There are times in our lives when all the odds seem in the enemy's favour and in fact the enemy creates such destruction and damage that he either appears as though he will win in the future, or that he already has won in whatever he is attempting to do. In these times, the work of the enemy is seen particularly clearly and it is obvious that he is 'going for the spiritual jugular' and even appears as though he is attempting to destroy us practically and physically. In these times it seems as though the presence and power of God is small (i.e the baby Jesus), or mostly ineffective and inconsequential (2 Cor 4v8, Luke 22v53, Matt 11v12).
When Jesus was born, the enemy put forth all his anger, malice and power in his attempt to destroy Him and frustrate the plans of God in this fashion, and from an earthly viewpoint it seems as though he nearly did. An evil king Herod is in power when Jesus is born, and his strategy was a clever one; send three wise men under the cover of a welcome, to in fact find out where the Saviour was being born in order to be able to murder Him (the Saviour's rule in our lives is always a threat to the temporary rule that the enemy has been given (Matt 4v9) over the earth and the one he is attempting to gain over the lives of Christians (he even tried to gain it over Jesus Himself! Matt 4v9). Upon this strategy failing, the enemy uses Herod to destroy all the firstborn in the land, in order to destroy Jesus and the main work of God itself. It takes a few dreams, a couple of angels and a whole lot of moving around and even waiting for Joseph and Mary in order for God to keep them safe, and even then, the results of the enemy's wrath are clearly seen and are extremely destructive; many people die and incredible sorrow ensues. From a worldly standpoint it would have seemed as if the Kingdom of God, God Himself and His people were weak and their lives and calling, useless.
In this world, Jesus said, 'Ye shall have tribulation.' It is a fact that we will encounter times where the enemy seems to win in the world and in our lives, just as it must've seemed to the Mary and Joseph when it seemed as though all their lives had been reduced to was fleeing, waiting and fearing the worst (after all, how scary it must've seemed to them to be two against Herod and all the power at his command!). Similarly, how must it have been for the disciples when they thought that their Saviour, and thus their hope, had been killed and therefore taken from them forever? They must've felt forsaken, lonely and desperate; where and what now for their lives? What would guide and be guided by in their lives? What would be the point of their existence now? The enemy had killed the joy and meaning of their lives and the one they loved the most; they had been robbed it seemed, and their almighty God had seemed completely inefficient and ineffective to defend Himself and fulfil the call that they assumed He had come for (setting up the Kingdom on the earth). There are times when the plans of God seem to fail, and His sovereignty appears less powerful and less impressive than it once did, or less than the moral perfection we once thought it to be (according to our reasoning) precisely because of the work and power of the enemy. While the enemy seems to win his own victories when the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence Matt 11v…12, and when we see the effects of what He does on those in the world itself, the most important victory and the one upon which our very spiritual life hinges, will always remain intact; even if only in seed, or baby form (i.e the baby Jesus). God has deemed that in this life, His greatest strength and His mightiest power will be seen in that which appears and may be, of itself, the weakest and most unimpressive thing. We are sinners and we are clay and we, His people, often quite unimpressive to the world (and often even to ourselves), but God has made this so, so that His power and glory will be revealed in the best way, both now, and most perfectly in the time to come.
The enemy is allowed to win to a point, but only within the parameters of the sovereignty of the Lord, according to His own wisdom and character. God will not allow the single most important design of His will to be changed in any way. God planned that His Son die for the sins of the world, to provide an everlasting salvation, and it was so. Similarly, with us, God has planned for our lives to fulfil a specific purpose, and by His grace, that purpose will be fulfilled. The enemy may try all he wants, but that single purpose of God's, the most important one, the one upon which all other purposes that He has for our lives hinge, will be fulfilled: Phil 1v 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
-Psalm 138v8
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Saturday, 28 December 2013
BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND
There are times in life when things simply do not add up. Logic and reasoning, either by ourselves or anyone else completely fails to comfort us, or to make head or tail of what we are going through. Rationalising everything also doesn't help, neither do the sometimes strange and humanistic reasonings or solutions that well-meaning Christians try to offer us. Neither for that matter does a worldly view of things which even though may sound pleasant, is either shallow, unfruitful or plain immoral. It is these times that the words of Hebrews, taken in their intended form, provide the most comfort for those that are downcast, sad and confused: 'By faith we understand...' The world will tell you that by logic, sense and experience we will rightly understand the world and our lives, but the Word says the opposite.
The Word encourages us as Christians to understand not only the history of the earth and its creation by faith, but our own lives (Heb 11). When we live our lives in this manner, we'll see the fruit of it too, which will confirm the value and strength (and existence) of the faith that has been given to us as a gift. Yes, we as humans doubt, fail and still sin in this regard, not believing as we should, as the flesh and the world still screams at us to doubt and to leave the Lord for what it offers, but ultimately the gift Jesus has given us is not based on any strength we possess, and His Holy Spirit never runs out of power that is needed to believe. He and the gift of faith remains in us even in our weakest of times, and supports us and offers support to us. It is not by anything in us that we must understand our lives and our trials other than by faith.
