Why we are

A thought springs to life and then the mind begins to gain traction as the intent launches and it begins to grow. It’s not the thought that cause the destruction but rather the commitment to it. The working of the brain and its function is rather fascinating; enemy or ally, friend or foe? Once God enlightens our understanding to the way entrapment works and we start to recognize and understand it, it not very difficult to appreciate the way our minds are painted with hypocrisy. The fall of Adam and the sin of Eve took care of that. What Now? How does a man get the upper hand on such a curse? The answer is an obvious one, the Lord Jesus Christ and His victory on Calvary. Thank God that this was a once and for all time sacrifice, never to be repeated. It was far better than the First Covenant, Which was a continuous sacrifice for sin with other rituals thrown into the mix for other offenses. No! It is now finished, Jesus Christ the King of Glory has overcome, and He has conquered all. But where does that leave us? The call is this, DRESS FOR BATTLE!  

We needn’t wait for the “rains of life” to stop and then sing “I see clearly now” and then be willing to “put on the mind of Christ”; on the contrary; the harder the times the more the urgency. The harder the struggle the sweeter the victor, this is a truth that we must make own. Look at the accomplishments of our great Saviour and it will soon become very apparent. We must fly the flag of struggle with absolute confidence in our God and Father We are entering a very difficult time for the Christian; but in observation as I flip through the pages of history, I uncover men crucified for their faith and I see women enduring hardships that seem to be unheard of today. Yes, we must all have our struggles as it is part of the design. Therefore we need to take this instruction seriously and remember to dress for battle!

All do not have the opportunity to dress with battle fortitude which will keep the enemy at bay. It is an obvious fact that the struggle of life distresses everyone but is only God’s enlisted soldiers that have an armoury open them, those individuals who truly believer in the finished work of Calvary, those who have been born of the Spirit (God’s Spirit), and those who believe in their hearts that on the third day after his son’s death that God raised HIM from the dead. And for those who are willing to confess Him as Lord, not silently but publically with their mouths; these then are the ones who are entitled to enter the armoury at any given time and to freely dress for battle…

There is a universal key that opens this lock; He is the Lamb of God and His name is Jesus Christ the Lord; He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the great “I AM” and every knee will bow to Him and every tongue shall confess Him as Lord. If you are already counted amongst God’s number, if your name is called at roll-call then you need to get on with the business at hand, but for those who aren’t sure where they fit, or if they think that their name is called but cannot be certain, It would be far more prudent to err on the side of safety than chance. Which means, if there is doubt to whether you will be saved or not, whether you will end up in heaven or hell, if this thought eats at you, rather be safe than sorry. Remember that we are all guaranteed death (outside of those involved with the rapture), but death in the flesh is only the first leg of our existence. It is imperative we lockdown what is needed to hold us in good stead for our second leg and this happens when we shed our flesh and blood bodies. Do not be fooled into thinking that there is no afterlife; just because that may be your opinion does not mean it is a fact. Opinions will never change the laws of gravity, they are set in stone as it where, why? God has so ordained it. So too will our spiritual bodies live or die forever! Life for those found in Christ, true believers in what God the Father did for us, sending his Son to take our punishment; sinners who obtained mercy when we deserved no mercy.

For those of us who found grace, not because of who we are in ourselves, but because our God is a merciful God and somewhere along our life cycle we encountered the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who opened our eyes to the truth of life and death. He showed us our pitiful states, sinners destined to a Godless eternity and all because of our sin. Just imagine if He left us wallowing in the mire without any hope. The expression, “you’ve made your bed now lie in it” rings true. As a sinner and a hater of God, I was doomed to an eternal existence without God and yet God chose to make a way… Praise the glorious name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour; He sent His only Son to die in my place. If I had not come to understand this truth I would never believe it possible, and yet the only true living God chose to give me hope and so to free me from what I deserve, hell and all its filth, He chose rather to kill His Son so that I could go free. What a gracious God we serve, if in fact we serve Him.

Here is the good news, no rather the greatest news for now; if you still have breath and you still live in this world, this means you still have an opportunity to embrace the hope of the gospel, you can at this point in your life fall to your knees and cry out to this merciful God and ask Him to open your eyes to His truths so that they may become your accuracies and save your soul, adding you to His playing field, which is to be number amongst the saints. There is no greater privilege. Call then on the name of Jesus with heart felt sincerity and I can assure you He will respond to that plea; on what authority do I make such a brash statement? Most certainly not because of my own personal experience which was and is obviously very real to me but rather on the authority of God’s Word; “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13)

Signing off

Tyrone

Reward

The Spirit of God has helped me see this truth a little clearer and this is what I would like to share. Sadly, self plays a vital role with regard to this topic and yet when we strip away the layers of what I will endeavour to unpack, I conclude that even God is about reward. But it is crucial we understand the different energies at play. The fundamental difference between man and God’s motivations is mammoth, God is righteous and holy and we are sinners. With similar drives and yet with polar opposite intentions. Everything we do and have ever done in life is about our own self-gratification, it is part of our makeup, and it’s who we are as human beings. In fact nothing that exists is without a similar intent. God also has a master plan that revolves around reward, but the beauty of His will is that it springs from a fountain of righteousness. A good tree will produce good fruit whereas an inferior tree will only ever continue to produce spoilt fruit.

