Jesus

Has anyone out there been finding it hard to get Jesus off their mind lately?

Does anyone get the sense that our King is on His way?

Martin Luther King

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefields besides, is mere fight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." - Martin Luther King

Honours Reward Chapter 2 - Honouring Parents

The word "Honour" was expounded on in chapter two and I found it very extremely enlightening. Also extremely challenging, in a good way.
"The simplistic and literal definition of honour is "a valuing."
When you speak of the word honour to a Greek man, he thinks of something valuable, precious, weighty, such as gold. Think of it-you don't put gold in your junk drawer; rather you assign it a place of honour. Other definitions of honour are appreciation, esteem, favorable regard, respect.
Sometimes to better understand a word, look at its counterpart. The antonym of honour is dishonour. The Greek word is atimia. Some of its definitions are: to not show respect or value; to treat as common, ordinary, or menial. When you speak of dishonour to a Greek man, he would think of something common, light, and easily done away with, such as vapor. A stronger form of dishonour is to be treated shamefully and even humiliated."

Through this section especially, God challenged me; "Do I hold my parents up in highest regard with honour? Or do I ultimately treat them with dishonour, if not in word or deed but in my heart?

This is the biggest thing for me since in the outward sense, to other people I would seem to be honouring to my parents. However God does not judge from the outward, God judges the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Do I truly honour those God has placed over me? Do I hold them in highest esteem as I would gold or silver? Do I appreciate them not for what they do for me but for who they are in my life - My parents. The very fact that God saw fit to give me to them is enough of reason alone to honour and respect them. For by honouring them I am honouring God's decision and choice for me in this life.

I know all too often I treat them with disrespect maybe not in the outward sense but most definitely at times in my heart. I treat their advice especially at times as "easily done away with", "menial", "common". Not a good thing.

We see the weight God puts on honouring parents alone in Exodus 21:17; "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." And also in Leviticus 20:9; "If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head."
Pretty hefty punishments there in the old law regarding the dishonour of ones Father and Mother. Through these scriptures we can see God's heart on the matter quite clearly and the bible says "He does not change, He is the same" (Micah 5:2) so its safe to say that He still holds the same value on honouring parental headship. If its this important to Him, it should be this important to us.

So to wind up my findings in chapter 2 I would say that God has definitely highlighted my need for first honour and respect in the home. Change has to begin within before we can start taking it out into the world and impacting others lives ("..You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much..." Matthew 25:23). Especially in the area of honouring parental headship. It is probably the most crucial step in our journey of learning to honour even though to our generation it would seem to be the least important.

Honours Reward - John Bever Chapter 1. "Our actions have consequences for eternity"

I think the biggest thing that really stood out to me in this first chapter of Honours Reward is that every action has a consequence for all of eternity.
That there alone is enough to ponder on for a long time. It is also a very humbling thought. Even though we are forgiven our sins when we confessed Jesus as our Lord and are saved from eternal damnation, the very fact that each choice we make here and now affects how we spend eternity with Christ, is quite frankly a scary one.

This is the couple of paragraph which really stuck out at me:
"Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward." (2 John 8)
Notice John says "That we may receive a full reward." While I meditated, the word full jumped off the page. I thought, If there's a full reward, then there's a partial reward, and even a no-reward scenario. (Remember we are not talking about salvation here, but rewards.) Upon further meditation I concluded there are two applications to which John is referring. The first is the Judgment Seat of Christ. Paul states: "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).
We know immediately Paul is not addressing all humanity, for when an unbeliever is absent from the body he is not present with the Lord; rather he is in hell. This may sound harsh, but its the truth. Jesus didn't come into our world to condemn it, quite the contrary, to save it. The world was already condemned because of Adam, who sold us over to eternal death (see John 3:17-18). Only those who receive Jesus the Christ by committing their lives completely to Him will be present with the Lord when they leave behind their earthly bodies. Paul continues to address the believers.:
"Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:9-10)
Every believer will stand before Christ's Judgment Seat. On that day each of us will receive according to what we did in our short time on earth. The Today's English Version states, "We will each receive what we deserve."* Our sins will not be judged, for the blood of Jesus eradicated the eternal punishment ascribed to sin. Rather, we will be rewarded, or suffer loss, for what we did as believers. Our deeds, words, thoughts, and even motives will be inspected in the light of His Word. The temporary things on which we built our lives will be devoured which will result in loss, and the eternal will be purified into everlasting rewards."

I think that for me, this is the beginning of an understanding of the weight that our Father in Heaven puts on each and every little choice we make.

*Its funny how when we hear that said in the religious or spiritual terms we get all upset as if some sort of right has been taken away from us. Yet in our natural world and judicial system we see it as only fair and right that a person receives either punishment or reward for their various actions.

Near misses

God is so good (just thought I'd put it out there in case it wasn't a known fact). Every time I get in my car I pray for a safe trip and charge ministering angels all around. The angels have never had a dull day when I'm behind the wheel.

