Unfolding Mystery

In A Plain Box

2012-01-25T07:18:00.003-05:00

I loved reading this story, I've only included part of it.

On January 25, 1905, at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-carat diamond is discovered during a routine inspection by the mine's superintendent. Weighing 1.33 pounds, and christened the "Cullinan," it was the largest diamond ever found.

Frederick Wells was 18 feet below the earth's surface when he spotted a flash of starlight embedded in the wall just above him. His discovery was presented that same afternoon to Sir Thomas Cullinan, who owned the mine. Cullinan then sold the diamond to the Transvaal provincial government, which presented the stone to Britain's King Edward VII as a birthday gift. Worried that the diamond might be stolen in transit from Africa to London, Edward arranged to send a phony diamond aboard a steamer ship loaded with detectives as a diversionary tactic. While the decoy slowly made its way from Africa on the ship, the Cullinan was sent to England in a plain box.

Isn't this a graphic picture of how God has come to us, as it were hidden within the plainness of a human box, contained within our fleshly humanity. So many looking for something, someone who walked and lived amongst us for 33 years and missed seeing him.
Is it any different today, God the Father now clothed in us as us is like then, now also not seen by so many.

Rich

Was Jesus a Dumb Ass

2011-11-22T07:53:00.001-05:00

I am linking up to a friend's blog by Stephanie, the link is here.

Rich

Covert Complicity

2011-11-20T10:53:00.005-05:00

I love it when you hear something that resonates within you bearing witness to the truth you are seeing and growing in. Such was that in listening to a recent pod cast over at the Family Media site. You can listen to it here; Feeling Exploited http://frmpodcast.wordpress.com/

It’s not the whole pod cast that spoke to me but if you start roughly at 24 minutes into it you’ll get the gist of what leaped out at me. I especially loved where Loren attests to how much religion is in us. I shared this with my wife and we both agreed in how wonderful it will be if and when Loren decides to see just how deep this rabbit hole of religion really goes, meaning, yes religion is very much within us all, but; what is the impetus of what we call religion?

Rich

Mythical Reality

2011-08-31T15:54:00.002-04:00

"I am concerned with a certain way of looking at life, which was created in me by fairy tales, but this has since been ratified by the mere facts."

Life as we know it has a way of infecting and affecting us much like the din of the white noise that surrounds us everywhere we go. This inner erosion is washing away the ability to not loose heart, and no matter what we do to try to prevent this inevitable heart stopping malady more often than not, we end up looking much like fish out of water lying, thrashing on the beach, waiting to soon expire.
But what if there was a way of escape, not from the din of everyday living or any of the subliminal erosions, but right there where you and I live?

Is it possible to lot loose heart, yes, but how? I believe that is the cry so many are faintly beginning to hear, its connected to a prayer lifted up the Father so very long ago;” I couldn't stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!”

Why is it that Jesus who only lived for 33 years and only actually had 3 of them to publicly share with us, resort to “myth and metaphor’ (story-parable) telling?
Is it possible that he knew that any and all of their religious and intellectual ability was insufficient in freeing our hearts? The wisest and most brilliant man in the world resorting to story telling, oh my God, couldn’t you have done a bit better than this?

So much of what is called the good news and received is mostly acknowledged as proposition, for the most part, mere facts that have lodged somewhere in our brains while leaving our heats untouched; the foolishness of Jesus using stories, offending our intellectual prowess in order to free our imprisoned hearts.
Myth and metaphor do not work well with us rationalists; we crave the “factual” and measurable ways of seeing and dealing with life.

The use of the word “myth” is not an attempt of trying to warm up to Greek mythology, but is in fact more of a means via a story that brings us a glimpse of the eternal or what awakens our heart to the deep truths of life.
The language of myth and metaphor has been my daily bread now for many years, my heart yearns and longs to be fully awakened, even so Lord plant your deep and passionate kisses upon my sleeping lips.

Rich

Living in a Dream World

2011-08-30T15:21:00.003-04:00

The following are more of my thoughts that have become very real to me while away for the past two weeks on vacation, it was there afresh I found myself being awakened and finding myself strangely disoriented and wondering why I was once again right smack dab in the middle of a raging war.

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”

You can read some earlier thoughts here.

From the movie The Matrix, Morpheus asks Neo; “Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?”

The reason I sooner or later come back to quoting so often from this movie in particular, is because of how I so identify with Neo and all those still wide awake living within in their designer fashioned dream world, but at the same time, totally oblivious to what is really happening in the real world; a person who has lost all levels of consciousness, right down to their identity, is said to be “alert and oriented times zero.”

In Neo’s case the truth is something he says he wants more than anything but does he really? “What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this; [ holds up a Duracell battery]. Neo staggers back saying, No, I don't believe it. It's not possible.” Morpheus replies, “I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.”

When a person becomes a follower of Christ aka, a Christian, it can be much like being awakened from a dream world as well, and the truth as it begins to shine within our hearts comes into direct contact with the lies we have grown up believing as was with Neo; “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”
Neo asks; “what truth?” Morpheus who is in my opinion much like the spirit of truth clearly begins to pull back the veil and says; “That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch, a prison for your (heart) mind.”

The choice is always ours as it was for Neo; “I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.”
Our continued detoxing is as much about knowing whatthe lie is, as it is in knowing the Truth; “The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see, Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters? The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”

I need to stress that our enemy is not with flesh and blood; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (working through flesh and blood.”

A lot of life and living can be very unclear, in your life, what are you perfectly clear on? So much of what was promised to us in responding to the Gospel message has in fact only left us mostly dazed and confused.

Rich

What Is Spiritual Warfare?

2011-08-13T15:18:00.001-04:00

If ever there was a sacred cow subject about to become tipsy it’s this one. For any who have ever been involved with any of the Charismatic venues or of its teaching’s, will at least inwardly acknowledge the disconcerting milieu it has become.
In my continued reading of my good friend Bill Landon’s book, Up From The Ashes, he has a chapter dealing with spiritual warfare, and some of his thoughts were so freeing to drink in.

What Jesus came to proclaim was a truth that was radical and important. Christ is the summation of the Father’s plan for His creation-both for the Jews and for the followers of Christ. Due to the importance of Christ’s work it was necessary for Him to be validated. The Father did this through the empowering of Christ to work miracles. We should never misunderstand the healings and exorcisms of Jesus as a special example of spiritual warfare for us to emulate. The Father gives each of us a testimony that comes out through our living. This message of our living may be powerful and dynamic or quiet and subtle. The outward manifestation of this testimony is not important. What is important is that we are true to the testimony both in its content and in the method of its delivery. The people who are truly seeking the Father will understand the living testimony regardless of the particular nature of its manifestation. The people are living in opposition to God will not understand the living testimony in our lives no matter how powerful or miraculous it is. Remember, the religious leaders of Jesus’ time saw His miracles and concluded that He was demon possessed: “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”(Matthew 12:24)
So if spiritual warfare is not binding and loosing and demon expulsion then what is it? I mentioned earlier that Jesus engaged in spiritual warfare. That being said it is now important to ask: What was it in Jesus’ life that represented the essence of spiritual warfare?

To be continued….

Rich

Heaven and Earth

2011-08-08T19:01:00.005-04:00

The following is from my good friend Art Licursi, the article is entitled, Part 2 of 13 - The Dynashperes.

In this series we are exploring what the Bible has to say concerning God’s eternal intent, plan, and purpose involving saved mankind. Ultimately, the “most high God” has been and is the “possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen 14:19). God’s plan includes the participation of the all believers of all ages to ultimately act as co-regents with Him in “the ages to come,” either “in heaven” or “on earth.”

