Counterfeit Community

I have been really challenged by this article.....

Counterfeit Community by Charles Crismier

Is your frustration building?

Pursuit of Christian unity is hitting a wall. Programs, gospel gimmicks and compromise... even prayer are failing to yield true community. Here’s why.

Cries for Christian unity have defined much of the public expression of the church over the last two decades. Calls, conferences and commitments to racial reconciliation have played a significant role in the current yearning for unity. A plethora of exhortations that “they may be one” have made Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” of John 17 a centerpiece of the Christian unity movement. Yet genuine unity eludes us.

Pastors and Parishioners at RiskGeorge Barna, in his book Virtual America, revealed statistics that should break your heart.

• Fifty-five percent of non-Christian Americans believe it is getting harder and harder to make lasting friendships.

• Sixty-two percent of “born-again” Christians claim it is getting hard to make lasting friendships.

• Seventy-three percent of “evangelical” Christians are finding it difficult to make real friends.

It seems the stronger the alleged commitment to scriptural authority, the more severe the problem of our relationships. Conclusion: the more RELIGION, the less RELATIONSHIP. Something is desperately wrong! Divided and in a state of dissolution, we stand. Individualism reigns supreme.On my daily broadcast, VIEWPOINT, I interviewed H.B. London, head of pastoral ministries for Focus on the Family. Our focus was “Pastors at Risk.” He disclosed that at least 70 percent of pastors in America claim they have NO friends.Whatever happened to Christian community?

Whatever happened to the “covenant community” in America”? Are we destined to be strangers in the “Commonwealth of Faith?” Can we truly have unity without genuine community?The fracture of community is also revealed in the widening chasm that divides our families. The divorce rate among professing Christians exceeds that of the nation at large. The divorce rate among pastors equals that of their congregations (Hartford Seminary Study), the second highest of all professions, and divorce in the “Bible Belt” exceeds the nation at large by 50 percent (Rutgers University Study - “The State of Our Unions”).

Christ may be our Savior, but SELF is king. Could it be that the Church has taken the lead even in estranging the family? Counterfeit community is devastating us and destroying our witness.William Hendricks, author of Exit Interviews, also appeared on VIEWPOINT. He revealed that 53,000 people per week who remain committed to Christ are leaving through the “backdoor” of America’s churches. He concluded that many parishioners do not believe they are being told the whole “gospel truth,” that their unique giftedness and purpose as part of a body is not recognized, and that the church does not provide true Christian fellowship and community but has become a “gospel country club” of Sunday back-slappers who care little about one another after the worship service. Add to that the new “mall” methods of mass ministry and you have a pretense of community utterly void of natural commitment to one another.Organizational “unity” programs multiply, rhetorical unity abounds, but genuine relational substance is scarce. Why? What is it that frustrates experiencing the fruit of true unity? Could it be that in our increasing pursuit of unity we have missed the community out of which unity is born?

The Real and the CounterfeitIt is said that the best way to identify counterfeit currency is to study the real thing. The sin nature is pervasive, and we humans have a distinct propensity to counterfeit the real in every area of life. This is true also of such prized commodities as unity and community. American pragmatism only fuels the counterfeiting fires, enabling us to stamp “UNITY” or “COMMUNITY” on relational coinage that lacks the spiritual or relational “metal” of true unity and community.Genuine unity is forged in community. It cannot be carved out of the cold rock of American hyper-individualism. Rather, it is hammered out in the intense heat of relationships being welded together “in Christ.” The very godhead is an eternal display and declaration of community... Father, Son and Holy Spirit – distinct persons, yet one – united in truth and spirit. Even so, we who are born of the Spirit and saved through the sacrifice of the Son who declared himself “The TRUTH” become “one” with the Father.

This was Jesus’ vision in his “high priestly prayer” of John 17. Jesus said true worshipers must worship Him both in spirit and truth.Truth coupled with the warm wind of relationship in the Spirit is essential to Christian community that produces the fruit of biblical unity. That relationship is not just with the Father but revealed in our communion – common union – with one another. Just as truth and relationship are indispensable to our union in Christ, they are indispensable in common union with one another.Without the fulness of both truth and relationship born of the spirit, our faith becomes either a cold set of creeds or an orgy of conjured feelings. Compromised truth in pursuit of unity yields nothing but a cheap counterfeit – sentimentality.

Similarly, conjured feelings of unity without genuine common union in real relationships mocks the costly currency of true unity expressed in community.So how did we come to so readily accept such tinny counterfeits? Is there an essential “metal” that has eluded us in producing the coinage of genuine comm-unity that gives rise to the glorious unity we so desire? There is, and it is called HOSPITALITY.

Whatever Happened to Hospitality?There was a time when hospitality was at the heart of the American home. There was a time when hearts and homes that practiced hospitality welded families into community with an invisible glue that let people know they belonged and were welcome and accepted. And there was a time twenty centuries ago when one of the hallmarks of the Church was “behold how they love one another.” They broke bread together “from house to house with gladness and singleness of heart,” and the Church exploded (Acts 2:41-47). Hospitality was the earthly expression of the eternal hope of believers.Something dramatic has happened, however, since those times, causing Christianity Today (May 22, 2000) to ask the headline question, “Whatever Happened to Hospitality?”

There is a pervasive sense throughout our land that hospitality is becoming discouragingly scarce as an art and as an expression of the heart. So let me ask you, Whatever happened to hospitality?Many experience “crowded loneliness” – surrounded by people but lost in the crowd. The spirit of the mall has become the consumer model for the Master’s church. There is a growing absence of heart connectedness, a deep feeling that no one knows my name, or even cares. The collective effect is the collapse of community, a conclusion validated by both secular and spiritual observers. Even our church buildings are increasingly designed like malls, breeding grounds for artificial relationships.

We belong to the club of strangers yearning desperately for fellowship. Often even our small group or cell group efforts become more methodologies for organizational growth than for genuine biblical and Kingdom relationships. Artificiality is becoming normative. And we are becoming virtually strangers... in the crowd, yet lonely.Crowded loneliness is frightening. God well understood the implications of lack of relationship rooted in genuine community. He warned Israel from the moment of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt to reach to the stranger. But the insidious roots of strangerhood have assaulted the American heart, threatening the very faith that bred our freedom.

Alexis de Tocqueville first diagnosed the danger of selfish isolationism that threatened the nation. In Habits of the Heart, sociologists discuss the gravity of de Tocqueville’s 1830's observations for our time, noting it was he who coined the term “individualism.” Individualism has mutated now into hyper-individualism, a virulent disease of the soul now threatening to destroy even Christian community and the God-ordained heart of hospitality that undergirds all genuine community.

The Divine Antidote“Hospitality is as close as we will ever get to the face of God,” declared a rabbi. Hospitality is at the heart of the Gospel. God was not willing that we, who were estranged from Him by sin, should remain strangers. The Father sent forth His Son to extend an invitation to His home, welcoming those who would receive His invitation into a holy comm-unity called the Church. His desire was that we be one in community with Him even as Christ was, that the world would be convinced of Christ and His mission.Hospitality is to reach to strangers. In a very real and growing sense, we are all strangers here. We must grasp the God-breathed need for Christ-infused hospitality to reach the virtual strangers around us, beginning with those virtual strangers right in our midst in the household of faith.Hospitality is glorious, but not glamorous. It is not an artificial marketing tool but the Master’s authentic method for birthing and maintaining relational community. Therefore, the Apostle Paul stated that anyone in a position of leadership in the Church must first be “given to” hospitality and be a “lover” of hospitality. In describing the functional essence of Christian relationships, Paul made clear that all who follow Christ must be “given to” hospitality.

