RECONCILIATION

In the beginning God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...." Strong's Concordance says the word "man"--"adam"--means "man", "mankind" or "humanity at large". So we human beings were created in His image and likeness. Adam and Eve were able to have a personal relationship with God. They had unbroken fellowship with Him. Then they sinned and when they heard Him they hid from Him. There was a break in the fellowship that would take thousands of years and a sacrifice of horrendous proportions to repair.

Even with the break God never forsook man. His love was still there, along with His desire for relationship. He had humans who responded to their creator, because Romans says what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. It could say us instead of them. Abram knew Him for that very reason.

Hundreds of years later God would deliver the law to Moses. The summation of the law according to Deuteronomy and Jesus is love--You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself. To explain how to do this He gave the 10 Commandments. To break any of them is to break fellowship. Breaking them kills love. If we love Him we keep His commandments.

In the fullness of time Jesus came to reconcile man to God and to each other. According to Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary "reconcile" means to restore to friendship or harmony. The entire world was out of harmony and man was out of harmony and friendship with God and with each other. Romans 5 says, "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation". It is His desire for all people to be reconciled to Him and if we have fellowship with Him we are also to have it with one another. We will have it if we are walking in His Light.

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. Normally a Samaritan hated Jews and vise versa. Yet in the Samaritan's heart was God's truth and when he saw a fellow human being suffering he helped. He didn't shirk for any part including paying for the man's room and board. Now that's love. Those who passed by, too busy doing God's work, were not commended by Jesus.

Jesus ministered life to the Samaritan woman at the well. It horrified all those who saw it, yet Love and truth were more important than the cultural divisions of man.

Years ago I heard a sermon on this subject. The Good Samaritan was the primary focus. The man ended with the words, "If you say you love God, yet you hate your neighbor, YOU ARE A LIAR".

I don't want to be a liar, do you? Romans 15:7 says in NASB "Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. In New King James it says, "Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God".

In Strong's the word "receive" is defined as to take to oneself...to admit to friendship. In our day that would also translate "accept".

I want to be God's friend. He says in 1John 1, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you".

What do you want?

Slave or Free

Do our or your government leaders have your best interests at heart? Are they helping to make you a stronger person or a more dependent one? If dependent, then dependent on who?


The “birth certificate” of the U.S. States that We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Do those men and women in government respect all human life? Or just the lives of those they deem “worthy”. Are they protecting your right to liberty? To live the life God has set before you? Or do they want you to live by their standards? Are they letting people think of them as a “messiah”? Do they care about your happiness? Can you be happy apart from the will of God? Are they angry when people do not think their way? Are they control freaks?


If they are interested in your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness then these are some of the qualities they should be pursuing in their governing.

If they love freedom they will want:

Less Government

Lower taxes

Strong Defense

Traditional Family values

They will respect your right to life and different ideas

no matter what “group” you belong to.


However, if they have a modern feudal lord approach which makes them little gods and you the slave, they want:

Big Government that micromanages your life

More taxes—all of your income if they can get it

and redistribute it but not to you...

They don't care about defense

They will embrace lifestyles that the Bible calls

abominable.

Your life will be endangered and possibly taken from

you if you disagree with them.. You could be put in prison at the very least.

Rights will come because of the “group” you belong to

not from God above.


So as the mid-term elections are heating up, listen closely to what they say and find out what they have done in the past. You could be voting to put yourself in a “slave” mode. Do they care about God's ways:Regarding governments:
3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel[a] as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God. (Psalm 146)


Remember: Prov. 14:33 Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning and even among fools she lets herself be known. 34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

One last point--pray for those in authority at this moment. Pray they will repent and seek God.

Friends

For the second time in a couple weeks I've talked to a friend I'd lost contact with years ago. For me it was like drinking fresh cool water. We were on the same page spiritually and emotionally. So much of how we have grown is parallel.

Jennifer lived with us, along with her son, for a few months before her marriage to Duke. Duke was my "little brother". I'd never had a brother and he sure filled the bill for me. What is so funny is that before Duke and Jennifer met she was good friends with Garry. I hadn't met him yet!

God is so wonderfully awesome. At a time when I needed that fresh drink of water and when they needed some too He got us together again. Thank you, Abba.

PECULIAR PEOPLE

Today I did a Biblical Word study on the words: heathen, nations, peculiar and people. In the O.T. "heathen" meant "gentile". In the N.T. "nations" comes from the word ethnos, we get ethnic from it. It means "a race, a tribe, a foreign one". "Peculiar" means "being beyond usual, i.e. special" when it was used in Titus. In 1 Peter it means acquisition, to acquire, to purchase. "People" means "people".

1 Peter 2: 9, 10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special (peculiar) people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

As I studied the words, this verse and thought about it all I saw more than ever God bringing forth HIS Kingdom. He's bringing forth a peculiar people and we are being brought from all countries. We, who have called upon the name of Yeshua, are His Kingdom people. He's not bringing forth American, Irish, Chinese, Hispanic, First Nations, African Americans, etc. as such; He's bringing us all forth as His Kingdom people. He's not looking at our ethnos, He's looking at our hearts and the fact that we have been saved by the Blood of His Son. We have been bought with the price of that Blood--He purchased us.

Just like Abraham was called out we are we being called out. Our first identity must be with Jesus, not with a politically boundaried system. Abraham did not have the Bible and he walked in faith anyway. We have more information than Abraham had and we have access to the throne room of God so we have all we need to continue on. He is calling us forth from all the nations to be His--united in His Spirit.

We are to follow this scriptural admonition: 1 Timothy 2 1-5Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And because it is God's heart that these people be part of His Kingdom we can not ignore this. Our focus at this junction, our energy, our passion has to be for Our King and that His Kingdom comes and His will is done. We must become strong in Him and the power of His might and we must strengthen our brethren.

