Luke One: Mary and the practice of reflecting on the eternal promise

Every time she looked at the infant, every time she would have been worried or tempted to think about worldly concerns - would there be enough clothing or food for the winter, would there be enough firewood, she would look at the infant, the toddler and remember, the Angel's message : He is the Son of God, the one who would inherit the Throne of David. She would be in instant reverence and faith : surely what God had conceived, He will sustain.

The angel said in Luke 1:32,33 And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. 

It was a moment when the eternal met with the temporal, the Spiritual with the human the everyday. A teenager pregnant and visited by Angels on High.

She was no ordinary teenager. She was a youth with an eternal focus, powerful conviction, true reverence and Godly love and devotion. 

"Greetings O favoured one, the lord is with you, do not be afraid for you have found favour with God". 

What is it like to live under the favour of God, when God comes near when He approaches close to live with us? So much favour that you will be in charge of raising Christ up from infant hood to manhood he will be your charge, your responsibility.

To be called literally the bride of God, you can say, God is the Father of my Children, is that great wealth?

Does favor mean wealth? she was still poor after conceiving. Their lives never attained to millionaire wealth. Although supernatural provision did come to raise the boy to manhood through the kings from the orient.

When you are caught up in the spiritual realm, the eternal realms, the things of this world are small in comparison. 

Luke Chapter one: The faith of Mary

"He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name".

From the natural perspective how is being endangered as a pregnant virgin a good thing for mary or even a great thing? how about expenses of child raising and the realities of poverty?

No, not withstanding these and in the face of these challenges she regarded the promise of God that there would be born through her, a saviour - greater honor. the promise of salvation through the son of God by the power of the holy spirit where all things become possible greater treasure.

When we keep our mind on God the savior everything makes sense. we are able to take the challenges that come. we are able to overcome the realities of life that face us.

She kept her mind on what was mighty and miraculous. She kept in her heart, the things that the angel said. Pondering over and turning over and over those precious words spoken by God's two prophets at the synagogue, that God had done an awesome thing for her, caused her to conceive when she was a virgin. she kept her mind on His mighty power and His action and intimate.involvement in her life.

"He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name"

She also came to realize something of Gods holy nature in experiencing the miraculous conception of Jesus. when we exprrice the supernatural, we touch a dimention of Gods holiness. His otherness How different He is from us.

"His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation"

She admitted her faith freely that divine love and mercy would follow her and her generations after her forever because of this one miracle stemming from her faith that was in God.

Being carried along in Gods great purpose and plan - mediations on Luke One

Mary did not strive to be spiritual or accomplish anything for God.

She was chosen by God to carry our His plan in bringing Jesus to the world.

So many times we make and put all our hopes in our own way, all our "eggs" all our heart is really following our own plan for spiritual success. Or happiness or our own vision of what we think will bring God and us the most joy. Even spiritual endeavor can be our own egos at work to prop up pride and self.

And many times we are stretched beyond our own limits beyond the boundaries of Gods grace and blessing because our hearts are not right.

Our hearts have not come to delight and rest in being taken up into Gods purpose and His great will, which also comes with great grace, empowerment and restfulness. obedience brings us to rest.

Although Mary was poor she was not overly worried about financial provision for her new baby, like we would be, or even the terror of being found out by her community which would most certainly mean death for her.

She was caught up in the beauty and worship of God Himself and His awesome plan. The first thing she does after being visited by the angel Gabriel was to visit Elizabeth whom Gabriel spoke about. To see the miracle of "nothing is impossible with God". Feed your faith on a God who does mighty wonderful impossible things. The miracle of one who is barren and now by gods power is blessed to give birth. She has a heart seeking the treasures and the wonders of Gods kingdom. That hunger no doubt qualified her for the large purposes of God.

The small the poor and insignificant in the world are not insignificant to God. She revels in the favor of God and fears not the reproach of man.

