Month: January 2020

Some women were watching from a distance(Jesus crucifixion). Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses and Salome. In Galilee(from the start of His Ministry) these women had followed Him and cared for His needs. MANY OTHER WOMEN who had come up with Him to Jerusalem were also there. Mark 15:40,41

We often don’t see the role women played in Jesus ministry, it’s almost as if they’ve been air brushed out of the picture. The above verses show that women were with Jesus from the beginning in Galilee until the crucifixion in Jerusalem.

After the crucifixion the first people to know of Jesus resurrection were the same two Marys, intending to honour Him with a last act of love and devotion(they got a wonderful surprise, He’d risen).

In the story of Mary and Martha, Mary sat at Jesus feet drinking in His teaching and His Spirit. Jesus didn’t rebuke her, instead He said she’d chosen the better part and it wouldn’t be taken from her. He welcomed her presence as He ministered in the home.

You are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have CLOTHED YOURSELVES WITH CHRIST(beautiful description of the believers). There is neither Jew nor Greek(God still has a covenant with the Jewish people but no distinction in Christ), slave nor free(imagine an enslaved person has the same standing in Christ as the free), MALE NOR FEMALE, FOR YOU ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST. Galatians 3:26,27

We have a lady friend who often says that this is the age when women will rise up and do mighty exploits in the Kingdom. She says that women will be right at forefront in these days. Anyone, in Christ, who is called to lead will have an anointing and an authority to stand in that position(my own viewpoint).

My experience of the physical harvest is that it’s so demanding, absolutely everyone will be needed(including children). Jesus needed the women of His day, from the start of His Ministry until the end to help complete His calling.

On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, it says the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. This obviously includes men and women and is clearly evident in the body today. God is empowering all people(believers of course) to do the works of the Kingdom in these days.

There is much in the media today about equal rights and equal pay for women in the workplace. Anything can be taken to excess, but ladies please stand up and embrace your calling today. You may face opposition but your gifting will make a way for you to fulfill all He’s calling you to do.

God bless you and give you wisdom and determination to find and fulfill your fullest destiny in Christ.

WATCH AND PRAY, Could you not keep watch for one hour? Mark 14:37

In the place called Gethsemane(olive oil press) the humanity of Jesus is very apparent. He is facing a terrible ordeal and his flesh is cringing at the thought of what must happen. He tells His disciples to wait while He goes a bit further to pray, taking Peter, James and John along with Him.

‘Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour(of trial) might pass from Him. Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will’.
Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping(unaware of the lateness and seriousness of the hour). ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour? Watch and pray(both are required) so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body/flesh is weak’. Mark 14:35-38

Three times in all Jesus went and prayed and each time the disciples were asleep. Jesus prepared for the great ordeal ahead by lying on the ground, essentially alone, crying out to His Father. Jesus wasn’t caught unprepared, He had been watching and praying!

In 1 Samuel 15:10,11 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel. “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from Me and has not carried out My instructions”. Samuel was troubled and cried out to the Lord all that night. (Samuel was dedicated to the Lord before his conception and couldn’t just go to sleep while God was grieving because of Saul).

The church today needs to ‘wake up’ and hear anew the words of Jesus, watch and pray so that we don’t FALL into temptation. The disciples didn’t grasp the hour in which they were living and submitted to their flesh and slept. The situation in the world is changing and becoming more hostile to people who truly follow Jesus. We need to prepare for the days ahead so that we know what to do when the hour of trial comes to us as it came to our Lord. We need to take time to get His priorities for the times ahead.

May God bless us and keep us in every trial and may we be strengthened to do His will.

Love based or law based, the greatest commandment, Mark 12:28-34

Mark 11&12, Speaks about Jesus entry to Jerusalem, interestingly there are no recorded healings or miracles in these two chapters. He seems to move into more of a teaching and discussing mode.

V28 “Of all the commandments(Law) which is the most important”?
Yet another question from a teacher of the Law, but this one appears to have had honourable intentions, no attempt to entrap Jesus. He heard Jesus debating with the Sadducees and thought he’d given a good answer. Not every question has a hidden motive.

V29 “The most important one is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one(the nations worshipped multiple gods or demons). LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart(FIRST is our HEART) and with all your soul and with all our mind and with all our strength( four times Jesus said with ALL). The second is this: ‘LOVE your neighbour as yourself(simple but powerful). There is no commandment greater than these”.

