Oh! That We May Truly Know HIM – 3

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Beloved, Jesus came to reveal God as ”Abba” Daddy to us and to reconcile us to Him. Now the very word “Abba” (or the English equivalent would be “Daddy” how little kids would call their dads, not so much the formal “Father”) is a rather intimate relational word. It implies a closeness, a special bond and likeness if you will, between the one calling and the One being called Abba.

Today, many people, believers and even unbelievers, casually refer to God as “Father” without even thinking twice. Many are clueless of what such a reference implies. Back in those days no one dared to call God their Father, no wonder the Jews wanted to stone Jesus, for He called God His Father, and by doing that He (Jesus) made Himself equal with God.

¹⁸ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but (JESUS) ALSO SAID THAT GOD WAS HIS FATHER, MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD. – John 5:18 NKJV (emphasis added)

Now, remember the “Lord’s Prayer” – Jesus instructed His disciples to address God as “Our Father”  and after His resurrection from the dead, He said to Mary Magdalene:

                

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to MY FATHER AND YOUR FATHER, AND TO MY GOD AND YOUR GOD – John 20:17 NKJV (emphasis added)

Now that you are a child of God, you can boldly call God your Father and enjoy the Father-child privileges that are now rightfully yours and of course as with any normal functional family, there are family chores and responsibilities that are part and parcel of your Family life.  

You become a child of God by believing in Jesus, believing that He took our sin which had come between us and God on His own body on the cross and put it away once and for all and in doing so He reconciled us to God. When we believe in Jesus we are accepted and pleasing to God, not because of anything we have done but because of what Jesus did. We do not need to perform to earn brownie points with God; we are His beloved children, so we can come freely and boldly before him knowing we are eternally and perfectly loved.

²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:26 NKJV 

   

As children of God, sons and daughters, we are led by His Spirit who now resides in us.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of         God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, - Romans 8:14-16 NKJV

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Now having been made children of God, His Spirit lives in us, we have become His dwelling place, His habitation, His address if you will. In the Old Covenant they had the Tabernacle and later the Temple and God’s presence was in the Holy of Holies. Today, God lives in you, He said it and He meant it. These are not just some nice words to make us feel good, no, this is as real and as true as it gets beloved!

It is therefore in our best interest not to just get acquainted with Our Abba Father who now lives in us, but to get intimate with Him. So getting to know God and to live this life with Him is what we should be majoring in. Blessings!

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

Oh! That We May Truly Know HIM – 2

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Beloved, as we continue to explore how we can actually know God this side of eternity, let us take a look at the Scriptures and establish a few things. I believe and am fully convinced that God wants us to know Him, that’s His heart, that’s His desire and that to us is Eternal Life itself. Even though we are we've all heard phrases like “God works in mysterious ways”, “we can never really figure God out” and we even quote those popular verses in Isaiah that say, and I quote:

                ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
         neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
                ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
        so are my ways higher than your ways
        and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV

See there it is, we can never really know God, we can never really know His thoughts nor His ways, all we can do is just trust Him! So we conclude and console ourselves….but is it so, beloved? Well, I think not…at least not quite, not exactly…just hang on now!

When reading the Good Book, it is important to keep in mind a few things:

One – What Covenant is operational at that time,

Two - Who is speaking,

Three – Who is the intended audience,

Four – What is being said and

Five – Is it applicable to us today? If yes, then how?

Not paying attention to these pointers will almost always result in us incorrectly dividing the Word and that to our own detriment.

Moses asked to know God and God said sure and that was under the Old Covenant, Moses spoke from the understanding that he had God’s grace on Him and was pleasing to Him, I mean the Lord spoke to him “face to face”, isn't that close enough? Not to Moses, he couldn't get enough of God…

Here’s how the exchange went…

² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me.Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, SHOW ME NOW YOUR WAY, THAT I MAY KNOW YOU and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”

¹⁴ And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”       – Exodus 33:12-14 NKJV (emphasis added)

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Moses’ request was granted, for the psalmist records:

⁷ HE MADE KNOWN HIS WAYS TO MOSES,
His acts to the children of Israel. – Psalm 103:7 NKJV (emphasis added)

Moses wasn't content with just God knowing him intimately; he also wanted to know God more and more. The grace of God on his life was not in vain. Beloved if Moses was favored (graced) and pleasing to God to the point of being that bold in his communion with the Lord, shouldn't we – who have a better Covenant, built on better promises – be bolder in our pursuit of knowing Him to whom all praise is due?

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

Oh, That We May Truly Know HIM!

