on seeing us gain experience in overcoming our trials and temptations. He wants us to quit looking to ourselves and other things and start casting all our cares on Jesus, Who is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. We, like Jesus, must learn obedience through the things that we suffer. According to James, it is our faith that is being tried. Peter also spoke of our faith being tried.

“[We who believe]…are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In which you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold trials: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” (1 Peter 1:5-7 KJ2000)

First, we are kept by the power of God, not our power. Even our faith is not ours, but Christ’s (see Gal. 2:16). It seems we get an infusion of His faith to get us started, and it grows until we have our own faith based on experiences we have overcome through Him. From these verses, I picture my faith in Christ being put in a refiner’s crucible with the heat turned up. That heat is trials and tribulations that determine if I will call out to Christ to be my strength and sufficiency in all things, or if I will just “gut it out” by my own strength. Paul said it best for me when he wrote:

“And he [Jesus] said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.’” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJ2000)

Paul, like James, counted it all joy when he found himself weak in a trial. That meant he had to throw himself on Christ, and see Jesus come through for him every time. He saw that his own human strengths were his biggest enemy. He expounded on this in telling about how he despaired even of life itself:

“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9 RSVA)

Paul’s faith was tested to the point of death, yet he believed that even if he were killed, Christ would raise him up again. It seems that Jesus might have done this earlier in His life (see Acts 14:19). This man had a strong faith in Christ because he lived on the ragged edge of walking by faith. Like a muscle, faith has to be exercised or it atrophies and dies.

In the American church, we hedge all our bets and do all we can to keep from having to walk by faith. We have insurance policies for everything imaginable. We have our 401k and IRA to cover us in retirement. We join unions to give us power and job security. If we get some kind of pain or infirmity, we run for the medicine cabinet or doctor’s office (for more pills – there seems to be a pill for everything) without even giving Jesus a chance to heal us. We avoid trials at all cost. We even avoid being tempted by cloistering ourselves in our churches and homes away from the real world where we might be seen with the wrong kind of people. We are inoculated against walking by faith in Christ alone. Our faith is not being tried! Is it any wonder that the American church is so feeble and powerless against the rise of evil that is closing in around us as a nation? We are a nation of weak Christians being led by weak church leaders who fall for every kind of temptation that comes their way. If you think I’m exaggerating, just type in “church corruption” on a Google search!

All that is missing is for us to totally put our trust in Jesus alone and walk wherever the Spirit leads us that we might know HIM as our sufficiency and strength in adversity. During my years in churches, whenever I felt God calling me out of my comfort zone and to get out in the trenches among the people of the world and do something that would make a difference in their lives, I was told the same thing by the pastors I submitted to, “You are not ready yet!” Nobody I knew was ever “ready yet” in the minds of these church leaders, if God was calling them to go out into the fray of the world and take a chance outside the daycare center called “Sunday church.” As one man from Argentina put it, “The church as we know today is designed to preserve the perpetual babyhood of the believer.”

So, dear saints, it is a great life in Christ if we allow Him to make us weak through trials and testings so that nothing comes out from ourselves. We are not to walk by might or by power, but by His Spirit. All we have to do is abide in the Vine and He will abide in us, and then He will bring forth the fruit of His kingdom, not ours. Amen.

Faithful Is He Who Calls You, HE Will Do It!

by Michael

He is Faithful

Few realize the vast difference between the Old Covenant with its 613 Mosaic laws and the New Covenant which is free of such things. The old one was based on human effort, “Thou shalt and thou shalt not…” There were 365 commands on what NOT to do and 248 commands on what Israel had to do to keep this covenant with God. It was all on man’s shoulders and human abilities to keep them. All of them had to be kept perfectly or “Cursed be he that confirms not all the words of this law to do them” (Deu. 27:26). You cannot pick and chose when it comes to law keeping.

The New covenant is not based on the works of man at all, but on the work that Jesus has done for us.

But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8-10 KJ2000)

We who belong to Jesus were reconciled to God by His death, but we are saved by His life! “Christ in you, the hope of glory!”

