1 Samuel 17 David uses five stones to kill Goliath

Recently, I have been meditating on this passage of scripture in 1 Samuel 17 and how David the shepherd boy kills the enemy of the Israelites with five stones that he takes from a brook. Whilst there are many view points on why David took five stones and not three or four, what I believe is more significant is that he removed the stones from a brook or if you like a stream.

Throughout scripture we find the blessing, presence and life of God symbolised as a flow of living water. The ultimate of which can be found in passages such as John 4 when Jesus declares to the Samaritan women that if she were to drink of "this water she would never thirst again", again Revelation speaks of the River which flows from God's own throne and as we read appears to provide life to the inhabitants of heaven and also bring healing through the leaves of it's trees which gain their source from the river.

Within our very bodies flows another kind of river, a river of blood which nourishes every part of our physical man, scripture again says that "life is in the blood" and it is the blood of Jesus that saves all of us from our sin! Therefore we can conclude from scripture that rivers, streams, brooks etc symbolically speak of life and blessing from God.

David stoops down into a brook and pulls out five stones, I have heard sermons that each stone was for Goliath and strong holds with which he came against the people of God. Again I have heard that each stones was for Goliath and his brothers, to not only destroy the obvious enemy but all associated enemies. These are all great words which have encouraged me over the years.

However, I believe the stones in that brook represented the obstacles that the enemy was using against the people of God to hinder or even stop the flow of God's power, blessing and life. By taking hold of these stones, not only was David removing from the brook potential obstacles but he used these obstacles to defeat his enemy!

In Genesis 50 as Joseph is being reconciled with his brothers, after they had sold him into slavery, he says "what the enemy means for evil, God means for good". What a powerful response Joseph conveys to his brothers despite all that he experienced. In essence, I believe this is what is happening with David as he stoops down into the brook. What the enemy is using to attack God's people with, obstacles and blockages of the flow of God's presence and blessing, David with God uses to attack his enemy and more importantly the enemy of God and His people.

I believe God's Spirit was prompting me to use what the enemy is using to attack me to throw back in the face of the very enemy that used it to hinder me. To take everything that hinders and blocks God's flow against the enemy that put it there in the first place and in doing so allow the flow of God's Spirit and river in my (our) life again.

I pray also that you can do the same as you press into God's Spirit and allow his presence to flow into you and out from you to others.

God Bless you on your journey!

Psalm 110:1 Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet

Psalm 110:1 says The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

I love this Psalm as it conveys a powerful picture to understand the ease in which Christ reigns! Growing up, my father had a large brown leather chair which was reserved for him when he came home from work. I remember meeting him at the door and being eager for him to be seated in HIS chair, not because this was his special place in the home, though it was, but because I as his son was able to place a footstool under his feet and watched as he lowered his aching feet upon it. This was in many ways a highlight in my childhood as I was able to do something for my hardworking father to aid him in his recovery.

Whenever I think of this Psalm 110 I think of my earthly father and this picture of him sitting back and relaxing. Somehow I feel this is the image that God wants to convey when we speak of this psalm. Not of my father, but the image of Christ sitting back, relaxing as His Father makes his enemies his footstool. Often when we are being attacked, especially in the natural, our normal response is to fight back. Scientist say that we have a flight or fight response whenever threaten, yet the image we have in this psalm conveys one of confidence and joy in knowing who we are and where we are positioned.

Ephesians 2:6 says "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,..." If we have been raised with Christ, then it is also fair to say that we have been seated in Him at God's right hand. Though there is much symbolism in this scripture, when considering where Christ is seated at the Father's right hand, it is the shear fact that we are IN HIM that brings the greatest joy. Knowing that we don't have to strive and struggle against even own enemies when are seated in Christ. That Jesus, has all the power over the enemy and has defeated (past tense) his enemies as Colossions 2:15 says "..he disarmed the rulers and authorities..". This enable us to relax in Him and all that He has done, knowing that He holds the keys of hell and death and not our enemies as they would sometimes imply.

Knowing we are hidden in Christ as Colosions 3:3 says, and other verses such as Psalm 57:1 which speaks of being in the shadow of his wings and Psalm 91:1 which is resting in the shadow of the Almighty, we soon see how whatever life's trials may throw at us, when are in Christ, he is fully aware of our circumstances. Indeed we could argue that nothing can come our way without it first being seen or felt by Christ. After all, we are his body and he is the head and in Him we live and move and have our being.

