A new beginning

 

Luke 24:1-3

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

We are fast approaching the Jewish feast of Pesach, or Passover, which this year starts on the evening of 5 April.  Jews commemorate the exodus of their forefathers from Egypt, which includes the slaughtering of a perfect lamb so that its blood, sprinkled on the lintels of their doors in Egypt, would signal  the angel of death to “pass over” their house and not kill their firstborn of both humans and animals.

But we, through the grace of God, know that Jesus was our Passover Lamb and His blood, sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven, redeemed us out of the hand of the enemy, making us a new creation and giving us a new beginning.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the women found Jesus’ tomb empty specifically on a Sunday morning?

When we read about God creating heaven and earth, we read that creation started on what God simply called ‘a day’.  The beginning of something new.  This first day of the week was later given the name Sunday, though in Hebrew it is Yom Rishon, meaning Day One. The prophetic significance of discovering the tomb empty on a Sunday is that Jesus brought an end to the old, and made everything new by creating a new Day One, a new and living way!

Points to Ponder:

 Embrace the fact that your old way of living with its wrongdoing and wrong thinking and failures and shame and self-condemnation has been done away with in Jesus Christ, Whose sacrifice paved the way for you to live every day as Day One, as a new beginning!

Passover Lamb

Fruit is a sign

 

Gal 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

We all know that fruit grow out of branches that are attached to  trees or shrubs or plants.  The fruit actually is a sign, or proof, of the fact that the tree/shrub/plant is alive and well.

Just so, if we display the fruit of the Spirit, it is a sign that the Branch from which they grow is alive and well within us; it means that we have a healthy, living relationship with Jesus and with Holy Spirit.

But if we are not displaying the fruit of the Spirit, we have either not given Holy Spirit access to rule over our actions at all; or we are resisting His promptings in some areas of our lives. The good news is that we can do something to rectify both these problems! 

We firstly need the baptism of the Holy Spirit, without Whom we cannot produce those fruit at all.  This means that we need to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour (this is where we initially receive Holy Spirit Who comes to live in our human spirits); and then we need to be baptised by immersion in water (this is where under most circumstances, prayer for baptism of the Holy Spirit also takes place).  That second baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is where we surrender completely and give Holy Spirit access to rule over all we do in life and He can then work freely through us. 

The problem we all face is that we stand guard over some areas in our lives and do not allow anybody (least of all ourselves) in there, mostly because of either  sin or emotional wounds.  The sin needs confessing and repentance, wounds need healing.  Both of these can be done with the help of compassionate and loving Christian counsellors, such as those individuals working in our Healing Rooms.

Do not delay even one day further – ask help if you sense that the fruit of the Spirit is being hindered from growing in your life!

Points to Ponder:

Find those areas in your life where there is a lack of growth in the Spirit, and  take the first step towards seeking help. Follow through, step by step!

Way Maker

Is Jesus God?

 

Titus 2:13

looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

And in this first short sentence, Paul outrightly declares the truth that Jesus is God.  A fact which some people choose to debate endlessly;  some choose not to believe; some will even persecute you if you declare this fact openly. 

Are there other places in the Bible that attest to the fact that Jesus is God?  Absolutely!  I discovered the following one myself when reading through Ps 65, verse 7, where David spoke of God and wrote:

You quieted the raging oceans with their pounding waves and silenced the shouting of the nations.

This reminded me of the incident recorded in Mark 6:51

Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And the disciples were utterly astounded,

Jesus did what the Psalmist clearly stated only God can do.  But more than that, in the same chapter in Mark we read in verse 50

For they all saw him and they were afraid and immediately he spoke with them and he said to them, “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.”

The three words “it is I” are in Greek only two words (ego eimi) and should read “I am”.  Jesus was very clearly declaring that He is the Yahweh of the Old Testament!

My favourite passage that shows that Jesus is indeed God, is in Isiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Hidden in those titles are the two that says:  ‘Mighty God’ and ‘Everlasting Father’.  Our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Points to Ponder:

This week, let us meditate and think about our Saviour Jesus as also being Almighty God, so that this truth becomes unshakeable in our spirits.

Our God King Jesus

Divine exchange

We all know the story of “The Prince and the Pauper”,  where the kingly prince found a poor person who looked like him, and they then came up with the idea to exchange roles and experience each other’s way of life.

This is what Jesus did for us in real life!

2 Corinthians 8:9

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.

Jesus made the decision to exchange the glory in heaven, where He was loved and held in the highest honour, for the life of a poor man here on earth.  Even though He knew that this life would end in the most horrific death possible for a man to experience; even though He knew that He would be ridiculed, persecuted, hunted down and accused of all kinds of wrong-doing while completely innocent.

Why? 

Because God needed to show us that He wants a personal one-to-one relationship with each one of us, and the only way to demonstrate what this looked like, was to become one of us. (John 3:16)

Because now in Jesus we have a High Priest (Who, having lived among us, totally understands what we have to face every day), advocating for us in heaven, countering the devil’s accusations against us. (Heb 4:15)

Because He could only die as a human being, and by dying and His resurrection break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.  (Heb 2:14)

How great is His love for us!

Points to ponder:

This week, think about how our day-to-day living can show Him how much we appreciate what He has done for us!

Love like this

Rejoice always

 One of the shortest verses in the New Testament is

1 Thess 5:16

Rejoice always,

On first reading, one might think this is indeed a tall order, especially when trouble comes knocking at your door.  But clearly it is not meant to be of the “Jippee!  Here is trouble!” kind of rejoicing.  Rather, we must ask the question:  “How does this current difficulty  contribute to my faith walk?” 

We read in James 1:3-4 that trials prove our faith, it brings endurance and steadfastness and patience.  Which in turn will develop us so that we lack nothing which God intended for us to have:

James 1:3-4

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Did you notice the comma at the end of Rejoice always?  It is because Paul goes on to verse 17 to give us a key to use to accomplish this rejoicing, and it is another extremely short verse:

1 Thess 5:17

Pray continually,

Giving the burden over to  Abba Father, following Jesus through it all, asking wisdom from Holy Spirit in how/what/where/when to act. Then we can easily use Paul’s next key in verse 18:

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

If you are thankful for God’s help in everything concerning this trial you are facing; if you are thankful for the growth in your faith which resulted from this difficulty that arose out of seemingly nowhere; if you are thankful for seeing His supernatural work in your life through it all – you will eventually look back and even be thankful that this problem arose in your life!  And this indeed will be reason enough to rejoice!

Points to Ponder

How can I start to change my way of thinking about the difficulties, problems or trials in my life?

Give Thanks