Friday, August 25, 2017

Too Spiritually Minded to be any Earthly Good

You may have heard the phrase,“Too spiritually minded to be of any earthly good” before.  It's normally reserved for people who appear to be spiritual by always having a scripture, or great faith confession roll out of their mouths.  Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that even though their words sound right, there is no actual faith backing them at all.  They're just mimicking what they've heard someone else say.  So when it comes down to the challenges of every day life, or even a crisis, they have absolutely nothing of real value to offer.  Instead of standing their ground in faith, they tend to draw back in fear, or turn their back on their walk of faith, saying it just doesn't work for them.  It's as if all their spirituality resorts to ‘smoke and mirrors’, nothing more than an illusion, when the time of real testing arrives.

In the book of Hebrews 10:23, it says, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  

The Greek translation for the word profession, initially means to say the same thing.  However, when we take a deeper look at its meaning, it conveys a stronger message than just copying or mimicking words.  It actually means to be in agreement with them to the point where they become your point of view.  And the more you hold onto them, they become the conviction of your own heart.  

I really love the way Rick Renner, in His book Sparkling Gems, describes the translation of the word profession.  He says it's when someone becomes aligned in their thinking and believing not only of the words, but of the one who wrote or spoke them.

So in light of Hebrews 10:23, we get the idea that we are expected to come into agreement with God when we take His Words into our hearts.  But it doesn't just stop there, we actually believe them, and make them our own conviction.  Then, when we speak those words that have become so real to us, we hold tightly to what we confess, and refuse to allow anything to distract us from that conviction.

Doesn't that sound just like the process by which FAITH is produced inside of us?  Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”. The Word of God that becomes that real to us, where we refuse to doubt it, is the Word the Lord has promised to fulfil in our lives (James 1:6; Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24).

What I have found most interesting, is that we only really live in the reality of the Word that we have made ours.  

Just reading and memorising scripture doesn't necessarily mean we have a revelation of it.  In fact, the devil himself can recite every scripture but will never receive the life and light it has to offer.  The Holy Spirit within us makes God’s Word alive and real to us when we choose to meditate on it and make it our own.  Psalm 1 is a brilliant example of how this revelation knowledge produces the fruit (evidence) and benefit of God's truth in our lives. So much so, that no matter what pressure or challenge comes against us, that Word that has become the conviction of our hearts, will not only sustain us, but cause us to flourish and prosper in the midst of adversity.

Faith to receive the manifest reality of God’s Word in our lives comes by the Person of the Holy Spirit revealing its truth into our spirits.  It's beyond natural reasoning and mimicking words.  Truth that is spiritually discerned, becomes our confession (1Corinthians 2:14).  It’s supernatural quality causes us to stand strong and true in the face of trouble, patiently waiting, without wavering, until God’s promise becomes our reality in the natural.

I have never know someone who has held fast to the profession of their faith being labelled, “Too spiritually minded to be any earthly good”.  Instead, they have become a living testimony of the faithfulness, goodness and mercy of God, in the face of challenges and trials.  

This is how God’s Word becomes a powerful force in our lives, something, with all my heart, I desire and aspire to consistently experience.  I must confess, I'm still a work in progress concerning this.  Hopefully you will be inspired to join me along this exciting journey.

All my love,

Jenny






Sunday, August 20, 2017

Does God make bad things happen?

“Bad things happen to good people.”  Words I've often heard spoken, and even experienced myself.  Sadly, it's the reality of those words that have caused many Christians to ‘throw in the towel’ on their faith in God.  Then join the thousands who decide to not ‘believe’ in a God who allows horrid , unthinkable evils to befall the innocent and those unable to defend themselves, let alone His own children.

In John 17, the Bible tells us we live in a fallen world.  A world that is corrupt and evil and subject to decay.  Many Christians believe that as long as they live in this world, they have no option but to suffer along with it.  They must share in disease, defeat, poverty and failure, along with those around them. They've even accepted this by believing their misfortune is God's way of teaching them a lesson in humility, a way of catching their attention so they can be more devoted to Him, a way to make them love and trust Him more.  