Recently, through my trials, I have experienced an overwhelming peace that came through understanding who I am in Christ and where I am seated in Him. As we continue to meditate on this powerful truth, I am certain that you will experience just how wide, how long, how high and how deep God's love is for us all.

God Bless You on your journey!

James

All We Need Is Love

The Greatest Gift is Love, Godly Character is Love

When we read 1Cor 12, it is easy to see why Christian get excited by the gifts of the Spirit.

Who wouldn’t want to see wisdom and knowledge and faith given to believers?

Likewise, healing, miracles and prophecy should be a normal part of believers life.

Also, discernment, tongues and interpretation of tongues are surely gifts for building up the body?

In my own life I have seen God manifest these gifts in extraordinary ways, from creative miracles of eyes forming to every person in the room I was speaking at slain by the Holy Spirit.

Peter was transformed on the day of Pentecost from Simon to Peter after he was transformed by the Holy Spirit. Then Peter stepped forward…

Yet when we read the context of these scriptures we find that Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church isn’t the result of wanting to praise them for their use of these gifts, but in fact was to correct them.

Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth out as result of bickering and quarrels and lawsuits amongst believers. Hardly a praise report.

As we look through our denominational filters or slants, it is easy to focus on the things which we want to hear and not the other things.

Romans 11:29 says “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

But God’s Character is NOT!

It is easy sometimes to overlook the discrepancies of some for the good of the many. We know the fruit of these gifts at work in the church did much good.

Yet it’s also easy to seek the hand of God over the face of God. That is God’s work over and above his presence in our lives. As seen is the comparison of Mary and Martha.

Martha was concerned with doing (her actions) whilst Mary understood the importance of being (her presence).

God’s Generals is an amazing book which when I received it on my 40^th birthday I devoured every word as I tried to understand what made these mighty men and woman of God the people they were.

The same can be said of when we read Hebrews 11 which lists the men and woman of faith from the very beginning of time.

Yet when we read both of these amazing accounts of God’s generals, we soon realise that despite their great exploits of faith is their overwhelming humanity.

Hebrews 11 even lists a prostitute, Rahab, for her faith. How do we reconcile the two?

In fact it was through Rahab’s offspring that we find King David (his father born of Rahab).

Faith and gifts are similar.

The presences of the gifts of God do not determine a person’s character. So whilst the gifts of God are irrevocable, the character of God is not.

Godly Character must precede the gifts of God

I remember growing up in my church and how eager I was for the opportunity to minister in the gifts of the spirit. But also the frustrations I had as my mentors and leaders were always careful not to expose me too soon.

They were waiting to God’s character in me to be developed, and my eagerness and mostly often got in the way.

Eg: my prayer of 2014 to lose weight

Before God was able to fix my poor eating habits he had to deal with an inner my inner pain and emotions. My overeating was a sign that I had over problems that God wanted to deal with.

Within the church today we find many of the behaviours that were exhibited in the Corinthian church.

Jesus said in Matthew 24, referring to the last days, “the love of many shall grow cold”.

God is Love, Chapter 13 is the Love Chapter!

After we read on from chapter 12 of Corinthians we come to what we commonly call the love chapter. This is the small chapter 13 which we often recite at weddings or engagement parties as two people choose to become one.

As we read chapter 13:4-7 we soon realise that the characteristics of a loving relationship when combined often feel impossible to achieve. Perhaps even to say that it is only God that can love so perfectly, so permanently and so powerfully.

Truth is when we are under pressure, or being pressed by the trials of life, is the true measure of who we are. That is the true litmus test.

When this true character of a person is revealed, it’s an opportunity for God to expose our weaknesses and develop our character.

It is these characteristics of God’s love which is revealed in chapter 13 and it is these which God desires to develop in you and me.

Jesus’ Character was revealed in His temptation in the Dessert.

I believe it is no mistake that after the temptation of Christ that we see Christ enter into his formal ministry.

Christ very character was revealed in his responses to the devil’s temptation, stating every time, ‘it is written’. Showing that it was not about his own humanity but about the love the Father has for humanity.

Not neglecting that according to Jewish tradition and culture that Jesus had been declared by the Father as His beloved son and was at the age of maturity.

Sometimes when we listen to some scholars speak on the character of God as being different to the character of Christ.

