VISION: AMERICA/EUROPE ON ITS KNEES

This morning I woke up to see a vision of a man (who I couldn't identify because he was all black/in shadow) who was on his knees with his head bowed. Over his shoulder were 3 coloured ties: one white, one red, one blue.

Immediately I got the impression that this man was bowed down because of affliction. I believe that this dream could very well be speaking of America, as the colours on the American flag are red, white and blue. I also believe that this vision could very well be speaking of what is happening to America at the moment with its Ebola crisis and what will happen to America through Ebola, and also what the nation is facing with ISIS overseas. God is bringing that nation to its knees, as sometimes the only way God can bring men to Himself is through such means- if they won't come willingly, sometimes they will only be made to come to Him because of affliction and pain. Watch in the days to come, for the Lord is doing this thing, and these things are just the beginning of the trouble that He will allow and bring upon that nation.

The vision may also speak about England and Australia, because both county's flag's colours are red, white and blue as well. Both, especially England, are experiencing terrorist threats of late as well. This could very well increase and we could very well see terrorist attacks on both nations, although that is just my opinion for England, but for Australia God has shown me in a dream that that will happen.

Christians have nothing to fear from Ebola or terrorism, for Christ is our shield and our protection!

CARRIED AWAY

Rev 21v20: 'And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high…'


We can only ever walk with the Lord as long as we are being carried by Him. Most times we are unconscious of it because the Lord does it by His grace and power, but it is a certain fact that we can do nothing apart from Him:

John 15v5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Acts 17v28: 'For in him we live and move and exist. …'

When we do become conscious of it, it is usually because we have begun to rely on ourselves instead of Him. Other things become what we trust to hold us up, and they always fail us or run dry. When we become conscious of it, we are in particular need of being carried by the Spirit. John was carried by the Spirit for God's purpose at that time, and we too have need to be carried by the Spirit. The only way we can do this is by placing ourselves where the Spirit can lift us up and carry us. This means reading His Word, worshipping, praying and encouraging each other in the faith with fellow believers. When we do this, we begin to consciously realise that He is carrying us and that He is doing so at whatever time and circumstance we're in for His reasons- not only for our spiritual health, but also so that we'll be fruitful in the way that He wants, for Him, His Kingdom and also for our own spiritual health.

Before John was picked up by the Spirit and carried to the mountain God had for him, he had been in the Spirit on the Lord's day (Rev 1v10…). John had been spending time with Jesus in an attitude of waiting and worship. We are always in the Spirit in one sense, but at other times in another sense; communing with Him and worshipping Him. From that place God picked him up, and will pick us up. Where He will lead us, if anywhere, is up to Him, but the most important thing is that we are picked up by Him, so that He'll give us the continued grace so that we'll be able to walk with Him and follow Him. He gives us spiritual desires and a heart that burns for Him, and this can only be given by Him.

Once I had a dream wherein I saw a match box, and along the side of the box it read 'The matches belong to Christ'. Christ sets our hearts burning within us for Him, and He gives us the continued desire to keep walking with Him:

Luke 24v32: They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

WHERE THE POWER OF GOD LIES

Mark 4v26-28 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.

The seed spoken of in the above parable is the Word of God. The one who sows it is not only the Son of God, but his servants (for God sows into peoples' live through using us as His servants). When we as Christians put forth the Word of God, the Lord and the Spirit go about to make that seed fruitful; both to grow it and make life come from it. This seed does not consist of certain parts of the Word, but of any and all parts of it; for it is all Spirit, and all life, for it is all of Jesus:

John 1v1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

We as Christians can often mistake where the power of God comes from. The scripture from Mark, at the top of this post, shows that the power of God does not come from our powers of persuasion, and it doesn't come from what we believe is good about God. The power of God lies in neither of those things, for it is its own power, which does not originate in us. We often do not understand this, and do not understand the fact that we will not understand how this seed sprouts and grows, because it is He who does both these workings (Mark 4v27).

When we evangelise, our task is to share the gospel of God and also to share anything and everything the Word teaches us. That is the power of the seed, for the seed reveals all the characteristics of God and of our Lord Jesus, and all these things are good. The power of God does not lie in our ability to share the gospel and the Word, or in any parable we may make up, for parables test whether men are being moved by the Spirit of God, or by natural means (means related only to feelings and to the feeding of the flesh i.e when many deserted Jesus due to Him not providing physical bread for them anymore). This is clear from the fact that, straight after Jesus shared the parable in Mark 4 v26-29 and then another parable in the same Chapter from v30-32, He then explained the parable He had spoken to the disciples:

Mark 4v33-34:
With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when He was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Parables actually came as a test for the unsaved; for in their natural understanding, people would have thought Christ was actually talking about a literal seed. But, if they were truly being moved by the Spirit of God, then they would have realised that the seed was speaking about the Word, and the Kingdom of God in spiritual terms, not a literal Kingdom for the present time. Jesus showed the disciples that the power of God lay in the Spirit, not in the flesh and in human ways of understanding or in powers of persuasion. Contrary to popular opinion, Jesus didn't use parables to make the Word easier for the unsaved to understand. And that is where the Church has run in to much trouble, for we have often diluted the Word of God in only giving likenesses to the Kingdom, which actually giving the truth as it really is, and in full. When this happens preaching and evangelism becomes a useless, fleshly thing.

The only way Christians will ever know if they are having an effect on this world, and are seeing true conversions, will be to preach the Gospel and the Word as it truly is- not by compromise or by half measure, but by any and every part of the Bible. The test must be given by showing the truth as it is, and not fearing that we may lose because of it, for that is not trusting God, but trusting in ourselves and in our own strength, and showing that, at least in part, we have selfish motives for preaching and evangelising. That is a preaching out of fear and the flesh, and there will come bad fruit from it.

Jesus taught us that the power of God lies in the Spirit and in His work to grow the seed and to make it fruitful. We will often not understand how this works, for the world says that it will only love God if God has something good for them, according to their understanding of what good is. The world says that they will love God if He suits their desires and does what they want Him to do. But that is contrary to truth, for God is the only God there is, and we are only His creation. We must serve Him and we must follow and obey Him, not the other way around. We serve His desires and His truth, and not our own desires and understanding. Whereas the Word often offers up hard truths and things difficult for us to understand and accept. The Word says that those that follow Jesus will have to suffer and will face many hardships. The Word says that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross, and it says that in this world we will have tribulation.

