Not hearing

NOT HEARING

One of the ways of stopping a noise, is to walk as far away as possible from it.

Another way of stopping a noise is by shouting louder than the noise.

Another way of stopping a noise is by burying the noise so it can’t be heard.

Another way of stopping a noise is by cutting off it’s source, or oneself from the source.

Another way of stopping a noise is by applying greatly insulated earmuffs.

Any other ways?

Let’s think of this noise as hearing a voice. The same ‘rules of engagement’ apply. Different ways of drowning out the voice and not hearing what the voice is communicating.

Sometimes ignoring a noise isn’t enough to rid ourselves of it’s impact upon our being.

The voice of conscience can be very loud.

Let’s take note of these scriptures today:

Matthew 17:5

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly A VOICE CAME OUT OF THE CLOUD, SAYING, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

John 10:16

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, AND THEY WILL HEAR MY VOICE; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Jesus said:

…Everyone who is OF THE TRUTH HEARS MY VOICE.”

He also said:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM and dine with him, and he with Me

Can you hear? If you do hear in your heart and mind – don’t try to find a way to drown ‘the noise’.

Acts 7/

…57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, STOPPED THEIR EARS, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. 

Natural to Spiritual

NATURAL TO SPIRITUAL

NB: (I use the term ‘man’ in the sense of mankind)

We must understand something. Many do not.

There is the natural man and there is the spiritual man.

The spiritual man is firstly – one who has accepted Christ Jesus into his life.

This happens when we respond to God’s message. Yes – He has left a message for man to hear or read.

This is the most important ‘message’ in the form of ‘messages’ that exist on the planet.

Stop and think it over (Selah) – how God has chosen this means.

Written words that are more than written words. Words that are ‘spirit and life’.

John 6/63: Jesus says:

…The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

And now the words He spoke, are recorded for all to see. These words must travel to all the world, down through the ages – before the end of this present age, will come.

It is the duty and privilege of every Christian to proclaim these words – often to an uninterested, bewildered or belligerent public.

Part of the multi-faceted message is the fact that all are natural beings.

And all need to become spiritual beings.

Jesus spoke to a ‘religious’ person and said: (John 3)

Jesus answered and said to him,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

He was referring to the new birth – the natural man – born natural – must be born again and become spiritual through encountering Christ by encountering the Holy Spirit in a born again experience – available to all who will seek it 100%.

First we are natural. Then we become spiritual.

The person Jesus said these words to was religious. Yet he had no idea about this truth – that all are natural beings and need to become spiritual beings.

So like this man Nicodemus we need more than religion.

In the context of this truth – what good was his religion, when he missed the only way to become spiritual?

You see your spirit is dead because of your natural sinful fallen nature, the nature that dominates mankind, the nature you and I inhabit. The one we were born with.

So your dead or insensitive spirit needs to become ‘born again’. Rising from the prison of your sinful nature.

Coming alive to the reality of Christ and His Presence waiting to come into your spirit.

Jesus said: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

It’s all about ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – acknowledging that Jesus Christ is God who inhabited the body of a man.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – Acknowledgement of this untamed and often out of control sinful nature that is running rampant across the world expressed in all sorts of diabolical acts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – on a deeply personal level that we too are indeed trapped by this sinful/selfish nature.

Turning to God in prayer and ACKNOWLEDGING OUR state of sinfulness and apologising for living by its dictates and ignoring Christ.

ACKNOWLEDGING that we need Him to come  into our lives permanently, and show us His divine nature within our beings.

How should we pray?

Something like this:

Lord Jesus I see clearly that I am sinful, I sin in small ways and big ways. I confess my sins to you. Please forgive me. I realise that my punishment for sin is gone if I acknowledge you took my sin and it’s punishment on the cross. Come to me today and make yourself known by the Holy Spirit coming to me. I put my faith in you. Come into my spirit and ‘cause me to be born again.

Thank you that you will. (So be it).

