Lift Up Our Heads
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. (Psa 24:7)
God is ready to come in and be sovereign in our lives. His hands are continually stretched out, but we can disregard it (Prov 1:24). He is ready to impart His Wisdom when we acknowledge our foolish pride. His help is always within reach (Psa 121:2), if only we lift up and see. This seeing takes faith. Lift up our head takes humility and readiness to come to an end of ourselves. Lift up our heads and welcome Him to take over completely.
Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, why do ye look one upon another? (Gen 42:1)
The best than man can give is out of their own capacity. Why look to man when there is an ever flowing pure stream we can drink from (Jer 2:13). Looking horizontally can result in unhealthy fault finding, breeding striving and a self righteous tendency to judge others.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, ….. within the veil; (Heb 6:19)
Looking down is to deny His saving grace and leave one in hopelessness. Hope anchors us; it opens our eyes to see the plateau of God’s grace. It secures us without fear of evil. An anchored soul has the glorious privilege of enjoying communion in the presence of the Almighty and living in a state of being pleased without any want (Psa 16:19).
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…….
(Gal 6:14)
Don’t look inward! There is a subtle and destructive element when we look at self. Glory in the cross of Jesus that have nailed self to the cross that the life of Christ may be manifested in and through us (Gal 2:20). Beware of other self inflicted or man given crosses, these don’t carry the intrinsic value of God’s glory. Don't shun the cross of Christ for there is a glorious overcoming life with sight set on eternity.
…. now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Mat 11:12)
When we invite the King in, He will come in strong and mighty (Psa 24:8). He will bring His kingdom with Him and reign supreme. There will be humbling. All hardness of heart will be supplanted (Eze 36:26). If we allow Him to come in, He will be surgical. All this amounts in glory for His names sake and we become participants in the perpetual will and purposes of the Almighty.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
The New Covenant
Ps Lee Shaw Ming
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mt 26:27-28)
Friend, Christians live under the New Covenant which was effected by Yeshua’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross. However, most are ignorant of or have inaccurate understanding of what the New Covenant really is, and therefore do not experience the sanctifying power and liberty of this glorious Covenant. Worse of all, an increasing number of pastors and believers are promoting a perverted form of “new covenant” doctrine that basically is a repackaging of the ancient heresy of antinomianism (anti-Law). This heresy, condemned in 1 John, erroneously presumed that the Old Testament Law has been abolished under the New Covenant, and thus, encourages lawlessness. Truly, God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!
Read rest of article HERE
Ps Lee Shaw Ming
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mt 26:27-28)
Friend, Christians live under the New Covenant which was effected by Yeshua’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross. However, most are ignorant of or have inaccurate understanding of what the New Covenant really is, and therefore do not experience the sanctifying power and liberty of this glorious Covenant. Worse of all, an increasing number of pastors and believers are promoting a perverted form of “new covenant” doctrine that basically is a repackaging of the ancient heresy of antinomianism (anti-Law). This heresy, condemned in 1 John, erroneously presumed that the Old Testament Law has been abolished under the New Covenant, and thus, encourages lawlessness. Truly, God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!
Read rest of article HERE
Friday, December 17, 2010
Salvation and Our Will
But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12, 13)
Our salvation didn’t begin with us, meaning it wasn’t our decision to believe on Jesus but our salvation originates with God and His divine will to save us (John 17:2, 3). The gospel starts at the beginning with Christ (John 1:1), creation and life stem from the Same. Salvation is all encompassing that we have a renewed mind of Christ, a new heart and our will yield to God’s will. The latter is probably the biggest struggle in our entire Christian pilgrimage.
It was at Gethsemane that Jesus had the victory to overcome the physical cross (Matt 26:42). Likewise wrestle to overcome our self will and submit to Father’s. Don’t wrestle with God lest we be maimed, wrestle before Him against our self will and He will provide us the required strength. Once self will is yielded, there is joy in facing all trials of life for we participate in the glorious and eternal hope in Christ (Heb 12:2).
As we present our entirety alive, i.e. victory over self will, there is sweet aroma of worship that rises to the Throne and He is pleased to prove in and through us His good, acceptable and perfect will (Rom 12:1,2). The cross puts to death our flesh, never the will for He never meant for us to be marionettes. However the devil want to engulf our will so that he finds a bodily manifestation. With our will submitted to His will, we can will our entire being to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, nary a hint of self achievement but the end is done for His glory.
