"ABBA"

(Galatians 4:6) “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"”

Another familiar morning as I sit at my desk surrounded by the bliss of peacefulness as I ponder my standing before such an awesome God. What words could I find to glorify His name? Where to from Here? He is grand and I am so small! Even my thoughts are so puny in comparison to His brilliance. What message could I relay to my God that would bring a smile to His face? The answer is an easy one, we needn’t venture far searching our grand words or looking to make extreme sacrifices hoping that will find favour from our God, we need only remember His Son our Saviour the Lord Jesus as we spend time considering what He has done and not what we could or should do. The whole of creation revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ! Without Him we would not exist! Without Him we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins! Nay but now we are alive in Him; our eyes have been opened to heaven and all its glory, capable of praying to almighty God and knowing that he hears our cry! While others pray and they are not heard because they have rejected the Lord Jesus, it is not so for the Christian, in fact we cry “Abba” (my) Father, a very intimate and personal relationship with the great I AM! How often have you heard someone call out in prayer like this, “to you up there who ever you are please help me”? It is not so for the Christian; I am able and with confidence to cry “MY Father”! And all because of Jesus Christ our Lord, our Saviour; the reality of this thought sends tears down my cheeks, thank you Jesus! God the Holy Spirit fill my mind with less of me and much more of Him. Even more, do not stop; Endurance is my cry! Joash the king of Israel only struck the arrow three times, but give me strength to strike until I can bare the pain no longer and even then I would pray for a little more forte! Fill my mind, open the floodgates  of thoughts on Him, all the words penned in every book ever written would not be able to exhaust His majestic attributes, do not stop, open my eyes show me His glory I pray! And to think that He died for me, THANK YOU my great God and King! Thank you for interceding for weak and feeble old me, so many mistakes to my life and here I sit reassured that He belongs to me and I belong to Him; to know that my God now cares for me.

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:26-27) – Why is it that we spend so much time on self, whether it is by accusing or excusing our conduct when we have such a perfect Saviour who has died for all those whom God has given Him? He has done it all! God help us to look to Him!

Thank you God the Holy Spirit for the perspective you lead the children of God into, you open our eyes and you show us JESUS, praise His name! And because of Him we can cry ABBA Father, God the ruler of this universe and beyond cares for the Christian; He cares for me!  

Signing off

Tyrone

A Test for the Christian!

In accordance with sound doctrine should we as Christians be tested?

Let us explore further…

Let’s face it, who actually thrives on assessments? Only those who ace them! As for the rest of us, every effort is made to avoid them where possible. And yet some tests are simply unavoidable. Take my son Mongi he is nineteen and now needs to get a driver’s license and the only way to achieve that is to take the test and furthermore pass it, for him to legally be allowed to drive a vehicle on the roads. I see his mind now maneuvering to achieve this goal; he has begun to factor in what driving lessons will cost and how often he will need to work to achieve his objective. He has begun to strategize! There is another way that some have obtained their drivers licenses in South Africa but it is the way of the criminal, for the right price and with the right contact they can be bought! However, even though these documents may fool the authorities, it will never be genuine!

Now with that principle established, let us consider our original question; “must we as Christians be tested?” Yes! “Why?” one may ask. Let us explore further…

There are numerous examples we could glean from for us to arrive at our conclusion, here is but one; when the Lord, by Moses lead the children of Israel out of slavery from Egypt these were His words; “Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.” (Exodus 16:4) – Here is the reason for the test; 1. It was God who now made provision for them by raining manna from heaven, He fed them! Nevertheless they had their part to play; they were only allowed to gather what was needed for a day, they were not permitted to gather manna for the following day. It was to be done daily! Their temptation could well have been to gather twice as much as was needed, the schemer would have possibly considered making life easier for their families by gathering more that was needed and hoping that it would make life a little easier. However that was not permitted, no differently I suppose in principle to an individual buying a driver’s license instead of obtaining it legally! The test was a simple one, to prove whether they would walk in God’s laws or not! God tried them to find out whether they would trust him, and walk in the law of faith or not, whether they could live from hand to mouth, and be satisfied with the bread of the day in its day, and then depend upon God for fresh supplies tomorrow. There was also another reason to see whether they would serve him through faithfulness. Whilst on earth the Lord Jesus taught us the very same principle; “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:31-34) – Do you see the similarity in the instruction? Their dependency was on the Lord and His righteousness, so too should our dependency be on the Lord and His righteousness; will we learn to trust, obey and to walk by faith? That is the test! Or will we look to make our own plan by using the systems of the world to further our careers becoming self-sufficient? The more I study this the more I realise how Satan’s ploy has been included by so many; even many a Christian has embraced this trap! God seeks a people who will solely depend on Him and not on their degrees and bank balances!