Simplicity

SIMPLICITY

As we look at disparate philosophies and ideologies in our world today, if one was to be overly simplistic we come to the conclusion (and with this many would concur) that we have various activated scenarios that can be summed up in these terms:

Left wing and right wing.

Left (amongst many other things we could say about both) tending towards atheism and right toward a belief in God.

But things are a little (sic) more complicated than that, I’m sure you’ll agree?

And yet! Removing ourselves from all these philosophies, and ideologies, here is a verse from the bible that speaks to all who are and who will become Christians. I Corinthians 11/

3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Highlighting the word simplicity. It is necessary to point out – simplicity not, as in ignorance, or naivety. Certainly not as in foolishness. It is not ‘bury your head in the sand’, and don’t use your brain.

But we find here and indeed throughout the scriptures a reference to the pure, loving, good, fruit-filled life of The Lord Jesus Christ. 

Simplicity therefore, as in wholesomeness, and embracing of the fact that regardless of your intellectual prowess – the gospel message speaks to all of mankind. And with God’s essential enlightenment all can understand it.

Jesus The Christ, is wise, tender-hearted, compassionate and He speaks powerful direct and life-giving words, to all – in the hope they will listen.

The amplified version of this exhortation in I Corinthians 11/3 reads

But [now] I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

So as the Word of God is nuanced, here simplicity, is replaced with wholehearted, sincere and pure.

This is far removed from the mental gymnastics of the doubting mind, filled with every invented philosophy that exalts itself against the intellect of God.

Here Paul tells us of how they went about spreading the gospel:

II Corinthians 1/12

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

Not with fleshly wisdom, Paul says.

The world has a modern version of a stacked high ‘bonfire of vanities’, that would seduce us from the…

wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Is God hiding?

IS GOD HIDING?

God has to hide Himself from human beings.

He is completely different from mankind, in His nature, character, thinking and manifestations.

“No one has seen God at any time…”.

 We are told this, by one of the men God has chosen to communicate what is on His (God’s) mind. In this case the man’s name was John.

John 1:18

18 No one has seen God at any time…

There is a second part to that verse. We shall look at that later.

God sees mankind in his rebellious state of being. Rebellious by choice.

He gave mankind that gift of volition. Man is not a robotic being, programmed internally to do exactly what God says.

One of the latest developments in art – is AI (artificial intelligence). There is much controversy over this subject. 

Including copyright debates, and artists losing their jobs as they are displaced by AI -generated art.

AI operates by accessing millions of images and re-inputting them, as it where, into a new creation.

Artists of course, have been doing similar things for centuries. There is nothing new under the sun.

But human artists are more than machines. (They are body, soul and spirit).

God having given mankind a brain and cognitive ability, does not want man to be programmed to draw upon fixed images or ideas to artificially produce something else, when it comes to spiritual matters.

Especially ideas gathered and embraced from others in the human race. What certainty is there in this when it comes to spiritual matters? None.

Only those who…

5 …have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come…(Hebrews 6:5)

can know of anything to do with the Living God and the things of eternity.

And so, we have those specially chosen to write God’s thoughts, as He elevated their human thought-ability to the divine level, imparting His revelation, and thus giving us the Pure Word of God.

 Proverbs 30:5

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

God wants mankind consequently, to draw from God’s thoughts to find a pure life. 

Mankind has, this freedom-of-choice-mechanism, built-into him.

You can put tomato sauce on your chips or not – it’s up to you – you decide.

In order for man to walk with God, he must respond to what He says.

But mankind is busy being too-busy, uninterested, too caught up with what pleases him/herself,  and therefore no time to listen to what could possibly be, God communicating to him/her.

If mankind won’t listen or take the time to find out how God has or will communicate. How can God make Himself known?

After all, God is well mannered. He won’t interrupt. God tries to get a word in edgeways, often to no avail in the case of the obstinate heart.

So then, even if God is willing to appear from His hiding place, and make Himself known – mankind is pre-occupied with other things, and doesn’t wish Him to do so.