We have a great encouragement of lives lived in faith in the Word, the fruit of that faith and the sure hope and promise of the Kingdom and final fruit of redemption to come because of that gift of faith. It is hard to believe and it is a fight, one that is beyond all of us, but we don't need to despair, Christ was found worthy and so chose to impart to us what we couldn't to ourselves. By faith we understand everything that is going on in our lives, and every trial and every experience. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief! (Mark 9v29)
THE TIMES WHEN WE DON'T GET WHAT WE WANT
Heb: 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them,[c] embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
There are times in our lives when we will not receive what we desire and hope for. Of course at times we will receive what we ask for, but even those gifts will not fully fulfil the perfection that our spirit desires, as we have been made eternal beings, and so the eternity in us will always cry out for more:
Ecc 3v11: 'He has also set eternity in the human heart...' and 2 Cor 5v2 'For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.'
Mortality brings with it sin and death, not in a fatal sense, due to salvation, but in the sense that we will all still face the sorrow that a measure of these things bring while in this world (Jesus: 'in this life you will have tribulation'). We all long for these things to leave us, and in desiring certain things we show that, to some degree at least, we believe that such sorrow will be lessened by the joy that we long via good desires. To some extent this is true, and yet we obviously cannot avoid life, and we cannot avoid the work that Christ wants to do in and through us in this life. For this reason, and others that are not known to us (Paul: 'perplexed, but not in despair') there are times when He will not give us what we desire. Instead, He reminds us of our eternal hope; a home with Him, and a perfection that does not depend on our definition of what we want or need, but upon the total life that is in, and will be given by, Christ when we go to heaven.
Many Churches and preachers get popular because they say that Jesus will give us everything we want. Unfortunately, in a earthly sense of looking at things, this is not true. Even a brief look at Hebrews 11, and any part of the Bible itself show that this isn't the case, whether we look at the lives of the Apostles, who lost much (even though they welcomed such loss for the sake of Christ), Israel in the Old Testament, who weren't fed with what they desired in the wilderness or any of the other countless stories in the Word. Fortunately the earthly sense is completely wrong and sinful, so we can rest assured that even in losing, we will gain in the way God intended. Hebrews 11 shows us that, one of the primary reasons God doesn't give us what we want at times is because He is concerned with us gaining a good testimony for the sake of His grace, power, wisdom, life and glory; all those things that He is and that He dispenses. God shows that, through both the triumphs and failings of His people, His will is worked out (not that sin is ok, but that God is gracious to us, seen in the example of Sarah and Abraham, and how God chose to characterise their testimony in a positive way- Heb 11v11+12- despite their not always obeying His will in the process but doing what they wanted), and a good testimony to His faithfulness, mercy, grace and power is displayed in our lives: Heb 11v2: 'For by it the elders obtained a good testimony'.
Amazingly, Hebrews 11 also reveals that even those who did attain some type of promise in fact 'did not receive the promise or the promises' (v13+v39). Read Heb 1v4-11, then note verse 13. There are times when we will receives things we didn't expect, and there are times when we won't receive anything at all that we desired, but we will obtain a good testimony. God has and will forgive our sins, just like He forgave the sin of Abraham and Sarah, and will turn our lives into a monument of His grace, and give a good report about us, soley because of the righteousness of Jesus that He imputed and does impute to us (when God looks at us, He sees us through the lense of Jesus Christ, because of the blood of Christ).
Even when you do receive a promise from God, realise that it will not bring us the ultimate perfection our sole cries out for. It is good for our sole to cry out for perfection, for it cries out for that very thing God has designed us for: 2 Cor 5v5 'Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God...' But we must realise the testimony that God is concerned with creating out of us, and also that the perfection we desire can only be found in Christ, the homeland (Heb 11v14) He has prepared for us and in the final bringing together of the family of God, in perfect union (Heb 11v40).
God wants us to hope for the future, and He wants us to be expectant, for this is how we, like Enoch, are drawn to come close to God, and are drawn to follow Him and His will, despite not knowing so much about why sometimes. God desires that we seek Him and find him, all other things being secondly, and He wants us to be able to sacrifice other things we may want. Easier said than done, but He keeps us through our weakness and our failings. Those He chose He predestined, so He knows how He'll keep us (Rom 8v29).
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them,[c] embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
There are times in our lives when we will not receive what we desire and hope for. Of course at times we will receive what we ask for, but even those gifts will not fully fulfil the perfection that our spirit desires, as we have been made eternal beings, and so the eternity in us will always cry out for more:
Ecc 3v11: 'He has also set eternity in the human heart...' and 2 Cor 5v2 'For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.'
Mortality brings with it sin and death, not in a fatal sense, due to salvation, but in the sense that we will all still face the sorrow that a measure of these things bring while in this world (Jesus: 'in this life you will have tribulation'). We all long for these things to leave us, and in desiring certain things we show that, to some degree at least, we believe that such sorrow will be lessened by the joy that we long via good desires. To some extent this is true, and yet we obviously cannot avoid life, and we cannot avoid the work that Christ wants to do in and through us in this life. For this reason, and others that are not known to us (Paul: 'perplexed, but not in despair') there are times when He will not give us what we desire. Instead, He reminds us of our eternal hope; a home with Him, and a perfection that does not depend on our definition of what we want or need, but upon the total life that is in, and will be given by, Christ when we go to heaven.