We must trust that God knows what is best for people and the unsaved, whereas we don't. If we do this, and preach the Word and Christ as He truly is, then we will be sure to see the power of God. God will take care of us, and He will also take care of those that rightly respond to that preaching. He will take care of His work and grow it and make it fruitful in a way that passes our understanding. God will build His Church, and the gates of Hell, and all powers of men will not prevail to hinder this, or to destroy it in any way.

PROPHECY COMING TO PASS & WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE

On my blog last year I posted a dream that showed that America was secretly preparing itself for a possibly imminent war. In the dream I saw a large white van (that appeared in such a way as to show that this was being done in secret) and a large collection of missiles, both large and small (although even the smaller ones looked formidable) that were about to be loaded onto it. I knew that they were about to be taken to a military base. In the dream I felt as though America was readying itself for a possible war that could take place. War SEEMED imminent. When I woke from the dream the song 'Radioactive' went through my head and the lyrics 'Welcome to the new age, to the new age' (the other lyrics to that song are quite interesting too if you do a quick google search). The imagery and link between the dream and the song should be quite self-explanatory.

The point being is that what looked extremely unlikely a year ago, now is a possibility and it is highly likely that it has already been fulfilled. America is, or already has, prepared itself for what may eventuate in Russia's part of the world. If one of the NATO countries is attacked by Russia, under the NATO Treaty and as a signatory to it, America is obligated to defend its Allies, and so to go to war against Russia. Putin has reminded and warned the world that Russia is a nuclear power and to not mess with it. Dark storm clouds are rolling in, and the day of the storm draws closer. On more than a few occasions in the past I've written about this and tried to warn people that a storm is coming. Jesus is in control, and He is sovereign! He will protect His people.

Below is the post I posted on my blog last year. Praise the Lord that He knows the future and He is in control of what happens next.



'Monday, 5 August 2013

DREAM: AMERICA READIES ITSELF FOR POSSIBLE WAR


1 Cor 12v7: But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all...

Acts 2:17: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams...

On the 20th of last month I had a dream. I dreamt I was in America and saw many missiles being loaded onto what I just knew was a military truck (one that tried to disguise itself as such). Some of the missiles were extremely large, and even the smaller ones still looked pretty formidable. I instinctively knew that these missiles were being taken to a US military base in readiness for what felt like a possible imminent war. It felt as though an enemy was threatening the US, and the US was taking it very seriously indeed, so seriously that they were arming themselves in readiness for what could take place. Another person came onto the scene and said something to the effect of even though war seemed imminent, that Christ never instructs man to go to war, but desires that men treat each other with love and kindness.

I think the interpretation of this dream is pretty straight forward. Although we 'know in part,' and 'see in part.' I don't pretend to know exactly what it means, but from my perspective, and definitely not a 'thus saith the Lord,' I think it means that it is very likely that the US will be on the BRINK of a POSSIBLE war/battle sometime in the future. The key words though I think are POSSIBLE WAR/BATTLE. It seems as though an enemy will threaten the US, and the US will take it very seriously indeed, so seriously that they will ready their armoury just in case they need to fight. I think it is also very POSSIBLE that the US may actually have to go to war with an adversary. There was an indication in the dream (something I haven't mentioned), that MAY speak about the US being successful in the battle/war (if they end up fighting/going to war), but that is only me interpreting something, and I could have got that wrong.

So why share this? One, the Lord gives dreams of the future for a reason, mainly, to strengthen and encourage our walk with Him in the present by warning, encouraging, instructing and directing. Jesus said to watch, and so we need to be obedient to watch for the signs of our times- Matt 16v2 He replied, "You know the saying, 'Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow, 3 red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.' You are good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but you can't read the obvious signs of the times! When we watch, we show the Lord that we are being attentive to what He is doing in the earth, and then we can respond accordingly, in our lives and in our testimony for Him, and be most effective for Him in His service. If the disciples had never read the prophecy within the Old Testament, they would've never recognised the Saviour when He came, and if we never understand the prophecy of the Word, and the prophecy given by the Spirit, we'll never recognise His hand in world events, and not be able to guard our spiritual lives in the way we should. The Word says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, so if we are interested in being a testimony for Him, we'll be interested in prophetic things. Such things are for our good, and were given for a purpose, He desires that we should benefit by them!

God bless!'



Below is a part of another dream I had a few years ago, and that is yet to come to pass concerning America and Russia:


'Then we were all watching the news and something major had happened that they were covering on the news. We were all watching, and Russia apparently had just ‘acted against’/ attacked the US. Then one of the people said we were going down stairs now because CNN was just about to do a major broadcast/ news report on what was happening.'

At first I hadn’t being paying that much attention to the news, but then I realised that we were all watching a current report of what had just started between Russia and the US, Russia being the ones to start it (it seemed like preliminary actions had just begun, as the CNN report was just about to come out).'

THE SILENT TRAGEDY

What a tragedy it is that, even though so many of us are rich in the Word of God and in knowing Christ, that so few share what w'eve been given to help benefit and refresh others. So often our first concern is, "How will this benefit us?" instead of focusing on the fact that even the smallest morsel of spiritual truth can nourish our brothers and sisters in Christ in extremely valuable ways:

Mark 7v28: 'She replied, "That's true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children's plates."

Christ gives the truth as a living seed, and as such he requires the sower to scatter that seed in order to give it a chance to fall on the soil of open hearts, and then grow from there thanks to the Holy Spirit. He also gives the truth as light, and as such He requires that we shine forth that truth by crying out and speaking publicly those words He's given us:

Prov 1v20 'Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. 21 At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks…'

Matt 10v27 What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.

Is 45v19: 'I have not spoken in secret…'

If we reject this, we really just consult with human reasonings as to why we should wait to reveal and speak about the truth. The truth is always healthy and beneficial for people, because it is the Holy Spirit that we are sharing with others. We have all been given many talents because we have been given His Word, and to hide this is an awful thing, and it is to be disobedient to the Lord and to His will for us.

However, as we follow His will for us here, by faithful serving others by feeding the His Word, He makes sure to feed us richly ourselves as well:

John 4v31Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

WISDOM CRIES OUT (Matthew Henry Commentary)

Prov 1v20 'Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. 21 At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks…'

Matt 10v27 What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.