Contrary to popular thinking and teaching, hospitality is not a gift I have, but a gift I must give. It is the practical handle God has given to implement agape love. It is the attitude of the heart which, when expressed collectively among members of the Body, produces the authentic relational womb that births a community in which a people linked in truth are described as being in “unity.” Unity is not the goal but rather the fruit that issues from the root. When either truth or community relationship fostered by hospitality are missing in whole or in part, we seek gospel gimmicks to replace them. The result is not true unity but a counterfeit, requiring constant catering to fleshly interests demanding a conformity of compromise rather than to Christ.As we see the day of our Lord’s return rapidly approaching, the Holy Spirit bringing re-birth to the holy heart of hospitality that graced the life of the early Church, causing outsiders to desire becoming insiders as they observed the unity of truth displayed in holy community. We yearn again for the world to inescapably conclude, “Behold, how they love one another.” But first it will be necessary to restore the Hebraic roots of the church.

Restoring Our Hebraic Roots

How could Christian leadership since the early Church have largely lost the profound simplicity of hospitality? The viewpoint of the Church and its leaders changed dramatically.The Church was born in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, a Jewish feast celebrated fifty days after the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits. Pentecost was followed by the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated by Jesus, His apostles and the Apostle Paul, all of which were Jewish, to display God’s covenantal community before the nations. The “Feasts of the Lord” were open to all who embraced the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,” whether Jew or Gentile.Into such a spiritual environment Yeshua (Christ) was presented as the “Word made flesh,” “Tabernacled among us,” welcoming all who would receive Him to His Father’s eternal home. It was in this same Hebraic environment that the Church was born.As the Church spread, invading Gentile realms, Gentile thinking and ways invaded the Church. Predominant were Greek thinking and Roman organization. For the Greek, the mind mattered most, and relationship was of remote relevancy. Hellenistic influence rapidly replaced the Hebraic heart. God’s Truth became not a faith to be practiced but facts to be pondered.For gentile Christians, it became more “kosher” to think like a Greek than like a Jew. This eroded Hebraic practice.

As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, so did the Roman Empire spread its ways and practices among Christians. Roman structures and organizational ways replaced Hebraic synagogues and relational patterns of worship.With radical changes of thought and practice among Christians came radical rejection of Hebraic practices and persecution of the Jews, severing our Hebraic roots while laying the foundation for seventeen centuries of abandonment of the very heart and soul of first-century Christianity. The Spirit of God is grieved. He is bringing course correction. It is part of the Holy Spirit’s “preparing the way” for our Lord’s return. Much is at stake. Our future success will depend significantly on the degree to which we restore the Hebraic roots that open our hearts hospitably to others.

Nowhere is the substitution of the Greek mind for the Hebraic heart more prevalent in practice than among pastors. We who pastor have become the primary perpetrators and propagators of a purely cognitive approach to the practice of Christian faith. While what we believe is truly important, how we live is of equal or greater importance. The great gap between what we say we believe and how we really live opens us and our flocks to self deception.In few places is this gap more apparent than in the practice of hospitality. While statistics do not always tell the whole truth, the fact that 70 percent of pastors admit they have no friends reveals a significant disconnect between our sincere desire to practice agape love and our failure to practice hospitality.

When hospitality begins to invade and issue from a pastor’s heart, new hope and healing flows from his ministry. His home becomes a revitalized haven for his family, the faithful, and those who would enter the family of God. The spirit of true community comes alive. Genuine unity emerges naturally from the vibrancy of community.

The Pastoral Connection

If we truly want unity, we must restore community. Genuine community will flower with a fresh pursuit of truth and a rebirth of hospitality. To preach hospitality, I must practice hospitality. And if I would practice hospitality, I will soon preach hospitality. Hospitality must again become an essential of Christian discipleship.If we would be touched with hospitality, we must teach hospitality. Hospitality gives us a “handle” on agape love. It requires not only teaching but also training, enveloping every aspect of our Christian walk. Once one gains a vision for The POWER of Hospitality, forgiveness, reconciliation, fellowship, reaching the lost, and virtually every other aspect of ministry and relationship take on new significance and meaning, including unity.The heart of our faith is revealed in a heart of hospitality. Let’s get serious about discipling the saints in this essential expression of God’s grace to us. May no Christian magazine ever again need to ask, “Whatever Happened to Hospitality?”

And may The POWER of Hospitality give rebirth to genuine Christian comm-unity causing a skeptical world to again declare, “Behold how they love one another,” thus extending a welcoming hand to those in a fractured and hyper-individualistic society who will embrace “the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.”

Charles Crismier, founder of Save America Ministries, is host of VIEWPOINT, a national radio broadcast “Confronting the Issues of America’s Heart and Home.” This article is partially taken from a new release, The POWER of Hospitality (2005, Elijah Books) by Chuck and Kathie Crismier.

SAVE AMERICA Ministries P.O. Box 70879 Richmond, VA 23255
1-804- 754-1822 1-800-SAVE USA 1-804-754-1823 (FAX)
Email: crismier@saveus.org

Intimate Friendship with God

Quote from the book Intimate Friendship with God by Joy Dawson pp. 67 & 68

Satan can come at any point in time and tempt us with any kind of sin. It does not matter what it is, unbelief, lust, pride, criticisim, disobedience to God, or anything. We will find there is no attraction to that temptation to sin to the degree that we have been asking for the fear of God and receiving it by faith. We will have Jesus' attitude toward sin, and instantly we will say to Satan, "Nothing doing! I happen to hate your suggestion and I am not about to do what I hate. I resist you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written in James 4:7, 'Resist the devil and he will flee from you".

God tells us to replace the evil thought with pure ones. "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things". (phil 4:8) The amplified bible says ' Fix your mind on them'. That is a deliberate, determined, disciplined act of your will.

Think of the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at a beatiful flower or scenery and worship the creator. Quote or read the word of God aloud.........

... How do we know when evil thoughts come into our minds if they are satanic in origin or from our own hearts? The answer is very simple- by our immediate reaction to these thoughts. If we have an immediate reaction of hatred for them we know they never came from our hearts. The thoughts, came, therefore from satanic activity upon our minds. If we have not had an immediate reaction of hatred to some critical, evil, unforgiving, lustful, or unbelieving thought, then we know there is still a love for that sin in our hearts. We know we have some homework to do in that area. We need to ask for the fear of the Lord to come upon us to relpace the love for that sin.

Revelations w2

Revelation Week 2

Hmmm... I didn't take a lot of notes last week because the children were with me, but here are some thoughts about the session anyway.

I disagree with Hilton Sutton. I have discovered I am not a Premillennialist

"Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

Hilton Sutton used this verse from Revelations 4 as part of his argument for Christians being raptured pretribulation. He drew a parallel between the words come up here, being needed, because that is what would be happening during the rapture.

I am afraid that this interpretation isn't enough to convince me of his position.

When I read the scriptures, specifically Matthew 24, Thessalonians and Revelations I don't believe Christians will be raptured before the tribulation. I believe that they will have to go through it, and persevere until the end. I believe this is why there are so many references to the ones who will over come to the end.