But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12, 13)
Our salvation didn’t begin with us, meaning it wasn’t our decision to believe on Jesus but our salvation originates with God and His divine will to save us (John 17:2, 3). The gospel starts at the beginning with Christ (John 1:1), creation and life stem from the Same. Salvation is all encompassing that we have a renewed mind of Christ, a new heart and our will yield to God’s will. The latter is probably the biggest struggle in our entire Christian pilgrimage.
It was at Gethsemane that Jesus had the victory to overcome the physical cross (Matt 26:42). Likewise wrestle to overcome our self will and submit to Father’s. Don’t wrestle with God lest we be maimed, wrestle before Him against our self will and He will provide us the required strength. Once self will is yielded, there is joy in facing all trials of life for we participate in the glorious and eternal hope in Christ (Heb 12:2).
As we present our entirety alive, i.e. victory over self will, there is sweet aroma of worship that rises to the Throne and He is pleased to prove in and through us His good, acceptable and perfect will (Rom 12:1,2). The cross puts to death our flesh, never the will for He never meant for us to be marionettes. However the devil want to engulf our will so that he finds a bodily manifestation. With our will submitted to His will, we can will our entire being to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, nary a hint of self achievement but the end is done for His glory.
Friday, December 03, 2010
The New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34 - NKJV)
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,[a] says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Thoughts from the daughter on the New Covenant
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,[a] says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Thoughts from the daughter on the New Covenant
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Eternal Inclusion
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph 5:31-32)
Marriage is two ‘shall be one flesh’ (Gen 2:24) as established in the beginning, it speaks of a deeper and greater destiny for the Church of Christ. Oneness is when there is a total conformity and homogeneity that does not have any distinct separation. We are included and conform to Christ, not vice versa. We no longer live our own destiny but for His alone. Unity in Christ is a current reality not a future possibility, ‘as He is, so are we in the world’ (1 John 4:17). He is holy, so we are. He loves, forgives and merciful, so are we. His attributes and character qualities are inseparable from us.
The mystery remains one until the Divine revelation of our oneness in Him is understood and made a living reality. Before the foundation of the earth an eternal plan (Eph 1:4) has been put in unstoppable momentum, so that ‘the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord’ (Eph 2:21). That temple is a house of prayer (Matt 21:13, Mar 11:17 and Luke 19:46) as Christ Jesus always lives to make intercession (Heb 7:25). ‘Pray without ceasing’ (1Th 5:17), having a spirit of constant dialogue as though there is a continual dependency on God for every good. It is a communication is that enabled and remains always connected.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)
It is Jesus prayer that the church be one in Him and His totality manifested in us; this is our perfection or completeness. The oneness with Christ is not a sub servile relationship, but one steep in His eternal love. Are we living in the answer His prayer to the Father?
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph 5:31-32)
Marriage is two ‘shall be one flesh’ (Gen 2:24) as established in the beginning, it speaks of a deeper and greater destiny for the Church of Christ. Oneness is when there is a total conformity and homogeneity that does not have any distinct separation. We are included and conform to Christ, not vice versa. We no longer live our own destiny but for His alone. Unity in Christ is a current reality not a future possibility, ‘as He is, so are we in the world’ (1 John 4:17). He is holy, so we are. He loves, forgives and merciful, so are we. His attributes and character qualities are inseparable from us.
The mystery remains one until the Divine revelation of our oneness in Him is understood and made a living reality. Before the foundation of the earth an eternal plan (Eph 1:4) has been put in unstoppable momentum, so that ‘the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord’ (Eph 2:21). That temple is a house of prayer (Matt 21:13, Mar 11:17 and Luke 19:46) as Christ Jesus always lives to make intercession (Heb 7:25). ‘Pray without ceasing’ (1Th 5:17), having a spirit of constant dialogue as though there is a continual dependency on God for every good. It is a communication is that enabled and remains always connected.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)
It is Jesus prayer that the church be one in Him and His totality manifested in us; this is our perfection or completeness. The oneness with Christ is not a sub servile relationship, but one steep in His eternal love. Are we living in the answer His prayer to the Father?
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Death
Bonhoeffer had once preached, "No one has yet believed in God and the kingdom of God. No one has yet heard about the realm of the ressurected, and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to being released from bodily existence... Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death."
Bonhoeffer had once preached, "No one has yet believed in God and the kingdom of God. No one has yet heard about the realm of the ressurected, and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to being released from bodily existence... Death is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death."
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