Grace and Truth

…all the words of this life…

Monthly Archives: May 2015


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The Prophetic Voice

I have a Word from God.  Judge it, accept or reject it.  Whatever, but this is it:shofar-blown

What this generation needs more than ever is the Prophetic Voice.

A prophetic voice under the anointing of the Spirit to cut through the clouded numbness that has settled over the Church.

A prophetic voice to divide truth from confusion.  But even more than that: the prophetic voice to speak forth the oracles of God.

Don’t you see? We are now so bogged down with questions and confusion.  What to do about/with homosexuals, how to deal with transgenders, how to appeal to the youth, how to stop people leaving our churches.

To hell with all that!  What we really need is prophetic voices raised up.

Don’t you see? We are now in a period the church has never seen before.  A time of such manifest wickedness and gross darkness.  The things we’ve been busy with in church over the last few decades ain’t cutting it anymore.  How are we to answer these things? With endless discussions, conversations and conferences?  There’s no time anymore to mess around.  If you’ve been waiting for God to do something then I am here to tell you what it is:

He is telling you to lift up your voice now, and be not afraid.

Now more than ever we need those who are unafraid to stand in the midnight hour. We need men and women with the courage of their convictions to speak forth the Word of truth.  Once again we need WATCHMEN TO STAND ON THE WALLS.  To take up the Sword of the Spirit in the power of the Spirit.  To cut through the crap! I’m sorry but that is the least offensive word I can use for what I see.

I see the Church bowed down under a weight of confusion.  I see a Church struggling to cope and turning to the wisdom of the world.  I see a Church in its sad desire to be pleasing to this world ultimately conforming to this world and losing its witness.  I see a Church in the depths of horrendous spiritual adultery.

I see a Church turned in on itself.  I hear more messages about Self than about Christ.  I hear the psycho-babble of heathens infiltrating the pulpit.  I hear calls to “find yourself” from ministers of the gospel.  The Spirit is grieved and my heart breaks.

But there is a cry from His heart that is breaking forth amongst the remnant.  That cry is for the Sword to be picked up again.  To be wielded in the courage, power and strength of the Holy Spirit.

I have seen it I tell you.  When the Word of God goes forth in power a cry rises up from the Church.  She recognises her Master’s voice and she is desperate and hungry to hear it again.  I’ll tell you something else: the world also recognises it.  They may reject it, but when there’s an anointing they know it and they respect it.

Redeeming-The-TimeThat is the only way forward now O People of the Cross.  The only thing that can cut through now is the Sword of the prophetic voice.  There is no time left for anything else.

“Lift it up your voice with strength

Lift it up, be not afraid” Isaiah 40:8

Lift it up! Lift it up in your homes.  Lift it up in your work place, lift it up in your church, lift it up on Facebook, lift it up on Twitter, lift it up in the streets. Lift it up be not afraid, lift it up!

 

Holy Spirit bless this word to go forth, in Jesus’ Name Amen

 

 


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Jesus Christ and the Brazen Altar – Part 2

When God instituted the Mosaic Covenant it was strictly with the nation of Israel. Why then do we, the people of the New Covenant, have an interest in studying it? The answer is varied, but one part of it is this:

  • through the Mosaic Covenant God showed forth some wonderful eternal truths pointing to His Son and the Church.

It is worth looking into these things because it adds layers and depth to our faith as God reveals these truths to us by His Spirit.

In the last post we saw the significance and typology of the materials used in constructing the Brazen

source: mudpreacher.org

source: mudpreacher.org

(or bronze) altar of the Tabernacle of Moses and we saw that the altar was a picture of the cross of Jesus Christ. In this post we will look at the significance of the blood of the altar and how this points to Christ’s atonement for us.

The Altar of Blood

Having just been confronted with the 7.5 feet high linen walls of the Tabernacle, signifying God’s holy righteousness, the sinner enters through the one and only entrance of the Tabernacle – the Gate.

Now the first piece of furniture he encounters is the Brazen Altar. Imagine standing in front of this piece of furniture.  This is where where many, many innocent animals had been slain for the sins of the people. It was not a pretty picture. It was most likely intimidating. The altar was the place of death and blood. The place where the full penalty of sin became gruesomely obvious. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

source. kenraggio.com

source. kenraggio.com

It represented sacrifice, death and blood atonement. For the sinner to proceed any further into the Tabernacle, innocent blood would need to be shed upon this altar on his behalf. Any attempt to bypass this step and approach God without blood would have resulted in death.

“….without the shedding of blood there is no remission (forgiveness of sins)” Hebrews 9:22

No one, not even the High Priest, could approach the Lord except on the basis of innocent shed blood.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11

The altar demonstrates that the only way a person can meet with God is on the basis of substitutionary atonement. On the basis of BLOOD.