In Heaven: The ultimate position, glory, and work of the members of “the body of Christ” are that they will eternally occupy, enjoy, and express Christ’s life and authority as they reign in “the heavens” (2Cor 5:1) with Christ. The believers will be raptured to eternally dwell in the heavens where they will “ever be with the Lord” (1 Thes 4:17). They will have their work or duties in the heavens, which includes, reigning as co-regents with and by Christ life within (2Tim 2:20a), to live through them and guide them.
On Earth: All the believing remnant of “ Israel ” of the past dispensation of “the Law” will ultimately occupy, enjoy, and reign in the eternal realm of “kingdom of heaven… on earth” (Rev 20:6). This also includes all the dead Messianic believers from the cross through the early Acts period. All these, plus the Tribulation martyrs of Israel , will be resurrected at “the first resurrection” (Rev 20:5), which occurs at the close of the Tribulation. All the resurrected Messianic believers of Israel will at that time return to the Millennial “kingdom” on earth. Then, following the “Great White Throne Judgment” at the close of the Millennium, these same believers of Israel will reign eternally as co-regents with Christ on “the new earth.”

Jesus of Nazareth came to minister only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel ” (Matt 15:24), not to the Gentiles. Recall that the so-called Lord’s Prayer Jesus gave His Jewish disciples; “THY KINGDOM COME thy will be done ON EARTH.” The prayer includes; “And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one… (Matthew 6:13 (AMP). The believers of Israel in the Tribulation shall seek to be delivered and preserved from “the Evil One” – the Anti-Christ. All the true heart-circumcised believers of Israel will ultimately inherit “the kingdom of heaven” on earth. This prayer is not a prayer for the predominantly Gentile “ body of Christ” to whom Paul was sent to minister his “mystery” gospel (Eph 3:1, Rom 11:13). By contrast, Paul writes that “the body of Christ” is destined for heaven; “For OUR CITIZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20 (NASB), at the rapture.

Thus, we need to note understand these distinctions the Bible makes between “the heavens and… the earth” with regard to His eternal plan for the Nation “ Israel ” and that for “the body of Christ.”

The Lord’s creation consists of two spheres or realms -“the heavens” and “the earth”. Genesis 1:1 refers to the beginning of the creation; “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Genesis does not refer to the very beginning; John 1:1-3 refers to the very beginning. John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The John 1:1 account references a “beginning” that was before Genesis 1:1. It is the beginning without a beginning, because it refers to the timeless eternal past. Christ as “the Word” was in the beginning before creation as the creator of “… the world” and “all things” in “heaven and earth.”

John 1:10 He (Jesus) was in the world, and THE WORLD (kosmos) WAS MADE BY HIM

Colossians 1:16 For BY HIM (Christ, see v13) WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, THAT ARE IN HEAVEN, AND THAT ARE IN EARTH, visible and invisible, whether they be THRONES, OR DOMINIONS, OR PRINCIPALITIES, OR POWERS: all things were created by him, and for him.

This series addresses both the realms of “heaven and earth” and the “all things created” (v 10) in those realms. The “all things” here are not the trees or fish, etc.; they are the creatures God created and placed in the spiritual realm of the heavens. These have rank and governmental authority, including things; “visible and invisible… thrones… dominions… principalities… powers.” As we will see, these are terms that are often repeated in Paul’s latter epistles and we will better define these later.

The word “heaven” in Genesis 1:1 of the KJV Bible - “God created the heaven and the earth,” should be “heavens.” The Hebrew word for “heaven” here is “shāmayim.” This word is the dual of the Hebrew singular “shameh.” It may properly be translated as “the heavens” as seen in most other translations of the Bible. Thus there are multiple heavens within “the heaven” of Genesis 1:1.

Biblically, there are three (3) heavens within the realm of “heaven.” I will summarize these three heavens in their reverse order, as follows.

1. The “third heaven” is the place of “the Holy Mountain of God ,” the place of God’s throne and also Paradise . Paul gives us his brief account of “the third heaven.” You may recall that Paul was stoned at Iconium and thought by most to have died (Acts 14:19).

“I knew a man in Christ more than fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows.) Such a one caught UP to the THIRD HEAVEN. ³And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;)⁴ How that he was caught UP into PARADISE , and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

By comparing Paul’s words in 1Cor 12:4 with Rev 2:7 we can identify the “third heaven” as the place of “the paradise of God;” where all “the just” people of all ages who have died currently dwell. Upon His death, Jesus raised Paradise and the spirits of these pre-cross justified believers with him. Paradise had been located “under the earth.” There bodies still abide in the earth or sea awaiting there resurrection and new spirit-bodies. Now, since the cross all believers are brought immediately into the presence of the Lord.

2 Cor. 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be PRESENT WITH THE LORD.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 (AMP) Then shall the dust [out of which God made man’s body] return to the earth as it was, and THE SPIRIT SHALL RETURN TO GOD WHO GAVE IT.

Philippians 1:23 I (Paul) … having a desire to depart, and TO BE WITH CHRIST…

1 Cor. 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED INCORRUPTIBLE, AND WE SHALL BE CHANGED (allasso, made different).

1 Thes. 4:13-17 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye SORROW NOT, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE LORD.

Believers in the Paradise of heaven await their new spirit-bodies and their assignments in either of God’s two governmental spheres at the culmination of the ages. The members of “the body of Christ” will reign “in the new heaven” and those of believing Israel will reign on “the new earth” in “the kingdom.” We will discuss this later.

Ultimately, at the culmination of the ages, Paradise will be restored to the everlasting “new (renewed) earth.” “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I (God) give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7)

There also is what may be called the “2^nd heaven.” It’s the expanse of the “kosmos”; the universe with its sun, planets and stars as we know it (Gen 1:14-19). It is filled with created spirit-beings.

Lucifer was a Cherub of highest rank (Eze 28:14). God cast him from his position of “Chief Covering angel” who had access to “the holy Mountain of God” in the 3^rd heaven (Eze 28:16). The 2^nd heaven is now Lucifer’s sphere with his fallen angelic host that had bought into his plan for a coup d'état against “the most high God.” Lucifer’s plan was to ascend above (Isa 14:13) to the “the holy mountain of God ” in the 3^rd heaven. Lucifer now rules the earth from the 2^nd heaven, since he was “cast” out of the 3^rd heaven.

Formerly, the heavenly government would convene on “mount of the congregation.” The Lord met with the heavenly angelic host in “the mount of the congregation” located somewhere in the northern part of the universe (Isa 14:13), within the 2^nd heaven that we call the universe. 1 Kings 22:19-23 was one of those meetings.

Then, there is what may be called the “1^st heaven” or the atmosphere that envelopes the planet earth where there are clouds, winds, and the air we breathe. Paul also calls Satan “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). Lucifer, also called the Dragon, Old Serpent, Satan and the Devil, is the over-ruler, the evil mastermind and “the god of this world.” He is the present ruler this world. We will discuss this in greater detail in subsequent installments.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom THE GOD OF THIS WORLD (SATAN) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not….

Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, THE SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE:

Rich

The Way of Our Release

2011-04-02T12:40:00.003-04:00

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. (Hebrews 12:2)

The passion of the Cross is the way of our release, and if you consider your own spiritual experience, those of you who have any experience of a walk with God, you know quite well that it has been through times of deep and acute suffering that you have found fresh releases; fresh releases in your spiritual life. Is it not true? Yes, we pass into a time of excruciating spiritual and soul suffering. We do not know what the Lord is doing, what He means by this, what He is after, but we know the features of our experience and know what it is that we are suffering, and it goes on. We, of course, ask the Lord to stop it, to bring it to a quick end, to deliver us from it. He takes no notice of us, and it is only those people who get out the other end who say, ‘Thank God, He did not take any notice.’ In the meantime, we think He is anything but kind and good and doing the right thing, but as we get on under His hand, we begin to see and to sense that He is dealing with something. Maybe He is dealing with our pride, our independence, or our irresponsibility, for example. That is the issue that comes up, and we are faced all the time with something about ourselves that is almost devastating. We would not have believed that that was so strong in us.

Oh, of course we were always ready to believe that that is in mankind and in us as a part of mankind in a general way. Yes, we would never have resented being told that there was pride or something like that about us, but we would never have believed how deeply rooted and terribly strong that thing is until it was put to a fiery test and everything was held up, and we saw that everything in our life and work for God was held up on that point.... And we know quite well that what the Lord was after was not the pulverising of us, as we thought, the winding up of us, but to bring about enlargement, to bring about release, and release always lies along the line of the Cross, the passion. Enlargement always lies in that direction.

Sifting

2011-03-28T00:10:00.001-04:00

We have seen who Jesus is by revelation of the Holy Spirit. He is the very Bread of God come down from Heaven and is as necessary to our inward man as natural food is to our outward man. That is so often proved by our choices. If, on the one hand, there is an opportunity for some spiritual food, and on the other hand there is an opportunity or invitation for some natural enjoyment, the true disciple always says: 'I am for the spiritual food! That is more important to me than all natural pleasures.' This is the kind of disciple that Jesus must have: those to whom He is the only life. That is gathered into this word which He used: 'Except'... 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man... Except ye drink His blood ye have not life.' There are no alternatives to this. There is nothing that you can put into the place of this. It is this, or nothing - or, it is this or spiritual death.

Yes, He wants disciples to whom He is the only life, not just life and something else. There are whole multitudes of disciples who want Christ and something else, to whom Christ is not all-sufficient, the only life, and the Lord is going to sift out those in his body who carry the name of 'disciples'. He has always done it. He did it in New Testament times. The mighty persecutions which came upon the early Church were His means of sifting out, and through the ages He has done this thing by many means. He is doing it in the world today. Oh, what a tremendous sifting is going on amongst Christians! It is already beginning in the east and is going to develop in the west - the western world is not going to escape this. The great multitudes who may call themselves by the name of Christ's disciples are going to be found out. Let us be quite clear and certain on this point. If Christ is not our only life we are going out, for sooner or later we shall not be able to stand up to the test.

Rich

There Were Five Porches

2011-03-27T15:58:00.003-04:00

John 5:1-18.

I do not know whether this was in John's mind, but I do see that he had a great deal in his mind which we do not always notice. What I mean is this: Why was it that when John spoke about the Pool of Bethesda he said that there were five porches there? Was it the artist giving a little touch to the picture? Well, John was an artist in words, but the Holy Spirit was writing this thing through John, and five is the number of grace. Wherever you look in the Bible five is the number of grace. You and I carry that very number on both hands and both feet, if we are normal people; and more than that, we have five physical senses. Why, we are made up of fives! God meant us to be people of grace. This poor man was in bondage to the law, but "the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). And right there, in the presence of the bondage of the law, was this testimony to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

What is this sign, then? It is a wonderful sign! This man is a true picture and representation of what it means to be under the law. Jesus stood and cried: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden" (Matthew 11:28). What did He mean? The burden of the law was upon the people, indeed, it was a heavy burden for them. The Pharisees gave more than two thousand interpretations to the law of Moses, and said: 'The law of Moses does not mean that you have only to keep ten commandments; it means that you have to keep two thousand.' There was not a point in all their human life where this law was not applied and made their lives difficult. And all this was gathered up into the Sabbath: 'You must not make your bed on the Sabbath! You must not carry your bed on the Sabbath! You must not poke your fire on the Sabbath! You must do nothing on the Sabbath - you may not even walk more than three miles.' Two thousand regulations for their lives! The one thing that they were meeting every day, and especially on the Sabbath, was 'You may not'.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28). What has happened? Jesus has appropriated the Sabbath to Himself. It is no longer a day of the week - it is a divine person. (If the Seventh Day Adventists saw that, the whole of their system would go in five minutes!) No, Jesus is God's Sabbath. He is the end of God's works, and in Him God has entered into His rest. This is the 'rest which remaineth for the children of God' - not a day of the week or on the calendar, but a divine person, the Son of God. In Him we come to rest, and that which was our bondage is now our servant. In Him that against which we were always struggling is now our victory. Oh yes, Jesus is the Sabbath, and if we live in Him we shall not spoil the Sabbath. Every day should be a day of rest to our souls. Oh, this is a mighty thing that the Lord Jesus has done!

Now note: the Lord Jesus looked upon that which He did for this man as a very great and serious thing. When He found him in the temple He said to him: "Thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee" (John 5:14). Now back to the Letter to the Galatians: "Ye were running well," said the Apostle, "who did hinder you?" (Galatians 5:7). 'You are returning, or are in danger of returning, to the old bondage. You are listening to those Judaizers who want to bring you back under the bondage of the law, and if you go back there the last state will be worse than the first. It is a worse thing to fall away from grace than never to have been in grace.' That is what the Word says - 'a worse thing'. Oh, dear friends, we have been liberated from this whole law through faith in Jesus Christ. Let us walk, and continue to walk in our liberty. "Ye were running well" - that is better than walking. Let us not stop running the race!

Rich

Hope Hangs Upon Seeing

2011-03-20T14:42:00.003-04:00

The Need Of The Hour

That brings us, then, to the need of the hour, the need which, of course, is the need of every hour, of every day, of every age. But we are made more and more aware in our time of this need, and in a sense, we can say there never was a time when there was a greater need for people who could say and can say, I see! That is the need just now. Great and terrible is that need, and not until that need is met will there be any hope. Hope hangs upon this, that there would arise people in this world, this dark world of confusion and chaos and tragedy and contradiction, people who are able to say, I see! If there should arise a man to-day who had position, to exercise influence and be taken account of, and such a man who saw, what new hope would arise with him, what a new prospect! That is the need. Whether that need will be met in a public, national, international way or not, I do not know, but that need must be met in a spiritual way by people on this earth who are in that position, who really can say, I see!

You see, Christianity has so largely become a tradition. The truth has been resolved into truths and put into a Blue-Book, the Blue-Book of Evangelical Doctrine, a set and fenced up thing. These are the evangelical doctrines, they set the bounds of evangelical Christianity in preaching and in teaching. Yes, they are presented in many and various forms. They are served up with interesting and attractive anecdotes and illustrations, and with studied originality and uniqueness, so that the old truths will not be too obvious, but will stand some chance of getting over because of the clothes in which they are dressed up; and a very great deal depends upon the ability and the personality of the preacher or the teacher. People say, I like his style, I like his manner, I like his way of saying things! - and much depends upon that: but when all those trappings have been stripped off, the stories, the anecdotes, the illustrations, and the personality and the ability of the preacher or teacher: when that has all gone, you have simply got again the same old things, and some of us come along and outdo the last man in the way of presenting them in order to gain for them some acceptance, some impression. I do not think that is unkind criticism, for that is what it amounts to; and no one will think that I am asking for a change or dismissal of the old truths.

