Category: PLEASING TO GOD

These are the ones who show their love for Jesus by doing His will, that they may be well-pleasing to Him in every aspect of their spiritual life and walk. Those who love Jesus will carry out His purpose on earth exactly as He wills.

BODY RELATEDNESS

The Precious Produce of the Soil

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Acts 1:13-14. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
James 5:7-8. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.
Luke 10:2. And He said to them, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few; therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest.” Recovery Version.

The Lord is utterly consistent in all His ways, in the types that represent His truth and in the patterns He has established for mankind to follow. If we examine an event or process that God has set in motion, it will reveal something significant about how He works. Such is the case when we read the account concerning the clothing with power of the around a hundred and twenty on that long ago day of Pentecost. The pattern of Pentecost is a defining one.

Those gathered together, awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, had been born again when Jesus had breathed into them and said, ‘receive the Holy Spirit’. Prior to that, the faith of each one of them had failed during the time of Jesus’ greatest trial. However, it was through their experiences of failure that they had been prepared and approved by God to receive the outpoured Holy Spirit. They no longer put trust in themselves, and the key was that ‘These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer‘. On the great day of Pentecost, after they had been clothed with power from on high, there was the beginning of a great harvest and the church, the body of Christ came into being. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

A Fresh Look at Genesis 1

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Verses 1-5. First of all we must understand that this account of the creation process, in God’s own words through Moses, is not open to be analyzed, questioned or speculated about by the human mind. We are given as much detail as God wishes to give us and we must rely wholly upon the Holy Spirit to unveil its mysteries.

In the beginning God (‘elohim’, plural) created the heavens and the earth. Exactly when the Father, Son and Holy Spirit performed this immense creative project we are not informed. What we do know from John 1:1-3 is that ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made’. NKJV All that was created was created through the Son of God.

In verse 2 we are informed that ‘the earth was formless and void (empty)*. This begs the question as to why God would start His creative work with a formless and empty object. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3. This formless and empty object is visible. It is the focus of the work during the first three days of creation. Are we being shown that this was not the original earth but had been part of a massive calamity? N.B. On the fourth day the galaxies were brought into being by a spoken command. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

How I became a Berean

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‘Now these [Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so’. Acts 17:11.

When exactly I became a ‘Berean’ at heart I don’t recall. I do remember that I, along with many believers in the Lord of my acquaintance often asserted that we believed the Bible to be the truth of God from cover to cover.

However, as time went by and I started to read the whole Bible I found there were passages of Scripture I skipped rather quickly over. They would challenge me and make me feel ill at ease. Sometimes I came across something that appeared to be contrary to one of my cherished beliefs or practices and I found myself avoiding the issue. read more

ENDURANCE

Living in the Will of the Lord

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1 Peter 4:1-2. Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
Hebrews 4:9-10. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Romans 8:12-14. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh – for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Satan is about to make his last massive assault against the kingdom of God before the long expected and hoped for return to the earth of Jesus as Lord of lords and King of kings. Throughout history there will have been no more significant time for those who will stand against him in the mighty overcoming power of the Spirit.

Moses was God’s overcomer who executed His command to stretch out his hand over the waters of the Red Sea so that God could provide a bridge of dry land for the whole company of the Israelites to cross to safety. Today, God is seeking companies of overcomers who will perform His will on earth that His miraculous pathway of salvation in Jesus may be provided through the waters of eternal death for countless numbers of those bound in the oppression and fear of His enemy, Satan. read more

LOVE

Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus

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Matthew 22:36-38. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment.”
1 John 4:16-19. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 2:3-6. By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ” I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected . By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
John 14:21,23. “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”….”If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Why would the Lord God give to fallen mankind ‘the great and foremost commandment’ that He knew no one would be able to keep? Surely it is that He desires above all else from those He created in His own image, that He would receive from them, in like measure, what He freely and unrestrictedly gives to them – love.

