Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Feb | 25 | Sorted and therefore settled peace
TRUST
Sorted and therefore settled peace
Habakkuk 2: 20
"But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." NKJV
The just shall live by faith in the great fact that the glory of the Lord shall one day cover the earth, and we are now assured of this in this verse and subsequently commanded to quietness before the Lord’s sage and sovereign government. God is in control. God is on the only throne that matters, the holy throne of His temple and it is only a vision of this total sovereignty of God that will turn our watching souls from worry to worship, and from spluttering and stuttering panic to a deep breathing and quiet peace, a hushness of holiness in His steady and ruling presence.
Solomon, the builder of the first earthly temple clearly declared that the heavens and even the heaven of heavens cannot contain the fullness of God (1 Kings 8:27), yet God is everywhere, all at once, at the same time, in whom we live and move and have our being, while manifesting Himself in the Shekinah glory of the mercy seat above the ark and also in the two legged temple of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, also localized in His temple in heaven. In this way, God is never absent from His throne of ruling dominion. He is always at the wheel, at the helm, at the desk, in the only oval office that matter.
Christian, you may think that God is doing a bad job on His governing of the nations, but it is His job nevertheless. Trust Him to bring forth good. Stop your judging of God! Who are you, you mere lump of mouthy clay? Stop whining, stop worrying, stop complaining! Humble yourself, get on your face and worship Him. Be quiet. Hush. Be still. The Lord reigns, yes, even now in your life, in your city, in your nation, the Lord still reigns from the supreme place of government, His holy temple. He has not left there. He has not taken a holiday or gone on a golfing trip. The Lord is reigning still!
Faith in the sovereignty of God, based on the solid declarations of His government will lead to stillness and eventually to singing. As for Habakkuk, a sonata will now follow this humbled silence of the prophet as he himself leads the world in silent and bowing obeisance. Take Psalm 11 right now and making it your singing prayer tonight.
Listen:- In the Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain" For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright. Psalms 11 NKJV
Pray:- Settled are we O Lord on You and Your sovereign will. Gracious Sovereign, come and be ruler of my own heart and mind and mouth. Amen, and may I always praise Your holy name!
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Monday, February 24, 2014
Feb | 24 | Woe four of five – The idolatry of being spiritual
KEYWORD
Woe four of five – The idolatry of being spiritual
Habakkuk 2:18,19
"What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The the molded image, a teacher of lies, That that the maker of its mold should trust in it, To to make mute idols? Woe to him who says to wood, 'Awake!' To silent stone, 'Arise! It shall teach!' Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet yet in it there is no breath at all. NKJV
Drunkenness and drug culture, selfish destructive hedonism will always lead to the substitution of the creator God with the stupidity of idolatry. Demons, clothing themselves in the clothes of post modern plurality, display themselves openly in shop windows alongside all the bonging paraphernalia of bondage for when people reject belief in the God of the Bible, they believe anything.
There is no breath, that is, there is no life in any demonic inspired man man-made religion. Even if that religion is overlaid with gold and silver and rooted in the organic, it has no creating voice, it cannot speak, it cannot call for the life and light and love. It is dead and any animation you find is merely the demonic clothed in a raincoat and wearing a mask. , mumbling lies and fiddling with your children as you place them on its knees and sit them in its fiery arms.
Tell me. : What is the end of such ignorant idolatry, such demonic and drunken bondage?
Listen:- Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. NKJV
Pray: - Let the knowledge of the Lord be in our mouths and upon our lips; let all the unrighteous airwaves dance with it and let it fill the ears of those who don’t want to hear. Amen and let it be so.
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Sunday, February 23, 2014
Feb | 23 | Woe four of five – Demonic driven drug abuse
DANGER
Woe four of five – Demonic driven drug abuse
Habakkuk 2:15-17E
"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even even to make him drunk, That that you may look on his nakedness! You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also — drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lord's right hand will be turned against you, And and utter shame will be on your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, And and the plunder of beasts which made them afraid, Because because of men's blood And and the violence of the land and the city, And and of all who dwell in it. NKJV
A drug culture is born from deliberate bondage. Get ‘em hooked, keep ‘em happy, keep ‘em wanting more and keep ‘em paying and when all the money runs out, have ‘em steal it, have ‘em sell their bodies and their very selves to the service of that which now enslaves them. And all the demons cry, “Strip them naked of any covering; rip off the covering clothes of any nobility, of any self- respect and of any sensibility, yes let their shame be seen, yes, let us see these shaved and copulating monkey’s dance themselves to death and so shall we cover the light of glory of this God with maggot infested shame.”
