Freedom

I want to be free Father. Come under my house as a Son and I will make you free.

Obedience out of love vs obedience out of rules

Obedience out of love vs obedience out of rules

1) we love because He first loved us.

2) we love little because we have been forgiven little.

To enlarge our love for God we need 1) to know how much we have been forgiven and the price that was paid on our behalf 2) we need also to know the abundance of His love for us. then our hearts will spring with love for Him. Stay in God's grace and His love.

I hunger to know the weight of Your Glory

I hunger to know the weight of Your Glory

Our glorious inheritance

John 16:13-16

13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (glory to be revealed the glory of the Lord, the weight of His person) 14He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The kinglyness, character, purity and wisdom which I desire are all found in Christ.

Come Poor and Empty Leave Rich in Him

The divine contradiction is that those who come empty and poor to God leave rich and full of Him.

The lavishness of Gods love and Spiritual hunger

1) Saw a tall waterfall with a tiny helicopter and an impression of the words, I will pour out my Spirit.

2) The increased capacity and spiritual hunger to know more of God comes not only from the cross - the desire for sin to be cleansed and to be free.

But a greater work is done in the heart which is baptised in the lavishness of God's love for us - the height, depth, length and breadth of Gods love when we see it and experience it - enlarges our heart, causes us to hunger more and more for His holiness, greatness, goodness, grace and abundance - that love points us to heaven where God is, where the greatness of His blessing flows, it points us to the source, to God himself where hunger is satisfied.

Eph 3:16-19

¹⁶that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 
¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 
¹⁸may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.


Its the experience of the living revelation that the Holy Spirit that brings of God's love that allows us to grow into the fullness of the likeness of the Father.


How to be changed into Christ's image:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness they shall be filled.

1) desire for righteousness is foremost. 2) Righteousness is being righteous as God is righteous, being conformed into the image of Christ. How are we formed into His image?

Eph 3:16-19

16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

3) Its the experience of the living revelation that the Holy Spirit that brings God's love that allows us to grow into the fullness of the likeness of the Father.

the fire of desire

the fire of desire

my desire

desire to preach the word
desire to bring the miraculous to depression to sickness an suffering
desire to raise up a generation that is passionate about god and passionate in prayer and worship
desire to be become honorable noble and strong like Christ
desire for family breakthrough and joy
desire to be excellent

Seeking to find myself

The uniqueness gifting and identity I seek is not apart from but entirely interwoven with Christ.

the privilege of doing what we see the father doing

1. we have the divine position privilege and right to see what our father is doing and do likewise
2. breakthroughs of peace and joy for our family are in god.
3. wisdom and God's perspective are available to us as gods children
4. a general teaching us for war
5. the presence of God is where all the answers are
6. gods hand accomplishes all things for us and his peace is upon our lives
7. a train approaching
8. dining whilst enemies are on the roof looking down upon us, but God will complete our house and shield us from the outside.

A growing Christianity

The Christian faith is always growing - growing in the revelation and love for Jesus Christ, Growing in virtues of Character, growing in the power and confidence of faith that refuses to be confounded.

A Christian that is not growing has atrophied and must quickly regain the steps that lead to growth of revelation passion and confidence before a spiritual stupor and sleep are to set in.

Faith is rooted in impossibility

Faith is rooted in confounding impossibility.

Faith reaches to the place beyond our understanding.

Abraham was promised the naturally impossible, as with Joseph, David, Hannah. It reaches out toward the mystery of God's goodness and says yes, let it be done for me, although i do not understand I will keep the word and steadfastly believe.

If we restrict our faith to the level of our understanding, are we still people of faith? We are exhorted not to trust our understanding but in God alone.

Paul was put many times in grave danger which was beyond his ability to counter so that he might not trust in himself but God who is able to deliver.

Let us lean our souls hard on this rock of God that can never fail and prove ourselves people of like rugged faith.


Faith holds the mystery and remains unwavering and strong. 


1 tim 3:9  They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.


If your Christianity only holds to the possible then it is too timid an animal to resemble the lion-like qualities of faith. slay it at once and reach out for His greatness for the world around you.


God of all my mountains I look to you knowing that you are greater and rejoicing inwardly in all your help to move them all for your glory.

Christianity minus chunks

It is my deep ingrained belief that the Christianity that we practice today is amiss.

We are missing the large portions of power which was demonstrated in the days of the Apostles.

Character and perseverance and love, passion and sacrifice are but a far cry from what we had.