• This morning, as I was driving to meet up with my workout partner I almost swiped a cyclist who for some silly reason rode straight by on my right side as I was about to turn right. It was a near miss and a scary one and even though he was in the wrong I was so grateful to God.
• This afternoon after work I had to duck into the city to pick up some Body Shop products for my sister. Usually it is a real nightmare (if not impossible) to find a park. But I prayed before I went. I got the park, right where I wanted it and made sure all the signage was a O.K for me to be there. It was, or so I thought. I raced into the Queen St Mall and grabbed what I needed and headed back...just as I was reaching my car a man in a blue uniform approached me and said; "Your lucky you didn't get a $200 fine. This is a tow-away zone." Yikes!!! How blessed am I.

The end for today.

The Battle Field

The sorrow is turning to anger. First it was dispare and sadness mixed, then it all came out in tears from two holes in my face, my brain was angered at the disturbance as it ached with the fact of the life around me. O' help!

To stop this cry that reaches from my heart and pours down my cheeks, this endless longing for a basic knowing.

Fighting the thoughts that threaten to push me back into the black, misty hole where arms are desperately trying to reach at me, grab me and pull be down into the inky blackness of no return.

I fight. I struggle. In my mind its all a battle field of thoughts and words of which I have let grow and take root for too long.

But somewhere there is a sprig of truth being tossed around for a lie. It's stem is both fresh green and a golden yellow and it shines like a light in the middle of a gray and horrific battle field. Will I reach the petal and grasp it up and treasure it and believe that it is more right and more truth than all the carnage I see on every side?

This is the mystery and this is the battle field where I fight.

Isaiah 55:10-11 "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

Total abandonment to the One who died so that I could live.

It has been a while since I have been on here [as is obvious] and today when I logged on I scrolled through my posts and saw that when I first started this blog it was the day of my 19th birthday. Well that is almost one whole year ago. Time flies.

This update is just an excerpt from an email I was writing out to my friend to day and its the subject that has been on my heart lately.

"I know how it feels being scared about stepping out for God and all. I battle the same thing. But really its just all about love and obedience. And we've just gotta look fear and the face with the "I just don't care" attitude and step out. I've done it before and it works. (Makes me wonder why I don't do it more often). Oh and about feeling inadequate, that's no excuse unfortunately. (I try to use that one on God often, it doesn't hold up). He is using "inadequate" people every second all over the globe. All He needs and wants is willingness and obedience. Look at Moses for instance, He didn't even know God and He was "slow of speech" but God appeared to Him in a really dramatic way and told Him to go and do a really dramatic thing. It was scary and Moses was scared but He stepped out. God used Him. He was called "A friend of God". Actually the book I am reading is not a 'preaching-at-you' sort of book. Its just a book sharing true stories and God has been extracting old truths out of it and bring them to my attention (Sister Freaks - Rebecca St James). Things that I had forgotten and buried under the "old-school religion" files. But Jesus is showing me, its not "old" or "religious" its called abandoning all to Him and sacrificing everything because He sacrificed His son for us. In our western world we don't know the meaning of sacrifice, we've watered down God's will and Word to suit our lifestyles ("Oh we'll go without one of our favourite foods for 40 days" or something. (Not criticizing anyone or anything, just thinking that there is more). All good intentions to be sure, but we cannot escape from the truth of the absolute hardcore sacrifice God gave us which was His son. Have you seen Will Smiths "Seven Pounds"? For me, that movie really brought to life what Jesus did for us and how we therefore should live out our life. Think about it. The character that Will Smith plays gives vital parts of His body to people who were struggling to live without them. In turn, how do you think these people [who were now free to live a normal life without fear of dying from their unfortunate circumstances] would feel? I know if I was in that position I would not take life for granted and I would try to live every day keeping in mind that a man died so I could live this day (and every day of my life) out in health and freedom. I would want to make the most of every second, every minute. Well, Jesus did no less, more in fact and look at the way we (or at least I) treat my life at times and live it so selfishly, as if its not worth all that much or of any great importance. But that wasn't how the King of Kings saw our lives as worth. He gave up everything for us because He saw us so worth it. Its only right, that I lay everything down in return at the feet of our King in honour and respect and thankfulness and love and reverence of what He did for me. He gave us life. Therefor we should be living it for Him with every fiber of our being. My spirit craves that life but my flesh screams at me and fights and kicks all the way. Its a journey in itself to get my flesh overcome by building my Spirit up stronger in Christ. I am so selfish. Jesus has made His power available to us and look how we live? We let the devil stamp and stomp all over us. If we truly knew who were were in Christ and really understood ALL that He has done for us. We would be 'blown away' and the devil in turn would be terrified of us. Anyway....that's my little raving rant for the day."

To love so much puts one in a vulnerable place. Jesus risked so much for love but "...for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame..." (Hebrews 12:2). Every soul that ever makes the decision to accept Him, every decision that we make to love, honour and obey Him is worth it. To Him it is worth all the pain He went through. Let us make more of those decisions and bring ultimate joy to our maker.

"Crucified
Laid behind a stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all"

Above All - Michael W. Smith