Treasure the Holy Spirit

 

Exodus 31:2-3

See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—

During the time of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit filled certain men at certain times only for certain duties. The above verse from Exodus is one such example, where God was instructing Moses on the details of how the tabernacle was to be constructed. Bezalel received divine wisdom from the Spirit for various artistic applications in how to work in gold, silver, bronze, cutting of stones, carving wood and all kinds of craftsmanship.

More examples from the Old Testament include Joseph, whom the Pharaoh recognized as a man in whom the Spirit of God was present. Joshua, who was consecrated by Moses to be the leader of the Israelites after him. Othniel received the Spirit of the Lord to judge Israel. So also did Gideon when he had to fight against the Midianites, and Jephtah when he had to make a stand against the Ammonites. A well-known example is Samson, who experienced the movement of the Spirit at certain times in his life since childhood. Saul, King of Israel, encountered the Spirit of God when he met the band of prophets and he himself then started to prophesy. David received the Spirit when Samuel anointed him as king while he was still a young shepherd boy.

It therefore was an earth-shattering moment when the Holy Spirit descended on the waiting disciples of Jesus in Acts 2 – literally! Because there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and tongues of fire settled on each one of them, with the result that they began speaking in other tongues telling of the mighty works of God!

What makes this event different to what the people of the Old Testament experienced? It is voiced by Peter in Acts 2:39

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.

The promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is now not only meant for certain hand-picked individuals to empower and equip them for a certain task, but for ALL who answer the call of God and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Even “for all who are far off”, meaning non-Jews.

This is special favour from our heavenly Father indeed! Something that I am sure many Old Testament believers longed for in their lifetime. All given to us as a gift we do not deserve, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Points to ponder:  Treasure this unmatched, incredibly generous gift from Abba – do not take Holy Spirit for granted, do not grieve Him by ignoring Him or acting contrary to His leading! If you do not experience Him yet – ask God to fill you with His Spirit – Luke 11:13.

Holy Spirit Come

Meditation

                                                                     Ps 19:14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

This sigh from David, uttered roughly a thousand years before Jesus was born, speaks of meditation on the living God and all His attributes and precepts.

It is only in latter years that the Eastern way of meditation started gaining ground in the Western world. This method of meditating requires you to empty your mind of everything, sit quietly and start repeating a mantra at regular intervals, all the while also taking note of your breathing pattern to help focus your mind on what is going on inside you. Unfortunately, the emptying of your mind removes the godly barriers Holy Spirit provides and opens it up to demonic influences, making this type of meditation very dangerous indeed.  Paul warns us in Rom 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, an active strategy on our part to change the way we think - not to empty our minds and thereby invite demons to plant thoughts therein.

In the above Psalm, David points out two things, namely words of his mouth (speaking) and meditation of his heart (thinking). One word for meditation in Hebrew is hagah, which means uttering beneath your breath, whispering, mulling over. This means that throughout the day and night, whenever you are meditating, you softly repeat the words of the verse or concept on which you are focussing. The meditation of your heart is an active concentration on the things you are meditating on, the thoughts that Holy Spirit brings to your attention as you are intently and consciously engaged in this process.

Let’s try a practical example, and meditate on Ps 23:1:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want

The LORD:  This is Yahweh; the only living God; the Creator of everything that exists; the Supreme Ruler of the Universe; the King of kings; the everlasting ever-living one true God.

is: This is present tense; He is NOW my Shepherd; right now, in this moment; no matter what I am facing at present; no matter what I may be feeling or not feeling about it; no matter what I have done or not done in the past. And this will always be the case.

my: Not just for my pastor; or for that perfect Christian that I know of; or for my worship leader; but I also can lay claim to the fact that He is my shepherd.

Shepherd: What does a shepherd do for his sheep – he provides grazing and water; he defends against predators; he takes care of their physical bodies; he goes looking for any lost ones; He provides a safe place to sleep. All this my Shepherd also does for me, and more.