Divine revelation and the move of God being led by the Spirit is so far removed and replaced by an intellectual understanding.

We are so far away from being able to discern what God is doing, what is on His heart, the sound of His voice and partnership with His work.

The desperate are not healed, the hurting not comforted, the weak not strengthened in faith.

The very experience of the manifest presence - the weight of His glory is not even a priority to be restored.

Purity, passion and power have been replaced by biblical understanding and orthodoxy.

Are we pursuing a greater love for Christ that translates into good abiding fruit of character or a greater love to improve our own understanding and knowledge?

Where is the power to transform sinners and usher them into the very presence and glory and character and love for Christ? Where is the power of conviction to turn a sinner from His ways into the love of Christ? Where is the revolution of life and the world that occurred in the days of old?

Accomplishment.

We can either be driven to accomplishment because we want to attain a sense of significance and power,

Or accomplish things as a natural response out of a sense of being significant and being filled with power.

We are seated in the heavenly places in Christ, blessed with His blessing and authority to loose His blessing to the world.

Revolution versus institutionalization

"Nothing is more dangerous to a revolution than winning. When a revolution wins, it must face the prospect of becoming an institution. No better example of this exists than when Constantine began mandating national baptisms. Christianity changed from a movement to an institution, from a global revolution to a world religion. You could now become a Christian without ever having met Jesus Christ personally. This was a bad thing-like keeping the shell and tossing the egg.

The irony in this is that the force of Christianity first changed the Roman world and then relinquished its power in the name of accommodation. It’s easy to see the difference between Christianity as a religion and Christianity as a revolution when we look back to the days of Constantine and the Dark Ages that followed. It’s more difficult to see that difference in our contemporary environment because we are standing in the middle of it. Our great awakenings were born through men and women who could see that the church had lost her way. They led the church back to the third day: from death to resurrection. They called God’s people out of the apathetic to the passionate.

Real, sustainable change occurs when actions are in response to values. For too long we have focused on making sure people believe the right things and have left their concerns alone."

Revolution versus institutionalization

Thinking about ourselves through the lens of the cross

2 Cor 5:14-17

14For the love of Christ dcontrols us, because we have concluded this: that eone has died for all, therefore all have died; 

We must think of all of life and people through the lens of the cross ' all have died ' we dont see  the natural any more. we don't focus on the natural state of things. 'all have died'.

15 and he died for all, fthat those who live might no longer live for themselves but gfor him who for their sake died and was raised.

16 From now on, therefore, hwe regard no one according to the flesh. 

Same thing as above -

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 

17 Therefore, if anyone is iin Christ, he is ja new creation.2 kThe old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

We are to think of ourselves in terms of what Christ has done in us

looking out into the darkness

Looking out into the darkness -

One sees evil and fears greatly

One person looks up and sees His father, no fear of the uknown because He knows father is there to guide, to help to protect.

Building her up

I want you to devote yourself to build her up before i release more of my glory.

Quit wanting to be someone else

I quit wanting to be someone else all i want to be is Christ. Who I am in You and who You are in me.

God calls us friends

I am totally flabbergasted and astounded that God, the maker of the universe should call us, as small minuscule as ants His friends, His fellows.

When we know who we are in Christ everything Changes

When we know who we are in Christ everything Changes

We get to throw off old identities – I’m lousy, I’m weak, ‘im bad, I would say this is part of the Chrstian experience as we struggle to find our self image in God. This is a real struggle but equally true of you is the fact that God’s almighty power dwells within you.

God shows us our weakness that apart from Him we really can do nothing this is a good thing. We know we cannot do anything apart from Him but we can do all things through His strength in us.

We have something better, something more than just that. We get to trade of the old identities and pick up a new identity in Christ. Our low self esteem – this usually results because we have been exposed to the conviction of sin through the Holy Spirits work but the problem is that the condemnation and accusation of devils tend to acerbate the problem. Through His cross we can think of ourselves through Jesus death and resurrection. We can have a new Identity

Some are going through times of trial where your weaknesses are revealed– in these times we need to know that His grace is more than sufficient, we need to focus on His grace, and His strength. While you know how weak you are, we also need to know the Strength of Christ that will rise up and upon you in your weaknesses. His grace is made perfect in your weaknesses. Refrain from seeing yourself only in your weaknesses, ask the holy Spirit to renew your mind and open your spiritual eyes as to who you are to Him – Ask Him to show you the more than sufficient strength that Christ provides, that you are His beloved, to show you who you are to Him and all that He can do through you.