Jeremiah and Ezekiel both saw this change coming—the change that is based only on the works of God in our behalf through His Son, not on our own works.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I WILL make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant which I WILL make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I WILL put my law within them, and I WILL write it upon their hearts; and I WILL be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I WILL forgive their iniquity, and I WILL remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 RSVA – emphasis added)

For I WILL take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I WILL sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I WILL cleanse you. A new heart I WILL give you, and a new spirit I WILL put within you; and I WILL take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I WILL put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:24-27 RSVA – emphasis added)

God announced even back then, hundreds of years before Christ began His earthly ministry, that Israel broke that covenant and that He was about to replace it with a covenant that cannot be broken because it was no longer based on the obedience of men to a set of laws, but rather on the power and the grace of God Himself. God swears that:

  • He will be our God and we will be His people
  • He will give us new hearts
  • He will put His law within us and write it upon our new hearts
  • We will not need human teachers
  • He will forgive us our sins, cleanse us and remember them no more
  • He will put His Spirit within us
  • He will make us obedient to Him
  • He will gather us from all nations into HIS land, His kingdom and give us a singular common identity, Jesus Christ (see Galatians 3:2-29)

From 613 “thou shalt’s and thou shalt not’s” to eight New Covenant changes that God makes by the power of His might and Spirit for us who believe in the completed work of His Son. These eight acts cover everything we need in Christ to become citizens of God’s eternal kingdom and conformed to the image of His Beloved Son. They are all internalized by the power of our heavenly Father; none are external commands written on stone for stony hearts that are too weak to keep them. This is what Zachariah saw in his vision (see http://awildernessvoice.com/Grace.html) in chapter four and it was summed up with the words, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.”

Peter said that the law was a yoke and a burden that no man could carry (see Acts 15:10). Paul called it a yoke of bondage (see Galatians 5:1). Paul went on to write in Romans:

For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice]. (Romans 8:2-3 AMP)

Jesus said,

“Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 KJ2000).

He described those who enforced the O. T. law this way:

“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Matthew 23:4 KJ2000)

So what is the goal of this New Covenant? Is it so we can live lawless lives? Not at all, but rather that we would be empowered by God to live lives that reflect His Son here on earth. John wrote,

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3 KJ2000)

Paul wrote, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

“The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.” `~ Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”

Mere religious observations are considered “good” by men, but do not require a changed heart, and often end in pride that isolates us from God. He requires a complete transformation that makes those who are His into new creatures, no longer dependant on the outward observations of religion. Seeing Jesus as He is is the key.

Nevertheless when one shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 KJ2000)

As we behold Him with all our hearts, the Spirit changes us into the same image. It is a matter of beholding Him and then the Spirit does the rest. When the eye is single the whole body will be filled with His light. The New Covenant is never about outward observations and conformity to rules, but rather an internal change wrought by the power of God as we yield to Him.

The Prisoner of the Lord

by Michael

paul-in-chains

The anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him. (1 John 2:27 NIV)

I often sit at my keyboard waiting for the unction to write something from the Lord on our blog. Each time He makes me wait and as time drags on I wonder if He is through with me. This morning I read two quotes back to back, one on the blog of a dear sister in Germany (http://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/on-receiving-more-of-the-holy-spirit/) and the other a quote from T. Austin-Sparks from a sister in New Zealand in my daily devotional, “Open Windows.” http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003437.html. I hope you don’t mind me quoting from them here.

Seeing the unction to write in terms of a beggar waiting at the door of the rich man’s house for a scrap of bread helped me a lot…

“That our watching and waiting may be of a proper kind, and be successful, we must turn entirely away from all created things, and appear in the presence of God, with a heart entirely empty, and hungering and thirsting after grace, so that we may boldly say, ‘Lord, here is my vessel, here I wait, here I continue lying on the brink of the waters; here, O my God! I expect the promised power from on high, with perfect resignation and in child-like confidence, that thou wilt, in due time, fulfill thy promise! Thou hast promised thy Holy Spirit to me; and thou wilt also perform. Do not look at my poverty and wretchedness, my nakedness and destitution; for it is for this very reason I need thy grace the most; on this very account I am worthy of compassion.’