Before what I say gets taken out of context let me make it very clear, that does not mean we needn’t work! If a man does not provide for his family he is worse than an unbeliever; we are clearly taught this from scripture. It was still up to the children of Israel who journeyed through the Wilderness to go out and gather bread. The lesson is a simple one, will we walk by faith or will we depend on self?

Jacob would be a good example to glean from; He left his home with staff in his hand, nothing else! He then found a job working for Laban, where he most worked hard “by the sweat of his brow”. His employer then plotted against him in an unfair manner to benefit from his hard work. This is where his God/our God stepped in and blessed him abundantly. Why? Jacobs trust was in His God and not in his labour!

The Christian must and will be tested, God give us the resolve to find His grace for correct application throughout this day and well into the future. We have this hope that one day in the not too distant future this expectation shall become our reality; “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:7)   

Signing off

Tyrone

The reality of it all!

(2Corinthians 6:17) “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will welcome you.”

Gratefully the closer we draw near to Christ the nearer He draws unto us. However the same applies for the world with all its smut! ““Yes,” says the world, “be spiritually minded by all means, but do not deny yourself a little gay society, an occasional ball, and a Christmas visit to a theatre. What’s the good of crying down a thing when it is so fashionable, and everybody does it?” Multitudes of professors yield to this cunning advice, to their own eternal ruin. If we would follow the Lord wholly, we must go right away into the wilderness of separation, and leave the Egypt of the carnal world behind us. We must leave its maxims, its pleasures, and its religion too, and go far away to the place where the Lord calls his sanctified ones.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Remember the father of faith’s example, Abraham! We too can learn much from his flawless example; after affording Abraham his long awaited promise, Isaac; did there not come a day were God said, “Let me test Him?” He was asked to go on a journey, to leave the comforts of home and to sacrifice his son Isaac! Let us dwell here, pause and contemplate the enormousness of God’s request… I am not sure there could be any greater test for a father! And yet God gave up His Son for us, the enemies of the cross! There is no one greater than God our Father, praise His name!

The testing of our loyalties to God must become ubiquitous in our lives, one way or the other! The closer we draw nigh unto the Lord the more obvious testing becomes a reality! Although separation from this world is require we articulate to ourselves that it is very lonely place to be and we ask the question is that really necessary? Those types of thoughts have been designed to keep the fruits of the Spirit far from us. “O to be more like our Saviour”, must be our cry! “The further from a viper the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers let the trumpet-call be sounded, “Come ye out from among them, be ye separate.” (Charles Spurgeon)

What chance do we have with so many loitering attractable lolly-pops beckoning us to come a little closer, appealing to our senses? They appear so palatable and yet they are so fattening to the soul; leaving us sluggish and unfit for the Masters use! They leave our minds off-balance and cause us to lose our way and before long we find ourselves asking the question, “How did I end up here?” I have heard many reputable preachers say, “God doesn’t mind people having abundance.” Be that as it may, the greater our need the more we will cry out unto our God! The more we will depend upon Him! Maybe I speak out of turn but that is most certainly my experience! Either way it is imperative for the sake of our souls to remain far from the viper! And yet at times we like to see how close we can actually get. May God forgive us! Thank you Father for your patience even with your wayward children and thank you for your willingness to teach even me! O to get a glimpse of what it means when God says that He is able to save even the most unruly of men; “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25) – Thank you Lord Jesus!

All I know that when David was idle in the palace while his trusted men were at war, with the palace indulgences available to him. It was at that indolent time of his life that he fell into sin with Bathsheba and in turn that became a very trying time of his life! There where consequences to his sin; he lost his son and later on in life his son Absalom rose up against him, looking to overthrow him and kill him! But it was at that time of this hardship that his fellowship with God was sweet! Away from the comforts of this world, far from the comforts of the palace; fleeing for his life, enemies pressing him hard on every side; “David was now in great grief; when, in his flight, he went up the Mount of Olives, he wept greatly, with his head covered, and marching bare-foot; yet then he composed this comfortable psalm. He wept and prayed, wept and sung, wept and believed; this was sowing in tears. Is any afflicted? Let him pray; nay, let him sing psalms, let him sing this psalm. Is any afflicted with undutiful disobedient children? David was; and yet that did not hinder his joy in God, nor put him out of tune for holy songs. 2. He was now in great danger; the plot against him was laid deep, the party that sought his ruin was very formidable, and his own son at the head of them, so that his affairs seemed to be at the last extremity; yet then he kept hold of his interest in God and improved that. Perils and frights should drive us to God, not drive us from him.” (Matthew Henry) – Exposition from psalm 3  

So here then is the instruction and the reward, which will be very sweat for all who obey the voice of God. Although sacrifice will become part of our lives, it is obedience that God requires from His children! God help us to instill this mind-set deep within the hidden ravines of our minds and souls driving us to find His will for our lives. Remember it is God the Holy Spirit’s work who turns our eyes away from self; but Satan looks to do the exact oppose; let us be of this mind to constantly look to our God as we find His grace looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith!

“Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." (2Corinthians 6:17-18)

Signing off

Tyrone

The hope of glory

Considering the history of South Africa; segregation, with apartheid a norm to the average white South African. We were sheltered from the reality of it all! Outnumbered eight to one and yet we did not have one black pupil at either of my schools, as a junior nor a senior. In fact I only ever saw whites on the soccer or rugby field. To be honest I never gave it much thought, it was the norm! How things have changed, the wall of apartheid a thing of the past and without question a proper change. However with change if the principles of the Lord Jesus Christ are pushed aside, how positive is any amendment? Sin will take on another form doing what it does best and that is to destroy as it thrusts to bring forth death!

How we as a country have deteriorated, abortion legalized with pornography on every corner. What chance do we have to avoid God’s judgment? I am thankful for the account of Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham’s deliberation with God for his nephew Lot. It is up to the individual Christian to intercede for the state of their country and for us to be effective we must seek out God’s will for our lives. As long as there are true Christ centered Christians living a life of obedience, we know that God will spare a city for the sake of the righteous. “Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."” (Genesis 18:28)   

We must take refuge in our King! And just like Sodom and Gomorrah if it is to be destroyed the Christian will be saved from the destruction! How one may ask? Remember Noah! How God warned him of the destruction to come, how he followed God’s instruction by building the Ark. Our “Ark” is the Lord Jesus, so we needn’t fear! We must cling to our hope through all of life’s calamities fixing our eyes on Him and it will be well with our souls! It is obvious that the trial of life will begin to squeeze even tighter from here on in. Who deliberately actually goes out of their way to look for hardship? It was a cold night last night and so I made sure I had enough blankets on my bed to keep me snug, I didn't say to myself let me rather sleep in the tree house without any blankets. It may seem like a silly example but hopefully it will stress the point. I can vividly recall a time in my military training that seemed an absolute waste of time, to enforce such strain on our bodies seemed such a futile exercise; at the time anyway! However on reflection I understand how that time of my life taught me so many valuable lessons. Our God is preparing us for a great office in the life to come; we must learn to settle our minds on hardship; it will stand us in good stead! It will only be for a season and then once we have learnt what is needed our God will say, “Enough” and He will bring relief! Remember our kin; how they were destitute wandering around the desert is sheepskin. That was a very tough time for them but God was with them and He commended them for their resolve. Where are they now? They are in heaven waiting for the trumpet of God to sound when they will be changed and receive their glorified bodies.

The day will soon arrive in the not too distant future when the trumpet of God will sound and we shall be caught up in the air to ever be with Him! “Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed—in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed.” (1Corinthians 15:51-52) – There are 10 virgins but only 5 of them were wise! Let us make every effort to focus on what counts, the will of God for our lives! We needn’t be consumed by the need for electric fences to keep us safe from the dangers we find in South Africa. Our God will give His angels charge over us! And even if we were to lose our lives we will open them in heaven. What a splendid hope the Christian has!

However we must not be passive and rest our assurance on our partners or parent’s relationship with Christ; we must secure our hope in Him! “Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, two will be seated on the same couch that night. The one will be taken, and the other will be left behind. Two women will be grinding grain together. The one will be taken, and the other will be left behind." (Luke 17:32-35)

Let us find grace to run the race with patience; it will be worth it all! This then is what we are striving for, for all those who finish the race will be crowned with this reality; “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There won't be death anymore. There won't be any grief, crying, or pain, because the first things have disappeared." The one sitting on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new!" He said, "Write this: 'These words are trustworthy and true.'" Then he told me, "It has happened! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give a drink from the spring of the water of life to the one who is thirsty. The person who conquers will inherit these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:4-7) – Even so come quickly Lord Jesus!

Signing off

Tyrone   

   

The lessons of life

A question often asked, “What is life all about?” The answer stares the Christian smack between the eyeballs with God’s will the over-arching theme behind it all. Come what may, He shall be exalted and His will shall come to pass!

When we consider the vastness of that objective we will soon be lost trying to unstitch it all. However when we break it down on a personal level, we can all then find the answer to life. It is now no longer so involved; we needn’t make head or tail of all the filth we witness throughout our lifetime; rape, child molesting, murder, armed robbery and the like. I am comfortable to leave all that apparent negativity in the hands of my God as I know He is in perfect control. What is it then that I need to do? I must simply work out the will of God for my life!