But what I am trying to get at is this: it is not new truths, it is not the changing of the truth, but it is that there shall be those who, in presenting the truth, can be recognised by those who listen as men who have seen: and that makes all the difference. Not men who have read and studied and prepared, but men who have seen, about whom there is that which we find in this man in John 9 - the element of wonder. "Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see". And you know whether a person has seen or not, you know where it has come from and how it has come: and that is the need: that something, that indefinable something, which works out in wonder, and you have to say, That man has seen something, that woman has seen something! It is that seeing factor which makes all the difference.

Rich

Hopeless Situations

2011-01-11T07:43:00.003-05:00

In having no to very little revelation in our lives, we simply do what we have learned to do from birth, draw from our bankrupt resources, going real fast nowhere.
Here’s the kicker in my opinion, Jesus said, “Except you are born anew, you cannot see, or enter the Kingdom of God!”
Why is there such pandemic blindness in our lives especially if the source of Life is resident in us as us? "In him was life; and the life was the light of men."

Chapter 4 of John is but another way of setting forth the same truth. The woman after all is found to be bankrupt, at zero. Jesus gradually draws her out and the final expression from her side is, in effect, Well, I don't know anything about that, I have not anything of that; I have been coming here every day, day after day, but I know nothing about what you are talking of! She is down to zero: and then He says, That is where we begin. The water that I shall give is not the drawing upon your own resources at all, not bringing something out of your well, it is not something that you can produce and I improve upon and make better. No, it is something which comes solely and only from Myself; it is a new act altogether apart from you; it is the water that I shall give. We begin all over again in this matter.

The glory of God is not found in improving, the glory of God is found in resurrection. That is what is coming out here. The glory of God is not found in our being able to produce something or put something into God's hands, something of ours, that He can take up and make use of. The glory of God is something solely out from God Himself, and we can contribute nothing. The glory of God comes out of zero.
he glory of God is in resurrection, and therefore love demands that everything shall come to the place where only resurrection will meet the situation; no curing of things, no remedying of the old man.

Oh, let me start right back at the beginning if it is necessary. There are still a lot of people in this world who think that there is something in man that can contribute to the glory of God and that Christianity is only the bringing up out of man of something that is for the glory of God. That is a long-, long-standing fallacy and lie. It is not true. Call it what you like; it goes by various names, such as 'the inner light' or 'the vital spark'. The Word of God all the way through is coming down tremendously on this thing. I start at zero, and zero for me means that I can contribute nothing. Everything has to come from God. The very fact that the gift of God is eternal life means that you have not got it until it is given to you. You are blind until God gives you the faculty of sight. You are dead until God gives you life. You are a hopeless cripple until God does something for you and in you which you can never do. Unless God does this thing, unless this act takes place, well, there you lie. Spiritually, that is how you are. You can contribute nothing. Nicodemus, you have nothing to give, you must be born again; I cannot take you at the point at which you come to Me! Woman of Samaria, you have nothing, and you know it and confess it: that is where I begin! Man of Bethesda, you can do nothing, and you know it: then it all rests with Me! If ever there is to be anything, it rests with Me! Lazarus, what can you do now, and what can anybody make of you? If I do not come right in as out from heaven and do this thing, then there is nothing but corruption!
Glory—that the Lord shall be glorified in us. What greater thing could happen than that the Lord should be glorified in us? The glory of God is bound up with the resurrection, and resurrection is God's unique and sole prerogative. So that if God is to be glorified in us, you and I have to live on Him as the resurrection and the life from day to day, and know Him as that as we go through life.

Rich

Blind To Beauty

2011-01-10T00:05:00.000-05:00

How does it come about? Just like that, and that crisis is a crisis for us all. If you have not had that crisis, you ask the Lord about it. Mark you, if you are going to have that transaction with the Lord, you are asking for something, you are asking for trouble; for, as I said before, this natural man dies hard; he clings tenaciously, he does not like being put aside. Look at that grain of wheat. When it has fallen into the ground, look at what happens to it. Do you think it is pleasant? What is happening? It is losing its own identity. You cannot recognize it. Take it out and have a look at it. Is this that lovely little grain of wheat I put into the ground? What an ugly thing it has become! It has lost all its own identity, lost its own cohesiveness; it is all falling to pieces. How ugly! Yes, that is what death does. This death of Christ as it is wrought in us breaks up our own natural life. It scatters it, pulls it to pieces, takes all its beauty away. We begin to discover that, after all, there is nothing in us but corruption. That is the truth. Falling apart, we are losing all that beauty that was there from the natural point of view, perhaps, as men saw it. It is no pleasant thing to fall into the ground and die. That is what happens.

"But if it die . . ." "If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (Rom 6:8). We shall share His life, take another life, and then a new form is given, a new life; not ours, but His. It is a crisis. I do urge upon you to have real dealings with the Lord about this matter. But if you do, expect what I have said, expect that you are going to fall to pieces, expect that the beauty you thought was there will be altogether marred; expect to discover that you are far more corrupt than ever you thought you were; expect that the Lord will bring you to a place where you cry, Woe is me for I am undone! But then the blessing that will come will just be this—O Lord, the best thing that can happen for me is that I shall die! And the Lord will say, That is exactly what I have been working at, I cannot glorify that corruption. "This corruptible must put on incorruption" (1 Cor 15:53), and that incorruption is the germ of that Divine life in the seed which yields its own life up, that is transmitted from Him. God is not going to glorify this humanity. He is going to make us like Christ's glorious body. That is far too deep, and too much ahead, but our point is that there has to be this crisis if we are coming to the glory, God's end.

Rich

Why Do My Eyes Hurt

2011-01-09T11:55:00.002-05:00

NO PLACE FOR THE NATURAL MAN

That means that the natural man cannot come into the light, nor can he come into God's great purpose and be found in that House full of His glory, that vessel through which He is going to manifest that glory to His universe. The natural man cannot come in there: and when we speak about the natural man, we are not just referring to the unsaved man, that is, the man who has never come to the Lord Jesus. We are speaking about the man whom God has reckoned as being put aside altogether.

The Apostle Paul had to speak to Corinthian believers along these lines. They were converted people, saved people, but they were enamoured of this world's wisdom and this world's power; that is, of natural wisdom, knowledge, and the strength that comes by it, and their disposition or inclination was to try to seek to take hold of Divine things and analyze them and investigate them, and probe into them along the lines of natural wisdom and understanding, philosophy, the philosophy and wisdom of this world. So they were bringing the natural man to bear upon Divine things, and the Apostle wrote to them, and in their own language he said, 'Now the man of soul' (not the unregenerate man, not the man who has never had a transaction with the Lord Jesus on the basis of His atoning work for salvation; no, not that man) 'the man of soul receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them' (I Cor 2:14). The man of the psuche, that is the natural man. The newest of our sciences is psychology, the science of the soul: and what is psychology? It has to do with the mind of man; it is the science of man's mind; and here is the word now—I am paraphrasing this because this is exactly what it means—Now the science of the mind can never receive the things of the Spirit of God, neither can it know them. This man is very clever, very intellectual, very highly trained, with all his natural senses brought to a high state of development and acuteness, yet this man is outside when it comes to knowing the things of God: he cannot, he is outside. For the first glimmer of the knowledge of God a miracle has to be wrought, by which blind eyes which never have seen are given sight, and by which light comes as by a flash of revelation, so that it can be said, "Blessed art thou . . . for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

This is stating a tremendous fact. Every bit of real light which is in the direction of that ultimate effulgence, the revealing of the glory of God in us and through us, every bit of it is in Christ Jesus, and can only be had in Him on the basis of the natural man having been altogether put outside, put away, and a new man having been brought into being with a new set of spiritual faculties: so that Nicodemus, the best product of the religious school of his day and of his world, is told, "Except one be born anew (or from above), he cannot see . . ." He cannot see. Well, it resolves itself into this, that to know even the first letters of the Divine alphabet we must be in Christ, and every bit that follows is a matter of learning Christ, knowing what it means to be in Christ.