He has provided the death of Christ that we can bury our old selves, so that we can give ourselves un-reservedly and passionately to Christ. He has risen from the dead so that you can be named as a Child of god.

 God will chastise you, convict you, correct you and warn you. But not make you feel worthless, lifeless, spiritless, faithless. These are from the evil one. You are bad, you are filthy, you are worthless, good for nothing destroys your spirit. Your Spirit, the born again spirit man inside of you is the very thing you need to use to glorify God. Why would God want to destroy the very Spirit which he made alive, to defile the very temple which He wants to dwell in, shine in and show himself to the world through?

The Holy Spirit and God’s word says to you – you are loved, you are mighty, you are strong, yes you can with my help. I will change you, I will purify you, I will empower you. The things about you you cannot do, I will do for you. The Holy Spirit always brings the grace to do what we ourselves cannot on our own.

We get a new identity in Christ. Believe in your new God given identity. Yes I am your beloved, yes I am born again, by His blood by His sacrifice, Yes I can glorify God. Believe these things He has done for you through the cross. Keep them in your heart and mind, treasure them in your heart and speak about them continually especially if you don’t know that God loves you, in moments where He seems far away. Put off the old man and put on the new man in Christ! We can find new confidence in a new identity in Christ! Our mentality and thinking must shift to build our identity upon the one foundation stone of Christ and His cross, in other words we must begin to think of ourselves through the lens of Christ and His cross what He has done for us.

Yes we cannot do the good we want to do the evil we do not want to do, we keep on doing. But its is not the ‘us’ who does it, but it is the power of ‘sin’ which dwells in our flesh in our bodies. Paul made that distinction, he said I, the Spirit man, the born again believer want to do good in my heart. You are not evil you are born again you struggle with evil in your flesh but the way to overcome it is not to focus on it, it is to focus on what Christ has done for you and who you are through Him to take on Christ Himself and receive more grace to become like Jesus through Jesus.

The Holy Spirit comes to convict of sin, of righteousness and Christ’s victory over the evil one. We are righteous because Christ has shed His blood, because we can stand in His virtue before a holy God, not of your own righteousness it is the righteousness of Christ that we have. If you believe in the Gospel in Jesus as your righteousness correctly, the Holy Spirit comes to speak His righteousness over you and tell you that you are forgiven, loved and righteous as His Child. I want to say that that- that same righteousness of Jesus lives in you.

Our attitudes must change if we want to see His kingdom come in us – righteous, peace and joy through the holy spirit through the renewing of our minds. ‘ I beseech you brothers by the mercies of God that you offer yourselves up as a pleasing sacrifice unto God, which is your act of acceptable worship, do not be conformed any longer to the world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is His good, acceptable and perfect will’. Be changed through thinking differently, thinking of yourself through the lens of the gospel.

What I see in the bible are a whole lot of verses trying to tell us to think like we are kings, priests, royal priesthoods, children, created in the image of true righteousness and holiness– now are we going to think according to Christ or what we think is right?

We are sinners but we have been forgiven and now we are children of God. Now we must think of ourselves as His Children. We are dead to sin, alive in Him. Its is not a boasting in fleshliness or self confidence. If we know that all these things we can only have through the grace of God, as gifts to us, we will be humble yet strong in confidence in Him. We need to revive faith In Christ and faith in what he has already done for you and in you so that you can begin to be transformed.

Christ and The Father – ‘you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ The revelation of who we are is unfolded as we give ourselves to God in surrender and baptism unto death. When He reveals our identity to us, when we seek Him, that revelation from God, revealing our identities as His children, that revelation releases faith to do what we cannot do. To Gideon, God spoke and called him a ‘mighty warrior’, David – ‘the next king of Israel’. Our Spiritual Supernatural identity is more important than anything else. When we find who we are in Christ and our mission, place, His gifting and our work in His great Commission, something powerful happens we can do it through His empowerment of His Spirit.

They that know their God shall do exploits. You have access to the most high through His blood. We can all Know God through the cross.

Let us not drag the spirit recreated by God through the dirt and call ourselves sinners and then wonder where is the power to defeat sin. The power to defeat sin is in identity. If you destroy identity, there is no power left to live a Godly life.

“Several paradigm shifts take place in our hearts as we embrace our promotion from servants to friends (John 15:14-15).