The Blood Covenant

In fact, the Mosaic Covenant became known as the “Blood Covenant” (Hebrews 9:19, 20) due to the huge number of animals that were sacrificed.

“This elaborate sacrificial system with its multiplied continual sacrifices was given for two major reasons.

  • First, it was to illustrate that no amount of continued animal sacrifices could effectively take away man’s sinfulness.
  • Second, it was to point to Christ’s perfect, sinless, and once-for-all sacrifice that could take away man’s sinfulness (Hebrews 9,10).” source (1)

God instructed the Israelites to bring offerings to Him on the Brazen Altar:

Sacrifice Verses Elements Purpose
Burnt Offering Lev 1; Lev 6; Lev 8; Lev 16:24 Bull, ram or male dove. Must be a male without blemish Atonement for unintentional sin; act of worship
Grain Offering Lev 2; Lev 6:14-23 Grain, fine flour, olive oil, incense, baked bread, salt. Always accompanied burnt and fellowship offerings (with drink offerings Act of worship, recognition of God’s goodness and provision; devotion to God
Fellowship/Peace Offering Lev 3; Lev 7:11-34 Any animal without defect or blemish from herd of flock; breads Act of worship, thanksgiving and fellowship (it incl a communal meal)
Sin Offering Lev 4; Lev; Lev 8; Lev 16 1.     Young bull for high priest and congregation

2.     Male goat for leader

3.     Female goat/lamb for common person

4.     Dove/pigeon for the poor

5.     10th of an ephah of fine flour: for the very poor

 Mandatory atonement for specific unintentional sin; confession of sin, cleansing from defilement.
Guilt/Trespass Offering Lev 5:14-6:7

Lev 7:1-6

 Ram Mandatory atonement for unintentional sin requiring restitution; cleansing from defilement; make restitution; pay 20% fine

Table adapted from NIV Study Bible

 

The Altar & the Blood Point to Christ

“…he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the LORD. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the LORD.” Leviticus 4:3, 4

Just as the innocent animal became an offering for the sin of the Israelites, so too Jesus became an offering for the sins of the whole world. The New Testament says:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 1 Corinthians 5:21

So we see the Altar is a type of Christ because He is:

source:wordlive.org

source:wordlive.org

  • A substitutionary atonement for us,
  • Blemishless because He never sinned,
  • The innocent substitution on our behalf

At the cross Jesus’ blood was poured out and He took the judgment for our sins upon Himself.  All of the animal sacrifices upon the altar pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of God’s perfect, blemishless Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus death upon the cross fulfilled all of the Old Testament sacrifices and did away with them once and for all.

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come,with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,  how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:11-14

Next post….

  • Outside the Camp
  • How the altar points to the cross

Sources: 1 The Mosaic Covenant, Kevin J Conner & Ken Malmin


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From Confinement to Enlargement

John the Baptist said “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

For Christ to increase, I must decrease. This is the whole point of the Christian life.  It is

“…Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27

We saw in God’s Victories Look Like Defeats that the human Self is a powerful force.  The Adamic nature is thOMIW120Astrong and naturally Self-ish and self- absorbed.  Followers of Christ contain His righteous nature in our mortal bodies by the Holy Spirit. Simultaneously we still have the Adamic nature, or the Flesh, within.

The cross dealt with our sins once and for all through Christ’s substitutionary atonement, and once we have repented of our sins and put our faith in Christ, we are justified before God.

However God deals differently with our sin than with our Self.

Positionally we are crucified with Christ.  The believer is now to “reckon (them)selves dead to sin and alive unto Christ”.  It is now no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me. This is a spiritual fact and something we need to receive by faith. But at the same time God is dealing with our flesh over the course of our lives by working His Son in us experientially. This is the process of sanctification.

It is not God’s desire after we are born-again that we would stay spiritual babes, stunted in growth. Rather it is His design to bring us to a place of enlargement.  Or, to put it another way, it is His will to enlarge His Son in us and to bring us to maturity. It is only through the impartation of the divine life of Christ that we are enlarged and there is no enduring enlargement apart from Him.

However, in preparation to receive the impartation of the divine life of Christ our flesh needs to be “straitened”. (I have previously written on this subject here).  Every time God wants to bring us to a new place of enlargement we first go through a straitening or confining process.  Primarily the means God uses to straitening our flesh is the cross – affliction, suffering and trial.  We probably all know the metaphor of the empty vessel.  The emptier the vessel, the more of Christ that can fill it.  But how is the vessel emptied of Self?

I love this old-fashioned word “straitening”. The KJV uses this word and I don’t think any other translation can beat it. It means to constrict, pinch, restrict, squeeze, confine, distress, compress. A “strait-jacket” in its purpose to confine and restrict gives a good picture of this word.