While I have come to this conclusion, I have really liked hearing this teaching and have felt that it has been very worth while. I am really glad I have at least made the first two.

What are your thoughts?

Revelations w1

Josh, I went to the Revelation's sessions last night, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Once I got over the shock of thinking that Hilton Sutton was Tim Allen from The Santa Clause 2 in disguise. I settled down nicely into what he had to say to us.

I have tried to read Revelations a couple of times now and must say have never really been able to overcome the mental barrier of all the symbolisim. So I feel I am able to breath a spiritual sigh of relief at having some of that explained to me.

So what did I learn?

Revelation is a book of blessing.

Revelation is 'not' a book of symbolism

Revelation DOES contain symbols but only 21 and that is less than 1 per chapter- and these are easily interpreted. This gives me great hope.

Revelation is a book of obedience.

The Cross turns bitter to sweet

Disclaimer- I don't agree with everything this guy says. Specifically about their being a myrrh anointing. But I think the gist of this message is pretty good about the bitter seasons of our life.

From the book ~The Decree of Esther Aaron Fruh

The Cross turns bitter to sweet

I want to discuss further the message of myrrh as it relates to the cross, because one of the last lessons Jesus taught us during His life here on earth involved myrrh.

In fact I used to feel confused by it because scripture seems to offer contradictory information. Mark 15:23 says, “they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it.” Matthew gives a similar account adding, “When he tasted it, he would not drink.” Matthew 27:34 Yet John’s gospel says this;


Who is right? Mark says that Jesus would not drink the myrrh but John says that he did. On closer examination we see that both are right. There were two different times that Christ was offered bitter myrrh to drink at Golgotha the place of the skull.

The first time recorded in Mark 15:23 and Matthew 27:34 was before he was crucified. It was Roman custom to offer the victim of crucifixion myrrh mingled with wine before they pierced the hands and feet with the nails. You see myrrh and wine mixed together act as a simulant and pain reliever. Jesus rejected the medication so that he would experience the inferno of pain for us. Soon all the shame anguish and bitter seasons of our lives would be cast upon Him, and he chose to take the full force of them.

The book of Exodus, gives us a beautify foreshadowing of Christ rejecting the numbing myrrh. The children of Israel have crossed the Red Sea triumphantly and have seen their enemies perish before them as the sea walls cascaded down upon the Egyptian horses and chariots. The Israelites sang the song of Moses and Miriam led a joyful procession of praise with timbrels and dancing. The very next stop in their journey was the wilderness of Shur where for three days they found no water.


Exodus 15: 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. [a] ) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"

25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them.

Remember the Hebrew root word for myrrh is marrah, which means “bitter.” When the Israelites tasted the bitter water they spat it out, just as Jesus would reject the bitter myrrh after he had tasted it.

Here is the lesson he was teaching us. When we come to the “bitter water’ seasons of our lives we can begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together. First of all we concluded that we are in the beginning of a myrrh season. Next, we realize that we are thirsty. And finally, we conclude that the water is bitter. Thus we refuse to drink. We mistakenly reject the discomfort of the myrrh in hopes that we can make it to a place where the water is sweet. The Israelites too, were pressing on to a better place; Elim, where there were twelve wells of fresh water and seventy palm tress for shade. We choose to spit out the bitter myrrh of Shur in order to taste the cool waters of Elim.

Do not think however there is anyway around those bitter waters without the cross of Christ. Like the tree Moses threw into the water, the tree of Calvary, where Jesus bore our sorrows, is the only way to end our wilderness experience. It is only through the work of the cross that our bitter waters will be made sweet. Without the cross we are forever stranded in the wilderness. We can never get to Elim and rest … and beauty.

God has designed and organised your beauty preparation schedule. Every person’s path is different. There are times when, like Esther you come to a season of life in which all you see, taste and smell seems painfully bitter. How will you endure it? Not by longing for the sweet wells and shade of another season. You simply need to find the one ‘tree; in your puzzling wilderness that will make your life complete. One that tree Jesus took all of our pain and bitterness. He spat out the myrrh so that He would endure it every aspect of our desperate moments. He spat out the myrrh so that when we face our own myrrh anointing we can be transformed into His image- a church without blot or blemish.

You see, the tree of Calvary when applied to my bitter wilderness experience makes it sweet. Jesus has taken away the bitterness of life’s suffering. Paul tells us that on the cross Jesus brought us a glorious victory so now we can proclaim, “Death is swallowed up in victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

Jesus swallowed the bitterness of death for us and made life sweet. Even your pain is bearable because of the tree of Calvary.

Mark’s gospel records that even before the nails pierced Jesus’ body, He spat out the myrrh mixed with wine because it acted as a pain reliever and He desired to experience all of our pain. In John’s gospel, and also is Matthew 27:48 as we read earlier, Jesus drank the wine mixed with myrrh just before He gave up His spirit. So the last thing Jesus did before He died was to drink the the cup of bitterness on our behalf. This was done to fulfil the Scripture; “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21).

Jesus is returning for a glorious church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish. And every time we allow the Lord Jesus to anoint us with myrrh to cause us to be more attractive to Him, we are fulfilling the scriptures.

In the old Covenant law in Leviticus 14 a procedure is given for cleansing lepers. The priest was to take hyssop (a long reed) and dip it into the blood of an animal and then sprinkle the blood on the hyssop over the leper. David says in Psalm 51:7, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”

Unknowingly, that Roman solider at Golgotha was fulfilling the Levitical law. He took hyssop and put a sponge filled with myrrh on the tip of it and gave it to Christ to drink. Before Jesus committed His spirit into the hands of His father, He was purged with hyssop and anointed with myrrh. We remember of course that when Christ came into the world as a baby He was anointed with the gift of myrrh given by the wise men. It was used as a balm for the skin care of a new child. Before he gave up His spirit on the cross, Jesus was again anointed with myrrh…

…First the suffering then the glory. First the bitter, then the sweet. All of the authority that Esther will later receive is a direct result of her willingness to be anointed with myrrh. Beloved it is time to start walking in the divine authority. It is time to get the putrid odour out of our anointing.

The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus.


Hebrews 5: 7During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered


If Jesus learned obedience to God through the things he suffered then our life journeys will also have moments of myrrh. IF Jesus came into the world anointed with myrrh and went out of the world anointed with myrrh, then I say, “Bathe me Jesus in myrrh anointing. I desire to be beautiful and carry with me your sweet smelling fragrance”.

Picture of a Prophet

Picture of a Prophet
By Leonard Ravenhill

The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected by men.

Years back, Dr. Gregory Mantle was right when he said, "No man can be fully accepted until he is totally rejected." The prophet of the Lord is aware of both these experiences. They are his "brand name."

The group, challenged by the prophet because they are smug and comfortably insulated from a perishing world in their warm but untested theology, is not likely to vote him "Man of the year" when he refers to them as habituates of the synagogue of Satan!

The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, "has almost always been that of recovery."

