Creator's Joy

Gazing

I am a mirror
That is how I was created to be
To reflect the Person
In front of me

So I gaze into His eyes
Behold his hands
His feet
And become just like Him

We do not always have to ask for things when we approach God.
We are allowed to just be with him like we just did.
However we do not need to stay “blind” when we approach him.
I am not talking about physical sight now but spiritual.
Although we live by faith and not by sight, our faith can actually give us sight.
We are spiritual beings and apart from physical senses we have spiritual senses with which we can discern things in the spiritual realm.
You may remember the first chapter where I wrote about the importance of seeing in the spiritual realm.
It often takes an intentional effort though to do this and to perceive what is in front of us in the spirit.
The bible teaches us that God is always with us, so why not opening our spiritual senses so we experience him. We are invited to do so!
As believers we often know in some part of us that God loves us but we do not always experience it.
We need to constantly let his love permeate every core of our being.
Having a relationship with God is not just reading books about him or listening to stories or songs about who He is.
I do believe we can encounter him in these things, yet it is through interaction that we develop a relationship with God and get to know him better.
It would be ridiculous if God asked us to be in relationship with him and would not allow us to spend time with him.
That would be like getting married and living in two different houses and never saying a word to each other.
Yet that is not the kind of arrangement God had in mind to have with us when He came to the earth to give his life for us.
Through Jesus blood that was shed in our place, for our sin, we have full and constant access to God!
However we have to learn how this works in practicality.
It really starts by believing that we have access.
The bible says we are now citizens of heaven.
It is not the thought that one day I go to heaven, after I die, that gives me joy.
Rather it is the fact that right now I have access to God and the spiritual realm where He abides that gives me joy.
I am a spiritual being, by which I mean that I am a spirit in my core.
Because of that I can experience the spiritual realm.
I do believe that in order not to get deceived and not to give the evil powers that live in the spiritual realm as well access to my live I need to fully surrender myself to God.
We all are spiritual beings and we all experience the spiritual realm to a degree, because it is interwoven with the natural world that we are seeing.
The bible teaches us that what we see with our physical eyes comes from things that cannot be seen with our natural eyes.
So we all have part of the supernatural whether we believe in it or not.
It effects us all.
Yet if we want to gain understanding about things in the natural we need to activate our spiritual senses.
So part of the reason we want to engage more intently with the spiritual realm is to get understanding of things that happen on earth.
However I would like to propose that the main reason for engaging with the spiritual realm more consciously is to have fellowship with God.
It is what He died for, so we could have that experience with him.
It is certainly not reserved for prophets and other christian ministers.
Nor for witchdoctors and mediums.
They only have part of the dark side of the spiritual world which is not what you want to give access to your life.
It will bring great darkness and destruction to you.
Do not get involved in it!

Before you start to practice this I strongly recommend you submit your life to Jesus Christ.
You can pray the prayer I added in chapter 30.
However also as believers it is important we do not have doors open to evil spirits.
These can have been opened through occult practises in the past like visiting foretunetellers or simply through other forms of rebellion against God.
Areas where you did not obey him, or areas that you held back from him.
So make sure your heart is pure and you repent from any known sin and surrender your whole being to God.
Surrender your complete mind and thoughs to him as well because our minds are the screens on which God projects things from the spiritual realm so we can see them.
This is not very different from the way we perceive things with our physical eyes. It is the brain that makes us see images.
So it is an engagement of our minds that makes us see things, whether in the natural or in the spiritual realm.
Of course we do have to look in order to see something. We have to focus our attention towards the place were we want to see. This works the same for both our natural and spiritual sight.
Now we cannot earn the ability to see by becoming right with God through our behaviour.
Only the blood of Jesus that was shed for us makes us in rightstanding with God.
So we do not do surrender ourselves in order to earn access to God.
Yet as believers we determine through either our obedience or our disobedience to God whether we receive things from him or from the darkness.
It is about what we give access to our lives. Either God’s realm or the demonic.
It only takes the blood of Jesus and repentance to get right with God again and to open yourself for encounters in his presence in the spiritual realm.
It does not take any effort on your account apart from the effort it takes to turn your attention towards something. That is all.
Seeing in the spiritual realm is as much a gift as it is to see with our natural eyes. No one earns sight!
It is a given that a healthy person can see.
So are you ready for a trip to heaven?!
Actually a trip is not altogether an accurate description because it suggests you have to go somewhere while actually we already are in heaven with our spirit.
When we became believers we entered the kingdom of God which is a spiritual place. It is the light side of heaven where God dwells. Yet is it interwoven with the natural world since we still live in a body on this earth. So we really carry heaven within us as believers.
But we need to activate our spiritual senses so we can experience it more.
You do not have to be in a trance or see things the way you see with your natural eyes in order to see in the spiritual realm.
Often I just get impressions of what God wants to show me and then my mind forms an image of what that looks like.
It can actually be very vague, but my mind knows what is there.
Your imagination is like a screen on which God projects things for us.
Just imagine what your kitchen looks like right now. (unless you are in your kitchen, then pick another place to imagine)
You can perfectly envision every detail right? It really is that easy.
Only now you turn your attention towards seeing in the spiritual realm.
Do not overthink it, just believe that you have that ability.