Be it digested, injected or smoked, everything to do with drugs is rooted in the demonic and leads to idolatry, possession, loss, nakedness, shame and ultimate destruction. Drug addiction is often encouraged. In this case there is reason to think that this imposed drunkenness also referred to the King of Egypt as the dealer in such pride who pressed the bottle of stupidity against the lips of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar and that, for the sole purpose of seeing them both stripped bare. There is something terribly perverted and devilish in setting people up for such shameful destruction and to be so pleasured by it. Fair words which cover foul deeds are the filth which shall later be spewed up. So watch now! Do you really think you shall make yourself great by bringing others down? You shall not, for there is always a curse in such mocking of an individual or even a nation’s drunken nakedness, especially if you were the part cause of it. “You are filled with shame instead of glory.”
Understand this: Such perverted drunkenness was all indulging and all consuming, such that the trees of the trees of the forest of Lebanon were wastefully destroyed and the animals slaughtered to near extinction.
All demonic drug culture is indulgent and ultimately all consuming. When a nation seeks to prosper on the greedy, hedonistic, selfish and unsustainable self- indulgence of its own citizens, then it will itself be eventually found in a damp field, covered in its own vomit, having spewed up all it had once taken in, its pants around its ankles and its buttocks laid bare to the laughing skies.
Christian. You cannot be involved in the demonic activities of drunkenness and drugs and still call yourself by the name of Christ. Repent of this great evil. Get out, get sober, get clean. Get yourself sorted out!
Listen:- For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: Jeremiah 25:15-17 NKJV
Pray: - Lord, be our consolation and our comfort, our joy and our exaltation, our stability and our peace. Amen and let it be so.
If this Everyday Bible Insight has helped you - then do please share it!
Also, why not go to your devices iTunes store (or other) and write us a great review - 5 Stars if course!
Did you know that we are preaching from each of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible in the 66 Most Influential Cities of the 250 Nations of the World? That's 16,500 cities which will hear a solid prophetic message from each book of the Bible over the next 25 years! Do you want to be part of this? Then please go to www.66Cities.TV to find out how.
Woe four of five – Demonic driven drug abuse Habakkuk 2:15-17E
"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even even to make him drunk, That that you may look on his nakedness! You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also — drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lord's right hand will be turned against you, And and utter shame will be on your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, And and the plunder of beasts which made them afraid, Because because of men's blood And and the violence of the land and the city, And and of all who dwell in it. NKJV
A drug culture is born from deliberate bondage. Get ‘em hooked, keep ‘em happy, keep ‘em wanting more and keep ‘em paying and when all the money runs out, have ‘em steal it, have ‘em sell their bodies and their very selves to the service of that which now enslaves them. And all the demons cry, “Strip them naked of any covering; rip off the covering clothes of any nobility, of any self- respect and of any sensibility, yes let their shame be seen, yes, let us see these shaved and copulating monkey’s dance themselves to death and so shall we cover the light of glory of this God with maggot infested shame.”
Be it digested, injected or smoked, everything to do with drugs is rooted in the demonic and leads to idolatry, possession, loss, nakedness, shame and ultimate destruction. Drug addiction is often encouraged. In this case there is reason to think that this imposed drunkenness also referred to the King of Egypt as the dealer in such pride who pressed the bottle of stupidity against the lips of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar and that, for the sole purpose of seeing them both stripped bare. There is something terribly perverted and devilish in setting people up for such shameful destruction and to be so pleasured by it. Fair words which cover foul deeds are the filth which shall later be spewed up. So watch now! Do you really think you shall make yourself great by bringing others down? You shall not, for there is always a curse in such mocking of an individual or even a nation’s drunken nakedness, especially if you were the part cause of it. “You are filled with shame instead of glory.”
