Archive for November, 2012


Every Christian needs to see this Video!

I discovered this video from a fellow Christian brother on YouTube-  and was quickly confirmed that this woman is speaking God’s words to all who will listen.    In fact, when she mentions in the video, “We were created to obey the Lord”,  I repeated that in my head for it to sink in.  While repeating it the 2nd time, I then heard the Lord repeat- over me -the same thing in my heart with firmness and life.  That took me offguard, yet I want this message to be sealed within my heart. We were not created on this Earth to goof around- but to obey Him.

This woman’s Youtube channel is:   http://www.youtube.com/user/shimrana/videos?view=0

and her website is:   http://www.aggressivechristianity.net/

Have No Fear

This morning, I needed to go with my mother to the dog groomer and help her carry our handicapped dog, Mindy,  into the car so the groomer would be able to clip her overgrown toe claws and clean out her ears.    Mindy is a gentle dog who was born with joint problems– She also fears leashes and hates travelling in cars.     I asked Jesus if He would come with us- and prayed in the car with my mother that He would dispel her fears- and speak to her as only He would know how to speak to His animal Creations.

Throughout the ride to the groomers, Mindy kept whimpering , moaning and crying- her own way of pity protesting being where she didnt want to be at that moment.   My mother needed to stop at certain stores before the groomers, which caused more anxiety for Mindy so she whimpered all the more.  While waiting for my mother, I tried to comfort her the best I knew how-  even singing “Amazing Grace” to her- which didnt help her at all.  Then the Holy Spirit made me laugh lovingly at myself and at her- which caught her attention.   She stopped her whimpering and looked right into my eyes and I actually felt the Holy Spirit’s Love aimed right at her.  When I looked into her eyes I felt His love looking back at her- and she even noticed this as well– as I could see her focusing on something she saw in my eyes that she hadnt seen before.

She licked my face–and I rubbed her neck with our Lord’s Compassion for her channeling right out of me to this sweet creature.   She calmed down greatly- still whimpering occasionally-then looking back at me to feel better.    Here I was seeing first hand through the Holy Spirit , how He even wants us to channel HIS love through us to ALL living things-  our fellow humans, as well as our fellow creatures!      

On our ride home, Mindy was perfectly quiet and content, and Jesus taught me even further another truth.       Mindy is just like we humans.    We whimper , moan, and cry out to Him when He leads us in places we don’t want to go- or suffer things we don’t want to go THROUGH-even though He is with us and will not leave us.    Like the disciples who panicked when the sea waters were violently tossing their boat in Galilee,  we forget that Jesus is in the “boat’ with us and He will not leave us.  As Jesus was in the boat while the disciples panicked- Jesus was in the car with Mindy the entire time she was crying-  Jesus , Who owns my heart and lives in me calmed Mindy down just as He did the sea waves in Galilee and He taught me many things today!   When you ask the Lord to be with you,  everything is blessedImage!

“Lord, Teach us to Pray!”

 

 

Luke 11:1-13

Jesus continously connected with the Father — often very early before His disciples were yet awake.,and often throughout the entire evening He remained awake- giving up much needed sleep because His priority was His communion with the Father.  If the Father wanted to speak to Him throughout the night, then Jesus willingly remained in communion with Him.   Jesus did not place priority on  His own personal need for sleep.  His love for the Father is too great for that.

The disciples noticed the reality and sincere Love He shared with the Heavenly Father and that was yet one more thing they were in awe of with Him.    One of His disciples noticed Him praying one day in a certain place, and he asked Jesus to teach them to pray.     Now every Jewish man was taught to pray and read the Torah as a child-  it wasn’t like the disciples had never prayed to God before- they loved the Creator.,     However, they never ever saw anyone pray like Jesus-  All of thier religious leaders prayed official oratory prayers in front of the public so when they saw their Lord pray through the Holy Spirit- they were in awe.  They wanted more.

Jesus must have smiled at them with compassion- and responded to their request by teaching them one of the most simple yet beautiful prayers every adult or child can meditate on and pray with their entire heart to the Father.   It is known as the “Our Father’ prayer, and is often wrongly recited without paying attention to the meaning of each word.

“And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, May your Name be hallowed (sacred and revered).  May Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us;  and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil…”

In another gospel, the remainder of that prayer is not left out as Jesus continued ….”For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and Glory forever and ever..”