When you are caught up into Gods purpose, the son of God having the throne of David redeeming His people for Himself. There is no fear of man. There is no fear of lack of provision. There is no fear of lack of protection. God is all to you mighty riches and supply mighty comfort and peace mighty love and joy all the days even if you be a poor person in the world. You are rich in God who provides all.

The faith of Abraham

Abraham's bond and relationship with God was solid and it came to a point that it could withstand testing not of adversity but of voluntary worship and obedience.

Trials promote and train us for involuntary worship - because we want to get out of the trial we know out of survival instinct to obey. Freedom is a different thing. When we are not compelled, freedom trains us and calls us to voluntary obedience.

Abraham experienced the reality of God. Abraham heard His voice of promise that spoke to his deepest desire and dream of his heart to be a father.

he experienced supernatural protection of himself and His wife, provision that made him rich, fought impossible odds in battle and won, worshiped and finally saw a supernatural miracle in the promise God spoke over his life the birth of Isaac Gods fulfillment of his promise and a miracle child.

ll these things pointed to one main thing - that God is good lovely and mighty and wild and a good father to Abraham giving all things into the hand of this man. Abraham did nothing - God did everything for him. Abraham believed God that he may be a father of faith to us.

We who believe the gospel of a God doing everything for us and wanting to show us His mercy and power and grace if we will but believe the gospel.

What is the gospel? the good news that He is king of the universe and wants to be a forgiving and saving and healing king to us. we do nothing but believe in the divine exchange of Christ for us sinners given once for all.

we are in similar faith and straits as Abraham for we are also given these awesome promises of new life, forgiveness of sins walking w god as righteous through the word of God. if we believe the gospel the bible indeed calls us children of faith.

and what is the gospel? that Christ is our God, savior and righteousness and we are called to forsake all other forms of saving ourselves and abandon ourselves to him in submission obedience and trust Him.

The Faith of Abraham and reasoning on the resurrection

slaying his son in worship and sacrifice was a voluntary act not co erced in any way. he demonstrated an extraordinary form of human love for God as yet unknown. a love like Christs love for the father in the sacrifice of everything dear in obedience to god Himself.

saying in effect God you are my possession above all possessions. without you I cannot live and would rather live in eternity with you than have the present world a brief moment without you.

yet it was more multi layered than that for Hebrews says Abraham believed god would raise isaac from the dead. this is advanced and sophisticated thinking on Abrahams part.

for he reasoned thus if God spoke once to me that I would be a father of many nations then fulfills his own word by bringing me a son, then tells me to sacrifice him, he will not by this new order undo his previous promise to me , for He is no liar but true - through and through as his previous experience with God had informed him.

so he reasoned that God was true and faithful and could not be faulted with duplicity - double mindedness.

He saw a consistency in Gods character through multiple and tried and proven experiences. the conclusions in Abrahams mind and in his heart were concrete. God is good. God is faithful. god is merciful and kind to me. he will never betray me. he got at God's heart and perceived it and honored God he was God's friend.

God is single minded and sure. and his promise certain. psalms says his purposes are unchanging from generation to generation. Abraham saw that.

so everything he knew about God was filtered through this solid matrix of knowing Gods character. he could be tested. this thing would stand. 

every new order was fit into this paradigm of faith in the character of God which was built over time by God.

so he reasoned that God would raise up Isaac up from the dead. an extraordinary reasoning that reasoned and depended on the goodness of God. faith sees God is good despite the circumstances. it sees beyond this realm to a good God. praise him for he is good and His mercies endure forever the Israelites were commanded to do so especially in dire straits. because that is the nature of our faith.

abrahams faith in which he believed that God would resurrect isaac was a precursor to Christ's time in which  Christ believed that His Father would raise Him from the dead because of His goodness.

this is the faith we are called to have as we give God our puny lives can we believe that God wants to raise us up from the dead and make us new?

we are called not only to believe in resurrection but also to experience resurrection of our own personalities our lives our relationships everything can be resurrected by God but do we believe and will we go on till we experience this personally for ourselves?

the teaching of resurrection can be found in Romans 6 Hebrews 12 and the gospels the message is consistent. give all to God and He will give u far more than u can imagine but all on His terms do we dare follow his rules and prove his promise?

