BELIEVING IN THE NAME OF JESUS

BELIEVING IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 John 5:12-15 (KJV)
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing ac...cording to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

What an honor and great privilege we have as believers that we are allowed to participate in the very life of God, the Zoe eternal life of God. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (vs. 12). We serve a living and vibrant God, a God who has predestined us to win as we choose to participate with His will and purpose for our lives.
God’s will and purpose for our lives is already predestined in His heart. His will for our lives is not for a select few, nor is His will destructive and beyond our willingness to choose. 2 peter 3:9 declares this truth to us: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
To participate in the life of God is the same as participating in His will; God’s will is that no one should perish and that all should come to repentance. Therefore, the condition is simple and straight forward; we pursue His heart and find His will, live it out, and we will find ourselves participating in the very life of God.
Until “His will” becomes our vision for life, until we own His will as our will, sin will continue to dominate us and the death and emptiness it serves. All too many begin with God as an idea of freedom without the willingness to investigate the restrictions His will calls for.
If we would only find the joy in making His joy our joy – His peace our peace – His truth our truth, there is nothing impossible with God when His will becomes our will. Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Therefore, the possibilities of God are not impossible when we choose to come in line with His will.
Psalm 37:4-5 declares: “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” When our pleasures become His pleasures He will give us the desires of our heart. When we put our trust in this equation He shall bring it to pass.
Once again, His will is not beyond our willingness to choose; His will is simply that we would come to repentance. This is the simple truth about God; when we come to Him, from that moment on we are ever turning from our ways to His ways.
Repentance is to change directions, it is to turn completely around and go in the other direction; this is why repentance means change. If we are going in the same direction we have always gone we have not yet repented.
One may ask; how often do we change as believers, as often as we discover His will, and this is all made possible as we choose to believe on the name of Jesus. In and of ourselves we do not have or possess the power to change; it is as we believe on the name of Jesus that we are empowered to change.
John tells us with verse 13: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
The name Jesus is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua meaning “Yahweh is salvation” (yehoshua, the long form) or “Yahweh saves” (Yeshua, the short form). This is why the gospel of Matthew declares “…thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
This word save in the Greek is sode'-zo and means to deliver, to heal, and to make whole. If we bring these meanings together, it simply means that the name of Jesus will work deliverance and healing that we may be made whole. As we participate in the life of God these are the three things that take place as “His life” the “eternal life” of God transforms us from practicing sin and death to righteousness and life.
Being made whole means that we become mature and functional; it simply means the life of God is working in us. Therefore, to take on the life of Christ is to repent to turn completely around from our old way of life to His new way of life; Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING

SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING
Psalm 147:1-5 (KJV)
1 Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

The first thing we can do to increase our spiritual understanding is to develop praise for God; a praise that becomes our song. To possess a song is performing at peak efficiency or ability. God desires that our lives produce a harmony, a melody that that produces a relational harmony with Him. His presence in us is courted by praise; it is when His presence becomes pleasant to us and becomes comely for us to acquire.
If we can manage to build up God in our passion, we will find God building us up. We can even be the outcast of society or the least to be expected to succeed. Our God specializes in converting the soul; He specializes in transforming the least likely. Jesus expressed that He did not come for those that were well, but rather, He came for those that needed Him the most, those who were sick.
We may not have all the answers for the questions this world is asking; however, we do have the answer for the world today. “Jesus is the answer for the world today, above Him there is no other, Jesus is the way” (Andre Crouch).
When our hearts come in line with the Father’s heart and it begins to beat in harmony with His, He becomes our song, He becomes our passion. Coming into agreement with God positions us for greatness; coming into agreement with God positions us for healing and restoration, redemption and salvation.
God heals the broken heart and binds up their wounds. When our life is off beat and we have lost our harmony is when we must learn to Praise the Mighty God. Bouncing off this world and all it serves will only keep our hearts broken and wounded. Harmony with God is when our understanding with God comes in line with our life practice.
Praising God is when we acknowledge His worth and regard His worth. Jesus refers to this as treasure. Where our heart is ultimately is where our treasure is. What do we treasure? Our treasure is where we are spending our energies.
It is common knowledge that if a flashlight becomes inoperative the first thing we check is to see if the batteries or dead or not. New batteries produce new power or ability; a fresh allegiance to God and learning God works the same. Increasing our praise for God will increase our spiritual understanding which will increase our spiritual abilities. God inhabits the praises of His people; God will supply His presence to those that praise Him, those who declare His worth, and those who value Him greatly.
“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” We all have special a place with God; just as the stars are numbered and He calls them all by their names, He has a purpose for us. The position stars take in the universe and their harmony with creation produce a song within itself, and for God to know them all by name shows the depth of His relational desire to be in harmony with us.
Our God is of great power, and His understanding is unlimited. There is nothing He does not understand about us. He knows every issue in our lives how they got there and how they can be resolved. To come into agreement with His understanding is to come into harmony with our destiny and purpose. Therefore, understanding makes way for deliverance and healing.
Isaiah was given instruction to say this to God’s people: “And he said, go, and tell this people: keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of the people insensitive, their ears dull, their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