God is often seen as some irate old man with a stick to punish rather than the loving and compassionate Christ.

There often appears a disparity between God the Father and God the Son, but why?

How is it that we can believe this disparity when Christ declares again and again ‘I only do what I see my Father doing’?

Christ' life was a reflection of the Father and this is seen in His love and compassion for those He encountered.

Eg the woman caught in adultery of John 8:3 whom the teachers of the law were ready to stone.

This is but one example of the compassion Jesus showed to those around him. This is the very heart of the Father to us His creation. Even from the beginning of time has His plan of redemption been unfolding as we read in the Garden of Eden when God provided a sacrifice for Adam and Eve for their sin.

We know the classic scriptures of John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 which speak of God's desire to redeem us from our sin and slavery. But do we truly recognise the Father's and not just the son's compassion for each of us. It is this compassion in laying down our lives and daily taking up our own cross that we are called to follow Christ. When those around us see this sacrificial love in our lives they will respond.

Conclusion

It is out of this character that God develops that we are called to minister.

Not based on what we do but who we are in Him. As sons and daughters of God, we are to reflect God’s presence and character in all we do and say.

As Paul the apostle wrote to the church in Philippi, my paraphrasing, I haven’t yet perfected it, but I continue to push into the high calling I have in Christ Jesus, heavenward to seeing all of His kingdom and benefits at work in my life.

May we all in these last days remember that it was God’s love that changed our worlds and it continues to be God’s love in us which will change the world and those around us. Let us, in the power and grace of our Lord Jesus and the enduring help we have in the Holy Spirit to press on to that high calling of love!

God's Character is Love

Throughout scripture, and especially in John's writings, we find the "God is Love" message over and over again. In fact from John 3:16, one of the most well known scriptures in the bible we read "for God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, so that who ever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life." Often when defining this scripture, as we like to do in our western world, we equate love with God's sacrifice. Whilst there is no doubt God's love is seen as "He laid down His life for us", there is an underlying and deeper aspect of God's love that we often miss.

God's love is His character, in ALL that He does and says and imagine there is the resounding bell of Love. Those who study etymology will tell us that even in the first few scriptures of Genesis we have God's plan of redemption, not only for the Israelites, but all of mankind. God has always been working out His plan of love for us.

When we read the book of Hebrews and think of the great men and women of Faith found in chapter 11, it is easy to look at them with stars in our eyes and imagine them as some super apostles or pastors or leaders. Yet. they were not and even one of them listed for her faith, Rahab, was originally a prostitute in Jericho, hardly the pin up poster for righteousness.

We often think that faith comes out of a person's amazing abilities and exploits, yet we see that great men and women of faith are just normal people who believed God by His promises. So what then caused these men and women to respond this way? We know in scripture that it is not our righteousness that makes our way, but it is the righteousness of Christ and what He was able to do for us that makes the way. Revelations says it is the "blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony" that enable them to overcome..." A testimony is simply an eye witnesses account of what they saw and heard and experienced. A testimony in itself is not powerful anymore than watching on the sidelines your favourite team score a goal and cheering them on is.

The true power comes from what was achieved by the blood of Jesus when He took the sins of the whole world upon himself. Our righteousness is as "filthy rags" says scripture. In fact I recently heard that in Hebrew this statement literally means "excrement". Not very exciting to think what we do stinks. This resounds well when we consider what happens to Joshua when he is brought into the throne room of God and the first thing they do is remove his filthy robes and replace them with new ones (see Zech 3:5). What I find amazing about this scripture is that Joshua is permitted in God's presence with dirty rags, something I would have never imagined. Yet, this is the picture that all of us must remember when considering the things we do, we think are righteous allow us the right to God's presence and His love.

The truth is God's love and plans of redemption have always existed and always will until all has been fulfilled. What then does this say about the outworking of our own lives? It tells me, that whatever I try to do or be in my own strength will ultimately fail. But if I daily, die to myself and allow God's love to permeate every area of my life and follow the example of Jesus, then that which comes from me must be of God, who is love. Again, in 1Cor13, the love chapter, we read if we continue through to chapter 14, that the greatest of all gifts is "love", I find this no mistake, that chapter 13 and 14 follow on from chapter 12, the very chapter which list some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The question is if we truly desire this greater gift, is how do we get it? There is only one way and that is to have our focus on God and all that he exemplified in the life of Christ.

