Love

"Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?" (Psalm 139:7)

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

Thank...you...JESUS!!

The Glory of t

hese verses were washing over my mind with such soothing ebb and flows, but a sadness pierced in.

What has so subtly, yet ruthlessly intercepted this glorious gospel we have in Christ, when the revelation of an INESCAPABLE LOVE encountered by David and Paul centuries ago, has been replaced by a striving for devine affection and acceptance?

We have layers of filth that has illegally caught a free ride on a naturally too-good-to-be-true gospel for hundreds of years (and I certainly don't profess to recognize all of it. But with discernment, grace, and scripture in context, I have pealed a few off already).

Abundant life is not prescribed by just singing songs like David sang, nor is it encountered by quoting statements that Paul made.

The glory of "unconditional" is that it's unconditional.
Wherever you go...you are absolutely loved;
Whatever you do...you are absolutely loved;
Whoever you are; you are absolutely loved;
Whether you like it or not,
Whether you believe it or not;
You are absolutely loved!

Friends, purpose begins to unravel itself as we become "paralysed" by His love for us. Not by verses or songs about it, but by the revelation of a jealous God ("His name is Jealous, and He is a jealous God"...He LOVES you! He loves you, loves you, LOVES YOU! And you cannot escape this Love).

This wasn't "scripture" to David or Paul, it was a personal revelation of truth, and I believe that all that they were and did in Christ was compelled by this very truth.

This "process of paralysis" does not refer to "another christian thing we need to do". In fact, it's the very opposite. It refers to the undoing of this very mindset, and it does not come without its critics in the religious world, unfortunately.
Look at Jesus, who was aggressively accused of "neglecting scripture", all-the-while declaring to be the very source of life (He knew that He and the Father were one in spirit).
Or Martha, who was jealously accused of being lazy, while in fact mesmerised by the 'abnormal' love of Christ.

Peter, who, although a pillar in the early church, struggled in his earlier days, since his gaze was on "noble self-sacrifice" instead of RECEIVING a sacrifice made. This lack of revelation in Peter's early days was made evident in his response to Jesus wanting to wash his feet.

To try and stop doing things in our own strength, however, is a contradiction in terms...think about it.
We don't simply just sit still on a couch to be rendered physically paralysed (although you could fool many that way). No! The source of your mobility needs to be cut off (and Christ did this by fulfilling the law).

Declaring that "we don't need to", isn't an indication that we have "caught grace", it's understanding WHY we don't need to, that empowers us - it's that He already has, because He LOVES US! His love WILL compel; it DOES compel.

We become "paralysed" by His love when we discover that His love is the beginning and the end, and all the chewy bits in the middle. It immobilizes us from our own efforts, fills us with rest, and compels us to trust - in His unfailing love.

The effervescent joy and trust that begins to bubble up from this supernatural revelation is ABUNDANT LIFE, which distinguishes the Spirit-lead person (compelled by love), from the religious busy bodies scratching the ground for their crumbs of blessings, oblivious to the fattened calf freely available to them.

You are personally loved by God...regardless!
Have a lovely day just knowing that :-)

Faith and Grace - "BELIEVING that you HAVE"

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24) GRACE is God's free provision of abundant life - FREE; FOR US; and WITHOUT OUR HELP! Grace ALONE will not ensure us the pleasure-filled abundant life on a daily basis that salvation has to offer to it's maximum (although every person tastes of His grace daily without even realising it), it is grace receive through faith that takes us consciously deeper into His fullness...your fullness. 

However, it's important to understand what faith is, otherwise abundant life remains a shallow-hidden treasure within easy grasp - not hidden FROM us, nor even hidden FOR us, but rather, and ironically, hidden BY us ourselves. Faith is NOT something we do to move God. It's not something we do to get God to do or release something otherwise held back by Him. Faith is not something we learn to do in order to get God to perform for us.

 If we have this concept that faith is something we do to make God move, that's what the bible calls "dead works", and this "work of faith" becomes the obstacle to physically manifesting what God has already provided for us in Christ. So what is faith, then? FAITH is our PERSONAL, INDIVIDUAL response, birthed out of a personal revelation of what God has ALREADY provided - to personally TRUST in a finished work.