Understand this: Such perverted drunkenness was all indulging and all consuming, such that the trees of the trees of the forest of Lebanon were wastefully destroyed and the animals slaughtered to near extinction.
All demonic drug culture is indulgent and ultimately all consuming. When a nation seeks to prosper on the greedy, hedonistic, selfish and unsustainable self- indulgence of its own citizens, then it will itself be eventually found in a damp field, covered in its own vomit, having spewed up all it had once taken in, its pants around its ankles and its buttocks laid bare to the laughing skies.
Christian. You cannot be involved in the demonic activities of drunkenness and drugs and still call yourself by the name of Christ. Repent of this great evil. Get out, get sober, get clean. Get yourself sorted out!
Listen:- For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: Jeremiah 25:15-17 NKJV
Pray: - Lord, be our consolation and our comfort, our joy and our exaltation, our stability and our peace. Amen and let it be so.
If this Everyday Bible Insight has helped you - then do please share it! Also, why not go to your devices iTunes store (or other) and write us a great review - 5 Stars if course!
Did you know that we are preaching from each of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible in the 66 Most Influential Cities of the 250 Nations of the World? That's 16,500 cities which will hear a solid prophetic message from each book of the Bible over the next 25 years! Do you want to be part of this? Then please go to www.66Cities.TV to find out how.
Feb | 23 | Woe three of five – and the consolation of the planet
OBEY
Woe three of five – and the consolation of the planet
Habakkuk 2:12-14
"Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, Who who establishes a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts That that the peoples labor to feed the fire, And and nations weary themselves in vain? For the earth will be filled With with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As as the waters cover the sea. NKJV
Now we come to a most wonderful and most glorious emphatic statement which is the cuddling consolation of the weeping earth, whose atlas pillars have shouldered pig sties for far too many millennia. It is the song of the planets singing hope, for that time when earth shall become heaven:
“For the earth will be filled With with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As as the waters cover the sea.” NKJV
The comets of righteous judgments always leave a greater knowledge of God in their trail and just as Babylon past became forgotten ash and compost for the soil, so any future Babylon rising shall also become the same and so shall every institution, organization or nation which rejects and resists the right and might of God.
“For the earth will be filled With with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As as the waters cover the sea.” NKJV
The Gospel will, can and must be spread to every tribe and tongue, yet it is not the good news of the grace of the King towards rebellious sinners which shall change the earth for good, no, but it is the very presence of the King of the Gospel which shall do that, and shall do it for a thousand years! When this happens, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall smooth out the jagged rocks of all unrighteousness and bury the radioactive stinkers in its all consuming depths. When He comes to rule and reign, then the people shall walk upright once again and the stupefied shall become the sensible, the sleeping ignorant shall wake up wise, the wild and angry shall be flat calm and happy, the hateful shall be lovable, yes, the hedonist shall become the selfless and even the mockers shall close their mouths and applaud in appreciation, and in response, even nature herself with all her interwoven kingdoms, shall also change her clothes to smiling brightness and her manners along with them, giving up her rain in right measure, while the black panther which always walks by her side, shall only leave the dark forest to come and nuzzle the baby’s head.
“For the earth will be filled With with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As as the waters cover the sea.” NKJV
It is the churches job and privilege to proclaim her Master’s grace across her Master’s world but it is only the Master’s arrival and the Masters presence which shall change the earth for good.
Listen:- The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their their young ones shall lie down together; And and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:6-9 NKJV
Pray: - Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, You who are, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty and everlasting Savior, come quickly. Amen and let it be so.
If this Everyday Bible Insight has helped you - then do please share it! Also, why not go to your devices iTunes store (or other) and write us a great review - 5 Stars if course!
