Four sample prayers – your daily sword!

Based on the scriptures that you have just read, I have built up four composite prayers, pulling together scriptures that share a common theme. I have built four themes…

1. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God took away sin (the Foundation, the Rock)
2. Jesus Christ reconciled and blessed this world
3. Jesus Christ brought me into right standing with God
4. Jesus Christ removed the power of death to harm me

Here are the four prayers, one for each theme. The prayers are a compilation of scriptures, edited to make them flow easier. They are a powerful sword! These prayers are only a suggestion. Modify them, add to them and build your own sword which you use every day.

Have a look at the parts of my sword…

Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God… a Sovereign act

Jesus Christ IS the Lamb of God and He took AWAY the sins of this world. And not only believers sins, but the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, as an offering for sin, God has subdued and overcome sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3). Christ has redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us (Gal 3:13). Our transgressions are Sovereignly blotted out for God’s own sake (Is 43:22-25, Is 44:22). Sin has been set aside and abolished. Death has been anulled. God’s full righteous lawful chastisement due to this world for all it’s sin was placed upon Jesus Christ on the cross; and in this way God has created peace between Himself and this world. This world is no longer being devoured by a curse and the inhabitants no longer suffer punishment, because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. There is no sickness (Is 33:24), no war, no tears, no mourning (Is 25:8), no weeping, no distress (Is 65:19), no wretchedness, because of the cross of Jesus Christ. The sure Foundation of Jesus Christ has anulled all covenants with death, all agreements with Sheol are set aside, all hiding places of lies are swept away, all shelters of falsehood are washed away (Is 28:16-18). All captors of humanity who used the power of law, sin and death – such as death, the grave, sin, satan, demonic spiritual forces, rulers and authorities, principalities and powers – they have all been visited, conquered (Col 2:15), led captive by Jesus Christ (Eph 4:8) and gathered into a pit/dungeon (Is 24:21-23). Jesus Christ alone holds the keys to death and Hades (neither sin, nor demons nor satan can use death).

And then God gave gifts to mankind… the exchange!

He “reign of sin and death” has been ended and has been replaced by the “reign of God’s grace” through Jesus Christ. Death could not hold Jesus Christ who rose up to the right hand of God; and then God gave gifts to mankind (Eph 4:8). All of us sinners () and ungodly () people are reconciled back to God () through the blood of the perfect spotless Lamb of God. Jesus Christ has put His Spirit within us, He has cleansed us, He has given us a new soft heart of flesh and He has put a new spirit in us, He causes us to walk in His ways (Eze 36:25-27).  When Jesus Christ took the sin of the world away, the veil separating this world from God was torn from top to bottom. Everything in Heaven and everything on Earth has been reconciled back to our Father God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ made all things new in this world. He created a new Heaven and a new Earth (Is 65:17). The Heavens are now His throne and the Earth is His footstool (Is 66:1). The Heavens have been torn open, they are not closed any more. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, there is now a canopy of His glory as a divine protection over every dwelling, every assembly and over the whole land. Yes Jesus Christ is our everlasting light, He is our glory, He is our beauty (Is 60:19-20) and He answers us before we call, He hears us while we speak (Is 65:24). On His cross Jesus Christ gave all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined (Is 25:6) and the fat coming from all of this breaks the yoke off our necks (Is 10:27). Everyone has a house and an income (Is 65:19-20) because of His work on the cross. The fruit which came from the reign of sin and death is punished and removed. The fruit of the reign of God’s grace is righteousness in all spheres of life, an abundance of salvation and inner and external peace forever. On the cross Jesus Christ bound up and healed the broken-hearted. He proclaimed liberty to the spiritual and physical captives. He opened the spiritual and physical prisons of those who are bound. He proclaimed a jubilee from sin and a return to God. He comforted all who mourn. He gave us joy; and consolation for our losses. He gave us beauty and joy and praise (Is 61:1-3). He gave us gold, bronze, iron, peace, righteousness; and we will call our walls salvation and our gates praise (Is 60:17-18). Jesus Christ overcame that old world and made a new one on His cross. It is finished, it is done and I receive it through my faith in Jesus Christ.

For followers who accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

I am a part of God’s family through my faith in Jesus Christ. I am His Son. I am Jesus Christ’s brother, He is the firstborn of many. I have been given God’s surname! I was chosen before the foundation of this world was laid. I have been given eternal life, here, now, already. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. I am seated with Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father. The Father holds me by my right hand. He is my strength and He shows His strength through me. When two or more of us are gathered together in His Name, we are His body right here on Earth. I am filled with the fullness of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I have the priviledge of being His light, His salt, His fruit and His body to this world. As a result of my faith in His work on the cross, the evil of this world is increasingly overcome. Despite my ongoing sin, when God looks at me, He sees His Son, He relates to me as His Son, He treats me as His Son, He speaks to me as His Son, He dwells with me as He does with His Son and He has 40 people working for my good. I am IN Christ Jesus and He is IN me. I am WHERE He is at the right hand of the Father. I am AS He is. I am clothed with His righteousness and He has made me (an ongoing sinner) acceptable to God. I have the gift of His Holy Spirit. I am a new creature in a new creation within a new Heaven and a new Earth. I have been made holy, pure and blameless by Jesus Christ on His cross.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. – 1Cor 15:25-26

“Jesus Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself and He paid the full price of death for it all, for both believers and unbelievers. Death, your power was the law but the law no longer finds fault with any of us, even though we continue to sin. Jesus Christ took our sins and made a full payment of death on the cross, so the law no longer finds fault with us. The righteousness of the law has been satisfied by the blood of the Lamb of God. Therefore the power of death is ended in this world. Death you can no longer sting me because of my sin. You will not sting my finances or my property. You will not sting my body or my thoughts. You will not sting my family or my friends. You will not sting my city, my country or this world. Death, may NO fruit EVER come from you again, in the Name of Jesus Christ.  All captors of humanity who used the power of law, sin and death – such as death, the grave, sin, satan, demonic spiritual forces, rulers and authorities, principalities and powers – you have all been visited, conquered (Col 2:15), led captive by Jesus Christ (Eph 4:8) and you have been gathered into a pit/dungeon (Is 24:21-23). Jesus Christ ALONE holds the keys to death and Hades (neither sin, nor demons nor satan can use death). Get behind me satan, in the Name of Jesus Christ.”

That is my sword and I speak it every day, sometimes more than once a day.

Although this book is devoted to a message about the impact of Jesus Christ on this whole world, it is vital that we Christians do not lose sight of part three – our personal prayer, our unique priveledge of being the chosen vehicles through which God is blessing the world! You can say that prayer on behalf of any Christian or even for the church. It is true for all of us.

He Sovereignly chose you and me and raised us up in order to use us to bless the world, to make His Name famous, to make other nations jealous so they will want Him for themselves, to bring the world back to Him.

From Abraham onwards God has always been speaking of blessing the world. Psalm 105 speaks wonderfully about that covenant which still exists today…

Psalms 105:8-11  He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac,  which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”

You are in the right time and at the right place to be used to spiritually fulfill that covenant. What a privilege! What an honor!

The central message of this book is that we should not be waiting for another Messiah to come, Jesus Christ is our one and only Messiah. If there is a promise in the bible about the Christ, then He did it (Matt 5:17). Don’t wait for someone else to come. Don’t wait for Him to come again and do it. He did it. It is finished. It is done.

He is coming back for a radiant bride and nothing less. His work on the cross was sufficient for us to become that radiant bride. Do not expect Him to return and deal with sin or any burden, the bible is explicitly clear that nothing remains to be done…

Heb 9:28  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, NOT to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The Amplified bible expands on that saying “not to deal with sin nor burdens”. So don’t keep waiting for another Messiah to deal with your burdens, our Messiah has come! He is Jesus Christ and He dealt with our sin and our burdens. Accept fully what He has done for us.

It’s starting! Get ready :)

Weather

Meanwhile… in the Atlantic Tropical Hurricane Season (not!) the season is about to officially end on Nov 30. Here is the reason given for the season being so quiet…

The basic result was to increase west wind shear across the Caribbean Sea and southwest tropical Atlantic and also to cause anomalous sinking motion across the same area. Neither favored tropical cyclone development.

The combination of these two ingredients made for many atmospheric snares for the tropical cyclones that did develop and hence they were for the most part very short-lived. This combination also routinely formed snares that prevented tropical cyclone formation on many days during the peak of hurricane season. – Weather.com

One of the things I like about myself is that I have a memory like an elephant. So when I saw “wind shear” given as a reason, I remembered that it was the same reason why the storm stopped last year too! Hurricane Gustav was simply chopped off!!

Holy Spirit outpouring begins in places!

Read this and get ready

On November 11, during a 9:00am class of first-year students, led by Allen Hood and Wes Hall at International House of Prayer University (IHOPU), the Spirit moved in their midst with physical healings, deliverance, and a spirit of joy. That class, on November 11, continued for more than 15 hours. The word spread quickly, and over 2,000 people spontaneously gathered in the auditorium from all over the Kansas City area, as deliverance and physical healings increased. The meeting continued well past midnight. Recognizing that the Spirit was moving, the leadership of IHOPU canceled all classes for the next few days so that we could gather to receive all that the Spirit wanted to do.

This is just the beginning. On this last weekend I heard of another prayer center, this time in South Africa in the Eastern Cape which is seeing such success that they are considering closing the bible college and moving the prayer center in there! Why at prayer centers?? Because the hunger is there…

“The greatest outpouring, the greatest anointing of God’s power ever known, is coming upon us. Past revivals will seem as nothing when Pentecost breaks upon the entire Church.” – Reinhard Bonnke

I wrote about my expectation for this outpouring here: Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and How long is “a little more than a year” because THAT is when His Spirit will be poured out and Let the fire of God come down on all nations – God’s words

The key bible verses is/are this (although the same can be found in the book of Joel and others)…

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. – Is 32:15-18

From my journal…

Fire falling after 50 days – by Andrew Friesen on November 3, 2009

** It was 50 days from Exodus to Sinai where the law was given and people could not come near to God’s holy mountain without dying. Fire burned the mountain. It was 50 days from the cross to Pentecost, where fire fell and it brought life and renewal and reconciliation to God. **

I wrote this in my journal…

If fire was to fall in 50 days, then His Fire will fall on on Tuesday 10^th? So there may be 3 days to go to His Fire falling.

• Sept 20th – Received the word about fire falling, and clearly felt it would occur in days (not weeks or months).
• Nov 7 – Today is 47 days (10 days in Sept, 30 days in Oct, 7 days in Nov)
• Nov 10^th is 50 days after I received the word that would happen in days

And so on the 11th I wondered how I had got it wrong… until finding out that it HAD fallen, but just elsewhere, not where I am.

Local food prices continue to decline in SA

Isn’t this wonderful? In a country with 25% unemployent and 40% poverty, lower food prices will certainly reduce daily tension in the lives of parents and children.

Thank You Jesus Christ for blessing us and for what you are about to do.

Healthcare and other social issues

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset hates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

NOTE: While France had provided the statue itself, American fundraising efforts like these paid for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. In 1903, sixteen years after her death, Lazarus’ sonnet was engraved on a plaque and placed in the pedestal as a memorial.

In this comment I am not discussing politics at all. This is about what the bible says, nothing more.

Did Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another… yes He did!

This is my commandment, that ye love one another. [Jesus, In John 15:12]

In the OT God commanded us to love our neighbour and to protect the helpless and the poor and the weak and to visit those in jails… yes He did!