 If our faith is not a personal, revelatory response to what God has ALREADY DONE by grace, then it's not faith. If our perception of faith is something we are trying to do to make God respond to us, then it's not faith. Faith doesn't move God, because God has already moved unto completion in Christ, who is now seated beside him.

 An adequate measure of faith has already been FREELY GIVEN to each of us as a GIFT (without effort or prayer etc at all). From then onwards in life faith becomes stirred and grown by a consistent, personal revelation to what God has ALREADY done - for, in and through us even before we were created and needed it.

If we are getting bored with the gospel, then it's no longer the gospel we're hearing. 

It's when our free, mustard-seed measure of faith begins to realize this good news, that even greater faith begins to grow.

Testimonies of a fruitful and obedient lifestyle are very encouraging and motivating, for sure. But if that testimony leaves people wanting to strive and change their behaviour in order to get breakthrough, then we aren't giving them the gospel.

Am I saying that it's wrong to change behaviour when we realize its potential harm? Hahaha, not at all! That would be...stupid.

My emphasis here, is living this life while tasting and imparting the maximum benifits of the Kingdom. Applying 'Kingdom principles' will not give us the satisfaction that we have inherited in Christ, it'sknowing the King personally when those flood gates will begin to break open - that's my heart.

To build someones faith by trying to motivated them with it's [faith's] rewards alone, may motivate some...for a while, but abundant life is not fully accessible to the ambitious, but rather by grace to those who will simply trust that ultimately the good they desire, already is in Christ.

DRINK :-)

"My life is a witness to vulgar grace–a grace that amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up a ten till five. A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands or buts. A grace that raises bloodshot eyes to a dying the...

if’s request–”Please, remember me”–and assures him, “You bet!”

This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough. He is enough. Jesus is enough."

The Terms of the Covenant

A paraphrase from a recent preach by John Sheasby, followed by a paraphrase from John Crowder’s book entitled “Mystical union”. Be blessed J

“Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more”.

The law will ALWAYS identify you as a sinner.

One of the things that mess up our relationship to God is the posture of asking for forgiveness whenever we feel guilty of sinning – i.e approaching Him with a sin consciousness – and frankly...He doesn’t know what you’re talking about.

My friend, God has NO memory of your sin. Can you receive that promise/covenant?!

Heb 10:16  "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"

Heb 10:17  also He adds, "their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."

Most of us who battle with Spiritual growth are stumbling on this point. We haven’t accepted the fact that God means EXACTLY what he said here, and we continually allow ourselves to be reminded of the past.

“I will put My Laws into their hearts…”  what laws?

Do you honestly think the Holy Spirit would bother to write the Mosaic Law on your heart as rules for living, if it’s guaranteed to fail you? When it’s been declared week and miserable principles (not in itself, but mixed with our flesh…)?

What law has He put on our hearts?

Well, we need to go back to His promise – Ezekiel 36:25

Eze 36:25  And I will sprinkle clean waters on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols.

Eze 36:26  And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Eze 36:27  And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.

“I WILL...I WILL...I WILL...CAUSE YOU...”

Firstly, the ‘judgments’ of the Lord are not as we would envision them through the lenses of the law with it’s negative connotation – i.e ascribing guilt or passing sentence.

Judgement simply means to draw a conclusion based on the facts. The judgements of the Lord are pure, because He is the only one who evaluates rightly. He sees us NOT in our brokenness, but He sees us in Christ.

The best news of the new covenant is the person and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The LAW OF LOVE is what sums up the entire law of Moses. Love is the fulflment of the law, but we cannot love in our own strength and ability.

Why?

Because many people are not loveable. If you are going to strive to love, you are going to be constantly challenged to try and love the “unlovable” and particulary your enemies...

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans Chapter 5 – Jesus dealt with the sin problem once and for all.

Rom_6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Reckon” – logizomai (to take an inventory, conclude, impute, reason, reckon, suppose, think (on)).

Most people caught up in traditional theology are constantly trying to die to sin. You can’t die to sin, you have ALREADY died to sin! All you can do is “reckon” on what has happened on the cross...dead unto sin, but alive unto God.