First, what we know changes, as we gain access to the heart of the Father. His heart is the greatest resource of information we need to function successfully in all of life. Jesus laid the price of our access to the Father, therefore granting us the freedom that comes from the truth we gain through that unlimited knowledge of His heart. Liberty is found in this phase of the promotion. 

Second, our experience changes. Encounters with God as an intimate are quite different from those of a servant. His heartbeat becomes our heartbeat as we celebrate the shift in our own desires. The realm of His presence becomes our greatest inheritance, and divine encounters our greatest memories. Personal transformation is the only possible result from these supernatural experiences.

Third, our function in life radically changes. Instead of working for Him, we work with Him. We work not for His favor but from His favor. In this position, He entrusts us with more of His power, and we are naturally changed into His likeness more and more. 

Fourthly, our identity is radically transformed. Our identity sets the tone for all we do and become. Christians who live out of who they really are cannot be crippled by the opinions of others. They don't work to fit into other people's expectations but burn with the realization of who their Father says they are.”

Bill Johnson – dreaming with God.

Personality test for free

Free P. Test : http://net2.com/mb/profile.php

Live out the Spirit man's identity

The bible differentiates the three parts of the man - Spirit / soul /body Thessalonians 5:23

Sin and the fleshly deadly nature dwell in the flesh

The soul is your mind and personality thoughts are here too the mind and emotion

Spirit is intuition, will and thought spirit nature of God and man true essence.

We were dead spiritually the old man in Romans 6 was crucified with Him that the body might be rendered ineffective for sin. The old man is not the body. the old man is the old spirit man that works through the soul and satisfies the mind of the flesh.

Now in the Spirit man we are united with Christ. we are to live out of that new identity in the Spirit, and by the help of the Holy Spirit's further empowerment, we are expected to war against the fleshly lusts.

Colossians 3:5-9 no mention of the sinner identity to be mindful of but that you, the soul and mind can take on the identity of Christ and put off the old man.

Ephesians 4:22-24 Put off the old man, put on the new man.

We are expected to transform our souls out of the victory in the Spirit man that has already been given to us.

It doesn't matter if i am unprepared, it doesn't matter if all i have is a sling and a stone, I am your beloved i will win this for your Glory.

thank you lord we are children of your light and your purity, what potential we all have in you.

Ephesians 5:7-13

7 Therefore ado not become partners with them; 8 for bat one time you were cdarkness, but now you are light in the Lord. dWalk as children of light 9 (for ethe fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),10 and ftry to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 gTake no part in the hunfruitful iworks of darkness, but insteadjexpose them. 12 For kit is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when lanything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

m“Awake, O sleeper,

and narise from the dead,

and oChrist will shine on you.”

From called to Christ to Glorified by Christ

Convicts of sin, righteousness and judgement:

1st stage: conviction of Sin brings us to Christ 'Helpless' 'powerless' 'weak' cannot work righteousness

2nd Stage: Righteousness 'brought near through the blood', 'friends of God', 'Spirit witnesses with our Spirit that we are Children of God'

3rd stage: Christ's victory - judgement over the evil one, Christ who has overcome, invites you to share in that Victory. "I have overcome the world', 'destroyed him who had the power of death', 'led captivity captive', 'all things under His feet'.

Corresponds with calling, justification, glorification stages as pointed out in Romans 8. whom He has called He has Justified, whom He has justified, He has also glorified.

The Holy Spirit Convicts of Righteousness

If I Believe the gospel, while i am trying to believe it and think in terms of the Gospel, if I believe in Christ Correctly and the true gospel, Thank God it is the Holy Spirit who comes to convict of sin but also more importantly, of righteousness and I do not struggle alone but can expect His help and convicting power!


Preaching correctly will attract the conviction and work of the Holy Spirit

identity and doctrine

·         The need to preach: live Holy for He is Holy remains to challenge people to turn from the flesh to even war against it and cut if off and hate what God hates remains and must be preached strongly. But the solution to how this is carried out if the preaching along this line is carried on for too long, without the ‘how’, believers will become discouraged at little success at being able to change themselves.

·         Grace must be emphasized, and emphasized heavily. that just as with justification, that is only by faith, sanctification is also only by faith in Jesus alone by the cross alone. We never outgrow the need for the cross as Christians but need to daily preach the gospel to ourselves.

·         The challenge to give all for Christ to lose our lives to gain an abundant life in Christ remains as the only entry point into all the holiness and kingdom that God has promised us. The only way into the promises is through death and resurrection of Christ. This is an essential component to the message will include this need for the believer to surrender all to Christ to enter into the fullness of His Kingdom and promises.