It is thus that a soul, which is entirely turned away from the world, and directed to God, and which hungers and thirsts after God, waits in a right and proper manner, and therefore shall be filled with the blessings of salvation, and most assuredly made partaker of the Holy Spirit.
When the beggar, at the door, has said, ‘Give me a morsel of bread!’ he does not immediately go away, but waits; and if he is left to stand long, he repeats his request, again and again, until he has really received what he desires. And although he be refused, yet he continues to beg, and does not move until he be attended to. So ought we also to act. We must stand at the door of God’s grace, and wait, until we have received what we ask for. (Gerhard Tersteegen, Spiritual Crumbs from the Master’s Table, pp. 250, 251)

And this timely word from T. Austin-Sparks…

“Do you ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Why do you ask for the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Is the anointing something that you crave? To what end? That you may be used, may have power, may have influence, may be able to do a lot of wonderful things? The first and preeminent thing the anointing means is that we can do nothing but what the anointing teaches and leads to do. The anointing takes everything out of our hands. The anointing takes charge of the reputation. The anointing takes charge of the very purpose of God. The anointing takes complete control of everything and all is from that moment in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and we must remember that if we are going to learn Christ, that learning Christ is by the Holy Spirit’s dealing with us, and that means that we have to go exactly the same way as Christ went in principle and in law… ‘The Son can do nothing out from Himself.’”

(How much is our own reputation worth? Are we willing to give it over to God for Him to deal with? For most Christians I have met, that is a bit too much. Most want to at least salvage that much from their own lives and they fight to save it “so they can be more useful for the Lord.” But even that has to go if we are to be yielded totally to God. Remember, even Jesus made Himself of no reputation when He came down to earth in the form of a lowly servant).

As we yield to God are we then “controlled” by the Holy Spirit? Demons possess people and take control, but the Spirit of the Lord leads. Paul wrote, “I Paul, the prisoner of the Jesus Christ…” To be yielded to the Holy Spirit is being controlled like prisoners are controlled, the guards open and close doors in their cell block from remote that either allows or denies them access to other areas (See Acts 16:6-9). They still have a modicum of freedom, but it is orchestrated freedom. Jesus said to Peter, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, When you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall dress you, and carry you where you would not.”(John 21:18 KJ2000). The more we pursue the Lord and the anointing of His Spirit, the less freedom we have to do things the way we used to, yet the more unction we experience as we yield to the will of our Father and part of that is the continuous working of the cross of Christ in our lives. It takes us from being “when you were young” and self-willed into “when you shall be old,” becoming yielded vessels of the Spirit.

So our sister in Germany I mentioned above has remarked often how she felt “empty headed.” She is an intelligent and educated woman, but as she has yielded to the working of God in her life He has taken control of that intelligence more and more and has been governing it with the mind of Christ. So, she has to wait on Him to give her what she is to write. This can be very unnerving at first for those of us who are used to depending on our own minds and abilities to get things done (I was the “go to guy” for my bosses in the world), but that is what the cross of the Lord in our lives does as we yield to the Spirit of God. Using our prison analogy above, sometimes He even puts us in a time of solitary confinement to break that self-seeking will in us! But the fruit of all His wonderful work in us is good. We have a promise…

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt [the world and its ways]: open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Psalms 81:10 KJ2000)

God bless each of you as you seek His will to be done in your lives and my fellow bloggers as you write.

Why All These Adverse Experiences as Christians?

by Michael

acts16_25

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.”(Romans 5:3-5 KJ2000).

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18 RSVA)

What an interesting sequence of happenings that Paul names off here that builds up to Jesus’ love being shed abroad in our hearts! Then John goes on to describe how we may know that His love is abiding in us — lives laid down in service of others, walking on this earth as Jesus walked.

Paul starts off in his description of growth in Christ with tribulations! Not a very seeker friendly of a gospel, there Paul! What could you have been thinking of? Paul was not thinking of building lots of big church buildings and filling them with happy tithe paying people. His vision of the kingdom of God was made up of mature saints of God who were filled with His love for this world an would be demonstrating it in very practical ways. It went way beyond the temporal self-seeking desires of men to become rich, famous and powerful. Paul knew that all these things which can be seen would soon be done away with, but those things like the lives of the saints who live in His love would go on into eternity in a kingdom that can not be shaken.