If we begin to try uphold the law, we will begin to crumble. Our faces might be strong enough to portray a smile, but we will die inside. Paul felt this in his past (Romans 7) his attempt to remain upright via the law was crushing him, because he was trying to reckon his life in the law.

“Look to Jesus (as SAVIOUR), and live” - Spurgeon!

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

What was the law of sin and death?

It was the mozaic law (pure within itself, but corrupted by the flesh). In revealing your sin to you, the mozaic law passes judgement and condemnation over and over again. So by trying to LIVE by the LAW, you are automatically going to end up dealing with sin and death, over and over again.

Paul says:

1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

NOBODY WILL EVER GET FREE FROM SIN BY US TELLING THEM, “DON’T DO THAT”.

If we try to set ourselves free from sin by constantly telling ourselves, “I wont do that anymore”, we are empowering sin already. Because no matter how candy-coated that statement is with “ripe rewards in endurance”, the fact of the matter is you are applying LAW to a behaviour to try and stop it. Nobody can stop sinning by believing “Thow shelt not”. That is NOT what is ment by “enduring in Christ”.

Well, what do we do to walk in the freedom of LIFE?

Jesus said, “I have come, that you might have perfection and never mess up”? NO. That we might have LIFE, and have it more abundantly! You have within you, the Spirit of the gift of LIFE. With power enough to overcome and advance.

YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFEIN YOU NOW!

The Spirit of God is constantly trying to lead us all into LIFE, and we’re often stuck thinking that life is like a reward to be attained.

CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory. He that has the Son has LIFE.

Again:

Eze 36:25-27  And I WILL sprinkle clean waters on you, and you shall be clean. I WILL cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols.

And I WILL give you a new heart, and I WILL put a new spirit within you. And I WILL take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I WILL give you a heart of flesh.

And I WILL put My Spirit within you and CAUSE YOU to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.

We have the freedom, not just to access, but to LIVE in His presence with boldness – a stance that is humanly impossible when carrying a guilty conscience.

When we begin to agree with God about our sin, who we are, and what He’s done for and in us (confess=agree with), we begin to walk in newness of life. Life doesn’t come by confessing our guilt, but by confessing our innocence!

In Christ, the veil has been REMOVED! If you see yourself outside trying to get in, you’ll live frustrated. The glory of the law always fades – Up-and-down christianity is evidence of the fact that any victory you may gain by means of the law is fleeting.

2Co 3:16  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2Co 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

So, when God says “I’ll write my laws on their heart”, it’s NOT about little rules and regulations, friends! It’s about the LIFE of JESUS manifesting in YOU…the hope of glory…by His Spirit!

When you begin to receive this Word of grace, you’ll see stuff begin to fall off; stuff that you may have been trying to rid yourself of for years, and the transformation into newness of life beginning to blossom as you continue to behold HIM with unveiled faces. (John Sheasby - paraphrase)

_______________

You were united with Him in His death.

What died?

The entire fallen personality. Your old depressed self. Your old sinful self. The old fearful you was buried. The old anxious you took a bullet. Your poverty died with Him. Your sickness died with Him. Every bit of darkness and disease that you once were, died with Him.

All your acne and PMS and road rage took a tumble.

The new you is happy, alive and full of the wine of His love! The new you is full of faith. The new, True Self is prosperous, bold and overflowing with life, hope, peace and fruitfulness – you are not mandated/instructed to attain this life, it’s in you…HE’s in YOU!

 The old critical, introverted you is dead. The new self is completely restored to childlike innocence and trust.

The problem comes, in what you are caught up “reckoning” (Romans 6:11)

Stop owning the sinful nature as if it’s still hanging around for you to kill!

Believe that you are indeed in Christ, and that Christ, in all His fullness, is in you.

This is not the old-school “sinless perfection” theology that the early Wesleyans and the holiness movement preachers advocated. Those guys said it is impossible for a Christian to sin. And a lot of that devolved into do-it-yourself, clean-yourself-up legalism.

We are talking about God-given righteousness that manifests in a happy, holy life.