As you start you might want to close your eyes so you do not get distracted, but you can see with your eyes open as well.
First put your heart in the right place like I mentioned above and get rid of any known sin.
Ask God to reveal what you need to repent of. You do not have to spit through you whole life, anxiously that you might miss something. Just be sincere in your heart and God wil reveal it to you if there is something He wants you to get rid of at that moment.
Simply repent of it and accept his forgiveness. The blood of Jesus fully paid for all of your sin.
Do not try to add to the blood of Jesus by trying to earn anything from God. This is not possible.
You cannot pay him back for his mercy.
Every part of our lives is a gift from God.
The only thing we can give him in return is our full surrender and trust. Not any works. He just wants our hearts.
Then surrender your mind to him fully so He can imprint an image on it.
Repent also if you allowed wrong things to occupy your mind and receive his cleansing through Jesus blood.
Give your whole thinking and imagination to him.
Now ask God what He wants to show you and believe that He will show you something because He will. This is part of our relationship with God.
He saved you and drew you to himself for this purpose. So you could access him.
Believe that what comes into your mind now comes from God and thank him for it.
If it is only a vague thought or impression you can linger and focus on getting details. Do not get stressed over it though.
Clarity to see may grow over time as you practise it more often.
The main thing is that you focus your attention and belief. Do not get cramped over this, the same way as you do not get cramped over seeing something with your natural eyes.
It is just a matter of turning your gaze, using your faith and allowing God to imprint an image on your imagination so you can see in the spirit.
Keep in mind that when you imagine something that does not mean you made it up. God can impel you to imagine a certain thing.
When we use our imagination we allow God to flow through it and reveal things to us. So you do not have to wait until a picture crystal clear invades your mind all of a sudden out of nowhere. Just allow yourself to imagine after you asked God to reveal something to you.
When something then comes into your mind you can linger with that image for as long as you want. God may want to show you more, and you can engage with him and ask him questions or tell him something. Search for his leading in this.
You can go on a whole journey with him in heaven. Seeing in the spirit is not something static. It is really engagement with God.

If you have difficulty in believing He will show you something or in focusing your attention it can help to read about other people’s encounters in the spiritual realm. You can acually “borrow” their vision and step into it by putting it in your own imagination and letting God speak to you through it.
You can also use the visions that are in the bible for this.
Something I like to do is to imagine Jesus to be right in front of me looking at me, and to ask myself what He looks like, specifically what the look in his eyes is when He looks at me.
One of the impressions I get when I do this is that He looks at me with desire.
He has fire in his eyes which is his passionate love for me. Also I sense He is very tender towards me.
When I do this for a while I actually receive his love for me.
God loves us all the time but we do not always open ourselves up to it so we can receive it.
When I look into the eyes of God the Father I sense a lot of joy in his eyes.
That He greatly delights in me.
Remember that we have always access to approach God, so you can see him any time you want. There is no waiting line.
God is not subjected to time and space so He can meet every single person in the whole earth all at once in a personal way that is different for every one.
He knows exactly what you need and wants to give it to you.
But more than that He wants you to know his love, and it is out of relationship with him that He wants to provide for your every need.
All it takes is for us to give him our time and attention.
To turn away from the business of this world so we can meet the One we were made for.
To know him. To be loved by him. And to love him back.