The Apostle Paul teachers that we must learn to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and work out; through testing, the acceptable, good and perfect will of God. I needn’t worry about what Joe Soap is doing; I will have to give an account to God for my life and not the life of another. Do I believe He is in perfect control, does He own the cattle on a thousand hilltops and is He a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him? Without question He will look out for all who resolve to give Him the Honour He deserves. Our God is good!

Many like me may feel we have made a hash of it up until now, what is a man to do? The past has run its course and there is nothing we can do about that. Nevertheless we can latch onto the time we have left and make the most of it! We can by the grace of God search Him out to make straight our crooked paths. When I consider the goodness of Jesus I am gob smacked and yet forever thankful! What a merciful God I serve! “While we have breath we have hope!” God help us to latch on to Him with all our might as we diligently search out His will for our lives.

Where then do I start? His righteousness must be the first thought I clasp onto in the morning and then as the day progresses when I find myself doing something that pleases Him I must cleave to it as I search out His grace to make it part of my character. We must rid ourselves of trying to conform to this world but rather look to renew our minds with God’s wine; forget the messages of Hollywood as they are nothing but lies! We must make every effort to conform our minds to the will of God which will help us understand what our Heavenly Father finds proper, pleasing and perfect! Our body is for the Lord as well as the Lord for our body! We must learn to glorify God with our bodies! The deceitfulness of sin looks to trick us into believing that we will lose out if we do not conform to this world, it is a LIE! God blesses those who seek Him out! "Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30) – When we learn that sin is our burden and we acknowledge that we want no part of it our God will step in and lighten our load, He will reward us for our obedience! We will find rest for our souls, we will cry out with confidence, “it is well with my soul!”

Signing off

Tyrone 

  

The answer to life...

When I consider the brilliance of God this morning my thoughts mathematically begin to equate something far more complicated than Newton's second law of physics and then when I throw myself, a simple man, into the mix, I am left with absolute opposites. No wonder, without Christ’s selfless sacrifice how on earth would we ever arrive at a usable formula, let alone an accurate conclusion.

To you O Lord belongs righteousness and I am but a perpetual sinner; “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these”; and the end of my life results with death! This reflects the very core of my existence; in fact all men have this make up, because we resonate from the same substance, bodies of flesh tainted by sin. But you O God are loving, full of joy, peaceable, patience, kind, good, and faithful, gentle beyond belief, full of self-control, eternal, omnipresent, sovereign, all knowing, eternal and to searching you out there is no end.

How then with complete opposite characters will we ever co-exist? Man has tried numerous times throughout the ages to arrive at some meaningful conclusion, but to no avail! Philosophies, religions, cults, scientists and evolutionists have tried to make sense of it all! BUT only God has the power to arrive at a workable calculation that is accurate and true.

Here is the ANSWER; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)  - Consider a mathematical equation; by applying the correct formula to the calculation if followed correctly we will arrive at the precise answer, if not our answer will be wrong!

The only way man is capable of having a relationship with the only true triune God is through the finished work of Calvary! It was a perfect sacrifice that bridged the gap between the man and God! Why do some still then oppose the formula that will open our eyes and enlighten us to the truth?

Here then is the reason; “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:18-21)  

There are some points we need to consider, firstly all those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus are condemned. If the formula tells us to multiply and we ignore that which has been tried and tested and instead we decide to subtract we will never be accurate. Our answer will be wrong! Why do men then ignore the formula? The Lord Jesus is light and they love darkness rather than light, sin which is evil is more attractive! If we come to the light and continue practicing our wicked habits, the light will then expose how wicked we actually are and for this reason men avoid the truth and continue to look for alternative formula to the answers of life; There is no other correct Formula! Search high and low but to no avail! “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)   

And this is all I have to say about that!

Signing off

Tyrone

A cake not turned...

(Hosea 7:8)  “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.”

Be still! Listen! Now clear the mechanism and ponder the miracle of sanctification. How great is my God? No man can fathom the height, depth and infinite mercy of such an awesome God. And yet if we cry out to God the Holy Spirit He graciously gives us these majestic glimpses of God our Saviour. Visual memories fueling us for the day ahead, come what may, our God reigns! The question that needs answering, does He reign within our hearts in all areas of our lives?

Has divine grace infiltrated every nook and cranny of our being? Or are we like Ephraim a cake unturned? Only baked on one side! Many areas of our lives are off-limits to the working of the Spirit; how we, how I, need God to show me the blemishes that taint and remain. The more we see Him, the deeper our understanding and the more ongoing sanctification is required. Partial obedience is exactly that, everything else untouched by divine grace is nothing more than rebellion! Our God is a jealous God and He will not share us with the enemy!