Many Churches and preachers get popular because they say that Jesus will give us everything we want. Unfortunately, in a earthly sense of looking at things, this is not true. Even a brief look at Hebrews 11, and any part of the Bible itself show that this isn't the case, whether we look at the lives of the Apostles, who lost much (even though they welcomed such loss for the sake of Christ), Israel in the Old Testament, who weren't fed with what they desired in the wilderness or any of the other countless stories in the Word. Fortunately the earthly sense is completely wrong and sinful, so we can rest assured that even in losing, we will gain in the way God intended. Hebrews 11 shows us that, one of the primary reasons God doesn't give us what we want at times is because He is concerned with us gaining a good testimony for the sake of His grace, power, wisdom, life and glory; all those things that He is and that He dispenses. God shows that, through both the triumphs and failings of His people, His will is worked out (not that sin is ok, but that God is gracious to us, seen in the example of Sarah and Abraham, and how God chose to characterise their testimony in a positive way- Heb 11v11+12- despite their not always obeying His will in the process but doing what they wanted), and a good testimony to His faithfulness, mercy, grace and power is displayed in our lives: Heb 11v2: 'For by it the elders obtained a good testimony'.
Amazingly, Hebrews 11 also reveals that even those who did attain some type of promise in fact 'did not receive the promise or the promises' (v13+v39). Read Heb 1v4-11, then note verse 13. There are times when we will receives things we didn't expect, and there are times when we won't receive anything at all that we desired, but we will obtain a good testimony. God has and will forgive our sins, just like He forgave the sin of Abraham and Sarah, and will turn our lives into a monument of His grace, and give a good report about us, soley because of the righteousness of Jesus that He imputed and does impute to us (when God looks at us, He sees us through the lense of Jesus Christ, because of the blood of Christ).
Even when you do receive a promise from God, realise that it will not bring us the ultimate perfection our sole cries out for. It is good for our sole to cry out for perfection, for it cries out for that very thing God has designed us for: 2 Cor 5v5 'Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God...' But we must realise the testimony that God is concerned with creating out of us, and also that the perfection we desire can only be found in Christ, the homeland (Heb 11v14) He has prepared for us and in the final bringing together of the family of God, in perfect union (Heb 11v40).
God wants us to hope for the future, and He wants us to be expectant, for this is how we, like Enoch, are drawn to come close to God, and are drawn to follow Him and His will, despite not knowing so much about why sometimes. God desires that we seek Him and find him, all other things being secondly, and He wants us to be able to sacrifice other things we may want. Easier said than done, but He keeps us through our weakness and our failings. Those He chose He predestined, so He knows how He'll keep us (Rom 8v29).
Monday, 28 October 2013
Prophecy Fulfilled: The Lord's love and outstretched arm
A while ago I posted a vision and a dream about the fires that were to come to Australia. You can find the vision and dream on my blog. In a vision, I clearly saw, right in front of my eyes, a blazing red fire, with smoke coming from it (as though it was right in my room). Then, a while after, I had a dream of a Birds-eye map of Australia, where I saw fires and bad storms along the East Coast of Australia. I shared both dreams, trying to warn according to what the Lord had shown me. Hopefully it did some good.. hopefully it saved some people some pain.. I also another dream where I stood outside a house and looked out to a vista where, on the horizon, I saw a great wall of fire and smoke, which seemed to be very near to the house. Recently that image seemed to often repeated on the news. The Lord is so loving to want to warn and prepare the world and His people, and He is very faithful to do both.
Since these dreams and vision, Australia has experienced two of the worst times of fire in a very long time. One saw great destruction across the whole nation, and even saw a record temperature being recorded in the heartland of Australia. The one most recently, saw upwards of 66 fires in NSW and around Australia, in what news networks called the worst fires Australia has seen in a decade. In affect, the prophecies I received were fulfilled, proving that they were from the Lord, and these may even have a future fulfilment. We have also seen destructive storms and a few months ago on the Coast there were even reports of a tornado that formed.
All this to say- please remain vigilant in the future. The Lord shows these things, not to frighten in a wrong way, but to warn and to prepare people that He loves and people that He longs to accept His grace and His salvation. As a faithful shepherd, the Lord continues to reveal His grace to us, and through prophecy at that, just like with all the other gifts.
Since these dreams and vision, Australia has experienced two of the worst times of fire in a very long time. One saw great destruction across the whole nation, and even saw a record temperature being recorded in the heartland of Australia. The one most recently, saw upwards of 66 fires in NSW and around Australia, in what news networks called the worst fires Australia has seen in a decade. In affect, the prophecies I received were fulfilled, proving that they were from the Lord, and these may even have a future fulfilment. We have also seen destructive storms and a few months ago on the Coast there were even reports of a tornado that formed.
All this to say- please remain vigilant in the future. The Lord shows these things, not to frighten in a wrong way, but to warn and to prepare people that He loves and people that He longs to accept His grace and His salvation. As a faithful shepherd, the Lord continues to reveal His grace to us, and through prophecy at that, just like with all the other gifts.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
SENSATIONALISM
There is a danger in Christianity to sensationalise our walk with the Lord in a predominantly earthly sense. We tend to believe at times that future perfections should be present realities, and that what is being prepared for us for another day, should be owned by us today. The New Testament, however, gives us a primarily different take on what we can expect in this life if we choose to follow the Lord. Although through the gospels, epistles and the book of Revelation, we see that while God provides for His people, gives them spiritual gifts and provides families and relations, these things are given in a context of suffering, service and a call to selflessness and sacrifice. Yes, God has given us, 'all things richly to enjoy,' but the formerly stated context will always be the setting by which these things will be enjoyed, and primarily this enjoyment will be spiritual.