Did you know that we are preaching from each of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible in the 66 Most Influential Cities of the 250 Nations of the World? That's 16,500 cities which will hear a solid prophetic message from each book of the Bible over the next 25 years! Do you want to be part of this? Then please go to www.66Cities.TV to find out how.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Feb | 10 | Deficiencies, dismay and deliverance
SAFETY
Deficiencies, dismay and deliverance
Jeremiah 1:17-19
"Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day A a fortified city and an iron pillar, And and bronze walls against the whole land — Against against the kings of Judah, Against against its princes, Against against its priests, And and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the Lord, "to deliver you." NKJV Deficiencies, dismay and deliverance
God has long planned for and personally prepared Jeremiah, His prophet to the nations. God has placed Jeremiah in a strange position for now though and maybe Jeremiah has been feeling it in his spirit? . He is curled up, coiled up, bent over, looking up. Yes, he is found crouching like an elastic tiger in the starting blocks of his calling and God is about to fire His pistol. It is the 13th year of King Josiah, BANG! And the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Now, he’s up off and away. Or at least he should be.
The Word of the Lord came a second time to Jeremaih Jeremiah in this chapter, this time demanding less argument and more movement from His man. : v17 “Prepare yourself and arise.” Now then, I have no doubt that some of you reading this tonight have to have a little less argument and much more movement in your calling and life. So listen up.
God says much in this chapter about the difficulties Jeremiah will have in the pursuit of God’s commands and of course, also of the great power that God will give to him to fulfill the word of the Lord. This powerful provision, coupled with the personal and perilous predicament of the pursuance of God’s call upon his life, will put Jeremiah in great peril and will leave him on two left wheels, straining like a rally car, speeding around the corner of a single track road, all wet with clouds, way up in the high Andes of Bolivia. Such influential, dangerous and extreme prophetic driving conditions, if you will, means that God has to issue His much ‘deficient in himself’ prophet, with both a warning and a promise. A warning of dismay and a promise of deliverance.
“Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest lest I dismay you before them.” Jeremiah 1:17-19
All Jeremiahs deficiencies would be more than compensated for by the re-shaping power of God, for through this enablement, Jeremiah would become as strong as a fortified city, as upright and immovable as an iron pillar, and as fixed and firm, and as unyielding and unbreakable as a big bronze wall. Make no mistake about it dear reader, God's strength to withstand attack would be well needed though, because all the people, especially the presently powerful, would both vehemently and violently oppose Jeremiah's message. Therefore Jeremiah must appear before them with unshakable confidence, and with a defining firmness. Look now! There is to be no presence of self- questioning, no hint of pathetic prophetic abnegation, no lip quivering before queens or kings, no smell of any depressive discouragement, no sign of any mental confusion, no shadows of ‘mights,’ no ghosts of ‘maybes’, just the solid and certain presence of the declarations of God in the mouth and man of Jeremiah His herald.
The verbal stems of the two words: ‘dismay’ and ‘dismayed’, (a play on words mind you), are reflexive in one and causative in the other. In other words, God is very strongly saying to Jeremiah here: “If you dare proclaim My words out of a broken spirit which is terrorized by your own self- protection and personal anxiety, then I will throw you into a whole sea of anguish and break you in pieces upon the rocks of your own cowardice!” Hard words. Indeed, Matthew Henry comments on this, saying: “Those that consult their own credit, ease, and safety, more than their work and duty, are justly left of God to themselves, and to bring upon themselves the shame of their own cowardliness.” The modern church seems to have lost all understanding of the coupled privilege and authority given in the declaration of God’s holy wordWord. There is no power in our pulpits and consequently there is not imparted power in our people. There are salesmen in the pulpits and so there is silliness in our people. Cowards deliver the Word and therefore cripples leave our buildings and in the end, our land is left to us desolate and doomed for destruction. Slander. Bitterness. Anger. Bullying. Wrongful arrest and imprisonment, Loneliness. Loathing. Looking. Longing. Waiting. Wondering. All these and many more terrible things besides shall be the daily bread of the prophet of the Lord. Even so, though they all would fight against Jeremiah, God assured him that they would not overcome him. God would deliver him. Yes, God would be to Jeremiah his very personal snatch squad for God would come and steal Jeremiah away from death, doom and destruction.
The greatness of any task makes us greatly aware of our own great deficiencies. No doubt, you like Jeremiah are aware of your own personal deficiencies tonight. No matter. For if God has called you and commanded you to do something. , Do do it. ! Remember, that your only real protection in the end, indeed, even the fulfillment of all God’s promises to you, will only be found in the middle of the fulfillment of God’s commands. Be sure to be found right there then. Mark this now: Those who are with God, have God with them, and therefore need not fear anyone or anything that comes against them! Do you believe this? If you do believe this, then press on with confidence. If you do not, then stay off the battlefield.