·         The convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and God the Father’s hatred of Sin and chastisement for sin must also be emphasized.

·         As posted earlier, Self righteousness must be resisted, through the strong preaching of the Gospel that says that our hearts are evil, we cannot do any good on our own strength or in our own flesh, and that our hearts are sinful and corrupted beyond our own understanding.

·         i would like to especially emphasize this point #5: an essential part to accessing God’s power to live the Christian life is to be renewed in the attitude and spirit of our minds, to form the mind of Christ in a believer

·         Did Jesus doubt His identity as a God’s Son, was Jesus confident in His identity as God’s Son? Undoubtedly He was confident.

·         At the temptation in the wilderness it was His identity as a Son which was most contested by the evil one and so it will be with us also. The most challenging thing would be to have people adopt a new identity by faith in the gospel of Sons and Daughters of God. 

·         The facilitating point I think that helps us to access more of grace to live that Christian life which is to love God and love people fully with an internal Change that only God can effect is the mind. The facilitating point is the attitude of mind that is able to be renewed to the truth that we are His Sons, and be secure in that identity. I believe that the more we are able to hold to this grace given identity, the more of grace the Christian should be able to access.

The importance of celebrating intimacy with God and answered prayer

When we don't get answers to prayer,we start measuring our success by the discipline of prayer. How long we pray and how much we sacrifice becomes the hallmark of our spirituality. Soon relationship gives way to performance and sacrifice replaces passion.
Discipline is only important if I have a relationship God not so I can have one. 


- Kris Vallotton/Bill Johnson


focus on intimacy with God, focus on His goodness, focus on His grace, Focus on answers to prayer

The identity that which is struggle to know and hold on to

Thank you I am your beloved son,

I am your warrior. thank you for gifts of discernment, prophetic gifts, wisdom and knowledge in your heart.

A gift to know what is your word in season, eyes to see in the Spirit, nose to smell in the Spirit, and speak it boldly.

Thank you for Spiritual hunger.

Thank you I am your beloved Son.

I humble myself and await Your exaltation.

thank you for prophetic and poetic flair.

Thank you for a revolutionary Spirit that brings your Kingdom.

Thank you for the boldness and power to speak a word of your spirit that changes things things that breaks everything concrete and atmospheric.

thank you for power to be independent and express my own view that is according to Your will.

Notes from conversation with a friend and words in season - good counsel from the Spirit

Notes from a conversations with a friend:


"Our identity sets the tone for all we do and become. Christians who live out of who they really are cannot be crippled by the opinions of others. They don't work to fit into other people's expectations but burn with the realization of who their Father says they are." Bill Johnson


1) the breaking point is near. A container filled with water, accumulating capacity, it will break soon. To See and know God. To know the face and grace from the Father. Spiritual Hunger will be satisfied in God!


2) look at Christ who has crushed the serpents head and all other victories that are found at staring into the riches of Jesus. The internal struggle will be won with His grace.


3) Have the mind of Christ which is found in Jesus - who is perfect theology. Anything not in line with Christ, resist, renounce and throw out. Have in mind the thoughts that God thinks about us and others.


4) Use the authority that God has given in Christ be bold to speak as Christ speaks and work and act as Christ acts, it comes from within. replacing fear with adoption and boldness and right thinking. Command that shoulder to heal


5) break man pleasing to please Christ with boldness to do what is accordance to His righteousness and to obey Him in all things.


5) Strength and boldness in the knowledge that God inhabits - purity and devotion to Christ with a clean conscience is boldness before Him.


6) Shine, Shine shine the glory of the living Christ to all as we dwell in His presence.


7) lose it all to gain it all in Christ.


8) labour and work hard with the diligence that Christ provides AB Simpson Faint, yet pursuing  - Gideon


9) Love God with all the mind - use the mind's potential to love Him. 


10) Honor God through discipline 


11) release and work out the steady character and excellence of Jesus through discipline obedience and loving worship

Days of Heaven on Earth

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

It is a good thing to learn to depend upon God to work through our feeble resources and yet, while so depending, to be absolutely faithful and diligent and not allow our trust to deteriorate into indolence.

We find no sloth or negligence in Gideon or his three hundred; though they were weak and few, they were completely loyal, and everything in them-down to their last breath-was ready for God to use. Faint, yet pursuing was their watchword as they followed and finished their glorious victory. They did not rest until the last of their enemies was destroyed, and even their false friends were punished for their treachery and unfaithfulness.