Let us call on our soul charging it to search us out! How we need sanctification of spirit, soul and body. Do I accommodate any thoughts beyond the bounds of grace; do I allow them to take root becoming intentions? Our glorious Saviour was guiltless and our intent by the grace of God must be to follow suite! We need to arrive at His example, or at the very least strife for obedience to rule our lives. Obedience to God is my prayer!

I acknowledge that there is much work to do, nevertheless my God is able to save from the outermost to the uttermost! My trust rest with Him! Grace needs to go through the very core of my being. Sanctification is my prayer and my aim on this cold and sprightly morning. I needn’t worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself. Today is the day of salvation, my cry is for rebellion to remain far from me my God; give me the resolve to find grace to obey. Make me more and more like my great Saviour, even Jesus Christ my Lord!

How I long to put off this body of death, just a little longer and the trump of God may sound! But until then teach all your children these valuable lessons. A cake unturned is only half the job required! Has religion become the order of the day, has my heart become callous in a particular area as the intense heat of pride robs me of so many wondrous attributes of my Saviour. Try me, test me but above all reveal the rot so that grace may be administered to heal even the smallest of blemishes. Turning my unsanctified nature into the fire of your love, alleviating the charred scars of disobedience to cool off as they find alignment to your will; how I long to hear those words “enter into my rest”, Jesus Lord of my life, thank you for the intersession you afford me, I will be forever grateful!

I long for the days of double-mindedness to dissipate into the distance no longer to be considered. Even a memory of the past is affording that folly to much honour, be gone once and for all! I know in whom I have believed; with God all things are possible! This then is my prayer, burn not only the one side of my life but all sides that oppose your will…

The Love of God who can comprehend it, who can know it in its extensiveness? But this I know that God sent His beloved Son, even Jesus Christ the Lord, my Lord to pay the price for my sin! Thank you merciful Father God!

“The best private devotion is made up, half of searching the scriptures in which God speaks to us, and the other half of prayer and praise, in which we speak to God” (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone

The Mother Lode

The scripture is full of precious gems that we need to industriously search out; no differently to a miner selling all and then travelling to a faraway land in search of the “mother lode”. There must be a deliberate intention on our part as we set out to find these life changing pockets of treasure. The irony of it all is that they are hidden in plain view. And yet without faith as our key ingredient these life-changing gems will elude the Christian!

I suppose that is why the evil one has chosen to infiltrate “faith” no differently to how he chose to tempt Eve in the Garden! A distortion of the truth is all he needs someone to latch onto to achieve his goal. Things like, “being drunk in the spirit”, “laughing uncontrollably”, “gold dust falling from the roof of churches” and the like is all a distortion of God’s blessings as it is apparently linked to faith by so many.

It is not this “fool’s gold” paragon I seek… my desire is rather to search for the true treasures available to the Christian.

Let us explore further…

For us to be the benefactors of these gems (God’s blessings) we must take Him at His Word; this is where faith becomes imperative! Let us look at some examples; “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4)

How will the Father reward us? There are many differing opinions on this; however there is a certainty no one can dispute; the glittering virtues of Jesus Christ’s character are the jewels; the fruits of the spirit are the best of rewards. That is the “mother lode” I hunt out! Which are; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-25) – It is one thing to say we are believers and that we live by the Spirit, but quite another to “walk by the Spirit”. For Christians to walk in the Spirit, everything in our lives must hinge on faith if we earnestly desire to make these treasures our own! Our minds need renewing! We must learn to understand our Saviours character and it is only through the trial of life that this will become apparent. Our natural tendencies are to avoid hardships, or to buckle under them as we give into sin; testing, or better known as the “trial of our faith” is for our benefit, remember Job! The only way to refine gold is to put it through the fire! In like manner we understand that even the Lord Jesus, an upright man, who lived a life without sin, needed to learn obedience through suffering. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,” (Hebrews 5:8-9) 

And obviously we will never get through our suffering if we do not obey our God taking Him at His Word. For this we will need a perpetual flow on the grace of God; it is needful to constantly search out this treasure, Grace! We must learn to trust God through it all and not base our feelings on our bank balances, but rather look to the Word of God to become our assurance. Remember Sarah, Abrahams wife, she was an old woman who was way past her “expiry date” in relation to child bearing and yet it was by faith that she believed God receiving power to conceive!