Christianity is not a life without trouble.

Christianity is a life arguably with more trouble - but with an overflowing supply, more life, grace, power, strength, divine comfort, promise, hope, love, eternal life, deepest peace, wisdom and everything you need to overcome this life in fellowship with the Savior, Father and Spirit who has overcome all.

If you want a life without trouble don't come to Christ. you will get by better that way.

If you are looking to get out of this 80 years alive at the end of the age having what really counts in this life, then follow Christ by all means.

But know it will come with trouble but along with Trouble a promise of increasing experience of the abundance of Christ - life, abundance, abounding strength, grace, peace, mighty experiences of Him and you will know Him- the greatest treasure of all, and the only thing which you can take away when this life is done.

Then go all the way and become an over comer in Him. all the way for Jesus.

If it were a life without trouble then what cross do we take up? be courageous for Jesus. The cross is shame, the cross is rejection by the world, the cross is the persecutions that come with the faith. the being labelled a fool. we are fools for Christ that we may in the end be proven right.

That the way and secret of life and satisfaction of live is not the mad worship of ambition and material possessions but in the self sacrificial love.

Remember Jesus who endured, taking up the cross, scorning its shame, what hardships he endured from sinners. He walked this dusty ground which is not our home. lest you become weary.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

also because there is an angry devil who hates us and we are born into the world which is nothing less than a war zone between forces of light and dark. those who do evil will always hate those who love right and do right. if they hated Him they will hate us also.

Philippians 1: 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,

Romans 8: 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Philippians 2: 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;
v.11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.

Remember they hated Him 'without a cause'. so they will hate us who bear His likeness for we are the stench of death unto death to them but life unto life to those who seek righteousness justice and life.

The Humility of Father God

love is not arrogant, love does not boast. Father God is love. therefore Our Father is not arrogant, He does not boast

Boast :- to exaggerate with pride. to take glory to one's self.

Father will say the truth about what He has done but never to boast, never to exaggerate, never to be arrogant there is no evil, no pride in God.

there is good pride -a pride born out of self sacrificial love and an evil pride born out of ambition and egotistical love of self.

just as there is good jealousy a jealousy that is born of love - and there is envy.

our Father is humble for when we see Jesus' humility we see the humility of our Father. As Jesus was willing to die on the cross being humbled as a man and a bond slave of the Father, even humbling Himself to be servant of all men, even the lowliest servant of all - to die for man's sins on the cross and to wash the feet of men.

so we see the heart of the Father the humility of the Father who stoops down who sends help, who sends His tender love who sends Jesus he son and Himself comes to lift up even the lowliest of men. Our Father.

The Father's Suffering Love

our Father does not seek His own welfare His own increase in wealth or good or His own reputation. He is willing to suffer and take up the cost of loving men to His own impoverishment and cost Of Himself.

there is a unique suffering that comes with loving people with free will. of loving prodigals whom you never really know whether or when they will come home to you. Here is an ache of heart a pronounced suffering, agony and pain of love from loving people who do not love you. There is a painful endurance of love and depth of suffering to the Father heart of God is unique to God for Gods is love and perfect compassion.

to love means to suffer. to love means to give to the coat of everything you own down to the joys of your own heart to give all and not hold to anything. Jesus sacrifice was such, so the Love the Father is also.

the Father bears the pain of rejection and derision and scorn of His own person. our Father gives all of Himself even to pain and death and shame, withholding no good thing from His sons. Our Father gives His very heart, His very best to men in the only beloved Son of God Jesus Christ.

Self sufficiency is not a God attitude. Dependence on God our Father is.