Listen:- Thus the Lord said to me: "Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say to them, 'Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.’…” Jeremiah 17:19-20NKJV
Pray: - Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Indeed they say to me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!" As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You. Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom. Let them be ashamed who persecute me, But but do not let me be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, But but do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, And and destroy them with double destruction! Jeremiah 17:14-18 NKJV
If this Everyday Bible Insight has helped you - then do please share it! Also, why not go to your devices iTunes store (or other) and write us a great review - 5 Stars if course!
Did you know that we are preaching from each of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible in the 66 Most Influential Cities of the 250 Nations of the World? That's 16,500 cities which will hear a solid prophetic message from each book of the Bible over the next 25 years! Do you want to be part of this? Then please go to www.66Cities.TV to find out how.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
The watchtower of Waiting
MASTERY
The watchtower of waiting
Habakkuk 2:1
I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. NKJV
Remember then, that the prophet Habakkuk is having what we might call, a ‘crisis of faith.’ In other words, he has seen what the proud, self possessed and brutal army of the Chaldean’s, God’s sword of judgment, shall do to his people and he just cannot match this up with his understanding of the pure nature of God. Therefore, he has gone above the cry and clamor of the city and especially the whirlpool sucking of his own now very turbulent soul and mind, and is now waiting to see what God will say to Him. Yes, Habakkuk is making watchtower space to wait for the whisper of the still small voice of God within him. Then and now, God speaks to His people in five distinct ways:
1. By His Spirit through His Word.
2. By His Spirit through our conscience.
3. By His spirit through His providence.
4. By His spirit through His people.
5. By His spirit through God interpreted pictures.
The end of all this speaking shall be for us all, at the very least, an almost physically felt movement in the very centre of our being, for the breathed out whisper of God is the most powerful force in the universe and in us, it is most surely felt. One Word spoken from Him, you see, changes everything in earth and heaven and in the countless unseen vast dimensions. Just one word. It’s worth waiting for, and certainly for Habakkuk the word he receives shall salve his heart, solve the difficulties in his mind and strengthen him for the challenges to come.
I am sure that Habakkuk did not arrive on top of his own watchtower to then calmly sit in the ‘lotus position.’ He is obviously agitated, frustrated and confused. Even so, and this is very important, he has now wrestled himself into a waiting stillness and it has been an energetic struggle as well, for it has involved an emotional emptying, it has involved an eviction of all the violent doubtings of his mind, together with a binding and gagging of the words and works of his unbelieving flesh. The watchtower for Habakkuk may well have been an external and physical place, but essentially, our watchtowers are always set on the internal mountain ranges of delectable watching. Yes, our watchtowers, you see, are within, and we often have to fight within ourselves to finally get on top of them.
Habakkuk arrives atop his tower for a single purpose really: to see what God will say to him in answer to his complaint. This is the essential meaning of the last part of this verse for today.
Therefore, be sure of this: that the exit road from doubting castle will always lead to the delectable mountains, and for those that really want to see, Mount Clear is the peak to peek into Emmanuel’s land. Tell me then dear friend tonight, where are your watchtowers and have you ascended your own delectable internal mountain ranges to gain a view of the world to come? Even to quietly wait for the voice of the Lord?
Get your climbing boots on buddy for Mount Clear is worth the ascent!
Listen: - “By this time the pilgrims had a desire to go forwards, and the shepherds a desire they should; so they walked together towards the end of the mountains. Then said the shepherds one to another, "Let us here show to the pilgrims the gates of the Celestial City, if they have skill to look through our perspective glass." The pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion: so they had them to the top of a high hill, called "Clear," and gave them their glass to look. Then they essayed to look; but the remembrance of that last thing that the shepherds had showed them made their hands shake, by means of which impediment, they could not look steadily through the glass: yet they thought they saw something like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. Then they went away, and sang this song: ‘Thus by the shepherds secrets are revealed, Which from all other men are kept concealed: Come to the shepherds, then, if you would see Things deep, things hid, and that mysterious be.’ " Pilgrims Progress – John Bunyan – Section 8
Pray: - Lord, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord From this time forth and forever. Psalms 131 NKJV
If this Everyday Bible Insight has helped you - then do please share it! Also, why not go to your devices iTunes store (or other) and write us a great review - 5 Stars if course!
