Mannaword

Tonight I am teaching Lesson #3 in our Institute class “The Feasts of the Lord.” I am approaching the study as a discovery for us of what Christ has done and how these are fulfilled in Him. The one thing that is very, very clear is that the Lord intends for us to be a people of celebration. Israel of old were a people of joy and celebration when they followed Him. He organized their years by the marking of His work among them and then instituted celebrations.

The first lesson was an overall introduction to the Feasts, and last week we discovered how the understanding of the Sabbath is basic to all understanding of the works of God. We discovered that Jesus is our Sabbath and all He is calls us to trust Him and rest. All our work is to be done out of rest and faith. We had a good time with it.

Tonight I am working with Passover. It is, of course, easy to connect the dots with this one, but it is the beginning of the Spring Festivals and lays the ground work for all of the blessings through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus our Lord. I look forward to it. The KeyNote (Mac’s Power Point) is ready and now I go to the notebooks and read and let the Lord show me His intended emphasis for tonight.

One big thing we are looking at in Scripture is the difference between what is commanded for them and what traditions have developed. The prophecies of Christ are found in the Scripture structure, not necessarily in the traditions. Although at times those too are incorporated in the New Testament celebrations. It will be interesting I think, and hopefully we will rejoice and celebrate through it all.

Well I am trying a new program that will enable me to blog remotely. Let see how this works. It should make things much easier (even though I find WordPress much easier than any other I have tried). This program Blogo. We will just try a few items and see how it works

I am caught in my spirit with the fact that some Christians love the Lord Jesus, are dedicated to Him and also love His written Word. Then there are other dear ones who also love Him and are dedicated to Him but find it a difficult task to spend much time at all learning His Word. Why is that? What is going on in the heart that would make one person devour the Word and another touch it ever so lightly, if at all?

As a Bible teacher, I simply cannot separate the written Word from the very personal living Word. He is the same. I do not consider the actual printed book the same as His person, but what He has instructed in His book through the ages is the revelation of Himself and very important in my heart and life. I cannot imagine living in the United States with an ability to read and write, and not actively using those skills to enrich my heart, mind and soul with His words.

So I am seeking God’s heart (long term) about what I can do in presenting the Word that would make others love it too. I know most of this work must be done by the anointing, provided in and through the Holy Spirit, but I am so longing to see some progressive change  in my skills as a teacher. My students all have such a hunger and I am bless constantly, each season, by their love for the Lord and their study of the Word. However, there are those who come and go, who really do not get a “word emphasis” in their church and are satisfied with what they can hear on TV or the pulpit.

There is no condemnation in my heart here. All who are His are equal in His treatment of them. The one special reward for those who consistently seek the truth of His word is more understanding and release into Him, but those who love the Word do not study it primarily for reward, but simply because they love Him.  Why does the church as a whole seem interested only in “feeling” Him when He moves in a tangible way? Why are we not, as a whole, folk who simply cannot get enough of what He has said and therefore know more of what He is saying?

Just some questions on my heart this morning. Comments are welcome if you have any ideas about the answer to some of the questions posed here. Please keep them positive and uplifting. Putting others down is simply not the way of the Word. I guess I should say that shaming folk or condemning them for not doing something never works for long and really isn’t what the Lord does. Hunger and thirsting is like eating potato chips or peanuts – you can’t just eat one. Why are we not hungry for more Word?

There are some choruses that are seeping into our common worship that are troubling me a bit. They do not trouble me because I don’t like them because they are sweet, they trouble me because they are advocating something that is not in our Bibles. The phrase is some form of “empty me.” Now the thought is that we want less of ourselves to be visible and more of our Lord. Usually the next phrase has to do with Him filling us, which is very Biblical and very appropriate.

The phrase has bothered me for some time, so I finally took the time to do some research. The term is, of course, used in scripture but usually is a negative. His people in the OT were chastised for coming before Him with empty hands, etc… However, there is nothing – nowhere – about us becoming less in order for Him to become more.

John the Baptist made a statement, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) He was not talking about his person, He was talking about the scope of his ministry. His ministry must become less prominent while the ministry of Jesus must become seen. To make this mean that we need to disappear in our relationship with Him is to misuse the scripture.