John 5 :15 the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the sees the Father doing.

everything Christ had was given by the Father. it was in dependence on His Father that He did anything. self sufficiency is not a god attitude.

I need to receive all from the Father to complete and do His will. I need to receive His deep wisdom, His directive, his power, authority His skill. His love. to do all He wants me to do.

Adam received every step of development and thing from His Father whether small or great. every benefit and blessing came from His Father much like Christ who also received all things of His Father, who walked hand in hand and step in step with His Father growing into His fullness and stature even dying on a cross in obedience.

the tension is not whether we receive all things from god and not work or work and not receive from God.

we receive all things from God and work and develop with God at every step receiving grace and peace to grow and develop as we depend also on Him everything comes of God Our Father is the source. but everything comes through God - our Father is also our fuel, our sustenance, how can we live but to depend on Him at every step?

The Wisdom of Love

love is wise. when u have your heart full of love you then can better think and conceive the thoughts of god for God is first love. love prepares the heart to receive wisdom and in the prepared posture of love, wisdom comes to guide loving responses. Both are God but one takes precedence.

He thinks from love and compassion. His wisdom is subject to the over-riding intent and purposes of love.

love is wise for it is patient and refrains to judge prematurely and avoids errors in judgement through compassion.

even justice is subject and tampered with His love. for "mercy triumphs over judgement" and in His judgement He remembers His love His faithfulness His covenant His mercy. His mercy lasts a thousand generations but anger is but a mement. the highest revelation of God was the mercy seat during a dispensation when judgement was the ruling order of that covenant.

wisdom is an expression of love. Wisdom conforms the world and shapes it to the standards of love and relationships over things tasks and objects.

things tasks and objects are arrayed deployed and arranged by wisdom to produce love's directives and goals.

God looses His counsel and wisdom and strategies to those who would act and rule with His heart. the secret counsel of the lord is with those who fear, love worship, Him. the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom but love is its end thats how the bible ends with reconciled love.

Abiding in the Father's love

loving the Father is the greatest command and greatest goal of Christianity. even as the Son loved His father and did all things in love with and for him.

the commands, the law is only fulfilled by love. for love is the command. the royal law is love. all works are to be but an overflowing response to the love of god. every other work is childish work. love is manly work, mature work.

Jesus fulfills His commands in us by loving us to fullness. we love for god has fist loved us. God has immense love for His creation. the Father loves us even as he has loved His son. He wants to be one with us. He wants perfect reconciliation and intimacy and the cost that was paid for that is infinite. the cost of the sacrifice of Christ. the punishment of Christ.

it is not merely knowledge of reconciliation that counts but the deep and growing experience of intimacy in His presence that makes love real, not only to the mind but to the heart. for it is from the heart that our lives flow from. any real change and transformation starts at our core of our beings - our hearts.

abiding - keeping in the deep experience of the love of Jesus and the father is therefore the greatest command. He wants to pour out His love on us more than we want to receive His love. for it is only by His love that we can live right. only by His love can we be transformed into love and fulfill the great command and upholds the law.

he desires that we live right, that our lives be expressions of His love. he desires our love to be mature love.

the only way that love can mature is in the ever greater experience and revelation of the mighty love of God our Father

only this can give us the power to leave the world - the love of our father. if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in us. but if we keep experiencing the love of the Father, the love for the world will be left behind for a higher and greater joy.

Love must grow. love must increase and expand to take in all our spirit soul mind and strength yes filling our bodies which are to be temples of living Spirit.

all that matters is to receive and give out His love- for love is mighty. in love the power of the spirit is released. acting and responding out of love is the key to the release of the power of the spirit. 1 cor 13 the higher way that releases 1 cor 14 the gifts of the Spirit. the Spirit is a Spirit first of love (the fruit of the Spirit is first love) and manifests Himself when we love as He loves. when we consent to believe in love to know love and to act in love to practice love in practical tangible ways then is His Spirit activated alive and flowing in our lives.

in love we bond with God. in love we are made perfect in oneness with the nature of God. this love is Holy. it is incompatible with a flesh led life. we will never know how deep this love goes if we hold dear the pleasures of flesh and sin.