We know that in Old Testament times, because of the original sin, the curse called the law of sin and death, was instated.  If God’s people didn't conform to the law, and all it's obligations and rituals, they would find themselves out of His protection and favour. The Bible says that to perfectly conform to the law was actually impossible. That's why sacrifices for the atonement of sin had to be consistently made.  This rigorous, lawful ‘relationship’ between God and His people was never His intention. Time and again, He attempted to convince them to love and respond to Him out of personal desire and not fear.  But the law of sin and death made this an almost impossible reality. Even those who did choose to love Him and respond to His kindness couldn't live flawless lives, and because of the law, had to suffer the consequences.  When God’s people abandoned His ways and sought after their own, or the ways of neighbouring pagan nations, the only thing that brought them back to Him was the consequence of the curse, often in the form of calamity and devastation.  Their ‘salvation’ was based on works, and under the curse, punishment for their wandering ways was the only way to bring them back to it.

But thank God for Jesus!  According to the Word of God, in Him we have a new covenant!  We are no longer subject to the curse and its law of sin and death.  Now it's by grace, through faith that we are saved.  His blood completely eradicated our sin, when He bore it on the cross.  He suffered the punishment for it, once and for all.  Now we are free to embrace His forgiveness and enjoy a relationship with Him based on His great love.  It's  His kindness towards us that leads us to repentance.  Our devotion to God is no longer motivated out of fear, it's motivated out of knowing that He loves us unconditionally.  And from the moment His Spirit takes residence in us, His incorruptible nature becomes ours.  As we remain in His Word and intimate fellowship with Him, our hearts are constantly drawn to His ways and we willingly cling to them because of His goodness and faithfulness towards us.  We adore Him and worship Him because of His loving kindness that is better than life and His tender mercies that are new every morning.  We worship Him because His Word is true and every promise in it is available for us to enjoy and live free and healthy and victorious in a world that is not.    

You see, health, prosperity, success and victory in this life are all God's ideas.  They are His purpose for us.  You will find them written in each of His promises.  It is true, that while we live in this world that is riddled with evil, we are certainly going to encounter it. But evil things, calamity and devastation are not manipulated by God to teach us a lesson or compel us to come back to Him.  Even though for some people, hardships may just have that affect on them, under the new covenant, we can be sure God did not cause them.  Jesus said in John 16:33, "...In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration;..". But then He goes on to say, "but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]"

How is it possible for us to live in the reality of that promise - as over comers in this evil world?  Oh I'm so pleased you asked that question.  In John 17, Jesus has this very same conversation with His Father, and in verse 17, He asks the Father to sanctify us (purify, consecrate, separate us for Himself, make us holy) BY THE TRUTH.  God's Word is Truth.  We are separated to God, from the evils in this world through the Word of  truth! 

In the Old covenant, God’s people were separated to Him by having to fulfil the law and suffer under its consequences.  In the New covenant, we are separated to Him by His Word that is written, by Him, on our hearts.

God's Word, alive in our hearts, produces FAITH and makes the promises of God our reality, while we live right here, in the midst of chaos and mess!  As God's Word becomes our living reality, it takes us from trouble to triumph every time!  Even when bad, horrible things happen - because we live in a world that is dominated by sin - we do have a God who will ALWAYS lead us through, like a good shepherd, into victory and peace. 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere,"

1 John 5:4 says, "For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith."  It's time for us to realise who we are in this world and Who our God is.  He  does not cause bad things to happen to us to draw us to Him. Bad things happen because we live in a world that is cursed.  But Jesus overcame that evil for us.  We are victorious because we are born of God, and our victory comes through our faith that is produced by His Word that we live by.  His Word that is alive in our hearts!  Don't settle for anything less child of God!  Live like Jesus intended for you to live - free from fear and victorious over evil.  Even though you are in this world, no matter what it throws against you, the Spirit of Christ lives within you, and you have faith from His Word, to overcome - every time.

All my love,

Jenny





Sunday, August 13, 2017

We Are Rich!

Hello everyone,

Today, There is a particular phrase that is tugging at my heart and inspiring me to ‘dig a little deeper’ into the treasure chest of God’s Word: “God’s truth revealed to our hearts enriches us!”   Take a moment to dwell on that truth and let it sink into your heart.  

The scripture that immediately comes to my mind is Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

According to the dictionary, the word richly means, elaborate, generous and plentiful.  So, when we allow the Word of God to dwell in our hearts in a plentiful, elaborate and generous way, we can expect it to affect our lives in the same manor.  Wisdom, guidance, instruction, peace, grace, inner strength, spontaneous joyful singing, faith, encouragement for our own hearts and others; these are just a few of many wonderful attributes the Word enriches our lives with.

In fact, in Ephesians 1:18, we see exactly how God’s truth revealed to our hearts enriches us.  It says: "By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),.."

The revelation we receive from the Spirit of God, when we gratefully and expectantly, embrace His written Word, is like a powerful light that floods the eyes of our hearts, showing us something we never saw before, even though it was already there.