V32 “Well said teacher, You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but Him. To love Him with all your heart, all your understanding, all your strength and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices”.

This teacher’s comment is also quoted at length(unusual), he was having a two way conversation with the Lord, but he was also speaking truth with a right attitude.

V34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God”. How true it is that our words locate us and reveal the thinking of our hearts.

Please take some time today to tell the Lord you LOVE Him! He gave His all for us!
Maybe we’ll have an opportunity to show love to someone around us today.

God bless you and keep you this day and every day.

Where is your Galilee?

Isaiah 9:1 “…. but in the future He will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan”.
Jesus brought honour to the area but was also honoured in the area.

In the first four chapters of Mark’s Gospel Jesus public ministry begins unfold. The Galilee was the backdrop to the unveiling of God’s Son to all of humanity.

Mark 1:16 As Jesus walked beside the Galilee He called His disciples, Simon and Andrew, also James and John. They were fishermen(not farmers like most of the surrounding area), V17 ‘follow Me and I will make you fishers of men’.
Mark 2:13 Once again Jesus went out beside the Lake and saw Levi in the tax collector’s booth, follow Me, Jesus told him.
It is significant that once Jesus had called these Galileans(people from the area by the Sea) He didn’t go looking for others, they were His team and later apostles. They were easily distinguishable to those in Jerusalem by their accents(country people, not city dwellers).

Mark 1:21 Jesus taught in the synagogue at Capernaum and delivered a man with a demon. Mark 1:39 ‘So He travelled throughout Galilee, preaching and delivering…’.

Mark 4:39 Jesus taught from a boat on the Lake and later commanded the same Lake to be still in the storm…

God had pre-ordained that His Son who was born in Bethlehem, lived in Egypt, grew up in Nazareth, would minister by the Sea of Galilee. So my question is where is your Galilee? Where’s the place God has called you to serve Him.

It should be a place where you too will be honoured and respected.
It should be a place where you can work with others and serve as part of a ministry team. We should all be serving the Lord in some capacity, ask Him where if you’re not sure.
It should also be a place where your authority is acknowledged, no responsibility without authority.

Jesus ultimate destiny was in the religious capital, Jerusalem, but His greatest ministry area was the Galilee. He touched many lives there!

The Sea of Galilee is one the most beautiful areas in Israel, a natural beauty. It is also part of the lowest lying area of Israel, the Jordan valley.
The place where we serve should hold a beauty for us, no matter what the outward circumstances, there should be something we love and desire in it.
The low lying area also speaks of humility, a place to reach out and help others as the Lord reached out to us.

It was also the place of restoration, Jesus restored Peter by the Sea. Some of us may find His restoring touch in the place where we’re called to serve, no matter how much we think we’ve messed up.

May you find your Galilee today and be fulfilled in the Lord’s call for you there.

God bless you.

 

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HONEY, God will use the sweet things of life to shape us, NOT just the bitter! Some people are completely oriented towards a hard and joyless life, they cannot receive the goodness and loving kindness( Hebrew chesed or hesed)of God!
The Pharisees and teachers of the Law couldn’t stand Jesus flouting of the Law in order to show mercy on the Sabbath. The Israelite slaves when they came out of Egypt were conditioned to hardship and cruelty, so are some of us and don’t know it.

Mark 1:6 John the Baptist(forerunner for Christ) ate locusts and wild honey. John’s appearance and manner might well have gotten him locked up/sectioned today. It is interesting that God sustained the forerunner to Christ with some sweet honey.

1 Samuel 14:27 Jonathan son of king Saul ate some honey, during battle with Philistines AND HIS EYES BRIGHTENED! Jonathan didn’t know about Saul’s binding oath on the whole army to eat no food and thus the men were exhausted and starving in battle. Is that how it feels for us today, battle weary and starved of anything sweet and uplifting? Jonathan’s exhaustion soon disappeared and he was reenergised as soon as he ate some honey from the end of his staff, didn’t take a lot to change his whole outlook!

Exodus 3:8 God Himself speaking to Moses from the burning bush told him He would bring Israel, ‘Into a spacious land flowing with milk and honey’.