Wrongly pre-occupied with vainly trying to appease his troubled conscience with the idea, scientific or otherwise, that God doesn’t exist.

God will try and try and try again to get man’s attention but too often, to no avail. 

This ignorant behaviour, this rejection of God, this no time for God syndrome, is responded to by God with what the bible refers to as ‘the long-suffering of God’.

I Peter 3/ Speaking in the context of the deluge, the flood that God sent to cover the earth, referring to those days we read:

20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

Notice:

…long-suffering waiting.

That’s an attribute of God right there.

Many believe that it is ok to not know God exists, and therefore it’s ok to live in a state of so called agnosticism. (A kind of Ignoramus-ism).

Even if God was to suddenly communicate in a way, that He sees fit, He often finds that mankind’s mind is already made-up: “No thanks God”.

Amongst mankind there is a ‘Please Do Not Disturb’ sign over the heart and mind of many, and therefore over the conscience, and mankind’s understanding remains uninformed, unenlightened, dull, dead, and blind.

Billy Graham the late American evangelist quoted the words of a sign at a political Rally. 

One devotee to a particular political persuasion carried a sign that read: “My mind is already made-up do not disturb or bother me with facts”. (Or words to that effect).

So we have a scenario where it is not so much God is hiding, as those to whom He wishes to communicate, wish themselves, to remain hidden from what God wishes to say to them.

“I’m enjoying my sin too much – Do not disturb”. Hiding just like Adam the prototype man and his wife did in the garden (see Genesis 3/8).

And of course if we are asleep after a ‘hard day’s night’, we don’t take kindly to being disturbed. Leave us alone and let us sleep on.

But as these things are so, we have to ask who is doing the hiding?

Now it is true that as no man can see God and live, (Exodus 33/20) – God had to find a way to reveal Himself to mankind, desirous as He was and is – to communicate with the human race.

So the second part of the verse we began with says this:

18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

John 14/

8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

So God who was hiding – appeared!

Appeared in a way that man could understand and essentially therefore, have no excuse for ignoring.

God entered a prepared body in the womb of a virgin. Impossible – But true. (Luke 1/37) And that’s your first stumbling block to get past.

And there are many ‘illogical’ stumbling blocks for your intellect to get past. (Often referred to as miracles)

But if your head is filled with every unbelieving reason to reject God who has appeared in His Son Jesus Christ – you will not hear Him.

There is coming a day when you and I will stand before God in the life hereafter. There will be no doubts then as to who the supreme ruler of the universe is, and what His name is.

He will appear in all His resplendent glory, as He exactly is. This observing of The Eternal God, can only be experienced by passing through death into the eternal heaven of heavens.

It is God’s desire however, to make Himself known to you now. For that to happen He must obtain your co-operative attention.

This post might be the  beginning of your search.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Faith arises in your heart and mind as you hear – then you see that:- God

4 …will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

So we must start from the place of inadequacy that we all share. And from there take steps to search, to seek, to knock, to ask, all descriptive terms for starting on a journey. 

Beginning with the highway of holiness code of The Bible.

We start investigating in other words.

Some folks are already investigating, but they have not started with the only hand-book, (the Holy Bible) and therefore drift into by-path meadows.

Where are you on this journey to eternal life?

Hearing God

HEARING GOD

It is possible for us to [hear so many sermons, read so many blog posts, watch and listen to so many vlogs, read so many books] that we lose our ability to really hear God.

Now Mr. or Miss or Mrs. Skeptic laughs (sometimes to derision) and asks: “Hear God?!” “What like a booming voice from the clouds?”.

God can speak loudly e.g. as described in the two passages of scripture:

ACTS 9/ (Re: Saul of Tarsus – later known as Paul the apostle):

4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything

And then concerning Peter James and John’s experience:

JOHN 17/

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and SUDDENLY A VOICE CAME OUT OF THE CLOUD, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

So yes – hearing God as in a voice booming from the cloud creating fearful awe.