When studying this prayer we notice how Jesus begins this prayer with praise and deep sincere reverence to the Father.   We see His Vision for His Father’s Kingdom to spread throughout the Earth as it is in Heaven- and not just the Earth itself, but each of us individually for we are “little individual earths” in need of restoration and alignment back to the Father.

He then teaches the disciples further in the prayer to ask the father for our daily bread. This daily bread is not necessarily material food- but is more the daily spiritual food provided for our spiritual good each day-   this includes our daily trials and tribulations which are our spiritual “meat” to help ground us in our spiritual walk.   In Jesus’s own experience, He often ate the “bread of affliction” – and He accepted it from the Father with love.

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us”     At one time Peter asked Jesus how often must we keep forgiving a person who repeatedly sins against us– seven times, Lord?”  he asked.   Jesus looked directly at Peter with His piercing eyes and respond, “Not Seven times but Seventy x Seven!  meaning, forgiving with no limit.      This is how Jesus lived continuously- not just when He was dying on the cross, but throughout His entire life.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” :   The Heavenly Father will  never lead anyone into temptation- but the original scriptures intended to mean…  “Lead us away from temptation and deliver us from that evil- as well as the evil within our own fallen souls that responds to satan.

“For Your’s is the Kingdom and the Power and Glory forever and ever..”

Here we see Jesus ending this beautiful prayer with another note of reverence and worship to the Father.    We see in this last line His attitude of genuine submission to the Father.  Even though Jesus is our King in Exile and when He returns will set up His Father’s Kingdom upon this Earth– After all is subdued under Him, He will surrender the entire Kingdom to the Father with love- and complete restoration will have taken place on this Earth- as in  Heaven.   He will continue to be the Bridegroom of our Soul, and we will all be united with the Father as He is- we will all be One with the Father.    Jesus, our Shepherd King in Exile will have gathered His sheep Back to the Father’s Fold.

This morning I had off from work, and I knew that I would have to help my mother all day in setting up, preparing and cleaning up for our family’s Thanks Giving meal.    Preparing meals in a chaotic cramped kitchen with two disfunctional dogs when I so love my free time off from work isnt my most favorite thing by nature to do but I know my mother couldnt do it by herself.   Given my way, I would just as soon eat out in a restaurant with my family then have the rest of the day to myself, but if I really want to follow Jesus as Lord,   I know I must follow Him where I wouldnt normally want to go.  I asked Jesus to be with us all day- to share our Thanks Giving with us and be included in our home.    This morning I prayed to Him before getting out of bed, and felt His presence near me and this sense of a need to submit under His sovereign will.  Not to serve Him how I want, but how He chooses.  I stayed in His presence and kept focusing on submitting to Him in everything.

Eventually it was time to stop my own activities and surrender the remainder of the day to the Lord.    Picking up my devotional book titled God Calling II:  God at Eventide: a  book of actual messages from Jesus to two anonymous women in 1932, I asked the Lord to provide me a Thanksgiving message for today.  At random I opened to whatever page I blindly turned to, and as is always the case when Jesus speaks to me so clearly, I felt electrified!

Here is the message He gave me for myself- and all of us:

Bounteous Giving

“Not what you can gain in any situation, but what you can give must be your question.  You follow Me of Whom it was said, “Even Christ pleased not Himself”.  So love, so help, so serve.

Seek the weak  and wandering.  Care for all.  Realize My overflowing and overwhelming Bounty.  The stores of the Lord are inexhaustable.  But to test and prove My generousity fully you must be generous.   My lovers give with no niggard hands.  A heart overflowing with gratitude for what it has received expends joyous gratitude in giving.”

BEHOLD, I HAVE ENGRAVED YOU ON THE PALMS OF MY HANDS.
Isaiah 49:16

Jesus Christ literally does have us engraved in the palm of His hands- He has the nail scars to prove it.   His Hell of a death at Golgotha was accomplished with love.   If He chose, He could have come down from that cross, but He refused to choose that as an option.   He chose to die for us instead.  

Here is a poem by artist/poet prodigy, Akiane on Jesus:

‘When life lies down

On the song of a bird,

The resurrection returns My Name;

And I break the brakes of senses;

To taste the steady pain.

