Holy Spirit's voice

 

2 Cor 10:5

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Why is it necessary to take every thought captive to obey Christ? We need to remember that not every thought we have, is our own. Some thoughts are a communication from the spirit realm, either from Holy Spirit, or from Satan and his demonic forces.

How then are we to discern where our thoughts originated from? One of my favourite teachers, Neville Johnson, speaks of the spontaneity of the Spirit’s voice. Your own thoughts mostly come out of your deliberations concerning a specific matter, it is based on your own logical reasonings and arguments about it. Which mostly cannot be trusted, as it comes from you! But the Spirit drops a thought into your mind spontaneously, it just suddenly is there, out of the blue as it were.  I was reminded of this when a friend gave her testimony on how she was packing for a camping weekend, and a thought just arose:  Pack an extra pair of contact lenses. Which she ignored because it was not something she usually did - to her detriment, as one lens tore while she was on the camp!

Holy Spirit’s voice sounds just like your own thought voice, it is not an audible voice from outside (although God can speak to you in this manner if He wishes to). It sounds the same because there is a Spirit-to-spirit communication which then reaches your brain instantly, using your physical neural pathways. But there is a certain awareness or feeling of the person behind the voice. The character of the speaker shines through. If what is thought makes you anxious, or afraid, or makes you feel condemned and ashamed, or puts you down, or alters your mood so that you now feel depressed – you can surely know that Satan and his demons are behind this communication. He is the father of lies, he hates you, does not want you to have the joy of the Lord, and will always try to deceive and mislead you. Holy Spirit, on the other hand, will give you thoughts to uplift you, guide you, give you truth, and even if you need correction will never make you feel condemned, but just quietly and lovingly convict you that you are now on the wrong path.

God has given us a test by which we can discern who is communicating with us:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Is that thought in your mind conveying truth? Will it lead to behaviour that is noble and honourable? Does it encourage me to do what is right? Is it pure, lovely, admirable? Can I praise whatever it is suggesting to me as excellent? If not – cast it out of your mind!

Points to ponder:  Am I just accepting all thoughts which arise in my mind as my own, or am I discerning where they come from?  Ask Holy Spirit to teach you and start practising to recognize His voice.  You can stand on His promise given in Joh10:27 that His sheep do indeed hear His voice!

Spirit lead me

The wonder of Israel's rebirth

 Is 66:8

Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.

When Isaiah penned these words from the Lord, I am sure that he wondered greatly about its meaning! This prophecy was fulfilled in recent history.

The Belfour Declaration in 1917 paved the way for the United Nations to adopt Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, officially declaring Israel as the homeland of the Jews. (Provision was made for the division of the land between the Arabs and the Jews, a solution plan which the Arabs rejected).  On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, thereby establishing the first Jewish state in 2 000 years. The State of Israel officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine that same evening at midnight – and a country was born in a day!

There is another wonder associated with this day in history. Since the 6^th century, the rabbis from the Babylonian exile had divided the Torah (first five books of the Bible) and later the Haftarah (the books of the Prophets) into sections to be read publicly in synagogues, the aim being that they take one calendar year to read through.

The day following the proclamation of the State of Israel was a Sabbath, and the reading from the prophets for that day was Amos 9:11-15, of which verses 11, 13 and 14 are given here:

In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter— I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins— and will rebuild it as it used to be,

I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.

I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

These words echoed throughout the world from synagogues on the first day of modern Israel’s existence – only God could have orchestrated this!

Points to ponder:  Let these events from the history of Israel greatly increase your faith in the God Who keeps His promises, and Who knows every little detail of your life!

 Hatikvah

Spring means the harvest is ready

 Song of Solomon 2:11-13

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.

Song of Solomon can also be interpreted as the journey of the bride of Christ from the moment she meets Him, her Beloved Jesus, and through the seasons of her life thereafter. The above verses stood out for me because it is now spring in South Africa, and we can physically relate to what the writer is describing here. 