Or as in Saul’s case a noise also heard by his companions who had no comprehension of what just happened. Hearing a sound but not what was said.

Sometimes however God tells us of another way He speaks:

In this example there is natural phenomena producing noise – big time, and then afterwards:

I KINGS 19/

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

In Saul’s case his companions did not hear what he heard. They did not hear the voice of Jesus Christ.

In Peter James and John’s case – they saw, they heard and understood.

In Elijah’s case the voice of God came to him ‘quietly’. He received instruction and obeyed. (Verses 15-18)

The voice of God comes to us. It can come or perhaps has come to you. No earthquakes or strong raging winds, no clouds overshadowing.

There is always the note of warning though, with this subject: “Make sure it is God’s voice”.

His voice can come to us as a small definite instruction to our human spirit, then into your mind, sometimes through your conscience.

Have you ever heard it? Have you obeyed it?

It’s easy to miss. (‘Guilty as charged your honour’).

But a voice as sure and true as existence itself.

Not spooky, not harsh and condemning. A voice of love.

The Great Shepherd The Lord Jesus Christ – has likened His followers to sheep and assures us that His sheep…

Two different translations tell us…John 10:-

NIV

26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand…

KJV

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Two nuances of truth – leaving us in no doubt that we can hear – but challenging us to really listen.

Sounds like…

Sounds like…

Once upon a time the cure was found.

But no one believed the doctor – so they all suffered-on.

The cure was stockpiled and left out for all to see.

A message went out: “come and partake of the cure”.

But no one believed the message. All thought – it was madness with a multitude of reasons not to accept that it was true.

So everybody died, – except the doctor and his family.

This sounds like Noah and the ark – does it not? Noah was the ‘doctor’ who was a preacher of righteousness and he sent out the message: ‘Repent and believe’.

Today the message is sat upon or ignored by ingenious methods.

Reasoned away by the prideful intellect of man.

The cure of the gospel message is sent out – but…

What will you do with Jesus – the great physician?

And so the old adage…

Life is short, – death is sure – sin the cause – Christ the Cure.

Dead theology?

DEAD THEOLOGY?

The Christian life is of course – more than theology.

Dictionary – Theology:

the study of the nature of God and religious belief:

religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed:

When it comes to theology – if it makes no impact on your inner life and your subsequent behaviour, then your study is similar to any other academic exercise.

Any scholarly approach or contribution to the Christian life must effect us where it counts – as we practically apply it, and it changes our hearts and behaviour.

Many have gone astray by not knowing where to stop in intellectual pursuit of knowledge – even Biblical knowledge.

I know of more than one who went astray by getting bogged down on/in theological issues. 

They, (hungry for more knowledge in their studies), entertained the opinions of ‘liberal’ theologians – who in themselves had also strayed from God’s life giving Spirit. The reasoning faculties alone, are insufficient when it comes to knowing the Living God and the things of The Living God.

We need His help, His inspiration, His revelation, His enablement, His fellowship with us. (Emmanuel).

There are many intellectual arguments to refute what I have just said. Some consider it is some kind of burying of the head in the sand, or intellectual suicide.

But Paul the apostle knew the difference exactly, (being of an immense intellect himself). He nevertheless knew the superior God-given revelation-knowledge he had received through grace and revelation that caused him to confess: 

Philippians 3/

4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…

His knowledge was God-given. It was not the result of his Pharisaism.

Anything of his past-obtained-knowledge in the Jewish religion ‘supplemented’ his God given—direct illumination/revelation.(see Ephesians 3/3)

(DICT. ‘Supplemented’ :- a thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it) 

He tells us something we should all long for in our knowledge of Christ, namely: I Corinthians 4/

19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. 

It is possible (too possible) to live a powerless Christian Life void of intimacy with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Acts 6/

8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Stephen was effective for Christ for the reasons stated in the above verse.