As I was pondering this, the Lord spoke sweetly, “I have no space problem.”  The Lord told the servants at the wedding to fill the water jars with water, prior to His turning that water into wine. This is the understanding I think we need to reach for. He takes us as we are, full of ourselves, and makes the “best wine” out of us. He does not ask us to eliminate ourselves, but invites us to allow Him to be King in “our” heart. He treasures our being enough to die for us. He never wanted to eliminate us, or “empty ourselves of ourselves,” instead He desires to enrich us and bless us with Himself. The Spirit takes no space because He is spirit. He fills us with Himself while we are full of ourselves. I know that is not possible in the natural world, but in the Spirit it is what happens.There is never an entreaty to “empty” what He desires to love because He takes no space in us yet fills us with the “fullness of God.”

We, of course, desire to allow the transforming of our lives for His glory and that means corporating with Him in eliminating certain thoughts and behaviors. However, He doesn’t do that for us, but asks us to use Him and the power of His word to effect change as needed. Oh yes, you have also discovered with me, that need never ends.

We choose His will – that glorifies Him. Us being empty without a will is not what He is after. I hope some of this helps. We do not need to allow un-Biblical theological concepts to dominate our thinking of ourselves. When we do, we become “religious” but it is no help in becoming truly spiritual.

This was posted on facebook this afternoon by one of my friends. I thought it worth sharing. It is worth a read. Bless you.

THE SNEEZE

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away tears.

This class would NOT pray during the commencements, not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice, but they were routine until the final speech received a standing ovation.

A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened.

All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED !!!!

The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said,

‘GOD BLESS YOU’

And he walked off the stage…

The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God’s blessing on their future with or without the court’s approval.

This is a true story; it happened at the University of Maryland.”

I have mentioned before in this blog about the need for us to allow the Lord to become the focus of our prayer life and how form often gets in the way of true, heart-felt communication with Him. I was reading some blogs and came across one that has spoken well. So I am, with his gracious permission, posting it here. It will say what I (and many others) have experienced in the embracing of grace. I think many of you will enjoy its thoughts.

HOW GRACE DESTROYED MY PRAYER LIFE

by Bing M at Grace Roots

My prayer usually started with “My loving father in heaven” for a long time. Eventually I got bored with that salutation, so I tried few others such as “My precious Father”, “Our loving gracious Father in heaven” or simply “Lord Jesus”. I was taught that quoting Scriptures while praying is very effective. In other words, we might get more action from God if we claim things which he had promised in the Scriptures but have forgotten to give to us.

Every time, during the family prayer in the evening, I wanted to make sure my kids followed the Christian discipline of sitting in full attention with their eyes closed. I was proud of being a perfect Christian Dad, making sure even our 2 year old followed my strict prayer-time discipline.

Depending on who is present, most of my public prayers were directed to them, kind of using the prayer time to preach to them or to show off my religiosity. After all, that’s the only time they are forced to be silent and listen to me. When my parents (who are not protestant Christians) are present, I threaten them through my prayer about the countless punishments God is going to send on them if they don’t accept my belief system. My conscious effort there was to prove them wrong and prove me right.

Depending on whom I am praying with, my prayer changed. I pray the most hypocritical prayer if there are unbelievers around. In the midst of super hyper believers, I pray as if I am also super hyper like them. You know, praying for the souls perishing all over the world? I knew how to add a touch of unbearable pain to the tone of my prayer to make it more dramatic.

Do you want to add more excitement and power to your prayer? Add more loud “Hallelujahs”.

In short, my public prayer was a show and my private prayer was mostly a laundry list of things I thought I couldn’t live without.

Grace destroyed all this drama and made it unbelievably simple. I can’t believe I did all that for so many years. I feel embarrassed. Now when I pray, I hardly know that I am praying. It is like talking to a real person. It’s a joyful occasion of tremendous freedom, peace and love. I don’t mind talking silly things to Him. Now I don’t necessarily want anyone around when I pray because I know that my prayer might sound very silly and child-like; mostly do not make any sense to the people who don’t know where I am coming from.

And I think that’s ok.