 

My cross is nailed into Me;

I pity the fingers that scourge My face,

The  minutes hurry the hours;

The hours hurry the days.

http://youtu.be/hMGITlbrocg

This is Karensera’s video from YouTube. Jesus gave her a dream to share with everyone who is longing for His return. Our King in Exile will one day be setting up Our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom on this Earth! Before then will be great tribulation, but He will go through all with those who want Him.

Matthew 25:1-13

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the Bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and fiver were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;   but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.  As the Bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.   But at midnight there was a cry, Behold the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him!   Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.  But the wise replied, Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you;  go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.  Afterward the other maidens came also , saying, “Lord, open to us”  But he replied, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.”  Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jesus gave this parable as a warning to Christians of the danger of lukewarmness, taking Jesus for granted, and limiting the Holy Spirit’s annointing in our hearts .  The 10 maidens were those whom God had already saved and who had been called out and set apart by the Holy Spirit to prepare them for the Bridegroom. They did not follow the World’s standards.  All 10 of them heard the silent call to come out and get ready because the Bridegroom was about to return.   The foolish ones were content with the level of love and zeal they had for Jesus so they thought that was good enough to keep them going.  They didnt bother carrying the extra flask of oil-    Oil represents the Holy Spirit.    The 5 Wise maidens did not assume the love and zeal they held in thier hearts would be enough, therefore they made sure to bring extra flasks of oil.      

Being that Jesus tarried,   it ended up that the 5 foolish maidens didnt have enough zeal from the Holy Spirit to keep them during the dark times before Jesus’s return.    When they finally did get extra oil, it was too late-  He already had come and the door was shut to them.  They missed Him.

This is a very real danger- and one I identify with as being one of the 5 Foolish Virgins.   Like the Five foolish Virgins, I too have heard the midnight cry to come out of myself and allow the Holy Spirit to prepare me to meet Jesus.   However, I can see how easy it is to allow luke-warmness to set in by not taking the time to remain in communion with the Holy Spirit on a continual basis.    We tend to think that carrying that extra flask of oil borders on fanatiscm, and it is only necessary to bring with us the oil already in our hearts.    We limit our zeal and love for the Lord and can block the Holy Spirit from giving us even more of  Himself because we are afraid of how we may appear to others , or we may  think it is totally “over the top” to do so.      What we don’t realize is that the Lord WANTS to over-fill us with oil, because that extra oil will spill on others and spread His love and compassion on those around us.   We must never be content with our love for Jesus- but always want an endless supply.     Also, while God isnt requiring us to scream and get all emotional with our love and zeal for Him everywhere  we are – His Spirit overflowing in us will still pour out to others by an increased love we will quietly express– gently and quietly but still overflowing and affecting those around us – spreading His love where He places us in a dark World.

The first commandment God gave Isreal was to love the Lord ,  Our God, with all of our hearts, Souls and Minds.     This is the first and most important commandment and requires that extra flask of Oil from the Holy Spirit so that we can obey that commandment.  We can’t generate spiritual zeal and love/communion for the Lord on our own- it must come from the Holy Spirit being allowed to work within us and pour His Oil in our hearts.Image

 

Don’t Leave Our Lord Lonely

I was just watching a very beautiful video from one of our King’s Servants on YouTube- Bro, Jan Boshoff.  The Holy Spirit often gives Him direct messages to share with those who will listen , and he gets alot of flack for speaking the Truth-  which is another clue-in when you know someone means business with the Lord- when you start seeing religious people aggressively and intentionallly attempt to squash their messages down and slander them personally.  

In this particular video, Bro Jan shares a vision he had of Jesus– how alone Jesus often feels.   He saw Jesus alone and looking ahead with sad eyes.   He was told that was because noone was talking with Him- none of us Christians were trying to connect with Him, and there are periods He really is very alone, even from His own children.     How much Jesus still silently suffers to this day from those He loves. 

http://youtu.be/GfSVOqmv3Qc

We need to ask our Heavenly Father to deliver us from this indifferent condition and to be sensitive to the feelings of God- of His Son.   This should be our new prayer from this day forward to never ever leave our Lord alone– to include Him in everything-  ask Him to guide our days and turn to Him to share with Him as we would anyone we love.   Even something small- like if we see something cute one of our pets is doing- or a wild animal -like a bird ,   to tell Jesus about it and share your joy with Him over it.   Don’t be surprised if the Holy Spirit gives you a response right back!    Share with Him your pains,– don’t complain to others — just confide in Jesus and then ask Him to be able to receive His attitude over the situation- not your own.  Thank Him too-   Follow Jesus for Him- not for what you would like from Him. He longs to be loved for Himself- not for healings, or gifts.     