It is instructive to note that, had Adam entered into this love relationship with his Creator, neither he nor his wife Eve would have, or could have, disobeyed Him. In a perfect environment the first rule of love is that in everything you will seek to please the one whom you love ‘with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’, by doing what is pleasing to them. Had Adam and Eve chosen to eat the fruit of the tree of life they would have been filled with the love of God, they would have gladly and willingly obeyed His every word and they would have lived forever. read more

ENDURANCE

That I May Know Him

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Jeremiah 29:13. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
John 1:40-41. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).
Philippians 3:7-10. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Countless numbers over the many centuries since the Lord Jesus lived, died and was resurrected have found salvation by grace through faith in Him. For many it has been a truly amazing and life changing experience that they are always ready to recount to others. Many times their testimony to the saving power of Jesus is expressed to others so that these too may be brought to the same glorious state of forgiveness from sin and connection with our Father in heaven. However, sadly, the evidence appears to be that comparatively few press on to find an ongoing deep and intimate relationship with Jesus.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart’. God in the person of Jesus may become a real living person to us yet, have we discovered who He really is and experienced Him as the resurrected and ascended victorious Lord Jesus Christ? If we have indeed found Him, will not the evidence of it be that we live daily, moment by moment, in His presence? If we have really encountered Jesus shall we not consistently seek to please Him rather than to please ourselves? His Lordship over our life will be the evidence of our discipleship. read more

ENDURANCE

It is God Who is at Work in You

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Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

James 2:18-20. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

2 Corinthians 5:9-10. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. read more

FELLOWSHIP

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life

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“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” So said St Augustine  in around the fourth century A.D. We are born into this world with a restlessness that can only be satisfied when we find our ultimate home in God. That is the location in which it was God’s intention that we should live and exist. Until we find the way to this, our home, we are lost and alone.

The Father ordained and set in motion a vast creation, His Son spoke forth every element of what was to come into existence and the Holy Spirit perfectly executed each divine command. At the very centre of that eternal plan was the creation of a man whom God named Adam. From the very beginning of Adam’s location in the Garden of Eden, God and man enjoyed communion and fellowship. Adam had a Father. He had been created in the likeness of His Father’s only begotten Son. In addition to his body and soul Adam’s was created with a spirit that he might receive the Life of God into him, that he might forever become a perfect son of God, Adam must make a choice. Eden was his proving ground. The fruit of every tree in the garden except one was good for food. Only the fruit of one tree was forbidden for him to eat. Had Adam and his wife, Eve, taken of the fruit of the tree of life they would have become spiritually alive and in God they would have found their home, their dwelling place forever.

On that proving ground of Eden man through his disobedience became a slave to sin, so God ‘drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life’. Genesis 3:24. Adam and Eve became orphans without the fatherhood of God and all their descendants became spiritually dead. However, God left a promise of that one of their descendants would bruise the serpent’s head. Many centuries came and went until the promised seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus came and we read that ‘when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons’. Thus, the sons of Adam through faith in the atoning death of Jesus, might again enjoy the fullness of the fatherhood of God. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Into the Same Image

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Ephesians 4:22-24. …. that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old  self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

How easy it is for a new believer to embrace with great joy the glorious experience of being brought out of darkness into the glorious light of Jesus, yet thereafter to neglect being brought into the fullness of the kingdom of our Father’s beloved Son. How easy it is to rest in the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us and to overlook what we are privileged to do and to be for Him. How easy it is to satisfy the desires of the old self at the expense of bringing joy to our Father in heaven by putting on the new self ‘which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth’.

Satan is not done with those who are brought out of his impenetrable darkness but rather he concentrates on keeping as much of this darkness in the human consciousness. He convinces many a new believer that holiness can be overdone. It is not what we gladly renounce when we come to Jesus it is what we allow to remain. In fact the biggest barrier to transformation into the likeness of Jesus is our self-life which now desires to do good things and eliminate or reduce the bad things. Symphonies may take the place of rock concerts, yet both may offer competing satisfaction with Jesus. The real question remains, is attendance at the symphony (or indeed the rock concert) within God’s plan for our life? The new self chooses only to do the will of God. read more

ENDURANCE

It is God Who is at Work in You

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Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
James 2:18-20. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
2 Corinthians 5:9-10. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Hebrews 11:6. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

The instant an individual turns to the Lord in repentance and faith then that one is born again of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit comes into our human spirit and the two are joined as one forever. John 3:6. However, whether the Holy Spirit is Lord will be demonstrated by the willingness of each individual to allow Him to be in complete control. The apostle Paul reminds us of what the Lord expects of every one of us. He states, ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure’.