Jesus said: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Luke 12:50

We see that Jesus Christ Himself went through a straitening process in His sufferings and ultimately His death on the cross.   He was straitened. He was God wrapped in human flesh yet His eternal divinity was compressed into the limitation of humanity.

“This limitation could be removed only by the baptism of dying on the cross. Then the unlimited divine eternal life within the Lord Jesus could be released.” The Experience of Christ, Witness Lee

source:brokenbelievers.com

source:brokenbelievers.com

So why did the Lord of Life have to be straitened?

He was straitened so that we could be brought to the place of enlargement.

It was through His death that His divine Life was able to be released and imparted to us limited human beings.   He interceded for us by becoming a human-being like us. He was confined, restricted, distressed and squeezed for us so that we could be brought to the place of enlargement by partaking of His divine life.

“Verily, verily I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24

It is only through the impartation of the divine life of Christ that we are enlarged and there is no enduring enlargement apart from Him. This is God’s purpose and He is working in us every day to bring this to pass. Afflictions, trials and suffering have a divine purpose – to straiten our flesh.  Not to repress our flesh, but to deal with the stubborn, wilful Self that resists the Holy Spirit.

Christ was straitened so that the Divine Life could be released and imparted to us.  We are straitened in order to empty the vessel of the Self-life so that we are able to receive the impartation of the Divine Life.

If you are going through a period of straitening, restriction or confinement don’t despair.  Rather be encouraged: Know that God is preparing you, His vessel, at this time to receive a greater impartation of the life of His Son.  Simply allow the Potter to work with His clay, He knows His art.

God bless!

More on this subject in the Next post…. The Way to Bear Fruit


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It’s OK to be a Home-Maker

It is.

jenbutnotjenn.com

jenbutnotjenn.com

It really is okay to be a homemaker, a housewife, a stay-at-home Mum, whatever you want to call it. I was pondering this as I vacuumed my house today.

I reckon this job is the most denigrated job in the Western world nowadays.

And it is a job. It is hard work with absolutely no financial rewards.

And that is what this world values highly isn’t it? Money. Power and prestige go a long way too.  But generally what the world values and considers important is the opposite to what God values and considers important.

Being a homemaker has none of those rewards. The work one does is generally thankless. There is certainly no prestige to scrubbing toilet bowls and making shopping lists. And power? Good grief – what’s that?

But I will confess – I love it.

Yes I do. I enjoy cleaning up and keeping my house tidy. I enjoy folding washing and putting it away. I take pride in my home and like sharing it with others. I enjoy growing vegies in my garden and the reward of harvesting them. I enjoy buying trinkets and decorative items for our home. Does this make me shallow and materialistic? Maybe. Yet I will continue to like it anyway. I love being there when my kids are home from school. I love being able to help them with homework and listen to readers. (Disclaimer: I do dislike cleaning the shower and ironing, any ironing…)

Am I a martyr?

I don’t think so. I just have zero ambition in the workplace. Absolutely ZERO. Gosh that even sounds wrong to me to admit to that.

The thought of climbing a corporate ladder does not appeal to me. All that effort and energy going into some impersonal corporation – ew. But the thought of putting effort and energy into my family and kids, the idea that I can build something into them by being with them and making their home lovely gives me pleasure.  I AM this kind of “ambitious” when it comes to my family.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with mums who do paid work. I think they are amazing. I honestly don’t know how they do it. I get that the system is set up so that most families can only survive on double incomes. And single mums? I know lots of them and wow, they are quite simply heroes – carrying the burden of everything at once.

stay at homeBut I do want to free up stay-at-home mums. For the last few decades what we do has been cast aside as pathetic, old-fashioned and value-less.

I am here to say that being a homemaker is the exact opposite of that.

It is not pathetic to take pride in your work around the home and with your children. It is a GOOD thing. God’s Word says :

“And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord…” Colossians 3:23

You can be a home-maker and intelligent.  You can be a housewife and contribute to society.  You can be a stay-at-home Mum and be inspired.  What we do is just as important as paid work.

For any stay-at-home mums out there, what you are doing is worth more than a billion dollars. You are creating a loving, caring, clean and lovely home for your family. You are building into your children, time, energy, effort, love and there is no way to measure that value.

Take heart, there is someone who sees your hard work and He will reward you one day.

God bless,

Belinda


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Street Preaching and Chalk

11219593_10152932989958261_4896805221278485865_nToday we used chalk to write on the ground as well as the typical preaching with the PA, handing out tracts and one-on-one conversations.11188158_10152932989968261_1177099243858141187_n

I think the chalk worked really well.  I found the most effective place was at the bottom of the stairs leading into the train station.  People coming down the stairs actually stopped, turned around and read the words.  People coming up the stairs read them on their way up.  I was surprised by how many people actually stop to read chalk messages on the ground.  I guess it’s just natural curiosity.