I know that the love of God which surpasses all understanding did not just drop into your hearts, nor did it mine. We who have been called and chosen by God have gone through many trials and abuses in our lives before God’s love became fully functional in us according to HIS will. Many of us started out with a wonderful honeymoon period with Jesus as our Lover and Friend. We were also surprised when it came to an end. Being a “Christian” was the most wonderful experience we could have ever imagined! But then the trials started and I know that I wondered what I had done to deserve them. I discovered that God was trying to change me. I complained, “What ever happened to ‘Just As I Am’?” I thought He loved me the way I was, then I read where God uses trials and testings in our lives to bring us into a fuller walk with His Son. Like the saying goes, “God loves us the way we are, but too much to let us stay that way!” Many churches today never get beyond the “just as I am” stage of Christian growth. They perpetuate the babyhood of believers with easy believisms, fearing that they might offending anyone and have them leave with all “their money, marbles and chalk” as the saying goes. They want to make “doing church” a happy weekly event. These false church leaders have built a non-scriptural Baby Doc Benjamin Spock system of belief that is not the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Looking back now I can see that all those trials and sufferings I have gone through were from the hand of God and that they worked patience and endurance in me, two traits that God esteem highly in His saints. Jesus put it this way,

But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:17-22 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

Sound familiar? I know that many of you have already suffered many of these things. In all these experiences that we have endured God had given us great hope — the hope of Christ shining forth from our lives. God, somehow came through when all men failed us. We started being changed by experiencing His love for us as we came out the other side of these dark tunnels of pain and rejection. Jesus was there loving us and healing us the whole time. Though we often felt sorrow for the things we went through and shame for our own failings, He took away our sorrow and shame with His love for us. We love HIM because He first loved us and brought us through it all and wiped away all our tears. For “He has given us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for morning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That we might be HIS Trees of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that HE might be glorified!”

God wants us to live lives that glorify HIM and not just ourselves. He wants sons and daughters He can be proud of who gladly do HIS will, just like Jesus and be a fountain of His love for this dying and sin-sick world.

Marantha! Come Lord Jesus IN US!

They Saw Jesus Only!

by Michael

Glorified Christ

And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his clothing was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if you will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear you him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, except Jesus only. (Matthew 17:1-8 KJ2000)

Here we have a clash of the two covenants — the old one that was based on the works of men and their adherence to the law and the New Covenant based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God did a miracle in that He brought back the representative of the Law, Moses himself; a representative of the prophets, the mightiest prophet of all, Elijah; along with His Son, whose face was as bright as the sun and who was clothed in light.

This was also a clash of two mindsets. In Peter we see the mindset of the old law, a need for carnal man to do something, to add to what God is doing and “seize the moment” by the enthusiasm of the flesh and enshrine that moment in a building project. In Peter’s mind, God dwells in temples made with hands. Everything that was of the law was typified in that building down there in Jerusalem. The very temple dedicated to God would be torn down in a few short years to demonstrate one thing—that the works of the flesh can not please Him. Only what is accomplished by the working of His Son will survive and remain–the very Son who created the heavens and the earth and all that was in them at the foundation of the world.

In this passage we see another great contrast between the Old and New Covenants. At one time the glory of God was seen on the face of Moses, but no more (read 2 Cor. 3:12-18). Even the glory that once lived in the temple in Jerusalem was gone when they lost the ark hundreds of years earlier during Babylonian invasion. But here we see the glory of the Father resting not on Moses or Elijah, but on His own Son. It was not only seen on the face of Jesus, but His whole body, signifying that God is only pleased with the leading and the works of His Son.

So what is man’s part in the New Covenant? To listen to and obey the Spirit of His Son whom He sent to take His place on earth: “Hear you Him!” It is not to listen to your own flesh, even if that flesh is inspired to do something that you read in the Bible!

Austin-Sparks said it so well,

 We talk about our motives, and we say, “Our motive was right!” We talk about our conscientiousness, we talk about our intentions; but you and I do not know what lies behind what we call our good motives. There is a deceitfulness about this human heart that defies our greatest attempt at tracking it down, and we shall never do it…. Here is where the church has become such a confused thing, and such a tragedy; for the prevailing idea is that if you give yourself over to God He will take you up and use you: “Bring over your humanity and consecrate it to the Lord! Consecrate your old man to the Lord, and go out and serve the Lord, with a consecrated old man!” It is utterly contrary to the teaching of God’s Word. The result is that in the work of God all the world over you have people serving the Lord in the energy of the flesh, in the reasoning of the flesh, in the emotions of the flesh. Meet them, counter them, frustrate them, and you meet something evil; you meet with a fight, a division, a schism, a scattering, and wholesale resignations.

