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

Food for holiness

 

Heb 10:10

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

God wanted us to be made holy, so that we can approach Him.  Jesus became our sin offering, His body a sacrifice unto God, in order to achieve this.

Now step back in time with me - in the Old Testament times, priests had to be sanctified (made holy) in order to serve in the tabernacle and temple, and to approach God.  Part of this sanctification process was to eat sin offerings brought by the people for the forgiveness of their sin. In other words, the priests had to eat food which had been made holy by being sacrificed as a sin offering:

Lev 6:26-27

The priest who offers the sacrifice as a sin offering must eat his portion in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.  Anyone or anything that touches the sacrificial meat will become holy…

With this in mind, think again about what Jesus meant when He said:

John 6:51

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Is this not what we do when we take communion?  As New Testament priests, (which we are according to 1  Pet 2:9), eating the bread during communion signifies eating His body - eating the sacrificial sin offering - which now becomes a reminder of our sanctification process!

Points to Ponder

Does partaking of communion bring me to a place where I think about whether my life journey is leading me to a holier lifestyle?

Reflect on communion

The man who wore the wrong clothes

  Matthew 22:11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.”

This section of Scripture reminded me of how our normal wedding ceremonies are  conducted.  The invited guests all assemble at the wedding venue, and then sit/stand together waiting for the bride to arrive.  The groom and his attendants normally stand in front of everybody, nervously searching for the bride as well, and as such have a very good view of all the guests gathered before them. 

And in this story, our King also came before the proceedings started and looked at those who had been invited and who had accepted the invitation, when He noticed the gate-crasher among them.

There is an Old Testament parallel to this:  Zep 1:7, 8:—"Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel."

What are these wedding clothes?

Is 61:10  "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels".

Rom 13:14 “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

The invitation to the Feast is the invitation into the King’s Kingdom.  And although acceptance of this invitation is free, it is also true that something is expected from those who invite Jesus to be Lord over their lives. Jesus Himself says in Luke 14:28 that we have to estimate the cost: “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”  

Did we clothe ourselves with Christ; did we keep ourselves pure and holy, washed clean by the tears of repentance and through the blood of the Lamb?  To follow Jesus will cost us a lot, nothing less than our whole lives (Luke 14:33 “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”).

Even the disciples of Jesus had to be accountable for what they did with their invitations – Judas was called “Friend” by Jesus in Matt 26:50, and look how he turned out. Not everyone who accepts the invitation, does so from the sincerity of their own hearts (maybe they accept Jesus because of peer pressure, or because their parents expect it).  They may do so in inappropriate ways (maybe holding on to false beliefs like keeping idols to worship as well).  Or maybe they are not doing this with the seriousness that it deserves (and therefore they just carry on with their lives as if nothing has changed).

Matthew 22:12 “He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.” 

There was nothing that this man could offer to excuse his behaviour. He had known that special wedding clothes were required by the King, but had decided to follow his own preconceived ideas and beliefs, instead of bringing honour to the King and fulfilling HIS requirements.  In his life he had followed the notion that he was “free” and as such, could do as he, and he alone, had decided was valid. His life choices therefore did not line up with his position as a child of God.

Matthew 22:13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

A heavy punishment rests on someone like this, people who live their lives as supposed citizens of the Kingdom, but entirely on their own terms, never choosing to align themselves with Jesus. Those who accept God’s mercy as a matter of course (they do not understand how much it cost Jesus); who take God’s goodness and grace for granted (thankfulness is not part of their lives).  We must remember that our lives as disciples of Jesus must be characterised by repentance and obedience.  Jesus must rule your life, not you.  You cannot attend the Feast on your own terms.

Matthew 22:14  “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

All are invited, but only those who accept the invitation with sincerity of heart, are chosen.

In summary I wish to say that sincerity of heart before the Lord guarantees your entrance to the marriage supper of the Lamb!  This means that the following is your heart attitude in life, only because you love Him:  you have chosen Jesus with an honest heart, in other words not because of the expectation of others;  you have invited Him to be Lord of your life, so that you try your best to only make choices according to His will and obey His instructions; you live a life of thankfulness towards Him; repentance has become a lifestyle; and you daily deliberately choose to live closer and closer to Him.  This does not mean that you have to be perfect, or that you can earn anything by your actions.  But that your eyes are always fixed on Jesus.  Then you can know for sure that you are welcome at the King’s Wedding Feast!