This brings me to think of Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and all it's righteousness and all those other things shall come after it". Jesus summed up the law with two commandments, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit, and love your neighbour as yourself". How do we love God with all that is in us? All our heart (desire, love, longing), mind (thoughts, will), soul (emotions, feelings) and strength (power, purpose, might). To do this, we must FULLY have our focus on God and nothing else. Not on our fears or even strengths, not on the enemy of souls nor even on those who bless us, but wholly on the Lord.

One of the ten commandments says "you shall have no other gods before thee" and another, "you shall have no graven images before me...". I wonder, how many images, gods, do we allow to fill our thoughts and our focus each day?

God bless you on your journey!
James

Thom Gardner-beloved highlights from ellel weekend

We are dust held together by the breath of God.

When we worship God we are simply returning to God what he breathed into us.

Light represents God's precense. We are meant to be light of the world. Reflecting God's precense.

We need to remove the false things, the expectations of others and return to the real person we are, not the artificial us.

Who are we, the person others want or the beloved of God. We need to remove the armour (saul) that others would place on us.

What is built from our lives depends not on our fears or even hopes others have put on us but on the word of God, that which is written. See our Jesus responded to the (if) testing of the devil.

We need to not listen to the chatter (lies) the enemy says to us.

The hebrew translation of filthy rags is excrement. See zechariah 3:5 he clothes us with the best robes and a turban of his promises.

To hear the river which runs deep we must be still and know that he is God. Psalm 46.

Love in hebrew is "longing for a home".

There are 4 layers of revelation in God's word. The literal, the general message, the hint and the mystery as per hebrew learning.

When Jesus said eat my flesh in hebrew it literally means to suckle at the breast as babies do, not some weird flesh feast.

Bethel is communion with God but ai represents confusion. Abram pitched his tent between the two and built an altar of sacrifice. The middle ground represents the reality.

We come to God like babies, just loved, not for what we have or do. God's nature is loved, and we are the beloved of God.

Focusing or being aware of God is to turn or give God our attention.

The cleft of the rock is a safe place. A place that we can be when that which destroy us passes by. A bit like a mother's womb.

Jesus became the mercy seat of God, and this is what Mary saw when the two angels stood at either end of where Jesus was laying in the tomb.

Psalm 91, a picture of the mercy seat is the shelter (shadow) of the most high. God in the most high can see everthing.

Being all powerful he can respond to our needs. God is a covenant keeping God who is creative (able).

Even when we can't see God he can see us. He sees and knows everything that is going on.

He is almighty, able to do everything. He has all the power and might.

God's personal name guarantees the covenant. It is his signature on the contract (covenant).

He is a creative God who knows the end from the beginning. He can do the miraculous.

The word for redemption in hebrew means to go full circle. Such as gilgo, whenever we read go such as golgotha is God's redemptive work.

There is no Love in Fear

1John4:18 says "There is no love in fear, but perfect love casts out all fear."

When we read this text we understand that fear is the opposite of love, that when fear is present, love cannot be seen or felt or even for that matter be spoken of. Paul writing to the Romans in chapter 8:15 says that "you have not received a spirit of fear which leads to death, but a spirit of adoption, by which we cry Abba, Father" Therefore the work of the Holy Spirit in us is to bring us out of fear into everlasting and resurrected life in Christ as God's adopted sons and daughters.

Paul speaking to Timothy says "for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and sound mind." So when fear is absent in our lives, we should therefore be able to live out our lives in love, power and a sound mind.

I recently realised that I was reacting to fear in my life. This fear stemmed from my upbringing and a sense of rejection I felt when my parents divorced at nine. I remember growing up I had a fear of water, after nearly drowning on three different occasions. Yet when I was asked by my step father to join him in learning to scuba dive my fear of water vanished. This did not come easily and I remember the first time I had to do an open dive, that is into open water off the beach of Cronulla on the east coast of Australia. I remember vividly how I shook uncontrollably as I walked into the water off the beach into the dark unknown and realising what I felt was a watery grave.

Yet, despite my fear of water, I was able to fulfil my desire and overcome these insurmountable odds that I felt. Though I felt amazing almost immediately when I saw the fish and other beautiful aspects of this underwater world, it was not this which caused me to defeat my fear of water or drowning. But is was a fear of not being accepted by my stepfather which enable me to put to death this fear. Yet putting a fear of water to death only strengthened my fear of rejection and needing of acceptance.