Riches, the Apostle Paul says, often takes wings and flies away, and God allows such things so that our heart will always be for the heavenly Kingdom, over our earthly habitations, relationships and possessions. While many Churches now and many Christians try to define our walk with the Lord as being one of excitement, heroic glory, ease and total satisfaction, via a back-drop of production, hype and the marketing mechanisms and ideologies of the world, the true sense and substance of the Church has been and always will be a Church and a people that walk out their walk in a simple and straightforward sense, uncluttered, unburdened and unhindered by the deceitful trappings of sensationalism, sense and emotional hype.
Sensationalism has the goal of making Christianity appealing by way of human desires and a human understanding of what we should seek, desire, strive for and expect. True spirituality realises that everything we have is a gift given by God, and that all such things need to be used for His Kingdom and continually given back to Him. Not only this, but true spirituality realises that at any time, much or all of what we own could be justly taken from us; 'The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord'. Only in this way will His people, when the storms and tribulations of life come, be able to continue to walk with the Lord. Otherwise our hearts quickly become doubtful and even angry at the Lord, believing that we were called to something other than what is clearly laid out in the Word. Therefore, the test of true religion is this; would we still follow God if we lost everything? (i.e a Job like experience).
Sensationalism in the Church and amongst His people, is not just unprofitable, but down right dangerous and in some cases lethal to undermining the work of faith that God is seeking to build in His people. For we walk by faith, not by sight. God seeks to mature, grow and benefit His people via faith, and this is often completely contrary to the false promises leaders and proponents of sensationalism offer. Faith involves suffering and perplexity, and it calls on the follower of God to follow the Lord despite all evidences of what the senses tell the Christian. There are times when sense needs, not only to be resisted, but to be put to death via the Holy Spirit. Not only should we not be accepting a Christianity of sensationalism, but we should be actively seeking to reveal its wrong, deceitful and harmful substance and its subsequent effects.
Riches, the Apostle Paul says, often takes wings and flies away, and God allows such things so that our heart will always be for the heavenly Kingdom, over our earthly habitations, relationships and possessions. While many Churches now and many Christians try to define our walk with the Lord as being one of excitement, heroic glory, ease and total satisfaction, via a back-drop of production, hype and the marketing mechanisms and ideologies of the world, the true sense and substance of the Church has been and always will be a Church and a people that walk out their walk in a simple and straightforward sense, uncluttered, unburdened and unhindered by the deceitful trappings of sensationalism, sense and emotional hype.
Sensationalism has the goal of making Christianity appealing by way of human desires and a human understanding of what we should seek, desire, strive for and expect. True spirituality realises that everything we have is a gift given by God, and that all such things need to be used for His Kingdom and continually given back to Him. Not only this, but true spirituality realises that at any time, much or all of what we own could be justly taken from us; 'The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord'. Only in this way will His people, when the storms and tribulations of life come, be able to continue to walk with the Lord. Otherwise our hearts quickly become doubtful and even angry at the Lord, believing that we were called to something other than what is clearly laid out in the Word. Therefore, the test of true religion is this; would we still follow God if we lost everything? (i.e a Job like experience).
Sensationalism in the Church and amongst His people, is not just unprofitable, but down right dangerous and in some cases lethal to undermining the work of faith that God is seeking to build in His people. For we walk by faith, not by sight. God seeks to mature, grow and benefit His people via faith, and this is often completely contrary to the false promises leaders and proponents of sensationalism offer. Faith involves suffering and perplexity, and it calls on the follower of God to follow the Lord despite all evidences of what the senses tell the Christian. There are times when sense needs, not only to be resisted, but to be put to death via the Holy Spirit. Not only should we not be accepting a Christianity of sensationalism, but we should be actively seeking to reveal its wrong, deceitful and harmful substance and its subsequent effects.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
BAD COMPANY
Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 1 Cor 15v33
Has anyone else noticed how bad TV is becoming in the last few years? That which was once 'rude' and 'vulgar' 10 years ago, is now accepted as quite normal. The TV shows that are coming out, and that are most popular, seem now to be those that CHAMPION and laud evil as heroic, and somehow twist what is vile to appear as though it is good. God clearly warns us against accepting this-
Isaiah 5:
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
But society has done this because of what Satan has always used as a weapon to deceive us:
'And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.' (2 Cor 11v14
The enemy is very clever when it comes to deceiving people to believe that what they think, believe and love, is actually pure, upright and beneficial, when it is actually anything but! Think about how much TV comedy today centre's around sexual joking! Those topics which should be things which exist in the privacy and sanctity of marriage, are bandied about as though they are common and dirty things and things which should be the target of ridicule and lewdness, and things which should only be for pleasure, without there being any kind of actual true love and devotion. These things should not be made into rudeness, lewdness and jokes that centre around perversity, for these are the very things which God made private in the beginning, because sin entered the world, and God COVERED UP Adam and Eve, and determined that such a relationship between a man and a wife be exactly that; something that is between a man and a wife and that is private. What God has sanctified, made Holy and made private, no Christian or the world for that matter should be making into an unholy and common thing.
