But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

As can be seen from the the context of the verse at the head of this post, Matthew 6:33, the phrase “all these things” is talking about our basic needs. Jesus is telling us not to worry about these things, since our heavenly father knows that we have need of them. In fact God has promised to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. The above verse stood out to me from my daily readings this morning, because the Lord had brought it to my attention recently. When I came back from my Vacaville trip, it looked like I had brought bedbugs back with me. When I discovered bites and looked it up in the Internet confirming that they were bedbug bites, I bought spray, powder and a cover for my mattress. I washed my bedclothes, etc.

There is a principle here, and that is that we needed to do everything that is reasonable on our part, and then to leave it in His hands. It would have been easy to worry, and as I was tempted to do just that, the verse at the head of this post came to mind. And I chose to concentrate on the kingdom, and when I did, I had peace, and I have had no new bites since that time.

Some would say that the command not to worry, is easier said than done. But the Lord never gives a command that He does not with the command also give the wherewithal, the grace if you like, to do what he is commanding. It’s all about faith, and faith is a muscle, it needs to be exercised. So we choose to trust him.

Lord, there are a number of things happening at the moment, that could go badly wrong. But I am choosing to trust You, and to seek You first, and to bring it to You in prayer. Over and over I have seen You work it out for Your praise and for Your glory.

Lord I thank You for Your faithfulness, I thank You for Your grace, Your grace to trust and to believe. I choose to trust that You are actively working all things together for my good, and I praise and thank and worship you, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I love You Lord Amen!

He is our peace, who has broken down every wall

This slight misquote from Ephesians chapter 2 is, nevertheless true. The same passage say is that he has abolished the enmity between us. So any enmity that it still exists between us, any wall that still exists between us is not only man-made, but it is contrary to his expressed agenda that in the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him (Ephesians 1:10).

In fact we are commanded, as much as it depends on us, to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). Since it is his heart for us to live at peace with each other, if we truly desire to please him, we should be willing to go the 2nd mile.

The phrase the 2nd mile, comes from Matthew 5 and verse 41. It says “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” The background to this command is of course 1st century Palestine. A Roman soldier had the right to demand anyone he chose, that he carry his load for one mile. He could not compel him to go two. In obeying Jesus’ command, the Christian would be walking in the opposite spirit from the normal spirit which would be resentment.

Walking in the opposite spirit is the path to freedom, because it is walking in the light of his word. It also facilitates peace.

Father, your commandments go so contrary to the world. But the upside down kingdom is designed to set us free. Father when we seek to live at peace with everyone, forgiving them, loving them, serving them, then we are walking in your steps. And when we do this, we receive your grace and love and comfort. Help us to see that father, and to get on board with it. In Jesus name amen.

He will make my feet like hind’s feet

Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like hind’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high mountains.

According to Mike Bickle, one reason why God allows pressure is because it 
refocuses our souls on reality, but what does he mean? If the reason we fail to enter into rest is because of unbelief and disobedience, then it is for exactly these same reasons that we fail to enter into the reality of the abundant life, the life that Jesus promises to those who truly follow him.

The “yet” of verse 18 can be understood as “in spite of this,” I will rejoice in the Lord. But in my own experience, it is not so much in spite of all that is going wrong that I enter into the abundant life, but rather because of it. It is my contention that our loving heavenly Father allows the trials and tribulations and temptations in order to help us to choose Him. In fact these things are crossroads in most of our lives. Will we choose to believe that God is actively at work, even in these things, for our good, or will we give in to the pressure and allow it to drag us down? Or to put it another way, is this faith thing real, or have we believed cunningly devised fables? Or yet another way, is God, the Christian life and the things we read in the Bible, are they real, or is there nothing really there?

What Mike Bickel is claiming, is that reality, hope, peace, joy etc., are to be found in our relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So the question we need to ask ourselves, when all hell breaks loose around us, is “will I stand, or will I fall, will I put my trust in the ultimate reality, or will I choose to allow the trials and temptations of life to be my reality?”