God still calls the weakest instruments. When, however, he chooses and enables them, they are no longer weak but mighty through God (2 Corinthians 10:4) and faithful through His grace to every trust and opportunity. "They trust," as Dr. Chalmers used to say, "as though all depended upon God, and work as though all depended upon themselves."

Teach me, my blessed Master, to trust and obey.

Scripture

Faint, yet pursuing—Judges 8:4

Bill Johnson - transformed through promotion

Transformed Through Promotion
Several paradigm shifts take place in our hearts as we embrace our promotion from servants to friends (John 15:14-15).

First, what we know changes, as we gain access to the heart of the Father. His heart is the greatest resource of information we need to function successfully in all of life. Jesus laid the price of our access to the Father, therefore granting us the freedom that comes from the truth we gain through that unlimited knowledge of His heart. Liberty is found in this phase of the promotion.

Second, our experience changes. Encounters with God as an intimate are quite different from those of a servant. His heartbeat becomes our heartbeat as we celebrate the shift in our own desires. The realm of His presence becomes our greatest inheritance, and divine encounters our greatest memories. Personal transformation is the only possible result from these supernatural experiences.

Third, our function in life radically changes. Instead of working for Him, we work with Him. We work not for His favor but from His favor. In this position, He entrusts us with more of His power, and we are naturally changed into His likeness more and more.

Fourthly, our identity is radically transformed. Our identity sets the tone for all we do and become. Christians who live out of who they really are cannot be crippled by the opinions of others. They don't work to fit into other people's expectations but burn with the realization of who their Father says they are.

Spiritual Gifts and Spiritual Fruit

How natural and comparatively easy to use your spiritual gifts and be yourself.

How infinitely harder it is to love as Christ loved.

Recovering Manhood in the local context

There is a great need today a need for men to journey together to prove the power of the Gospel to change our hearts and recover God's image in manhood especially in Singapore. Jesus help us!

Discipline

Discipline does not reduce or constrict potential it enhances and frees it up to shine.

Warrior poet

WIE: Is there anyone you look up to who embodies that combination of strength and sensitivity?

McManus: I think of David in the Old Testament. He was an artisan and a warrior. He was a warrior poet. He had the strength of courage to kill Goliath and the artistic tenderness and sensitivity to soothe Saul’s spirit by being a harpist. Now, we may love that, but it’s also true that the same personality, that same person, can misuse both of those qualities. That same powerful essence that killed Goliath can also then kill Uriah the Hittite, as David does when he wants to take Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. And that same artistic aesthetic can be the guy who is on the rooftop admiring the beauty of Bathsheba, deciding he has to have her. So I want a guy to be willing to kill Goliath when we’re in danger. I just don’t want him to be like that with his wife and kids at home. You see, we tend to want a person to be one thing, and what we need to be is whatever the moment calls for.

God of Isaac

" Be the God of Isaac, the God who Himself does what he cannot do "

Fathering and Identity

The great need of an orphaned, fatherless generation is Identity,

But identity has only one source, which is the Father.

Finding Identity apart from a relationship of knowing Him as father is a futile struggle.

If we know three things deeply:
1) who He is, The Father of all, loving, mighty, strong and redeeming,
2) the identity of who He has called us: His beloved children and
3) what He has called us to do, we will be bold to do all the works we were called to do.

and no weapon formed against us could prosper for we would overcome even the trials of burning fire by faith.

the key to victory

the key to victory is to bring every battle to Christ who ever always overcomes

Why is the new generation this way? Can I afford not to connect with them?

But your point raises good questions: why is the new generation this way? The 'Its all about ME generation'.

Are they also victims of the current Internet and portable media age?

And the question: can I afford not to connect with them? 

Your views Bro.

Why? because the internet is instant gratification - you name it, musically, visually, every perversion or fetish you want, you can have, it encourages the fleshly pursuit of pleasure, pleasure pleasure and now more instantly than every before.

very rarely will anyone dig to find gold yet alone take a long journey to find it.

the bible holds true to find value and truth and something worth while you must dig and search to find it but very very few ever do... my feeling is less so now than ever before.

How do you want to connect with them? to gratify them and tickle their ears and eyes and worsen their condition keep on playing with them so that they will never ever grow up spiritually?

for what purpose do you want to connect with them?

Is it to deliver them from the present evil age? I trust that this is so.