Up to this point the Shulamite shepherd girl (identify yourself with her) has met and fallen in love with the King (Jesus), as described in Chapter 1.  He is her First Love, and she yearns to spend time with Him, but the more she experiences His perfectness and beauty, the more she becomes aware of just how dirty and unkept she is, and this makes her feel ashamed and unworthy.  And yet she remembers how He sees her as perfect and lovable, without spot or blemish!  This sustains her, so that she renews her efforts to be of service to Him and to introduce Him to her friends.

This could be a dangerous place for the bride to find herself in, because often, and I would venture to say more often than not, the religious community (my mother’s sons in 1:6) sees her vigour and passion for Jesus and puts her to work in the church, using her anywhere and everywhere because she is willing and able. The day then inevitably arrives where she finds herself having less and less time to spend alone with her Beloved, even while spending more and more time serving Him! As soon as she realises this, she withdraws herself from many responsibilities and returns to His chamber of rest, and this is the best decision she could make, even if she then must endure the criticism of those who do not understand.  Now she can fall in love all over again, and her Beloved sternly adjures her brothers and sisters not to awaken her love until it pleases Him, until He considers her ready to be sent out again.

And this is what the above verses refer to:  He has seen that she is ready and is now calling her forth from her place of worship and rest in the King’s chambers, inviting her to come to the nations with Him.  He has prepared the ground with rain, the cooing of turtledoves shows that her love for Him is restored, and He has already prepared the harvest to be gathered. On reading further you will see that she does not respond immediately.  This does not keep Him from calling her His darling, His beautiful one.  Nothing you will ever do, or not do, can change His love for you!

Points to ponder:  Where are you on this journey of the bride and her Beloved?  Are warning lights flashing as you realise that you are not spending time with Him because you are so busy working in other people’s vineyards that you neglect your own? Return to Him, He is waiting with open arms to receive you!

Song of Solomon

When God changed His mind

 

I am sure the title raised your eyebrows a bit! Surely God decides matters and then keeps His word? We find these interesting verses in Amos 7:

Amos 7:1-3

The Sovereign LORD showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up. In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”  So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.

If you continue reading, you will find that it happens again, when God wanted to punish Israel with fire and in response to Amos’ plea relented and decided to revoke His sentence. One righteous man pleading for his nation has the power to stay God’s hand. However, when Israel still did not return to Him, He shut the door of mercy and did not spare them any longer and allowed them to be exiled from their land.

What would move God to have mercy and grace for us to such an extent that He does not judge us as a nation or a city with the punishment we so richly deserve?

We find the answer in Jonah, who had been sent by God to warn Nineveh of their impending judgment:

Jonah 3:10

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

The whole city, (120 000 people!) fasted and repented of their evil ways and violence and then turned away from their evil doings. And herein lies the key:  repentance does not merely mean to say that you are sorry. Repentance means to make a U-turn concerning those wrong thoughts and behaviour and then move in the opposite direction, actively refraining from doing them again.

It would seem that our task here is twofold – as intercessors we need to stand in the gap for our nation and our cities, repenting on their behalf of the sins that are continually  being committed, pleading with God for an extension of His grace and mercy, begging Him to  delay His inevitable judgment.  But secondly, we need to send out as many workers in the field as possible to lead people to repentance and turning to God!

Points to ponder:  Think about your twofold role in saving your nation from the terrible wrath and judgement of God on their stubborn refusal to acknowledge Him – are you actively involved in both?

Song of Repentance

Daniel's 70 weeks

 

God revealed many detailed facts about the end times to His beloved prophet Daniel. Among them was the unfolding of events leading up to the first coming of Israel’s Messiah, and then further into the future, to events in the time of the Antichrist. These are to be found in Daniel 9:24-27 and are well-known as Daniel’s 70 weeks. Let us take a closer look at those four verses.

Daniel 9:24-27

“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.”

What I wish to highlight here, is the fact that the seventy units of 7 years each (hereafter called Daniel’s weeks) all have to do with Israel and the Jewish people, as the angel Gabriel says to Daniel, “your people and your holy city”. This includes the last 70^th week, (the last unit of 7 years), a most important fact to remember, as this last week is the 7-year Tribulation period just before the second visible appearance of Jesus.