How is it that when we see scripture as it is we often tend to look for an easy out, to our own peril I must add, instead of trusting its direction whilst wrestling to make it our own. Here is an example that will illustrate my point rather proficiently; a beggar loiters in rags suffering the cold of winter whilst begging bread, what do we do? Do we help or do we conclude that we work so why shouldn’t he? I have had many a discussion on this topic. Some say by giving him even a few coins we make it easier for him not to find work while others reason it away with some other tactic, resulting in the same conclusion; they withhold what is theirs from the beggar. What should we do? “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42) – You see we make it about him when in fact it is all about us; we hold on to what is ours because of our selfish hearts, the test is, are we willing to apply the instruction of scripture to our lives? One may ask, “What does that have to do with faith?” And I must conclude, “Compliance to the Word of God is faith!” It is time to get back to basics; I believed that as time progressed I became wiser, when in fact I have walked past some many precious gems in scripture.

May God give me a heart to trust and obey without the foolish wisdom of this world tainting my understanding as it gets in the way of my relationship with Him! Your struggle will vary from mine, nevertheless the lesson remains, believe God, trust Him through it all with the mind of a child and when He says jump, let us not look at the dangers on all sides but let us focus on the strength of His outstretched arms!

Signing off

Tyrone

Maturity

(Job 13:15) “Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.”

These were Job’s words when under immense trial. He was convinced that His God, the only true God, was able to rescue him from such calamity, and even if He didn't he would nevertheless continue to hope in Him! This then is wisdom, to trust God through each and every situation we as individuals face on a daily basis, our hope must not deviate in relation to our predicament; we must call on God pleading our case. However we know and have been taught this certainty; “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) – There are but a few who have the testimony of Job, a man who pursued righteousness, shunned evil and feared God. We often need to deal with the lessons from God because of our own stupidity; nevertheless I thank God as He graciously and with mercy suckers His children through many difficult trials.

To consider this truth absolutely blows my mind, how great is my God, my Father, how I am gradually learning to appreciate this reality, the love of God! It leaves me gobsmacked and very grateful! May God continue to teach me His lessons through life, although some are very painful I am convinced of this truth, it is for my benefit! Wherever He may lead me, may my God please graciously renew my mind with this emphasis that I am to be trained up in the ways of righteousness.

There must come a time when we learn to accept the reality of the lessons in life; “When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1Corinthians 13:11) – Have we given up our childish ways or at least in the process of giving them up?

When the race is finished (our prize heaven) faith and hope will no longer be required as we will see our Saviour and our God for who He is, in all His glory. Love will remain as God’s love will surround us for eternity and what a day that will be!

Things may seem dark and confusing now in comparison to how they shall be when we get to heaven. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1Corinthians 13:12)  

We also know that we have been saved by grace through faith… faith, hope and love are the three principle graces, and we need to have all these graces active in our lives. Without faith it is impossible to please God, without hope the people will perish and without God’s love we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins! Now that we have freely received His love, we must find His grace through faith in hope to share the good news with others.

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1Corinthians 13:13)

“Faith fixes on the divine revelation, and assents to that: hope fastens on future felicity, and waits for that: and in heaven faith will be swallowed up in vision, and hope in fruition. There is no room to believe and hope, when we see and enjoy. But love fastens on the divine perfections themselves, and the divine image on the creatures, and our mutual relation both to God and them.” (Matthew Henry)

Signing off

Tyrone

  

Sin within the camp...

The writer of Hebrews asks us to pay careful attention to those who were saved out of Egypt so many years ago; in chapter 1 we have insight into the script of salvation for those who would repent and believed. We are informed on how God chose to save and the writer uses “in type” the saving of the children of Israel out of slavery from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea and then into the wilderness. But with many of them God was unhappy with their grumblings and their unbelief. They were disobedient! Our carnal natures naturally gravitate toward sin and wickedness, many hate acknowledging this truth to their lives. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)  - if we accommodate any form of wickedness, no matter how trivial we may want to believe it may be, we must all fall into a category, a class of people correctly classified as sinners. And yet we often hear people say, “I am a good person”. But that couldn’t be further from the truth when we examine ourselves in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ; God commends His Son for this exact reason; “But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." (Hebrews 1:8-9) – This lesson can only be truly learnt over time, as we learn to examine ourselves in light of our great Saviour.