Resources:

Patricia King has very good teaching on using our spiritual senses I can really recommend. She wrote a book called “Developing Your Five Spiritual Senses: SEE, HEAR, SMELL, TASTE & FEEL the invisible world around you”.
Also she wrote a book called “Accessing the Riches of Heaven: Keys to Experiencing God’s Lavish Provision” which is more specific about what I wrote in this chapter.
I consider her as a mentor to me in this area. She first made me aware I could access heavenly places and the very presence of God.
She also has teaching on this called “The glory school” which you can attend  live if she is giving it or on video or audio.
You can find this in the store on her website patriciakingministries.com.

To be continued…

Free Gift

We have now discussed several ways of how we can communicate with God.
One of them is having a conversation with him.
Listening for his voice or looking into the spiritual realm with our spiritual eyes.
Through worship and speaking in tongues, or by just lingering in his presence drinking in his love.
There is no clear separation between these forms though and they can all flow together.
Basicly prayer means to interact with God. Or at least I believe that is God’s definition of prayer.
It was certainly never meant to be a boring monologue without engagement of the receiving side. Rather it is how we have relationship with God.
Another form of doing this is by asking him for the things that we need.

As believers in Jesus Christ we have access to God’s throne.
This throne is a throne of grace, not judgement.
We can receive anything we need from the One on that throne.
(There is also a throne of judgement, but it is only for unbelievers.)
Did you ever feel the heavens were closed when you prayed?
Like you were on the phone with someone that did not talk back, or even was not there?
I once heard someone (prophet Bobby Conner) say God told him that prayer is an audience with the King!
I often experienced that the prayers I prayed from an awareness of God’s presence were all answered.
Prayers that were filled with faith that God would actually answer them.
This does not necessarily mean I feel his presence when I pray, but simply that I am convinced that He is there and that I am connecting with him at that moment.
I belief that when we pray from his presence instead of adressing him like we are making a long distance call or even like we are talking to his voicemail, we cannot pray wrong selfish prayers.
Because when we open ourselves up to him He can actually lead us into the things we really need to pray for. And we will sense it if something is not in his will. You might be surprised though by the kind of prayers God is willing to answer!  You really can bring all your needs and desires before him. Even things that may not be really a need. He loves to bless us so much!
When I was not so convinced I was connecting with God and I did not really believe I was in his presence at that moment none of my prayers were answered.
I am not even sure those were prayers. Maybe it was just an activation of my mind. Without my spirit being involved.
But God connects to us from spirit to spirit.
We are spiritual beings that live in a body and have a soul. Our soul consists of our mind, will and emotions.
Our spirit is the core of who we are and therefore we need to communicate from our spirit with God who is spirit as well.
You can have a conversation with someone that does not give you their full attention and it does not make you feel you are connecting with them. Because you really are not.
When we pray we have to believe that God is there. But we also have to be fully present ourselves.
In the spiritual realm we are approaching his throne and making a request to the King of the universe!
Prayer is not citing what someone else has written.
Of course you can use a written prayer, but you need to engage with it and let it come from your heart and not just your mind or even your emotions.
Prayers that come purely from our emotions are soulish prayers.
Yet an effective prayer, the one that God responds to, comes from a heart to heart connection with God. It comes from our spirit.
We are allowed to have emotions of course but we should never let our feelings dominate us or even putting them above the will of God.
We can be overtaken by pain and grief or needs. Yet we always need to give God the final word and not our emotions.
We may not always understand his ways and why He allows certain things.
Therefore we need to connect with him when we pray and let him lead us.
As believers we have access to the place from were He rules and reigns and He does not withold anything from his beloved children.
This does not mean that we always get what we want but that He never witholds his love and goodness from us.
He is always acting for our good. Even if we do not understand it.