Verse 25 “Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defences, despite the perilous times.

Sixty-nine of these special seventy weeks are broken down into two parts: the first part would last 7 weeks and would start when the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem. This was fulfilled when Artaxerxes instructed Nehemia to go and rebuild the city on 14 March 445 B.C. (Neh 2). The second part would last 62 weeks and would be the time that Israel waits for her Messiah to come. They were told how to recognize Him by Zechariah in Zech 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This was fulfilled on 6 April A.D.32, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey colt to shouts of Hosanna! and palm branches, hailing Him as King of Israel, their long-awaited Messiah. Anderson, in his book “The coming Prince”, calculated that the difference between these two dates is exactly 69 units of 7 years each, or 69 Daniel weeks!

Verse 26:  After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.”

‘After the 62 weeks’ actually means after 69 weeks, as we have to remember to add the 7 weeks preceding them.  Jesus was put to death, He certainly did not leave any earthly treasures behind, and here at this point the prophecy starts to extend beyond its fulfilled history and into the end times. There came a Roman ruler called Vespasian who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. But there will also be another ruler in the future who will destroy Jerusalem and the third temple, yet to be built, and war after war will follow him – the Antichrist.

Verse 27 “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

After an interval of several years, called the Church Age which started when Jesus died and rose again, this last 70^th week will start. It will start with the Antichrist making a peace treaty with among others, Israel, which he will break off in the middle by positioning himself in their temple and declaring himself god.  Great Tribulation for Israel and the whole earth will follow, until God’s decreed wrath brings a complete end to Antichrist’s rulership on earth.

Points to ponder:   The exact details of fulfilled biblical prophecy, as proven in history, is the guarantee that future unfulfilled prophecies in the Bible will also come to pass in exact detail.  Let us look them up, take them to heart and warn others to do the same!

Jesus is coming

Our scapegoat

 

Jesus fulfilled the first four Feasts of the Lord, which means that he embodied all the elements surrounding them in stunning detail.

Let us look at a few events of the Passover Feast to illustrate this. When God gave the instructions for this Feast in Egypt, He instructed the Jews to set aside their lambs on the tenth day of Nisan. Jesus entered Jerusalem on this day, to be set aside as the human Passover Lamb. These lambs then had to be kept for four days and thoroughly examined for any defect, as the lamb offered had to be perfect in every way. Just so Jesus was examined in the following four days by all the religious leaders, and even by the Roman authorities, who through Pilate officially declared Him to be without any fault (John 19:4 “I find no fault in Him”). The Passover lambs were prepared for sacrifice at nine o’clock in the morning of the fourteenth of Nisan and killed at three o’clock in the afternoon. Likewise, Jesus was nailed to the cross at nine o’clock in the morning of the fourteenth and died at three o’clock in the afternoon. His bones were not broken, as also the Passover lamb’s bones were not to be broken. God’s instruction in Egypt regarding the eating of the lamb for the Feast was that the meat be eaten in haste, and none left over for the next day. Jesus had to be taken down hastily from the cross so that He could be buried before six o’clock that evening, as this was the start of the next day which was a Sabbath, and no bodies could be left on the cross on that day.

But there is a lesser-known fact which has a bearing on this sacrifice of the body of Jesus on the cross as well. It concerns the scapegoat that in Old Testament times had to carry away the sins of the Israelites on the Day of Atonement:

Lev 16:21

Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat [the scapegoat, the sin-bearer], and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is prepared [for the task].

As mirrored in the Passover Feast, Jesus took all our wickedness and transgressions and sins on Himself and died in our place – He became our scapegoat, taking away our sins! And even in this, He underwent the same treatment as the original scapegoats in the Old Testament had to undergo, as written above. We read about it in John 18:

John 18:22

Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?” he demanded.

This Temple guard was a Jewish official, whose hand therefore also was ‘layed’ on the head of our heavenly Scapegoat or Sin-bearer, under authority of the High Priest standing by.

Points to ponder: If the relevant events in the life of Jesus followed the exact details as celebrated in the first four feasts, then surely, He will do the same in the next three!