Is 45v19: 'I have not spoken in secret…'

MATTHEW HENRY COMMENTARY (on Prov 1v20):

'He calls himself Wisdom, Lu. 7:35 .II. How he calls to us, and in what manner. 1. Very publicly, that whosoever hath ears to hear may hear, since all are welcome to take the benefit of what is said and all are concerned to heed it. The rules of wisdom are published without in the streets, not in the schools only, or in the palaces of princes, but in the chief places of concourse, among the common people that pass and repass in the opening of the gates and in the city. It is comfortable casting the net of the gospel where there is a multitude of fish, in hopes that then some will be enclosed. This was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, who taught openly in the temple, in crowds of people, and in secret said nothing (Jn. 18:20 ), and charged his ministers to proclaim his gospel on the housetop, Mt. 10:27 . God says (Isa. 45:19 ), I have not spoken in secret. There is no speech or language where Wisdom’s voice is not heard. Truth seeks not corners, nor is virtue ashamed of itself. 2. Very pathetically; she cries, and again she cries, as one in earnest. Jesus stood and cried. She utters her voice, she utters her words with all possible clearness and affection. God is desirous to be heard and heeded.'

SHINING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY OF OUR WORLD

Acts 17v16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 Then[a] certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”

Acts 17v19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

One way the enemy loves to try and desensitise Christians to the truth, and to curb their desire to continue to grow in it, is to flood the society where we live with as many ideas, ideologies and perspectives on life and living as he possibly can. If the enemy can cause an avalanche of these things to continually rain down on Christians, he can wear us down and cause us to put up a shield, not only to the world's ways, but also to Christian ways and Christian truths, because we simply are tired and scared of learning the wrong thing.

This is also how the enemy can silence Christians, as they no longer think that shining the 'light' of truth is important or beneficial in any way. Whereas Christ said to shine our light on a hill, we hide it in a bushel and become ineffective with the talents He's given us. The Christian has been given many hills in today's society; these come in many forms, including the hills (opportunities and platforms) we get in our work places, in times with our friends and families, and yes, even Facebook. Shining the truth is always beneficial, because we are, in effect, sharing the Holy Spirit with others, for '...the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.' (Heb 4v12). We have been given so much, and yet to not share it is to not believe in its power, and to not believe in the purpose it has because of the one who first gave it:

Is 55v10: 'As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.'

The enemy also wants to set up as many hills and as much communication as he can to try and block and frustrate the communication of the Lord. And he has done all he can to make this happen through nearly every form of technology and media and voices that our world has and speaks with today. However, the simple fact is that, when the Word is shared, the Lord's purpose for that word will not be frustrated, but it will always be effectual, whether we see it or not. That is why, not only is this walk a walk of faith, but also actions that come from that walk are faith based. That is why it is always an act of faith to share the Word, for you will not often see its effect, but you must still believe it has one. If our sharing of the truth is done only according to the effect that we see it has, we'll rarely share it, because the truth often comes to people as a seed, which is obviously something so small and seemingly insignificant. But like Jesus said, even though that seed may be so small, and even though it may be hidden, when the Lord grows it and makes it fruitful, it will end up being the biggest tree in the garden of men's hearts and lives. Never underestimate the effect truth has, and never become discouraged at our lack of ability to make anything happen in the natural. God wanted to teach Paul that in himself, he was weak and only a vessel, and so it is with us. Though, from what we know, it is likely that Paul was martyred by wicked men, God has shown us since then what the result of Paul's shining forth of the truth was, and no doubt the full extent of it will not be known till we all as Christians reach Heaven one day.

Our society is now an information super-highway, and it looks so busy and seems so much larger than life, and yet, in reality, people are starving for Words of life that nourish and give life, and only Jesus has those Words. And we, as His people, have been entrusted with them, not so that we can hoard them away and hide them, but that so we can be generous with what we've been given. As we have been freely given the truth, so must we freely give that truth, without shame or thought for ourselves, for the light of life is not just for us, but for all men. Shine your light on a hill! Let people know the truth, and shine the light of the Word for your fellow Christians so that we can continue to learn and grow in it! We all need each other in this, we all need each other to share, for Christ made us a body for a reason, and this is one of the main reasons for it.

Like

FREEDOM IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER

 Often as Christians we love grace and go on and on about how God isn't good to us (or our relationship to Him doesn't change) based off what we give him and how much time we spend with Him (He loves us freely), and then we are still people who hold strict accounts with our friends. Whereas He loves us freely and unconditionally, we sometimes act with others as if they're in our debt and they must work in order earn our love or maintain it. While giving of ourselves to others in friendship is important, we are all imperfect friends, and cannot have friendship with others based off of whether they are seeing us or imputing to us as much as we'd want, because then the friendship isn't one of grace, love and freedom, but one of debt, burden and guilt. 

Jesus has given us a good example of how to relate to each other in family and friendship and it is based off of grace, love and freedom, so we should be inspired to mirror the same thing, otherwise we'll always be disappointed with others (and get frustrated and angry) and relate to them out of manipulation for what we want. This is no way to relate to others. We should let God be sovereign in friendships and family (let Him make the connections He sees as good and beneficial, and also allow Him to close doors that aren't), and be free with each other, realising our own shortcomings, and in that way we'll guard against being hurt, and let His love be that which sustains us, and blesses others. 

Sometimes God establishes strong connections with others in our lives, and at other times ones that aren't so strong. Sometimes there are seasons for certain friends, and sometimes those seasons come around again or never happen again, but each have their purpose and place, and times. What is great though is that no matter what happens, each Christian friendship, no matter how it is experienced in this life, will be reunited one day in heaven and so is not experienced in vain! The Bible tells us that all else in this life will fade, but love never fails! Love doesn't pass away, so He will ensure that all relationships to do with friendship and family last in the way that He sees as good! An encouraging thought!

COMPLETELY FORGIVEN, ONCE AND FOR ALL

One of, it not my favourite chapter in scripture is found in Hebrews 10. This scripture is the single greatest comfort for the Christian and it is found in the fact that all our sins have been forgiven, once and for all. In the cross of Christ, not only were our past sins forgiven, but also our present and all our future sins as well. There is nothing now left for the Christian to be forgiven. While we may at times need to turn from a willing practice of sin, and while we still may feel regret and sorrow at what we have done (as we are human and the Spirit within us can still be grieved), this being called 'repentance' in the Word, we never again need to have our sins forgiven by Christ.

If you doubt this, think this way. If we still need our sins to be forgiven, at what point do we ask for forgiveness? We would have to ask for forgiveness, not only at the smallest act of sin, but continually ask for forgiveness because WE ARE SINNERS (our actual state is sinful, not just the acts we perform). After all, we all still have a sin nature and the fallen nature with us (the flesh), even though we are to consider ourselves dead to sin (the flesh) and alive to Christ. If, at the smallest act of sin, our relationship with Christ was damaged, then we would have to live in a constant state of having to ask for forgiveness in order to maintain our relationship and closeness with Christ. This would make us live in a constant state of fear and this would give us a constant burden. This is completely against what the book of Galatians tells us about our salvation, as the writer tells us that it is by faith alone that we have been saved and even that faith is a gift of God:

Gal 3v15:

We who are Jews by both and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.'

v17: "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!