Will you join with me in asking God to re-empower and reinvigorate us in the Holy Spirit? Without Him we can do nothing. (John 15/5).

Knowing

KNOWING (spiritual realities)

When we are young we can yield quickly to the temptation to conform to the opinions of those around us. We like to be accepted. So we pay lip-service to the mind of the crowd, the gang.

Deep down inside we aren’t so sure. This is how young men and women are peer-pressured into doing what their conscience screams out – not to do!

Our lives are like tree trunks – layers and layers of mental thought and experiences. Thus our personalities and characters are formed, from our youth.

Such a hodgepodge of thought, memory and emotion all combined to present us as we are to others.

“If you really knew me…” can be an oft repeated phrase.

(Maybe we all think this way?)

“If you really knew me – you wouldn’t say that…” is what we offer to those perhaps falsely accusing us of some misdemeanour.

But of course to really know someone is impossible in the perfect sense.

The bible tells us there is an ‘organ’, of true knowing. And it is not the brain per se.

Here is what we read: I Corinthians 2:

King James Version:

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Amplified version:

11 For what person knows the thoughts and motives of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So also no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

When it comes to spiritual realities, the same realities experienced by all Old and New Testament writers, there is an aspect of it that cannot be comprehended by those who do not have the advantage of the spiritual revelation these writers were given.

I’m conscious that I refer to this often in my spiritual writings. But it can’t be gotten away from: There is no other way to know the spiritual realities of God in Christ, than by receiving them from the hand of God, namely from Christ Himself. (Through the instrumentality of The Holy Spirit the executive of the godhead on earth)

They are given by The Holy Spirit of God to those who ask, and they are revealed to the inner man.

Prayer: “Lord please open the eyes of our inner man to comprehend the things of God. We know this can come from no other than Jesus Christ The Lord.”

Revelation (or if you prefer illumination) on the scriptures can only come from the hand of The Holy Spirit. We will be perfecting the sureness that He is speaking to us – for the rest of our days.

Hebrews 10/22

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Revelation 19/10.

And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Instant or brewed?

INSTANT OR BREWED?

A lot of people just can’t ‘get’ prayer.

For them prayer should be a case of press the button and down falls the chocolate bar, so because the bars aren’t immediately falling they dismiss the idea even of praying at all.

The Lord Jesus Christ – time after time after time – sent His communication to His Heavenly Father and almost instantly the result of His communication manifested in the prayed-for-need being met.

As believing Christians – those who believe that God answers prayer, we too love the press button/result prayers, but it doesn’t only work that way. John 11:

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

The above passage of scripture, telling us of the Raising of Lazarus from the dead, may seem like an ‘instant coffee’ answer, but it wasn’t.

First when Christ heard of the death of Lazarus – he had probably been dead for two days, already.

Secondly Jesus waited another two days before going to the scene of the burial.

Before the prayer was answered – Jesus went through various internal spiritual experiences with His Father, (as always), that came through constant prayer and we are told also that …v33

…he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled…

So for four days Jesus carried the need, and then His prayer was answered – the man Lazarus rose from the dead.

In the Old Testament Elijah was wanting rain. So he prayed about it – but his servant had to go and look 7 times (7 nothings!) before the prayer began to be answered and even then it was a cloud the size of a man’s hand – not yet the rain. The rain eventually came of course. (I Kings 18)

The early church prayed for Peter in Prison – the time factor coming into play again – before he stood outside released after angelic intervention.

And so we could go on. Jericho – round and round the walls before prayer needs were met and down came the walls.

The Lord Jesus in the garden went three times before He came away with the definitive answer from His Father – go to the cross. (Luke 22)

To sum-up (something that could be elaborated on much more) – the bible exhorts us to

1 Thessalonians 5:17

17 pray without ceasing,

I often think of how we are exhorted to (Matthew 7/)

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

To my mind the first one describes the instant result, the second suggests time delay. When we seek it takes time to find, and the third similarly suggests time and waiting – to knock, is to wait on the door being opened.