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¹⁷ Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP

When we hear the Good News of what God has done for us through Christ and we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and confess Him as our Lord we become brand new creations. On the outside we might still look the same, have the same physical features and all, but inwardly we have been transformed into a brand new species that has never existed before. Our spirits are alive and joined to God, we've become one with Deity! As mind boggling as it may sound, that is exactly what happens when one is born of God and the Scriptures are pretty clear…Paul didn’t mince words when he said:

                ¹⁷ But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with     Him. – 1 Corinthians 6:17 AMP

Now that we are one spirit with God, we have His Spirit in us, we can and should endeavor to know Him and the best way to know someone is to start hanging out with them, spending time with them! Let us make it a priority to spend time with God through reading, studying and meditating on His Word, in prayer and in fellowship with other like minded saints. Let’s find out what our Abba Father is up to and be part of it where we are. Let us allow God’s Word to shape our thinking and our lives, and if we do, the Word will renew our minds and then we can confidently say with the Apostle Paul, “we have the mind of Christ”!

Beloved, through knowing God and His promises to us we become partakers of His divine nature – 2 Peter 1:3-4 comes to mind. The importance of knowing Him and that is – knowing Him correctly – cannot be overemphasized, for Jesus

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Himself while praying to His Father said this:

        ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only  true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.– John 17:3 NKJV

We now have this awesome privilege of knowing the Father and knowing Christ intimately; and that my friends, is eternal life, which shouldn't be limited to or confused with living forever. Knowing God now becomes our never ending pursuit and delight; and will be throughout eternity.

The more we pursue knowing God and knowing Christ, the more we realize there is still much much more of Him to discover and enjoy...never a dull moment...life becomes a whole lot more exciting and fun, not to mention the impact on us and those we come across is eternal and the Father receives all the glory! Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul's one desire was "that I may know Him..." (Philippians 3:10), even after all the revelations and encounters he had experienced? 

May knowing God and knowing Christ our desire, preoccupation and obsession in 2015! Blessings!

Why Limit THE LIMITLESS ONE?

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If you've been around motivational speakers, well wishers and even some well meaning preachers, you must have heard the saying “The Sky is the Limit!” Many employ this saying implying that whatever you want or wish to do and or become (I know the “or’s” and “and’s” can be a mouthful ...) is achievable and that is true within reason, of course. For example, I can wish and want all day long to become the King of England but that’s not going to happen, I know it’s an extreme example but you get the idea!

The same can be said of all of God’s children, we were all created for His pleasure and not a single one of us is useless to Him. We may want to become like others for whatever reason, but in doing so we are giving up what we were truly created to be. Someone once said – I forget who –  “God doesn't create photocopies, He creates originals”, and I agree with that.

Now, for a child of God, with God’s very own nature within you, you have everything you will ever need to achieve all that you were created to achieve. If you have God’s Spirit in you, you lack nothing! Stop hopping from conference to conference, church to church, ministry to ministry chasing after what you already have. You are complete in Christ Jesus! What we all need is to find out what we have and that comes from spending time with the Holy Spirit who is in us and as we obey Him we will be well on our way to accomplishing all the good works that God had already prepared for us to walk in.

You may be wondering “but how come I’m not exactly living the abundant life Jesus came to offer”? First of all, if you are in Christ, that very thought is deceptive. It is from the enemy of our souls, the father of lies trying to get us to doubt God and His word. Know this, once you entertain and accept the enemy’s doubts you are effectively limiting what God wants to do for, in and through you. Nothing can stop God’s favour from flowing in your life, not even Satan. You alone can stop His favour and resist His grace by embracing doubts and unbelief.

The Children of Israel by their unbelief limited God and it didn't go over well for them. Their enemies couldn't stop God’s favour on them, remember the Balak and Baalam saga? Try as they did, they couldn't put a curse on the children of Israel. The children of Israel were the only ones who could stop God’s favour over them by their unbelief and acts of disobedience. Actually unbelief itself is disobedience…. So yeah…

The Good Book documents their bouts of unbelief this way…

          ⁴¹ Yes, again and again they tempted God,

And limited the Holy One of Israel. – Psalm 78:41 NKJV

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Other versions render the word “limited” as “vexing”, “testing” etc.

So beloved let us not be found doing the same. Let us believe God’s word regardless of our circumstances and allow Him to walk with us through our circumstances and we will go from faith to faith, from victory to victory, from glory to glory as we journey through this life.

Take the limits off of your Father who loves you eternally and unreservedly. Remember He can do far above all that you can ask or imagine and He does it according to His power that is at work in you. And the more we align our thinking with His Word, the more His power works in us, resulting in His desires being imparted and fulfilled in, for and through us. Why would we want to limit the Limitless One who desires only the very best for us, why?