For further proof of this truth, lets look at Hebrews 10. In this chapter, the writer compares the sacrifices of the Old Testament, to the New Testament Covenant, to see the difference in our relationship with God. The writer reveals that no matter how many sacrifices were made, the worshippers in the Old Testament that gave them could never be made perfect, once and for all, so they had to keep on giving them:

Heb 10v1-3 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

Notice that the writer here says that if the sacrifices that had been given could have made the offerer PERFECT, they would have stopped being given. But because they weren't made perfect and because they weren't PURIFIED ONCE AND FOR ALL, they had to keep being given. As such, they were REMINDED of their sins each year. But notice one of the most crucial aspects of this passage is found at the end of it. The writer says that if the sacrifices they had made purified them once and for all, THEY WOULD NO LONGER HAVE BEEN CONSCIOUS OF THEIR SINS. This is crucial. While we still can recognise sin and when we sin at times, we should never, from that, believe that we need to be purified from those sins again. In Christ, THEY HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, ONCE AND FOR ALL:

Heb 10v10: 'And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'

It is extremely clear what the writer is saying here. We have BEEN MADE HOLY (past tense), and this is ONCE AND FOR ALL (for all time and for all of our lives). So because this has already happened, and we have already been forgiven, we do not need to be forgiven again. The Old Testament sacrifices had to be made again and again, but Christ doesn't need to be offered again and again; once was enough. And verse 14 reinforces this again. One offering has perfected us (made us completely Holy in His sight through Christ), and has sanctified us (past tense). There is no more perfecting that needs to be done in our salvation, it has been completed. Yes, our practical reflection of that life that has been placed in us may change from time to time, but that doesn't alter our salvation in any way.

This new covenant means that Christ will no longer remember or hold our sins against us:

Heb 10v16: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.' '…"Their sins and their lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.'

If we have accepted Christ and accepted the gift of faith, and received the one sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, then all our sins, for our whole life, have been forgiven at that one point in time. That one sacrifice was enough, and all our sins were placed on Him, punished, and then forgiven.

This is the greatness of the sacrifice Jesus made for us! How great is His love for us and how great is His name! Thank you Jesus!

WHEN WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

Matt 16v22: 'From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save their lifef will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?'

This shall never happen to you!" (Matt 16v22). Those very words were spoken by Peter to the Lord Jesus when the Lord told him that he must suffer many things and be killed. While, no doubt, Peter had good intentions in mind, the Lord didn't empathise with these, He didn't congratulate Peter for them or even recognise these intentions, rather he rebuked Peter sharply (v23). He even went so far as to let Peter know that in that instance, he was in fact doing exactly what the enemy wanted him to do, in trying to stop the will of God for Jesus' life (and essentially what God wanted to provide for His people in the long run in Salvation). Peter had short-term concerns in mind, that being the physical well-being of the Lord, while the Lord had long-term considerations in mind, that being the Salvation that the Father was wanting to provide through the sacrifice of His Son. Our concerns are often the same; we want a happy life now and to live in comfort and security every day, while the Lord is more concerned with our eternal destination and our eternal joy and life, and those things for others that we come in contact with. Our concern is to want a blessed Kingdom now (just like the disciples wanted), while the Lord's concern is a blessed Kingdom to come (Luke 9v58).

With the best intentions, we can often be as damaging to ourselves and to others as Peter was. We too can reason with ourselves that we should not have gone through the trials that we have, or that we should not go through the ones we are going through now. We too, can say the same for others, reasoning with ourselves that it is out of love that we are doing this! Notice how wrong we are to do that! If we do that, we in fact align ourselves with what the enemy desires, for the enemy would gladly preserve our flesh and our feelings if it means that he can corrupt our walk with God and attack our souls! We are often far too quick to want to live a happy life and one that is merely focused on 'human concerns' (v23), when God desires that we live a life after the path that His Son has trodden and one that follows after His Spirit. We are far too quick to want to live a life that is happy, rather than Godly. Notice what our Lord says about the path of life:

Matt 7v13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Luke 9v23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

As soon as trouble comes, we are apt to think that it's just the devil, the world, a certain man who brings it or a certain sin, and we rebuke the trial and the trouble without giving it a second thought. Did the enemy attack Christ through the elders and chief priests at the cross? Of course he did! Did that mean that Christ should've rebuked the way His Father was leading Him? Of course not! Were evil men attacking God's chosen when they attacked Jesus? Of course they were! Was it sin and the ways of the world that motivated men to crucify Christ? Of course it was! But did that mean that Christ should've avoided the cross? All of us would've been doomed if He had of! We prove ourselves extremely childish and even evil in our spiritual thinking if we believe that we should avoid every trial in this life, particularly the most difficult ones. God has His way in the whirlwind and the storm, and even amongst evil men in order to bring about acts of grace and judgment. Hardly any of the disciples of Jesus understood exactly what the Father was doing with Jesus when He went to the cross, but this didn't mean that the Father wasn't sovereign over it, and that He didn't have a plan for it. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts not our thoughts! We must be careful not to dismiss the ways and acts of God that we don't understand, for we may inadvertently find ourselves coming against the will of God and we may find that Jesus rebukes us for it.

And so, just unlike what Peter did to Jesus, we must be careful not to censure or stand opposed to what the Lord may allow or do to His own people for His good reasons. Job thought he was justified in saying that what happened to him was wrong, and as extreme as his trials were, he repented in dust and ashes when He saw the Lord and heard His voice:

Job 42:

1Then Job replied to the Lord:

2“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes."

The Lord never told Job why He had allowed Satan and even His own hand to do against Job what He desired (Job 2v4-6), but that wasn't for Job to know (not while on the earth anyway). It was for Job just to trust that in all things, God is God, and we must trust Him and trust to His ways no matter what. That doesn't mean that we can't pray for certain things, but we must do so with an open heart, being willing to be led by the Spirit in all things and we must always, at the end of all our requests, leave our desires at the feet of His sovereignty. We mustn't presume to know what is best for ourselves or others, but in all things we must entrust ourselves to His way, no matter if that way is understandable to our human reasoning or not. For He has His own and our best concerns in mind; the only kind of concerns that are truly important.