The Bible contains more than 300 verses on the poor, social justice, and God’s deep concern for both. – Source

Ps. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.

Didn’t Paul warn about walking past a beggar and helpless person and say “be filled with the Lord” and then walk on… he warned us against this… Paul made it abundantly clear that we are to STOP and intervene and help!

We Christians are to make a difference in this world. Salt and light affects everything around it. That is the fact of the matter. It is abhorrent to hear Christians who say we are to avoid helping those who do not have health care… if we do not help then who will?

It is a shocking disgrace to think that Christians refuse to help the underprivileged, refuse to help those trapped in poverty.

Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Where is your tithe meant to be going?

Deut. 26:12. When you have finished paying the complete tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and the widow, that they may eat in your towns, and be satisfied.

Lev. 19:19ff. Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

Prov. 31:8ff. [Commandment to kings.] Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

Is. 58:66ff. Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Luke 12:33. “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys.”

Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise.”

Please note that this is a not a political message, it is strictly a statement about the expectations that God has shown clearly in the OT, in Jesus’ command and in the NT.

Mt. 5:42. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

And the message is continuous. It’s in the Law (Torah); it’s in the Prophets and Psalms; it’s in the Gospels; it’s in the Epistles.

Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.

Jer. 22:16 “Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD.

Deut. 15:10. You shall give generously to [your poor brother], and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

Prov. 19:17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.

Jer. 7:5-7. “For, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.”

Is. 58:10. “And if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”

Luke 14:12-14. “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Luke 12:44. “Sell your possessions and give alms; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Mt. 19:20ff. The young man said to Him, “All these commands I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

The list goes on and on… here is a study on the bible and God’s words regarding the poor.

I must state once again that this is not endorsing one or another political approach. These are God’s words in scripture. If we have a chance to bring comfort to the people who are unprotected, then we HAVE TO do it. If it means selling some of our own property, then that is what we must do. We are commanded to share what we have.

Christianity is not a call to greed and me-first and selfishness… it is a call to giving alms, selling what we have and giving to the poor. , being blessed ONLY so that we are a blessing (Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor).

God shared His only Son for us. He gives us (spiritually poor and needy people) real life and He gives us from His riches… He expects us to do the same and give to the poor and needy.

Does Jesus Christ bless countries and people who give generously?

Bill and Melinda Gates have a foundation/charity and are the largest donors in the world. Bill’s father (William Gates Snr) was a significant donor. And you wonder why Microsoft has done so well?

Google has a charity and to fund the organization, Google granted them 3 million shares during their initial public offering. Google has also pledged to contribute one percent of their annual profits to their charitable organizations.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is the second largest donor in America and was started by a co-founder of HP (Hewlett “Packard”) Computing. And you wonder why HP does well?

Warren Buffett Foundation started by Warren Buffett the worlds most famous investor. The foundation was renamed to his wife’s name after she died. In 2006 Warren became more involved with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Do not confused… America saw the vision to have an enormous statue welcoming the poor and downtrodden… and the blessings of God made it a vast, powerful and blessed nation.

Any nation that refuses to bless the poor will not prosper.

Ezek. 16:49ff. “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.”

Is. 10:1-3. “Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights… Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?”

Use your sword! (The truth about the armor of God)

Based on the scriptures that you have just read, I have built up four composite prayers, pulling together scriptures that share a common theme. I have built four themes…

1. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God took away sin (the Foundation, the Rock)
2. Jesus Christ reconciled and blessed this world
3. Jesus Christ brought me into right standing with God
4. Jesus Christ removed the power of death to harm me

The prayers are a compilation of scriptures, edited to make them flow easier. They are a powerful sword! These prayers are only a suggestion. Modify them, add to them and build your own sword which you use every day.

But to use your sword, you need to understand your sword… which means understanding the armor of God.

How I learned about the armor of God

Many people used to pray for me and then look at me and say “I can see all of your armor, but where is your sword?”. These people didn’t even know me, but they would say “you have a BIG belt of truth, but no sword. You need a sword!”. Again and again people would say this.

It caused me to dig deeper into the bible to understand what the sword was and how to use it – and that is how I came to write down lots and lots of scriptures and combine them into themes and speak them out several times a day – and watch them come to pass in the real world.

In these prayers every line is scriptural. Jesus used scripture to cause the devil to leave Him alone in the time of testing in the wilderness – and so can you! These four prayers are a ready made sword for you. So go ahead and use that sword and be an overcomer!

I admit that this is a bold faith. It’s a lot like Ultimate Fighting or Cage Fighting – a style of fighting in which there are no holds barred, everything is pemitted and nothing is held too sacred. The rules are simple and the goal is to win. If you hold back, you will certainly lose the fight. The fighters go all out and only one person remains standing at the end. THAT is the kind of faith I am encouraging you to have.

But you have to know who and what you are fighting against…

1Ch 21:1  Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.

Eph 3:10  so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

We do not fight people. All people are trapped. Our sin is constantly being judged  by the law. The law takes note that we constantly fall short of God’s perfect standards. That is why the bible says “the power of death is the law”, because the law judges our sin and gives death the right to reign over us.

It is not people keeping us trapped under sin and death. Try not to fight with people, this is a spiritual problem and it is resolved spiritually – through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the whole world – if we will just believe!

Let’s confirm this one more time. We do not fight people and we do not fight for physical land. The promise of Isaiah was not that a Christ would come to liberate one nation from the Romans, but Isaiah prophesied that the Christ will restore ALL nations and people back to God and end the mourning, tears and wars in the world.

The armor of God

This is strictly a spiritual battle, so grab your bible and learn how to fight him…

Eph 6:10-17  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

That is how to fight him, you put on the whole spiritual armor (including the sword). It is a spiritual armor, not an imaginary one. Here is how to understand the armor correctly so that it becomes useful to us.

• Sword: The scriptures are a sword. Constantly in my writing I’m showing you verses that you can look up in your own bible and believe! This is your sword. Use it! Remember, it is your faith that overcomes the evil of this world… so use that sword every day to overcome the evil of this world.
• Belt: The truth about Jesus Christ is likened to a belt. You bind the truth about Him onto yourself. When you do that, you are standing in peace with God. It is our constant sinning which angers God, and when we bind the truth that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God onto ourselves like a belt, then we are standing in “shoes of peace” with God.
• Shield: The faith you have in Jesus Christ is like a shield to you. What Jesus Christ did for you on the cross protects you from the anger of God and brings you into a protective relationship with God. Your faith in Jesus Christ also extinguishes the attacks (firery darts) of the enemy, because when you accept and believe that Jesus Christ removed the sin of the world, then you extinguish the effects of death and law.

Let’s take another look at sin, death and the law and how we gain the victory…

1Cor 15:53-57 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to those verses the “sting” of death is sin and the “power” of sin is… the law! There are our three spiritual problems which keep us trapped, with the law powering death because of our sin.

So how do we get the victory? In v57 it says “through our Lord Jesus Christ”, because on the cross He dealt with the world’s sin. This is the identical logic as Paul wrote in Rom 7:25. In the previous verses Paul was lamenting the state of his physical body. When he wants to do good, he ends up doing evil.

Rom 7:19 For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

Then in verse he writes

Rom 7:24-25 Who will release me and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] Through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord.

You see, in both cases the solution lies in what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. The key thing is what do you think Jesus Christ did on the cross? In that same way the effectiveness of your “spiritual armour” entirely depends on what you think Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. Having a poor understanding of His cross and His finished work means you have a poor ability to fight and protect yourself. Having a strong and well developed understanding of His finished work on the cross means that you will experience a powerful overcoming faith in your daily walk.

“Spiritual” clothing

Have you ever wondered what Jesus Christ’s spiritual clothing was? The bible tells us in Isaiah…

Isaiah 11:5  Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

And God also put on armor…

Isaiah 59:17  He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

Job also put on spiritual clothing…

Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

Hmmm… is righteousness a breastplate (Is 59:17) or the belt around your waist (Is 11:5) or does it clothe you (Job 29:14)? It doesn’t matter which one… what really matters is that you and I ARE made righteous by Jesus Christ.

The sword… of your mouth

Most Christians assume that Eph 6:17 is a hand held sword, but spiritual swords in the Bible are actually described as being in the mouth…

Job 5:15  But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.

Is 49:2  He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.

Rev 1:16  In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Rev 2:16  Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Rev 19:15  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

Rev 19:21  And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

The armor is a visual picture of something that is true in the spiritual realm. We can see that from those verses that God shows it differently to different people: breastplate (God), or a belt (Jesus Christ) or clothing (Job). I think it depends on the culture of the time and what makes sense to the person listening, perhaps based on which scripture they are familiar with. But at the end of the day what He wants is for us to put it on!

I learned this truth one day when the Lord encouraged me to draw armor and put it on my wall and then stand in front of it. So I got paper and drew a breastplate and shoes of peace etc. and I placed the shoes on the ground and stood on them. I was now standing in front of the breastplate which was on the wall in front of me. I felt no different as I tried my hardest to believe that I had a breastplate of righteousness and the other bits and pieces. But absolutely nothing spiritual was actually happening and I was still being beaten up spiritually almost every day.

Then it occurred to me… hmmm… if Jesus Christ is my righteousness… then I am in fact standing in peace with God – almost as if I had shoes of peace. And bingo, suddenly I understood that the armor was a story or a parable to describe spiritual facts.

As I began to “put on” the things Paul writes about, I became freer and freer. I became an overcomer. All these things – righteousness, peace, shield etc. – point to something jesus Christ did for us on the cross which we can receive by faith.

We need to put it all on and in this way we put off the old.

God did it Sovereignly, for His own sake

Many people and almost every religion throughout the world is trying to make peace with God (as they interpret Him to be) and trying to make peace with the spiritual forces of this world. Collectively we have tried obedience, sacrifice and countless other ideas. I recently saw a video of buddhists putting an orange cloth over themselves, the cloth was draped down from an enormous buddha. They were trying to hide in and find refuge in the massive metal image.

But with no results . The world steadily becomes more violent, the weather gets more extreme and the world is more polluted. People are greedier and there is more homelessness and more violence, mental health issues and abuse every day… or so it seems.

But I am not exaggerating one little bit when I say that I have found something that works – and we didn’t do it. As Abraham said, the Lord will provide…

Genesis 22:8  Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

This change-over was a Sovereign decision, but we have to believe. That is why we are believers! I already explained how to believe in this post: Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone

In this post I’m making sure that we fully understand that we cannot add or remove from what has been done, because Isaiah speaks about our iniquity being Sovereignly removed as an act of God:

Is 43:22-25  “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Is 44:22  I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

In Is 43:25 He makes it clear that He has done this for His own sake.

No one had faith when He hung on the cross as the Lamb of God. We simply must come to a point of acknowledging this.  Jesus Christ seemed to be abandoned by everyone on His cross. His disciples were in confusion and unsure whether He indeed was the Christ. He returned to them and they had the road to Emmaus experience. They believed after that.

What was it they believed? That Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God that Abraham was prophesying about, that He was and is the Christ that the Prophets spoke about, that He Sovereignly removed the sin of the world as Isaiah wrote in those two passages. It is vital we acknowledge that He took away “the sins of the world” and not just of believers. This must not be denied.

By faith, in faith, through faith

Therefore all these wonderful change-over things described by Isaiah have occurred and are ready to be received by/in/through faith.