You are blessed and Highly favoured! 

Will the REAL YOU please STAND UP!

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²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. - James 1: 22 - 24 NIV

It is interesting that the Holy Spirit likens hearing the Word and not doing it to looking into a mirror and immediately forgetting what you look like. You see, when we fail to do what the Word instructs us to do we have essentially forgotten who we truly are in Christ and that leads us to act contrary to our true identity. 

And every time we act contrary to our true identity, that of beloved Children of God, we open ourselves up to condemnation – both from our own hearts and from the enemy of our souls too. Condemnation with its cousins, guilt and shame, if entertained, can incapacitate us. How? They seek to brand us with other identities that are contrary to the one the Father gave us. Identities such as “failure”, “hopeless”, “sinner”, “liar”, “good-for-nothing” and the like, which we should not accept under any circumstance, yes even if we have sinned or failed miserably. We have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1)    

Beloved, it is the Father’s will that you be secure in the identity that He has given you. You are His Child, you are His beloved. Refuse to take upon yourself any other identity except the one your Abba Father gives you. Failure to remember Our New Identity in Christ, will always result in us walking in the flesh, having deluded ourselves with all the knowledge of the Word we have amassed, yet without it effecting any positive changes in our lives.

Now, just as we look into natural mirrors to groom ourselves, we must look into the Word to groom our souls. To make sure we “look good spiritually”, we must look into this mirror – The Word – on a regular basis. If you look into a natural mirror daily to avoid going out unkempt, unprepared or outright unsightly, how much more should you look into the Word of God, your spiritual mirror, as it were, to see and be reminded of who and what you are in Christ.

Because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Himself our sins have been put away once and for all and now since we have put our trust in Him, we have Eternal Life now, We are part of God’s very own family.That’s who we are!  As you look into this "Mirror" some of the things you will see about yourself in Christ are these: -

You have been reconciled to God, You are a new creation in Christ, you are God’s child, you are the Lord's beloved, you are the righteousness of God, you are Holy before God, He is not keeping a record of your sins, you are one spirit

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with God, God is never angry with you, you are more than a conqueror, you are seated with Christ far above all principalities and powers, your God has promised to supply all your needs. You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, and a whole lot more…Beloved that is your true identity! 

Once we know, believe and accept our identity as dearly beloved Children of God, all other labels that we or others have placed on us will fall by the wayside, then we will be truly free to live bold, victorious and productive lives that will always bring honor and joy to Our Father, for in Christ, we were created for good works! Blessings!

Conquering Fear with Love - By Daniel J. Musokwa

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I have been following the news lately about the Isis terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. These guys are a splinter group broken off Al Qaeda, accusing Al Qaeda of being "too soft". These guys are well-trained and properly funded - their coffers boasting an endowment well in excess of $400 million. They pretty much murder everything 'softer' than they are, Muslims included.

They have a fast growing influence and recruitment rates of any terror group before them with recruits from the US, UK and many other developed countries. Al Qaeda has spawned Al Shabaab, Boko Haram and now Isis. The world is not ready to fight this type of threat because of its ideological nature. The world in its civilization would want to sit down at the round table with these guys and negotiate a truce... have a peace talk with them. The West truly does not understand that these guys want total and complete annihilation of all non-Muslims and moderate Muslims as well. Until this happens this war will never end (at least in the perpetrators mind).

The world can never accept that spirits have influence over people, and that the spirit world also has its own agendas that it seeks to realize through human agency. But what has been written in the Scriptures must be fulfilled, much as we might not like to hear about it or even consider it... much darker times are coming up ahead for the whole world when "men's hearts shall fail them because of fear" (Luke 21:26). Terrorism is rooted in terror (extreme fear). This dark cloud will spread all over the globe, and fear along with it. The rider of the Pale Horse in Revelation 6:8 was named Death, and Hades followed after him. These spirits are released for the sole purpose of terrorizing and murdering as many people are possible.

Luke 21:16 And you shall be betrayed also by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends. And they will cause some of you to be put to death.
Luke 21:17 And you shall be hated by all for My name's sake.

Jesus Christ testifies of these times that they will even "cause some of you to be put to death." This didn't just happen at the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, it is actually already happening globally to many underground churches today. The rest of the church is "underground" in peaceful countries... false peace. As long as we are producing our worship CDs and DVDs, and we have "seeker-friendly" programmes then we get this false sense of accomplishment. These days the world comes to church for entertainment... to watch our concerts, production and dances. We have slogans and sayings but the rubber doesn't really meet the road.