The prophet is God's detective seeking for a lost treasure. The degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of unpopularity. Compromise is not known to him.
He has no price tags.
He is totally "otherworldly."
He is unquestionably controversial and unpardonably hostile.
He marches to another drummer!
He breathes the rarefied air of inspiration.
He is a "seer" who comes to lead the blind.
He lives in the heights of God and comes into the valley with a "thus saith
the Lord."
He shares some of the foreknowledge of God and so is aware of
impending judgment.
He lives in "splendid isolation."
He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright.
His message is "repent, be reconciled to God or else...!"
His prophecies are parried.
His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void.
He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow.
He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead!
He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with
epitaphs when dead.
He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but few "make the grade" in his class.
He is friendless while living and famous when dead.
He is against the establishment in ministry; then he is established as a saint
by posterity.
He eats daily the bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of
Life to those who listen.
He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years.
He is a scourge to the nation before he is scourged by the nation.
He announces, pronounces, and denounces!
He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire.
He talks to men about God.
He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned by men.
He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing.
He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide in
the marketplace.
He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally spiritual.
He has passion, purpose and pugnacity.
He is ordained of God but disdained by men.

Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its strength, or that we save face over the Watergate affair, or that we find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent prophet!

I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the "seven years of plenty" are over for us. The "seven years of famine" are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11).

Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years. Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made a vital contribution. "Come-outers" have "come out" and settled, too, without a nation-shaking revival. Organizers we have. Skilled preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our moldy morality, our political perfidy, and sour and sick spirituality?

GOD'S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING FORTH. They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry, but he is vindicated by history.

There is a terrible vacuum in evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

Let him be as plain as John the Baptist.
Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and
stagnant "churchianity."
Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle.
Let him, too, say and live, "This ONE thing I do."
Let him reject ecclesiastical favors.
Let him be self-abasing, nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself- righteous,
nonself-glorying, nonself-promoting.
Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself but only that which will move
men to God.
Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has
received the order of the day.
Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the
clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.
Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision
no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the
wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where
enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon.


God have mercy! Send us PROPHETS!

STOP PRESS

It was officially announced at church this morning that as of the 2nd of September Church of the Good Shepherd will no longer meet in 'cells' every Sunday. We are returning to the traditional weekly Sunday Celebration service with the eventual implementation of mid week home groups.


This is a strengthening phase of the church.

Cleansing, Healing, Words

'The Power of the Blood' by HA Maxwell Whyte

Cleansing, Healing, Words pg 114-116

Wise King Solomon wrote, "There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword; but the tongue of the wise is health" proverbs 12:1. The words that proceed from our tongues will give clear evidence of the state of our health. Dr William Standish Reed MD of the Christian Medical Foundation Medford Oregon informed us that such terribly destructive things as criticisim, grumbling, self pity, hatred, cursing and bearing grudges are the cause of much physical sickness, and all these things are manifest through the tongue.

Solomon again wrote, "Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou are taken with the words of thy mouth" Proverbs 6:2. It is we ourselves who destroy ourselves. Satan puts into our heart all these evil thoughts, wich find their almost inevitable expression as words in our mouths. As we speak them, we ensnare ourselves so that Satan has perfect right to come along and tell s there is no hope for us, for He is the angel of death, and the wages of sin is death.

No wonder Solomon warned that negative words, sush as those of hate, envy and criticisim, are as "piercings of a sword". There is always a positive for a negative, a day for night, light for darkness. Thank God, there is another sword than that of Satan- the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The same tongue that spewed out vile, evil things that corrupted and destroyed us can be tamed, not by ourselves, but only by a true work of the Spirit of God in transforming our spirits. Our whole nature is changed and now the heart that was a cesspool of every foul thought becomes cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

Instead of unclean water spilling out of our mouths, now the Holy Spirit will give us words of truth, of life and of health. "The tongue of the wise is health".

Harry Potter Revisited

I have been thinking a bit more about this whole Harry Potter thing and I had a momentary flash of brilliance. I thought that rather than just stick up the regurgitated thoughts of other people (as I have done previously) I might try to dig deep and write down some of the thoughts down.

Genius (as young Annabelle would say).

I am a person who tends to think in point form so I might set out my thoughts here like that if that is ok.

The war that is in disguise:

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

These verses tell us that our war is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in the spiritual realm. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

For there to be a war going on in the spiritual realm there needs to be 'sides' or 'teams'. Simply put you are either for God or you are against Him, and all that is not for Him is against Him.

This applies in the natural and is mirrored in the spiritual.

Some would argue that my stance is some what simplistic, and perhaps it is, but I am a simple kind of gal. You are either for God or you are against Him, you are either going to heaven or going to hell.

Harry Potter, whether fictional witchcraft or modelled from the real thing still focus's on a 'spiritual battle', but now it becomes a war between the 'good witches and the bad witches'. I do not believe this is a true reflection of the Spiritual warfare that Ephesians 6 is talking about. The battle in the heavenlies isn't about two divisions of witchcraft fighting it out, it is between the agents of hell and the agents of heaven and it involves US. We know this because we are asked to take an active stand in the ongoing verses of Ephesians 6.

I really dislike the personification of witchcraft as being 'good'- even if it is only in a fairy tale or within fantasy literature. I have the same dilemna with that old classic movie 'The Wizard of Oz'. The fact that we now have the Wicked Witch of the West, warring the White Witch is spiritually subtle to say the least.

I 'personally' don't have the same feelings towards CS Lewis Chronicles of Narnia as I do towards Harry Potter. The reason for this being that there are obviously two sides in Narnia. The Witch who represents evil, and Aslan who is considered the 'Christ' figure. For me it does not hold the spiritual ambiguity I see in Potter.

The Coat Hanger

Many people secular and Christian alike, talk about the virtues, values, character and issues of life that the young boy Potter deals with on his way to becoming a man.

While I have no doubt that many deep issues are explored within the pages of these novels, I don't personally 'feel' I need to learn those lessons myself clothed in the garments of witchcraft whether it be 'real or fantasy' in content.

I believe there is enough other literature around that would be values, virtues or moral character based without glorifying wizardry, that may 'even' glorify God!

To debate or not to debate?

While I believe that there are many Christians around who have legitimate minstries to those in the occult, paganisim, satanism and yes even the New Age, who believe they need to read the Rowlings books in order to be well informed. I do not really 'buy' the argument that as Christians we need to read the books or watch the movies in order to be able to engage people or debate about it.

I have no doubt that it would help to engage or debate people about it if we read it. But my deeper question is 'SHOULD' we engage or debate people about 'spiritual things' without giving them them the gospel to hang it on, or before they are ready to receive them?

1 Corinthians 2 says;

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[c] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"[d] But we have the mind of Christ.

Without having the Holy Spirit impart wisdom, we are told in the above passage that the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God for they are FOOLISHNESS to him.. he simply can not understand them, because they are spiritual discerned.

This is not to say that I believe we should never talk to the unsaved about Spiritual matters, I just believe we need to be listening very closely to the heartbeat of God for how we should address those we are engaging.

Jesus when talking to the woman at the well started in the natural and moved on to the spiritual. The same as when he was brought the woman caught in adultery. Each time he discerned the Father's heart for these women and how to go about 'unlocking' the door to their hearts to the gospel.

He didnt need to engage them about the latest fad or trend in their world. He went straight for the issues of the heart, he showed them their need for a saviour and then opened the door for them to receieve Him.

We may have many enjoyable conversations with people, or spiritual debates, but do we really need to fill up on every new fad or fettish that comes along in order to do it?

OR should we be so full of the word of God, full of His presence, renewed and transformed in our mind that when we meet the unsaved along the way, we can easily discern the beat of the Father's heart at that minute like Jesus did and get to the very crux of what it is that we are meant to be doing... leading people to Jesus for their salvation, eternal security and an intimate ongoing relationship with their Father- God... as they were created to have.