We are not called to struggle with sin, or even struggle to stop sinning. Sin is no longer in the equation in Christ.

If you think you’re still a sinner, you will try to fight off evil with good. That is a return to the law and self-justification, and God did NOT save us to send us back to the law.

We no longer even eat from the law, no matter how pure and holy it was in itself. There was another tree in the “Garden of Pleasure”…the Tree of Life!

When you eat of Him, you live forever. (John Crowder – paraphrase)

Lets all be wonderfully blessed as we are taken deeper and deeper (as individuals and in our togetherness with fellow brothers and sisters) into HIS glory.

Be mindful of Him.

Much Love and pleasure J

CHRIST IN YOU

Christ never gave us a baton to snatch from Him, turn around and continue running with..."I'm done, now it's your turn, brother".
We died with Him (dead) so that HE could continue to live in us - the good news WAS Him, it IS Him and will ALWAYS be HIM, in you, the hope of glory!

Does this negate daily decision making?
No.
What it should do is stir us to discover, with increasing revelation, the very nature of CHRIST IN US - a journey that may appear different from person to person, but will reveal a common cause - to build up and set free...but as I said, this isn't a baton, but simply what Christ is doing in His new body (the church).

When the church recognizes its true identity, CHRIST IN US, we have "revival"/the miraculous/abundant fruit/good works, and we embrace diversity because we rocognize it as the move of GOD;
when the church finds its identity in the "revival"/the miraculous/abundant fruit/good works, we slowly fester and become aggressively possessive of whose (human) perspectives are the most right.
Hahaha!

You are blessed and abundantly gifted. Enter His rest and allow Him to absolutely blow you away with a greater revelation and taste of His glory...as you drink the Wine, He'll take you deeper into the Vine.

It IS finished!

Oh my word (or His...whatever, HAHAHAHA)!

"It is finished"!

Some might wonder, "how finished is it if God is currently still doing a work in and through His body - the church?"

God, by His Spirit, is doing a work of drawing, calling and leading us toward, into and DEEPER into the FINISHED work of Christ.

SHEW!!

The Kingdom of God is at hand; the Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU.
And the power and nature of this Kingdom is not incomplete or 'under construction' - it is a PERFECT Kingdom at hand; a PERFECT Kingdom within YOU!

It is a Kingdom that wants to be entered into and encountered by its citizens...heirs...sons and daughters...YOU!!!

There will never be a shortage of hearing "Freely give", but take some time to consume and drink up just how much you have "Freely received"!

Much love and grace peeps :-)

Love changes

‎"Those forgiven much will love much(Lk 7:47) and those who love much will sin less.The secret to sinning less is receiving forgiveness more".

When I hear pastors speak of having issues with members in their congregation, I start to wonder what criteria are in operation to create this conflict?
How much of it is legitimate, Spirit-lead "conflict", and how much of it is, in fact, a controlling spirit.

The degree to which we are being renewed by how much WE are loved and forgiven, is proportional to the ease and pleasure with which we exercise love and forgiveness towards others, even if they may be in error.
And, the degree to which we FORGET how much we are loved and forgiven, yet still attempt to love and forgive others, is proportional to the level of control we exercise over wanting to ensure that others DON'T go into error.

In both cases the motives are good and pure, but one has love as its motivation and the other has control (to avoid any "issues").

Jesus's motivation was always love, that's why we don't see Him obsessed with trying to control Peter - Why didn't Jesus pull Peter aside at any time and just spell things out for Him? After all, He chose Peter, Peter didn't choose Him. Why didn't He pull Peter aside and say "pull yourself together buddy, you're embarrassing me and my ministry here!"?

Yes, there were tough moments for old Peter, but Jesus was motivated by loving Peter and edifying him to who Peter REALLY was, even though Peter couldn't see it himself yet - 'the rock upon which the church would be built'.