In the ESV version of the bible, the phrase “by faith” in mentioned 42 times in the NT but not at all in the OT. The phrase “in faith” is mentioned 10 times in the NT and once in Isaiah (where else would it be?). The phrase “through faith” is mentioned 14 times in the NT and zero times in the OT.

In the KJV version of the bible the frequency of those phrases is pretty similar, but with not even a single reference in the OT. The phrase “by faith” in mentioned 36 times in the NT and zero times in the OT. The phrase “in faith” is mentioned 12 times in the NT and zero time in the OT. The phrase “through faith” is mentioned 15 times in the NT and zero times in the OT.

Receiving by/in/through faith is clearly a NT concept. This is because it has been done on the cross.  David’s equivalent word was “will” (God will, I will) and he frequently uses it. He uses “will” because he was looking forward to what God WILL do (future tense) and we look backward to what He DID do.

So we no longer look forward to a time when “God will” reconcile this world back to Himself, instead we now believe “God has” reconciled the world back to Himself. And it’s that simple act of believing this truth, which is what overcomes the evil of this world!

It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor). – 2 Cor 5:19

For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith. – 1 John 5:4

Your faith that HE HAS done it – walking by faith and not by what you see around you – is what overcomes the evil of this world. As you believe “God has” then you bring about a whole new condition in this world.

It’s so simple… how did we miss it for 2000 years?

The central message of this book is that we should not be waiting for another Messiah to come, Jesus Christ is our one and only Messiah. If there is a promise in the bible about the Christ, then He did it (Matt 5:17). Don’t wait for someone else to come. Don’t wait for Him to come again and do it. He did it. It is finished. It is done.

He is coming back for a radiant bride and nothing less. His work on the cross was sufficient for us to become that radiant bride. Do not expect Him to return and deal with sin or any burden, the bible is explicitly clear that nothing remains to be done…

Heb 9:28  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, NOT to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The Amplified bible expands on that saying “not to deal with sin nor burdens”. So don’t keep waiting for another Messiah to deal with your burdens, our Messiah has come! He is Jesus Christ and He dealt with our sin and our burdens. Accept fully what He has done for us.

The faith that takes us over the Jordan into the promised land

There is also another category of things I must believe. This is how we move over the Jordan, by believing and receiving. David frequently said “God will” and “I will” and these things came to pass, because they were faith.

But in the NT we have a new set of words that are not in the OT. “You have, you have, He has”. These words refer to our standing, our position and what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. It’s all past tense. The OT was always future tense “God will”. Jesus’ words were also future tense. But in the rest of the NT almost all of Paul’s writings are past tense “He has, you have” and just like David had to believe “He will” we also have to believe “He has” in order for it to be received.

Joshua had to “be strong and have good courage” as God told him. He was commanded not to turn away and not to deviate from God’s words. This strength, determination and faith was required to pass over and take the land which had been promised to so many leaders before Joshua. When Joshua did deviate from God’s words, he lost battles and people died. When Joshua didn’t eliminate a people group, they literally remainded a thorn forever after.

For many years God has pointed to this story of Joshua and the people going over the Jordan. God said to Joshua “go over this Jordan, you and all this people” (Jos 1:2) and “you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to them”.

To me it is clear that we are no longer living in the “shadow of things to come” as the OT was. But Jesus Christ didn’t come to fight Rome, He came to liberate humanity by removing the right that death has to rule over us because of our sin. When you remove the sin, you remove the power of death – the “sting” of death is sin according to the bible.

Jesus Christ clearly shifted the battle away from fighting flesh and blood, because He understood that the battle is a spiritual one, a Heavenly one. Rather than fight Rome, He shifted the fight and made it against spiritual powers in Heavenly places.

In that same way it is vital that we know that we are not preparing to take physical land away from Esau/Ishamel (Saudi Arabia)/Midianites (Iran) or any other literal group of people like Rome or Assyria. Many people believe that George Bush believed that Isaiah was to be literally fulfilled in wars against physical nations.

But that is not where the fight is. Instead we receive what Jesus Christ did on the cross in His position as Lamb of God.

Let me say it again, it is very important that we do not think this is a time to invade other countries or to fight with flesh and blood people. We must not think this is a time to “deal with” unfinished business from the past. Instead the bible says…

in that day Israel shall be the third, with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic League], a blessing in the midst of the Earth – Is 19:24

So this is a time of bringing together different people groups – uniting the tribes – under Jesus Christ. Again… this is not at all through force, but it is a natural response from within willing people when they see the goodness of God as revealed in Jesus Christ on His cross which He willingly chose to experience on our behalf.

This inner change will occur simply because the root causes which underpin the enslavement of humanity are being dealt with through faith in Jesus Christ. People will respond when they see a change in the Earth occuring. At this time they suffer every day. When this is lifted many will naturally respond to His goodness.

What is it that causes a curse to devour the land? Why do the inhabitants suffer the punishment? (Is 24:6). This is a vital question, what IS it which causes the suffering that humanity experiences? It is sin which empowers curses to devour our land. It is sin which empowers death as a punishment.

And what is the solution? Well, it’s not a solution to come, it is a solution which has already come. This is not something we say “God will” like David in the OT. Instead we say “God has” as Paul constantly keeps saying in the NT.

This change-over from a curse devouring the land and inhabitants suffering punishment over to being released and reconciled back to our Father God and being given gifts, this change-over is to be received by faith in Jesus Christ on the cross as the Lamb of God – and it is repeatedly and vividly described by Isaiah, perhaps as Godly encouragement to us to believe…

It shall come to pass that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be firmly established as the highest of mountains (Is 2:2)… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Is 2:4, Mic 4:1-3)

When God has washed away the moral filth and bloodstains, through the judgement and burning and sifting of Jesus Christ on the cross, then the Lord will create over the whole site, over every dwelling place, over our assemblies, over all His glory is a canopy (a defense of divine love and protection) – Is 4:4-6

When He has completed His work of chastisment and purification (of us onto Jesus Christ) then He will inflict punishment on the fruit created during the reign of sin and death (Is 10:12). The burdens and yoke have departed our neck (Is 10:27), the yoke of burden, the rod for goading our shoulders, the rod of the oppressor are all broken (Is 9:4) because unto us a Child is born and upon them a “great Light has shined” (Jesus is described here Is 8:14, 9:2, 9:6-7), therefore war boots and garments rolled in blood will be burned as fuel (Is 9:5).

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Him (Jesus Christ is described here Is 11:2-5, 61:1) and as a result of Him the wolf shall dwell with the lamb… and they shall not hurt or destroy in all My Holy Mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the Lord will visit and punish the Host of Heaven… and they will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit or dungeon (Is 24:21-23) (“the captors were led captive and God gave gifts to men” Eph 4:8) and the Lord of hosts made for all peoples a feast of rich things inaugurating the reign of the Lord on the earth, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined (Is 25:6) and He destroyed the covering of mourning off all peoples, removed the veil of profound wretchedness that was woven over all nations, swallow up death in victory, abolish death forever, wipe away tears from all faces, take away the reproach from people (Is 25:7-8)

Only on this condition shall the iniquity be forgiven and purged, that the stones of idol altars be made like chalk and stones be crushed to pieces… then a great trumpet will be blown and they will come who were lost and they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain.

What the prophets said “will” happened, we can now confidently claim “has” happened! That is the difference between OT and NT faith. We know and believe that it happened on the cross.

Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone

Before you read the next few posts, please deeply consider this one. I will keep it short. But remember, dynamite comes in small packages!

God will, I will!

In the OT we find David and King David often saying “God will” and “I will”. He might have been hiding in caves and being hunted from house to house, but he kept saying “God will” and he kept saying “I will”. That dogged determination is evident in all the leaders throughout the OT.

God has, you are!

But in the NT we find something entirely different. Paul keeps saying “God has” and “you are!” Have you noticed that? Look in Colossians and every other book by Paul, he is always talking past tense. For example Paul says “Through Jesus Christ, God HAS reconciled the world” and he keeps saying radical things like “you ARE seated at the right hand of the Father” or “you ARE made holy, pure and blameless”. He doesn’t ask you how you feel or if you think you are… he knows what Jesus Christ did on the cross and he is TELLING you what you are – as a result of His blood on the cross!

This is how it works…

• In the OT the Prophets looked FORWARD to what was to come and had faith that it would come.
• In the NT we look BACK to what happened and have faith that it DID occur… all the way back then!

Here is a visual explanation of the difference between OT Prophets faith and NT Apostles faith…

You are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone. – Eph 2:20

God will -vs- God has

Both kinds of faith are still workable, but in my personal experience nothing has ever matched the power of believing the full and complete and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

What is a cornerstone?

It’s the hardest stone that takes the pressure between two sets of stones. If the cornerstone crumbles, the whole archway collapses.

This is also a useful visual idea of how Jesus Christ connects the OT and the NT types of faith. It shows faith in Him, old or new, is built upon Who He is and what He did on the cross. In this image we can see Him as a foundation on which the whole of the Old Testament and the whole of the New Testament are all built upon…

Having a NT type of faith as Paul did is absolutely vital if you want to go over the Jordan and enter into the promised land, because the key to it all is your faith! We (gentiles) are no longer moving into a physical land, but into a spiritual land.

Ping!

Hi guys, I’m happy and well. I found a few days of work. Praise God! I will blog more, I have so much in my journal to share. Fantastic prayers. Insight. God bless you! Mark.

What Atlantic hurricane season?

You hav to admit something good is happening… surely?

2008

• Total cost: ~ $41.934 billion (2008 USD)
• Fatalities: 855 direct, 192 indirect

2009

• Total cost: US$103,000
• Fatalities: 5 direct

Only 1 hurricane, Claudette, made landfall…

The track for all storms…

The timeline of the season. Take note of the quiet October and November. The peak of the season is at the end of September…

This is only made possible because of the cross of Jesus Christ! And it is fulfillment of prophecy made by God, here, in 2008.

A savings of US$41 billion… and there is so much more to come as the healthcare bill is slashed because of the end of sin and death. Incredible things are to come.

Hmmm… how much would a tithe on US$41 billion be? That would help me put petrol in my car and put food on my table. Get my own place to live. Actually get a car. Get a phone of my own. Afford to make calls.

Sigh.

More good news for South Africa – food prices drop

My heart is totally for South Africa – and of course also for people of the world. I spend countless hours praying and interceding and worrying about the needs of people.

I especially try to think of solutions – real and natural ones, plus faith filled ones – for the poor and those living in poverty. 40% of this country lives in poverty.

As regular readers will know, I am always looking for God’s words to be followed by signs and wonders… meaning… real proof of change, not just emotional excitement. And so when I see change, I don’t usually report it to you (dear reader) until several months have passed and the trend is clearly set.

And here is something that I think confirms God’s words and His intentions to do good to South Africa. This directly affects the poorest people, when food prices drop.

Weekend Argus Shopping Basket

Just look at that graph. The trend is down down down, and steeply too! Like I said, I didn’t want to report this in the first or second month, I just watched and waited… I wanted to see a trend we can all agree is undeniable. Can we now agree that the trend is absolutely clear? Yes I think so.

For the skeptics you can find the article here. And here is the snapshot of that page, just in case it goes missing over the years to come…

I am absolutely delighted that God is blessing this nation in real and tangible ways.

I delight myself in you Lord Jesus. You are the solution to our struggles. May Your Name be glorified and lifted up like a banner so that everyone can find the highway back to our Father God.

Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.
- Is 62:10

Yesterday was a day of salvations… get used to it, plan for it

One of the things I love about Facebook is that I can link up with ministries around the world. If something happens there I get to hear about it. Yesterday – Tuesday – should have been just like any other day. But something happened. 260 salvations in Haiti, 2 more in Australia, one here in South Africa. And that’s all on one day. It wasn’t a day like all the others after all. But it will become the norm.

The time is drawing near for leaders of churches to draw up plans for bringing in the lost and cleaning them up.

In the last few days I had an idea that every time we baptise someone, we should allocate a team of 3 or 4 to help that person integrate into the church, into the community. The enemy doesn’t like losing ground, so that team would pray frequently for the newly born person. We must change how we do church. SEND out your evangelists. Start the process of fishing, share the gospel because it is the power for salvation.

It’s no longer time to be inwardly focussed, hunkered down until the storm has passed, focussed on survival… instead it is now time to be outwardly focussed… the storm has passed, the sun is shining and people are coming into the light. It’s not business as usual.

What ARE you going to do with all these new converts? How will you care for them? How will you protect them? How will you clean them up? These are some of the things you need to start thinking about.

Smith Wigglesworth prophesied this coming revival

This is exiting stuff…

TWO DISTINCT MOVES
During the next few decades there will be two distinct moves of the Holy Spirit across the church in Great Britain. The first move will affect every church that is open to receive it and will be characterized by a restoration of the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The second move of the Holy Spirit will result in people leaving historic churches and planting new churches. In the duration of each of these moves, the people who are involved will say ‘This is the great revival’. But the Lord says ‘No, neither is this the great revival but both are steps towards it. - Source

Yes I agree that things have happened which were preparatory…

WORD AND SPIRIT
When the new church phase is on the wane, there will be evidenced in the churches something that has not been seen before: a coming together of those with an emphasis on the Word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit.

When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed the world, has ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores, even the Wesleyan and the Welsh revivals of former years. - Source

This combination is important, because yes both have been seen previously, but this time around we will be seeing fulfillment of ancient Isaiah prophecy from 2500 years ago, and it will come about through prophetic declaration. So the move of the Holy Spirit will be connected with the written and declared words of God.

“… Shutting his eyes again, he said, ‘I see the greatest revival in the history of mankind coming to Planet earth, maybe as never before. And I see every form of disease healed. I see whole hospitals emptied with no one there. Even the doctors are running down the streets shouting.’

“He told me that there would be untold numbers of uncountable multitudes that would be saved. No man will say ’so many, so many,’ because nobody will be able to count those who come to Jesus. No disease will be able to stand before God’s people… ‘It will be a worldwide situation, not local,’ he said, ‘a worldwide thrust of God’s power and God’s anointing upon mankind.’

“Then he opened his eyes and looked at me and said, ‘I will not see it, but you shall see it. The Lord says that I must go on to my reward, but that you will see the mighty works that He will do upon the earth in the last days.’ – Source

That is precisely what I see coming – a complete change to our society. The end of death, because sin has been dealt with by the Lamb of God on the cross. We Christians will receive this truth “by/through faith”. The effect of this change will be felt everywhere and by everyone. In fact, it already has been felt and will continue to be felt.

Religions expected it

Curiously many other religions also see this change coming, but they deny that it is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Native American Prophecy. Peter Deunov “Propos on the Future” – 1944. Shari Arison, Israel’s richest woman. Expectation of the reappearance of the Imam Mahdi is at an all time high, he is/was expected to bring a complete pece to the Earth. Several native South and Central American religions pointed to a change in the Earth at about the year 2000+ and there are several prophecies in Tibet that also point to this change.

So as this change comes upon us, we can expect quite some confusion between religions as they all claim the prize is theirs and not someone else’s. But the change has begun and it is happening only because of the words of the bible. There is no other possible explanation of why the words of the bible exactly mirror what is occurring.

God even saw the need to pre-pre-pre-prepare some words for this event, pointing out all the way back then that no one was able to forsee what will happen. Check it out…

so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹ “Present your case,” says the LORD.
“Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

²² “Bring in your idols to tell us
what is going to happen.

Tell us what the former things were,
so that we may consider them
and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,

²³ tell us what the future holds,
so we may know that you are gods.

Do something, whether good or bad,
so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

²⁴ But you are less than nothing
and your works are utterly worthless;
he who chooses you is detestable.

²⁵ “I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—
one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
as if he were a potter treading the clay.

²⁶ Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,
or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?

No one told of this,
no one foretold it,
no one heard any words from you.

²⁷ I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.

²⁸ I look but there is no one—
no one among them to give counsel,
no one to give answer when I ask them.

²⁹ See, they are all false!
Their deeds amount to nothing;
their images are but wind and confusion.
- Is 41:20-29

It’s hard to imagine those words were written 2500 years ago, just to counter an argument that would be raised 2500 years later!

This is a harsh truth and it cuts deeply. But it is nevertheless truth and it must be heard and understood… that the events we are living in today, the rivers and lakes in Australia, the financial collapse and restoration… it was all foretold in accurate detail 2500 years ago. No other religion has been able to do that.

To go against this is futility, it is happening and it will continue to happen.

³⁸Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” – Acts 5:34-39

There is nothing to be afraid of. Every religion is looking forward to this time of change. There is nothing to fight or resist, it is a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ has done for us all… so let’s focus on the positives… it is a wonderful time of deliverance and release for a global population which has been living in suffering for thousands of years.

You can read about these prophecies and their fulfillment here…

Book: 2008-9 Prophecies and Miracles v2 (3MB) – A collection of all blog posts relating to the prophecies and fulfilled miracles during my stay in Australia. <100 pages. Feedback welcome!

Third Day – Wired radio online

Are you a Third Day fan? Would you like to listen to songs from over 400 shows and their commentary for each song? Wait no more… wired radio online.

Reinhard Bonnke is blogging via Facebook!

I absolutely feel that the churches must take action and organise to send out their evangelists. Now is the time. The greatest harvest is coming in the next years and it is the power of the gospel that saves. So we need to send out our evangelists to speak the gospel. As they do that, it will be the turn of the pastors to swing into action, caring for the newly saved people.

And because the church has muddled up all the gifts and very seldom sends anyone out, other than missionaries, we need to study what the bible says of evangelists and what their role is. As the people begin coming in, we will have to study what it means to be a pastor – caring, comforting, home visits.

But on the topic of evangelism… we can also learn from bright lights that God has set amongst us. Have you seen that Reinhard Bonnke is blogging via Facebook!?

My dear Friends, my FB Page is to me personal ministry. I really pray for you all and take it serious. May I please ask you for a favor? If you actively at least read these NOTES and POSTS, would you please let me know – give me “a sign of life”? That would mean a lot to me. With dedication + love, REINHARD BONNKE.

His Facebook page is here and it is visible and readable even to non-Facebook members: Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke – Official Page

“The greatest outpouring, the greatest anointing of God’s power ever known, is coming upon us. Past revivals will seem as nothing when Pentecost breaks upon the entire Church.”

He is writing excellent stuff. His most recent item “The Cross affected the Throne” is his most powerful yet. I can’t recommend it enough. I beg you, read that post: The Cross affected the Throne

This is a man who God is using to lead MILLIONS of people into salvation, spiritual freedom and directly into local churches. He know what he is writing about. His wisdom and passion is evident. I can’t recommend his writing enough.

Here is a selection of quotes from his writings:

The Scriptures are with us today by virtue of being the “very words of God” (Rom. 3:2), not because the Church preserved them. The Bible preserved the Church! Living things don’t need to be preserved; only dead things are placed in preserving fluids. Not so? Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE.

The gospel gives to all who will receive it the dignity of children of God. Men who once were savages are reclaimed and walk as princes. What a reason to preach the gospel! Could anything be more thrilling, adventurous and worthwhile? What else is worth your life’s effort? Nothing less than the salvation of this world is at stake. We follow His footsteps! Are YOU with us? Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE.

An evangelist is an opportunist. He doesn’t wait for opportunities, he creates them. He doesn’t strike the iron WHILE it is hot, but UNTIL it is hot – and then keeps on striking. He doesn’t have a glory-party when the walls of Jericho have fallen, but crawls over the rubble, sword in hand, to deliver every street and house. Blessed? REINHARD BONNKE.

“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither…” (Psalm 1, 3) Did you notice? Your LEAF, your health, your strength, your marriage, your child, your business – SHALL NOT wither. This Word is for YOU today. Lay hold on it and let me know please. Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE.

One man filled with the Holy Spirit is sometimes better than a hundred committees, which, ‘keep minutes but lose hours.’ When God so loved the world He did not form a committee, but sent His Son, and His Son sent the Holy Spirit. Christ said that believers are the light of the world, but it needs the Holy Spirit to switch them on. And then, watch out! Agreed? Tell me. REINHARD BONNKE.

The Gospel does not threaten sinners. It is glad news, not mad news. Yet Jesus talked more about hell than heaven – not as a THREAT but as a WARNING. There is something I’d call MILITANT MERCY. When a fast moving car approaches a child, we would snatch it from danger. It may be rough, but it is true mercy. That’s what Jesus does! HE SAVES. Happy? REINHARD BONNKE.

David strikes me as the one man in the OT who knew what it meant to be anointed. He was gripped by the fact that God was with him. He went to challenge Goliath. It was entirely in the assurance that he was anointed. He did not ask Samuel to anoint him again. He didn’t ask anybody to pray for him. He had been anointed and so was anointed – it was a timeless fact. David was ready. Are you? Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE

Now click through to even more good stuff…

• Holiness is NOT Power
• God has NO two kinds of Fire
• We are not generators, but conductors
• Faith transfers the power of God to wherever it is needed (Luke 17,6)
• UNFADING ANOINTING
• God never works at half power
• Only that which is God’s will is possible
• Jesus commands the impossible and then makes it possible
• RE-DIGGING THE WELL OF HEALING? (Gen 26:15—18)
• Looking for a New Anointing?
• Releasing God’s Power of Salvation
• Any doctrine that doesn’t lend itself as conductor of the power of God is a waste of time
• BIBLE PROPHECIES ARE HISTORY IN ADVANCE

A few more quotes…

A newspaper attacked me once and spread a lot of lies. My friends urged me to respond. But when I started to pray the Lord spoke to me. “You are my harvest-worker. Don’t stop the combine-harvester just to catch a mouse!” I was stunned! Since then my answer is always the same – the next Gospel-Crusade! Agreed? REINHARD BONNKE.

I am immune to the criticisms of man, because I am immune to the praise of man. This is my personal testimony and recommendation. Blessed? REINHARD BONNKE.

Breaking out of empty and hollow feelings – design your life!

I have been learning and realizing some things over the last few months.

After the initial excitement of being back in South Africa and sharing with family again, I have found a dramatic drop in my levels of feeling energetic. I had to pause and think again and again at what was missing. Was it hope? Why was my energy lower? I seemed lack-luster, sapped. My addictive behavior had spiked upwards quite dramatically.

I checked my food and drinking habits… I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs. What was going on? Why was I reacting like this? Good things also happened.

After years of being poorly treated in Australia, I was now master of my own ship and enjoying the freedom that usually comes with democracy. I’m able to speak without people telling me I can’t, I can make friends with whoever and wherever and whenever I want.

Breakthrough to emotions… getting the juices flowing

I finally came to a moment when I finally cried deeply and vented my sadness at what I had experienced, the people I had lost and especially at the relationship I wanted to have with one particular person which was never allowed/permitted to happen. I cried. I wept. Then a few days later I felt deep hatred and wanted vengeance for what I had been put through.