Let us be made one with God in love. to be filled with compassion. this is the highest order.

Is it safe to ignore the bible and rely solely on revelations from the Holy Spirit?

John 14:16
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 14:23
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The Spirit's main means of operation is through the written word of God, and the word of God is ineffective apart from the empowerment and speaking of the Spirit of God.

Does God move in visions and dreams and revelations when we don't read our bible, does He act when we disobey His word? Undoubtedly He does.

Does this mean it is safe for us to ignore understanding the word of God and dilligent study of His ways?

When we give time and effort to diligent study, and endeavour to obey the word of God to the best of our ability, we are providing a template, a framework, materials in the form of ideas for His Spirit to speak, enlighten and move.

It can be compared to building a highway or an aircraft landing strip for the Spirit of God to speak and move in power and deliver gifts to us, rather than having Him try to hack through the swamp of the multitude of our fleshly thoughts in order to operate. The word of God gives us wise counsel and ministers life, provoking change, repentance, obedience. Obedience and submission to the word of God opens channels of peace and quietness in our hearts by which we can hear Him speak and can then obey further, opening channels for breakthrough and for the empowerment of the Spirit to function.

The word operates as a template, a pattern, a promise, an God-born idea that is planted in the heart, which the Spirit then comes to make experiential, through an encounter with His presence. The word teaches us what Jesus is like, what His motivations are, What His person feels and sounds like, what He values and what He hates, but the Spirit comes to give us a real contact, heart to heart relationship with Him and a real experience of infilling.

How do you know what spirit you are opening yourself up to apart from the word of God who tells you what Jesus is like? It is our agreement with the word of God that the Holy Spirit then uses to make us into a temple of the living God by filling you with power and coming in to speak with you, to empower you and to live the Christ life within you. The Spirit also empowers and causes the word of God to come alive in the first place.

What pattern does the Holy Spirit come to fulfill in us?

It is the pattern, the ways of living, it is the heart values of Jesus as revealed in the written word of God that the Holy Spirit comes to make flesh. The pattern of Christ, as revealed in the word of God, revealed through the Spirit.

Ps 119:97 Oh, how I love your teachings! They are in my thoughts all day long. If I could count the number of your thoughts they would overwhelm me. Thank God for His word, and thank God for the glorious operations of His Spirit which are one.

False Idea of Christ are blockages to revelation

The man with an incorrect idea about Jesus is worse off than the man with no idea about Him. The man with the incorrect idea about Jesus thinks he knows Him and is satisfied in his wrong idea, this he is not motivated to press in to pray or to gain a correction to his understanding.

The man with no idea is open to the operation of the Holy Spirit and can gain a true revelation of the Spirit of the knowledge of Him.

We have so many wrong ideas about Him today but so little revelation and certainty about who He is what His character is like, what the church needs most today is a return to true personal and living revelation and knowledge of the living Christ.

To return to times of prayer to the God of glory that would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, and then to grow to a complete living and certain and personal revelation and relationship of Jesus, abiding and growing in the living Christ.

Christ will destroy false ideas about Him and show us who He is, Himself through our prayers and the church would revive again to her former glory.

Ephesians 1:17

False ideas about Christ become blockages of true biblical revelation. Remove the stumbling blocks and let us press on to know the Lord

Hosea 6:3

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.

with the humble is wisdom.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

The greatness and infinitude of God's wisdom is made available to those who will say: i really don't understand. Teach me. Show me.

wisdom and knowledge increase in the man who relies on God as His teacher as His understanding.

Trust in the lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.

A Godly, perfect way of living, a lifestyle of humility, service to others and profound insight is found in the man who will humble Himself before God to ask for the way to live.

To understand things from God's angle and perspective is profitable wisdom that brings success, which creates peace, not strife, and gains His blessing.