That’s two out of three involving prayer that is not instant coffee or falling chocolate bars.

Why can’t they hear?

WHY CAN’T THEY HEAR?

Acts 7/

56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Get the scene: a sermon has been preached.

The audiences response?

Before we answer that:

First – some questions – regarding the sermon –

Was it incitement to racial violence?

Was it speech against some political populace party?

Was it anti-Semitic?

Was it a speech denying equal rights?

Was it right or left wing extremism?

No – it was a jewish history lesson and it contained correction and a call – exhorting people to stop resisting God.

Notice a key phrase about this audience, they:

stopped their ears

Stopped listening to the truth.

The full audience as far as we know, unitedly, unanimously, rejected the message and the messenger – stoning him to death.

Logic would now say, was the message one to be despised?

Answer: Not at all. It was full of the truth. Even if it was to be rejected in the eyes of many. There was certainly nothing to warrant the stoning of the preacher!

So how come they didn’t like it? (Check it out and conclude for yourself) Acts 7.

And think in the context of the nature mankind is born with.

Beautiful feet…

BEAUTIFUL FEET…

ROMANS 10/

15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

My feet, I think it’s safe to say – are not beautiful.

Nevertheless my hammer-toes feet can take me to a place where people worship, or the highways and by-ways where I can share the gospel. My feet suddenly are saw to be beautiful if I share the gospel.

In previous posts I hope I say it like it is. Say it like it is – concerning this old world we are living in.

Affirming that we do not need to look far to see the mess.

But what do we read here (above)?

…the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Gospel means good news. The Gospel is a message. A good news message.

A good news message offering peace. We have all heard the saying: “Peace be with you”.

And of course there is no peace without the peace-giver. No spiritual peace that is.

When the irate father rebukes his child and shouts: “Give my head peace!”, and the child subsequently obliges and remains silent. You could say the father’s head has found peace.

But of course this is not a true description of Peace.

There are other glad tidings mixed in with this message of peace. 

The Christian gospel is a message carried by beautiful feet to those who will listen, i.e. to those who realise there is a problem and the message is sent to cure it. Otherwise the feet of the message carriers, have an aroma of death… II Cor. 2/16

16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.

Those desiring true spiritual life welcome the refreshing message of sins forgiven to all receivers of Christ.

Sweet sounding footsteps indeed.

There are many ways to try and acquire peace of mind, peace of spirit but only Christ supplies true peace – He gives peace to the human heart.

We are made that way, i.e. made to need this peace. It is a peace that is difficult to describe to those who are in turmoil and have not as yet experienced it. Hard to describe because it is a PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING’ –

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

This peace comes when the conscience comes into line with Christ’s forgiveness, and by faith we take Him at His word, receiving His peace for the forgiveness of confessed sin. John 14/27.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This gospel of peace brings news of this ‘peace that passes understanding’. But it needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated, as it is not just the understanding of it’s existence that confirms it – but actually allowing God to impart it to us.

Sin destroys and is synonymous with death. It can be pleasurable, but only for a short time, as the conscience will raise it’s objections to it, and there is only one way to silence those objections – through the forgiveness of God, offered to us all, if we will turn away from sin and turn to Christ.

The conscience can operate instantly before we misbehave or with delayed reaction, after we have sinned, if ignored in exchange for the pleasure of sin for a season, it will return and smite us.

I know what it is to be ‘smitten’ for my mistakes many times, but after failing – I have turned to Christ and He has imparted His peace again, to the satisfaction of my inner need.

If we ignore Christ speaking to our conscience, we can eventually end up fitting this description: I Timothy 4/2:

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

But the conscience (if not seared) can also lie dormant until awakened by Jesus Christ.

With a dormant conscience, folks either don’t see there is a problem – or set about solving the problem by telling themselves “I’m a good person”.

What they mean is their intentions would be – to be good.

