I just had http://www.wordle.net create a “wordle” for MannaWord. I am sorry it came in so small, but it is really quite nice . I think I’ll keep it.
Sweetness!
Sweetness!
The sweetness of fellowship with our Lord is so very precious. It is awesome, majestic, healing, renewing etc… all of those things and more, but the remembrance of the Friday Fellowship of Psalm 19 this past Friday — is just Sweet!
The worship was precious, then then Spirit began to teach us that we have been given the righteousness of Christ Jesus. The title of the message was “Wake up to Righteousness” from 1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV. I used the KJV simply because it said what the Greek says here. The context is that by waking up to righteousness (becoming aware of it, receiving it and its power in our lives) we will be empowered to live lives that are full of peace, love and goodness! The righteousness He gives is not something we work for in any way, but simply a gift that He is more than pleased to give to all who receive Him. Our lives are empowered by His righteous nature to reflect the love and goodness of Himself.
Passages highlighted were: 1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 4:25; Romans 5:13-19; and the main scripture was 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. A CD is available. Just go to www.psalm19ministries.org and call the office (10-4 M-F) for instructions. (We will soon have the ability to order on-line, but for now we need you to call – sorry for any inconvenience, but I think you would really enjoy the CD).
After the service, there was such richness in the fellowship together that our facility was not closed until near 11:30 pm. We had such sweetness in our hearts about the Lord’s gift to us and it was clearly empowering us to fellowship together much more deeply. Nothing here was shallow. Awesome — truly awesome!
He is so good to do for us all needed for “life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) “…their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.” (Titus 1:1 TNIV)
A Bride Yearning
The following prose was written by one of my very bright and insightful students, Tina Hook. She and her husband are part of the Psalm 19 Staff and she regularly shares prose with me the Lord has inspired through her. I wanted to share this with you — with her permission, of course. (The photo is from the collection Diane Hernandez took during a recent retreat’s quiet time, again used by permission).
A bride yearning
Dressed in white
Hair gleaming down back
Unfettered, glistening
Curling down around
Feet upon the ground
Upon her head the bridegroom
Has set a circlet of pure gold
Above her heart sapphires gleam
Upon her feet sandals of silver
Her face shines
showing the glory
Of the love within her
Raised in yearning
Chin tipped
Focus above
Upon the bridegroom
Who has come
To fetch her to His heart
His hands pierced
Raised to embrace her face
In loving caress
Eyes of fire looking
Burning with intensity
Upon the face of His beloved
She decked in white
Drenched in oil
Running off the hem of her gown
To be ignited by His love
Always burning
Never consumed
In refining
Not destruction
Love shines
From burning eyes
Upon the head of His bride
Waiting, ready, prepared
And preparing for the return
Of the King.
A Day Away
What an absolute wonderful day in our Lord’s presence we had last Wednesday at Stella Maris Retreat Center in Skaneateles, NY. The house is a house of prayer, so very suited to embrace us and allow us very special time with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The photo is of my daughter leading us in worship with a small portion of the crowd showing. Lauren is a very special young woman with a heart very sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. (She is in full-time ministry in her church). If one looks closely, my husband is also seen to the left in front of the window on the keyboard. What blessings the Lord gives to me to work with my family in the ministry. It is a total joy to me.
These retreat days are rich in worship, Word, and fellowship. There were prayers for healing and we had the delightful presence of Dr. Margaret Nikol and her anointing through her violin. She graciously played with our ensemble during the worship and then later for our offering. How very precious.
We allowed the Lord Jesus to unfold Himself out of the Song of Songs 4-5 + some other parts of that beautiful book. It was a delightful time in Him.
This past week-end I was in Nazareth, PA with Living Waters Fellowship for a special teaching Conference. The Lord gave me three words for the three times I would speak: Cleansed; Empowered; Released. He was ever so faithful — always is.
I am now busy getting the text-book ready for the coming Institute course on the Book of Hebrews. I will be teaching that this fall.
Prayers are always appreciated.
Amazing!