As we move further on into the Israelites plight we understand that none of the original adults made it into the Promised Land save Joshua and Caleb. The reason for this is that they had a different spirit, they believed God and where not amongst the complainers.  As they began to conquer city after city just as God had promised, we get an insight as God begins to further reveal His own character and we see how He chose to deal with sin, his enemy, our enemy! Sin within the camp needed to be totally eradicated. Even when they captured new cities that was rife with sin, God’s command was kill all, spare no one, that meant even the children were slaughtered. “So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.” (Numbers 21:35)   

As I view that harsh reality in relation to my life with my struggles against sin I now understand my Fathers reason for such apparent brutality. Sin needs to be rooted from the core; it cannot be allowed to even lie dormant as it is a savage beast waiting to pounce. How often have you heard someone say, “You can see that he is his father’s child”! In other words if God let His enemies live even the children they would eventually become adults and fierce rivals. In like manner we must learn to appropriate the same measure of brutality against any sin in our own lives. It is the “little foxes that soil the vine”, O how we need to make this truth apparent to our existence, it will help us alleviate so much of the hardships in our lives. God help us to understand this reality! We must all learn to genuinely love righteousness and begin to HATE any form of wickedness that clings to our life as it is nothing more than a destructive disease, with one objective to keep all who ignore it opposed to the will of God!

Here are some bullet points that may help to jolt our minds into achieving this…

• ·         Endurance to endure unto the end with loyalty to Christ
• ·         If one has fallen we must get up, regardless of the our scarred knees
• ·         Endure  criticism from both within and without 
• ·         Through it all to find grace not to veer back off into sin…
• ·         Grace is the medicine used to cure all disease!

1.     Although we as Christians have Christ’s blood covering us through His sacrifice for our sins, nevertheless the instruction is very clear; “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4)

 

2.    I had let sin creep back into my life and I was not living like I once was did, it is time for a radical pruning that only God can help me with but it is imperative to find grace to appropriate it, it is what is required!

3.    Although a bad tree can never produce good fruit or good tree bad fruit, because of this wonderful God we serve, we have a storeroom full of grace that all who belong to Him have been afforded the opportunity to approach it with confidence and correct our wrongs, I have learnt that there is no disease greater than the healing power of the finished work of Calvary. Christ has conquered all! He alone has the power and the keys to eternal life; remember that while we have breath we have hope.

4.    With that said it may well be time for an audit to our lives… God help us to be honest with Him and ourselves.

Signing off

Tyrone

Those nagging sins...

Why is it that we only really look to examine ourselves when we are not walking according to the correct level we understand that we should be in relation to the call of obedience in our lives? The sickly needs the help of a physician and not the healthy! And yet to our own detriment we can live in denial, no differently to many HIV patients; may God help us and bring us to our senses!

However with that said who has ever been able to resist the will of God? “For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” (Romans 9:15) – And yet we must not use this mind-set as an excuse for our sin! We are accountable for our own actions!

We also know that doctrinally, the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the ultimate price for sin; no other sacrifice will ever be needed to satisfy God’s need for justice! So many wayward actions from all of his creation and yet the Lord Jesus has satisfied the retribution of all sins; that includes past, present and even future sins have been accounted for by the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice! Those that now belong to Him, those who have been born again, must all learn to kick any form of denial; we can no longer excuse our sin! “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1John 1:7-10)

So with that established… what happens if we continue to sin in certain areas of our lives without ever seeming to have victory? Are we covered by the blood of the lamb? The answer should be a simple one, but it needs some serious reflection, not using the “excusing or accusing” technique that we so readily find ourselves applying as we seek our own justification for our sin. Each one will have to give an account of himself to God. It is a lot easier to find freedom in the Lord when our lives are full of obedience, but are there times when disobedience has its part to play? I speak for myself, I am guilty as charged! Where does that then leave me? Am I a son or not? I obviously would like to believe I am! How can anyone ever continue in hope if doubt reigns? But we must seriously look at ourselves with transparency that hopefully will set us free when we find our own reality in the light of the will of God for those nagging besetting sins...

This is a topic that is not easily considered; nevertheless it must be seriously measured! There will be those that believe themselves to be saved but in fact were always the enemies of the cross; “"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” (Matthew 7:21-23) - It is clear to see that they weren't once saved and then lost their salvation along the way, or why would the Lord say, “I never knew you”? – So then it is obviously all about the will of the Father. Those who claim to belong to God and habitually continue in their sin as if it is acceptable will no doubt find themselves in the camp of the enemy. Hell will be their final destination!

I acknowledge this stern warning, a warning that I must seriously consider for my life, as I have been found wanting. I wonder will my actions in those areas that I detest ever find victory to the degree I am hopeful for. God knows! forgive me for my sin Father God, I am guilty as charged, help me put off the old nagging sinful nature that doesn’t want to leave me, I pray this needful prayer for my life in the mighty name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour.