Can you deliver a sharp rebuke? Are they used to receiving sharp rebukes? Proverbs says rebukes are the way of life if you don’t rebuke them, they shall be on the road to death in the future in many forms. Foolish spending = financial ruin. Foolish pleasures = wasted life, foolish sins = death in all its forms to relationships, to Spirituality, to work ethic, poverty etc. etc.

Preach strong about the utter meaninglessness, vanity and worthlessness of the material age, the deceitfulness and emptiness of fleshly gratification of eyes, tastes, emotions, mental images, physical stimulations.

Most importantly they must taste the bitterness of death there is in Sin and that only the Holy Spirit can inculcate. Because we are insensible to that bitter taste, having grown up drinking it as water and because we are dead. But life comes when we are born again if we are born again there is hope - there is a desire to be pure and separated.

But the preacher must preach ‘the soul that sins must die, the wages of sin is death’ - this is God’s word. Spurgeon said: ‘let loose the lion of Gods word’ - preach the word as it is, let the Holy Spirit go forth to convict your charges that sin is bitter and awful death to their hearts. you want this because you want their tastes to change, you want them to be in the world, but not of the world. Christians must be distinct in purity and love, distinct in every way from worldlings. But yet this is entirely a work of grace.

Pray for the conviction to come. the convicting power of the Holy Spirit is God's grace to begin to save them from indwelling sin. Deliver sharp rebukes because you love them. God will lead you to speak it right if your heart is set on their salvation and separation on the world. They will want to be pure and seperated, the Holy Spirit will create and strengthen that deposit of desire for purity in them.

There must come a fear of sin and spiritual and natural death that sin causes, and a tangible experience of the Holy Spirit's conviction to reveal to a person the wickedness and death there is in Sin will cause it. they must see and geel the utter dreadfulness of it, this is the awakening that is required. The preacher assists to preach ‘that the soul that sins must die, the wages of sin is death' but the good news through Christ is life. They will flock themselves to Christ and He will separate them if you will but rebuke them.

Spiritual fulfillment and fleshly fulfillment are mutually exclusive to each other, mix them together and the spiritual always loses out because of the allure of the present. The immediacy of the physical realm and the distance we feel as physical beings to the spiritual world make the spiritual - joys and realities seem afar off. the fleshly always obscures the spiritual.

Sin and the flesh is an empty experience compared to the weight and glory of eternal and spiritual joys and fulfillment  However, spiritual joys are not gained in a day or two days but after years and years of warfare, faith, passionate pursuit joy is developed and strong joy results.

Purity has to be a priority – the pure in heart will see God, and its progressive, the more we let grace purify our hearts the more of Christ we see and the more we are transformed, the more of grace we can receive, the more purity we have, the more that revelations of Christ flow and the more we enjoy Him and we are changed… it’s a cycle of holiness of which the first step is to turn from the flesh.

They must 'taste and see that the Lord is good' and that He does not condone fleshly fulfillment. Fleshly fulfillment will hinder your enjoyment of spiritual things. Hinder the growth of the spirit within. ‘touch not the unclean thing’, ‘be holy for I am holy’, ‘perfecting holiness in the fear of God’ are new testament commands unto the Christian. 

Led by emotions

Realize that i am too easily led by my own emotions and not will or discipline to do that which is right.

Discipline

Desire and discipline must marry.

Discipline is control for the sake of highest joy and passion and satisfaction. Discipline does not kill joy it enhances it.

Strange age

we live in a strange age: we are addicted to virtual and social networking but will not so much pick up the phone to call someone for christian fellowship

I miss Gods presence and intimacy but will not as much as clear half and hour of fresh spirit and mind to pray.

Our Need for His Grace

We can plant the seed of God's word but spiritual growth entirely comes by the grace of God.

Grace can only be received.

No one can start grace, no one can manufacture this grace, no man can strive to produce grace, neither can it be earned.

Grace originates from God alone and is an expression of His infinite compassion and kindness.

How does grace then comes, how does a person increase in grace? It comes from a realization of how lost and sinful we are. How weak and worthless we are compared with how Holy and infinite and good God is. Without God's goodness, His humility in coming to serve and die for man, without grace we would be totally lost in sin and lost to heaven and lost to God for all eternity. It is grace which first chose us, His mercy which first reached out to us.

If we have not known this grace, if grace has not encountered us in the first instance then we are not Christians and we are spiritually dead.

How do we receive grace? Only realize your own poverty and weakness, confess to be poor and to be entirely needy of grace for your own growth and come humbly and expectantly. ‘Apart from Me, (Jesus) you can do nothing.’