TRUTHS FOR EVERY SEASON: PART 1

Sometimes it seems that only certain truths in God's Word are important for our lives. This is until God starts to do things that we don't understand and that we don't have a scriptural understanding for. In the Word, in a season of discipleship, miracles and the tangible presence of the Lord (because Jesus was with the disciples), what the disciples learnt and truly accepted of the Word got them through this time of blessedness. However, as soon as the cross came, and something they didn't get at all, being the judgment that was poured out on the Saviour, the disciples fled from Christ. After all, you can imagine them thinking; 'Why is the Son of Man being judged?' 'Why does the Son of Man have to be killed?' Why does He have to die?' 'Why does it seem as though wicked men are conquering His Church and His people?' 'Why are we suddenly in danger from this world when we thought Christ was our Good Shepherd and our Saviour?' These doubts and fears would've all come about because while the disciples had an understanding of certain truths of blessing, they didn't properly understand the harder truths that Christ had told them, and really it seemed that they didn't want to understand them (the irony being that if they had learnt them and accepted them, they would've been a source of great comfort to them).

This not-understanding, shying away from harder truths and truths that spoke of judgement and suffering to come, in the end backfired for the disciples, and they ended up fleeing the one they loved (or at least loved in part from the evidence of their fleeing Him). They loved to hear of truths and do things that revealed exciting things and things that fed them: they loved the feeding of the five thousand, they loved attempting to perform miracles, they loved talk of the Kingdom to come and to discuss their places in heaven next to Jesus, but when it came to all things cross related, suddenly their ears became dull, their hearts troubled and their ears became hard of hearing. They shied away from things hard to understand, and unfortunately it cost them and even cost the Lord in one sense; He having all his friends, except for John and two family members, leave Him alone.

Sometimes, because of the season we are going through, we tend to, even sometimes whether we know it or not, only come to learn certain parts of the Word or certain things about Jesus because that's all that we see as being relevant for us in what we are going through or what is happening around us at that point in our lives. We fall into the same trap that most of the disciples did. However, hard times will come, and times when God will judge the world and His People (for discipline: 1 Pet 4v12-18) and then on what secure a footing will we be scripturally? Will our faith be guarded by the kind of truth that is necessary for our spiritual house to remain secure? If we are open to, and actually go about learning the truths necessary for such things then yes, but if not, then we will find ourselves in a similar predicament that many of the disciples found themselves in. But if, like Noah, we are faithful to build our ark the right way; in the way that God intended by every truth for every season (the whole Word of God), then our boat of faith will float through the days that lie ahead.

GLOBAL TERRORISM ON ITS WAY

For a while now the Lord has put on my heart to pray and ask Him for the events that are going to take place in the future. So I've done this for a few years now and from time to time, the Lord has given me dreams or visions. Prophecy is to encourage the body of Christ, and the Lord gives His people information about the future so that when the things He reveals takes place, we might be strengthened in our faith, rather than weakened: 

John 13v19: “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.

The weakness of our flesh is apt to cry out when bad things happen; 'Where is God in all of this?' But in fact the Lord is sovereign over everything, and He graciously reminds us of this through prophecy.

In 2013 I had two dreams from the Lord (both dreams are included at the end of this article) which revealed that terrorist attacks are coming, and one of the dreams seemed to indicate that they won't just be confined to one area of the globe, but that they will take place both near and far. The two dreams seemed also to indicate that they will be like the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and also smaller in nature. Not only this, but I also had a dream of a terrorist attack against Hillsong in Australia as well.

Not long after the first dream, the Boston marathon bombing took place. In more recent times, it seems possible at least that the Malaysian Airliner could have been taken down by terrorism as well. Not only that, but we have now, just in the last few weeks, seen the following:

'An offshoot of al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, has declared the territory it has seized in Iraq and Syria a "caliphate," or Islamic state, and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph or leader for Muslims.'
(http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-terror-group-declares-caliphate-in-iraq-syria-nails-9-men-to-cross-for-rebellion-122474/)

So what seemed, at least before the Boston Bombings (which happened about 12 years after the 9/11 attacks), to be extremely unlikely in the natural, now seems quite plausible, and not far-fetched at all. But for the grace of God, more terrorist attacks will take place. This should not surprise us, as there will always be evil and evil men in the world and there will be times when darkness seems to reign, even if just for an hour. This kind of prophecy should not surprise us either, as even Jesus Himself spoke about extremely hard times to come when he spoke of the end times, even going so far as to say that if such a time were not cut short, no flesh would survive. He also spoke of wars and rumours of wars, and of Kingdom rising against Kingdom and nation against nation.

These things in and of themselves are obviously terrible and the death of anyone is tragic. Jesus came to save men's lives, not to destroy them! But all these things He is sovereign over, and He keeps His peoples' lives safe in His hands. Be mindful of His voice, and be mindful of these things in prayer, for this is what Jesus called us to do when He called us to 'watch'. And to be people who read the signs of the times.

THE 2 DREAMS I HAD IN 2013

(and that I put on Facebook or my blog that year):

1ST DREAM
(14/3/13)

It was an extremely vivid dream, so vivid that in the dream it felt like I was actually there and completely saw and felt everything that happened:

In the dream I was looking at two buildings that were high rise buildings, but a lot smaller than the twin towers (tall high rise buildings, but not gigantic). Then I looked and saw one airliner crash into one of the buildings and a massive explosion of flames, fire and smoke take place (just like on 9/11). As soon as I saw the plane coming it was like I knew exactly what was going to happen (like it had already happened before and was happening exactly the same way again). Someone else was with me at the time too. It was then that another plane hit the other tower in the exact same way (the same as 9/11 too), and another great explosion erupted.

Then I was somewhere else on the ground floor of another building. I was telling the people that they had to leave, that the upper levels were going to come down and crush them, but no one believed me. I implored them to leave but no one did, so I gave up trying and fled myself. It was then that one of the big towers collapsed and produced a gigantic and awe-inspiring mass of flames that came straight towards me. The flames completely destroyed the building I had been looking at, and didn’t affect me only because I hid behind something that acted as a shield big enough to protect my body. I felt the heat of the flames, but wasn’t burnt at all.

_________

2ND DREAM:

I dreamt that, from a distance, I saw a plane fly behind another building that was in front of it, and hit a building behind it. I just knew it had hit a building because dark smoke rose from where it must’ve hit. Then, from where I was looking, I looked up, and I was under a building that, low and behold, looked like it had been hit with a terrorist attack itself (the building looked like a bomb had exploded from within it and utterly decimated it; all that was left was a shell of a building, a building that only had its frame left, and even the paint had been severely damaged and was torn up).

(written on 5/8/13)

TERRORIST ACT COMING AGAINST HILLSONG

(I had this dream on the afternoon of the 17th March 2008)

Please be prayerful about this and about any future trips to Hillsong. Please pray for Hillsong and God's people! My prayer is obviously that this will never take place.