Friends fear is coming... we need to be militant and offensive with the gospel and not hide behind empty religiosity. We love talking about ruling and dominion, but is that all Christ died for? We must, in our hearts, be willing to lose everything including our possessions, families and even lives. We must constantly check our hearts and minds against this and weep for our own loss. Jesus told the women of Jerusalem "do not weep for me but for yourselves and your children", why? Because He knew that "Yea, all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." We have become theologians, debating the latest fads and revelations. "Will the church go through the tribulation or not" we ask. But I wonder how that Christian man in Sudan would answer this question - having been castrated without anaesthesia and then crucified on a tree... just for loving the Lord.

The West is going to be overwhelmed by the next wave of of terror because they truly don't know how to fight it. Their civilization, laws and human rights advancements are going to be their own enemies... by the time they realize for sure what is happening it will be too late. The church cannot sleep, what is coming is coming, but we can stand and the true power of the Kingdom of our God will be seen. Our true power is LOVE... this completely casts out fear.

We cannot afford to be antagonistic with each other or with those who are our enemies (even though we are not theirs). The toughest thing is to love these people... how do you love a terrorist who has just beheaded a fellow Christian? These are the things the "helper" (Holy Spirit) does. I know that God wants to train our hearts to LOVE deeply and illogically. He wants to train you to be a loser... to learn to lose your rights, dignity and pride and not be affected at all. A lot of relationships in the church right now (globally) are in shambles! So much pain and hurt and more pain. Pastors and ministers giving up. When they meet it is just awkward because they no longer drink from the same Spirit. This is your training ground... can you forgive completely? If you cannot forgive those who gossip against you, it is going to be kinda difficult forgiving most of the acts that the church (global) is going to witness. All the hardships now are opportunities for the divine to manifest in you in forgiveness, love and reconciliation.

Fear is coming, but love is already here! You and I are the agents of love. Prayers are good, but only the love of our Father within us can overcome all terror. One has to be so overcome and overwhelmed by divine love to be able to say... "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

So many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord are suffering right now in countries which do not accept our Lord. May we keep them in our minds always and not forget ourselves in our successes and comfortable lives. The only good thing about the coming wave of persecutions will be the unification of the church... so beautiful! Petty doctrinal differences will seem, well, insignificant. Finally we can get real.

We must conquer fear with God's love!

Shalom!

WHEN GOD SPEAKS…

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At creation God said “Let there be light” and light showed up, no ifs, ands or buts, even though the sun wasn't created yet, that didn't make any difference to Him.. yeah that’s my God …when He calls something forth as He called the light at creation, there is no two ways about it…no well, maybe, perhaps, I wish, I hope so, only if…none of that. When He speaks, it is done.

When the children of Israel were facing the Red sea with nowhere to go as Pharaoh and the Egyptian army was closing in on them, they cried out to Moses…Can you imagine what was going through their minds? Talk about fear, worry, panic, despair all rolled into one  – sheer terror. But God had brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the land He had promised Abraham over 400 years earlier, not to have them killed, injured or enslaved again by their oppressors.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. – Exodus 14:15-16 NKJV

And that is exactly what happened! They didn't see a way out but God had it all figured out…

Remember the disciples in the boat during the storm, with Jesus fast asleep on a pillow in the stern? It must have been a no joke storm for seasoned fishermen to be that frantic. They woke Jesus up with accusations “don’t you care we are perishing?” Before we give them that “how-dare-you-say-that-to-the-Lord-who-is-ever-so-faithful” look, let’s us be reminded of the many trying situations in our lives where we've more or less voiced similar sentiments to God…hmm!  Jesus was in the boat with them and had already given them His word; you’d think that would keep them calm.  

³⁵ On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” – Mark 4:35NKJV (emphasis mine)

The very presence of Jesus in that boat with them should've given them the assurance that what He told them is exactly what is going to happen, they are crossing to the other side, storm or no storm. You see beloved, just like the disciples of old, we often get so caught up in what we are going through at the moment, we forget the promises of God to us, we also forget He is in us and with us at all times just as He has promised us, yes even in our darkest moments, He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He loves us eternally, perfectly and unconditionally.

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Beloved, what is your Abba Father saying to you today? What has He promised you today? Whatever it is, trust Him – if He spoke it, consider it done. Remember, He looks at His word to fulfill it. It never returns to Him void! So when you hear what He is saying, go ahead, be bold and prophesy, for you know Him who has spoken.  

The Lord God has spoken!
Who can but prophesy? – Amos 3:8b NKJV

Blessings!