©2022 Copyright All rights reserved P. Koegelenberg

Title deeds

 We are in the process of selling some property at the moment, and this brought the implications of what title deeds mean, to my attention again.

A title deed to a property means that you own it, fair and square.  Even though it may be in a different town than where you live, and you cannot see it, it still remains your possession.  In the eyes of the authorities there is a demarcated space somewhere that legally belongs to you, and to no one else.

So when Hebrew 11:1 speaks of faith as being the title deed of the things we hope for but do not see yet, it means that we own those things we hope for, fair and square, through our faith, even though it is not revealed to our senses yet.

All God’s promises to us are accessed through faith.  What are you trusting God for?  If you believe, through faith you can now view these promises in the following way (remembering the title deed):

I own a place in heaven.

I own the right to inherit with Jesus.

I own the fact that I can hear His voice.

I own my healing.

I own my redemption.

I own my freedom from the oppression of sin.

I own the prophecies over my life.

I own my future in His hands.

I own my provision.

I own my deliverance.

Start exercising your faith, your title deeds of the promises God made to you!

 

 

20 June 2022

©2022 Copyright All rights reserved P. Koegelenberg

Load shedding

And here we woke up this morning to another round of load shedding.  Unfortunately, I had not checked my warning app, because actually we had come a long time now without the inconvenience of having no electricity.  This was not a nice surprise, believe me!

These unexpected situations can sometimes result in the most hilarious moments, like arriving at meetings with hair that could not be blow dried and taking on a life of its own; or trying out roast beef recipes on the gas stove top because the meat had been defrosted already; or arriving to pick up your children from school with an uber because you could not de-latch the automatic garage door opener….

But mostly we just learn to live with it and work around it.  The thing is, by just coping with another disruption, and another one, and another one, we are building up an inner stress level without even realizing that we are doing so.  Abnormal ways of living have become normal for us.  And it taps our inner strength in ways that we were not designed for.

Luckily for us, Is 40:29 shows us that we have a power source that is not dependent on load shedding schedules.  It reads like this:  “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”  This power is always available.  Always at full strength.  Never failing us. Showing up just when we need it.  We do not have to make contingency plans. We do not have to wait for someone to put the switch on. 

All we need to do is admit that we are weary, and weak.  And then call out to Him.  And He will do the rest!

 

23/06/2022

Priscilla Koegelenberg

©2022 Copyright All rights reserved P. Koegelenberg

Diamond Painting

I sometimes enjoy relaxing with an art activity which is called diamond painting.  Basically it is a coloured picture covered with glue, and you are given different coloured plastic diamonds (which are resin balls that are flat on the one side and raised on the other) to stick on to the glue so that the whole picture comes alive and you have created a vivid, shimmering work of art.

The important thing here is that the whole picture is given to you before you even start, because without it you do not know where to place the plastic discs, and also every little disc has demarcated spaces where it will fit.

This is exactly how the end-time Biblical prophecies work:  God has already given us the whole picture of what is going to happen through His prophets in the Bible, and history is now just placing the events that lead up to the end in their pre-ordained places.

People can talk and talk about the Great Reset, but actually it is just the Great Preset!   God has declared the end since the beginning, says Is 46:10, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ - He does not change His mind, and whatever He says will happen, will certainly come to pass in the finest detail.

When fear and uncertainty about what is happening in the world take hold in your mind, remember God has given the complete picture – nothing that is happening now is a surprise to Him.  And the beautiful thing about it is that in the end, the picture will be a vivid, shimmering work of art – we will live in a shimmering golden city with our Abba Father and our Bridegroom Jesus and our Friend Holy Spirit - Hallelujah!

In the words of Jan Markell, “The world is not falling apart, it is falling in place!”

Take heart, therefore my friend, our heavenly Father has not only given us the complete picture, but also promised to never leave us nor forsake us, throughout all eternity.  This includes help in all the times of trouble we may be facing now, or might be facing in the future!