Mankind’s existence is motivated by self-indulgences that has been marred by sin, our motivations, regardless of how pure we believe our intentions to be will always end up on the wrong side of what is right and it may even take decades to reveal its true colours but they will rear their head and eventually be seen for what and who they are. Mankind seems doomed, however praise be to God who sent His Spirit into the world to arrest the hearts and minds of some individuals, who has seen the truth for what it is and needs to pass the baton onto those willing to listen. Without Him it would be impossible! It’s God’s influence that brings about this change and not the will of an individual. Once God ignites this intent it’s then the will of the individual that must daily determine to make up their minds to walk in the light. God first and then we must learn to follow, that in itself is a choice.            

Receiving a reward, or an honorary prize is only ever handed out once, unless an alternative is specified. Receiving press photography awards happened once a year that is the way it was structured, different awards given out for different categories but only once a year. Interestingly enough a specific picture could never win an award the following year, it has reached it expiry date, unless a new set of rules were introduced. Let’s say that in 1997 I won an award in the news category, that picture was excluded from the 1998 awards, a general principle easily understood. But if they called for the best picture of the nineties this then would free up this image to be entered. You get the point…

Let’s face it we all want to be recognized in our industries. However, the calling now for the Christian is a foremost call with many other instructions interwoven, which is to strive at all cost to please our heavenly Father. Who has ever truly squirmed at a pat on the back, pride alive and well in all of us. And yet this is the very nature that gets us in to trouble with God; “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble”. It’s Satan and his allies that feeds this in our lives, he structures all his traps around pride with money as the overarching goal, then default kicks in and it is James who teaches you this truth about our hearts; “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:13-14) – Why bring this up if it wasn’t something we needed to recognize in our lives? We love to play the blame game… It is time to sit up and confessed where needed and to take responsibility for our own actions and then the probability on been shown God’s light is far more likely to spring to life. The WORD OF GOD is for us and never against us, unless we choose to blatantly disregard it, then we are playing with fire, literally!  How does a trap work? It is a device or contraption that is design to ensnare an animal, however in our case it is obscure to the naked eye and yet far more effective. Both designed to achieve their objectives, a trick or arrangement designed to catch someone or something.

Once a trap is recognized and seen for what it is, it will be avoided at all costs, or at least should be. I am forever thankful that God almighty, the maker of the universe, chose to seen His Spirit into the world and give us insight into such unseen mysteries. Born again believers have been afforded this privilege. Having said that our struggle lives on, daily we are call to put off our old natures and put on the mind of Christ. Paul teaches us how to do this in Ephesians chapter 6 with reference to putting on the amour of God. We must dress for battle, this is why I am a firm believer that one should make time in the mornings for the Lord. Your special time, an allocated stint with no other distractions, which will arm your mind with the correct perspective for the day. Evenings are a good time to reflect on the progress and hardships of the day and how we handle the challenges. Does a soldier go into battle without his armour and then just before bed decide to dress up? We have also been instructed to live one day at a time, I believe it is for this exact reason. We must end up valuing the light of God as our ultimate treasure in every area of our lives, this is the objective; “not my will Lord but thine be done” an impossible exploit without the Spirit of God and putting on the “mind of Christ”, more of Him and less of us…

Our reward will not be for a fleeting moment but it will last into eternity, it’s God’s light that teaches us this lesson well and drives us toward this objective. It’s not as if the Christian will be sitting on a cloud strumming a harp for eternity; “if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;” (2Timothy 2:12) – This is truly the only goal worth fighting for as the reward is eternal.

   

Signing off

Tyrone

Shut in

It is a good idea to single out the individual that we know God loves and learn from them as we endeavour to explore a deeper relationship with our God. It’s often the little things that can be missed, which could have considerable benefits. “Christ in us the hope of glory”, is what needs to be nurtured and when we inspect other Christian’s lifestyles, not as a judge, but rather as we seek to glean the amazing fruit of the Spirit in their lives…

God dealt with Noah in an amazing way when everything around him was about to be destroyed…

"The Lord shut him in." — Gen_7:16

“Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin, the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in. Noah was shut in with his God. "Come thou into the ark," was the Lord's invitation, by which he clearly showed that he himself intended to dwell in the ark with his servant and his family. Thus all the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of his persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us never be inattentive to that gracious call, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast." Noah was so shut in that no evil could reach him. Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that he could not even desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are in him for ever. They shall go no more out for ever, for eternal faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice cannot drag them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth and no man openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of the house he shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain for mere professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us, for that same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by thy grace.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Signing off

Tyrone