This is just one of the many, many blooms from my Azeliea plant my daughter gave me for Mother’s Day. It is a beautiful plant. What is so amazing is the detail in design and color in each one of the little blooms. How great is our God! He has created such absolutely beautiful things both in tiny expressions and in large expressions. I am constantly amazed, and the older I grow it just continues to impress me over and over again of His great love for each one of us. He lets us live in such a beautifully created world. It is absolutely amazing to me that He, being the great God He is, has such love for me.
I have the great joy of being quite busy in ministry during this next week and week-end so if I do not post again for a bit — that is why. Just a bit overwhelmed right now. I so appreciate your comments. Some of you write them; those of you who know me personally usually just let me know when you see me. Thank you for reading and come back soon.
Glory
The Sunday Morning Session of our Spring Conference was spent in the understanding of “Glory.” We have been working with the theme, “I have come to bring life…” and as we worked with the various themes it was a discovery of the kind or type of life the Lord Jesus Christ has brought to us.
We are very familiar with Isaiah 42:8 where the Lord states, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another.” (TNIV) We have heard sermon after sermon on how we must not steal the Lord’s glory and that always makes us “feel” really good (or bad — depending). However, there is a scripture that is in a very famous chapter that either is overlooked or not believed or both.
John 17:20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me– so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (TNIV)
In our Lord’s High Priestly prayer He clearly stated that He has given His glory (the glory the Father had given Him) to those who follow Him. We have been given the glory of God. We have become through His action in us — His glory! 2 Corinthians 3:18 states that as we behold the image of the Lord we are transformed from glory to glory. How have we missed this aspect of His gifting? In the passage above it also states that this is part of the unity of being one with the Lord and with the Father. The glory was given so we would be one in Him as He is in us.
When we receive the Lord, we become one with Him and with one another. The Father answered Jesus’ prayer for unity when He poured out the Holy Spirit on the church on the day of Pentecost. How have we missed it? The life He came to bring is a life of the glory of God, the empowering of God, the breath of God and the love of God. We are one in His glory. It is accomplished in the new birth. Our God is an awesome God!
Revelation
This is another picture taken in my neighbor’s back yard. I have done enough gardening to know this is a lot of very hard work. I know you will enjoy the photo as much as I do. The reality is even richer.
The Second session in our recent conference was taught by my daughter, Lauren. Lauren is a very fine Bible teacher and continues to amaze me as she grows in our Lord Jesus. She is in full-time ministry and working on credentials through her denomination. Our theme (as state below) was “I Have Come to Bring Life…”and we spent our time discovering what kind of life the Lord Jesus has brought to us. She worked the theme: He has brought us a life of Zeal. It was wonderfully done, and I have asked her to write a summary for us. When I get that, I will share it with you. In the meantime, below is another summary of my 2nd session.
REVELATION
There are (were) two primary scriptures worked. The first is Matthew 6:17 where Jesus tells Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” As I have studied this passage the ramifications of its truth have been astounding to me. Even though Peter had walked with the Lord for almost 3 years, yet he had not understood that Jesus was the Messiah of God until the Father supernaturally revealed that fact to him. This is awesome. It means we believe because of a supernatural insight that Jesus is who He says He is. All the preaching and teaching in the world by me or anyone else will not reveal what needs to be revealed in the heart unless the Holy Spirit uses that preaching/teaching to illuminate another heart. We walk in a supernatural way. To teach the Word is to enter the realm of the supernatural and to interrelate with the Holy Spirit in such a way that the truths of God can be perceived through the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of another person.
We have argued in the church over what is the “rock” that Jesus builds His church upon. Most of us in a Protestant expression believe that “rock” is the confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! I believe this is true. However, I believe we have missed a part of that confession. If the confession is not the result of a Holy Spirit revelation in the heart of an individual, then we do not have a Christian. Oh we may well have someone who doesn’t want hell to be eternity, or some other reason, but if the conversion is a matter of reason and logic, we probably have someone who will quickly fall away from the central issues. To truly have a believer, we must have the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Along with this, in Ephesians 1:17, Paul begins a pray for the people asking “… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” After enumerating many spiritual blessings that we have automatically in the Lord Jesus, he then prays for them to have a special relationship with the Holy Spirit so they can receive wisdom and revelation (beyond what he has written), so they can know the Father better. I am stunned. It is the Holy Spirit through the Word who will instruct our hearts in the nature and focus of the Father. It is really a supernatural occurrence to know Him and then to know Him better.