Denial-anger-grief-acceptance (a more limited version of the full Kübler-Ross grief model) is the normal cycle to go through when adjusting to trauma and loss…

1. Denial — “I feel fine.”; “This can’t be happening, not to me.”
   
2. Anger — “Why me? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to me?”; “Who is to blame?”
   
3. Bargaining — “Just let me live to see my children graduate.”; “I’ll do anything for a few more years.”; “I will give my life savings if…”
4. Depression — “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I’m going to die . . . What’s the point?”; “I miss my loved one, why go on?”
   
5. Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
   

I felt led to read the psalms and saw so much of David’s own anger and desire for vengeance in his writings. So many psalms spoke to me, the one that He spoke directly to me Psalm 35 had the identical feelings in it as I had.

¹ Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.

² Take up shield and buckler;
arise and come to my aid.

⁴ May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.

⁵ May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away;

⁶ may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

⁷ Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,

⁸ may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and delight in his salvation. – Psalm 35

Before reading this, I had not realized how much anger (and even perhaps hatred) that King David had felt.

And as you would expect there were some psalms were from the Lord telling David to forgive. Sigh. Always with the forgiving. For the first time I really saw the humanity of David, and of course the compassion of God for human beings.

Anger. Hatred. These are all normal human emotions and this time was a sign of me healing. Sadness and loss… to have these feelings is better than to NOT have them. To not have them is to not be human. To have them is to function as a real live person who has working emotions.

Embrace your emotions about what happened in your past. It’s ok. When these feelings are felt and they pass you will experience new thoughts, new dreams, new hopes.

Going back to old patterns

I think that facing my suppressed emotions created an openness, an opportunity to connect with other aspects of my thinking and feelings. I really wanted to deal with the addictive behavior and the emptiness… I needed to understand them and to learn how to stop them. I did another inventory… I checked my faith, my prayer life, my thought life… all seemed ok. And yet I felt an intertia. Why?

And then it came to me. Being around my family had reminded me of the patterns of my youth. I looked at them more closely. Do these people live? Really live? I don’t mean party, I mean do they connect with people? Do they know about community? How much warmth is there in their lives? Do they have a sense of self… a self that needs to be protected? I noticed a strong and unhealthy fear of authorities, an unhealthy desire to avoid conflict, a desire to have peace at all costs, seeing isolation as a solution to many problems.

Everything you know, you learned from someone

Just think about it… babies start like this… with nothing and no concept of anything. They are empty. Emptiness is a very common feeling in modern society…

And everything they learn about themselves, someone told them. If they got told the wrong thing, then that is what they learned and now they think it. Child soldiers in war simply do what they are told.

They get abducted from their families and they get retrained and told new “truths” and they become warriors. The movie Blood Diamond showed some of that retraining taking place. In the picture to the left, the father has found his son and rescued him from the guerrillas who had retrained him into being a child warrior.

The fact is that until we take charge of our lives, until then we are the product of what was put into us as children and young adults. Taking charge means assessing who you are, what you are good at, what you want to do.

Everything you think you know, you learned from someone. You learned it from wonderful people, from abusive people, from the bible, from fire-and-brimstone preachers, from religious teachers, from warm kind caring pastors.

Children have to be taught how to live. Food, identity, warm clothes, emotional warmth, feelings of safety – it all has to be PUT into them. They can’t do anything for themselves.

In that same way, they have to be prepared for life. They can only learn and be ready for adulthood, if their parents consciously chose to prepare them. A baby is born with absolutely no knowledge and no skills. They can’t find the kitchen, can’t make food, can’t speak english and ask for what they need. Nothing! Everything that baby gets – food, warmth, skills – comes from the people around that baby and especially from the parents.

I’m thinking about how much my friend Caryn planned her preparation of her son for his entry into the public domain. She literally made a list of skills that he needed to have in place for him to be able to make it work. She made a list and she worked with him on it and ticked them off as he learned them. There are certain skills a person needs to make life work ad someone needs to teach them to us… or we have to go and learn them for ourselves.

Playing games like “The Sims” can teach some of these skills, like looking in a newspaper for a job and then applying for the job… because if you don’t, then you don’t have income… and if you don’t have income, then you will not have lots and lots of things needed for living.

But “The Sims” cannot teach hundreds and thousands of life lessons that people need to learn in order to live socially. That only comes by practise and experience.

Desensitised to life

And this was what I figured out. My family was not social. My father is not attached. My mother is not attached. Being conveniently near a person often enough to talk to them doesn’t mean you are emotionally attached to that person.

I also saw that I had not been prepared for life. Life lessons were not passed on. Things other people learn were not taught to me. It’s not just that I was emotionally and physically unsafe as a youngster, but I was uncared for. I know this because even now as an adult when I talk about the ghastly experiences I went through, few people react with horror… they simply don’t have that kind of emotional attachment. As a friend said to me about his lack of interest towards other people “I just don’t give a shit”.

One of the things I noticed in Australia was the level of care and concern people had for one another. Simple stories that get no reaction here – which is what I thought was normal – would get visible reactions of shock there. I was literally astounded as I realized that my stories were deeply upsetting to people. I didn’t know that before seeing their reaction, because I grew up in a family where you could tell the closest person to you that you have been abused and their will react with a one-line statement and never comment on the issue again.

So what had been happening to me after I returned? I was slowly adjusting back to how it was before. Less care for people. Less shock-and-horror reactions to things.

Yes there are real reasons for why South Arican society is so desensitized to what should shock us. In our society extreme trauma is normal to see. I grew up hearing bomb explosions in my suburb. I thought nothing of it. What is normal for us, is extra-ordinary for safe societies like Australia. So in Australia my personal stories seemed utterly shocking to my best friend Michael. I was fortunate that I could learn from his reaction, I had no idea what normal was.

I have returned to South Africa more sensitized to what is normal and ok in a healthy society.

But now being in close proximity to family members trapped in old behaviour patterns, I was being reminded of my former “it doesn’t matter” and “I don’t matter” – style of thinking. But it was more than that. Living with family was reminding me of the inertia that I grew up in. Our family didn’t have strong ties amongst ourselves, nor with the extended family around us. The warmth that I learned to experience with friends in Australia was absent in our family. I truly didn’t know about inner warmth until God healed me – and I’ve written about that on this blog site.

From OUTside to inside

Think again about that baby. All the arrows point inwards. As it lies there newly born, naked, it’s inner temperature is dropping… that has never happened before! It had come from a world in which the temperature was provided by the womb, but now it is outside the womb… the temperature is not guaranteed.

Now it has to be maintained by a willing care giver. And the baby has no concept of it’s own needs, it cannot figure out what cold is and pull the blanket over. That will take YEARS to learn. In the womb the baby’s emotions would have synched to the mother, but now outside, it synchs to her through cuddling and comforting. If there is no comfort, then the baby cannot moderate it’s own emotions.

Everything was automatically provided in the womb, but then it becomes available only when someone takes time to care for the baby. If the care giver is drunk or stoned or emotionally absent, then the baby has no capacity to care for itself. And as the years go by, the ability of a baby to care for itself will make all the difference. As a young boy and then a teen, the desire is usually there to do it for yourself. Abuse and lack of care in the home can upset this normal situation, and the inner drive for independence may not develop.

In a healthy family the normal and valid emotions of family members are accepted and acknowledged. Independance is encouraged as well as monitored to ensure it doesn’t go too far ahead of the emotional abilities of the young person. In a co-dependant family, emotions are not permitted. Self defense – a very useful life skill – may also be supressed and not learned. Many skills needed for life may not be learned in such a family.

If this happens, then a young person may hit adulthood without having learned the skills he or she needs to have in order to live a productive life, so they might be stuck in old patterns. If they learned passivity as a young person, they may remain passive as an adult – never really living a full life.

Basic life skills

The basic skills that an adult needs to live a healthy life may include some of these things.

Be able to…

• connect with other people in supportive communities (sharing food, communication, support, protection)
• identify what you need and find a resource somewhere to meet that need (find money, physical or emotional)
• know your strengths and weaknesses enough to be able to identify opportunities you can achieve at and avoid situations you repeatedly fail at
• have a sense of hope and optimism that you can learn new tricks and new skills – and put this into action in daily life to develop new opportunities
• identify all the basic ingredients needed to maintain a normal life, and the discipline to keep doing those things
• learn enough about yourself to know your needs and wants, and to know what your own boundaries are, know how many people you want around yourself, how close, how intimate etc.
• learn enough about other people to understand their needs and wants and their boundaries, and how to connect and communicate with them etc.
• listening to your inner sense or intuition for signs of nearby danger or situations to avoid

In all of these things, these lessons are learned by LIVING life. We walk, we fall down, we learn, we walk a bit more, falling less because we learned.

When we are a baby, all these lessons are GIVEN to us as advice from adults around us. As we grow up we are encouraged to figure them out for ourselves, caring people ask us “what do YOU think” and encourage us “give it a try”. We are able to learn in safety. Like with training wheels on a bike, adults watch us and remove the wheels when we can handle it.

To be a successful adult we need to do these things for ourselves without adult direction. Ideally we have already been doing them for ourselves for a while. Through repeatedly trying, failing, trying, succeeding – practise makes perfect – we come to a place of mastering the basic ingredients for life.

From INside to outside – outwards

But in adulthood we leave our parents and cleave to that special someone. Cleaving-and-leaving can be almost impossible if some of those basic lessons – boundaries, knowing yourself, reading other people, having intuition about impending trouble – without these we can’t find a suitable mate, we can’t communicate successfully with the person, we can’t find a balance between their needs and ours.

And because the demands of adulthood include caring for a family, paying a morgage, debts, growth, stress… we really need those skills to be in place. In adulthood the arrows don’t point inwards any more, they point OUTwards FROM you towards society. Unless you have the skills to find and connect into a caring community, you are not likely to be surrounded by positive INput.

But you are an adult now… you have to find the answers yourself and act on them.

They key is to understand that what used to come TO you from outside, now needs to come from INside you. So for example

• Where you used to get good advice, you now need to give yourself good advice
• Where other people calmed you and listened to you, you need to do this for yourself
• Where other people told you what you are good at and encouraged you, you now need to do this for yourself

How many people aren’t learning life skills?

It’s more common than you think… take these 2005 statistics for South Africa…

• In South Africa 41%, or 7.3 million children from birth to 17 years, do not live with an employed person in the same household – and therefore are not able to learn about job hunting and maintaining a CV and upgrading work skills
• In the Limpopo province, for example, has a poverty rate of 83% – and this might mean that children and growing up without the ability to care for themselves. Yougn girls may not be able to afford to pay for tampons and other personal needs. Basic skills can’t be learned in poverty.
• 22% of children were resident with neither biological parent – in this situation skills aren’t transferred from a caring parent. Identity and self image cannot be nurtured and developed.
• Half of households reported having insufficient food at times – this is another time during which a young person learns negative lessons about life, safety and self care.

Sources:

• Children in households with an employed adult
• Children residing with biological parents
• The impact of HIV and AIDS on Africa

Is it any wonder that I pray so hard and so much for revival and a complete change to society through the outpouring of His Spirit? Nothing else promises to help us all as much as He is promising to. You can read more about this prayer here: Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high

What’s the problem?

The problem is that if people don’t learn these skills, then they simply keep living as they did as children or young adults. Their hands remain open to receiving, their hearts always looking for people to speak INTO them.

But time has marched on, and they are at an age where they ARE able to make their own way in the world… if they can just develop the skills to do so.