I often have great Biblical and Theological differences with John Piper. However, this presentation of Romans 8 is wonderful. Enjoy and do have a Romans 8 New Year!

Facebook has some good stuff once in a while. I am “friends” with Francois Du Toit, a Bible scholar who lives in South Africa. He posts daily “Thoughts for (date).” Today’s full posting was very good. He has given me permission to re-post it here. You may see more of what he does and hear some of his teachings at www.mirrorreflection.net Enjoy!

“The law of faith reveals how the obedience of Christ cancelled out the effect of the disobedience of Adam. Rom.5:18 The conclusion is clear: it took just one offence to condemn mankind; one act of righteousness declares the same mankind innocent. 5:19 The disobedience of the one man exhibits humanity as sinners, the obedience of another man exhibits humanity as righteous.

“The immediate implication of Christ’s obedience releases an authority to us whereby we may destroy every stronghold and arrest every thought that keeps us enslaved to an inferior opinion or identity. (See 2Cor.10:3-5 where the King James Bible has the correct translation, ‘the obedience of Christ’, instead of the obedience to Christ like most other translations wrongfully suggest. This makes an enormous difference: to obey Christ keeps man restricted to the same limitations and frustrations he experienced under the law; his own inconsistency and inability bring about the inevitable sense of guilt and failure; whereas the obedience of Christ links man to the limitless success of Christ’s achievement on humanity’s behalf; He performed in our stead!) No contradiction to the implication of His obedience is tolerated. The moment of faith is like the effect of light dispelling darkness, effortlessly! Darkness does not erase the truth, it only hides from view that which already is, while light reveals.

“Are your actions and reactions law-inspired or faith-inspired? Many sincere Christians as well as their leaders do not know the difference. They would teach commitment, discipline and obedience with great enthusiasm and miss the point! Legalism only results in suspicion, disappointment, guilt, condemnation, distance and death! Paul defines his ministry and mission in Rom.1:5, “We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His Name in all the nations including yourselves.” He sees every nation included in the revelation of grace. In Eph.3:9 he puts it this way, “to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly realm. This was according to the eternal purpose, which He realised in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What God was able to communicate in Christ, is now made visible in man to be communicated in spirit realm. The mystery is ”Christ in you” Col.1:25-27. Law-inspired behaviour reduces the impact of your life to the natural realm, while faith realities has an immediate impact in spirit realm.

“The Greek word for obedience, upo+akoo, literally means to be under the influence of hearing. Paul understands that hearing inspires faith. Rom.10:17. In Acts 14:1 Luke says, “Paul preached in such a way that many believed.” Any action inspired by guilt, inferiority or vanity, results in more of the same, guilt, inferiority and vanity.”

This title seems contradictory. Yet, it is the way of faith. We are called to live in rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 TNIV

We know this is true when we turn to Christ (at least the first time), however, it is a statement of life-style. We are to rest (stand still) while we move forward through time.

I spent some time a number of years ago asking the Lord to reveal what He was trying to tell the Old Covenant Israelites when He emphasized the Sabbath so much. I knew (and know) the Old Testament is for us to learn and be encouraged by as well as it being “shadow” of the New Covenant. So what is the Sabbath a shadow of. Finally, I understood. It took a few months for me to settle my whirling mind into peace and rest, and then I understood.

“Sabbath” throughout the Old Testament is explaining to us who Jesus is! The Sabbath is Jesus!  The Sabbath is a prophetic statement of Jesus! He is our rest and the one to whom we are yoked. This co-yoking is our rest in Him.

Stress, worry, an anxious heart and mind are not the way we were intended to spend our moments. We are to rest in Him. We do not know the number of our days, nor the circumstances we have in them, but we do know Him and the reality of His face and the kindness of His heart.

We automatically move forward in time as we live, now we can relax and stand still as we move. I am reminded of an escalator. Many times folk will run ahead on them and I usually feel like doing this in life. It just isn’t fast enough – got to get there – got to get stuff done. Yet, when I realize that I am intended, by my very nature in Him, to just relax and let Him move the time, while I stand still.

As we look forward to the New Year, may we remember to stand still while we move forward. That way, He does the work and we cooperate with Him – resting.