Not only this, but it seems that not many people even realise this is happening. Many comedy shows now are simply blatantly rude, blatantly sexually rude, include illicit language and are constantly vulgar. Sin and sinful ways are being exalted as being 'ground-breaking' and 'cutting-edge' and are really just glorifying the perverse and every sin mentioned and warned against in the Bible (and particularly those sins that are especially warned against). The devil comes as an angel of light to deceive, and men have listened, not only to him, but to their own hearts in making much of what now exists.
Ten years ago I remember what was on TV as being a whole lot different, even in terms of comedy shows. Those shows that were once 'mostly' innocent in nature, are now blatantly perverse and make jokes out of that which is sexual, rude and just down right dirty and degrading. It's so disappointing, discouraging and just outrageous what our society is doing now, but it is going down the way they have chosen.
I speak to myself first and foremostly here in waking up to this fact, but what was once easier to doge with a flick of a remote, now I find becoming increasingly hard, if not impossible to avoid without just shutting down a certain show completely. No one is perfect here, and our own sinful weakness makes us willingly stumble at times, but all of us need to be aware of just how bad TV is getting. If we don't realise, we'll slowly just become more and more corrupted until we wonder how we got to a certain point of sinful acceptance of what we watch so quickly. Taking a stand for righteousness isn't just about what we say or do, but what we accept into our lives and what we choose to focus on and love. Conscience, plus the Word, plus the Spirit need to be our guides here, and we all need be very aware of what God desires- not just in terms of avoiding what is immoral, but going the other way in embracing what is moral and what is good. The Bible encourages us to think on those things which good and upright, and that should be our goal and our compass:
Phil 4v8: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Just like friends rub off on us the more we hang around them (at least to some extent); thinking like them, speaking like them, imitating them, believing what they believe etc (by watching them, hearing them, hanging out with them and interacting with them), so the more we hang out with the company of shows we surround ourselves, the more we'll take to ourselves those things we watch and become like them in some ways. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and what we watch will end up inside of us, and then end up coming out of us (because the Bible says that out of the heart come the issues of life).
The Bible says that while we are free, let us not use that freedom for the flesh, but use it for the Spirit. So lets all ask ourselves, what is beneficial for us? and what isn't? What will help us spiritually? And what won't? And what has God clearly warned us against and forbidden as being directly contrary to what is good and to what He wants for us?
Has anyone else noticed how bad TV is becoming in the last few years? That which was once 'rude' and 'vulgar' 10 years ago, is now accepted as quite normal. The TV shows that are coming out, and that are most popular, seem now to be those that CHAMPION and laud evil as heroic, and somehow twist what is vile to appear as though it is good. God clearly warns us against accepting this-
Isaiah 5:
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
But society has done this because of what Satan has always used as a weapon to deceive us:
'And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.' (2 Cor 11v14
The enemy is very clever when it comes to deceiving people to believe that what they think, believe and love, is actually pure, upright and beneficial, when it is actually anything but! Think about how much TV comedy today centre's around sexual joking! Those topics which should be things which exist in the privacy and sanctity of marriage, are bandied about as though they are common and dirty things and things which should be the target of ridicule and lewdness, and things which should only be for pleasure, without there being any kind of actual true love and devotion. These things should not be made into rudeness, lewdness and jokes that centre around perversity, for these are the very things which God made private in the beginning, because sin entered the world, and God COVERED UP Adam and Eve, and determined that such a relationship between a man and a wife be exactly that; something that is between a man and a wife and that is private. What God has sanctified, made Holy and made private, no Christian or the world for that matter should be making into an unholy and common thing.
Not only this, but it seems that not many people even realise this is happening. Many comedy shows now are simply blatantly rude, blatantly sexually rude, include illicit language and are constantly vulgar. Sin and sinful ways are being exalted as being 'ground-breaking' and 'cutting-edge' and are really just glorifying the perverse and every sin mentioned and warned against in the Bible (and particularly those sins that are especially warned against). The devil comes as an angel of light to deceive, and men have listened, not only to him, but to their own hearts in making much of what now exists.
Ten years ago I remember what was on TV as being a whole lot different, even in terms of comedy shows. Those shows that were once 'mostly' innocent in nature, are now blatantly perverse and make jokes out of that which is sexual, rude and just down right dirty and degrading. It's so disappointing, discouraging and just outrageous what our society is doing now, but it is going down the way they have chosen.
I speak to myself first and foremostly here in waking up to this fact, but what was once easier to doge with a flick of a remote, now I find becoming increasingly hard, if not impossible to avoid without just shutting down a certain show completely. No one is perfect here, and our own sinful weakness makes us willingly stumble at times, but all of us need to be aware of just how bad TV is getting. If we don't realise, we'll slowly just become more and more corrupted until we wonder how we got to a certain point of sinful acceptance of what we watch so quickly. Taking a stand for righteousness isn't just about what we say or do, but what we accept into our lives and what we choose to focus on and love. Conscience, plus the Word, plus the Spirit need to be our guides here, and we all need be very aware of what God desires- not just in terms of avoiding what is immoral, but going the other way in embracing what is moral and what is good. The Bible encourages us to think on those things which good and upright, and that should be our goal and our compass:
Phil 4v8: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Just like friends rub off on us the more we hang around them (at least to some extent); thinking like them, speaking like them, imitating them, believing what they believe etc (by watching them, hearing them, hanging out with them and interacting with them), so the more we hang out with the company of shows we surround ourselves, the more we'll take to ourselves those things we watch and become like them in some ways. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and what we watch will end up inside of us, and then end up coming out of us (because the Bible says that out of the heart come the issues of life).