Rich

Crusts of Hearsay and Crumbs of Rumors

2011-01-08T22:59:00.005-05:00

After the life altering seismic shifts, the disproportionate calamities that swallowed Job up alive, he is suddenly ushered into a living face to face, encounter with the living God who has appeared to have been conspicuously absent and hidden from this one whose soul had almost expired. He utters out these words; “I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears. I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

Is it possible that down through centuries what has tried to pass as Christianity is much like Job trying to live off of crusts of hearsay, and crumbs of rumors?

I love the following thoughts here by T.A. Sparks; Christ is presented, and then everything is measured and judged in the light of that heavenly Man with the measuring reed in His hand. That is enough really, if we only saw that, and grasped it. Everything for God and for us is bound up with a heart-revelation of the Lord Jesus. Oh, it will not be, as I have said, in trying to recover the New Testament technique. It will not be in a restoration of New Testament order. It will not even be in the re-affirmation of New Testament truth and doctrine. These are things, and they can be used to form a framework, but they can never guarantee the life, the power, the glory. There are plenty here in this earth who have the New Testament doctrine and technique and order, but it is a cold, dead framework. The life, the glory, is not there; the rapture is not there. No, God's way of the glory is in His Son: God's way of the life is in His Son: God's way of the power is in His Son: God's way of the heavenly nature is in His Son. And that is John's Gospel in a few words, what God is there saying. It is all in the Son, and the need, the only need, is to see the Son, and if you see the Son by God's act of opening the eyes, then the rest will follow. That is John's Gospel again.

"How opened he thine eyes?" Who did this? How did He do it? The man's response or reaction to the interrogation was this, in effect, You are asking me for the technique of things; I am not able to give you the technique, I am not able to explain this thing, but I have the reality, and that is the thing that matters. "One thing I know that, whereas I was blind, now I see." It is the light by the life. "In him was life and the life was the light . . ."

We do not want to be able just to give the technique of truth, and expound and define it all. That is not the first thing. The first thing is, the life produces the light and that is in the revelation of the Son: and if I must bring everything to a condensation it is this—firstly, God has shut up everything of Himself within His Son, and it is not possible now to know or have anything of God outside of the Lord Jesus, His Son. God has made this a settled thing; it is final, it is conclusive.

CHRIST KNOWN ONLY BY REVELATION

Secondly, it is not possible to have or know anything of all the fullness which God has shut up in His Son without the Holy Spirit's revelation of that in an inward way. It has to be a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit within every man and woman if they are to know anything of what God has shut up in Christ. That again summarizes John's Gospel, for there at the centre is a man born blind. He never has seen. It is not a case of restoration with him, it is a giving of sight. It is the first thing. It is going to be an absolutely new world for that man. Whatever he may have surmised or guessed or imagined, or had described to him, actual seeing is going to be something with a new beginning. It is going to be an absolute miracle, producing an absolutely new world, and all his guesses of what that world contained and was like will prove to have been very inadequate when he actually sees. Nothing is going to be seen save by the miracle wrought within.

(1) God has shut up everything of Himself in His Son.

(2) No one can know anything of that save as it is revealed. "No one knoweth the Son, save the Father, neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him" (Matt 11:27). Revelation can only come by choice of the Son.

What new world awaits those like our brother Job when the veil, the religious cataracts are removed and with great clarity this side of heaven, we become eye-witnesses of this one who said, “And I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it?

Rich

Waking Up 2

2011-01-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

There are so many thoughts being stirred up in me with regard to what I have shared in the previous post along with other reading and writings I am doing.
Funny, these words just popped into my consciousness...Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Who the Son sets free, is free indeed!
Rich

The spiritual life is something which goes altogether beyond the range of man's mind. It is a very blessed thing to have that settled - provided there has really taken place that new birth, and there has been no positive, deliberate, conscious violation of the law of the new life, by which that life has been paralyzed, and shut up, and rendered for the time being inoperative because of disobedience; providing that we are going on in the light as we have it, and in obedience to the Lord. There will be times when the SENSE of the Lord will have disappeared from the realm of our souls, and when everything in the realm of our minds seems to be confusion and contradiction. Nevertheless the fact abides, the union is there. He is more faithful than our feelings.

It is a great comfort to know that, when our feelings vary, and our sensations change, when perhaps by reason of physical and mental weariness those stronger spiritual sensations, as we would call them, disappear, and for a time we seem to drop down out of the realm of the higher ecstasies of the spiritual life, and things get flat. But after a little while it passes, and we find the Lord is still there and we go on again. We come to understand that it was not the Lord who changed, but we were just having a bad time, and our bad time brought no basic change. We can cripple God by disobedience; we can paralyze Divine life by sinning against light; but even then "...if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father..." John puts that in his letter in connection with fellowship, and it is a comfort. It simply says this: "...our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son..." We are to "...walk in the light, as He is in the light." As we do so "...the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth [Greek: keeps on cleansing] us from all sin."

The union is right deep down there in our spirit, deeper than the soul life in its variations, deeper than thought, deeper than feeling, yes, deeper than consciousness. In this matter our consciousness may not reach to the depths of God's work. You ask: "What do you mean by that?" We mean exactly what the Book of Leviticus means, when we find there a distinct provision for someone who sins unconsciously. Is there such a thing as sinning unconsciously? That means that you have no consciousness about it, and yet it is sin. Consciousness is not the final rule. The final rule is God's standard, not our consciousness. Our consciousness, after all, is limited. God's standard is unlimited. God has provided in relation to His own standard, and not to the measure of our consciousness. That ought to help us. God has made provision right to the end of His demands, and not just to the measure of how much we are awake to those demands. God's work is deeper than anything that belongs to us.

Waking Up

2011-01-05T12:36:00.004-05:00

Inception | Leonardo DiCaprio | ReelzChannel Spotlight | Movie Trailer

In many similar ways the movie Inception has touched upon things within me as the movie The Matrix did and continues to do.
For a summary of the move Inception, you can read it here.

A premise I have been working on after watching Inception a couple of times is in my opinion something that was done to humanity beginning in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. These scriptures in particular stand out me pointing out as it were a spiritual abortion taking place while hypnotizing this first couple.
Many years after this Paul alluded to (imo) this reality of ‘true-lies’ this couple ingested; speaking to a group of believers, “Who has bewitched (charmed) you, caused you to move away from the truth of Christ being your only true source of life?”

In the move Inception, the extraction and inception that took place was done within the soul more specifically within their mind by inducing them into a dream state of unconsciousness.
What I see happening in our re-birthing was something similar but vastly different in this respect, what the Lord did in joining us to Himself thereby making us one with him freed us from the dream (Matrix) world that we were all plunged into through man, Adam and Eve choosing for us. As in Inception, “What is the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood. That sticks, right in there somewhere (pointing to his head). The seed planted in the mind will bring forth an idea that will ultimately totally define the person.

We are encouraged by the spirit of God to be transformed by the renewing of our mind; to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, which is a life time journey and unfolding process.
If there really isn’t a greater reality founded and rooted into the eternal love of God the Father for us and in us by our union, than its merely pissing in the wind for any of us.
This ongoing transformation is going to set into motion seismic shits of unparalleled proportions, and not understanding the source of our assaults which try to keep us from knowing the truth of our secret source of power and freedom in Christ will only perpetuate the illusionary dream world we live in.