My second Spiritual father, Kjell Sjoberg, spoke powerfully in many nations. He used to say that after he’d spoken in a meeting for some time directly from the Word he could see people becoming weary. He knew that it was time to bring some encouraging real life examples into his messages and lift their spirits again.

God does not want us to be continually battle weary, He has to give us times of blessing and rest. He led the people out of Egypt by the desert road, so they wouldn’t face war and maybe return to the land of slavery.

The enemy may be trying to get you to deal with yourself more harshly than God wants for you right now. This is the hallmark of cold religion, NOT THE HESED, WARM LOVING KINDNESS OF GOD! God made honey and the honey bee, so why not step out and enjoy some of His honey in your life today!

God bless you

Matt 28, the last chapter of Matthew’s Gospel has some interesting characters.

V1 After the Sabbath(no work on the Sabbath) the two Marys went to the tomb.

V2 There was an earthquake(we don’t connect angels with earthquakes but that’s what it says here) and the angel rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Throughout the crucifixion, heaven had stayed it’s hand, no spiritual intervention, but now the angel had been sent. Jesus birth was marked with angelic messengers and so was His resurrection, both His coming and going were announced by Heaven. The shepherds had rejoiced, but the guards were scared witless.

The angel spoke to the women, ‘Jesus has risen and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Now I have told you(angels are messengers)’. The women ran to tell the disciples and suddenly Jesus met with them, again Heaven was being revealed in their midst.

The guards told the elders and chief priests what had happened and they were bribed to lie and say Jesus body had been stolen by the disciples. The soldiers took the money(bribes and lies go hand in hand) and this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this day(the lie did it’s work).

The final section of Matthew ends with Jesus commission to His disciples, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth(there is no realm where Christ doesn’t have authority) has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”. The all nations still has to to be fulfilled before His return.

The last line of Matthew, ‘And SURELY I WILL BE WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE VERY END OF THE AGE’.

He knows what His people will face all down the ages and speaks to comfort and reassure us in our lives here on earth.

I had a friend who used to end all his ministry letters with the words, Emmanuel, God is with us! Amen and Hallelujah to that, He is faithful to us all.

Recognising the Lord in others Matt 25:31-46.

First of all let me say, this is not a parable, nor just another story. This is a future event which will involve both heaven and earth and determine destiny.

V31-33, When the Son of Man(another name for Jesus) comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will SEPARATE the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats(still using the language of that day). He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

This is one of those passages where you have to think either Jesus was who He said He was or someone with a vivid imagination. It speaks of Him, ‘sitting on His throne in heavenly glory and judging all the nations’. He makes these statements prior to the crucifixion and the resurrection, while still on earth with His disciples and other followers, those who knew Him best.

The basis of judgement for both groups is the same, how we treated others! Did we feed them, give them something to drink, invite them in, clothe, cared for or visit in prison?

Jesus replied to their question, when did we do it Lord? They had no recollection of doing the things He said.
V40, The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth(count on it), whatever you did for one of the LEAST of these Brothers of Mine, you did for Me’.
It was to the least/lowliest bothers that Jesus acknowledged the kindness.

The reward, V34 ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’.

The second group didn’t recall neglecting Jesus(His judgement on them).
V45, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you DID NOT DO for one of the LEAST of these, you DID NOT DO FOR ME’.

According to these astonishing words of Jesus, even small acts of kindness, like a glass of water, to those lesser brethren will be recounted at the judgement of all things.

I am also reminded of the Shunamite woman who blessed Elijah the prophet. She in turn was twice blessed on earth, she received a son and later received him back again.

I believe in our lives that God will give us opportunities to give, ‘as unto Him’. We may well not see or know that, but please don’t write off opportunities because the cause or case seems of little account! Ask the Lord to show you who He is bringing to you to bless today, often not with money. Maybe just some of your time and kindness.

May God bless us as we remember His people today.

The Parable of the ten virgins, again unique to Matthew’s Gospel, Matt 25:1-13.

It may just be in my experience but this parable seems to be more spoken on in these days, hence the message contained in it may be being highlighted by God’s Spirit for our day. It also follows on from Matt 24, Jesus discourse on the End of the Age.