The Bible says that while we are free, let us not use that freedom for the flesh, but use it for the Spirit. So lets all ask ourselves, what is beneficial for us? and what isn't? What will help us spiritually? And what won't? And what has God clearly warned us against and forbidden as being directly contrary to what is good and to what He wants for us?
Thursday, 3 October 2013
SUDDEN & VIOLENT TRIBULATION
There are times, simply put, when tribulation hits us like a ton of bricks, and there is nothing we can do about it but take what comes to us. So often though, we are caught completely off guard when the trouble hits, as though we believed, whether consciously or not, that such sufferings are for others but not us and for other places, other times and for those in circumstances we could not even begin to imagine, relate to, or empathise with, but then they happen nevertheless. We are warned clearly by the Word, and often by revelation, even as Paul was once warned by a prophet, and yet we forget, or try to forget, that this is indeed the reality we must face in life and will face if we go on walking in the Kingdom of God:
1 Pet 4:12-13 (NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Pet 2:19-23 (Phi) A man does a fine thing when he endures pain, with a clear conscience towards God, though he knows he is suffering unjustly. After all, it is no credit to you if you are patient in bearing a punishment which you have richly deserved! But if you do your duty and are punished for it and can still accept it patiently, you are doing something worthwhile in God's sight. Indeed this is your calling. For Christ suffered for you and left you a personal example, so that you might follow in his footsteps.
1 Thes 3:3 (NIV) so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know that we were destined for them.
1 Pet 1:6-7 (Phi) This means tremendous joy to you, even though at present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials. This is no accident--it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold, and gold, as you know, even though it is ultimately perishable, must be purified by fire.
In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabus, while in Iconium, were preaching the gospel. After having a time of success, the city was divided about what they thought of them, so much so that the Jews, Gentiles and rulers of Iconium made a violent attempt to stone the pair. Paul and Barnabus, becoming aware of the plot, fled to Lystra where they continued to preach the Gospel. While they were there, God used Paul to heal a man crippled from birth. So amazed were the people of Lystra, that they tried to sacrifice to both of them, thinking they were gods. Paul and Barnabus could scarcely stop them from sacrificing to them. Then Jews came and persuaded the people against them, so that, in the next moment, they turned against Paul and Barnabus, and ended up stoning Paul. Supposing him to be dead, they dragged him outside the city. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went back INTO the city. The next day he left with Barnabus to Derbe:
Acts 14v21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” 23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 24 And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.
27 Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
Here, what happened to Paul, and did not shake him, if it had happened to us, I think very few would've kept going with the work of the Lord. And I think most of us would've started to question where God was in our lives! I think most of us would've said, "Where was our God when we needed protection?" "Where was His power when we needed it?" "We were doing His work, so why didn't He stop those that came against us?" But both Paul and Silas were, it seems fairly obviously, ready for extreme and violent tribulation; to the extent that they knew that severe suffering and death could very well be waiting for them around the next corner of life, all for the sake of serving Him, and walking according to His will, and according to the Kingdom of God. Paul's mindset was such that, even after having gone through what must have been the shock of being liked to the point of nearly being worshipped, to being hated to the point of people trying to kill him, he didn't freak out, he didn't get mad at God, he didn't stop following or serving, and didn't even stop to rest or wait for a while, just to make sure God was with him! Amazing, incredible, what we would even call heroic in Christian circles these days, and yet to him, and to Barnabus, this was sudden and violent tribulation that didn't surprise, upset, daunt, slow or stop them in any way. It didn't lead them to a crisis of confidence, and it didn't get them to question their God or their doctrine or faith, because both were founded and found in, what was true; not halve truths, not shallow sayings of men and not from opinions and from fleshly mixtures of what many called truth. Far from it, their faith, confidence, strength and hope was founded upon the Word of God, and upon a solid understanding of God and of the way of God because of it. An experience that would've flawed most of us, DIDN'T EVEN SHAKE THEIR FAITH, rather they ENCOURAGED OTHERS TO CONTINUE IN THEIR FAITH: "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14v22). Not only that, but they looked at the positive side of things; "...they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." God had done a miraculous work with them, and a work that we are told in Chapter 14 that had included God doing signs and wonders via their hands, to confirm the Word of His Grace (14v3).