AB Simpson: Devotion on Oct 30:

God's presence blends with every other thought and consciousness, flowing sweetly and evenly through our business plans, our social interactions, our hearts' affections, our manual toll, our entire lives. Like the fragrance of a flower or the presence of a friend consciously near, and yet not hindering in the least the most intense and constant preoccupation of the hands and brain, so God consecrates all and is conscious through all. How beautiful the established habit of this unceasing communion and dependence amid and above all thoughts and occupations! How lovely to see a dear old saint folding away his books at night and humbly saying, "Lord Jesus, things are still just the same between us" and then falling asleep in His keeping.

So let us be stayed upon Him. Let us grow into Him with all the roots and fibers of our beings. He will not get tired of our friendship. He will not want to put us off sometimes. Beautiful words of the suffering saint: 44 He never says goodbye. He stays. So let us be stayed on Him.

Joshua and Caleb - a lesson of Character and Holy Faith

Joshua and Caleb endured journeying with an embittered and unbelieving generation of people. A people who endured in a state of 40 years of pain, failure and disappointment, hardness, unbelief and anger with God.

Joshua and Caleb never allowed their own hearts to become hardened due to the failures of that generation they journeyed with, neither did the unbelief and disobedience of that generation taint the hope and bold faith which burnt in their hearts.

The focus of their hearts was single and their thoughts were continually:

Numbers 14:

8If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

They only wanted to walk to fully please God and walk continually in the grace and acceptance of God, in obedience and faith, to be in his highest favor, to walk in the good, acceptable, even the perfect will of the Father. (Romans 12:2).

In that favor, they would possess both freedom from the lifestyle and mentality of slavery and gain the freedom, dignity, purity and courage offered to those who would walk as sons who pleased God, sons who are not ashamed to trust in God, who could obtain the promises which were given freely.

Numbers 14:

28Tell them, As I live, says the Lord, what you have said in My hearing I will do to you:

29Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness--of all who were numbered of you, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me,

30Surely none shall come into the land in which I swore to make you dwell, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

By faith and obedience they received that divine declaration that divine seal of God's acceptance of their faith, "none shall come into the land in which I swore to make you dwell, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun." A declaration, a promise from God which would shape decades of their life to come, and cause them to lead and impact a whole other generation of people which would also enter fully into God's promises. They became pioneers and models and leaders of the next generation through faith.

As unto the unbelief of the generation who walked who did not believe in the goodness of Jehovah, so it what they believed happened unto them, but as unto the faith of these two men who reckoned in the faithfulness, goodness and the unchanging character of a merciful, gracious and mighty God, they obtained what God promised : you shall enter into my promises, my inheritance, a plentiful land, a life of abundance, a life of holiness, faith, dignity, purity and character - a life that pleases God and feeds itself an sustains itself on the abundant mercies and joys of reliance on God's great generosity. They entered the promised land while on earth. "they kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

Deut 11:21

21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Thereby becoming examples of faith and offering to us a model of persistent and enduring faith who were bold to believe in the character of Jehovah - that Jehovah delights in changing and setting salves which live in bondage into freedom. That at the core of the heart of Jehovah, that the heart of God our Father longs to manifest Himself as a deliverer. The One who delivered them from the bondage to egypt - the world, to the prince of the power of that world - pharaoh and satan and delivers them into freedom, out of the darkness of spiritual bondage into the freedom and glory of His presence, His marvelous light. (1 Pet 2:9). If only men would believe in Him, seek Him and walk in that lifestyle of purity, faith and character, God would be free to manifest Himself as a Father, a God of victory and liberation, a God of love.

They dared to believe: that though they were born slaves, they would walk into the freedom of the Sons of God, though they were but mortal men, the Goodness and faithfulness of God was sufficient. They could boldly come into their heritage and full inheritance as fully mature sons, sons who were able to walk and please the Father though loyalty and trust in God and manifesting bold faith to obtain the promises which were given to them.