Christianity is not about a religion- it is about falling in Love with the Trinity- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who loved us way before we loved Him.    Christianity is an inner Romance and Love affair with Christ- who lived to die for us- Who LIves to be our King and died to be our Savior.     Let us not ever leave our Lord alone ever again.  

Here is a poem that I found years ago-
recently I discovered it again:

Don’t Leave Our Lord Alone

 

Twas He, Who watched beside you when life was dark and wild,

Who brought you safely Home and named you His own child;

You’ve come to Him in pain , dear, and ever found relief;

Don’t let another tempt you to leave your Friend in grief.

You’ve oft knelt at His feet, dear, with sad and aching heart,

And yet He never bid you Uncomforted depart.

Though others crowd around Him He still finds time for you;

Ah Yes! he is the Old Friend of all your friends most true.

Not wealth nor high position find favor at His throne,

But lowly hearts are dearest Who leave him not alone.

He calls you to be His child Then harden not your heart,

But come amongst His Chosen ones and live for Him apart,

The way may oft be weary Yet He has gone before;

He only bids you follow, and love Him more and more.”

Amen!Image

Baring ourselves before Christ

Wether we are praying to God,  going to church to Hear God’s word,  or just carrying ourselves around all day — we tend to clothe ourselves with a garment of our own self imagined Christian character.    We may think we are rich and clothed in  Christian goodness when God actually sees us as poor and truly needy.

This is why God asks us to come before Him not as someone whose got thier “act together”, but to have that awareness that we are ever in need of Him.   To be aware that we can have no self-conceived goodness of our own- that He is our only goodness .      He asks us to come before Him as naked and needy.

Only then can we we receive His goodness –  His garment over us.

We are reminded of Jesus’s parable of the Wedding Feast where there was one person found there amongst all the invited guests, who was not wearing the Wedding garment provided.  They were wearing a garment of their own choosing- not the one God had provided for them to wear.     In order to wear God’s Garment, they would have to “take off” their own garment, but they didn’t want to do that-   They thought their own garment was good enough to wear.

When the Bridegroom came to the Feast and  noticed this person was not wearing a wedding garment, He questioned him over this, but the person was speechless.   He was made to leave, because only God’s wedding garment was required .

In this parable, the Weddng Garment represents God’s righteousness provided by the Holy Spirit.   The garment the wedding guest was wearing was his own righteousness – which he thought was “good enough” to get in with.
All mankind’s righteousness- even the sweetest, most polite of us- is nothing but a “filthy rag” before God, and needs to go before God can give us His character .

When we read in the book of Genesis of Adam and Eve,  both of them were always naked before God-  they didn’t need to wear any clothing .   God was thier clothing and they shared an intimate communion with Him.  After they sinned by breaking that communion through listening to satan’s voice instead of God’s- instead of repenting and asking God to restore their spirits back to Him, they chose to find something to cover their shame.   No longer did they want God’s Holiness to cover them, — they now sought some type of covering of their own choosing-  so they picked some large plant leaves – which they thought were good enough to them.

When God came to the garden to find them, He saw them hiding and His heart was broken because He knew what had just happened.  He knew that connection they shared with Him was now broken- and they were now trying to cover themselves with their own “self righteousness” to cover their shame.    No one knows the hurt God felt- because He had created mankind to love Him out of our own free will while He could enjoy loving us back.  Satan immediately sought a way to destroy that communion as part of His agenda to strike back at God through Beings God created.

God replaced their plant leaves with the furs of an innocent animal He killed.  This was to signify that only through sacrifice and shed blood, could they present themselves before Him again.    Only through Repenting, and depending on the sacrifice of Jesus – our sacrificial Lamb of God, can we face God again.   By repenting of our sins, and asking Jesus to clothe us with His holiness, can we present ourselves before the Father again and enjoy that communion with our beloved Father in Heaven that Adam and Eve experienced before leaving Eden.