To be continued…

Free Gift

Thankfully we do not ever have to leave God’s presence.
Though we may need to set apart times to engage with him and to hear his voice He is always with us.
The more we intently seek to communicate with him the more we become aware He is near to us at all times. Even when we sleep.
Even when our minds are fully engaged in things that we are doing. He can invade our thinking and give us ideas and speak to us through our circumstances and activities.
Yet I found that in order to have constant peace, the peace that comes from knowing that He is with me, I need to make the choice to trust him at all times.
I need to belief that indeed He never leaves me.
Believing this has been the greatest struggle in my life.
There is really nothing that I desire more than to be with God.
But their are so many things vying for my attention that I easily get distracted and afraid. Thinking that somehow God is not with me when my mind is fully engaged in something else and I cannot intently put my attention towards him.
The truth is that of course I do not contain God in my mind.
If I could I would be above him. I would control God.
It is not my constant deliberately thinking about God that keeps him close to me.
Rather it is a constant trust in him that He is with me all the time that gives me peace and an awareness of his presence.
I belief that is what the bible means when it says that God gives peace to those whose mind is stayed on him.
It means that I lean on him. Through the conviction that He never leaves me.
And I belief this takes childlike faith.
I need to belief that He is faithfull at all times.
I need to belief that his love and nearness does not depend on my good behaviour.
Rather his commitment to me is based on the covenant He made with me.
It is purely based on the blood of Jesus that was shed for me.
The bible calls this the blood of the covenant. It seals it.
Jesus bought me with his own life, his own blood, and now I belong to him.
Of course the whole world belongs to God, but by freely surrendering my life to him I become his own in a different way.
My heart is his now and He will never betray it.
He will always lead me to his ways, if I were to go astray.
Jesus is a shepherd of his people, that does not leave the lost sheep behind.
He always goes after them and binds their wounds and brings them back to the safety of the fold where they belong.
The safety of his arms. His wings.

To be continued…

Free Gift

The bible tells us there is a safe place we can live from where nothing can hurt us.
Not even a musquito will sting you when you are in that place.
No wild animal, no person, and no plague.
You may have heard about it.
Psalm 91 describes it clearly but I also believe that the highway of holiness that Isaiah talks about is the same place.
I belief it is also the spiritual place called mount Zion.
(There is a physical Zion as well.)
So how do we get to live in that place? Or rather from it.
I mentioned before that as believers we live in two places.
Our body is on the earth but our spirit is in heaven.
I belief that it is when we intently seek to connect with God at all times and put our trust in him that we live from that place.
We have to make God our dwelling place.
We do that by loving him above anything else and not putting our trust in other things and having other “lovers” on the side.
It is also called the highway of holiness.
This does not mean we have to live perfect lives.
Rather it means we have complete trust.
It means we trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross.
We lean on Jesus as being our righteousness. It is not our own holiness.
It is his inside of us and through us.
As children of God we still need to learn things and mature like children in the natural do. But we are made clean and holy through the blood of Jesus and his presence inside us.
When we choose to fully belief this and put our trust in it we are walking on the highway of holiness. But we cannot have a divided heart. We cannot have other “gods”. We cannot allow anything in our lives to take the place that only God should have.
God is extremely merciful but He does not let himself be mocked.
If we truly make God our habitation, our Shelter, by giving him our whole heart and complete trust no evil can get to us.
This does not mean you are a bad christian if you do not live in that place yet.
We still live by grace. It is not a matter of earning God, but of giving him our all.
Often we start out by only visiting this place at times.
Yet we are invited to move in with him.

To be continued…

Free Gift

Another way to communicate with God is by reading the bible.
You might wonder how this is relationship with him but the bible is written through direct inspiration from God.
So when we read it we really are hearing God’s words to us.
As we read it is important we ask God questions about what it means and how it can apply to our own life. He often speaks to us by giving us certain thoughts so you do not necessarily have to hear him clearly like when you have a conversation with someone. Just give him time to give you understanding by meditating on it.
You have to keep in mind that the bible contains a lot of symbolism.
Even the actual events it describes have a deeper meaning that always can teach us something for today for our current lives.
Since the bible contains two covenants with God, one old for the people that lived before Jesus died and one new for us today, you might want to start with reading the new testament, which means new covenant.
Thankfully God changes us from the inside when we become believers and although we are not under the law anymore like they were in the old covenant the instructions God gives us still lead to life if we obey them.
Many of the laws God gave to the Jews however do not apply to us because they were symbolical and were fulfilled when Jesus died for us. All the sacrifices they had to make to atone for their sin are not needed anymore because Jesus died for all our sin once and for all. They never took away their sin, they were just a reminder of their sinfulness.
Yet they still have meaning to us if we look at them closely at the background of the gospel. Then we can see the meaning of them and even can get a clearer understanding of the salvation we received and that we can read about in the new testament.
Other laws God gave them were timeless though.
They still apply to us today. Obeying them does not make us righteous but it does make this world a better place. Both for ourselves and others.
And of course they contribute to our intimacy with God.
We need to study the bible and ask the Holy Spirit for understanding to discern which laws still apply and which were symbolic and do not need to be literally carried out anymore.
However many jewish people still perform some of those rituals (not the sacrifices) which can be a powerful reminder of what they stand for.
But it is not a mandatory commandment anymore to obey them in order to be in right standing with God.
Also without having accepted Jesus these commandments (laws) have little meaning and become empty rituals.
The laws that you can be assured of to still count are the ten commandments but there are more.
It is basicly the laws about moral living that still apply to us today.
(So not the laws about sacrifices, food, and clothing among others.)