We as Christians are living in a society today that, whether we know it or not, has done a very good job of indoctrinating us to believe that all suffering is evil, and is to be avoided at all costs. Society today believes that most suffering can either be avoided or cured in some way, if we work hard enough at it. Whether this is by thinking it away, through positivity or the worldly belief that we can be masters of our own fate, or by popping a pill, or by wealth and a wealth of experiences, society implores us to believe that we can have it all, and that whatever we suffer can be stopped or assuaged in some way, and that we must do all we can to make this happen. Not only does society believe this, but much of the Church now believes it, and preaches it in ways that are subtle and that use scripture in order to prove their mistaken beliefs. Whether by intentional or unintentional deception, a lack of true understanding of the Word, a greed for gain, or a simple case of being influenced and corrupted by the very culture they seek to save, Churches are increasingly preaching prosperity and an idolatry of self, which fails to recognise the ultimate truth that believers of God must embrace if they are to continue following Christ: Christians must take up the cross to follow Him, deny themselves and must, not only the world to hate them and to come against them, but also many tribulations and many trials. Not only this, but we must expect sudden and violent tribulations, just like Paul and Barnabas faced, and therefore we must take to us the same mindset that they had, in preparation for such things, lest they derail us from the faith we believe we are so secure in: 1 Cor 10v12: Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
As we are children of God, sudden and violent tribulations will have already happened to most of us, and if not, they will, as the Bible says that 'we were destined for them' (1 Thess 3v3). However, the kind of trials that we have faced, in comparison to what Paul faced, and in comparison to what is to come in the future of our world, do not compare to what has been. We too, along with Paul, will face sudden and violent tribulation, the likes of which will make many us experience what Paul did in terms of his reaction to them:
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
The trial that is coming to the world is unlike what many of us have ever experienced. War will come to America and Australia will be involved. Asteroids will hit the earth and terrorism will take place around the world. Fires and storms have already ravaged Australia, and for all we know, the worst may still be yet to come. Great destruction is coming to Sydney and Hillsong will experience a terrorist attack. A nuclear bomb will detonate out to sea from the East Coast of Australia around the area of the Gold Coast and Tweed Heads (all these things the Lord has shown me in dreams and visions. Already great fires and storms have hit Australia, and already terrorist attacks have hit the world, even in recent days, including the first one in America since 9/11 since I released the fact that the Lord had shown me these things were coming in dreams). Sudden and violent tribulations are coming, and we must begin to take the same mindset that Paul and Barnabus had in not only following the Lord, but in serving Him as well. When these things happen we must not be shaken in our faith, and we must not waver. We must not go back and we must not doubt the Lord who saved us, but believe in Him and believe in His Word (not a shallow and fleshly version of it, but the Word as it is). The Word clearly warns us that we are destined for tribulations, so this shouldn't shock or surprise us. The Word clearly tells us that we will suffer, so we must prepare ourselves accordingly. The Lord has not only been faithful to us in warning us in His Word, but warning us by revelation and by the revelations of His Spirit, and so we must recognise this, and take heed accordingly- the Lord does not warn for no reason, and He reveals the future that we might be prepared and that His children's faith and spiritual life might be protected at all costs. We must take unto ourselves the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation and we must take unto ourselves the sword of the Spirit and shod our feet with the Good News. We must be ready in season and out of season, for out of season is coming, and it is an incredibly dark and stormy time. We must cast aside the shallow preachings and doctrines of deceitful and deceived men, and cast aside notions that we are only destined for prosperity and protection, we are destined for great sufferings. Yes, these sufferings may also include many deliverances, even as the Apostles experienced, but these deliverances did not make the journey easy, or their pains often any less. They were delivered in order that they might continue to follow Christ and continue to serve Him, and to encourage and strengthen the body of Christ. Rest will come when we enter the Kingdom, and ultimate deliverance when we stand face to face with our Lord and Saviour. Until then we must recognise that our true identity is found in the reality that we are soldiers for the Kingdom, and that we must fight the good fight of faith. Our lives were never meant to be lived for us, but lived for Him, and this means that we must lay down what is most precious to us, for He bought what was already His, and so we are not our own: 2 Cor 5v15: 'And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.'
1 Pet 4:12-13 (NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Pet 2:19-23 (Phi) A man does a fine thing when he endures pain, with a clear conscience towards God, though he knows he is suffering unjustly. After all, it is no credit to you if you are patient in bearing a punishment which you have richly deserved! But if you do your duty and are punished for it and can still accept it patiently, you are doing something worthwhile in God's sight. Indeed this is your calling. For Christ suffered for you and left you a personal example, so that you might follow in his footsteps.
1 Thes 3:3 (NIV) so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know that we were destined for them.
1 Pet 1:6-7 (Phi) This means tremendous joy to you, even though at present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials. This is no accident--it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold, and gold, as you know, even though it is ultimately perishable, must be purified by fire.
In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabus, while in Iconium, were preaching the gospel. After having a time of success, the city was divided about what they thought of them, so much so that the Jews, Gentiles and rulers of Iconium made a violent attempt to stone the pair. Paul and Barnabus, becoming aware of the plot, fled to Lystra where they continued to preach the Gospel. While they were there, God used Paul to heal a man crippled from birth. So amazed were the people of Lystra, that they tried to sacrifice to both of them, thinking they were gods. Paul and Barnabus could scarcely stop them from sacrificing to them. Then Jews came and persuaded the people against them, so that, in the next moment, they turned against Paul and Barnabus, and ended up stoning Paul. Supposing him to be dead, they dragged him outside the city. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went back INTO the city. The next day he left with Barnabus to Derbe:
Acts 14v21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” 23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. 24 And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.