Do we need things like Harry Potter, the DaVinci Code or whatever the flash in the pan trend seems to be at the moment to hang the gospel on? Or does the gospel stand alone?

I suppose that is the deeper question I am asking here!

In finishing for now... I am aware that Jesus spoke in parable's from life, and perhaps as our modern day existence seems to take on more and more fantasy than ever before, literature such as Potter could be legitimate forms of parable telling, I just think I am going to need a lot more convincing about the need to use wizardy/witchcraft to expound the gospel of Christ Jesus.

~ S E L A H ~

Another grasshopper stops by...

Did you read the post about my grasshopper visitors?

It was posted on Sunday, June 24, 2007 if you want to go back and have a look. Anyway... to be honest I thought I had seen the end of my grasshopper visitors. But alas that was not to be the case.

Yesterday I was having a look for various things that would help us when we got to the UK. I was looking up property sites, furniture stores, reseaching the history of the various townships around Manchester and looking at church websites trying to get a feel for the area.

Then out of the corner of my left eye I saw something moving across my lounge room floor. It was too small to be Joey (our 9 month old) and it wasn't a cockroach (as would be the normal creature I might see scurrying here in Sydney). And it certainly wouldn't have been a mouse, because we have Eastwood's BEST mouser in residence here (a handy thing living near a park).

Instead it was another 'little' grasshopper'.

I laughed!

Then I checked myself to see if I had been thinking small. While I had been looking at sites, I didn't feel worried, or stressed or negative about any of these things. So I was very surpised to see my little friend because I didn't feel like I had grasshopper thinking at all!

This morning I feel the Lord is telling me that He really 'does' have it all in His hands and to stop trying to do it all in the natural, because He has done it ALL already in the spiritual!

~ S E L A H ~

Harry Potter

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows"

Spiritual Warfare of the Highest Degree

Cutting Edge Harry Potter Section

I. Over 300 million people worldwide breathlessly awaited their copy of the seventh and supposedly final Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

NEWS BRIEF: "For Harry Potter, Good Old-Fashioned Closure", New York Times, July 18, 2007

"So, here it is at last: the final confrontation between Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the “symbol of hope” for both the Wizard and Muggle worlds, and Lord Voldemort, He Who Must Not Be Named, the nefarious leader of the Death Eaters and would-be ruler of all. Good versus Evil. Love versus Hate. The Seeker versus the Dark Lord."

"With each installment, the Potter series has grown increasingly dark, and this volume .... is no exception. While Ms. Rowling’s astonishingly limber voice still moves effortlessly between Ron’s adolescent sarcasm and Harry’s growing solemnity, from youthful exuberance to more philosophical gravity, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' is, for the most part, a somber book that marks Harry’s final initiation into the complexities and sadnesses of adulthood."
Cutting Edge noted, in our book review of the sixth book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Is The Final Secret of the Seventh Book Revealed?", that it is highly possible that Harry will be named the Messiah of the World of Wizardry at the end of the seventh book. We can only wait to see how this plot works out, but I believe that this is a distinct possibility.

If Harry is declared the Messiah, wouldn't that be a kicker, as the world seems poised on the edge of the World War III which will produce the real Antichrist? For this reason, I am anxious to get my copy and begin reading. We shall have a Book Review for you on Monday morning.
Interestingly, this next news article asks the question, "Is Harry Potter a Christ figure?"
NEWS BRIEF: "Christian elements lurk in Potter books: "Is Harry Potter a Christ figure?", by Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune, July 20, 2007

"Is Harry Potter a Christ figure? ... As Potter fans await the release of the seventh and final installment at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, it's a question worth considering."

"Do you think Harry Potter has an agenda?"

Yes, I think Harry Potter has an agenda. From the beginning, when kids were so encouraged to draw a lightening bolt in the middle of their foreheads, I believed Potter was conditioning children and adults to accept the final mark of Antichrist.

As far as whether Christians should read Potter, the answer is Biblical. God forbids His people from having anything to do with witches and familiar spirits and the "peeping and muttering" that witches go through to stage their rituals.

Furthermore, Potter novels describe real witchcraft in great detail. No Christian should allow himself to be so completely subjected to such powers of Satan. God's Word admonishes His people to avoid even watching evil. Listen:

"He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises gain from fraud and from oppression, who shakes his hand free from the taking of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes to avoid looking upon evil." (Isaiah 33:15, Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)

Did you catch that last phrase? "... shuts his eyes to avoid looking upon evil."

A Christian simply cannot fill his mind with words and images of witches, wizards, familiar spirits, shape-shifting witches, and REAL witchcraft descriptions and still think he or she is in right standing with Jesus Christ!

Do not be deceived on this point! Jesus' warnings in Matthew 24 against being spiritually deceived at the End of the Age are so strong and are repeated three times, you must understand that unprecedented deception -- both spiritually and politically -- is one of THE End of the Age characteristics. Listen:

* Verse 4 -- "Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you, deceiving you and leading you into error."

* Verse 11 -- "And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error."

* Verse 24 -- "For false Christs and false prophets will arise ... so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God's chosen ones)."

Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)

Since the Christian Church has fallen into such spiritual apostasy over the past 50 years, I should not be surprised when I hear of a known apostate leader espouse the ridiculous notion that J.K. Rowling has woven the Gospel of Jesus Christ through her novels.
But, I must confess, I was shocked when I read these very sad remarks, thinking of the millions of trusting Anglican people who will believe these lying words.

NEWS BRIEF: "Anglican Bishop praises ‘Gospel according to Potter’ ", by Sally Williams, Western Mail, I.C. Wales, July 20, 2007

"THE Anglican communion should learn lessons from Harry Potter ... The Bishop of St Davids, Carl Cooper, said the Christian virtues of humility, respect and love portrayed in the stories about the teenage wizard should be replicated within the church."
"JK Rowling’s books are no strangers to controversy among the religious establishment, with previous installments being burned by Christian groups, and one Catholic Church official last year denouncing Harry Potter as the 'devil. But the Anglican church has shown an increasing willingness to embrace the popularity of the Hogwarts pupil. Bishop Cooper said that although the story is cloaked in magic and wizardry, it has strong Christian messages and themes are at its heart. He said, 'The reader is in no doubt that love and friendship need to be acts of the will as well as acts of the heart'."

When I read the Harry Potter novels, I was repeatedly almost overwhelmed by the intense hatred and occultism which simply covers the entire series like a heavy blanket. Only the bond between Harry, Ron, and Hermione can be thought of as having "love and friendship", and even that bond was extremely mild compared to the love Jesus showed for His disciples.
At best, Harry Potter is a mixture of intense hatred and evil, and the mild bonds of friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. In other words, Christians will be subjected to the hatred of Belial and a mild love. Do you remember what the Apostle Paul said, "...what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor 6:14-15)

CFR member, Rick Warren, of the Purpose Driven Church, loves Harry Potter and encourages his members to read the novels. (Read Warren bragging about his Council of Foreign Relations membership, Paragraph VI, November 25, 2006, Newsletter)

"Though the seventh and final installment is yet to be released (July 21, to be exact), when it does, it will be well-worth reading. Though some would disagree, I am one to put Rowling's work in the camp of fantasy literature, along with Lewis and Tolkien, with her use of magic more mechanical than occultic. I found her earlier six volumes instant classics of the genre, and the final book will undoubtedly cement this series as among the best written." (Rick Warren's "Ministry Toolbox")

This kind of nonsense from church leaders is so very deplorable, and will not go unnoticed by the One Who will sit on the White Throne Judgment.