The Scriptures tell us that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). So again in the difficulties, in the trials do we ask “Where are you God in this?” We need to seek Him in the trial. And when we do, when we choose to trust Him to the extent that we even choose to rejoice, then He lifts us out of the pseudo-reality, above the trials and seats is with Him in high heavenly places. He makes my feet like Hinds feet.

A hind, is a female dear, and Habakkuk has in mind the kind we see in the picture. The hinds feet allow her to stand in impossible places. So too we, when we choose to rejoice in the Lord, and to joy in the God of our salvation, will be able to stand firm and secure in the high places of His shelter and love.

Father, I choose today to rejoice in you, to joy in you the God of my salvation. I need your help even in this, even in choosing to do this. I know I will need to do this over and over until the reality of heavenly things becomes my present experiential reality. Thank you that you have promised to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I can ask or imagine, even in this. The father I believe that when I do my part, you will do yours. In Jesus name Amen

He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Is your faith active or passive? I ask myself the same question. This verse from Hebrews tells us that God is a rewarder of those who seek him diligently. I remember years ago when my oldest grandson was about 2, I had just bought a new house and I took him into it, to show him round. There was not a stick of furniture in the place, and he asked me if we could play hide and go seek. You hide grandpa, he said, and I will search for you.

So I went into the furthest room and hid in the closet. Ready or not here I come. Are you in this room grandpa? No! Are you in this one? No! Eventually he comes into the furthest room. Are you in this one grandpa? Remember not a stick of furniture. Yes. So he comes to the closet, opens the door and says “I found you grandpa!”

His little face was a picture, such joy. He had age appropriately, given everything that he had. He had searched diligently, not perhaps diligently for a 20-year-old, but diligently for a 2-year-old. He had given it everything he had, and the reward was according to his having given everything. Such joy!

I was hiding for him, not from him, and God does the same thing, He hides for us and asks us to search for him diligently. He does not hide from us but for us. It is the glory of God to hide for us, is is the glory of His children (Kings and Queens) to search it out Proverbs 25:2. Remember He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

These things should cause us to question where we are in our faith. How do I handle the difficult circumstances, the disappointments, the trials and tribulations, the temptations? The Lord knows where we are on our journey, and he has promised that he will not allow us to be tested or tempted above are ability to endure 1 Corinthians 10:13. Part of searching for him diligently, is to ask him where he is in these difficulties, to ask him, as the verse stays, where the way of escape is. It is said that faith is like a muscle, it needs to be stretched and tested in order for it to grow stronger.

Father help me to know that you are always near. Help me to choose to believe, to really believe, that you are actively at work in all things for my good. Let these thoughts not just stay in my head, but manifest in my attitudes and actions, and let my growing faith increase a confidence in You, in Your promises, in Your word, in Your character, and in Your extravagant healing love for me.

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God Hebrews 4:9

The rest that the writer to the Hebrews speaks of here, is both eternal rest, and here and now rest. In fact eternal life, the life of the age begins now. It is as with the kingdom. The kingdom is here, and not yet. So it is with the rest.

If we are to enter into the fullness of life that Jesus promised, then we need to operate out of the place of rest. What does this look like? Well what it does not look like it is striving and worry, stress, outbursts of anger and similar works of the flesh.

In the context of the Scriptures that were looking at this morning, we can fail to enter into rest because of disobedience (verse 11). But we are also told in chapter 3 and verse 19 that Israel could not enter into rest because of unbelief. So that is both disobedience, and the lexicon as adds stubbornness in its definition of this word, but also unbelief. In fact worry is both of these things. Firstly because Jesus tells us not to be anxious about anything. It is a command. And of course with the command, Jesus also gives the wherewithal to do what is commanded. It also has to do with faith. Worry is the exact opposite of faith, except that it can be thought of as faith in what might go wrong.

So it is possible to enter into this rest in the here and now. But again the command is to be diligent (verse 11 again), or as some other translations say strive to enter into rest. In particular when we catch ourselves worrying we need to take authority over our thought life. Likely we will need to repent, confess that we are worrying, and that all worrying is both unbelief and disobedience. We then need to ask God to fill the empty place with faith and a spirit of obedience.

Father, forgive me for the times that I have worried, fretted, allowed negative thoughts and fears to overwhelm me. Cleanse me from such. Give me your joy, your peace, your rest in Jesus name.