The Bible teaches us that a born-again spirit is fully filled and flooded with God Himself. The Spirit of God without measure is living inside of us. I love this concept.   There is a never ending supply of spiritual wealth we can receive from the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, every time we lavishly indulge ourselves in it (give it our full attention).  1 Corinthians 2:11 says, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
To say the full, limitless measure of the Spirit of Christ is living inside of me, is something I have thought about long and hard (Ephesians 1:23; 2:5). I don't necessarily imagine the Spirit of God crammed up inside my spirit, unable to move, like an oversized genie, taking up every available space in a bottle. However, I do believe that He does fill every part of the place my spirit is contained in my earthly vessel - free to live and move and flow in His fullness. 2 Corinthians 4:7, speaks of the Holy Spirit being the treasure that lives within our earthen bodies.  I do also believe that my spirit is alive in Christ, joined to and one with His Spirit - inseparably and eternally connected to Him.   And whenever I ask Him, He illuminates scripture, as if the curtain has being pulled away and there it is - a new, deeper understanding of a truth that has always been there.  

That flow of revelation knowledge from the Spirit of God into our spirits, is essentially what Ephesians 1:18 says, "...having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand..."

That light enables us to see something we never saw before, it reveals what is already there; the treasure in His written Word, and it enriches us.  

Spend some time this week meditating on this glorious truth, and allow the eyes of your heart to be flooded with light so you can know, understand and declare that His Word, revealed to your heart has made you rich!

Much love,

Jenny


Ephesians 1:23, "Which is His body (the church), the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself]."


Saturday, August 5, 2017

Hidden for You

As children of God, it's our privilege to receive and walk in the revelational knowledge of God!  I suppose that's what makes Christianity stand out from all other religions.  It's not a faith based on rules and regulations, but a constant flow of life, light and wisdom from the Spirit of God into our spirits.    1 Corinthians 6:17 says, "But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him."  One definition for the word united is laminated. At the point of your conversion, the Holy Spirit took residency inside you and your spirit became joined or laminated to His.  What a beautiful image of intimate togetherness this conveys!

I believe, since the beginning of time itself, God's intention has always been to live intimately and vitally connected to us.  Sin may have stepped in the way of this desire, for a time, but God's plan never changed and whatever He wills and declares, must come to pass.  So He spoke it through His prophets, declaring a new covenant He would make.  A covenant that would ensure an unrestricted flow of revelation from His Spirit to ours.  Look at what Jeremiah 31:33&34 says, "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.  And they will no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me [recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Me], from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will [seriously] remember their sin no more."

In Ephesians 1:17, Paul says our spirits can receive wisdom and revelation to really know the things of God that are hidden to the natural mind: " [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,..."

It's important to note that the wisdom in this verse is not natural human wisdom, but special insight to see and grasp an understanding of something that has always been there, but just obscured from our sight.  Did you notice that in the beginning of Ephesians 1:17, Paul says that he prays the Lord will grant or some translations say, give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation.  In the Greek, that word grant or give, means to impart.  In other words, when we ask the Lord to give us special insight from His Word, that is not naturally attained, His Spirit will impart it to us.  We will be enabled to see what we could never see by ourselves.

1 Corinthians 2:7, speaks of these mysteries of God, His hidden wisdom that is hidden for us. Then a few verses down (v:10), it says God's own Spirit reveals them to us.  Have you ever found yourself reading a portion of scripture that you have read several times before, but suddenly, this time you read it, it's as if the light has just been switched on inside of you, and you instantly understand it in a way you never did before?  That truth had been there all along, but it was hidden from your understanding.  But at the right time, the Holy Spirit removed the veil and flooded your heart with light to see and understand what was hidden for you to find.  That truth revealed to you enriches your life like nothing else can.  You have perceived it in your spirit and it has become truth written or engraved on your heart.  It will always be a part of you, can never be taken from you, and has the power to change everything about you! Hallelujah!

I really believe in embracing and delighting in the privilege of having my spirit intimately connected with the Spirit of God!  What a gift, too wonderful to truly wrap our minds around, but fully able to grasp in our spirits!  Take time today to jump ‘heart first’ into this truth and begin to be more conscious of the closeness you have with the Holy Spirit.  Learn to lean on Him more, trust His nudge on your heart and gleam all you possibly can from the truth He reveals to you from His Word.  A treasure chest, full of mysteries hidden and written just for you to find and enjoy!

Much love,

Jenny