This next news story illustrates how deeply Harry Potter has penetrated into the hearts and minds of his legions of followers. Read it and weep.

NEWS BRIEF: "Kids' Grief Counselors Wait By Phones in Case Harry Potter Dies", By Mark Herlihy, Bloomberg News, July 20, 2007

"A U.K. children's charity has brought in extra staff to man its phone lines in expectation of a deluge of calls from distraught youngsters if Harry Potter dies ... 'For many children, Harry Potter and his friends have become a major part of their childhood', said Kate Trench, a spokeswoman for ChildLine, based in London, which provides telephone support services for children. 'Excitement could give way to sadness for those caught up in the huge build-up to the seventh and final book'.''

How sad, for so many children to be this devoted to this Satanic character, Harry Potter! This kind of devotion is exactly the kind of devotion Jesus Christ demands of His people. Listen:
"He who loves and takes more pleasure in father or mother more than in Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves and takes more pleasure in son or daughter more than in Me is not worthy of Me." (Matthew 10:37, Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)

Can you just hear the application of this verse to Harry Potter?

"He who loves and takes more pleasure in Harry Potter is not worthy of Me." This last statement might be the bottom line in this entire Harry Potter controversy.

What do you think?

Leave a comment................

Giving birth in the jungle......

This is a portion of an update from missionaries I grew up praying for. The Jennings have worked long term (27 years) with the Higaunon people translating the bible, establishing a church and training and discipling converts/teachers to work with their own people. They serve with New Tribes Mission.

Read more about the Higaunon people

Dear Friends in Christ,


... We had an interesting night a few nights ago. We were woken up around 2am with someone outside calling us. This hasn't happened in a long while and the first thing we both thought was, "Oh no, a possible political problem" because we had heard that there had been some problems in an area about 10km from here with some killings. I think the guy outside must have realized that was our first thought, because once he knew Ron was on the other side of the door and hesitating to open it, he proceeded to tell us that his wife was having her baby (her 8th!) and there was a problem with the birth.

So Ron opened up and he told us what was going on. It seemed like although the head was present the baby just wouldn't deliver. The midwife helping with the delivery has delivered a number of babies here, so I guess what she was experiencing concerned her and thought we might have some advice.

Now childbirth is something I usually don't get involved in having only delivered one baby since we have been here. The midwives here seem to do a pretty good job considering their circumstances. We have been here 27 years and only know of one death of the mother during childbirth and very few babies dying at the time of birth. I really didn't know what help I could be other than moral support but we went over anyway. Thankfully they live close by so getting there wasn't a problem.

After talking to the midwife, it was clear that she was really concerned that things were not progressing as they should be. For the past two hours or more she had been trying to deliver the baby to no avail. She had physically tried to get the baby out but it seemed stuck fast. I felt like I was somewhat thrown in the deep end and needed to try and help too. So for the next 2 hours, with each contraction we both tried to get the baby out. There definitely seemed something wrong and an obstruction preventing the head from coming out. Eventually we encouraged them to consider taking her out to the hospital on the coast. Calling in the plane did not seem a good option as it would still be a number of hours before it was light enough to call in the plane and plus there was also the possibility that it wouldn't make it in here anyway due to a current typhoon off of the coast that had been getting worse. So rather than wait, they organized some guys to help carry her out in hammock and sent someone on ahead to try and organize a vehicle once they got her to the top of the mountain.

I was reminded once again after that experience how much we have to be thankful for with the medical help we have in Aussie. Here I was in a small wooden hut with no light other than our spotlight and their tribal lamp which is just some diesel in a bottle with some cardboard as a wick, so every few minutes it needed to be turned upside down to re-wet the cardboard which rejuvenates the flame after initially giving off black bellowing smoke. At one point I nearly got burned by the oil lamp. I only realized that I was standing right over it when I felt the heat.
The mother, Yom-pot, was laying on the grubby wooden floor on a sheet of plastic with her husband Bah-lat, at her head trying to encourage her. All they had to use was a bowl of warm water and some old rags. The whole situation was as far from sterile as you could possibly imagine and basically I had nothing to add to their conclusions about the problem. Behind us were their other 7 children all huddled together on a sleeping mat, half a dozen people were hanging in the open window and different ones were coming in and out seeing what was going on. The Lord gave strength though, especially to Yom-pot who amazed me how well she was doing in spite of the pain she was in and the pain I am sure we were inflicting on her as well in our trying to help.

It was also encouraging to hear the discussion that went back and forth about the Lord being in control and the exhortations from the elderly folks to not be afraid but trust the Lord. Before the Gospel came here they would have been pushing on the mothers stomach to try and push the baby out and sacrificing chickens to their ancestral spirits and wiping the blood on the woman’s stomach, but now they are depending on the Lord and eager to follow His leading.

By 4.30am they had everything organized and ready to hike her out up the mountain. When they left I felt so helpless, wishing we could have done more, but realizing that there really wasn't anything more we could do. My prayer was that she would have the baby on the way so that she wouldn't have to make that horrible trip for hours over the unbelievably bumpy mountain roads out to the coast.

Four hours later I heard that that is indeed what happened. When they reached the closest village along the road to here, there was a trained government midwife there who apparently was able to help her deliver the baby. Thank you Lord!!

The following day I felt like I had been run over by a truck. Every muscle in my body ached, due to the fact that I had to get into positions that I haven't been in for a long time and with the problem I have with my back, it was just made worse. Oh well, at least I know this will wear off in a few days.

I guess that even though we were unable to help physically, we were able to observe something far more important than our physical help and that was their faith in Christ in the midst of a real life trial. That is something we can rejoice in having had a part in delivering to them that which will carry them through every trial no matter how much we lack the ability to help them physically.

As you know we are looking forward to a translation check beginning on the 17th July. Ron is finishing up a 'guest room' that we have put together so that Ginny (our checker) can have a bit of privacy whilst here. We used to have a small spare room next to our bedroom but decided a little while ago to just pull down the dividing wall to make our bedroom a bit bigger to fit in our exercise bike.

This left us with no where to put any visitors other than just setting up a mattress in our living area. The 'guest room' is just outside of the main house but shares the same roof area. It is something we have been wanting to do for ages but just never got around to it. I guess the need pushed us to get on with it. So if you come visit us, you can stay in the white house. Were calling it that because we painted it white inside and it is the only place in our house that is actually painted. Additional features are 24/7 WiFi and bug proofing. No gaps and holes for the bugs to get through.

Well, this is getting long so will close for now. Once again we want to thank you for your partnership with us in prayer. What an encouragement it is to us to know that so many are praying for us and the work. We trust that as we keep you updated, you too are encouraged to hear what the Lord is doing amongst your Higaunon brothers and sisters.

With Christian love
Ron and Michelle

One of the learning curves I am on at the moment is not doing things to please man, which is very different to doing things to 'edify' man or glorify the Lord. This is not so easy to discern all the time and comes down to being aware of the motives of my heart.

Often we use words like laying down your life, sacrifice, pouring yourself out and having a servant heart, but these things can become just as legalistic if we do them for the wrong reasons as any religious dogma we may find elsewhere.

Jesus certainly WANTS those thing from us, but as an act of love and perfect sacrifice to HIM and under HIS anointing and HIS equipping and HIS empowering... it is all about HIM!

