The Birthright by John Sheasby and Ken Gire

Taken from the Prodigal Son

Recently I have been reading this book by John Sheasby and Ken Gire called the Birthright. I have to admit this last couple of years I have been carrying around a lot of shame due to feelings of failure. I have to admit that I have failed in some areas of my life, whether be as a Son and Child of God and not feeling I have been able to do and be all I felt expected of me and as a husband who did not love my wife as Christ loves the church. Though I have failed, I am not a failure to God but simply a work in progress that He continues to lavish with his love.

This book has made me see again just how much God loves us that even when we feel we are the scum of the earth that He still continues to search us out and desires to bestow His gifts of covenant relationship upon us. Even though in our eyes we are filthy and smelly and don't deserve his love, because of the Grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus and all that He has finished on the cross in dealing with our sins God so desire to embrace us and cover us with His robe of righteousness.

He places his signet ring upon on us and declares we belong to him, knowing that what belongs to God is now also ours. Including all that Jesus has we also have access to, or as Paul the apostle says everything pertaining to life and godliness". Every spiritual blessing in heaven and earth are ours as we read in Ephesians. He has left nothing undone for us!

In addition he gives us shoes which are shod with the gospel, declaring each day that we are sons and remind us each day of God's goodness towards us and how we can share that goodness with others. these shoes also prepare us as bringers of God's peace, not the kind of peace that man can provide but true peace that sets sinners free from their bondage.

Finally, God celebrates the restoration of this covenant relationship by killing the fattened calf which was being prepared and left for the most important celebrations. This covenant calf and it's now shed blood reminds us of who we are to God and how important we are to Him. Just as Jesus is our Lamb of God slain for all mankind so that all of God's creation, including those that hate God, have access to Him through the shed blood of Jesus.

How truly amazing and wonderful is our God that even in the midst of our own sin and shame God continues to search us our to bring us again into glorious relationship with Him.

I love you Father, I thank you Jesus for your Grace and am so grateful Holy Spirit for leading me into this wonderful fellowship!

Crazy Love - Francis Chan

After 32 years of being a disciple or learner of Christ, I am finally starting to truly grasp the core of God's great plan for his creation. Ironically, that plan has never changed but certainly my understanding of that plan has varied from my personal circumstances.

At the core of God's plan has always been His love for you and I. How this love is actuated or realised in our lives often depends on our upbringing and current circumstances. My upbringing often gave me a one sided view of God's love, though I knew of God's great love by the sacrifice He made for me, I often struggled to understand how we in turn would convey that same love to those around us. For me it revolved around acts of love or doing things for others to make them happy. Yet we all know that simply making others happy does not necessarily make them appreciate you or your sacrifice for them any more.

In recent years, I have come to realise that if we truly are to love God and our neighbours as ourselves then we must learn to love them in ways which enable them to be the people God wants them to be rather than simply conforming to a pattern which we find easy or traditional for us.

I often struggled to understand why so much time and resources are spent to bring people to church and virtually none spent on equipping and sending people into the world. If we are truly called to be salt and light then surely the place for this to happen is in our dark world.

I recently come across Francis Chan's website and books revolving around his newly found revelation of this same plan and wanted to recommend it. The link for this site is http://crazylove.org , if you are interested in being the church rather than simply doing church then let me recommend you check out this site and books that Francis has written. I believe this is the way forward and though many will choose to maintain the status quo and attend meetings each Sunday, I hope everyone will start to ask the question why does God have me on this earth and what gifts are unique to me that He desire me to share with others?

God Bless