Never let disappointment and hurt and discouragement - even 40 years of it taint your faith, but shake it off and believe afresh in the character and promises of a God who is good and lavish in mercy a God who is faithful, a God who is mighty, whose word never fails. A God who keeps and fulfills all His word.

Joshua 21:45

Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

So what if nobody else believes? As people of faith we are certain to be treated as strangers in a strange land. Furthermore, there is bound to be a generation who is the first to believe in God, a pioneer generation, An Abraham generation.

All the patriarchs of faith believed and did not allow the generation of those living with them to taint or steal their faith. the promises that God gives to us personally are precious. we would do well to heed them, treasure them in our hearts and train our heart to believe in them in the face of the fiercest opposition and disappointment.

The patriarchs believed and did not come into their fulfillment that was promised but God will fulfill every word He speaks nonetheless. We would do well to heed His word especially the things He Himself speaks to our hearts we would gain commendation to God through faith, if not on earth then when we depart.

The favour and embrace of the Father

The favour and embrace of the Father saying im so very proud of you, you've done so well. I asked him what did i do he said you believe in Jesus. I will continue to trust and believe. Somehow those who have grown up under that favor turn out beautiful.

The faith and power that is available to us in Christ is vast and wide like the widest expense of the sea, all things are possible to him who believes.

A consecrated people

1 Kings 9:7-9

7Then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them, and this house I have hallowed for My Name (renown) I will cast from My sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.

8This house shall become a heap of ruins; every passerby shall be astonished and shall hiss [with surprise] and say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?

9Then they will answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, Who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have laid hold of other gods and have worshiped and served them; therefore the Lord has brought on them all this evil.

Nehemiah 13:26

Amplified Bible (AMP)

26Did not Solomon king of Israel act treacherously against God and miss the mark on account of such women? Among many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women even caused him to sin [when he was old he turned treacherously away from the Lord to other gods, and God rent his kingdom from him].

1 Kings 11 1BUT KING Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women--the [a]daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2They were of the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, You shall not mingle with them, neither shall they mingle with you, for surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Yet Solomon clung to these in love.
3He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart from God.
4For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect (complete and whole) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abominable idol of the Ammonites!
6Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as David his father did.
7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abominable idol of Moab, on the hill opposite Jerusalem, and for Molech the abominable idol of the Ammonites.

Nehemiah 13:

22And I commanded the Levites to cleanse themselves and come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. O my God, [earnestly] remember me concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy and loving-kindness.
23In those days also I saw Jews who had married wives from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak the Hebrew, but in the language of each people.
25And I contended with them and reviled them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair and made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
26Did not Solomon king of Israel act treacherously against God and miss the mark on account of such women? Among many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women even caused him to sin [when he was old he turned treacherously away from the Lord to other gods, and God rent his kingdom from him].
27Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying strange (heathen) women?
28One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.
29O my God, [earnestly] remember them, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priests and Levites.

will there be a consecrated generation that is pure of heart to the lord and ministers to Him in the most holy place?

Passion

Yes I am passionate about her joy, passionate for her deliverance, passionate for God's full will being manifest in her, passionate for for her highest good.

The wonders of Spiritual Hunger

Spiritual hunger - some people have His presence living in them and have Godliness in them but their spiritual hunger makes them feel absolutely famished, as though they have nothing at all. people with high metabolisms after a full meal, wait for them for an hour and they will say: i am totally famished. we must be famished for God or risk being content with lack and a deficient faith and deficient Christianity.

 It makes them feel empty inside. The hunger compels them to go out and break through in Faith for more. That how people come to the fullness of the presence of God and Godliness and faith in their lives. to be content with a measure of the holy spirit infilling is spiritual death and atrophy. hunger makes a person go out, seek out, stretch out, sacrifice and lay down all for more, until we are "filled with all the fullness of God".