I shall not want: I will never lack anything that I need; it may be that I want things that are not really in my best interest to have, and in this the Holy Spirit will have to guide me.

Points to ponder: Start meditating on Scripture today and make it a habit for the future!

May my meditations be acceptable to You

Children belonging to a royal household

 

1 John 3:1

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!

When we are born again, which means we have confessed Jesus as our Saviour and Lord and Master and have received His Holy Spirit within us, we are adopted into the family of God and His royal household as His children.

It is so important to Father God that we believe this, that both Jesus and Holy Spirit confirm it.  Jesus in Matthew 12:49-50:

Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

And Holy Spirit in Romans 8:16:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

I was reminded of what being a child in a household means one day when one of my children, upon returning home after school, opened the fridge door and took out a juice bottle to pour some of it out to drink without asking permission first. She acted from out of her position of belonging to our family – she knew that we would supply her with the food she needed, and that she was therefore fully entitled to take what we had provided – all within the boundaries set by our household rules of course.

If you are one of the fortunate ones who had a righteous man (who understood his role as a loving father) as your father while growing up, you will have had a beautiful picture presented to you of what it means to be a child of God.  And if you were not in that fortunate position, think about what a perfect father looks like, because this is what God is:

He wants us to call Him Abba, which really translates to ‘Daddy’, used by all Hebrew children today when they address their father. It implies a loving relationship, a confidant secure position, though also a reverent and obedient attitude.  No child will willingly call an unapproachable or completely absent or abusive father, Daddy.

We are on the same footing as Jesus in God’s eyes.  He sees us as siblings of Jesus, our older brother. A perfect father never has favourites among his children, they are loved the same.

We have a child’s right to receive everything our Father provides for us, and we have permission to simply open the ‘fridge doors’ and access all His promises to us.

 We inherit what Jesus inherits, which is everything!  One day, when our current life here on earth has ended, we can know that we have been included in our Abba’s testament.

Points to ponder: What barriers did your childhood experiences erect which now make it impossible for you to see God as your loving and perfect Father? Make an appointment with our Healing Rooms to have those barriers permanently removed!

Children of God

L'Chaim!

 This Jewish toast, given at engagement and wedding celebrations, is well-known even among Gentiles (non-Jews) and means “To life!”

The recent unfortunate events leading to the implosion of the submersible Titan, on a journey to observe the wreck of the Titanic, are currently ongoing news. It is the tragic deaths of those five men on board that led me to think again on the Hebrew word ‘chaim’, meaning ‘life’ (chai means alive/live/living). You see, it is one of those peculiar words in the Hebrew language that is never singular, it is only plural in meaning – and we can interpret that as implying that we do not live only one life here on earth but will be resurrected again to continue living in eternity.

Jesus explains this in John 11:25

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”

For us who believe in Jesus, there is the exciting prospect of being invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, as it is described in Revelation 19:7, after which we will enter the Millennium with Jesus, reigning with Him for a thousand years here on a beautiful and perfectly restored earth.

God already spoke about this feast through the prophet Isiah, thousands of years ago:

Is 25:6

On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a banquet for all peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.

A coronation-festival, for the inauguration of the King of kings, which will far surpass all such feasts held in honour of any earthly king, including the elaborate festivities held for King Charles recently!

We therefore do not have to fear death, or dying, if we believe in Jesus and keep His commandments - we can look forward to living with Him forever. I wonder if we, at His marriage feast with us, will all stand up and proclaim the toast: L’Chaim!

Points to ponder:

Have you accepted your invitation to the Marriage Feast of Jesus? All are invited, but not all reply. If you have, put aside all fear of death and dying. Be confident that when that time comes, He will be there to receive you into His heavenly home as His bride!

Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The defiled church

 

Ezekiel 8:14 & 16

He brought me to the north gate of the LORD’s Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz.

Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the LORD. They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!