What I have found helpful over the last couple of weeks is the seriousness that God has laid upon my heart in relation to the patterns of my life. Where have I gone wrong? Where did I lose my way in certain areas, and I trust in and through the mercies of God and by His wonderful fountain of grace I will now finally be able to put some things to rest. Without being specific in relation to the sin, here was my mistake; I was no longer careful about certain aspects that were once taboo in my life as a Christian.  Proverbs will help with this clarification; “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.” (Proverbs 6:16-22)

Let us break this down; let’s say I have a heart that is prone to devising wicked plans and I have a companion that brings that trait out in me whenever we are together. Would it be enough to stay away from him but keep his number on my phone just in case I ever needed it? Staying away would only be half the solution to me finding victory, I must be serious about my Fathers will and eradicate all the potential filth in my life to prove to Him that I am serious about my sin, I must then remove the number from my phone and cut all ties from the temptation that could lead me into sin. The apostle Paul puts it like this; “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.” (2Corinthians 7:10-11)

It may be time to revisit certain areas in your life, just as I have needed to earnestly confess my sin by revisiting those areas in my life that have caused me to be weak and feeble; we must find grace to clear and purge all those nagging sins that so easily rob us from walking a victorious Christian life.

We service our cars regularly, why then shouldn't we put time aside and do “a 120 point check” on our lives, we must! As it will one day be worth it all!

What is the greatest hope the Christian has? It will obviously be, to ever be with the Lord Jesus and the triune God. The hope that one day we shall receive a body that will be incapable of sin is such a wonderful expectation.

Make me more like my Lord and Saviour even now I pray…

Signing off

Tyrone 

   

An Urgent Plea...

As I sit at my desk this fresh and sprightly morning the supposition of war thunders through my mind probably for a number of reasons; with my body battling off a lung infection and the fresh memory of various skirmishes in my dream, it is no wonder that my thoughts are with this topic. War!

With the thoughts of earlier historical wars; I face so many negative emotions, fear, sadness, destruction and the loss of loved ones that people dealt with in the heat of the battle must have been heart wrenching for so many. There are so many rebuffs attached to war; and yet on evaluation war is very necessary when evil looks to reign. How is it that I can make such a statement? Once again we find the answer in the precious Word of God!

When we face various challenges in life, which is a given! We need to find answers on what should be done for any given situation. We believe that we should react according to the reaction of others; in other words when someone comes at us we feel justified to retort in the similar manner.

Let me be personal… just the other day I showed an existing customer a new product I had on offer. He was impressed with it asked the price, which I gave him and he said he wanted six. On my return as I was demonstrating the product to the salesperson when one of the owners walked by and asked the price, which I gave him! He said that was expensive, but the price had already been agreed upon by the buyer I was dealing with. After toying to and fro he then asked me “can we come back to you on that”? “No I do not want to do business with people like you” was my reply. Although he had just broken a binding verbal contract I had with his partner and all he now proved was the lack of his honour, my response was nevertheless rather sharp. However I still feel justified with my decision, but what about my tone?

Let us explore further …

“God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble” is a very well-known quote. But does that mean we must remain humble when standing for error! How could that even be true! Let me explain; should we as Christians make a stand against anything that opposes the Word of God? Or should we be passive and humbly hold our tongues? Obviously with this instruction from the Lord in the forefront of our minds; “"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”” (Matthew 7:6) – Society has so conditioned us into a warped kind of thinking that needs to be broken down by the Word of God. Nothing else will save us from ourselves! Jesus Christ the Word of God personified! Did the Lord Jesus ever back down form truth even when it was to His detriment? Truth must always be the pivot we swing to when in doubt. Only the truth can ever set us free; without it we will remain in the dark, even when we think we can see. This then is the futility of sin! But it is ever powerful! Without God’s intervention in our lives we will remain slaves to it! Not a very popular message, nevertheless true!

Test it for yourselves, who likes to be told they are wrong? This then is the message of the gospel; repent, acknowledge your sin and only then will God begin to work with our corrupt hearts.

More often than not the truth will always hurt, but more importantly it will set us free if we look to make it our own! For too long now I have turned a blind eye to certain sins in my life that I believed God would overlook because I was overlooking them, I was wrong! God cannot nor will He ever tolerate sin in any form whatsoever! It is of utmost importance that we seek His grace out to squash everything in our lives that doesn’t belong, any virus needs treatment and there is no virus that God cannot cure, He has overcome all! May God help us to see! God will test all his children, to help them understand where they stand on the balance-bar of obedience.

This then is probably the hardest tussle I have had to face in my Christian walk, but I am nevertheless thankful for it. Without His test in our lives we live in darkness if in fact we have ignored any sin ridiculed areas of our lives; “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1Peter 4:17)

We must all learn to wrestle like Jacob! 

Obedience will set us free…

Signing off

Tyrone