I know a pastor (ex pastor) who, after tangibly encountering the Glory of God at an international conference, returned to his flock and said "I owe you all an encounter with God".
Of course, he never realized how much control he would end up losing over his flock (in a good way, yet difficult considering his history).
People began receiving and growing in their OWN revelations, yet all the while still remaining in a strong togetherness. 
Some were loving the change; some were anxiously judging the change; Traditional, institutional "hand rails" were slowly removed and many felt insecure, and change and diversity was embraced and slowly understood - not easy for many though (Jesus knew that Peter's understanding of truth was tainted and blury, but He lead him and built him up into an understanding of truth - the breakthrough of which only really began after Jesus died and ascended).

The gospel of God's grace shouldn't just be seen as a set of brilliant preaches to be downloaded from the archive files.
The heartbeat and life-blood of living a life of love and forgiveness towards others, is the revelation of how much we are loved and forgiven (as individuals and the church body).

I'll always say that I desire to love as Christ loves, but when I forget how loved I am, I begin to TRY and love and forgive, and quickly become frustrated with non-conformity...until I am renewed with the fact that Christ died for me, before I even had the chance to think about conforming to HIS ways.

Much love and Grace!

His nature is grace!

The Grace of God only becomes a contentious issue when a revelation of what it actually is, is either missing or forgotten.


Our memories will certainly allow us to hold onto the DEFINITION of grace, but we can easily lose the life giving REVELATION.



The grace of God is quite simply His nature, and it is in constant operation, whether we feel it or not, like it or not, believe it or not - it's HIS... attitude towards us...HIS decision...HIS feeling...HIS heart...HIS plan...HIS motivation...JESUS!



It's difficult to trust someone if you don't know them...in actual fact, on a human level, it can be foolish and very risky to blindly trust someone.

Yet many who have "put it out there" and blindly trusted God in a leap of faith, would have, in some way or another walked into something GOOD.

Why?

Because God is faithful.



Now, by telling people to "Just do it because God is faithful", we merely feed them with a "risky" sense of walking in faith.

You ask the average person to define faith, I'm pretty sure that somewhere in that conversation the word "risk" will surface (and sure, certain circumstances may stir up doubt within us), but how much more certainty and boldness will we possess in living by faith, when we are drenched with the revelation of GOD'S NATURE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS US...When we actually get to know HIM.



The more I get to know Him, the more my skittish "blind faith" is replaced by bold TRUST in what/who I am now CONVINCED of!



The wrong thing to do with this now, is scrape together a few scriptures and "pointers" to deliver a "solid sermon" on "God's Nature". It's not a topic, it's the essence...if the scent of the UNCONDITIONALLY ACCEPTING NATURE OF GOD and WHO WE ALREADY ARE AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS does not fill the air when we share the word, then the bible becomes a sword we aimlessly weild around, prooning some and killing others.

His goodness is better than ours!

"...When we live in the grace of God we experience a creative flow, a joy, a spontaneity, and an enthusiasm for life; and - best of all - we stop trying to live up to some standard that we can never reach, free from the feeling that God is angry with us."
- God will not be able to express the intimacy and power of His person through us while we're busy trying to express ourselves to Him - regardless of how biblical it looks.

Let's enter His rest, so that He can 'will' and 'do' in us.
Jesus loves you :)

He delights in you!

"John 4:42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world (kosmos).

When mankind Beholds Jesus in Non-religious CLARITY - as in a mirror, When they see Him as He truly is and NOT as he has been wrongly re-presented by the current Orthodox church...., When they hear for themselves the Clear WORD (Jesus) of the Father... His express opinion of His beloved Creation - mankind....When they encounter Him ("It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" Gal 2:20), they will realise that He is indeed the Saviour of the world!! Faith/Trust will come when they hear the message of/FROM Christ.

Jesus IS Gods spoken Word - His Clear OPINION - made flesh, revealed plainly for the world to see, know and believe the the Father deeply loves each one. He invites you to eat and drink this revelation of His Love for you and live intoxicated on this love (Songs 5:1).

He delights to lead us into all truth!!! Allow him to re-shape your opinion of Him. It is impossible to over emphasis the fact that YOU are His hearts desire, you are His will!!
One may ask, "What is the will/desire of God?"..... YOU ARE!!!!!
You are perfect in His opinion (Heb 10 - For by his one sanctifying sacrifice he has perpetually perfected you!!)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!!"

(Cornerstone Keg)