The third member of the Holy Trinity has become resident in us to perform the perfecting work of God. The part that each believer in the Lord Jesus must play is to assent to the work of the Holy Spirit to transform the soul into the exact likeness of Jesus. This is accomplished through a day by day and hour by hour conscious yielding of our will to the will of God. “Thy will be done, not mine!” It is God’s good pleasure that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. read more

ENDURANCE

That I May Know Him

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Jeremiah 29:13. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
John 1:40-41. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).
Philippians 3:7-10. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Countless numbers over the many centuries since the Lord Jesus lived, died and was resurrected have found salvation by grace through faith in Him. For many it has been a truly amazing and life changing experience that they are always ready to recount to others. Many times their testimony to the saving power of Jesus is expressed to others so that these too may be brought to the same glorious state of forgiveness from sin and connection with our Father in heaven. However, sadly, the evidence appears to be that comparatively few press on to find an ongoing deep and intimate relationship with Jesus.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart’. God in the person of Jesus may become a real living person to us yet, have we discovered who He really is and experienced Him as the resurrected and ascended victorious Lord Jesus Christ? If we have indeed found Him, will not the evidence of it be that we live daily, moment by moment, in His presence? If we have really encountered Jesus shall we not consistently seek to please Him rather than to please ourselves? His Lordship over our life will be the evidence of our discipleship. read more

FELLOWSHIP

Jesus is ‘the Way and the Truth and the Life’

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“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” So said Augustine of Hippo in around the fourth century A.D. We are born into this world with a restlessness that can only be satisfied when we find our ultimate home in God. That is the location in which it was God’s intention that we should reside. Until we find the way to this, our home, we are lost and alone.

The Father established and set in motion an eternal plan, His Son spoke forth every stage of creation as recorded in Genesis chapter one and the Holy Spirit carried out each divine command. At the very centre of that eternal plan was the creation of a man whom God named Adam. From Adam’s introduction into the Garden of Eden, God and man enjoyed communion and fellowship. Adam had a Father. He had been created in the likeness of His Father’s only begotten Son. In addition to his body and soul God had created Adam with a spirit. His spirit had not yet been made alive. In order to become spiritually alive, that he might forever become a perfect son of God, Adam must make a choice. Eden was his proving ground. The fruit of every tree in the garden except one was his to enjoy. Only the fruit of one tree was forbidden for him to eat. Had Adam and his wife, Eve, taken of the fruit of the tree of life they would have become spiritually alive and in God they would have found their home, their dwelling place forever.

On that proving ground of Eden man became a slave to sin, so God ‘drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life’. Genesis 3:24. Man became an orphan without the fatherhood of God and he and all who would issue from him became spiritually dead. However, God had left a promise of the One who would bruise the serpent’s head and ‘when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons’. Thus, the sons of Adam through faith in the atoning death of Jesus are no longer orphans, All who have come to faith in Jesus are now the children of the Living God. read more

OBEDIENCE

As it is in Heaven

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Matthew 6:9-13. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ ”
Hebrews 5:8. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

In eternity past our Father’s will was unquestioningly obeyed and performed by every member of the heavenly host. His will was done in heaven and all His created beings performed it, and they worshipped their Creator. That is, until the rebellion of Lucifer the light bearer, the archangel of God. As soon as that insurrection occurred, heaven set in motion a plan that would return the conditions of unquestioned obedience to the Father by all His created beings.

All those who participated in that rebellion were under judgment. In God’s time they will be cast forever into the flaming fires of Hell. They will be without the capacity to exercise their will to do anything. When Lucifer became God’s adversary, Satan (for such is the meaning of his name) it became his role to oppose God. In Hell he has lost this role forever for he has no way to exercise it. Existence in Hell is completely pointless and purposeless, for the capacity to will and to purpose lies alone with God. Those who are judged and found guilty before God will be cast into Hell with Satan. They will be there because it was their deliberate and irrevocable choice to serve their self and thus oppose God. read more

OBEDIENCE

I AM, Stop Being Afraid

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Matthew 14:22-33. Then He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent away the crowds. And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone. But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch [between 3:00 — 6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright. But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I AM! Stop being afraid! [Exodus 3:14.] And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus. But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]! Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God! AMP
John 8:56-59. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them,” Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

As Jesus had instructed them, His disciples had taken a boat to cross the Lake of Galilee, ‘And in the fourth watch [between 3:00 — 6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea’. No doubt Jesus had to cover ‘many furlongs’ too, yet He did so ‘walking on the sea’. The reaction of the disciples when they saw Him was that ‘they were terrified’.