We have been birthed (again) supernaturally, and the only way we grow in Him is supernaturally — all through the agency and work of the Holy Spirit. Lord help us allow you to illuminate your own Word so we may truly see and know you more and more!
Eternal
I thought I would begin this discussion with one of my spring pictures that I took yesterday. One of my neighbors has absolutely lovely flower gardens. I was taking some pictures from edge of his yard when he invited me into the yard, and then into the back yard where the myriad of color continued. I thought this most unusual daffodil was strikingly beautiful. So as we begin to work with some of the topics the Lord led last week-end at Conference, I thought I would share with you this lovely creation.
Conference Lessons Summary: Friday Evening Session
Most conference sessions (that I taught) began with a reading of John 17 either by the congregation or by my daughter (who also taught a session). I had given them a copy of the text, so all of us could read together. Normally I teach “word by word” through a given text. This time the Holy Spirit led me to topics within the text. One of those words was “Eternal”. I listed all the words that “popped” in my study in a post below. I found that even though I touched on all of them a bit, I took three main ones and let the others mold themselves around that one.
The first word was “Eternal.” We observed that our God is eternal in His very nature. He does not think in beginnings and ends, because He has neither. So His thoughts about us are eternal also. (Ephesians 1:4; Rev. 13:8) When we “create” something, it comes out of our person and will reveal our person in its structure. Years ago I did creative needlework, and if you look at my work closely, it will tell you quite a bit about me. Now when God created the visible, He was revealed in that creation. (Psalm 19 and Romans 1) So the created world and mankind was eternal in its origin — for that is what He is.
We know sin entered the scene and due to the willing exchange of that which was eternal for that which was passing, the entire creation fell into corruption (Romans 1). But of course we know our God was working all for His eternal plan. Jump forward many, many years and we have a “new Adam.” (Romans 5) The New Covenant is full of this understanding.
John 1:3-4 reads, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” We know that our Lord Jesus was the creative agent of all that is seen. (John 1:1-3) Here also we are told of two creations: 1-in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth through Jesus Christ — the one that was corrupted and finds its end in death; 2-the new life in Jesus Christ.
We brainstormed together in describing (with me writing it all down on the white-board) our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we work with the fact of the New Covenant and that we are in Him and therefore these items are about us in Him. (1 John 4:17b)
Our conclusions for this lesson was really the runway for the sessions to come. The grasping of the eternal fact of life in Jesus Christ and all its ramifications. I find we spend a lot of time in Christian circles, (writing, talking, teaching, preaching) trying to get our flesh to obey. In reality, I believe if we begin to absorb the truth of in Him, our flesh is no match for our Spirit. I believe that is what the Bible says. (Galatians 5:6)
There was much, much more to this lesson, including the understanding of the “new birth” makes us “bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh,” and the true meaning of the “adopted” passage in Ephesians. But this is just a summary for now. The total teaching was app. 1 hr. and 15 minutes.
Trying Something —
I am experimenting with a video program for my MacBook. I would love to be able to video a short teaching for the blog. That would take the place of the podcast — would be a webcast instead and nicer and easier to do. Let’s see what we have.
Vacation Days
After our time at Conference (summary posts to come soon) my daughter (Lauren) and I took several days away in the mountains (Adirondack) and thoroughly enjoyed our time of rest, relaxation and discovery. I have put a small video in of one of the creeks, just so you can enjoy a bit with us. The waterways were overflowing most places as the snow was melting in gallons with the warm weather.
We napped, ate, enjoyed the Lord’s beauty in our state, and just rested and rested. It was good for both of us. Tomorrow I hope to blog on some of our work at conference. I enjoyed the time thoroughly but it is good to be home and even good to be back in the office.
Mannaword 