So I traded one fear for another, yet neither of these fears lead to the freedom and desires that God has to release us His creation into perfect love. In realising my fear of rejection, I can now ask the Holy Spirit, the very spirit of Christ to work through this fear with His love and grace for my life.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." I have learnt in recent years that I cannot trust my emotions and feelings. Indeed I feel that even the thoughts that I have must be measured against God's word and His promises for our lives. When we are under pressure, stressed or in the trials of life, it is then that we must truly examine our hearts, motives and every thought, knowing it is in these times that the works of the enemy, that is the devil, will be exposed in our lives.

Trials are truly, therefore, a real opportunity for God's everlasting fruit to be produced in our lives and the fruit of the enemy to be exposed and dealt with. What do we do with this bad fruit? We give it to God, we lay it down on the alter of our lives and allow God's Spirit to bring healing and restoration to our hearts. But it is in our willingness for righteousness to prevail and our desires for sanctification to complete it's work in us that makes this possible. As I am honest about the fruit of my life, only then can God's fruit be seen. When I am honest about my fears and allow God to expose them, only then can God's love be seen in me!

God Bless you on your journey with Christ and His Spirit
James

Faith, Hope & Love

Faith, hope and love is certainly a concept that most Christians will appreciate from the book of Corinthians written by the Apostle Paul. As a Christian of some 32 years, I would probably say that I understand this concept myself fairly well but am also aware that God by his Holy Spirit continues to download new understanding.

Recently, my wife discussed another concept from scripture which is not as clear cut as it does not come from one particular passage of scripture but is certainly an underlying concept throughout God's word. That concept is Love, Empathy & Freedom.

Whilst most will know that God is love and therefore true love can only ultimately come from God to us and therefore through us to those around us, it is also clear that true love stems from the understanding we have of how God manifests his love to us.

Throughout scripture God's love is written in the Greek as "agape" love, a love that is completely sacrificial and always has the recipient in mind. We often quote from the book of Romans, 5:8 which says "God demonstrates his love for us, that whilst we were still yet sinners Christ died for us." This scripture I believe brings amazing revelation that even though God had no guarantees of his love being reciprocated that he still carried out his plan of salvation for us.

It is difficult to imagine scenarios that we experience that reflect the emotion and feelings God has for us His creation. After all, we know through scripture that "nothing can separate us from the love of God". But there are certainly glimpses we have that help us to feel what God feels towards us, his beloved children. I as a father, have two beautiful teenage children and though there was always an expectation that they would one day spread their wings and explore the world for themselves, nothing can prepare us for when that begins, as it is with me right now.

Seeing my children grow and develop into amazing people and reflect for themselves the nature of God in makes me immensely proud of them. But not having them around as much as I would like is also immensely difficult. Yet this was expected and though it hard to except I also know this must take place and will do everything I can as a loving father to make this transition as joyous as possible for them.

What then, do we feel when those we don't expect leave us, when they feel they must for whatever reason and separate themselves from us? This might be a family member or a close friend, how do respond to this? This is exactly what Love, Empathy & Freedom is all about. For if we truly love as God loves, then we will also understand (empathise) how the other person feels, even when this might break our own hearts.

Whilst God extends his love to us, I know also that he truly understands how we feel, perhaps even better than ourselves. Though He calls us into relationship with him, he understands the limitations we might have within ourselves to express that relationships in precisely the way he desires. This can be seen in scripture like Romans & Corinthians which says that only God knows what's in the heart of man.

If God is love, and God truly understands (empathises) us, how does God give us freedom? Whilst man made religion will try to constrain us with expectations of how we must relate to God, God does not! He releases us in love to express in our own way the love we have for him. Though he calls, he is very patient and leaves us with the promise that "He will never leave us or forsake us" as we read in Matthew 28.

God's love is therefore permanent, powerful and perfect in all it's ways. It is this love that we truly need in our lives. As a human, living in this flesh, I accept that this is a difficult thing to grasp, yet also know that if I truly wish to express God's love through me to those around me is something that I must learn. Indeed something that we all must learn!

This might be summed up in the saying that "if we love someone, then let them go. If they love you, they will return".

God bless you on your journey of salvation,
James