I’m including the following thoughts from T.A. Sparks that flow seamlessly with what I am seeing in the heightened awareness of discerning between what is true and what isn’t. I am only including part of it with the rest to follow.

Rich

The place of union is "the inner man of the heart," to use the New Testament phrase. Paul was fond of using that phrase: "...our inward man is renewed day by day," "...that He would grant you... that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man" (Eph. 3:16; A.S.V.). What is the inward man? It is our spirit, the innermost place of our being. That is the seat of union. Union is not first of all physical in character. That needs no saying. Union between us and God is not in its genesis of a mental kind, neither is it of an emotional kind. Union between us and the Lord is not in the realm of our soul at all in the first instance. It is in our spirit. It is a thing which is deeper than our soul; that is, deeper than our reason, deeper than the powers of our natural mind either to analyze or understand. It is deeper than our emotions, deeper than our feelings. The fact of union with the Lord, when it is established, abides when all our feelings contradict it, and when all our power of reasoning is completely confounded. When in the realm of the reason and in the realm of the feelings there seems to be greatest evidence that the union does not exist, it remains.

It is an important thing for the Lord's people to get that well settled, that union between us and the Lord has nothing whatever to do with our feelings nor our reasoning. If we sit down at times and allow our reasonings to carry us on, we shall conclude that the union does not exist, because there is so much which argues strongly and positively against any such union. If we allow our feelings, or our lack of feelings, to be the criterion, we shall give it all up and declare the whole thing to be a myth. From time to time feelings are altogether against the fact of union with the Lord. It makes no difference; the union is there if it has been brought about. People who take the position that they must feel it or else they will not believe, are going to have a bad time. The same applies to people who demand that they shall be able to follow this thing through with the completest mental argument.

The Naturalness of Living Supernaturally

2011-01-04T00:05:00.001-05:00

These scriptures precede the following thoughts, they are here in 2 Kings 2:3, 5, 7, 14, 15-16; 4:38-41; 6:1-7, and Romans 8:20-25, 1-2, 6.

Its interesting how many of us can see so clearly one moment (day) and the next, seemingly forget any and all that we were so certain of before.
So many of my (our) perceptions are founded upon our natural perception of reality, perhaps a “reality” based solely upon the natural senses, and as God says, the natural man detests rejects that which is spiritual, or, he cannot receive that which would open up before him a whole new reality of endless possibilities.

I so appreciate the following thoughts here from T.A. Sparks, I trust you will like wise be richly encouraged.

Rich

We pass from Romans to Corinthians: "Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged." That is death: and when we try to handle, analyze, pierce through heavenly and spiritual things with these minds of ours, this natural reasoning, we come to a deadlock, we come to an impasse, and we move in a realm of spiritual death.

These very men had seen what happened. They saw Jordan cleft; they had knowledge of the risen and ascended Lord, but they were not taking their own position in an experimental way upon it. They wanted to have a certain confirmation in the realm of sense. Oh! how the natural man longs to get confirmation through his senses. He longs to see something, feel something, to have evidences. Beloved, one of the marks of resurrection is that so often the whole thing goes on without any evidences in the realm of our senses. Do you think that the people who live in the power of His resurrection are always conscious of being simply overflowing with Divine life? Very often, like Paul, they feel as dead as anything can be in themselves, and yet the miracle is that there is that which is not of themselves enabling them unto the work, carrying them on. They are conscious of weakness, emptiness, dependence, and yet there is something of God which carries them on. If they were to stand still and say: "I am not going on any longer until I know in every part of my being, and in every factor of my life, the overflowing of His resurrection," they would not go on. The Lord does not meet us on that ground at all. These men showed immaturity by wanting evidences in the realm of the senses. Elisha shows how utterly he represents the principle of resurrection life by standing against all that is merely sentient. The flesh must have its proofs, and its evidences along its own line, but the spirit sees through and acts in another realm: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).

So these sons of the prophets sought to take hold of resurrection life and draw it down to the limitations of man's doubts. If you and I do that, we shall fall out of the realm of that ministry and testimony to which the Lord calls us. It is a very great temptation all the way along to want evidences of the spiritual in the realm of our feelings and of our natural knowledge, instead of going on and knowing quite well that the going on is not by our own power; that it is impossible so far as we are concerned, and yet we are going on by reason of Him Who is our life.

Looked at naturally, all those who have known and lived on the principle of the risen life of the Lord Jesus would appear a very poor lot indeed. If you could gather all the men and the women of this New Testament dispensation who have lived wholly upon that principle of life triumphant over death, and you looked at them as men look at people, you would say: "That is a poor crowd." Take Paul! Some people would get a big surprise if they could see Paul as he was. We have all the romance of nearly two thousand years of the effect of Paul's ministry. We have all this volume of literature on Paul, his life, and letters, and work. If Paul were able to meet us as he was then, and we had no spiritual perception, but simply saw him as a man, we should say: "Is this the man who created all this literature, and caused all this talk, who has stirred the world to its very depths for nearly two thousand years? I do not see anything in him!" But there is a deeper side. So you ask him: "Paul, did you know all the way through your life, when you were in this great work, such resurrection power that you never had an ache or a pain, and never felt tired, and never knew what it was to be depressed, to feel fears, to be anxious?" He would answer: "I knew them all as few men have known them, fightings without and fears within. I knew what depression was; I knew what it was to be tempted to doubt; I knew what it was to go through dark patches where ultimate questions arose; I knew what it was to despair of life." We may take it that there were many, many occasions when Paul was not conscious pre-eminently of the power of His resurrection, and yet he was living on it, and that accounted for everything.

That which is real and that of which we are conscious may be two different things. All that we know at times is that we go on in spite of ourselves. What is it that carries us on? It is that other "something" that is deeper than thought, deeper than understanding, deeper than feeling; it is the Lord going on in us.

Ascension

2011-01-03T09:47:00.008-05:00

The following thoughts are from T.A. Sparks. I have been and continue to be so richly encouraged in the Lord through so much I have been reading and gleaning through his writings.

I want to preface what he has said with this, that I see things some what different than how he has laid this out, but that does not stand in the way of being enriched!

Rich

The Relation of Grace and Gifts

With that we will draw to a close. We will just refer to two passages of Scripture: Ephes. 4:7: "But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ".

Note what that means, "the gift of Christ"! "When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men". The gift of Christ! Grace according to the gift!

Romans 12:6: "And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us..." Grace according to the gift! Gifts according to the grace! Grace given by the gift, that is one side. The other side is the gift given by grace. There is a Divine gift in sovereignty through the members. It may be one of the gifts mentioned in Romans 12, or it may be some other gift for helping, for administration. God has made you a gift to the Church. If He has gifted you to the Church (in office that is) as an apostle, the office is that of an apostle; if as a prophet, your office is that of a prophet. If God has given you to the Church as a gift, you cannot fulfil your office except in so far as the grace comes up to the measure of the gift. That is to say, the vital force must be according to the vital function. It may be, and it should be. But so often when men have thought they were apostles, or evangelists, pastors or teachers, they have viewed the matter in this way: I am an evangelist, I am a pastor, I am a teacher; God has made me that, that is my gift! and they have tried to fulfil their function simply because it was the gift, and were resting upon the gift rather than upon the grace. It is a very dangerous thing to become an official, and not to keep the vital force, the grace, in proportion to the office. That is what has made professional ministry. To express it again the other way, the gift is according to grace.