Salvation is an ongoing process where the Holy Spirit continues to reveal to us more and more about ourselves in need of being removed so that His character can replace what He reveals to us.   Initially we see our gross sins- the obvious sins that even other people notice about us.    He continues to reveal more about us throughout our lives.   Not only our obvious sins, but even subtle conditions where our self- nature is exposed .   The Holy Spirit seeks to deliver us from our conditions in our self- life that need to be removed and replaced with His Nature.   Religious pride, vanity and self importance and other subtle aspects of the self-life all have to go just as much as our more obvious conditions, such as alcoholism, etc.   As we continue on our walk with Jesus, He shows us through the Holy Spirit these inner conditions of the self-life and we continue to fall on our knees, and ask Him to deliver us from these more subtle conditions.

By doing so , we are coming before Him truly stripped of the righteousness of our own choosing, and with Love, He gently places on us His garment and character and takes away our shame.

Oh to allow Him to clothe us with Himself- to share in His Holiness and find ourselves in a more intimate deeper relationship with Him than ever before!

When Singing Hymns to God

As much as God DOES love when we sing to Him in all sincerety,  there are a few dangers we must all be aware of so that we can keep from falling into some of Satan’s traps.

#1- Focusing on our nice singing voice:   If we really sound good when we sing, there is a danger that we get caught up with how beautiful our singing voice sounds with each song, and we then focus our attention on our gifts, and not on Jesus.  This is a trap from the Enemy to stifle any sincere praise directed to God by appealing to our “Pride of Life” and vanity lust.     Before worshipping the Lord with the gifts He gives us like a good voice,  we must pray beforehand that God will  deliver us from focusing on ourselves -but on Him instead., and we must ask the Lord to deal with this inner tendency of wanting to “pat ourselves on the back for a job well done” when it isn’t about us- but about Him. This is a real danger for those who sing worship songs in the music industry- especially when they are constantly being praised by fans for how wonderful they sound.    Jesus saw Satan fall from Heaven and satan- who was Lucifer at the time , was in charge of the musical arts..  so  dear music celebrity- be aware and ask God to ground you and keep you humble before His Presence!

#2-  Singing along with songs that make very serious promises to God like, “I Give my All to You, Lord”,   or  “I surrender All”, etc.    Have we REALLY given our ALL to Jesus yet?  Have we REALLY surrendered all? –especially when the Lord knows it can take a Christian his entire lifetime before He completely surrenders every stronghold to the Lord?    We must not exchange words for reality .     A good tip when singing these kinds of songs in your church or by yourself is to exchange the word “I” with “May I”   For example,   make these songs a prayer asking that God WOULD have you come to that place in spirit where you will one day truly surrender ALL.    Each song should be a prayer to the Lord in this way.

#3- Singing as a Duty/Habit in Church    This is one of the drawbacks of formal churches where hymns are expected to be sung– including weddings.    Every hymn sung- wether in a formal or informal setting that is sung without paying attention to the words  is nothing but hypocrisy to God.   He understands this is common amongst mankind, but He desires us to “come out of” this habit, and mean what we say to Him-  He wants simplicity in us.   He also dislikes prayers that are repeated as routine dialogue in church.  He wants us to speak to Him from the heart and wishes to lead us to pray to Him through His Holy Spirit-  something that God desires His priests and pastors to finally teach their flocks- to seek the Holy Spirit’s leading in prayer-  but many pastors and priests are ashamed to instruct their people this.  

So remember- when singing any prayer to God- sing it as a child would- and mean every word- do not blindly sing it as a memorized song.   This goes for prayer also.   We can become word hardened by repeating prayers like the one Jesus taught His disciples known as the ‘Our Father” prayer.  or the 23rd Psalm.    We need to get out of the religious box and say these prayers with new meaning- like we never heard them before until today- and enter into these prayers , asking the Holy Spirit to help us say them the way He wants us to.  

Remember that the angels in Heaven sing with total purity and sincerety of heart.  They know it is not about their beautiful voices though God has gifted them in this.  It is about the One they Love- The One they long all mankind to focus on as they do.–our Creator-God.   The more love they sing to God, the more love He pours on them and they overflow with His love as a fountain spilling forth healing water to the delight of the birds and children.