V1 At that time(this parable relates to a certain period of time) the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins(no problem with these ten people, all were pure) who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

A marriage is usually a time of celebration and joy, two parties joining together and looking forward to sharing life with one another.

However, V2, five of the virgins are immediately labelled as foolish, fifty per cent did not show good judgement. The wise ‘took oil in jars along with their lamps’. The OIL is what sets them apart and makes the crucial distinction in the group of ten(the figure ten usually denotes government).

The bridegroom was a long time coming and all alike became drowsy and fell asleep. It used to be a court martial offence in the army to fall asleep on duty.

V6 At midnight the cry rang out, “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him”. The whole focus of the story is the coming of the bridegroom, once he arrives the wedding banquet can begin.

All ten virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, our LAMPS ARE GOING OUT’. No they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you, go to those who SELL OIL AND BUY SOME FOR YOURSELVES’.

Waiting seems to be something that causes many people of God to become undone eg Saul, Israel’s first king.

The all important oil could not be borrowed, only enough for each individual to meet their own needs! Go and buy some for yourselves, the oil had to be purchased.

The virgins WHO WERE READY WENT IN WITH HIM, but the others who came later couldn’t get inside to the feast. What a sad story, the right people came and endured the wait but they weren’t ready when the bridegroom arrived.

OIL represents the Spirit and we need to have the Spirit of God in our lives. The lamps without the OIL/Spirit gave no light! They were in darkness! We cannot be walking without the Spirit, maybe by this world’s light and hope to be ready when the bridegroom(Jesus) comes.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. A solemn warning in the last verse, 13.

May we be ready when He comes and may we be welcomed into the wedding supper of the lamb of God. All our problems will be forgotten on that joyous day.

Don’t let the Lord pass you by.

We read in three of the Gospels about Jesus passing through Jericho, the city of palms in the Jordan valley. I remember a young Palestinian man giving me a sweet orange in Jericho, so that I’d buy some from him, which I did.

In two of the Gospels it says Jesus, surrounded by his disciples and a large crowd, was leaving the city. Mark’s Gospel tells us that blind Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside begging as Jesus was leaving. He began to shout to Jesus and when many told him to be quiet, ‘he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Mark 10:48.

Jesus was leaving Jericho, there was an urgency in the blind man’s plea. No good crying out when Jesus had passed on. The circumstances were not ideal, a blind man at the roadside in the middle of a large, moving crowd of people. It was his only chance, he probably reacted instinctively and began to shout to Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

I have a good friend who was wrestling with the question of his salvation, a long time ago. He was out walking, wheeling his children in a buggy and the Lord stopped him. He was told that if he didn’t give his life there and then it would be a long time before the opportunity would come around again. Thankfully he did surrender.

I know another lady who spoke to the Lord in her kitchen, she said she knew the exact spot where she’d spoken to Him and He answered her there. Divine encounters don’t always happen in church buildings or large meetings, but we have to grasp our opportunity when it comes.

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must TAKE THE CURRENT WHEN IT SERVES,
Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, William Shakespeare.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.

Don’t let the Lord pass by today, reach out to Him and receive from Him.

God bless you as you call out to Him today.

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Peter was often the outspoken disciple and in Matt 18:21 he asks Jesus a question, “Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” In other words when is enough, enough?
Jesus answer must have shocked them, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy -seven times(or seventy times seven)”.

The Lord again tells them a parable of the unmerciful servant, which seems to be unique to Matthew’s gospel.

Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like(this is the way of the Kingdom) a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. In this parable there is only a king and servants, no other roles are present. A servant had a very large debt which he couldn’t pay and the master ordered that all he had be sold. The servant pleaded for mercy and the master had pity and cancelled the debt.

He in turn went out and threatened a fellow servant who owed a much lesser amount with prison and showed him no mercy. The other servants told the master of his harsh treatment of his fellow servant. The master called him back and berated him for the way he treated the servant owing the much smaller debt.

The moral of the story is that we have been forgiven a much greater debt than we can ever hope to repay. We in turn must forgive, even to the seventy seven times. We do not want to be standing before the courts of heaven someday accused of unforgiveness when we have been forgiven so much.

This parable is really about our heart attitude, forgiveness or judgement. There is only one judge, all the rest of us are servants.

Extend forgiveness to those around us today and in turn receive the blessings of heaven on our own lives.