God gave Ezekiel this vision of the temple in Jerusalem. He was shown the hidden (because he had to dig a hole in the wall to reveal the door through which these things could be seen) idolatry going on in the temple of God, which was so offensive to God that He would later leave His sanctuary.

The inside of the temple was decorated with all sorts of unclean and idolatrous things all around on the walls – images of the animal cults of Egypt - instead of the holy and beautiful cherubim surrounding God’s throne. The leaders of the city were observing the religious rites of the Temple, while being secret idolaters. Not only were women not allowed in the inner court, but they were there worshipping the pagan entity called Tammuz. The worship of this god in ancient times was characterised by total immorality, and the women participated in the most shameful practices. The twenty-five priests were worshipping the sun in the temple of Yahweh! These abominations led to the breakdown in the social order, bringing social chaos and injustice, as we read further in the chapter.

And in the next chapter of Ezekiel, God showed Him the judgement that would be brought against the whole city because they had departed from Him in such a shameful way – the Chaldeans would eventually execute this judgement by killing all - men, women, and children. This judgement was fully deserved and a long time in coming.

Where does this lead us concerning the church? We observe all sorts of idolatrous images decorating the insides of many of our churches – symbols with meanings hidden in the mists of time, only recently being exposed by spiritual researchers. We hear of church leaders observing the external religious rites, while secretly being involved in sinful practices such as child trafficking, to name but one. We hear of pagan practices infiltrating churches, like Christian Yoga. We hear of pastors supporting and even initiating others into ancient cultic worship practices like using the enneagram, divination, New Age teachings. And just as in Ezekiel’s time, these are leading to the destruction of our society.

While the above is certainly not true of all churches, we must be aware that the bad shepherds will not escape God’s judgment:

Ezekiel 34:10 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock.”

Points to ponder: Am I leading people astray? Let us examine the truth of all we teach.

Building on the Rock!

About three thousand

 

Ex 32:28

The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.

This speaks of the day Moses returned from the mountain Sinai with God’s Law written on stone tablets, only to find that in his brief (40days) absence, the people had made a golden calf and had started worshipping this idol as their god. The approximately three thousand were the ringleaders in this wickedness, and were slain by the swords of their kinsmen from the tribe of Levi. Interesting to note that nobody need to have died this way, because when Moses uttered the words, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, let him come to me” in verse 26, he was offering God’s pardon to all who would choose to run to him, shamefaced, and admit their wrongdoing.

The rabbis of old calculated that the feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost, was the time that Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Law.  And so Shavuot became the day that Jews commemmorate the giving of the Law to Israel even unto this day.

But something exciting happened on this exact same day of Pentecost in the New Testament – the Holy Spirit filled the waiting believers in the upper room utterly, manifesting as tongues of fire upon each of them, which lead to the following:

Acts 2:41

Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

About three thousand people received eternal life on that day, after hearing the gospel supernaturally preached to them in their own languages. (According to rabbinic tradition, the soul of every Jew throughout history was present at Mont Sinai when the Law was given, and each person heard the giving of the Law in their own native tongue!) These two events, happening on the same day of Pentecost even though centuries apart, link the initiations of both the Old and the New Covenant through the use of the same phrase ‘about three thousand’. Three thousand died on the day of the giving of the Law, and three thousand received life on the same day hundreds of years later, the day of the giving of the Spirit.

It shows in a tangible way what Paul meant when he said: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” in 2 Cor 3:5. The Law can show us what the will of God is, but we need the Spirit to give us the power and insight to live it.  

Points to ponder:  What ‘rules’ and ‘regulations’ am I keeping - whether self-imposed or insisted upon by my church or other religious people - without which I feel that I am not a good-enough Christian? Am I giving the Holy Spirit free reign in my life?

Pentecost Song

Facing Jerusalem

 Daniel is one of my faith-heroes! His steadfast integrity towards man and faithful worship towards his God have always impressed me, and spurred me on in my own walk of faith.