Yet the feasts are of great importance as well because of the symbolism they contain.
The sabbath for example is a picture of the rest we have in Jesus. It speaks of the work He finished doing for us when He died on the cross. Because of it we have now peace with God.
It is also a reminder that He is our Creator. In the biblebook Genesis we read that God made the earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th.
Of course God did not need to rest, but it shows us that the creation was finished.
We do not need to add anything to it on our own. All our ability comes from him. Everything we create flows from what He already created first.
Therefore it is important for us to take rest one day a week. On that day we do not do our regular work.
It reminds us that He is the great Creator in whom all life originates.
Yet we are to live from that place of rest all the other days of the week.
We need to be constantly aware that all our achievements are rooted in him.
That is the only way we can have peace at all times.
I do not belief it matters very much on which day we keep the sabbath as long as it is once a week.
It is a celebration of who God is to us and of all that He has done.

The bible says that with this new covenant God writes his laws on our hearts.
It is like He gives us a new conscience.
I have had it happen several times that I had a certain conviction about something without someone telling me this was the right thing and only later I found out this was actually in the bible.
However it may take time to develop this sensitivity and I believe that reading the bible helps us to become more connected to our spirit.
We do not read the bible to impose outward laws upon ourselves.
Rather we read it to draw out the wisdom that is already inside our spirit since the moment we surrendered our lives to God.
It is also a good way to test if our current convictions are in line with God.
Though we are not under the old covenant anymore with its ceremonial laws they still teach us something about the nature of God.
Every law and instruction, every story in it, shows us what God is like.
His goodness, his purity, his kindness etc.

The bible is like a book of vows for believers.
Like marriage is based upon love and devotion for each other and is made with promises, so a relationship with God has vows.
It is basicly the vow to love each other and stay faithful, for better or for worse.
But even when we struggle to stay loyal to him, He never struggles to stay faithful to us.
He actually was devoted to us even before we made a commitment to him.
We get to take part of so much more of God’s goodness in our lives though when we enter into a covenant with him.
Just like no one who gets married considers vows as some mandatory part of the wedding, so these vows are not something we consider as necessary evil but rather they give expression to the love we have in our hearts. And the same goes for God.
The bible contains all his promises towards us, the vows He made to us in love.
And though we may not always be faithful to him, He always remains faithful to us. Yet our faithfulness flows from our love for him and is never some outside pressure that we put on ourselves or that He puts on us.
God has no interest in shallow slavish obedience. He wants our hearts.
Always remember that He accepts us based on his own love for us which He expressed through the blood of Jesus that was shed for us.
It was never because of our good behaviour that He loved us.
Nor because of our good intentions.
Rather our behaviour changes as we receive his love.
We cannot become righteous through our actions because we cannot earn God.
Rather our actions become righteous because He made us righteous first.
Because He put his Spirit inside of us and made our spirit holy.
It is only through connection with God that we can live a life that is pleasing to him.
It is not our actions in themselves that give him pleasure, but our faith in him. In what He did for us. And out of that faith we can live life the way He intended it to be according to his will and pleasure.
It is our faith that brings him joy and puts us in rightstanding with God.
And yes the bible also tells us the ways God eventually deals with people that have not believed in him and did not surrender their lives to him.
It would not be love if God let evil (sin) continue forever.
But He always postpones his judgements as long as possible so that many people have a chance to repent and return to him.

It can be helpful to read books that explain the bible through additional information about the culture it was written in and other related events during these times that are not described in the bible itself.
We always need to look at the context in order to understand what was meant. Be careful not to take one verse and try to explain it without taking the context into account. What you read might only apply for a certain situation or a certain period and not be universal. So keep that in mind. Yet we can always learn something from it.