Dream:

I dreamt I had just been told by someone that a terrorist act had been committed against Hillsong. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I thought it was a joke (I was really incredulous). I just couldn’t believe it, but it was true and I was handed a newspaper article. I was handed a newspaper article, and I was able to look ‘behind’ the current headlines, and look into the future news story of Hillsong being the victim of terrorism.

'WHAT NEXT?' OR 'WHERE NEXT?' THAT IS THE QUESTION

In our life's journey, we often ask ourselves the question, "What's next?" instead of the question we should be asking ourselves, which is, "Where next?" Unless we go and spend time with the Lord, in His presence and immersed in His Word and an attitude of worship, we'll never know what to do next, for it is very likely that we'll be following our own desire instead of the Lord's voice. If we follow ourselves, we'll never really know where we're going and we'll always wonder why we don't feel the Lord is leading us. Furthermore, it is likely that we'll never really be in the primary place the Lord desires for us because it simply wouldn't work if He was to lead us to that place. After all, if the Lord wanted to use us specifically to be His hands and feet for a particular task, and yet we don't, as the Word puts it 'cleanse ourselves' to be a vessel of honour, instead of dishonour, then we would simply bear bad fruit for others and for His purpose if we were in this state and involved in that task because we would be following the flesh instead of the Spirit (knowing that only death comes from the flesh). Similarly, if we aren't close the Lord, it's likely our heart isn't really full of love for Him or the things of Christ, and so if Jesus was to lead us in our lives to certain things He loves, we wouldn't want to be there anyway, which would suck the life out of whatever the Lord was meaning to give us through those things. The disciples weren't forced to follow Christ, and neither are we. At any stage we may start to wander off, though the Lord's Spirit will search us out and find us to draw us back to the fullness of Christ. However, we may foolishly waste time in the meantime, and frustrate ourselves with the fruit of emptiness and hopelessness; the very fruit we thought would bring us life (just as Adam and Eve believed and were thus deceived). Jesus is wanting us to ask ourselves 'Where next?' instead of 'What's next?' because of the danger of 'What's next?' is that we will likely be the ones to try and take control of our lives, instead of letting Christ drive and lead us. But when we ask ourselves 'Where next?' we'll go to Christ, and so our hearts will stirred and lit on fire for a love for Jesus, and that will mean that wherever we are led next, we will fulfil what the Lord intended for us to do from that place, and thus also be fed and satisfied in the way that Christ intended. To know Him as our life, is to know the life He intended for us, which is the only true life. 

The reason that God will always point us back to the question of 'Where next?' is because He is always wanting us to feel contented and fulfilled in Him, not in anything else, including just His gifts. He is the way, the truth and the life, and so in order for us to know the 'way' for any moment in our lives, we must know the truth of the fact that knowing Him is our life: 'When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.' -Col 3v4. 'I want to know Christ...' -Phil 3v10. When we content ourselves with experiencing Jesus Christ, then we, just like the Apostle Paul, will find that we will have life in any situation. Then, in this contentedness and experiencing of Christ, Jesus will place us and lead us wherever His Spirit is wanting us to go. This will include times of family and friendship, of ministry or journeying, mountain top experiences, valley experiences, and times of feeding and conversely, hunger, and also activity and non-activity, but in everything Christ will be there right with us, continuing to be our life. Our confidence therefore won't be in where we'll be next, what we'll be next and what we'll be given next or encounter next, but it will be in our unchanging Lord, who we know walks on water as well as He walks on land. With Christ as our Lord, He has shown us that He has enabled us to do the same thing in this life, and so it shall be as we continue to stick close to Him. Christ is our life, and will lead us on the paths of life. And if Christ is truly our life, we'll love wherever He takes us next.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

2 Kings 2v

9When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

10“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

11As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

13Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

When Elisha picked up Elijah's cloak, it was more than the accepting of a calling. Really, the calling had been well before that, when Elijah came to him and called him because of God's direction. When Elisha picked up the cloak of Elijah, he accepted something more important than his call, and that was the acceptance of a life lived close to hearing the voice of the Lord (for from the hearing of His voice, the call became a reality and effectual). That is the reason Elijah, when he heard Elisha's request for a 'double portion' of his spirit, said, 'You've asked a difficult thing'. Hearing the voice of the Lord isn't easy; it is revelation both sweet and bitter, as it is sweet to the spirit but often bitter to the flesh, and always involves the need to follow after Christ wherever He goes (and that is always to death first, then to life- first the cross, then the resurrection life- first the dying to self, then the living because of, and for, God):

'I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.' -Rev 10v10

The following after the Lord in the closest sense upon this earth, is the most rewarding, yet most difficult of things. It necessitates a leaving behind of the world, just as Elisha followed Elijah and was often a sojourner; not having just one residence or just one destination. Elisha and Elijah did not identify in any strong sense with the culture of the world or what it loved, and this made them strangers to both it and even to much of Israel at the time. This would've often meant that, because they were obviously human, they would've felt out of place, disconnected and often strange because of how others saw them. The opinions of others and even 'Christians' would've often been heaped against them and they would've been excluded from most people because of the word they brought because of what they heard from the Lord. The word of the Lord is described in the Bible as a fire, and so there wouldn't have been many that could've abided or even liked to be around such men because it would've cost them too much and made them feel too uncomfortable. One of the first reactions Elisha encountered in his ministry was a group of youths who taunted him. They were obviously people who had made up their minds about Elisha and what he did. This was not taken lightly by the Lord or by Elisha (the youths were attacked and killed by bears), and neither should it by us. Woe to those who make light of and joke about the things of God, His way, and those that love those things! (they make themselves enemies of God!). You could just imagine how popular Elisha was after this, and what people would've said about him, but this was irrelevant to Elisha, he loved God, His Word and both His mercy and His justice.