Denominational distinctives and territorial imperatives are useless. They cause arguments and disunity. Our focus must be on Jesus. We must get to know Him, get to know all about Him............

EMERGENT CHURCH?

In the past week I have received numerous e-mails on the "emergent church". However, I have not even had time to deal with them but I realized it was time to think about what I'm sensing, learning and to where I'm being led. Now I have no idea what other people mean by the "emergent church".

When I got saved it was a wondrous day. For years I sat in a church with an excellent Bible expositor. He taught and I intellectually grew, spiritually not so much. And week after week after week the Gospel was boiled down to getting saved by repenting of sins and receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. Now I AM SO GRATEFUL that my Father in heaven gave His only begotten son so that I might have ever lasting life. I never want to forget or denigrate that fact. Without it and the resurrection nothing else would matter.

In all that teaching though so much of the message of Jesus: Kingdom and Love and the Bride were left out. After years of stagnating and crying out for Jesus I'm seeing more, loving Him more, longing for Him more. I am becoming passionate about Him. I want that beautiful intimacy He desires. That has been a hard place for me to get to because intimacy was taught as only being sexual...That type of thinking does a great disservice to the Gospel and to my Lord and to any who have thought that way. We are part of a Divine Romance and I'm just starting to see this.

What I see emerging is a group of people who are pursuing their Lord with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. Who are willing to go through the process of transformation so we can be without spot or wrinkle. We love the cross and what Jesus did and have come to know that is just the beginning of His wonderful all encompassing love for us; it is not the end. Neither is just going to heaven the end.

His love for us has been a burning passionate love since before the foundations of the earth. We were already in His heart and mind before we were created; and He knew we'd sin and be who we would be when He would save us, Yet HE LOVES US. It is just like with the Jews in Deuteronomy 7:7, 8a The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; ⁸ but because the LORD loves you,
It is not because you or I were righteous, perfect, beautiful that we were saved. It was because Father so loved the world that He gave His Son...... I was a horrible wretched sinner when Jesus caught me. Unfortunately the attitude of many of my teachers seemed to keep me thinking that I had to be perfect to win His love. The Word doesn't say that, but the subtle teaching did. Even though the Word says God looks on our hearts externals were pushed. The attitudes were of having to do this or that to please Him. Spirituality was measured by how often people were at church, how radiant their smiles were, whether they were having problems or not, by how many good works were being done. Works are to show our faith and glorify our Father. They were created for us to walk in but not to manipulate God into loving us. He can't love us any more. He loves us totally.

For me there has been much lacking in my understanding of His love and plans for me. I thank His for His love, for the Gift of his Blood and for letting me know I have a wonderful life and future in and with Him, all because of Him. He is expanding my revelation knowledge and understanding of Him. He is more, not less of all good things.

I do not ignore the cross but I will no longer, with the Holy Spirit's help, be blind to all the wondrous plans and future that are before me. They are possible because of the Cross!

OBJECT LESSON FROM A CAT

Right at the start let me say that our cats had their names before a TV show began using those words to mean something not so nice. O.K?

Now on to Frack our cat.

Today I was talking to God about being distracted instead of focusing 100% on Him. So I went to sit down with my Bible and focus. At that point Frack came up and began walking on the Bible I had on the table. She was going to have my attention NO MATTER WHAT. I was getting irritated but sensed God giving me an object lesson. Yup, it's how He wants me to be with Him--nothing stopping or sidetracking me from Him.

Giving the cat attention was a pleasurable and soothing time for me. I couldn't help but think of all the times in the Old Testament God talked about sacrifices being a soothing aroma (NASB).

I think He was telling me how much He enjoyed it when I sought Him that way--whole heartedly. He says in His Presence if fullness of Joy. I found that when I went back and sought Him with no regard for anything else the Joy was sweet.

1 Thessalonians 5:^16-18Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. (Message)

Being a single parent for all those years was financially challenging. When people lent a helping hand I was thankful. There were many times I'd ask God where the next loaf of bread was coming from as my pay check or the child support would be a few days away. And I'd go home to find groceries waiting for me, or a check in the mail. Much of this was given anonymously. It did cause me to rejoice and be thankful. I helped me know God really did want to take care of us.

There were times though when being thankful was a challenge and that was when we were given junk. Someone would think we should want the stuff of theirs that was really ready for the trash. Then there were the times people did what wasn't needed and were infuriated because my thanks wasn't ebullient. I tried to be polite but my heart obviously wasn't in it. Looking back I realize those people did it for their own gratification not out of love. There strings attached to what they did.

What brought me to musing about this is our current economy and how it is effecting my husband and me and my kids and their families. The President made no secret that he planned on redistributing wealth. So that brought me to thinking about the attitudes of some in the "minority" communities and I had to wonder about some things. Will those who have felt disrespected, insulted, held down and kept back (and many have been) then do the same and worse to those they perceive to be the enemy? Will they realize that not all people of a different "race" are their enemy and that they never were?

At the same time as things get financially challenging will we, who are not a minority, have an attitude of gratitude for what we do have? Do we have it now? Will we fall into the trap of resenting any one who seems to have more? Will we curse our leaders and forget to pray for them? Will we continue to speak life and blessings and find true joy in Jesus? Will Christians come together in His Spirit and forget racial barriers? What kinds of strings will be attached to a helping hand?

And what about our faith? The persecution of the church is growing. Will we stand strong for Jesus no matter what?

There is a refining fire coming to our hearts. God wants us to be pure in heart so we can see Him. If we allow Him now access to all of us, not hold one thing back, then it will not be nearly so traumatic.