If heaven is to be heaven ...

If heaven is to be heaven, then there can be no sin there, no anger or bitterness, no self seeking or pride, no manipulation or one upmanship, no punishing silences, no greed or hate, no unforgiveness, no selfishness or biting sarcasm, no insensitivity, no put downs, no judgementalism, no negativity etc., etc., etc. The problem is that this excludes each and every one of us. It is a problem that God has solved in and through His Son, but we do have to appropriate it. You see the only way we can be fit for heaven is if God changes us and purges all of what He calls sin from us. Now He will not do that if we do not cooperate with Him, if we do not give Him permission to change us. He will not force Himself on us. So then part of what it means to be a Christian is that we have surrendered to Him and have started to let Him deal with the garbage in our lives. We cannot fix ourselves, but He can and will fix us if we let Him, and in doing that He will (in the end) fit us for heaven. For most of us (me too) it takes a long time, because there is a lot of work to do. It starts with our accepting the substitutional sacrifice of the perfect son of God.

God is just so sin must be punished. Somehow, in a way that I do not fully understand, God's sense of justice is satisfied if somebody else (in this case Jesus) pays the price, receives the punishment for our sin. Christ's death enables God to pardon us, but we have to receive the pardon. It's not that hard, we do need to admit our need, to repent and turn from our sin and purpose, with His help, to live for Him. Then we get to enjoy Him forever. If we do not do this, we still live forever without Him, but to be honest that is scary.

Some people say that heaven and hell are here on earth. But if that were the case, God would not be just. Is death alone a sufficient punishment for the Hitlers and the Stalins and the Pol Pots of this world? Nevertheless I think there is some truth in the saying. In particular I think we get a glimpse of heaven and hell as follows. If we take away everything good in the world, the love, the joy, the peace, the hope etc., etc and leave everything bad, then I think that is a glimpse, a pale reflection, of hell. In other words I think it is much, much worse. Similarly if we take away all pain and fear, all the things I listed above and add the joy and hope and peace etc., etc. we catch a very pale reflection of heaven. But again it is much, much better. In fact as the scripture says “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

What I want to emphasize is that God does not send anyone to hell. In the end we choose hell over heaven by refusing to accept His free gift of eternal life. Most people know John 3:16, but few know the next two verses 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

if we walk in the light, as he is in the light ... the blood of Jesus, his Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin 1 John 1:7

While sharing on this passage the other day the following question came to mind. “Why, if we are walking in the light, would we need the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ?” There are two thoughts that come to mind.

The first has to do with being cleansed from the defilement of our own sin. Sin is not a popular word in our culture, but the apostle John reminds us that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves (verse 8). The point is that light reveals what was formerly in the dark. Many who first come to Celebrate Recovery (a Christ centred 12 step program) are aware of just one issue. Perhaps it is an alcohol addiction or pornography or co-dependency. What I hear over and over in this program, is that as recovery starts to take place, the Lord reveals other problems, problems that may have lead to the addiction in the first place. Unforgiveness is huge and it poisons us, but I am not here to give a comprehensive list of sins. I will leave it to the Lord to nudge you in this in the right place at the right time. He has a different priority than we do, He knows how fragile we are and knows the right pace to go, in bringing wholeness to us through His forgiveness and cleansing.

The other other aspect of the cleansing of His blood has to do with the defilement we experience as we walk in the World. The closer we get to Christ the more the former things we did, and still see in others, bother us. We all know of the ex-smoker who has an evangelical zeal to stomp out smoking. On the one hand it is certainly wrong to be self righteous about these things, but on the other they can be what we call triggers, temptations to go back to the old ways that brought us so much pain. It is hard for our friends to understand. Off colour jokes that once seemed harmless and brought us together now leave us with a bad taste in our mouths. This is not because we have suddenly become prudish or judgemental, but because as we walk in His light we start to see how degrading they are (usually at the expense of others) and displeasing to the Lord. So then what I am saying is that the pollution of sin, our own and others leave us feeling defiled and dirty. But, Praise God, the blood of Jesus, his Son, keeps on cleansing us from this sin pollution too.