How can we best illustrate the point? The import of the matter is that the two things have to be kept together in equal measure, gift and grace, or gift and function. If you divorce them, or if you over-rate one of them, there is either a complete nullifying of any fruitful result, or else the loss of balance, and the whole thing becomes lopsided. For instance, supposing you build an electrical station, and you put in your dynamos, your generating plant, and set it going close by a city. You generate tremendous electrical power, capable of lighting the whole of that city and driving all its machinery, supplying that whole city with lighting, and yet you have no wires, and no lamps, and no switches. What is the good of it? You have vital force without vital function; a tremendous amount of power, but unrelated power. Or suppose you go round the city, wiring, with splendid insulated wire, and fixing switches, and yet have no generating station, and you attempt to switch on. What happens? There is no result. This is the opposite case; you have the office without the power. To make good you must needs have both. And if you overload your wiring and your lamps with power you are going to meet with disaster. The gift has to be adjusted to the grace, to be according to the grace. If you divorce the two you have nothing at all.

That may be a poor illustration, and it may only serve to help us a little, but we must remember that God's resource is according to the purpose to which He has called us. We shall not receive more than that. If we stretch ourselves beyond our measure the vital force will not come through. If we try to step into something for which God has never chosen us we shall lack in resource. If we try to take on something more than the apportioned gift that is particularly ours it will be disastrous. It is God who has appointed, adjusted, and arranged the Body. We can never take it upon ourselves to say what work we shall do for the Lord. It is a most disastrous thing when people decide for themselves how they are going to work for the Lord, and what kind of work they will do. It is a terrible thing for a man to try to fulfil a teaching ministry when God has appointed him to be an evangelist. It is a disastrous thing. We use that by way of illustration. God has sovereignly decided what our work shall be, what our gift is to the Church, and we have to function in that position and keep there, and not stretch ourselves beyond our measure. If we do, the power will not follow. Many take up more than the Lord intended them to, and they break down. To express it in the other way, if the Lord has called us to a work, then His resources are available right up to the fulness of that calling. The supply is there according to the gift, the grace according to the gift, the vital force according to the vital function. It is all there. Blessed be God, that is true. If the Lord calls, then His resources are available for that calling right up to the hilt. But we must be careful that we do not of ourselves manufacture the calling or the appointing.

That is where our union with the risen Lord is of such account. We are to be governed by life, through union with the risen Lord. It may be that some things are not quite clear to you, and you cannot follow. Well, ask the Lord to enable you to understand. Our point is that these resources, these heavenly resources, are related to a Divine purpose. The resources will be forthcoming as we enter into the purpose, keep within our measure, and draw upon them. They are there for the purpose of God. There is strength to be derived from the resources for the purpose, and there is strength to be derived from the fact of the purpose itself.

The Lord instruct us, and teach us still further in the way of life.

Regaining Our Balance

2010-10-11T19:20:00.005-04:00

In learning to live loved in the midst of a very unbalanced world there will be times when we are inclined to resort to measures that will appear or seem to be very unhinged in helping others regain theirs.
There is an innate knowing that our minds battle with daily when it comes to walking and working out what God has worked into us with regard to our salvation.

The only balance I know of is to continually experience the greatness of his totally freely given unconditional love that somehow uprights our lives and ushers in a sobriety, assurance and a confidence that begins to stabilize us in the midst of a world that increasingly grows more unstable by the second.

God has chosen the foolish, weak, base things of this life, you and me to cut through the masquerading facade of lies by living loved which in turn offers the invitation to living truly balanced in an unbalanced world.

"Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

Rich

Dead Men Walking

2010-09-10T10:28:00.003-04:00

I was reading from the Beyond Church Walls and read David Fredrickson’s post and wanted to share some of what he wrote about as well as my thoughts and questions to him, you can read his post here.

Rich

David said;
I’m amazed at how active my dead life can be sometimes. There are those days when I feel like my life doesn’t count for much. And then when I’m under pressure to get something done that’s time sensitive and the computer freezes, the printer jams and 101 other things are screaming for attention, he (my dead life) rears up with incredible energy. My world shrinks to dwarf size while small obstacles become Goliaths. I know I’m oozing radio active green slime and if anyone comes near, I feel compelled to call out “dead man walking!”

David,

I am pondering on what you’ve said here, as it is a most familiar and seemingly repetitive illustration talked about and I’m sure thought about re: the “dead Man Walking” scenario.
The whole “There are those days when I feel like my life doesn’t count for much” and tying that into our old life being dead, which I do agree, but! From my perspective this has yet to be unpacked in my way of thinking on a personal level not to mention for the body as well that is obviously looking at this dynamic tension of what is, but appears to be isn’t.

What I am looking at is this, yes the “old life is dead” but does that automatically presume that our soul (mind will and emotions) were like wise instantly made new in the re-birthing, this is really a rhetorical question actually?
I think we for lack of clarity get slimmed but not knowing the truth of the ongoing work of grace that is there in our being transformed by the ‘renewing of our (soul) mind!!

We are all in transition imo and I think that we are way to hard on ourselves being so impatient with, what’s wrong with me, I thought I was a “Christian” and here look at me “behaving” like this.

I would love to hear your feed back on this.

Rich

Our Twisted Darkness

2010-09-07T19:03:00.008-04:00

He reveals mysteries from the darkness. And brings the deep darkness into light.

There is one who whose default settings are not alien to the Father’s heart, one who knows the Father as He is, one who sees His face and experiences His lavish love. There is one who believes. Imagine: What if this one entered into our darkness? What if this Son became human? What id this Son stepped into the gnarled and twisted world of the fallen Adamic mind?

I do not mean, “What if the Son became human in order to reveal the Father to us?” Such revelation is, of course, absolutely critical, but in itself revelation alone does not sole the problem; for we are blind and cannot receive it. And worse, as we have seen, our twisted minds turn the revelation of the Father into proof of our false god. But what if the Father’s Son stepped into Adams’ skin put on Adams’ fallen eyes and received the revelation of the Father for us? And what if he used our twisted darkness to do so?

Rich

Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen. "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Psycho Babble

2010-03-21T17:15:00.002-04:00

The psycho babble of self-esteem-worth-image etc. is in my opinion dealing primarily with ones soul and has nothing to do with one’s true identity in Christ.
It seems more the rule than the exception that so much misunderstanding or view of the Christian does just that, it revolves around our soulishness, the ying and yang, bio rhythms, personality temperaments flavours etc.

I love this quote and how it ties in with my observations of the co-mingled gospel that has permeated so much of what it means to be a Christian, similar to Jesus’ warning of, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.”

“The quest to establish an identity on the basis of our own self-sufficiency displaces the real thing in both people and churches. It is nothing less than identity theft.”

Appearances and behaviour have often been that which supposedly defined ones identity, in others it seems to be defined in a healthy sense of person hood derived from an abundance of possessions, social position, or individual achievement.

Our life (identity) does not come about because the abundance one has or the lack thereof!

Rich

Relationship Not Rank

2010-02-28T16:43:00.003-05:00

More often than not whether intentional or not there seems to be a devise attitude and spirit that can smack of an “us verses them” especially when it comes to this grace exodus that is unfolding all around the world.
Many are being led by the Spirit to venture out and experience so much more than what has been obscured by religious ritualistic rites.
Please here me here, I have no hesitation in believing with all of my heart that at the same time there are those like wise being lead and directed into these religious establishments, not as show room trophies to impress those still ensnared by the matrix of religion but to be an unobtrusive witness to Christ plus nothing.