Other folks quickly find fault with them, find things that are not so good, and there is a vice-versa reciprocation in such exercises, and suddenly it isn’t enough to want to be a good person.

God says ‘There is none good but God…’ (Mark 10/18)

We are told to worship God ‘in the beauty of holiness’. (Psalm 29/2).

And holiness is of The Lord.

Holiness never gets a mention in the vocabulary of post-modernism. There is largely never talk of becoming more holy, except when comedians or playwrights want (as they seem to always want) to mock ‘Holier than thou’ Pharisaism. So that becomes their total wrong perception of what Christianity is.

In order to find Christian Peace – we need to recognise where the cause of all disturbance in the human frame comes from.

It comes from that mysterious ‘virus’ called sin.

The reason that the feet of those who carry the gospel message are beautiful is because they have…[to quote scripture again]:-

Ephesians. 6/15

…shod (their) feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

It is the good news of the gospel of peace to all who will receive it and it’s author – Christ Jesus Himself.

Therefore my desire is that all would know…

Ephesians 1/2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

K.I.S.S.

K.I.S.S.

Life consists of the natural and the spiritual.

Many have very different descriptions of what constitutes the ‘spiritual’ in life.

Some equate it to any kind of ‘experience’. Ranging from highly emotionally-charged events, to some deja vu moment e.g. walking through a wood.

Or they find it categorised for them, by dabbling in anything that fits the ‘esoteric’ or ‘mystical’ realm.

Some knowingly look to the occult, others don’t realise that the occult is what they are dabbling in, under another name.

Some don’t seem to stop and consider that we can include the demonic in the definition of the occult. And they sometimes prefer to remain ignorant of the facts regarding the demonic and it’s results.

Because of the many and varied terms we could use when considering ‘the spiritual’ – used by a diverse plethora of people-groups – we can’t use them unless we very clearly define them.

Otherwise we cannot be on the same page either in agreement or disagreement, as they mean different things to different folks.

However – let’s try to embrace the old acronym: K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Stupid.

It is a fact that the spiritual aspect of life, (without the need to go any further), can be very simply summed up in two words:

Good or evil.

Sorted.

The problem is, many are confused as to what is good and what is evil.

So, because (the truth is) – part of evil, is seduction, deception, cultishness. Many are deceived in their minds and don’t realise how evil the evil is – that they have been deceived by, and are involved in.

Someone comes along to point it out – and they resist and refuse to believe them. (e.g. see the oft found response of members of a cult) when friends working to see them released, come to try to reason with them.

So we have those who are continuing in evil – thinking it is good. And those who continue in what is good shunning all evil.

The problem – as you know – is separating the good from the evil to everyone’s wholehearted unified agreement.

We can only come and reason together. Present our points of view. Enter into wholesome debate, stopping when it starts to become unwholesome.

Once it becomes stubborn aggressive argument, we only expose the fact that we all have natures that are all under evil – all under sin.

See Romans 3/9 (What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin).

With this realisation in mind – we then must bow and humble ourselves and allow the Arbitrator, the Great Governor, the King of kings, the Only Potentate, The Great ‘I Am’, to step in and give us the answers, in the Person of His Son The Lord Jesus Christ.

When we hear His answers – we can begin to adjust our lives – everyone of us – in obeisance to Him.

Those who do this are continuing to progress towards what is further good.

Those who do not – remain experiencing ‘spiritually stunted growth’ – and are left still dabbling in varying degrees of evil, blindly or carelessly or sometimes with the clear intent of benefitting themselves at the expense of others.

Now here is the words of the Only Potentate (KJV – I Timothy 6/15).

Embrace these and we are on our way to greater good and the shunning of evil:

Referring to Christ Jesus we read:

Acts 4/12

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

I John 1/4

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

Regarding Christian believers:

Romans 13/12

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light…

Ephesians 6/12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The Lord Jesus Christ said:

Matthew 11/28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

All these exhortations are to those who willingly turn from sin and evil and obey God’s ordained means of reaching and getting to know Him.