Being close to the voice of the Lord means being close to hearing God speaking things both encouraging and things of warning. Hearing His voice is to hear Him speak love and grace, and also of future redemption and wrath for those that reject His sacrifice, and of just things. Elijah, Elisha and all of those of His people who wish to know Him, in the truest sense (in obedience, passion, life and sacrifice), will know what it means to walk the road Elijah and Elisha took. Yes, this is a road of purpose, power, life and passion, but make no mistake about it, it is often a lonely road, one of denial and discomfort, and one in which you are made to feel strange and the stranger, not only amongst the world, but amongst those that are Christians in only some senses or the base sense of the word. Such Christians are those that follow at a distance and often try to live in two camps:

Matt 26v58: But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

And many do just this so that they can not only enjoy Christ but enjoy as much of the world and those of the world, as possible. These are the ones who reject the road less travelled, and do so to their own injury; both to their lives and hearts, even as Peter broke his own heart by rejecting and denying Christ because of this following from a distance. People such as this 'watch to see the outcome' (v58) of Christlike lives (to see if they too want to follow whole-heartedly), but in the meantime become so much less fruitful and lukewarm because of this life which is more of a watching and waiting than a living in truth (much of their grace that is received is done so in vain). Furthermore, they watch and follow at distance because it means that they won't have to suffer as much as those that follow Christ closely. This was just like Peter, who hoped to not be caught by the Pharisees (at the time just before Christ's death) and so hoped to avoid sharing in Christ's fate and sufferings. At the same time he aligned himself with the world, and he put himself in gave danger spiritually However, thanks be to Jesus who interceded for Peter and saved Peter from himself! We are all called to take this road less travelled, because it is not a road set aside just for those called to a particular service, but for all those called to follow Christ.

Elisha chose the road less travelled, and that meant that there weren't many that travelled with him. Likewise, if we too, take this road and truly follow Christ and His will, that will be something we suffer as well, but it will be well worth it in the end. One thing that can certainly be guaranteed for those that may be lonely and rejected (whether in a great or subtle sense) in this life because of taking this road of being close to the voice of the Lord and His will, is that we will not feel the same way when we reach our true home:

2 Peter 1v10Therefore, my brothers and sisters,a make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The often rejected and mistreated Elijah, a man who was made to be a stranger and treated as strange by much of the family of God (or those that claimed to be His family!), and who even was driven from the people of God altogether by the wicked Jezebel, was also a man who was given the greatest entrance to heaven any man ever received, being taken up to Heaven in a flame of fire and by the chariots and horsemen of Israel! This man, once so rejected and estranged from men and from God's people, was acknowledged and owned by God in the greatest way possible when he left this earth. By this, God showed humanity those men He loved and desired to honour, and also showed what He especially loved about His redeemed people . In honouring Elijah like this, God highlighted where His own heart lay. God is looking for a people who want to hear His voice, for this means they have a heart to follow Him and the road less travelled. God is looking for men who take pride in being separated from the heart and passions of the world. Not that God is wanting His people to not be in the world or be useful to the world (in our work and our service), but that He wants them to be lights to change the world. God wants a different people and a people who are willing to be different and to accept the cost that comes with walking such a road.

Elisha picked up the cloak of Elijah and so showed God that he desired the same road Elijah took (a road after and for God, in every sense of what that entailed). The question is, do we? Or are we content to live close to the heart of Baal and the heart of a lukewarm Christian family? This is a hard question to ask ourselves and if we desire to walk closely with the Lord, we desire and ask for a hard thing! In the end, Elisha made an incredible impact in the world for God, and yet most of the Christian nation of the time, didn't. That nation followed Christ from a distance because they weren't truly that comfortable and that in love with being that close to Christ. They also watched from a distance to see whether, in fact, Christ was who He really said He was (remember when Elijah called fire down from heaven to prove to His people who the true God was!). However, even when fire came, their hearts didn't turn. How long does it take our hearts to fully turn to Christ in every sense! The fire of God came upon the sacrifice of Christ Himself and thereby, God proved how pleased He was with a fully surrendered Christ-like life. In the same way, we are called to live that life. It is so very hard! But so very worth it! It is probably safe to say that both Elijah and Elisha knew as much of God, heard as much from Him and saw as much of His power as any Christian has who has walked this earth. The gracious prize for following the road less travelled, the one which Christ walks, is that we might know Him! And that is a prize that when we truly receive it, we'll never want to let it go. That is when, with Paul, we'll be able to say that we count all else as rubbish and all else as loss, that we might know Him!

THE PRACTICAL AND THE IMPRACTICAL

There are times when, like the call of Peter, the Lord calls us out onto stormy waters. Besides everything else that concerns us about doing such a thing, is the often disheartening reality that this isn't for any practical reason. When Peter was called onto the stormy sea, he didn't actually achieve anything for the 'real world' around him (in that moment). There was no ministry opportunity or visible reason why the call he had been given was being given, he was simply wanting to get closer to Jesus and follow Him. However, the lack of a practical reason to walk on stormy waters shouldn't discourage us, as the practical reason will often follow the spiritual one. The spiritual one for Peter, and for us, is that in walking on stormy waters our faith will be tested, proven true, strengthened and grown, as well as our love for the Lord. We'll also be humbled, as we see our own weakness and inability, just as Peter did, and this is just as important as faith and love. All these things are the seeds through which good works come, and if we trust to the process, the often unfruitful one in a practical sense, we'll see the purpose in the end. 

After Peter walked, sunk and was pulled from the waters in more than one sense before the cross, after the cross he found himself in the midst of the first great outpouring of the Spirit and the start of the New Testament Church. From there, God always directed him and made him extremely useful, often in extraordinary ways. This use was both spiritual and practical, as God affected real change in the world and in countless people through his life and service. There was evidently a time of long and great frustration for Peter before this time of release and call, as there will be for us; times of seeming inactivity and failure in our weakness, learning and knowledge; however, such a humble and seemingly useless time is as necessary as the greatly fruitful one. Nothing is wasted with God, and our lives will eventually be the bread for His people that He designs them to be. Whether we see practical results or the ends of His working with us is irrelevant as Jesus isn't always going to tell us what He is preparing and He isn't going to connect the dots for us, for this would hinder the design of his plans with us in the present and undermine His gift and working of faith that He is moulding in us.

WHERE NOW IS THE LORD, THE GOD OF ELIJAH?

2 Kings 2v11: As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

13Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

There are times of loss or change when, like Elisha just after he lost Elijah to heaven, we too must take up the staff of prayer in a very particular way. After his great loss, Elisha cried out, 'Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' (2 Kings 2v14). So we too enter times when we seem to have lost a great partnership with Heaven or a special grace or gift, and need to cry out, 'Where are you now, Lord?' Elisha had once had great friend and mentor, and revelation of Jesus Christ through the great prophet Elijah. Not only this but God, through Elijah, showed Elisha His great and miraculous power and ability to bring about great change in both himself and also His people around him. But there came a time when sovereignty decided both Elijah and all the grace that had benefitted Elisha through him, had to leave. We too at times are blessed with great friends, teachers and times where we see, in a particularly special manner, the power and presence of our Lord. But in like manner, we lose and will lose such times because of sovereign wisdom; God knowing what is best for us and others. Special graces leave us, and we too, like Elisha, are left with rivers to cross without more visible signs of His being with us. However, rather than crumbling, Elisha looked to the future, knowing that the purpose and presence of God would never leave him in the way it mattered most, and so, with eyes of faith and a heart full of determination, he took up the staff of prayer, and believed that he would see God move and make a way in whatever happened next. He believed that God would lead him to the next thing he had for him. In the same way, whatever gifts or graces seem to leave us, and whatever comforts may fall away, God will always be with His people in the way that matters most, despite whatever we lose, and He will lead us on to whatever purpose He has for us next. There is always the purpose and power of God for us (grace sufficient) in whatever stage of life we are in, and His presence is the same yesterday, today and forever. In going on with Him, He will go on with us. He is with us!