Apostlic Intent

2 Corinthians 5 ESV

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Five years previous to this 2^nd letter being written to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul began the community of Christ in Corinth. In other words, Paul performed the work of an apostle by being the Father who birthed the community of Christ there among them, however, this was an initial work needing to be more complete as he did not stay with them to disciple and nurture them into becoming mature in Christ as a community.

 However, he did commit to disciple the house of Stephanas who became the first fruits of Achaia according to (1Corinthians 16:15). Achaia was the larger region of Corinth or Corinth was a city in Achaia. Evidently Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus were the believers among them that continued to minister in proxy for Paul and were the ones who took his letters to them.

In his absence the mother church in Jerusalem took it upon herself to send some more affluent teacher apostles or those they thought had more communicative skills than that of Paul to Corinth.  As a result, the community drifted from Paul’s fatherhood to the adaptation of these more social savvy orators.  In doing so, they became more drawn to the super fluent apostle gifts or manifestations of spiritual gifts without being first challenged in their personal life of holiness and commitment to learning the character and nature of Christ.

In other words, they skipped over discipleship or Christ being formed in them to the outward manifestations of spiritual gifts without a commitment to the cross life of dying to self and carnal inhibitions as evidenced in his first letter of chapter three verses 1-3, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?”   

This is even more evidenced with his words  from 1Corthians 1:10-17:   

“10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11  For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12  Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

14  I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15  Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16  And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

            Verse two of chapter two in his first letter he says, “I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Paul is saying everything in us as a community must flow out of this.  It has been said, “Give a church spiritual gifts and you will have a church full of strife, jealousy, and dissension. Give a church Jesus and you will have a church full of spiritual gifts.”

            This gives reason as to why Paul also says in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” The work of Christ in us is more about the needs of others than it is our own need to be recognized and pined over as though we are the stuff everybody is looking for.

            Getting to our text of 2Corinthians 5 the apostle gift bringing maturity to an overgrown child in Corinth brings them back to how we are to see each other in Christian community. It is in the timeline of the cross and the price it has paid for us to become all that Daddy God has in His heart for us to become. What we are and who we are is not as important as to what and who we are to become in Christ Jesus.

            There are those in the Body of Christ today that are as carnal as they were in Corinth that wants the “neon lights” in spiritual gifts to define who they are by saying “I am already there;” I am all that and then some without any evidence of a holy life.  In other words, they want to wear the name without the inheritance that secures name.

            I am not talking about becoming so righteous that we become cynical and judgmental towards those who have out grown their britches.  I am talking about seeing each other as Christ sees us. The Scripture tells us that the testimony of Christ is the “spirit of prophecy.” His testimony is a foretelling, even a forth telling.  When satan, the church, or any other entity tries to define us compared to our past or our present, they are operating outside of the spirit of prophecy.  The testimony of Christ is what Daddy God is making us to become.