So firstly we need to make sure we HEAR from HIM and arent just doing things which are 'good ideas'.

While in one sense we do forget ourselves, because it is all about Him, we actually do need some awareness of self because without it we can not really be honest about WHERE we need his help. It is really great when we can use our gifts and talents to serve the Lord, but if we are doing it without the Lord we may as well be doing it out in the work place and getting payed for it because the spiritual significance may be totally lost without intimacy and relationship with Jesus.

Romans 12 says;

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship.

It then goes on to tell us about using our spiritual gifts to edify the 'body'. But our first port of call is to offer ourselves to GOD! So often we get this the wrong way around. We use our spiritual gifts/talents to 'serve' the body (or is self really disguised as such?), and hope that God is ok with that.

It's a bit like that verse in James that talks about the man who looks at himself in the mirror and then goes away forgetting what he looks like. We NEED to know where we are at spiritually, we need to look in the mirror of the word of God and ourselves in Jesus reflection, so we can get a true sense of where we need repentance, forgiveness, reconcillation, redemption and rebuilding.

If we don't take the time to examine the motives our hearts and why we do what we do, then we could spend weeks, months and years doing 'good' things that He never really called us to do, nor equipped us for, or worse still had no anointing for but was a work of our very talented flesh!

~selah~

Let us...

... throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

I am always struck when I read the scripture with how many 'verbs' there are. True christianity is not just some passive religious experience that we let happen to us. Instead it is intentional, directional and requires us to be accountable to each other and the wider Body of Christ.

I was reading this scripture today and the Lord impressed a few things upon me.

In order to 'throw off' something, first we must have an awareness that it is there in the first place. I think of myself running with a coat on and getting hot (lol funny thought really given how unfit I am). In order for me to throw off that coat, I need to know it is there. I may even need to spend some time unbuttoning (undoing it) before I cast it off to the ground.

So it is with our sin. We first need an awareness of the things that keep us hindered and entangled. The Lord is ever faithful in showing us what these things are, when we take the time to seek Him.


We need to spend time asking the Lord to show us the things that hold us back. Then we may need to spend time 'undoing' those things in our live. Sometimes we can manage them on our own (with Jesus), and sometimes we may need the help of a fellow sister or brother in the Lord to pray with us.


Repentance, renouncing and breaking off is paramount to this disentaglement.

The second thing that strikes me about this verse is that we are told to RUN! Now those of you who know me, know that unfortunately running to me is like flying to a pig. In the natural, I don't do it often and I don't do it well! But here in relation to our spiritual walk we are told to RUN! Running requires strength, perseverence, fitness, direction, preperation, training and focus. Do we have those qualities about us everyday, or are we merely taking a meandering stroll in our Christian walk?

The third thing that I see in this verse, is that we are told to run the race set before US! Now that US I believe has a few different dimensions.

There is the corporate us- that is the Body of Christ US. We have clear mandates in scripture about the types of things we should be doing. Things like making disciplies, loving one another, living our lives as acts of worship to God etc.

But there is also the US that has to do with our own life. What is your mandate in life, the vision God has for you? Do you know or are you too busy looking over the spiritual shoulder of someone else, judging, assessing or even envying the the calling of others. I know there are times I have been guilty of this.


Seek God and find out what the race is you are required to run, and then under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of our Lord Jesus Christ let's run it with all our might!

~selah~

Burden Bearing

Psalm 68: 19

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

I was reading this Psalm on the 5th July '07 and it just struck me at how remarkable God is (yet again). Not only does He promise to bear our Burden's but the scripture tells us He does it daily.

I just want to encourage you to once again cast your daily burden's upon Jesus, because He cares for you.

Oh what a mighty God we serve!

~selah~

House on Fire

It has been the Lord's way in my life to parallel an issue in my heart with the house that we live in. I don't know why He does that with me, but He does. Regardless of why, I am very appreciative of this as I am a very visual person.

Over several nights Christmas 2006 the Lord gave me a series of dreams about the house we currently rent, burning down.

Having seen what happened the week I dreamt of floods in September, Anthony was very keen to check that our house insurance was up to date, in case it really did burn down. I however sought the Lord for what it was He was trying to say to me.

The revelation came a little while later.

We live in a beautiful wooden house. Pretty well everything is wooden other than the tiles in the bathrooms and hearths. It is nicely decorated, light and airy. It has a wonderful 'feel' to it. People walk in and often comment on the loveliness of it.

The Lord told me that I was that house.

The Lord also told me that this was how I have often been viewed as well.

Yet He promised that a new day was coming.

See after living a little while in this lovely little house, Anthony and I noticed that some things had been renovated really quickly. Glass sheets would fall out of cupboards. Floorboards would scratch at the slightest thing (because they had not been varnished hard enough), light switches would cease to work, sealing around sinks and baths slowly started to pull away. Niggly little things started to happen that made the house not as attractive to us as it first was to us.

The Lord told me that just like this house there were things that were like that in my life. Not so niggly little things that needed to come under the refining fire of the Lord. We all know that old adage, that a stitch in time saves nine. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if these character flaws are NOT burnt out now that I am in for big trouble later on.

At first this left me bewildered, hurt and feeling very alone. But the Lord has used this time to mirror many of my character flaws, insecurities and fears.

Praise be to God though that this is not my first such wilderness experience. The Lord has often taken me through refiners fire. Showing me my true nature and character, my unsurrended heart, my uncrucified flesh, my unsubmissive will. And each time He crushes and breaks and hones out the changes that He wants wrought.

The Lord revealed that I was in for a spiritual house fire. He was going to burn away the dross, the wood and chaff and rebuild me a new.

It has not been an easy road. I have not always responded the way that He would have me respond, but I am starting to see His victories in my life. I have begun to notice the redemptive work of the cross, I can see resurrection life starting to shoot forth.

Part of the way the Lord has done this in my life is through Cleansing Stream Ministries. It has been a time of laying foundational truths in such a way that this time, I can't help but know them, and God in a new intimate way.

I know this time is not over, but I can see an end in sight. I am looking forward to the retreat this weekend and seeing what the Lord does. I am ever thankful that He chose now to make these changes, as we plan to move to the UK.

But most of all I am especially thankful that the Lord never just leaves us alone, but sanctifies us so that we can truly reflect His glory and enjoy Him forever.

~selah~

Siftings

Ever been sifted?

I made a commitment to follow Christ when I was 6 years old. I can remember it so very clearly as it was the result of a very real and vivid dream that I had. But I haven't always walked a righteous walk before my God.
For every person that succeeds in walking righteously before our God in their teenage years, there are many more that won't. I am one of the many that didn't. Consequently at 21 and in my third year of University I found myself pregnant to a non-Christian compulsive gambler.

Praise be to God that while my husband is still not a Christian, God has healed him of his gambling and we have gone on to have a great marriage relationship despite our tumultuous start.

That is a whole other story to be told perhaps one day about the perils and disobedience involved in marrying an non-Christian, but today I'll share with you a little of where I feel I went wrong.

Luke 22 say's

31"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you[a] as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Who gave the permission to Satan ??? GOD gave the permission to Satan. A pretty mind blowing concept isn't it? It's not the first time it's happened and neither will it be the last. Job was another example of Satan trying to break the will of a righteous man to worship God.