For example, one successful strategy to survive an abusive household is to remain passive and hidden. Not many life skills will be learned while the person remains in this strategy. But as an adult, that strategy is no longer needed. The person can take charge and live a completely different and more assertive life. What is needed is for the person to abandon survival skills learned in childhood, and to adopt completely new and different ways of living.

And that can be very tough to make that change from a strategy that you used for 10 years, over to an unknown new behavior. The saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I’m saying to you, give up the strategy that you have in your hand – passivity, isolation, violence – and take the chance that you can learn to walk a completely new life and learn completely new things.

For sure you want to know about the birds in the bush… before you put down the bird in your hand. But the problem is, these new skills have to be learned, and they are learned by walking and falling and learning and then walking a bit better because we learned.

Going forward from here – consciously

Remain as you are OR change. Change means making a life that you want and like. getting to know what you want can be difficult. The exact phrase “I want” is biblical… it occurs 31 times in the New Testamant in the NIV and 63 times in The Message. Clearly people wanted things in the New Testament, so I’m sure it’s fine for you to want things too.

When you get in touch with what you want, then work on getting to know yourself and your inner world… in this way you will make new dreams, new friends who have the same energy levels as you, new hopes and new plans. And then go ahead and actually DO those things.

And let me leave you with this final and encouraging truth…

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” — by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

That is the same lady who made the Kübler-Ross grief model, also known as the 5 stages of grief.

Keep reading… more posts you may enjoy

• Your personal bill of rights **
• Why does the bible say to love yourself? **
• Getting out of depression (learned helplessness) by learning to be optimistic **
• Heal your identity – it will help to fill the emptiness inside
• Christian burn out cycle
• How to make decisions
• God has a plan to prosper you… what to do while you wait
• How to fill up the lonely hurt inside
• What to do when you’re feeling empty inside

Donations gladly accepted

Just a quick reminder that you are very welcome to support this ministry. Email me: markrobertwilson@gmail.com

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high

You may know that I am expecting this to occur any day now…

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. – Is 32:15-18

and this post is to show that the signs are good that this is already coming down the pipeline… it’s happening now!

From America

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke – Official Page… “The greatest outpouring, the greatest anointing of God’s power ever known, is coming upon us. Past revivals will seem as nothing when Pentecost breaks upon the entire Church.”

Rodney Morgan Howard-Browne Great harvest of Souls – Sunday am alone 149 decisions for Christ – wow – thank you Jesus – This year we have seen 57,094 decisions – thank you Jesus.

MAN RAISED FROM THE DEAD – Is it a medical mystery or a miracle? A South Florida man pronounced dead from a massive heart attack and then brought back to life. His doctor says the man was raised from the dead by a simple prayer.

From Wales

Jason Westerfield – “I’m just trying to figure out who’s been praying for revival all these years and if they’re in the room? Because if anyone actually heard the words I’m saying right now, you’d realise all the hours and months and hours and years, and maybe decades that went into all your prayers in one day God can change it. It happened today! Do you recognise your Day of Visitation. And it didn’t happen in here (in the meeting) it happened right out in the Assembly.” It ’s not coming anymore, you’re not birthing, it happened, it is done, it is finished! Experientially Kingdom reality in heaven and the earth and over the land and over the world, and its over the earth casting a shadow of life and light and of the open heavens of God’ glory over the nation of Wales. It is finished!!!

From Uganda

From Colin Walker: A brief update on some of the salvations and healings we’ve seen here in northern Uganda; over 70 salvations in the last one week, and I think about 30 healings – most of which occur after people accept Jesus, but also a lot are healed first and then the instant miracle is enough to convince them to accept God. Saw 5 people saved last Sat., including a 60 year old women who’d been bedridden for about 10 years and hadn’t managed to walk the 3m outside her front door.

From South Africa

From Bruce Torrance:  Guess what – a young muslim lady was not a happy camper, in a lot of pain, passing blood due to a kidney infection. Asked if I could pray for her, and did so in Jesus’ name (Wednesday, in the office) and by nightfall the pain was gone! No more bleeding and tossing and turning in the night due to that pain, and when I spoke to her this morning she was full of joy, absolutely delighted! She prayed to personally thank Jesus for healing her! She’s off to get checked out by the doctor on Saturday morning. Praise You Jesus for Your healing touch!

From Darren Richter:  lady healed out of wheel chair in mandeni and seeing plenty others on mission weekend we had up in amatikulku (natal north coast). Its now the norm to see healings every day and we wont stop until raising the dead and blind and deaf healed is a regular occurrence!!!!

These next 5 items are from Angus Buchan at Shalom Ministries in South Africa. Number 5 at the bottom shows the breakthrough. Each item is one month later and each one shows a dramatic increase in salvations…

1. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – October 2009 – I have just returned from George in the Southern Cape.  I saw something I have never seen before in my life.  On a Tuesday afternoon, a working day, the whole town came to a standstill, from the Mayor’s office right down to the school children.  They congregated at the Outeniqua Rugby Stadium.  There was in excess of 14000 people there, packed into the grandstands and on the field.  … As we concluded that meeting, many, many souls, up to two-thirds of the crowd, made first time commitments publically in the sight of everyone and especially in the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter - September 09, Issue2 – I am absolutely ecstatic as I write this newsletter to you!  I have always said after each campaign, ‘Lord, you can’t outdo this one, this has got to be the best thing that has ever happened,’ and yet I have just returned from the ‘Kalahari campaign,’ first of all to see a packed out stadium and then to experience and witness something I have never experienced in 30 years of preaching.  On the challenge of the altar call, to see literally the whole stadium empty on to the rugby field to stand in front of the altar. (NOTE: It began raining in the Kalahari desert on the following Sunday!)
3. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – September 09, Issue1 – Jill just shared a special thing with me, her being an intercessor.  They were praying one night and they could actually smell the presence of Jesus.  It was as if He walked past them, they never saw or heard anything, they could just smell this strong, sweet, pungent, beautiful new smell.  She said it was like a mixture of orange blossom.
4. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – August 09 – We saw God move in a very unique way at the Vodacom rugby stadium in Bloemfontein on the 15^th of August. There was a very special presence of the Holy Spirit through the whole campaign and I want to thank God for all the organizers that took time, effort and put money into making it possible. Very rarely have I ever seen such attentive ears to the Word of God like I saw on that afternoon. 28 000 people. At times, when I paused while preaching, I could hear a pin drop yet there was the most amazing response.
5. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – July 09 – In the middle of the message a sudden wind blew through the stadium and I believe this was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  The following week the local prosecutors office was in disarray as people arrived wanting to drop charges and reconcile with one another.  This is indeed the fruit of revival.

Prophecy from Rachel Oram in England

Gods got a lot lined up for Cape Town
not just signs and wonders
but i believe
that the dead will be raised
deliverance will take place
the kingdom of God has already come to cape town
its just about to explode!
so get ready says the lord, GET READY
get your armour on
and get ready for their is a war, but JESUS is on your side
prepare your hearts for a miracle explosion
the enemy wont like it
but that’s part of it
he will attempt to attack
but u must not give up
or give in!
keep going
the victory and glory goes to Jesus!
He is always with u
to the end of the age
do not be afraid
for the Holy Spirit your comforter
will be with you
now and forever more
in Jesus name

Hes heard the crys
of your heart
to see revival coming to your nation
HE KNOWS

He’s seen the tears, hes seen the laughter and the joy
He’s knows that SA needs a revival
HE LONGS
to pour out his spirit
the time is here!!
He’s coming
He is moving towards SA
and He’s gonna strike hard!
He’s gonna show himself to u and others in a new and mighty way
He is moved with compassion
just like when Jesus wept over a city
He cries when he sees the hurting and the dying
and is moving

GOD IS ON THE MOVE

PEOPLE GET READY! JESUS IS COMING!!

and He’s coming
He’s coming with fire
and He’s coming with power
Shabababa!
whoa
He’s heard the church crying out
and He’s coming right now
to touch his church and touch his people
he loves you all so much
wow
Amen!

Churches! Send your evangelists out! Multiply!!

It’s time to begin to multiply and this is what you need to know about multiplication in a church…

“The gospel is the power of God unto salvation” – Rom 1:16

The foundation of prayer has been laid, you now need to get people out there, spreading the gospel – because THAT is what causes salvation.

In your church of 500 people there may be 50 or 100 who are gifted in sharing the gospel. All of us can do it, but these evangelists are gifted and designed by God to do it. Get them active, get them going. Now is the time.

Churches must radically change from being inwardly and safety focused – a safe place for young adults to find love and marry and have children in spiritual safety – to being outwardly focused and reaching to the lost. There is risk in that, you will be bringing in wild and woolly people with very different points of view. Some may be coming out of the occult and may bring all kinds of “gifts” which may mesmerise your cloistered and naiive brood.

Nevertheless, you need to reach out and evolve, because the prayer platform has been laid, now it is time to send out your people and have them gather the fish… by speaking the gospel.

Here is a small snippet from an excellent post that I recommend you read: Finney, Piper and Prayer?

Prayer and the Gospel

Finney:

Sometimes it happens that those who are the most engaged in employing truth, are not the most engaged in prayer…

Others err on the other side. Not that they lay too much stress on prayer. But they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Because sinners are not converted by direct contact of the Holy Ghost, but by the truth, employed as a means. To expect the conversion of sinners by prayer alone, without the employment of truth, is to tempt God [meaning to put God to the test].

Piper:

Prayer is the power that wields the weapon of the word, and the Word is the weapon by which the nations will be brought to faith and obedience.

The front-line work of missions is the preaching of the word of God, the gospel. If this public act is displaced by prayer, the supremacy of Christ in the mission of the church will be compromised…

But even the power that comes from the Holy Spirit through prayer is in some sense the unique power of the word of God itself: “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Perhaps we should speak of prayer as God’s instrument to release the power of the gospel.

One of the points we must recognise is this: they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Because sinners are not converted by direct contact of the Holy Ghost, but by the truth

So churches, you who long to be multiplied…

• get your sermons pointed outward,
• focus on the messages of the Book of Acts,
• make a 7 point sermon plan about how outreach with the gospel of truth is what brings multiplication,
• teach on walking in the way that God prepared for us beforehand,

and spend the tithe you receive in support of these brave individuals. That is what the tithe is for… the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

The heavens are open, the time is right, the harvest is ready… simply send the men and women who are warming your seats each week. 500 evangelists can each have 500 mini-outreaches. Help them, give them infrastructure and financial support to do their work. Gather around each of them as they begin to fish. The time is now. Throw out the nets, the prayer foundation has been laid.

Then get busy cleaning the fish as they come in. The current generation has had exposure to the occult far more extensively than you may think. So they will come in dripping with false gifts. This will be a time of growth for leadership and for seat warmers. Everyone will have to develop discernment. Quickly.

And have fun. Enjoy yourself. Revival is a time of growth and multiplication. Enjoy!

More peace changes… In that day?

Please don’t think I am excitedly waking up each day expecting to see major new peace developments. But when I do see these, I am encouraged…

• Peace talks bring change to Uganda
• Q&A: Uganda’s northern war
• Reaction to INLA renouncing violence

I certainly do live in hope that God will bless us with a single moment in time when everything changes. There are two precedents for this to actually happen, so if it did, I’d be the first to say “I TOLD YOU SO”. hehehe.

The first precedent is the very common Old Testament phrase “in that day”. There are 112 instances of that phrase in the KJV and 121 in the ASV. If you click those links you will notice that the phrase always refers to a specific single day. I like the AMP version and it has 100 instances. The first three are before Isaiah.