            It is like the children song we sing, “He’s still working on me to make me what I ought to be.” Sam Elliot has said, “We are never too old to become what we should have always been.”

            We must see each other in the light of  What Father God intends for us to become.  

Dr. Jill Taylor

While I was traveling the globe, I still thought my core issue was mental health. But, perhaps spurred by that trip to Antarctica, I've come to understand that the two issues of mental health and global health are closely linked -- if not one and the same. Similar processes we use to improve our mental health can help us make better, more responsible decisions as a society -- by focusing on the compassion and integrity of our right brain, rather than the judgment, punishment and deception of our left brain.

The better we understand the choices we have been making, either consciously or unconsciously, the more say we will have in the world we create. Neurocircuitry may be neurocircuitry, but we don't have to run on automatic. -- Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

To use a powerful metaphor, we have two magnificent information-processing machines inside our heads. Our right mind focuses on our similarities, the present moment, inflection of voice, and the bigger picture of how we are all connected. Because it focuses on our similarities, in my mind she is compassionate, expansive, open, and supportive of others. Juxtaposed to that, our left brain thinks linearly, creates and understands language, defines the boundaries of where we begin and where we end, judges what is right and wrong and is a master of details, details and more details about those details. Because it focuses on our differences and specializes in critical judgment of those unlike ourselves, our left brain character tends to be our source of bigotry, prejudice, and fear or hate of the unfamiliar.
What this means is that the mean little voice inside my head, the one that is critical of self or others and judges everyone and everything in a negative way, is a part of my neurocircuitry. The question is, what say do I have in who and how I want to be in the world. Do I have the power to choose being kind over being judgmental? Do we have the power to be open rather than based in our fear? Of course we do, and the better we understand the choices we have been making, either consciously or unconsciously, the more say we will have in the world we create. Neurocircuitry may be neurocircuitry, but we don't have to run on automatic.

Drawing From the Wells of Salvation

Drawing From the Wells of Salvation

(Genesis 26:1-14 ESV)

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

            So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

            And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.

            Our text begins with a famine similar to Abraham's in Genesis 12:10-20. The difference between Abraham’s and his son Isaac’s is Abraham fled to Egypt whereas Isaac remained in Canaan and made the best of it. History of the text reveals that Abraham had passed away and this event took place while Esau and Jacob were very young.

            All this is very important to note. First of all, it reveals to us in that our connections with God are the same regardless of what humanity may serve us. Life on earth is real and authentic and the necessities of life do not change from one generation to the next. We all face the need to eat and drink, to survive, and having to contend with other humans to do so is inevitable in the process. Whether we face this in Egypt outside the promise or Canaan inside the promise these necessities remain the same.

            Actually, famine is a great example of all this. It is usually a famine of sort that drives us to acknowledge God. This is why our country is on a verge of a spiritual awakening. It is when we exhaust our means with our necessities that we have no alternative than to resort to God for our answers or solutions. Necessities have a way of demanding the true source of which they are met.

            Beyond our human necessities our need to connect with God is as important and called for on all levels of life. Whether it is food or drink, relational, emotional, rejection, or acceptance, love is the common denominator that gives quality of life in all these necessities.

            The source of love is God for God is love.  All these necessities can be met without love, however, without love they are empty and leave’s any human craving for more until love comes and makes it all worth while. Greed, jealousy, control and other factors of such becomes enemies to the quality of life that every human deserves and every human long’s for.

            Until love serves our necessities our necessities will continue to serve us every evil intent, for there are only two suppliers to necessities; love and evil, these two are the only two driving forces in humanity.

            This is why our text becomes a story of how from one generation to the next, love and evil is present and the choices we make will determine which will take charge and become the master of our necessities.

            In Egypt or Cannon, in the church or out of the church, in the world or out of this world God is God.  These places do not determine or define God; Love is the only defining element in any place we find ourselves with God.  This is why Jesus prayed this over His disciples. “Father, do not take them out of the world but keep them from the evil of this world.”