In Daniel 6 we read a few interesting facts about Daniel’s prayer life:

Daniel 6:10

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

He prayed facing Jerusalem. Did you know that this was a custom that developed because of Solomon’s prayer when he dedicated the temple that he had built to God? In this prayer he entreats God no less than eight times that He will hear the prayers of those who face the altar in the temple in Jerusalem when they pray.  Concerning Daniel’s situation in particular, Solomon prayed this:

1 Kings 8:46 & 48

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—then hear their prayer…

And Daniel prayed on his knees. This is something he probably also took from Solomon’s prayer that day:

1 Kings 8:54

When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the LORD, he stood up in front of the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven.

We know that because of what Jesus has done for us, we have freedom in the Spirit to pray anywhere, at any time, facing anywhere, in any posture before Him. But there is something to be said for what Daniel mirrored for us:  I am sure that Daniel prayed many times throughout the day, but three times a day he prayed formally. This ‘habit’ kept him connected with his God throughout his life. Also, his posture of kneeling showed the humility he had before God, his submission to Adonai, the Lord and Master of his life.

Points to ponder:   Diarise a specific time in your day for prayer, making it a set appointment even though you are praying at other times as well. And consider kneeling/prostrating before Him in that time, to teach your flesh a lesson or two! Face Him, gaze upon Him…

Falling on my knees

Do not keep silent

 

Daniel 5:5

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.

This tells of the incident where Belshazzar (named for his god, Bel), King of Babylon, was feasting with a thousand of his lords and called for the gold and silver vessels, that his forefather Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the Holy Place in the temple in Jerusalem, to be brought out so that they all could drink wine from them.  

In those times, wars were not only fought as kingdom against kingdom, but as gods against gods. Triumphing over another king meant that your gods were stronger than their gods, which is why Nebuchadnezzar stole the vessels from the temple in the first place, placing them in the temple of his gods back in Babylon. 

This blatant act of defiance and sacrilege from Belshazzar was immediately addressed by God, because the hand wrote out his sentence – he was weighed by God and found wanting and his kingdom would be taken from him and given to the Medes and Persians.  All of this happened that very same night - he himself was slain and his seemingly impenetrable city was taken over by the Medes and Persians, all without a fight.  For they had diverted the Euphrates into a marshland, creating an opening under the river gate of the city and when they accessed Babylon, they found the bronze gate of the city ‘inexplicably’ unlocked!

Today we are still referring to this incident when we use the expression, “The writing is on the wall”, meaning that some misfortune is impending.  It used to be that quotations connected to events recorded in the Bible were regularly used by people, which is where the following, among many others, originated from:

Throw the first stone; Wash one’s hands of the matter; The blind leading the blind; Wolves in sheep’s clothing; To cast pearls before swine; A fly in the ointment; Go the extra mile; etc.

Even front-page news reports in leading newspapers from years ago carried references to the Bible or even quoted the Bible directly. It was part of everyday speech among most.

Sadly, today this has become the exception, not the rule. Believers by and large have become so aware of saying the widely ‘accepted’ thing, that most stay silent and rather do not say anything for fear of being criticized and ridiculed, even though what they have to say is the absolute truth as revealed in the Bible for us. It goes without saying that truth is always to be delivered in love, (Holy Spirit will guide you) but if it must be delivered, it must be delivered!  Remember, it was godly Daniel who explained the truth of the handwriting to the pagan king, knowing full well that what he had to say, would not be welcomed.

Points to Ponder:  Start speaking about our faithful and loving Father God, about our Lord Jesus Christ, and about His Holy Spirit openly and lovingly, irrespective of your audience.  Let His truth be ever upon your lips, as the Psalmist says in Ps 71:15.  Do not keep silent!

Ever be on my lips

I will betroth you to Me

Hosea 2:19-20

“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;

I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.”