11011290_10152932989913261_8490564730433265542_nIt’s also a valuable evangelism method because after you leave the area, the words still remain.

Has anyone else ever tried this method?  What else has worked for you?

God bless,

Belinda


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God’s Victories Look Like Defeats

In Suffering: According to the Pattern, we saw that Calvary is the pattern. And if we are God’s child He will deal with us according to the pattern.

“That is the strange lesson we all have to learn, and Calvary is the pattern of it from beginning to end. God’s victories look like defeats. It is victory in the unseen realm while one is apparently, absolutely down and out in the visible.” Prayer and Evangelism, Jessie Penn-Lewis (emphasis mine).

Therefore if Calvary is the pattern, then we know that the pattern is of suffering because we know that Christ our Lord and

sacredsharingsforthesoul.blogspot.com

sacredsharingsforthesoul.blogspot.com

Saviour suffered.  Conversely we also know that if the pattern is of Calvary, then the pattern is also of victory because we know that through suffering our Lord was greatly victorious.

If we are the disciples of Jesus Christ, then we will too be greatly victorious in Him. However, it is through suffering that the victory will be won. This was true of Paul, of Peter and of all the apostles. And it is true of us too.

“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” Luke 6:40

We know the story of Peter denying Christ thrice. We know that Jesus, in His mercy, sought Peter out after the resurrection and restored him. The interesting thing is that once Jesus had restored Peter, He prophesied over him. Jesus foretold to Peter the actual pinnacle of his life for God – the very event that would bring the greatest glory to God.

It is interesting to note that Jesus’ prophesy excluded the fact that Peter was to be always happy, healthy and eventually own his own private jet. Why is that? Surely that would bring God the most glory! No, rather, what Jesus told Peter was something according to the pattern:

“’Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish’. This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”” John 21:18, 19 (emphasis mine)

Peter was to glorify God by being crucified!

How could this bring glory to God? This really goes against the grain of our own thinking….

But remember: God’s victories look like defeats.

deny selfConsider for a moment this man, Peter.  He had fearfully denied Jesus over and over again in order to preserve his own life and avoid the agony and humiliation of the cross. Could it be possible that this man would one day be so given to Christ, so full of the Holy Spirit that the fear of pain and death, the fear of the loss of his reputation would be so victoriously overcome that he would eventually take up his cross and follow Christ?

Jesus knew that the one thing Peter wished to avoid the most was the very thing that would bring God the most glory!

You see, Self is always trying to preserve Self (ie. Self-preservation). Self, or the “flesh”, cries out for comfort, for ease, for safety, to be liked and accepted. Feed me! Please me! Preserve me above all else! It is only when the power of the flesh has been broken that it is able to come under the dominion of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately the flesh in man is strong. So strong that it usually takes the rod of suffering to break its strength throughout a lifetime.

The flesh was also strong in Peter. He was, of course, no different from the rest of us, and yet this man was eventually crucified for the glory of God. What happened in-between his restoration by Christ and his death that effected this transformation? The answer is : the Holy Spirit.

It is “…Christ in you the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27 (emphasis mine).

It is God’s ultimate purpose to conform us to the image of His Son. It is God’s will to work His Son in us by His Spirit. Contrary to what we may imagine, God isn’t a dispensary, dishing out to our flesh an ounce of love, a pound of patience etc in order to improve it. This would be futile. Why? Because judgment has been pronounced on the flesh and now it must die. Our only hope is God coming to live in us by the power of His Spirit. God doesn’t give us more love and more patience, but what He does is work in us His very Son. Christ’s nature is loving, truthful, patient and kind and so the more of Christ that has been worked in us, the more His nature will naturally shine through us. In order for this to be able to happen the flesh will have to be crucified. And that’s always going to be painful.

God’s victories look like defeats.

We think of victory as our lives always being smooth and easy. We believe when we are happy and healthy we are being blessed and when we are sad or sick, we are not so blessed. Perhaps we have done something wrong? But God’s perspective is totally different. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts.

Key Point: If God’s purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son, then whatever happens in our lives to achieve that end is victory.

Be encouraged that God has a much greater purpose than we can see at this time. What you and I are currently facing is intended to bring death to Self in order to allow the Spirit of life to work in us. If we yield to His hand He will bring forth a great victory in us and through us. And God will be glorified.

Next post ….. From Confinement to Enlargement


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Missionary Quotations: David Wilkerson

“I am the 8th generation of preachers, that dates all the way back to the Civil War. My father taught me to pray. He said, david wilkerson‘David, Elijah had 24 hours a day, just like you, and he prayed. So you find a way to pray.’ And then he would add, “God always makes a way for a praying man’