I can remember as a self-righteous 17-year-old vowing off so many things, alcohol, smoking, sex before marriage, going out with a non-Christian even marrying a non-Christian. Not bad things to steer clear of are they.

Recently a lesson dawned on me. Just like Peter I was vowing these things in a spirit of pride. Just as he felt that he was a special disciple who deserved to be regarded highly I was looking for recognition from my God for an attitude that was born out of a spirit of pride. Oh she's a good Christian girl isn't she saying all these things let's give her a pat on the back..... WRONG!

I look back on my life now and I know and truly believe that God gave Satan permission to sift me and guys I failed dismally not just once either. Just like Peter when push came to shove I denied my Lord over and over and over again in lots of areas in my life.

So what does this mean for us today, should we never set out to live a righteous and godly life. Of course we should. My problem was I promised God all these things and I told him over and over again that I would never deny him. But each time I did, I had that sinking feeling like Peter must have had when he heard that cock crow.

My trouble as I bet Peter's was, was that I rested upon my prideful promises rather than in humbly submitting myself to God. Admitting our weakness is not a character flaw, it opens you up to God's nurture and protection in your life. Satan will try to condemn you for your weakness but the bible tells us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. You already have victory in Christ- you just need to walk in it.

Never say Never has become a catch phrase of the movies, but I believe it is applicable to the Christian life. As soon as we say we never will or make a never statement based on pride rather than humility, we are opening ourselves up for a good sifting. Rather we should be each day humbly asking God for the strength to resist ANY temptation that comes our way, to stand firm.

James 4:7 say's"Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you"

Action is required here on the part of the Christian, in order to resist Satan. We are not to passively sit back and let him attack us. This is warfare.!!!!

However it is still necessary to understand that it is only through the power of Christ in us when we choose to abide in him that allows us victory. There is no power in our prideful attitudes or flesh, but when we humbly acknowledge our faults and seek God's face he will meet us where we are at, and give us the strength by his grace and his mercy to resist the devil.

I have been reading a book lately that talks about the 3 enemy's of a Christian;

• Satan

• The world

• Our flesh.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us that our war is not against people (flesh and blood) but against the rulers, the powers and the principalities in heavenly realms. I am not telling you this to scare you, or out of some kind of demon fixation you may think I have, I am telling you this that if you are not aware of the tricks that Satan plays you will fail dismally.

Dress yourselves in your armor daily. Cover your thought life, your deeds, and your behavior with the armor of God. This isn't a daunting task pray it is straight from your bibles.

The world is a place that a Christians daily has trouble being. Movies, music, clothes, television, books etc ... are so anti-Christ that it's no wonder we are told to be in the world not off the world. The world will try to sell you so many lies. You're not whole unless you're in a relationship. Your not fulfilled unless it's a sexual relationship, look out for number one, beauty is essential, only the beautiful people succeed, times have changed, so therefore the biblical rules have changed. WRONG! The world is not so very different from the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God's principles are just as valid today as ever before. Know them, learn them and write them on your heart. Stand strong in the Lord, but do it humbly knowing that you can do nothing except through Christ's who strengthens you. It may be okay now in the loving shelter of your families, but the day will come when you will have to leave it for one reason or another, and you will want to make sure you can stand firm in Christ by yourself.

Even if you were to remain with your family until the day you were married, temptation doesn't stop because you have a ring on your finger, a husband and a home. Be strong ladies, and learn soon.

Thirdly our flesh is our other enemy. Galatians 5: 19-21 talks about the sins of the flesh. Some of them may be hard to understand and I encourage you to talk about them with someone who can help you further investigate and explain.

These ones come from a book called 'The Adversary" by Mark Bubeck;

• Adultery - thoughts or acts of immorality after marriage.

• Fornication - thoughts or acts or immorality before marriage.

• Uncleanness - evil or impure thoughts, dirty stories, lustful desires, dirty movies, pornography.

• Lasciviousness - the practice of stirring up sinful desires outside the limit of God's approval- dress, speech, smile, eyes, physical gestures, modesty.

• Idolatry - the sin of the flesh rebelling against worshiping God. When we either physically or mentally put a 'thing' before God.

• Witchcraft- this is a desire to contact or relate to the spiritual world that is outside of the realm of God's spiritual domain.

• Hatred - dark thoughts towards something/someone, bitterness, contempt, loathing, anger.

• Variance/Quarreling - expresses itself as we become a part of strife or discord. Usually springs from the need for attention or to prove ourselves right.

• Emulation's/Jealousy - inner feelings of resentment that someone else is or has something that we want. Comes from desiring our own interests above others, also manifests itself as a lack of self acceptance or thankfulness for the way in which God has made us, or the life he has given us.

• Wrath - bad temper, violent anger, rage or sentiment, coming from things/people threatening our self interest.. Anger is an attempt of the flesh to step in and take situations (vengeance especially) out of God's hands.

• Strife - self-seeking rivalry, pulls others that threaten us in anyway down.

• Sedition's - to divide, split in two parts. This is trying to identify with a group that will my selfish interests. It's what causes church splits and quarreling amongst believers.

• Heresies - like the above, including being party to a spirit of non-essentials. This is trying to identify with a group that will support our conduct with doctrinal argument. Especially harmful in the body of Christ.

• Envying - an inner discontent with our life or ourselves. Look at others success or superiority with a desire for his/her place. Comes from our own insecurity and trust in God's enabling, and a refusal to be happy with God's will for us, and his grace.

• Murders - the rebellious desire of the flesh or the action of taking a life.

• Drunkenness - reliance upon a substance (intoxicants) that provide an artificial means of escape from our sins and responsibilities, providing an artificial feeling of well being.

• Reveling and such alike- this is were sensual appetites rule and dictate behavior. It is the desire and act of meeting and gratifying the body's appetites without moral responsibility.

I know that is a long list of flesh sins, and some will not apply to you, but if you are honest with yourself you will struggle with some of these at some time.

So how do we avoid sins of the flesh?

By acknowledging them before our God. We need to at all time walk honestly, seeing our faults and allowing and cultivating the Holy Spirits prompting in our lives.

Galatians 5:24-26 says;

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking or envying each other"

Even though we may feel like good for nothing sinners, the truth of the matter is that God has already taken our sin for us, and made it possible for us to walk in the Spirit. We need to learn to walk not by what we feel but by the truth of God's word. The verse above says that our sinful nature was crucified with Christ. It doesn't mean that we won't sin, it means that we don't have to be a slave to our sin. You can have victory in your life.

Always give God his due glory for the care, protection and victory in your life. Keep your minds focused on him, not on your own self. Don't become proud of your Christian walk unless your proud of how much the Lord has done for you. Then be careful not to think he's poured out an extra dose of grace on you cause your such a worthy recipient, but rather boast only in the Lord.

The reason that I am telling you this is because I did become proud and conceited. And I didn't get told any of the above information until just recently when the Lord revealed to me. I wish I had of understood it better when I was your age, I may have saved myself, my family and my Lord a lot of unnecessary heart ache.

ThankfullyRomans 8:28 says;

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"

There is an old chorus that says;

"Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion, he understood. All I had to offer him was brokenness and strife, but he made something beautiful of my life".

That's how I feel about my Lord. It's taken me many years and quite a journey to be able to say that. God has brought me to the place I am in today, and he sustains me daily. I have learnt to say, that without my God I am nothing, but in my Lord I am a conqueror, victorious, whole and forgiven.

(written in 1998 for a home school mail out to young teenage girls)