Rise Up

A peculiar people

 

Titus 2:14

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

What an interesting word:  peculiar. Somewhat old-fashioned, which is why it is used abundantly in the King James version, and almost never in more modern translations. 

The meaning according to the Oxford Dictionary is “different to what is normal or expected; strange; unusual; odd; curious; weird.”   

These interpretations of course have everything to do with perspective:  on which side are you standing and calling someone or something peculiar, odd, weird? For many of us, for example, the lifestyle of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community would seem peculiar. Mainly because it is so different to our own way of living. For them, we would seem peculiar – why are we claiming to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when we are plainly not of Jewish descent?

Jesus is calling His bride to be different from what people in the world expect; to a lifestyle that would be strange in their eyes; to follow unusual ways of responding to worldly pressures; to hold fast to commands from Him that would look odd, curious, even weird to their way of operating in life.

But the word peculiar also means “particular; special; individual.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”

We are special in God’s eyes, each one individually and particularly called to praise Him and live a life displaying and representing Him!

Choosing a way of life that is seen as odd or weird by people in the world should not bother the bride in the least. Because we have our eternal destiny in focus, and we are  preparing ourselves for that glorious day when our Bridegroom is coming to fetch us for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb written about in Revelation 19:7.  Our life on earth is but a miniscule part of the eternal life that we enter into once our bodies have passed away – why waste that short time on worrying about what others may think about our choices to live a holy life, acceptable to our Beloved Jesus?

Points to ponder:  Are the words of the chorus of Lize Hadassah Wiid’s song Adonai, given here, also your heart’s cry? Do not rest until your heart longs for Him in this way:

“Oh Adonai, my Adonai - will we hear the trumpet sound - will we hear You call our name -  oh Adonai, our Adonai - when You come to fetch Your bride - will we be standing in the line, our Adonai.”

Adonai

Walk the Damascus Road

 Imagine what it was like to be Jewish in the time of Jesus. There were hundreds of laws and regulations which governed every aspect of your life, and which only the very learned rabbis could remember in their entirety – and to do this, they had to devote most of their time throughout their lives to study them. There was the whole temple system of priests and temple helpers who had to guide you through the rules and regulations of animal sacrifices. There was wide-spread demon possession and debilitating diseases and suffering because people were not guided into how to develop an intimate relationship with their God – everything spiritual rested on rules and regulations handed down through the preceding centuries, most of which were restrictions based on human interpretations of God’s laws.

The man called Saul was eminently qualified to play an important part in maintaining this religious status quo. He was born a Jew, studied the strict Pharisee laws under Gamaliel, who was one of the most revered teaching rabbis of his time and a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing body, therefore Saul was connected with some seriously important Jewish leaders of that time. This shows in the fact that they readily supplied him with letters of introduction to all the synagogues in Damascus, granting him permission to imprison and kill the followers of Jesus, which he zealously did.

Why then did Saul suffer such cruel and wicked and constant persecution from his fellow Jews? Read how he describes his sufferings in his own words:

2 Cor 11:24-27

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

 The reason for the above persecution was because Saul played a pivotal role in confronting and overturning all the aspects of Jewish religious systems and thinking which was prevalent at the time. God warned him what it would entail, as we read in Acts 9:16 “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”, and yet he was still willing to obey.

What on earth persuaded Saul to make a 180 degree turn in his thinking?  Saul became Paul on the Damascus Road! This monumental overthrow of beliefs, that had been engrained on his soul through culture and years of specialised study, could only happen through a supernatural event – he encountered Jesus personally!

Points to ponder: Choose to walk the Damascus Road – where you can encounter Jesus. Make time every day to wait on God and to focus on Him, worshipping Him and loving Him without any prayer agenda. This will develop into times where you encounter Jesus personally, and He can then remove the scales from your eyes and set you free indeed!

 On the road to Damascus

One of a kind

 

2 Tim 1:9

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

“Before the beginning of time”—quite literally means, “before everlasting times”.

This is a mind-boggling fact indeed, to realize that even before God created the world and time began, we were already a thought in His mind. We, who exist rooted in and bounded by time as we know it, are totally unable to understand this facet of our God, Who has El Olam as one of His names, meaning the ‘Everlasting God’ or ‘Eternal God’, without beginning or end.