            Love or evil can be present in any place, any generation; there is no place on earth that can determine whether love or evil will dominate. Dahlonega, Georgia or Atlanta, Georgia, it is all in the choices that we as humans make for ourselves and the decisions we make towards others in our actions and reaction to each other. Once again, Life on earth is real and authentic and the necessities of life do not change from one generation to the next. We all face the need to eat and drink to survive, and having to contend with other humans to do so is inevitable in the process.

            Isaac was in pursuit of one of the greatest necessities to humankind, water. Water holds everything together in the human anatomy; everything will fall apart and cease to exist without water. To deny a human of water is to deny their need to existence.

             When those needs to exist are threatened we as humans have a tendency to resort to anxiety and fears, and when we do, we also have the tendency to deny we have. Envy and strife are usually at the root of these fears as evidenced in (James 3:13-18 ESV) “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

            Unfortunately Isaac’s pursuit of water (his greatest necessity) for survival began with a lie. His perception of taking hold of his necessity hinged on anxiety and fear. In so doing, he armed the Philistines with the ability to expose their perception with contempt. Perception is the seed bed for fear and for envy and strife.

            It was not until Isaac got to his third well that he was able to take hold of his necessity without having to be confronted by the herdsmen in Gerar. It took two diggings for him to come to the place that he was willing to accept his ownership in why he was facing opposition or struggle.

            He was caught up in the same fear possessing his promise as his father. Abraham’s was a lie mixed with truth, his progressed to a lie straight out. Notice, the lie was not to God, it was to the humans he had to face in possessing his promise. This goes to show us that we can eventually possess our promises even when we go side ways on it. We must keep digging till we can come to grips concerning our ownership in the issues we have with others in the pursuit.

            Since Jacob was born before or during this pursuit, it would be advantageous for us to acknowledge that he named one of his son’s Jacob (Jacob means: “sub-planter” one who gets what they want through schemes and plans). Wow, he labels his own son with the family curse. 

            However, as the story unfolds we see God had a plan to change his name to Israel (Israel means: “God prevails” יִשְׂרָאֵל). Evidently, God is prophetically, with this story, showing us how through the “Spirit of Prophecy” He eventually gets us to where His heart desires for us to be. The name He gives to denote this desire is “God prevails.”

            A prophetic word concerning this comes to us from Micah 7:18-20 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”

            “…he will subdue our iniquities…” This is a promise. In the Hebrew this means He will wrestle it out of us as He did with Jacob. Revealing the truth to Jacob, He was showing mercy to his belated grandfather.

            In this case it is not us prevailing, it is God prevailing in us that gets us to the promises He has spoken to us. Generational tendencies submitting to anxieties and fears slowing us down from our pursuit calls out to mercy from God on the behalf of our for-fathers and mothers, and becomes the expense in providing the truth to us when it is revealed. 

            Faulty perceptions about humans in our lives are always the clog in the wheel slowing us down. Isaac’s perception was met with a truth calling his hand on why his occupation in the land demanded validation with a lie. The scripture does not reveal how his perception changed nor when the Philistines perception changed. We know from the story the struggled ended with Rehoboth.

STILLNESS

STILLNESS

PSALM 46

To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3  Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4  There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6  The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

7  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

9  He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

11  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

          This psalm of trust and thanksgiving focuses on the God of Israel; He is their refuge and strength in the present time of trouble in verses 1-3.   Verses 4-7 deal with the city of God (Jerusalem), their security; of course, the earthly city here represents the city of God coming down out of heaven, or it can represent the actual city of God in heaven.  Verses 8-11 represent the deliverance of God, their peace; bringing it all back to the fact that God is our refuge and strength in our present times of trouble.

          In the Hebrew tongue the word trouble here means in a figurative speech tightness or trouble; this word was used in their language to describe the conflict between ourselves with an adversary, adversity, affliction, anguish, distress, tribulation, or just trouble in general.