Did you know that we are preaching from each of the 66 Books of the Holy Bible in the 66 Most Influential Cities of the 250 Nations of the World? That's 16,500 cities which will hear a solid prophetic message from each book of the Bible over the next 25 years! Do you want to be part of this? Then please go to www.66Cities.TV to find out how.
Feb | 09 | Of ghostly touches and whispers from the grave
FREEDOM
Of ghostly touches and whispers from the grave
John 10:7-10
Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” NKJV
Patrons and trustees of churches usually present themselves as being a person or body ‘under God’ who are under law, acting in the best interest of the parishes they represent in order to ensure that the right appointments are made in the parish which will maintain the original intention of the benefactors, founders or organisationorganization. Congregations might refer to this good intention of the patron as Simony, Cronyism, or control. In any event, it essentially removes the right of a congregation to call, consider, and appoint the minister of their own choosing. The system under the guise of patronage protectionism, reserves the right to maintain its historic, financial and property interest in the present day functioning of the parish, church or organization.
My present address is Williamsons Quay, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The plaque on the sea wall outside of our apartment reads “Site of St James Church, 1842-1970, Originally a Secession Church, in Cowan Street, Last Minister: Rev John Williamson”
Many churches in the 1800’s seceded from the Church of Scotland over the issue of patronage amongst others. The dust of St James is one upon which I presently reside. It seems that at some point, the congregation rejoined the Church of Scotland and in the so doing lost their building. The story goes that the building was eventually deemed to be unsafe and of course, there was no money for repairs and so the congregation was heaved out and the building and land put up for demolition and sale, the monies accrued from this, being put into causes which were deemed to be living. Rev. John Williamson was in his eighties at the time and was having none of it, essentially calling the building report, a fraud. He and his small congregation of 25 souls, were never the less evicted from the disputed property, and meeting in the open air of his first service, Williamson publicly lambasted the presbytery for acting ‘out of Biblical order.’ I wonder if John could smell a financial rat? Two years later, the Rev Williamson, now aged 84, was holding church services in a bus. He died that same year and was buried with his wife Celia who had departed this life some 22 years earlier. The bottom of the head stone reads: “O for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still”
It is essentially money that has shaped our denominations. Money finds it power in the possession of property and place, and when used to control, it lifts up these two material things as treasures far above the people it is supposed to bless. I tell you now, if your giving is tied to a leash, it will eventually be turned into a biting dog. Therefore, let your giving be dove-like. Let it be launched into the heavens and into the hands of God. It will come back to you with green life. When you give then, let it go, for giving with strings attached is invested interest and control. If you want to do this, then go find a limited company to put your money into, stocks and shares, not the church of the living God! Did you know that the elders of parish churches in the Church of Scotland had the right to get the army in to ensure their ministerial candidate was put in place! ? When civil law controls the church, when a body of patronic trustees reverts to the law of the land to rule the church of the living God, then some might say that this was close to the control of demonic witchcraft.
Money moves and rules the church in these islands of mine and the end of all of this is death. As the church on these Christian shores disappears into the foaming sea, and those of us who are left choose whether money of or the Holy Spirit shall direct the remnant, I hear even now the weeping of the earth and the short breathed whisper from the Lomond hills mourning the loss of Christianity and saying: “O for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still”
It’s time to let go of Simon and his money and for you to raise up your voice in this land once more. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Listen:- “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:11-16 NKJV
Pray: - Father, deliver us into the true freedom of Your greatness, Your presence, and Your utter Sovereignty. Provide for us our daily bread and our daily needs. Your Kingdom come, not ours, Your will be done, not ours. Open then our lips that we might sing out Your praises and the glories of Your Gospel. Lift up Jesus in me and then empower me to lift Him up before others that You might draw all men to yourself and the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world might receive the reward of His suffering. Let the vanished hand of Jesus in this land be manifest once more. Let the voice of the Gospel sing loud its song of salvation. Amen and let it be so.
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