The next 44 instances of that phrase are in Isaiah alone! And there can be no doubt that they refer to a single day… which would be pretty spectacular don’t you think? Surely the whole world would have to acknowledge that something spectacular had happened and that only Isaiah’s writings from 2500 years ago could explain what had happened.

There are only 2 instances of that phrase in the New Testament. The balance are spread out in the books from the other prophets, and as you may know, many of them have the same or similar wording and are clearly pointing to the same day.

Running the War in Iraq By Major General Jim Molan

The second precedent is that we have perhaps already had a taste of what that sudden onslaught of peace could be like. This was in 2005…

Former Army Capt. Pete Hegseth…  “I was in Baghdad for five days without a shot being fired,” he said in a recent interview with TIME. “There used to be 20 to 25 bodies a night around the Dora market. But now, nothing,” he said. “It was eerie. It was odd.” – Time (and from his own blog)

The same account can be read in Australian Major General Jim Molan’s book “Running the War in Iraq” which also describes the same eerie calm that occured across the country for 3-5 days. Jim was in Iraq during 2004-2005.

(NOTE: The surge and long term dramatic drop in violence occured in 2008)

I think the changes that we are about to experience can best be described by God’s own words through Isaiah…

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. – Is 32:15-18

The cause is God pouring out His Holy Spirit across the world. The resulting effect is dramatic peace across the world.

NOTE: I hesitate to note the next two verses. They indicate that at the same time as peace is coming to some people, something else is coming to other – unco-operative? – people.

On a totally different note, wouldn’t this be just AWESOME if this were true?! What happened to global warming?

Australian National Human Rights Consultation report chaired by Frank Brennan

God and Jesus Christ are constantly heard in the bible speaking about the need to be good, moral, to protect the weak and the helpless.

As regular readers will know, I rarely comment on political events, unless they are of exceptional impotance for the correct and free functioning of human society.

Enshrining good moral choices and behaviours in government should not be necessary… but realistically this is a fallen world and therefore it IS necessary. When the fabric of society and the functioning of government is unable to treat residents of their countries with common dignity and decency, then the sanctity and integrity of human beings must be legislated and protected.

Barack Obama’s election was of exceptional importance to turn back the tide of criminal behaviour in powerful governments, so I urged Christian people to pray about that.

This issue of establishing a culture of human rights in societies which were corrupted by George Bush, Dick Cheney, John Howard and Tony Blair (plus others) is of absolute importance, so I urge Christians to pray for this too.

Here are some articles written in Australia on this topic…

A fairer go for all – Frank Brennan – MORE than 40,000 people participated in the National Human Rights Consultation. Despite the burdens of the global financial crisis and the complexities of an emissions trading scheme, Australians are able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They are very interested in discussing the protection of human rights, even in times of economic uncertainty. The four-member consultation committee has now reported to government, making 31 recommendations. We spent four months traversing the country and attended 66 community round tables in 52 locations, from Christmas Island to Palm Island and from Thursday Island to Hobart.

That article was written by Frank Brennan, the architect of the Consultation Report. These next articles are written by other Australian writers…

Its aim is to entrench values enshrined in human rights ideology. Every vital institution is affected: public service, the parliament and the courts. For the the human rights lobby, with its long-run plan to transform Australia, this is an important start. – Human rights report poisoned chalice

Similarly, tough anti-terror laws allowing for detention without charge, and the locking up of asylum seekers’ children, may also have been scuttled, according to National Human Rights Consultation committee chair Frank Brennan. Tough anti-terror laws, introduced following the September 11 attacks in the United States, would also have been in trouble. “Eventually that legislation would end up before one of the superior courts and the court would then have the task … to interpret that law as consistently as possible with human rights.” – Australia close to a charter of rights

AUSTRALIA should introduce a human rights act to prevent discrimination, enshrine individual freedoms and ensure Federal Parliament remains committed to ”the fair go”, according to a historic review of the nation’s commitment to civil rights. – Human rights act promises a ‘fair go’

More than 35,000 submissions were received, but the Federal Opposition is not convinced that Australia wants a human rights act… He disagrees with the claim that a human rights act will be a triumph for the elites. “This is the largest community response in Australia’s history to any issue that’s been put to the public,” he said. “What this shows is that this is an issue that really does mobilise Australians generally; they care about the issue. They’ve often seen first hand that the system has failed them or someone they know and they want change.”…

Melbourne barrister Julian Burnside says Australia will have more credibility and leverage internationally if it adopts a human rights act. “In recent years, when Australia has spoken out about human rights matters, a substantial response from the international organisation has been ‘look at your own back garden’,” he said. – Human rights act ‘a triumph for elitists’

I feel strongly about this topic because my personal rights were disastrously and cruelly abused during my stay in Australia. I had no protection because the evil was being perpetrated by those with power. There was no higher power above them which I could appeal to. There was no guiding principle in the constitution that I could point to. I was helpless.

My story is not unique. It is a very common story and it is the defining characteristic of the dark years we have all just lived through – abuse of the individual by powerful people who were unrestrained by an inner moral code or compass.

This tide of darkness is what must not only be turned back, but it must be exposed to the light and then fenced in so it cannot resurface later during a time of public complacency, so that it can try to complete what it could not finish previously.

Changing leaders was step 1.

Now in step 2, let’s change the laws and ensure that this evil is never again perpetrated. We simply must move to a more open society in which power cannot be removed from people nor from democracy and used and abused in secret.

Step 3 would be to prosecute the people who did the evil, so that they do not entertain a “come back” scenario in which they plan to finish off what they started. Prosecuting the criminals also ensures future generations don’t succumb to the mindset that they too can “give it a go” and know that if they get caught red handed, then they too will be protected and not prosecuted.

More good news… an end to conflicts too!

This post contains information on fulfillment of two prophecies:

1. Manufacturing for South Africa
2. An end to wars

Manufacturing for SA

Ready for some good local news? First, you can read about the propehcy here: Manufacturing for South Africa and now read about the fulfillment as it happens…

SA PMI leaps, points to recovery… The key indicator of factory activity jumped to 48,0 last month from 39,3 in August, the second biggest leap in the index’s 10-year history.

September BCI the best level recorded since 2008… Business Confidence Index (BCI) improved notably to 85,5 in September 2009 from 83 in August 2009. The BCI is now 6.6 index points higher than the depressed level of 78.9 measured in March 2009.

South Africans upbeat, survey finds… According to the survey of 2000 adults conducted in June, 73% of them agreed they were positive about South Africa and its future, 19% disagreed and 8% said they didn’t know, TNS Research Surveys said in a statement. “This figure of 73% is well up on the February figure of 60% and the May figure of 68% — there has been an uninterrupted rise since the 56% achieved in November 2008.” The figure of 73% equals the previous high achieved in May 2006 and is an “encouraging return” to optimism that had fallen to an all-time low of 49% in mid-2008.

We need to keep this in context… in 2009…

The manufacturing sector shrunk by a record 22.1 percent in the first quarter. – Reuters

South Africa’s manufacturing output declined by a record 21.6% year-on-year in April – Engineering News

Back in 1 July 2009 the PMI was reported to be 3 points better. By August 2009 it was up to 39.3 points. Now it has jumped up to 48.3 points! “Signs of life in SA manufacturing sector as PMI posts big jump“

Watch this space people!! Go Jesus!!

End to conflicts

And on the “peace” front how about this? You can view the prophecy here…

• An end to conflicts and revival (1)
• An end to conflicts and revival… (2)

And here is a part of the fulfillment… read it an be amazed…

“We are still documenting the number of militants who surrendered and the number of weapons surrendered,” she said. – Nigeria amnesty Progress

Three of the Niger Delta’s militant leaders laid down their weapons over the weekend, the final days of a two-month amnesty period offered by President Umaru Yar’Adua to try to bring an end to years of unrest. For many of the fighters, who spent weeks or months at a time in camps deep in the creeks, it was a carnival atmosphere. High on whisky and locally-made gin, they rode the bonnets of cars and ran through Port Harcourt’s streets chanting. – Reuters

Another Nigerian militant leader has agreed to lay down his arms and halt fighting in the Niger Delta oil hub, under a government amnesty which expires Sunday. Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as ‘Tompolo’, is the third and last known factional leader with links to Nigeria’s main armed group, the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to surrender. “I and my people are accepting the amnesty offer and we are going to work with the President to achieve the dreams of this country,” said the commander at a meeting with Nigerian President – PressTvForemost militant, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo yesterday broke down in tears as he handed over his weapons, saying it was not his wish to surrender them. – AllAfrica

This change is absolutely what I am expecting to see more of. Choose any conflict zone, or potential conflict zone, and watch… the “reign” of God’s grace will continue to increase and the “reign” of the twin powers of sin and death will continue to decrease in power.

These are the words of God…

“Now will I arise,” says the LORD. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. – Is 33:10

You have heard [these things foretold], now you see this fulfillment. And will you not bear witness to it?

I show you specified new things from this time forth, even hidden things [kept in reserve] which you have not known. They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word], and not long ago; and before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them! Yes, you have never heard, yes, you have never known; yes, from of old your ear has not been opened. – Is 48:6-8

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Cor 4:7

And the good news just keeps on coming… The Violence Declines While The Headlines Persist

June 1, 2009: You’d never know it from reading the headlines, but wars continue to decline worldwide.

For years, Iraq was portrayed as a disaster until, suddenly, the enemy was crushed. Even that was not considered exciting enough to warrant much attention, and that story is still poorly covered by the mass media.

Same pattern is playing out in Afghanistan, where the defeats of the Taliban, and triumph of the drug gangs, go unreported and distorted.

Violence has also greatly diminished,  or disappeared completely, in places like  Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nepal, Chechnya,  Congo, Indonesia and Burundi. Even Afghanistan, touted as the new war zone, was not nearly as violent this past six months as the headlines would deceive you into believing.

That page contains excellent per-country information. I will list a few highlights here…

1. HAITI Technically at peace.
2. INDONESIA Basically at peace
3. IVORY COAST An uneasy truce continues. Elections are about to occur.
4. SRI LANKA Tamils (the LTTE) were crushed… basically at peace.
5. UGANDA Religion and tribalism combine to create a persistent rebellion in the north, which was aided by Sudan. But now the northern rebels have been worn down, and the unrest is just about done with.

I freely admit that this list is small. But now we could almost add another eight countries to that list of 5…

1. We could add Nigeria
2. The DRC is almost ready to go on that list too, they even have elections occurring!
3. Rwanda and the great lakes region is at peace (at last!)
4. Darfur (Sundan) is reported by the UN to be at peace
5. Madagascar has political problems, but doesn’t have civil war, it could be added to that list.
6. India and Pakistan are no longer threatening one another with nuclear weapons.
7. Nepal has political problems, but the war with the Maoist rebels has stopped.
8. Israel is not currently at war with any surrounding country (Jordan, Syria, Egypt etc.) and even has no ongoing fighting with the West Bank. Gaza is not quiet, but seems to have quietened down.

Yes there is a long way to go, and this is just a start. But what a great start! Please listen to these words…

You are My witnesses, says the Lord,

and My servant whom I have chosen,

Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]–

when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God.

Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.

I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it? – Is 43:10-13

Seek first the righteousness that Jesus Christ HAS provided

Now that I have come through this time of oppression and testing, I am looking at scripture with a simplicity… perhaps a childlike simplicity… and it just seems so obvious to me.