A modern translation of the bible that really makes it come alive is The Passion Translation from dr. Brian Simmons. (Since the bible was written mostly in hebrew and greek you will always read a translation of the original manuscript.)
It is not finished yet but it contains the whole new testament and some of the old and it has many notes with valuable additional information and explanation.
With all commentaries on the bible you do have to keep in mind that the authors can make mistakes and often do.
So above all keep listening to the Holy Spirit inside your heart to confirm what others have written.
Another readable translation is The Amplified Bible.
It often gives multiple possible translations of the original text since many words can have different meanings.
It may seem overwhelming to start reading a big complicated book like this but keep in mind you have the rest of your life to read and understand it.
Start with the book of John and then read the other gospels and the rest of the new testament.
When you read the wisdom books, which are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs you might want to just read one chapter (or even a few verses) a day along with reading other parts of the bible to make it easier to digest.
You also may want to memorize a verse now and then so you can ponder it any time of the day and really let it sink in.
It is not about gettig more knowledge in our heads but about getting understanding.
If you really want to dig in you might want to read passages in different translations so you can see multiple possible meanings and get better understanding of them.
Also this helps you to see mistakes that some translations have. No translation is flawless since the bible is not easy to translate.
Thankfully the Holy Spirit inside of us who inspired every word of it knows the exact meaning and can teach us. So do not get stressed out over this.

Just like we need food every day in the natural we need the bible every day.
It is spiritual food.
It gives a measure of peace and it draws us closer to God.
Jesus told us to come to him and to learn from him so we would find rest.
Jesus himself is called “the Word of God” so when we are reading the bible we are having fellowship with him. We are coming to him to learn from him and be refreshed.
The bible is like a huge treasure chest, or rather a large vault, that you will never exhaust. It always has more layers of meaning to it.
We will never get bored when we set out to get to know God better, and that is the purpose of the bible.
Reading it is spiritual treasure hunting.
So have fun!

Recommended resources:

Unlocking the bible, David Pawson

On bible.com you can find many translations in different languages. They also have audio versions.

To be continued…

Free Gift

We talked about how being in covenant with God means we do not live for ourselselves anymore.
That may not sound like a good deal to many of us but think about it.
Where does all the strive and even war come from?
It is because people live for themselves.
It is because they put themselves above others.
Because they deem their own wellbeing more important than that of others.
But who is going to stick up for us if we do not?
God always is.
Sometimes He might ask us to sacrifice our own comfort and desires for the sake of others.
Yet sooner or later, either in this life or in eternity, we will harvest a reward for our selfless loving.
You have to ask yourself if you are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of love and peace.
If you put your own wellbeing above that of others it will result in strive but it will also leave you empty.
It does not make sense to our natural mind but it is actually proven that selfless giving is very satisfying.
More even than having a paid job it gives joy and satisfaction and a sense of purpose and meaning when we give without expecting something in return.
(Not even expecting a “thank you” because then you still do it for what you get in return.)
We were never made to live for ourselves and provide anxiously for our own needs.
Working is good but if it is all about ourselves it will never satisfy.
God is our prime provider and even a job and the ability to work come from him.

I do have to add a warning here.
We are not supposed to carry all the burdens of everyone around us.
It is our privilege to help others when we can but we do not have to do that in our own strength.
It really requires the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, who lives in every believer, to discern in what way we can help others.
You can simply ask him if you are not sure and He will show you.
Sometimes it may require a sacrifice but you have to realise that you are as valuable as other people and God is not in the (ab)using buisiness. He cares about your needs as well and if helping others is at the expense of your own health it may not be your place to help them.
Maybe you can help by finding help from others for them instead. And maybe all you can do is pray for them. And maybe you cannot do anything at all not even praying.
We have to be willing to serve and yet also be willing to release others in God’s care and be mindful that if you help them it is still because God cares for them and enables you to help.
Helping others is always supposed to be a partnership with God. We are not the Savior of the world, He is. Yet He enjoys working through and with us, but we should consider it a delight and a privilege and not a burden.
Jesus told us his yoke is easy, it is light!