          Regardless if we are dealing with an adversary, adversity, affliction, anguish, distress, or just a tribulation of sort; it becomes a tightness in our lives and we carry it around in our chest until we have worked through it and found the peace we need to endure it. 

          Usually the tightness we carry in our chest concerning our trouble is more about us than it is our adversary, our adversity, our affliction, our anguish, our distress, or our tribulation.  Therefore, is not the removing of these oppositions that solves the tightness or conflict we deal with in our troubles; it is when we manage to see the connection of lust or desire in our own flesh with our oppositions, that our hearts are turned and we find the refuge and strength that is found in God.

Psalm 4:2-4 declares, “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.”

When His glory should be transforming us and working change in us, we at times turn His glory into shame.  This is when we are eaten up from the floor up with vanity and walk in denial concerning our partnership and ownership to the troubles we are experiencing. 

The scripture in the King James Version calls this leasing.  In the Hebrew tongue this means we are living out lies; leasing in the translation reveals our inabilities to own our contributing portion to the troubles we are experiencing.  In other words, rather than owning any space for ourselves; we rent our space out to the enemy, giving rights to the enemy to establish a stronghold in our mind concerning our tragedies.  

Consequently, it is when we quiet ourselves and become still that God can become our refuge and strength in a web of deceit such as this.  When we decide that being godly is more important than our own will, is when we can stand still long enough to have a truthful conversation with ourselves.  I call this siding against our selves for the sake of truth.

This is the violence the scripture is talking about concerning the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the life of the believer.  “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). 

God’s Kingdom cannot come into us unless we are willing to learn the art of siding against ourselves for the sake of truth.  It is not standing against the enemy that we see truth; it is standing against ourselves that we see truth; in return, that gives us the power and the authority to stand against the enemy.

Jacob’s wrestling with the angel all night was in realty a violent moment with his own self.  He had to come to terms that everything he had gotten in life up to that moment was through lies and deceit; even Jacob’s name meant “sup planter” and he had a grove of ripened deceitful fruit hanging ready for harvest when he encountered the creature from heaven.

It is not a wonder why we many times find ourselves lying quietly on our beds, still and resolved that only God can make a difference in the mess we have made of ourselves.  It is in this stillness of recognition and “awe” that God positions Himself to take charge on our behalf; simply because, God will not act outside of truth and the correct recognition of that truth.  “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

          When it comes to understanding scripture, it is much like holding a diamond in our hand; as we turn the diamond, there are different cuts reflecting many perspectives that the diamond holds.  For example, we must consider the textual content, the author, and the historical content that scripture holds.  When we do, we get a broader perspective and come closer to seeing the original intent and content of that scripture (Dr. Thomas).

          I remember when we visited the national site where the star spangled banner was written; we sat in their theater showing us the history behind the song.  I had heard that song and sang it in school and other places all my life.  However, after that visual aid and cut on that song, it brought a much deeper meaning to me; the song took on new life and revelation.

          This spiritual song; Psalm 46, was historically written during the attempted invasion of Jerusalem by Sennacherib during the reign of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18-19 and it seems to anticipate the next song Psalm 47, which is a song of God’s kingship, and thus ultimately refers to the millennial reign of Christ.

          Alamoth here in our text literally means maidens and probably infers that the song should be sung by soprano voices, and that the song was designed to be expressed from a female heart; the need for God’s masculine relationship as the groom and the safety He provides to His bride.

          Knowing the historical and textual content to this scripture gives us a deeper meaning to this song.  The back drop is laid here with the Assyrian King Sennacherib, he sends to Judah the only military strength left in Israel his diplomat Rabshakeh to make a speech against King Hezekiah the present leadership and the nation itself.  His goal was to strip them of any trust they may have had in their God to protect them.