For example, if Jesus Christ said “here are the keys to heaven on earth” and then He presented us with the keys… then why on earth do we spend our time doing any prayer apart from those keys? It’s so simple. It’s like a dad coming to his teenage son saying “son, I’m giving you my card and the pin”… what do you expect to see next? For sure the son will go withdraw cash and use that cash. When he runs out, he goes to withdraw more. So why isn’t the church withdrawing like crazy? Our Lord and Master told us what the keys are… why isn’t this world full of heaven here on earth?

Another thing that seems so obvious to me now… seek first the righteousness…

Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Sin released death into this world and we are trapped in this mess. As Isaiah says, the devil won’t let his captives return to God (Is 14:12-17). If sin is the problem then righteousness is the solution… but we cannot provide our own righteousness. But it is needed. And we can’t make it for ourselves.Our best efforts are dirty rags. So what do we do? How are we to be released from the clutches of the devil?

There are two profound references to the righteousness of God as revealed by Jesus Christ…

2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus Christ became sin… for us. And we became the righteousness of God.

Wow. Gulp. I thought I understood that before. I even wrote about it. But now, with God having pressed some kind of rest button in my brain, I really get it.

Rom 5:21 So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord

If you missed that, you missed the whole thing… I kid you not… because Adam sinned, death reigned. But now, because of Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness, now grace reigns (not death). Wow. Did you get that? I got that before… I wrote about it in my book. But I’m looking these words with a new… simplicity.

Seek first… and then these things are added to you. Seek first… the righteousness that Jesus Christ HAS PROVIDED. The consequence of the righteousness that He provided is nothing less than the end of sin and death, the end of the reign of death… the increase of the reign of grace.

I know that some people may look around them and ask “where is it if you say He did it”. And that’s where we come back to “here are the keys to heaven on earth”…

Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; and

whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in Heaven; and

whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven

I’m just stunned at what happened on the cross… aren’t you?

Stronger, newer. Bolder.

I’ve just come through quite a time of being sick. Did I have flu? I did have bronchitis? Was it both? Was it more than that? It seemed like a time of darkness, a real time of struggle. My prayers seemed to lack real punch and due to sickness I was only able to sleep and sleep and not do much else.

And now… at the end of it, I feel stronger, cleaner and clearer. It was been a time of testing what lies within me, I think. So many nights I found myself fighting battles inside me – breaking through quite easily and winning. Now when I look at theology, given how hard it was to have any faith in this last time of trial, but now it all seems so clear and so obvious.

What a difference a few days make!

The purpose

It seems to me that God tried to be the fulfillment of all of those Names to the people of the Earth through His relationship with His chosen nation, the Hebrews/Israel. But when He was not able, He then demonstrated His nature to all humanity through Himself – by coming in flesh Himself as Jesus Christ in order to achieve two purposes..

Therefore when the Lord has completed all His work [of chastisement and purification to be executed] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, it shall be that He will inflict punishment on the fruit [the thoughts, words, and deeds]… – Isa 10:12

The first purpose is to complete the full chastisement and purification on the cross (Mount Zion) and then to deal with the fruit. The first part is completed and the second part is in process because the first part is dealt with. The fruit can be easily dealt with only when we accept that He has completed the chastisment and purification. Remember that it is our faith that overcomes the evil (fruit) in this world…

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

We can only defeat the evil fruit if we first agree that sin and death is the core issue and then we agree that Jesus Christ has completely dealt with – completed the chastisement for it, and completed the purification of it.

It is our faith in His finished work on the cross that enables us to roll back the evil fruit that covers this world, and for grace to reign across this world. As our faith in Him is established, the fruit – spiritual, physical, emotional and mental strongholds – are pulled down, because the one who had the power of death is now powerless, and because grace is reigning. It is entirely a spiritual change, but the fruit (the change) is seen in the Earth.

The reign of death is transformed into the rein of God’s grace…

So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord – Rom 5:21

To reign (G936, βασιλεύω, basileuō) means to rule, to govern, to be a governor. Death reigned because of sin, but now grace reigns because of His righteousness. And His grace reigns over all after one act of righteousness, just as death reigned over all after that one sin. But through our faith, His grace reigns over all.

We live in a very exciting time. Some nations will benefit because they are His inheritance, some because they are His people and some because they are the work of His hands…

Isa 19:24-25 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

That work of His hands seems – to me – to point to the work He will do as we His people and His inheritance receive what He has done on the cross. As His grace reigns increasingly, other nations will become the work of His hands to a greater and greater extent, being blessed by Him.

So the grace of God will reign, because of Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness… and because we have that faith in Him. I think it is in that way that we rule over sin, as we were told to…

Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.

Let’s look at Strong’s Concordance for the meaning of the Hebrew word “rule” which was used in Gen 4:7

H4910, משׁל, mâshal, maw-shal’

A primitive root; to rule: – (have, make to have) dominion, governor, X indeed, reign, (bear, cause to, have) rule (-ing, -r), have power.

The connection is clear… we rule over sin by having faith in Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness on the cross. Because He provided the full chastisement and purification, now the fruit can be dealt with. God’s grace will deal with it, in conjunction with His different people, as His grace reigns. We won’t sit idly by simply watching it all happen, we all are His chuch, the fullness of His body, we certainly will be active in rooting out the fruit from this world, but the foundations that must be put in place and kept in place for what is often called “the millennium reign” to occur, is to believe that He has completed His work of purification and chastisement.

We simply must believe that His one act of righteousness enables God’s grace to reign, and that the reign of sin and death is over. When we do that, our faith enables this change and the change occurs.

The End.

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.

The Names of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ

Previously we established that He is El, Ab, and that the Father dwellt in Him, He and the Father were Once and that is the I AM of Exodus.

But there is much more to be understood. There are many Names of God given in the Old Testament and they are reflected in what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Perhaps that is too subtle a way to put it. The nature of our Father God was fully expressed on and through the cross.

We know about His nature because the many names He gave Himself in the Old Testament express His nature, and we know that Jesus Christ is the exact impression of that nature… so we will find each of those Names fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

We can see the full nature of God the Father and we can understand Jesus Christ when we look at Him in this way. So here is just a short list of the Name of God in the Old Testament and how they relate to His complete work on the cross, His “one act of righteousness”…

• When He cried out “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” He was fulfilling the meaning of His Name: Elohay Selichot – God Of Forgiveness: (Nehemiah 9:17).
• By taking all sin upon Himself and setting it aside and abolishing it, He fulfilled the meaning of His Name: Elohe Tsadeki (Psalms 4:1)- GOD of My Righteousness. Note how personal that Name is: my righteousness.
• By destroying death, destroying the devil and destroying all the works of the devil He fulfilled the meaning of His Name: Elohim Machase Lanu (Psalms 62:8)- GOD Our Refuge. Again it is personal, OUR refuge.
• By saving us from sin, death, the devil and his works, He fulfilled Jehovah Keren-Yishi (Psalms 18:2)- The LORD the Horn of My Salvation and He became our refuge: Jehovah Machsi (Psalms 91:9)The LORD My Refuge, and Jehovah Magen (Deuteronomy 33:29)- The LORD the Shield, and Jehovah Maginnenu (Psalms 89:18)- The LORD Our Defense, and Jehovah Metsudhathi (Psalms 18:2)- The LORD My High Tower, and Jehovah Roi (Psalms 23:1)- The LORD My Shepherd, and Jehovah Mephalti (Psalms 18:2)- The LORD My Deliverer. Note the frequent use of the word “my” in those Names.
• By judging sin (and then taking the full chastisement for sin) He fullfilled His own Name of Elohim Shophtim Ba-arets (Psalms 58:11)- GOD that Judgeth in the Earth, and Jehovah Hashopet (Judges 11:27)- The LORD the Judge. The full righteousness of God according to the law was not avoided, it was fully judged and expressed and poured out as chastisement onto Jesus Christ on the cross. Not a letter passed from the law, it was all fulfilled.
• By literally walking amonst us and sleeping and eating with us in our homes, He fulfilled Immanu El – God Is With Us: (Isaiah 7:14), and Jehovah Immeka (Judges 6:12)- The LORD Is with You, and Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) The LORD Is There, and Jehovah-Shammah “the Lord is present” (Ezekiel 48:35). Again the personal words “us” and “you” are used.
• It was He who sanctified us (made us righteous, right with God) and in this way He showed us that He is the fullness of Jehovah Mekaddishkem (Exodus 31:13) The LORD that Sanctifies You, and Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6)- The LORD Our Righteousness, and Jehovah-Mekoddishkem “The Lord who sets you apart.”The Lord who makes holy, Exodus 31:13. Note the personal words “you” and “our”.
• He healed us by His stripes, and in this way He showed the fullness of the Name Jehovah Rophe (Exodus 15:26)- The LORD (our) Healer, and Jehovah-Rapha “the Lord that healeth” (Exodus 15:26)

That was just a selection of His Names as Father God which we shown to us as He walked amongst us and died in our place. Some of those names are also suitable for the Holy Spirit, because Jesus said He was going away but would come back… as the “Wonderful Counsellor” (Isa 6:9) which He did do at Pentecost, so these Names refer to Him now being with us.

By literally walking amongst us and sleeping and eating with us in our homes, He fulfilled Immanu El – God Is With Us: (Isaiah 7:14), and Jehovah Immeka (Judges 6:12)- The LORD Is with You, and Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) The LORD Is There, and Jehovah-Shammah “the Lord is present” (Ezekiel 48:35).

The eventual fulfillment and fullness of God being present with us was pointed to by Ezekiel…

Eze 37:26-28 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

First please note to whom He is speaking, it’s not to a “saved” people, but to a people who are spiritually “dead”…

Eze 37:12-13 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

And I think it’s important to notice that these things that Ezekiel speaks about also comes because the people ASK Him to do it. The impetus is Sovereign, the direction comes from Him, it’s in His timing… but the people ask Him to do it. That means that our faith and willingness is required…

Eze 36:37 “Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.

“I will let”… those words seem to imply a period of waiting, while He “lets” the people ask Him. So once again an active faith is shown to be a part of the key, with the other part being His willingness and His timing, because as Jesus Christ said, the Father sets the times and seasons…

Act 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

There is no room for passively waiting. If our eyes are open to these things, then it is time, it is that season, because He has opened our eyes and ears to Himself. No one can come to Him, unless He enables us. So if it’s time, then we are required to have faith and ask – in order to receive.

Someone I knew and respected once observed that it’s not 100% God and 0% us (this leads to passivity). It’s not 100% us and 0% God (this leads to deception and presumption). It’s not 50% God and 50% us (this is ineffective). It’s really 100% God and 100% us… that leads to revival and change and healings and everything else we so ferverently desire.

We can see this truth in the words of Jesus Christ when He said “you can do nothing apart from Me”. It is clear that He expects us to DO things. But we must remain connected to what He has done on the cross, in order for us to be effective.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Let me say it again, there is no room in Christianity for passivity. Our biggest (natural, humanly speaking) enemy seems to is low self-esteem, it causes us to wait for something to happen. But that something has already happened!

If we do not believe that He came, or that He resolved all things, then we will wait until He comes again for Him to resolve things. That is unscriptural to the extent that it is anti-the-Christ. Not believing that He died on the cross while taking all sin and restoring everything in Heaven and on Earth back to our Father God, is to deny His work on the cross. This stronghold is common in the church and it must be pulled down, in order for the church to become all it can be. We simply must get connected to the Vine and drink from Him.

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.