Treasures

Start with Thanks

Monday 27 September 2021

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise" is a psalm we know very well. It is often quoted in times of worship and praise as the pattern to begin our time of singing. But it is not confined to the framework of worship, but rather is a template for every posture of service within the Kingdom of God. Read Paul's letters: almost every one starts with thanksgiving and praise to God, before he embarks on any teaching or rebuking.

Whether it is the start of a day, the start of ministry, or just gathering around a table with a family of believers, we would probably all be a lot more connected to the Holy Spirit if we began everything by taking a moment to enter the courts of Heaven with praise and thanksgiving to God. Let it not be a forced cliché, but an honest moment to acknowledge from what place everything is about to flow from.

Prayer of Innocence

Saturday 25 September 2021

Here is a good prayer to repeat, each day:
May the words that I say, the actions I take, and the desires in my heart, be pure, innocent and righteous.

John as the New Moses

Friday 24 September 2021

The Catholics venerate Mary the mother of Jesus for many reasons, but one is that she was the human Ark of the Covenant, and thus should be considered holy with the same reverence if not more. This is true, she indeed carried the New Covenant inside her and embodies a mystery of God painting the same picture in a new way. There is another mystery of the New Covenant in John, who is not just an Elijah but also a Moses.

We see in the life of Moses someone who led God's people out of their slavery into the desert, via a kind of baptism in the Red Sea. While John was "preparing the way for the Lord", Moses literally created a way. He also brought divine law to the people just as John did when they asked him what to do. And lastly, Moses gave way to Joshua. Moses decreased so that Joshua would increase, baptising the people again through the Jordan not into the desert but into the promised land. Joshua is of course a kind of Yeshua, just as Elisha is, both coming after their forerunner and doing greater works, as well as sharing the same Hebraic root name. Jesus called John the greatest person born of women (if any human then deserves the greatest veneration, should it not be him?). It is no wonder that both Moses and Elijah appeared next to Jesus on the mountain, who loved John so much.

The Fundamental Forces of the Supernatural

Thursday 23 September 2021

Physicists understand that there are four (or potentially five) fundamental forces of nature — gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. When nature is broken down into its smallest possible components, these are the four forces that hold everything together, govern them and give them meaning. If you take these forces away, everything is destroyed.

However, the Bible teaches us that there are three fundamental forces above this — faith, hope and love. These three, just like the Father, Son and Spirit, are beyond the forces of nature as they govern everything in the Heavens and the Earth. Take away Hope and everything loses its purpose; take away Faith and there is no interaction or power; take away Love and everything is destroyed. These three must always remain because they are building blocks of everything that is true.

Bread is Hope

Wednesday 15 September 2021

Bread is one of the most documented physical revelations of God, appearing as—among other things—manna from Heaven, an element of Passover, and Christ's own body. Jesus said "I am the bread that came down from Heaven." Jesus is bread, in fact the very nature of bread is a representation of Jesus on this Earth. While hunger brings frustration and hopelessness, bread brings joy, hope and satisfaction. Jesus is that joy, inasmuch as He is that bread. We see in scripture that Christ = Bread = Hope = Joy = Strength. As we seat ourselves in Christ and fill ourselves with His nature and practise His commands, we receive the hope, joy and strength of daily bread.

Jacob's prayer of dedication to God involved two conditions: bread and clothing. Our dedication to God requires two conditions: Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We are nourished by Christ and we are clothed with power. While the Bread of Christ gives us strength, sustenance and stamina, the Clothing of the Holy Spirit gives us protection, power and purpose.

To Speak or Not To Speak

Sunday 29 August 2021

Proverbs 17:28 teaches us that "he who shuts his lips is considered wise" and in 29:11 "a wise man holds it back". Resisting the urge to speak your mind is clearly the mark of a wise man. On the other hand, what happens if you are holding back something God has given you? All true wisdom comes from God, and in fact the Parable of the Talents teaches us that God's anger burns against those who bury their gifts in the ground. This is a dilemma for those who feel surrounded by injustice, like the writer of Psalm 3 they feel a hot fire burning in them. It is not surprising then that James calls the tongue itself a fire, yet it is set on fire by Hell, not by Heaven.

The temptation to voice your thoughts (putting things in their place) is often fuelled by a false dichotomy: speak now or forever hold thy peace. But true wisdom that comes from God will always come from the heart of God, not from the head, and is therefore never bound by the Devil's dichotomies. As faith without action is dead, so wisdom without love is also dead. Therefore if we wish to teach the world the truth, we do so through our example first, our explanation after. A wise man holds it back... until the fruit is ripe.

The Great Deceptions

Saturday, 24 July 2021

Perhaps the Great Deception of the Church in the last days is really that there is more than one deception. Many Christians will see another group being deceived and point the finger, and say "I am safe! You are deceived!" This is the foolishness that allows the Devil to trip us up with our own deception. For each person that object can be different but the tactic is the same: steal authority through the appearance of relevance and power. Anything in this life that becomes more (or equally) relevant than God's word has the potential to distract us from Truth and therefore disempower us. Jesus is the Truth.

The Enemy may wield miraculous power, knowledge, logic, scientific evidence, unity, even kindness, all as a shadow of God's power but enough to deceive even the Church. We must not let it compromise our Faith in the Truth. In Revelation, the rider on the white horse is named Faithful and True.

Prayer + Sweetness = Worship

Friday, 23 July 2021

Many who know me personally will know that I do not drink coffee or tea, and am not so interested in water. I like sweet drinks as it helps me to quench my thirst in a way that tastes enjoyable. However there come times when I do not have access to juice or fizzy drinks, and in those occasions I need to be self-disciplined enough to drink and enjoy the most pure form of water. If water represents our pure communion with God through the Holy Spirit, then it is the power of prayer. In this way, worship — by which we can mean the worship we enjoy singing or listening to — is musical prayer; it is sweetened prayer.

This doesn't mean there is anything wrong with worship, in fact sweetness is a good and enjoyable thing, and we are allowed to enjoy it. God also enjoys our sweetness. What we must make sure is that we do not rely on additives in order to consume the pure solution. I am aware that I find it easier to pray with music than without, but it is in our interest to learn how to commune with God in the purest form, just as it is in our interest to consume water in its own purest form.

You are a Tree

Wednesday, 21 July 2021

Every tree requires three things to become healthy and full of life: light, water and soil. The soil is the truth that we dig our roots deep into. Not all soil is good, we must find the right soil — which is God's word and promises — to plant ourselves in. A tree with strong roots will not bend or break when the storms come. The water is the delight of God's presence by communing with Him in prayer and worship.

We should not be planted by a stagnant pool but by streams of living water, that we are drinking from every day. A tree with a supply of fresh water will provide healthy leaves and fruit. The leaves are the function and ministry of tree — providing shade to animals, and herbal or medicinal benefit. The light is the catalyst for upward growth. A tree that lives in the light with nothing hidden before God and others has the best chance of growing tall without hindrance.

The Spirit Longs to Fill

Thursday, 15 July 2021

In the beginning the Spirit was hovering — some translations say brooding — over the waters while the Earth was void and formless. He is a Spirit that longs expectantly to fill. As James 4:5 says, He longs jealously for His Spirit to fill us. The great desire of the Holy Spirit is to see the whole Earth filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the seas. Wherever there is a void, His desire is to fill it with the glory of God. As God spoke "Let there be," it was to give permission to release the Spirit. Now He hovers and broods over our own hearts and our lives.