For a wounded bride, wandering around lost and hopeless because of the betrayal of her first-love husband, reading these words must sound too good to be true. She, who had laid her whole heart down at the feet of her once-loving partner, only to have it trampled upon and shattered to pieces, must by now be shaking her head in disbelief and asking:  How can it be? Is there such love to be found?

There surely is! These words were said by our Heavenly Father in connection to His wife Israel. She who had trampled on His heart, shattering it to pieces by her idolatrous practices, time after time following after other gods instead of Him, their One True God. And yet – with a love too great for us to comprehend - He is once more wooing her back to Him, promising a betrothal that will last forever, that is grounded in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy, and promising everlasting faithfulness.

And in the last days she will find her way back to Him, her First Love, as many prophets declared.  We read in Hosea 3:5:

Afterward the sons of Israel will return [in deep repentance] and seek the LORD their God and [seek from the line of] David their king [the King of kings—the Messiah]; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness and blessing in the last days.

Just as Israel will return to her Husband through their Messiah Jesus one day, so our loving Heavenly Father made it possible for us Gentiles (non-Jews) to also be included and invited to the marriage of the Lamb as the Bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). And He extends to us who accept Jesus the same promises of righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, mercy and everlasting faithfulness, even though we prove ourselves to be shamefully unfaithful most of the time. What an amazing love is to be found in our God!

Points to ponder

If you have wandered off, deserting your First Love Jesus, will you not return to Him right now and receive His complete and utter forgiveness and acceptance? Experience that love that will not hold your desertion against you, but that will enfold you once again with everlasting faithfulness!

I betroth you to Me 

From glory to glory

 

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.

There are verses in the Bible that are so packed with layers and layers of meaning, that we need to read and re-read them to find the treasures they contain. This is one of them!

But we all – We are ALL invited to have glorious fellowship with God. All of us. Not just the privileged few. Paul’s sweeping statement includes us with him in what he is saying here, despite the fact that many of us tend to think that he represents a super-elite type of Christian, one with whom most of us certainly feel we cannot compare!

with unveiled face – Paul writes elsewhere that the gospel is covered with a veil to those who are perishing, for Satan has blinded the unbelievers’ minds so that they cannot see the truth and Light of the gospel. But the moment we turn to Christ, that veil is removed. We now no longer need to cover our faces as in ancient days the slaves had to do before appearing in the presence of a king; there is no need to hide who we are or what we have done. There is no barrier between us and God anymore.

Beholding … the glory of the Lord – this is more than a casual glance, it is to make a careful study.  It surely means a daily looking, searching, sensing, being aware of Jesus. Being conscious of His presence; perceiving His truth in my mind; feeling Him in His love in my heart; being in contact with Him in my spirit. And then seeing, as John says, His glory when He lived among us, as manifested in His grace and truth, His loving heartfelt words, His perfect deeds, how His will was completely subjected to God, how He displayed what a faultless and complete human being looks like.

as in a mirror – we behold God’s glory as mirrored in the person of Jesus Christ and the Word. We must now mirror our Saviour to the outside world, displaying His characteristics.

are being transformed into the same image – In Rom 8:29 Paul repeats this “…He also predestined (us) to be conformed to the image of His son.” Being transformed means the work is not yet complete. This is a progressive sanctification. As we keep on beholding the 100% and start making adjustments to our behaviour, we are transforming, bit by bit.

from glory to glory – Peter wrote in 1 Pet 2:9 “…. that you may display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you…”  The beauty of Jesus starts to grow and grow in us, reaching further and further, and can be seen more and more in us. The result is glorious!

just as from the Lord, the Spirit – we cannot do this by following rules and religious practices. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. And this we have, as Paul writes in Phil 2:13 “because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey His own purpose”. Hallelujah! It is His working in us that leads to our transformation!

Point to ponder:  Are you looking into the true mirror of God’s Word frequently, or are you using flawed mirrors of other people’s opinions of the Word of God?

Change my heart oh God