Part of the covenant in the Old Testament was to give the first part of the harvest to God. (To the temple, the poor also got some of that.)
Translated to this day it would mean we give money to the church and christians (or christian organisations) because in the new covenant believers themselves are now the house of God.
It also talks about tithing in the old testament which means you give 10 percent of your income away to God. In the new covenant we are not required  to tithe since we do not live under the law which means that it is not put on us from the outside and it does not make us righteous if we obey it. However many laws still benefit us and we will have an inner desire to obey them. The new testament hardly mentions tithing specifically but it does urge us to give from what we have according to what we can give and sometimes even beyond, trusting that God provides for our own needs.
The same goes here as what I wrote above. There is a place for giving beyond what we seem to be able to spare. But we are also allowed to take care of our own needs. God is perfectly able to provide for the needs of the whole world and wants to include us in this, doing it through us. Yet we do not need to be in lack because we give to others.
Sometimes we can give away what we need or desire for ourselves but again I would say you need the direction of the Holy Spirit for what that would look like in your own life. What amount and what things does He prompt you to give?
Keep in mind that God is every person’s provider even though He might use you at times to provide for someone else’s need it still comes from him. He is their Provider and not you.
Tithing is usually a good place to start though even if in the natural it seems impossible that you can affort it. 
And of course if we truly have his heart we also give to nonbelievers. You do not ask a hungry person if they believe in God before giving them food.
The tithes were meant for God’s house but God’s house (believers) is supposed to use part of that to take care for those in need.
You may be thinking “no way I am doing that” and it is not a requirement to become a believer but it is a good way of keeping yourself from living all for you.
Also it is a good way to put your trust in God instead of yourself, since naturally speaking you might not be able to afford to give 10 percent of your income away.
However giving is like sowing seed. When seed comes up it is multiplied.
So you can expect a harvest bigger than what you sowed when you give.
It may or may not come back to you in the form of money (often it does btw!) but you can be assured that you will receive blessing because of it.
In the old testament it says that when you tithe (to God’s house) God protects you from the destroyer.
So this can influence many areas in your life.
It is basicly a guarantee for blessing!

To be continued…

Free Gift

When you have become a believer it is important to become part of a community of believers, usually called a church.
Just like life was meant to be enjoyed with others, so our walk with God includes fellowship with other people.
They are our spiritual brothers and sisters and help us to grow in our faith and teach us spiritual principles.
We all have God’s Spirit inside of us as believers and by spending time together we actually get to know God better because we all reflect a part of who He is.
God delights in unity and when we live in harmony with each other God’s blessing is on it.
However unfortunately there are many different churches that do not all belief the whole bible but have left things out or twisted parts of it.
The main thing you have to watch for when looking for a church is that the cross has a central place in their teaching.
Many churches have become carnal like the church you can read about in the book of Galatians.
They have substituted grace for works as a means to either be saved or to earn God’s favor.
Yet good works come from being made righteous in our spirit and not the other way around. Our works can never make us righteous.
We have to keep watchful during our walk with God that we do not let his mercy ever be out of sight.
We live by it, even when we have accomplished many things for God out of our love for him. His love for us is still a gift and can never be earned or payed back.
Our spot in heaven is neither achieved nor maintained through good behavior.
Trying to earn things is actually the system this world is based upon. It is carnal. It is based upon our own ability but of course there really is no such thing as our own ability because all that we can do comes from God.
So we really are making ourselves gods when we try to earn anything from him.
With God though we first receive his love and life as a free and extravagant gift and out of that gift we give him things backs like a child that buys a gift for his parents from the money they gave him.
Make sure that if you go to a church the presence of God is there.
That the focus is on relationship with him and not on being right and elevating oneself above others. Recognizing we all need each other and have something precious to contribute to the community.
You will not find a perfect church though. As believers we are still all on a journey to become more like him.
Give people a lot of grace also, or especially, when you do not agree with them.
We need to speak the truth in love, not in judgement. Just like Jesus came to the world to love it and to give his own life for it. The same way we are to love others. Even our enemies.
Be kind always!