To quote some bible verses: 'God refuses the proud but gives grace to the humble, blessed are the poor in Spirit, for Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.'

Blessed are you when you humble yourself knowing you need his grace for it will surely given, according to the promises which are certain and sure in Gods word.

Then, after recognizing your poverty, believe and refuse to be turned away from these promises of God's grace 'yours will be the kingdom of heaven' 'it is the father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom', 'God gives grace to the humble', 'for the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit', 'how much more will the Father not give His Spirit to those who ask Him', 'He who comes to Me, i will be no means cast out'.

These promises are the rock solid pure gold of God’s promises, His word, promising everlasting grace to us. Certain and sure they are. These will all be fulfilled - every word will come to pass of the promises of God's abundant and overflowing mercy and compassion and grace unto us. Even every word of Judgement which befalls sin also will be fulfilled.

For God's strength to be shown in you, for the will, ruler ship and the kingdom of Christ to be established, For His work in you and through you continue and being established to the Glory of God's grace, He will accomplish it all.

If we could cause these things to happen, it would be to our glory. But if we are powerless to cause Spiritual growth- the character of Jesus Christ to emerge, and fruit of the Holy Spirit to birth in our lives, and only God can do it, then the glory praise and recognition, ultimately will go to God and God alone, in its entirety. Let God be most praised and let Him have all glory, affection, recognition, admiration because of His grace.

Let us spend time in prayer (fellowship with God) to receive Him in His grace in our lives, and let us receive abundantly from His grace for it is rich. Let us dwell in the presence of God and upon His promises.


In God's presence we need not speak, we need not pray, if we want to, we can. What is more needful is to open our hearts to His presence to say, Lord won't you come into my heart again, have an attitude of deep dependence on His grace.

Let us pray:

'God we are nothing and can do nothing apart from you, bestow us then this grace, we receive out of the kindness of your heart. Fill us with your love, out of the gentle and holy compassions of your heart. We depend wholly on you, leaning and depending every part of our lives on you.'

Covenantal love

Just reminded that i can find safety under God's covenantal love.

Serving in the shadow

JohnPiper: Be content. Stop comparing. Serve happily in God's measure of faith and giftedness. http://t.co/DOY5vdn

“Andrew. Oh! You’re Simon Peter’s brother, aren’t you?”

Andrew must have gotten used to that. Even the New Testament introduces him as “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother” (John 1:40). Peter’s shadow is cast over Andrew from the beginning.

Andrew is mentioned by name 12 times in the New Testament. In ten of those he’s named along with Peter, and usually as Peter’s brother. Peter, on the other hand, has over 150 mentions, and actually contributed to the New Testament.

It’s interesting to note that Andrew had the more impressive résumé to begin with. He had been a disciple of John the Baptist. Not only that, but he was one of Jesus’ very first disciples (John 1:35-40). In fact, it was Andrew who went and “found his own brother Simon” and brought him to Jesus (John 1:41-42).

Yet even at this very first meeting it became clear that Jesus had plans concerning Simon that were different from Andrew. Before Simon had said or done anything, Jesus gave him his new name of Cephas (Peter), the rock.

Peter was God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that [he] should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). We know many of these good works because God gives them a lot of press.

But Andrew was equally God’s workmanship. He too was created in Christ Jesus for good works that God had prepared beforehand. It’s just that God chose not to give Andrew’s works the same prominence he gave Peter’s. And so Andrew served in Peter’s shadow.

But Andrew had a great shadow-servant mentor in John the Baptist. Andrew had learned from John that “a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27). John had seen Jesus’ rise and his own decline in prominence and said with joy-filled faith, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

And that is the cry of every true disciple. This whole thing isn’t about our prominence at all. It’s about Jesus’ prominence. Like the disciples (Mark 9:33-34) we tend to lose sight of this easily.

When God gives one disciple five talents, another two talents, and another one talent (Matthew 25:15) he has his reasons. Very likely they are different from what we think (Isaiah 55:9). He knows what he’s doing. We can trust him.

Today, be content with what you have (Hebrews 13:5), and be faithful with what you have been given (Matthew 25:21). Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, trusting that he will exalt you at the proper time and in the proper way (1 Peter 5:6).

Be like Andrew. This shadow-servant was faithful, obedient, responsive, trusted, willing, and courageous. Tradition says that he continued to preach the gospel and plant churches until he was martyred by crucifixion in the AD 60’s

Let us serve in the shadows God places us with that same joy-filled, overcoming faith.