Do you see what a havoc the enemy can make in that which is called the church, because people with best intentions and purest motives have come to serve the Lord with all their own intelligence, their own strength, and their own emotion? They have not seen that God has closed the door to the old creation, and that God’s attitude is this: “The only thing that can satisfy Me, that can serve Me is My Son, and if you are going to come into My service, He has to be the energy of everything, the Life of everything, the Wisdom of everything!” He has to be the governing, ruling reality in everything. It is not to be a matter of your impulses, but of His urgings and leadings by the Holy Spirit; not your sitting down to reason out what it would be good to do for the Lord, what ought to be done, what needs to be done, but what He shows you, nothing more… You and I must not bring over our old creation and give it to God, expecting God to use it. God begins with birth. The church of the firstborn is something quite new, and it comes out of a death. That death is the death of an old creation, and the resurrection is of something that is not the resuscitation of an old creation, but the resurrection of something wholly of God. ~ By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Church of the Firstborn – Chapter 1 

Matthew’s account above continues, “And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, ‘Arise, and be not afraid.’ And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, except Jesus only.” They heard the voice of God and it brought all their carnal thoughts and imaginations to a halt. If everybody who calls themselves Christian could hear the voice of the Spirit speaking to them, we would quit looking to men. “And… they saw Jesus only!” What a difference it would make in the church. We need a godly fear in the hearts of believers so they will not touch what God is doing as Uzzah did that fateful day (see 2 Chronicles ch. 13). Death is in the hand of carnal man. Everything he touches dies. But here Jesus touched the disciples and something miraculous happened. Where they saw Moses and Elijah and Jesus before, now they saw only Jesus.

Dear saints of God, let us be hungry for Christ and His works and as persistent as those Greeks who were not content with meeting the apostles of Christ. They did not want a mere representation of Him. They wanted the real thing!

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired of him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. (John 12:20-23 KJ2000- emphasis added)

May Christ be glorified in us as we seek Jesus and only do the works we see Him doing. Amen.

Overcoming Love

by Michael

Love

Divine love suffers long; divine love is kind; divine love envies not; does not make a display of itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself uncomely, seeks not its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but it rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Divine love never falls: but whether there are prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there are tongues, they shall cease; whether there is knowledge, it shall vanish away. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 GDBY_NT)

Something that I have been mulling over in the last few weeks is the necessity of the saints of God being so dead to themselves and alive in Christ that they abide in His love and nothing else. The times we are in in this world as it is coming apart and relationships are being strained to the limit, demands of us something supernatural if we are to remain faithful and to those who God has given us for it is written of this time, “Because of offenses the love of many shall wax cold.” The following is an excerpt from T. Austin-Sparks’ book, “My Bold Servant.”

Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love. (John 13:1 NIV)

No ministry of the servant of Jesus Christ can be a triumphant ministry unless there is a deep, strong, abiding love…. Love is going to solve our problems and to bring us into victory; but apart from a sufficient love, the problems of human make-up, the many differences of disposition and character and all that goes to make up a company, and the continuous drain and strain, with all the pressure that comes from the enemy, will present a problem, a perplexity and a paralyzing task….

We may ask, “How did the Lord manage to maintain the relationship with His disciples?” They were so difficult, so different, so disappointing. “Having loved His own… He loved them unto the end.” That is the answer. Love got above all that they were; love gave the extra thing which enabled Him not to take them just as they were and end there. So in our relationships, the spirit of the true servant is only possible as there is a deep love. Upon all those who have ideas of serving the Lord and working for Him I would urge this consideration: that the work of the Lord is not some thing which you outwardly and objectively take up. It is (if it is the true thing) the outworking of love for the Lord and for those who are the objects of His love. That is very simple, but it goes to the heart of things. Sooner or later you and I will be brought to the position where the question will be, Have we sufficient love to go on? Can we find enough love in our hearts to get us through this particularly difficult situation? The situation will be constituted by all those factors which resolve us into servants, bondslaves. It would not have become so acute if only we had been esteemed and honored, and held in high regard. But when the situation is created by a great deal being expected of us, by demands being made upon our generosity, our kindness, calling for an almost inexhaustible fund of patience, and the letting go of personal feeling; when really the main issue in the crisis is this – I am being imposed upon: too much is being expected of me: I am treated as a servant – that is where we are found out. Love alone can support this service. (emphasis added)

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001747.html

Two or Three… Intimacy in Christ

by Michael

last supper“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20 KJ2000)

What does it mean to have intimacy with our Lord? Jesus often indicated that God desires intimacy with all of us. For instance, in John chapters ten and fifteen, He is a Shepherd that calls His sheep by name and leads them in a personal way. He is the Vine and we, His branches, are attached directly to Him and we get all our nourishment from Him. Even evangelical churches call Him our Personal Savior. But after we get saved in one of these institutions, how “personal” does He become to us?