There is a longing for the presence of God, a desperation that seeks Him out, a desperation that presses in for more - paul confesses: 'not that i have attained but i press on that I may know Him.' More faith, more courage, more virtue, more of God Himself manifesting in our lives, more of the obedience of Christ manifest in our lives.

When asked why His disciples do not fast, He said, because I am with them, but they will fast when I am taken away. When they were with Him they dwelt in His presence daily, they fed on Christ daily, but when the bride has her beloved her bridegroom, taken away, she starts to turn desperate for His love, (read the song of solomon for more on this) she grows faint with lack. And is revived and full of His prence, His person and glory when she goes out, seeks Him out, until she finds him. The bride in Song of Solomon says, "I will seek you out and not let go of you until I find you."

In the Song of Solomon, She learns to treasure His presence in her life through abuses, through pain, through the slackness of her former contentment. She has come back to abide in her first and only true love, the only love that will satisfy her heart by the end of the story. Let not lose our first love for Christ.

A marriage becomes slack and colorless without passion, likewise our passion for God and His presence cannot allowed be become slack let us press on for more of Him, to know Him.

Ephesians 3:18-19 "they you may know the height, depth, length and breadth of the love of Christ, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Luke 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things
   but has sent the rich away empty.

Luke 5:35
35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."


Spiritual hunger - some people have His presence living in them and have Godliness in them but their spiritual hunger makes them feel absolutely famished, as though they have nothing at all. people with high metabolisms after a full meal, wait for them for an hour and they will say: i am totally famished. we must be famished for God or risk being content with lack and a deficient faith and deficient Christianity.

 It makes them feel empty inside. The hunger compels them to go out and break through in Faith for more. That how people come to the fullness of the presence of God and Godliness and faith in their lives. to be content with a measure of the holy spirit infilling is spiritual death and atrophy. hunger makes a person go out, seek out, stretch out, sacrifice and lay down all for more, until we are "filled with all the fullness of God".

There is a longing for the presence of God, a desperation that seeks Him out, a desperation that presses in for more - paul confesses: 'not that i have attained but i press on that I may know Him.' More faith, more courage, more virtue, more of God Himself manifesting in our lives, more of the obedience of Christ manifest in our lives.

When asked why His disciples do not fast, He said, because I am with them, but they will fast when I am taken away. When they were with Him they dwelt in His presence daily, they fed on Christ daily, but when the bride has her beloved her bridegroom, taken away, she starts to turn desperate for His love, (read the song of solomon for more on this) she grows faint with lack. And is revived and full of His prence, His person and glory when she goes out, seeks Him out, until she finds him. The bride in Song of Solomon says, "I will seek you out and not let go of you until I find you."

In the Song of Solomon, She learns to treasure His presence in her life through abuses, through pain, through the slackness of her former contentment. She has come back to abide in her first and only true love, the only love that will satisfy her heart by the end of the story. Let not lose our first love for Christ.

A marriage becomes slack and colorless without passion, likewise our passion for God and His presence cannot allowed be become slack let us press on for more of Him, to know Him.

Ephesians 3:18-19 "they you may know the height, depth, length and breadth of the love of Christ, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Luke 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things
   but has sent the rich away empty.

Luke 5:35
35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."

Song of Solomon 3:4
Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

Phillippians 3:10-12
 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

 12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Proverbs 4:13

Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

Song of Solomon 3:4
Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

Phillippians 3:10-12
 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

 12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Proverbs 4:13
Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

fight for your marriage.

fight for your marriage. fight for your wife until. fight the fight of faith until your.marriage receives the beauty  of the kingdom heaven upon it.

every negativity and evil spirit defeated, every hurt made whole, every rough place evened out and strong and full of the father's intended design for your marriage.

brimming with life and joy and full of his blessing. what better testament to the world than marriages that reflect the romance of Christ with his bride?

we must then win this war for christlikeness in our hearts and bring the fight to our families and out into the streets of the world.