THE SOURCE, STANDARD & TEST OF ALL TRUTH

John 7v16-18:

Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.


What we know and teach about Christ should never be what we think He should be or be like, but simply what the Word says about these things. Even Jesus Himself, in the passage above, clearly said that His teaching about truth wasn't according to what He thought it should be (in that human part of Him), but what it was in truth. Jesus says above, 'It comes from him who sent me.' What we say truth is should always have a source, and that source is the Word:

John 1v1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Jesus Himself, in what He spoke and in His example and acts (His life), showed us the light, which is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The rest of the Bible is that same light and same truth, and so that is the Christian's source, standard and test of all that is truth and true. John knew this full well, as the scripture above says that he was a WITNESS to the light, and a WITNESS to the truth, but not the truth himself, nor did he have any light himself apart from that which was given and learnt from Jesus (/the Word).

We, like John, are only witnesses to the light, not the light ourselves. Yes, we have been given the life of Christ, been made children of Christ, and been imputed with Christ's righteousness, so in that sense, we have been made children of the light, but still we have been grafted into the tree of Christ, and so our source of light, and thus truth, is still Him. We become very much mistaken if we begin to believe that we can start making up what Christ is like in order to fulfil our own desires about how we believe our following after Him should be like. Similarly, we cannot make up what we believe we think Christ should do, or how we believe He should work according to what makes good sense to us, or according to how we interpret His work or His words.

Obviously we will never be perfect here, as we are all sinners, and we all see 'through a glass darkly' on this side of eternity. We will not always get truth right. Sometimes we will misinterpret things or believe something that is erroneous, but the important thing is to always have a heart to want to know the truth as it is in the Word of God. If we do our best to know the Word and check what we believe with the Word, and interpret it as best we can, then that is all that God asks of us. Sometimes we will disagree with each other over minor things in the Word, but God does not upbraid us for this, as long as we don't become disagreeable with each other over non-essential truths, for God wants us to be united and at peace with each other. The important thing is to keep humble about the truth we believe according to what we see in the Word.

Similarly, when it comes to witnessing and evangelising, no matter in what manner or what setting, we must be very careful to faithfully teach the whole truth and whole truths about the way, the truth and the life, which is obviously what Jesus described Himself as being. Jesus is not ok with us picking and choosing what we'd like to reveal about Him, He wants us to reveal Him as He truly is. If we pick and choose, we start to do what the scripture says above:

v18 '...He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.'

If we pick and choose in this manner, we start to evangelise because we have things in mind for ourselves and something to gain for ourselves. This also applies for what we think we may lose. We begin to teach and evangelise based on trying to protect our own honour and our own interests, and this is what Jesus warns about in the above scriptures. Jesus says that those that do this have something false about themselves, for they do not preach Christ for the reason they should, but they do it for human interests. Again, if we are human beings, no one has been perfect in this area, and all have sinned here, and so we have need of being reminded, and often so, about how we should go about teaching and preaching about Christ. To block or curtail truth or to only preach half-truths is to make what we are saying un-truth and to make lies. Jesus never did this in order to be honoured by men or to gain something from them, and neither should we. And he especially didn't care for what He would lose amongst men, as He always had honouring His Father as His number 1 priority. All our needs are met by Christ and He secures those things; He is our protector, our shield and help, why should we fear what man can do to us? Why should we fear loss because of man, when God is our portion and our exceedingly great reward? God looks after the sparrows, and how much more will He look after us! God will look after us, but He is not pleased with us if we become cowardly about the truth (Rev 21v8), and this should be our great concern. Far better for men to be displeased with us, than for God to be!

Lastly, in the scripture above (v17), Jesus says that if anyone chooses to do the will of God, they'll find out whether the truth that is being taught them is really true. The reason for this is that they'll find out what the source is; whether it is earthly or heavenly. The difference between the earthly and the heavenly is monumental, for the earthly has no power in it; to change, move or enable us in any sense, while the heavenly is the complete opposite. The heavenly will definitely change and grow us, and will have the power in it to do so. If what we hear is from the Father and from the Son, then we will see that it is pure and that it can be worked out in our lives, and that when it is, it changes not only us, but those we come into contact with as well. The truth is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and so we will see the evidence of this in our lives and through what is worked out in our lives. If there is the fruit, then we have also received the source of truth and truth as it really is. If there is no lasting fruit, then we haven't received the Word correctly or what we have received has much error in it. This doesn't mean we will be perfect, as we will always be sinners on this side of eternity, but it does mean that His grace will be sufficient for us, to keep us following Christ no matter how much we may stumble or fail (Matt 18v21-22). But we always know if we begin to follow our own version of the truth, because we will know that we are following sin and ourselves instead of Christ.

In all our speaking about truth and thus speaking about Jesus, our highest goal and our greatest desire should be to honour Him. The way we do that is to honour the truth of the Word (as scripture says that He is that Word and that light!), and to honour the Word as that highest standard of truth and the blueprint of all that is true. The way we dishonour Christ is to start trusting the thoughts of our heart to be true and the way and thinking of the world to be true, and to start trying to mesh both those things and the Bible together. We, like John, need to be witnesses of the light of the world. We need to point to the light and point back to that as much as we can. When we start making things up, we point to ourselves and to others we believe can be sources of truth (apart from the use of the Word). When we don't know what the Bible says about what we preach and teach, then we are in great danger and so are our listeners. What's more, men will eventually find out that what we've told them isn't true! Not only will that reflect badly on us (and even men may act against us because of it), but what really matters is that it will reflect badly on Christ because of us! Because of us, men will incorrectly blame and walk away from Jesus, and stop following or not even begin to follow His path! The consequences for preaching half-truths and un-truths are therefore monumental! The easy way to guard against this is to teach and preach the Word as it truly is, and so to trust God to protect us and also to bring about what He is intending to through His truth.