          Rabshakeh speaks outwardly in the streets not in his own Aramaic tongue; rather, he speaks to them in the Hebrew tongue.  This lends to the fact that he was defying the leadership of their people by not speaking diplomatically to just their leaders, but rather to the people as a whole.  In his speech he speaks against their God Yahweh; he reminds them of how Hezekiah had stripped the temple gold to pay their dues to the Assyrian empire, defaming Hezekiah to his own people saying, how can your God support your King after such an act against Himself. 

          What Rabshakeh did not understand was that our God is more about relationship than the outward religious practices that represent that relationship.  The more he spoke against Yahweh and his leader Hezekiah, the more he sealed God’s heart against them.     

          The Assyrian king was after Jerusalem their capitol, their symbol of security and peace, the very heart of Israel.  The small Hebrew nation was compiled of 12 tribes of Israel divided into two kingdoms, the northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.  Some of the tribes have already been taken into exile; yet, Judah was practicing the Deuteronomic blessings under the leadership of Hezekiah.  Therefore, God by that blessing had obligated Himself to prosper and protect them.   

          When we are in the battle for our thoughts and we are facing the fray; with all the different things slapping us in the face it is hard to focus on trust; nonetheless, Hezekiah held out to the end.  The Assyrian kingdom even mockingly offered to give Israel and what was left of it chariots and horses to defend their selves; Hezekiah stood still before His God, and Hezekiah’s representatives kept silent towards their accusations.

          As a result, God sent His angel and destroyed Sennacherib’s military without Judah lifting one spear or sword against them.  Sennacherib went back to Nineveh the present capitol of the Assyrian empire. 

          Now this song Psalm 46 has a deeper meaning; to know why it was written and when it was written; its historical purpose speaks to us.  Our God will do battle for us against all odds if we can manage to “be still.”  My spiritual Mom once said to me, son you can be going wide open in the natural and still be still in your spirit.  Being still against the odds that are against us gives God the opportunity to deal with those odds.

          There is no happy sin in me, and the sin that is in me will remain unhappy till the wrestling match is over.  Even if it looks like the whole world is going to drop off into the ocean; God will find a way to preserve us, God will find a way to heal us.  It is in the stillness and the quietness of our souls that God shows Him self strong on our behalf. 

              

FRIENDS

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
(John 15:14-16 ESV)

There is a relational transition in Christ moving us from being servants to being friends. This transition gives us the ability to read the heart and mind of Christ, it is when we begin to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
Answering the Call of God to repentance is where we learn, submission, obedience, and to be servants. Once we have learned and are consistent in obedience is when Jesus makes His choice to call us friends.
Jesus also said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Many have answered the Call of God and are still in the transition stage of repentance, constantly having to learn submission and obedience.
This does not mean that those who are chosen are above learning submission and obedience. It just means their will has been broken and they are learning submission and obedience on a different level.
Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30,) and it is said of Him “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
Everything is relational with God. He is Daddy and we are His children and He refuses to have disobedient children. Daddy puts the whooping on us to remind us that we are His, and He means for us to act as though we are His instead of acting like we are rejected abandoned bastards with no authority over us.
Our will must be broken!
Christianity is not us asking God into our hearts, it is God asking us into His (Zumwalt).
Abraham was noted as a friend of God (James 2:23) and Jesus longs to call us friends. The word “friend” Jesus uses in this scripture means an associate. An associate means to join as a partner, to connect or join together, to connect in mind or imagination.
When we give up our right to choose our will over God’s is when we are up for promotion from servants to friends. Consequently, God must first have us as servants with submissive hearts so He can connect us to His mind; connected associates fulfilling His heart as an extension of His will and purpose (friends).
Fully servants - Fully Friends - Servant Friend to the Master Friend.

HOLINESS

HOLINESS

Holiness is who I am in You Jesus

 

Holiness is what I do only if it is You doing it through me

Holiness is Your passion for me capitalized in my passion for You

Holiness is my home away from home it is the longing in my heart to be where You are

Holiness carries me when I am broken apart and when I think it’s the end Holiness is my fresh start

 Holiness is simply You

-Joseph Robinson-