27 Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
Here, what happened to Paul, and did not shake him, if it had happened to us, I think very few would've kept going with the work of the Lord. And I think most of us would've started to question where God was in our lives! I think most of us would've said, "Where was our God when we needed protection?" "Where was His power when we needed it?" "We were doing His work, so why didn't He stop those that came against us?" But both Paul and Silas were, it seems fairly obviously, ready for extreme and violent tribulation; to the extent that they knew that severe suffering and death could very well be waiting for them around the next corner of life, all for the sake of serving Him, and walking according to His will, and according to the Kingdom of God. Paul's mindset was such that, even after having gone through what must have been the shock of being liked to the point of nearly being worshipped, to being hated to the point of people trying to kill him, he didn't freak out, he didn't get mad at God, he didn't stop following or serving, and didn't even stop to rest or wait for a while, just to make sure God was with him! Amazing, incredible, what we would even call heroic in Christian circles these days, and yet to him, and to Barnabus, this was sudden and violent tribulation that didn't surprise, upset, daunt, slow or stop them in any way. It didn't lead them to a crisis of confidence, and it didn't get them to question their God or their doctrine or faith, because both were founded and found in, what was true; not halve truths, not shallow sayings of men and not from opinions and from fleshly mixtures of what many called truth. Far from it, their faith, confidence, strength and hope was founded upon the Word of God, and upon a solid understanding of God and of the way of God because of it. An experience that would've flawed most of us, DIDN'T EVEN SHAKE THEIR FAITH, rather they ENCOURAGED OTHERS TO CONTINUE IN THEIR FAITH: "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14v22). Not only that, but they looked at the positive side of things; "...they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." God had done a miraculous work with them, and a work that we are told in Chapter 14 that had included God doing signs and wonders via their hands, to confirm the Word of His Grace (14v3).
We as Christians are living in a society today that, whether we know it or not, has done a very good job of indoctrinating us to believe that all suffering is evil, and is to be avoided at all costs. Society today believes that most suffering can either be avoided or cured in some way, if we work hard enough at it. Whether this is by thinking it away, through positivity or the worldly belief that we can be masters of our own fate, or by popping a pill, or by wealth and a wealth of experiences, society implores us to believe that we can have it all, and that whatever we suffer can be stopped or assuaged in some way, and that we must do all we can to make this happen. Not only does society believe this, but much of the Church now believes it, and preaches it in ways that are subtle and that use scripture in order to prove their mistaken beliefs. Whether by intentional or unintentional deception, a lack of true understanding of the Word, a greed for gain, or a simple case of being influenced and corrupted by the very culture they seek to save, Churches are increasingly preaching prosperity and an idolatry of self, which fails to recognise the ultimate truth that believers of God must embrace if they are to continue following Christ: Christians must take up the cross to follow Him, deny themselves and must, not only the world to hate them and to come against them, but also many tribulations and many trials. Not only this, but we must expect sudden and violent tribulations, just like Paul and Barnabas faced, and therefore we must take to us the same mindset that they had, in preparation for such things, lest they derail us from the faith we believe we are so secure in: 1 Cor 10v12: Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
As we are children of God, sudden and violent tribulations will have already happened to most of us, and if not, they will, as the Bible says that 'we were destined for them' (1 Thess 3v3). However, the kind of trials that we have faced, in comparison to what Paul faced, and in comparison to what is to come in the future of our world, do not compare to what has been. We too, along with Paul, will face sudden and violent tribulation, the likes of which will make many us experience what Paul did in terms of his reaction to them:
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
The trial that is coming to the world is unlike what many of us have ever experienced. War will come to America and Australia will be involved. Asteroids will hit the earth and terrorism will take place around the world. Fires and storms have already ravaged Australia, and for all we know, the worst may still be yet to come. Great destruction is coming to Sydney and Hillsong will experience a terrorist attack. A nuclear bomb will detonate out to sea from the East Coast of Australia around the area of the Gold Coast and Tweed Heads (all these things the Lord has shown me in dreams and visions. Already great fires and storms have hit Australia, and already terrorist attacks have hit the world, even in recent days, including the first one in America since 9/11 since I released the fact that the Lord had shown me these things were coming in dreams). Sudden and violent tribulations are coming, and we must begin to take the same mindset that Paul and Barnabus had in not only following the Lord, but in serving Him as well. When these things happen we must not be shaken in our faith, and we must not waver. We must not go back and we must not doubt the Lord who saved us, but believe in Him and believe in His Word (not a shallow and fleshly version of it, but the Word as it is). The Word clearly warns us that we are destined for tribulations, so this shouldn't shock or surprise us. The Word clearly tells us that we will suffer, so we must prepare ourselves accordingly. The Lord has not only been faithful to us in warning us in His Word, but warning us by revelation and by the revelations of His Spirit, and so we must recognise this, and take heed accordingly- the Lord does not warn for no reason, and He reveals the future that we might be prepared and that His children's faith and spiritual life might be protected at all costs. We must take unto ourselves the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation and we must take unto ourselves the sword of the Spirit and shod our feet with the Good News. We must be ready in season and out of season, for out of season is coming, and it is an incredibly dark and stormy time. We must cast aside the shallow preachings and doctrines of deceitful and deceived men, and cast aside notions that we are only destined for prosperity and protection, we are destined for great sufferings. Yes, these sufferings may also include many deliverances, even as the Apostles experienced, but these deliverances did not make the journey easy, or their pains often any less. They were delivered in order that they might continue to follow Christ and continue to serve Him, and to encourage and strengthen the body of Christ. Rest will come when we enter the Kingdom, and ultimate deliverance when we stand face to face with our Lord and Saviour. Until then we must recognise that our true identity is found in the reality that we are soldiers for the Kingdom, and that we must fight the good fight of faith. Our lives were never meant to be lived for us, but lived for Him, and this means that we must lay down what is most precious to us, for He bought what was already His, and so we are not our own: 2 Cor 5v15: 'And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.'
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