God’s foreknowledge about everyone means that He knows you, even before you are born.  A fact attested to by Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…” and by Paul in Galations 1:15 “But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace….”

This does not mean that you existed somewhere in heaven before you were born, which some believe.  If this were the case, would Jesus have said in John 1:18 and John 5:37 that no man has ever seen God as He (Jesus) has? Paul agrees with Jesus when he says that the first man, Adam, is of the earth, whereas the second Man, Jesus, is from heaven.  This is also supported by Paul when he gives a spiritual law in 1 Cor 15:46 “But it is not the spiritual life which came first, but the physical and then the spiritual.”

You are so important to God that He chose to form you, a unique human being, even before He created the foundation of the world.  In fact, the earth was created for you to live on – how awesome is that!  You were no accident, your birth no random act of chance, even if it may seem to be so to everyone around you.  Even the time of your birth was chosen by God, you have a very specific role to play in the events on earth during your lifetime.

This is why abortions-on-demand are so abhorrent in God’s sight. Every baby murdered this way was destined to live a very specific life here on earth. Human life is sacred, because humans are created in the image and likeness of God, and He considers your life valuable and precious. So precious that He was willing to offer up His only Son, Jesus, to take the punishment that is meant for you, and be killed in your place so that you may live!

Points to ponder: Think about how God values you. No one ever born in history since time began has ever had your unique attributes – and no one will ever be born after you that is the same as you. Look in the mirror and repeat the following daily, until it becomes reality to you: (Your name), God loves you. (Your name), I love you. (Your name), God thinks you are the best thing that He has ever made! (Your name), your birth was no accident. (Your name), God has a unique plan for your life!

One of a kind

Human wisdom

 

Judges 7:12

The armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels were like grains of sand on the seashore—too many to count!

If you were an army general, facing an overwhelming enemy army like the one mentioned above on your doorstep, what would human wisdom have you do? Most definitely not what God instructed Gideon to do in Judges 7!

God’s strategy was to firstly reduce Gideon’s army to only three hundred men. Totally against what human wisdom would dictate. The method of selection of that final three hundred was to observe the men drinking water out of a spring – those who bowed down on their knees were sent home; those who cupped their hands and lapped with their tongues like a dog were chosen. Human wisdom in selecting an elite fighting force would have taken skill with weapons and agility and overall training and proven bravery into account.

 God then instructed Gideon to go into the enemy camp at night and listen to what the men on the enemy’s side were saying. He overheard a Midianite man telling of a dream that he had had, (we know it was God-given), showing his tent being struck and flattened by - of all things - a barley bread. These Medianite men interpreted it correctly, knowing that God had given Midian and all their host into Gideon’s hand – whose army in the natural could never have overcome the great opposing force facing them. This piece of intelligence greatly increased Gideon’s faith, as God knew it would do!

Then came the war strategy and the weapons of choice. Gideon divided his men into three groups of one hundred each, armed them with trumpets and empty pitchers, and put torches inside the pitchers. This general’s instructions to his troops on this grievously dangerous occasion were to station themselves around the enemy’s camp in the deep of the night, watch him carefully, and follow his lead. Yes, no war room planning and various strategies depending on various outcomes as we, in our human wisdom, would have planned.

The outcome is legendary. As those men blew their trumpets and shouted and smashed the pitchers so that the light within could suddenly be seen, the Lord set every Midianite’s sword against his comrade and this enemy army was sent into complete disarray so that their only choice was to flee for their lives in total chaos!

Why did God have Gideon do these (what men would call) foolish things? We read what God says to Gideon about this in Judges 7:2 ….the Israelites will boast to Me that they saved themselves by their own strength. They had to KNOW without any doubt that it was God only who delivered them, and not their human wisdom.

Points to ponder:  What strategies has God given you that would look foolish to those around you? Seek godly counsel to affirm that you have heard Him clearly, and then implement these strategies, trusting Him to lead you and guide your every step!

Whatever your plan is