Most of us grow up in families that are very fractured and in most, even the best of them, time spent with our parents in an intimate way is very rare due to the pressures of supporting a family and so many other distractions like TV. Then there is “church.”

In my own experience with “church,” the machine divides the family from having time together more than it promotes family intimacy. There is the need to be at the church every time it is open; Sunday morning service that ushers the kids off to “children’s church;” Sunday school that is divided up by age groups; Wednesday night prayer service that doesn’t welcome kids; and all the kid and youth activities at the church during the week. Let’s not forget to mention Royal rangers and church youth camp. On and on it goes, all in the name of promoting a “Godly family.” Go figure!

The same thing happens with our own “personal” relationships with Christ. We get “saved” and then what happens? We are told that we need to sit and listen to sermons delivered by one man. We have go to Sunday school classes with their man-made curriculums (and even fill in the blanks) in a one-size-fits-all lesson plan. If we dare to share what is really on our hearts on “prayer meeting night,” it is sure to become the gossip for the church “prayer chain” during the week. So we learn to be secluded, isolated and divided instead of truly becoming members one of another as the Church was meant to do.

The Machine prevails in the lives of most Christians. Their “relationship” with who they think God is becomes like that scene our of 1984, where all the people have blank stares on their faces as they watch Big Brother on the screen and are filled with his mind controlling propaganda. Is it any wonder that Christian circles have a “group speak” that is blindly followed that dictates what is proper to say and what is not?

So, what must happen in the life of a saint that is caught-up in this system for him or her to find that intimacy with the Lord Jesus had in mind when He saved them? Soren Kierkegaard wrote,

“We warn young people against going to dens of iniquity, even out of curiosity, because no one knows what might happen. Still more terrible, however, is the danger of going along with the crowd. In truth, there is no place, not even one most disgustingly dedicated to lust and vice, where a human being is more easily corrupted – than in the crowd.

 “Even though every individual possesses the truth, when he gets together in a crowd, untruth will be present at once, for the crowd is untruth. It either produces impenitence and irresponsibility or it weakens the individual’s sense of responsibility by placing it in a fractional category.

“For instance, imagine an individual walking up to Christ and spitting on him. No human being would ever have the courage or the audacity to do that. But as part of a crowd, well then they somehow have the “courage” to do it – dreadful untruth!

“The crowd is indeed untruth. Christ was crucified because he would have nothing to do with the crowd (even though he addressed himself to all). He did not want to form a party, an interest group, a mass movement, but wanted to be what he was, the truth, which is related to the single individual. Therefore everyone who will genuinely serve the truth is by that very fact a martyr. To win a crowd is no art; for that only untruth is needed, nonsense, and a little knowledge of human passions. But no witness to the truth dares to get involved with the crowd.

“His work is to be involved with all people, if possible, but always individually, speaking with each and every person on the sidewalk and on the streets – in order to split apart. He avoids the crowd, especially when it is treated as authoritative in matters of the truth or when its applause, or hissing, or balloting are regarded as judges. He avoids the crowd with its herd mentality more than a decent young girl avoids the bars on the harbor.

“Those who speak to the crowd, coveting its approval, those who deferentially bow and scrape before it must be regarded as being worse than prostitutes. They are instruments of untruth.”

There is so much truth here! When they were spitting on and mocking Jesus, it was the crowd who persecuted Him. The same soldier who spit on Him never would have come up to Him privately and done so. The same thing is true of worship and prayer. When we come together in a crowd and try to express openly what we feel, we are shut down and end up singing a canned song from a hymnal or praying a canned prayer from a prayer book. At best, we might pray something out loud that we know won’t get us ridiculed by the rest of the crowd.