Another communion I would like to bring to your attention is what is actually called communion, eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper in the church.
It is a way to aid us in remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross and to receive it into our lives by faith in a greater measure.
We can do this alone or with others.        
I actually believe we need to take it daily.
Though we received Jesus into our lives once at conversion and received his forgiveness by accepting his death on our behalf we daily need to take part of him.
Jesus is like the manna that came from heaven that the Israelites ate daily when they lived in the desert.
The manna was used to make bread. It sustained them every day.
In the same way Jesus life that was given for us will strengthen us every day if we intently partake of it.
Jesus had communion with his disciples right before He was taken captive.
He knew what was about to happen and told them to do this in remembrance of him.
He took bread, blessed it and broke it and told his disciples to eat it telling them it was his body.
Likewise He took a cup with wine, blessed it, and passed it on to his disciples to drink, telling them it was his blood of the new covenant which was shed for the remission for sins.
I belief it is not so much about taking the exact same elements of wine and bread but more about remembering him and choosing to receive it every day.
If we do not have these elements we can exchange them for something else, whether grapejuice or even water and chips or whatever you have available.
I think we can even do it without elements and take part of his body and blood through faith in prayer. By simpy believing we are taking part of what He did for us and taking a moment to be still and receive it.
Yet using elements can help us to focus and remember, making it more real to us.
Taking these elements without remembering what they stand for will most likely not do anything for us. We receive Jesus by faith, not through an outward action that has no faith attached to it.

Another sacrament that is important for believers and is usually only done once, right after conversion, is baptism.
Always keep in mind that rituals are not about outward actions and earning favor with God, but are expressions of something internal.
Just like the sabbath I mentioned before is not so much about physically taking rest, although your body does need it, but about abiding in the spiritual rest Jesus made available for us on the cross.
Baptism is often done with infants, yet of course they cannot make that decision for themselves and therefore it is not biblical.
Baptism is an outward testimony of the decision we made inside our hearts, to give our lives to God and it is powerful.
It depicts how God considers the death of Jesus as our death: the death of our old sinful nature. God does not fix us, rather He “kills” us and then makes something totally new from us. So when we are in the water we are baptised in his death and because of that we are forgiven our sin because God considers us as having paid the punishment for our sin. Our sentence is served in his eyes through the death of Jesus in our place.
Then when we come out of the water, this is a picture of coming alive from the death life we were living. Like Jesus rose from the death and looked totally different so we now become a new person.

You can be baptised in a church or by another believer that is already baptised.
This is important because we cannot cleanse ourselves from our sin. It symbolizes that God does that for us.
It does not have to be in a churchbuilding, it can be outside, in a swimming pool, or in your own home in your bathtub. If you cannot be immersed in water just let someone sprinkle water on your head although I believe total immersion in water is a better depiction of what it symbolizes.
The one that baptises you only has to say: “I baptise you in the name of Jesus Christ”.
(Or “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. However God is one and so Jesus name is really enough. Be careful not to use religious language that has no real meaning to you.)
Then they gently help you being immersed from head to toe and help you to get up from the water.
Then they can ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.
We already received his Spirit at conversion, since it is the unity of our spirit with his that makes us a new person.
Yet there are different measures in which we can receive this Spirit, for different purposes. So we need to be baptised in the Holy Spirit as well and can receive new infillings all throughout our lives.
He often fills us with a greater measure of himself to enable us to do new things in our lives.
When you are baptised you testified to the world that you are now a new person, death to the ways of this world, a follower of Jesus Christ, a child of God.

Technically you can be saved without being baptised but it is important to be baptised in order to overcome our old sinful habits. We have to consider ourselves as having been crucified with Jesus in order to live this new life. We cannot do that in our own ability. Jesus is now our righteousness which means we live righteous (holy, in obedience to God) because of our unity with Him.
This is often a work in progress and He will even work on your will, so you will have the desire to obey Him where you did not have that desire before.
It is not about earning back your forgiveness, that is not possible. But obeying him leads you to experience the fulness of life He intended you to have. It is all for your own good and protection, like a parent cannot protect a child that does not obey. The parent cannot protect it from the car that is coming down the street if it ignores the parent’s warning and crosses over anyway. It is like that with God.
And thankfully He does protect us at times when we are stubborn and still in the process of learning to obey. There is a lot of mercy with God. But generally speaking his commands are needed for our protection.
You do not have to become anxious that you will not obey him. Just lean on Jesus inside of you. He is righteous and therefore you are. Just confess that out loud if you struggle to obey or to overcome addiction.
Just say “Jesus is my righteousness” every time you struggle and keep doing that until you experience a breakthrough. Do not even try to obey in your own strength. You only need to be willing and He will do the rest.
He will show you which way to go and empower you to walk in it.
Keep communicating with him daily, read the bible, go to church, spend time in his presence and enjoy him enjoying you!

YOU ARE SO LOVED AND HEAVEN IS THROWING A BIG PARTY BECAUSE YOU CAME HOME!

WELCOME HOME CHILD! 

Free Gift