The response of Jesus to their fears was no gentle “It is I, be not afraid” as is the most usual translation, but as the Amplified Version has it “I AM! Stop being afraid!” This is both an affirmation of Jesus’ divinity and a command. “I am God. Trust Me and stop being fearful!” read more

OBEDIENCE

What is Your Life

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James 4:13-15. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” NKJV.
Psalms 90:12. So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
2 Corinthians 5:10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Colossians 3:1-3. Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

At the centre of the short passage from James is a question that every believer in the Lord Jesus needs to answer. For what is your life? As we attempt to provide an answer to this all important question we must not delude ourselves or others. This is a very personal and direct question and it is a question that demands an answer from every human being. If we asked it of five people we might receive five different answers. However, the real answer to this question is provided by what we spend the greatest amount of our time doing and who most benefits from our activities and actions.

 “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. God has given every one of us a will to decide how we shall live our life. How easy it can be to simply weigh our choices, try to make good decisions and hope that they will receive God’s blessing. Yet the message of these verses is very clear. Our response to all our choices and decisions ought to be “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Work Out Your Salvation

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Romans 5:1-2. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
John 16:13-14. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Believers in the Lord Jesus look back with great joy and appreciation to the date or the time when they first encountered the resurrected Christ as their real and personal Saviour. Many will affirm that it was the greatest day of their life and no wonder. The verses in Romans 5 capture the essence of this life transforming experience so aptly, ‘having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Yet so many, through lack of understanding, have camped out on those two verses without comprehending the words ‘we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand’ which informs us  that our life transforming event was the entry point into a lifelong journey of faith. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

In Your Presence

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2 Thessalonians 1:1-2. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalms 16:11. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. NKJV.

The opening greeting of the first and second letters to the assembly in Thessalonica, from ‘Paul and Silvanus and Timothy’ is identical apart from one word. At the opening of 1 Thessalonians it reads ‘in God the Father’ as opposed to ‘in God our Father’ in 2 Thessalonians. But it is the great significance carried by these opening statements that is vital to our understanding. What Paul is conveying to us is that the one and indivisible body of Christ, His church, does not have its real location in this world. It is located, not simply in heaven, but now and forever ‘in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.

We may perhaps tend to think of the presence of God in terms of it descending mysteriously upon us as we meet together, or in our hope that it may. However, the Holy Spirit assures us in the verses quoted above that His people, as a unified and indivisible company, are already located in the Person and presence of God. The assurance is given us in John chapter 3 that, at the instant of being born anew of the Spirit of God, each one who believes enters into the kingdom of heaven and, thus, has forever been afforded a new habitation. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

According to the Pattern

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Hebrews 8:5. ‘Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’”
Exodus 39:32. Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did.
1 John 3:2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him….

God is absolutely precise in all He does and in all that is worthy to represent Him. Near enough is never good enough with God. All who love the Lord Jesus have been given the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit to live forever within each one, that He may enable us to live our life in accordance with God’s standard. God’s pattern for each one of us is Jesus. 1 John 3:2 assures us that ‘we will be like Him’.

On Mount Sinai Moses was given by God an exact design of a tabernacle in which His presence would reside in the central place among His people. This tabernacle was, in its design and in all its organization and operation, full of expressions of God’s nature, plans and purposes. Moses, in absolute faithfulness, oversaw that the tabernacle was constructed and that it operated in accordance with God’s intentions. read more

OBEDIENCE

Your Will be Done

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Luke 11:1-4. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, ” When you pray, say: ‘ Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done , On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”

“Lord, teach us to pray….” One of His disciples requested of Jesus that He provide guidance as to how he and his fellow disciples should pray. The prayer Jesus gave them was not only for them, but for all who will become His disciples, right up to the present.

Respect for ‘our Father who is in heaven’ is to be shown by reverencing His holy name. To use the name of God, or Jesus, emptily or casually is to dishonour He who is the giver of everything and the great creator. The second commandment given to Moses puts it this way. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” read more