Just as the leaven of the Pharisees that can totally corrupt as Jesus pointed out, in my opinion there is like wise a ‘holy leaven’ that equally corrupts only this is something that infects and affects on a personal level that impresses others with the invisible God seen through our daily actions.
“Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

There are too many colors and nuances of the multifaceted displays of God’s amazing grace to relegate it to voila, "this is IT" mind set!
One thing I know for sure there is a definite propensity to fraternize and flirt with prideful thinking, but even this is not sufficient to deter us from ultimately going on with God.

The crud that is accomplished out of the energy of fleshly activity does promote and establish a superior rank and status amongst likewise fleshly minding siblings, but this is a moot point in those who are being lead by His spirit, the fruit coming from this leading is an obvious and tangible humility.
I love what my friend William (Bill) Landon has to say about this from his book “The Rise and Fall of Self” (The problem with us is us); “The old ways of thinking and understanding I speak of here are seeing God’s work in us as a means to obtain status, rank or some other worldly gain. This is an example of falling back into thinking in terms of comparison and reputation. If we are unguarded in our living, the work of God in us can be turned against us. If we allow the growth that God is working in us to become an issue of status or comparison we will suffer loss. In this diversion we can let the independent-self turn the great blessing of spiritual maturity into just another issue of legalism and pride.

The truth we need to keep in mind here is that walking with God is never to be an issue of rank or comparison. It is never a question of who is further along than someone else. We are all the children of God. This is the only distinction that matters. If we allow into our lives the kind of thinking that places people in orders of rank then we have fallen into the trap of thinking like the world.

If we are truly surrendered to the process of God’s influence growing in our lives the outcome of that growing will be humility. As we go on with God we should become more and more aware of our smallness. When we do this with God’s leading and resource we will not be diverted into seeing smallness as insignificance or unimportance. We are small compared with God’s greatness but the Father’s love for us makes us the most precious things in this world. This kind of humility is the natural outcome of seeing God’s true power and awesome abilities in ever clearer ways.”

Rich

Richard'z Rantz

2010-02-26T09:17:00.002-05:00

Please feel free to check out my newest blog, http://rantz72.wordpress.com/

Rich

Worship

2010-02-22T00:05:00.003-05:00

I want to share something my friend Art has written dealing with worship, but perhaps seeing it in a much bigger and greater perspective than how most have fossilized it.

Rich

In the Old Testament the word “worship” is used over 60 times, using the most common Hebrew word for worship as seen here. Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Worship here is the Hebrew word “shachah.” This Hebrew word is the similar to the New Testament Greek word “proskuneo,” meaning “to prostrate,” but with an added description as seen here below according to Strong’s Concordance.

“Worship,” Hebrew 7812, Strong’s, shachah, shaw-khaw'; a primitive root; to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive in homage to royalty or God)…

Notice that “worship” of the sort defined here above in Strong’s is “especially REFLEXIVE,” that is its not planned or premeditated worship. After all a “reflex” is a spontaneous reaction to something. True worship as a reflex is then is an impulsive, spontaneous, automatic, genuine heart response to God.

By example; my reflexive response to seeing the many powerful life-changing truths of the Pauline “gospel of the grace of God” is to love the Lord all the more, wanting to serve Him. I dare say that I do not know exactly what my reflexive response will be in that day when I see Him face to face, but this I do know; I am sure my reflexive response on that day will be genuine.

In the Old Testament we have many accounts of Israel ’s external worship in ceremonies and rites under “the Law.” They sometimes included a prostrated bodily position, singing, lifted hands, instrument, dancing, etc. Yet, we see none of this or any form of “congregational worship” encouraged in Paul’s epistles to the mainly Gentile “body of Christ.” (Note: “Lifted hands” as seen in 1Tim 2:8 is a matter of an individual’s own personal consecration in prayer (see v1), not “congregational worship.”).

Paul’s emphasis was always upon the speaking ministries given to the church, which builds up (edify) the believers… by encouraging, teaching, and preaching.

Ephesians 4:11 (AMP) And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (AMP) Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one another, just as you are doing.

Each of the functions noted in these verses above relate to speaking the proper exposition of the Bible’s truths of Paul’s gospel that applies to us today under “the dispensation of the grace of God.” Proper knowledge of the truths of God is what has always been lacking among God’s people and, to me, it seems the dearth of proper Biblical exposition and understanding today is most dangerous. In most all Paul’s prayers, as seen in his epistles, were for the believers to gain experiential knowledge, understanding, enlightenment, and revelation (e.g., Eph 1:17-18). This is why our gatherings of believers today should not be centered upon so-called congregational worship, but rather the proper, spirit empowered, “rightly divided” (2Tim 2:15) exposition of the Bible’s truths. There seems to be no place in Paul’s epistles for Old Testament style outward congregational worship, and clearly Paul speaks against tradition, philosophy, ritual, and the presentation of men’s ideas (Col 2:8).

Paul’s one favorable reference translated “worship” is enlightening. Philip. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which WORSHIP (Gk. latreuo, serve) GOD IN THE SPIRIT, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Here, Paul tells us the source of true worship. Paul says worship of God is to properly be “in spirit,” where the believer is in union with the Lord’s resurrected “Spirit of life” as “one spirit” (1Cor 6:17). True worship is innermost and may be invisible to the eye. Thus, genuine worship may be conducted with or without any audible words being spoken, and unrelated to bodily prostration, lifted hands, singing, music, etc.

I am not opposed to the outward expressions of genuine reflexive worship. Sometimes, I find myself with lifted hands, reflexively, as I sing along with some Gaither music or as I am moved to offer thanksgiving to the Lord, thanking Him for so much; for His faithfulness, His grace, His consistency, His genuine love, His hand in my life, etc. Again though, true reflexive worship may or may not include singing, lifted hands, dance, clapping, or other outward expressions…it springs from within and may be entirely inward.

There is so much misunderstanding about worship among believers today. I recall that when I was a so-called charismatic believer we were encouraged to outwardly worship based upon Psalms 22:3. “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel .” The charismatic leaders told us worship was needed in order to bring God’s presence into the meeting. This of course is pure folly. This is typical of the misuse of Scripture whereby many erroneously assign what is spoken to Israel to “the body of Christ – the true church” today (Eph 1:22b-23a). In the Old Testament “the Spirit of God” came upon holy men of old – He did not indwell them and stay as He does today. This is why David prayed “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11).

But today, under the Pauline “mystery” (musterion, secret) gospel of “Christ in you” ( Col 1:27) things have changed. Now the LORD INHABITS US, individually. He indwells each believer’s human spirit as any father’s DNA indwells their individually birthed offspring. If the Lord doesn’t indwell us, then we are “none of his” (Rom 8:9-10). Thus, the presence of the Lord in our meetings occurs only because each believer who walked into the meeting room carried the Lord’s Spirit with them when they entered the doorway. He forever indwells our human spirit (1Cor 6:17). We do not have to earn or work-up His presence. Forced external prayer and external worship are purely false.

Surely, we recognize that oftentimes the outward acts of worship, which most people call worship, is not necessarily a genuine bowing, submission or thankfulness of their hearts as reflexive response to Him. Today, the only acceptable service or worship is for us to live in accord with the spirit union we have with Him. The core of genuine worship is that of an attitude of heart and that springs reflexively or spontaneously from our “spirit.” To be “in the spirit,” as Paul instructs us, is for us as a soul (our mind, emotion, and will) to be yielded to Christ’s “Spirit of life” within our spirit. When we live and walk in accord with Him, trusting Him… this is worship.

Thus, there can be true worship both with and without any visible outward indication of worship as we carry our genuine reverence and reflexive love for our Lord in our hearts, moment by moment in our daily walk. 1Samuel 16:7b … the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.