How did Jesus really teach? He was always intimate when He taught. Yes, he taught the crowds in parables, but He gave the meanings of those parables to His hand-selected disciples, and often spoke to them individually as He addressed their heart issues. Even the twelve were whittled down to three when he went up on the mountain to meet with His Father, and only John had the title, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” A herd mentality or a mind imprisoned by a church system won’t let you hear the truth about what it means to be intimate with Jesus. It saddens me when people who claim to be Christians have a group identity that is more important to them than their true identity that is found by abiding IN Christ.

Jesus was and is intimate! He taught the woman at the well privately. He taught Nicode’mus (or at least tried to), but not the Sanhedrin. He had a close friendship with the family of Lazarus and especially Mary. He spoke to Nathaniel about what He saw him doing under the fig tree. He called Matthew the tax collector in a personal way and no one else that day. He spoke salvation personally to the woman caught in adultery and condemnation to her religious persecutors. He picked out Zacchaeus from the crowd and had dinner with him. Jesus was and is a Personal Savior! Imagine the intimacy of the woman kissing His feet, washing them with her tears and drying them with her hair in Simon’s house. All Simon the Pharisee could was to judge them both. Religion is cold and impersonal at best, and so are church services, for the most part. Many people like it that way and feel “safe” lost in the crowd at their mega-churches. Toward the end of the time when I was still trying to find Jesus in church services and conferences, He always spoke to me about things that were unrelated to the service. He was becoming my personal Christ!

Christians are fearful of intimacy! Prudish religion tells us that intimacy is an evil word and is something to be avoided at all costs least the flesh rise up and get involved. In true conversion and salvation, our stoney fleshly heart is removed and we are given the heart of Christ! Our old sinful minds are replaced with the mind of Christ and His commandment of love is written on our hearts (read Jeremiah 31:31-33, Ezekiel 36: 26-27 and Hebrews 8).

Jesus insists that He is coming back for His bride and loves her very much. She loves him with a love that is without blemish. God speaks of being a Husband to Israel all through the Old Covenant. Jesus never called His Father “God,” but rather “Father.” He tells us to call NO man father, but only our Father in heaven. He calls Himself the Son and tells us that we are all siblings or “brethren.” He tells us that He is the Good Shepherd. Even David had that figured out when he said, “The LORD is MY Shepherd…”

Dear saints, don’t fear intimacy with God. He is not the great and fearful Oz who stands behind a curtain flicking levers and pulling ropes as He tries to portray an image that scares little people into submission. The curtain between us and our Father was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died for us on the cross. He even tears down the veil of separation between us as individuals as we abide in Him. In Christ there is no slave nor free man, no Jew nor Gentile, no male nor female, but a new Creation (see 2 Cor. 5:17 and 21) that abides intimately with the Father and the Son and with one another as well. You can’t do this in a crowd!

This is why the early church met in homes. Their homes were not like our 2000 square foot plus homes in America, but much smaller and many only had one room. Families were intimate, so it was not a fearful thing in the early church. We fear it because of our socially imposed distance, the big buildings we meet in, the isolated cars we travel in, fenced up yards that keep us isolated from our neighbors, the cubicles at work, and so on. If we get into an elevator, we all turn and face the door and no one dares to speak. Even in church we look straight forward at the lecturer and rarely venture a side long glance at “our neighbor” unless told to do so by the man up front. When the “service’ is over we scurry to grab our kids and get out to the car so we can beat the crowd out of the parking lot. It is all a lie. The crowd is a lie. This is NOT the church!

Jesus never said, “Where two or three hundred are gathered together, I will be there…,” but He did say, “If any man (not any church or any nation) will open up to me I will come into him and sup with him and he with me.” He did pray, “Father, that they might be one even as we are one, I in you and you in me that they might be one in us.” It is always about intimacy with the Lord. The intimacy that the Son has with the Father is to be ours with each other as we are ONE with one another. Then the world will know that the Father sent the Son to be a personal Savior with each person in His creation. Will we say, “Yes Jesus! I want that personal intimacy with you! I want to know you as the lover you have called me to be IN you. I want to know my fellow saints who want this same intimacy that is lived by the Father and the Son”? This should be our prayer and deepest heart’s desire if we are truly called and chosen by the Father.

Bless you all as you seek His wonderful face.