Monday Musings 9/24/2013

 Monday Musings 9/24/2013

Have you ever found yourself sitting down and saying to the Lord, What is Truth, Lord?  I often watch a particular preacher on TV and because I don't always watch it at the same time, there are different programs that come on after that program so I sometimes get a taste of different preachers and teachers.  This is the season of specials times in Israel's history: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Feast of Tabernacles.  I have to admit my understanding of these three times is extremely limited. So it was with interest that I caught the jist of a couple programs talking about these events today.  I was late getting into the first one as it was the one preceding the program which I had turned the TV on to watch. But as the talk about Tabernacles progressed and it talked about the importance of meeting the needs of the poor and downtrodden, there was that plea for money with the promise of double blessing if you gave to their organization.     I was glad it was time for the program I had tuned in for  to start, so I switched channels rather sick to my stomach.  Later in the day I left the channel on after listening to a certain program, and the new program was again about these events, particularly Feast of Tabernacles.  And sure enough, it turned into a plea for money for their programs, with the insistence that giving to the poor at this ONE TIME OF THE YEAR is COMMANDED of the Lord and that a person wouldn't want to miss that double blessing, or a blessing period by being disobedient.

My own understanding of Feast of Tabernacles is somehow tied up with the Lord inhabiting our "tents" or our "dwelling places" just like the Israelites set up "booths" which they tabernacled in during the Feast of Tabernacles while they celebrated the harvest.   How that fits in completely I don't know and I won't argue with anyone because I really don't have an understanding which I have enough confidence in as far as it relates to Feast of Tabernacles to even make a very knowledgeable statement.  But this I know.  The feasts are fulffilled in Jesus Christ and in 2013 He calls us to deal with the poor and the downtrodden on a daily basis, not just once a year according to some TV evangelist who wants our financial support. Plus He has come to tabernacle in this house of flesh that He might preach the gospel  unto the meek; to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. That would seem to be a 24/7 responsibility that we have who dwell in Christ and in whom Christ dwells in us.  But then, maybe I am missing something,and of course I am: the fullfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles will come when the final harvest is reaped and then Jesus will come to reign upon the earth with His saints.  Multilevel fulfilment of the commandment relating to the Feast of Tabernacles.  Today I am rejoicing in "my booth", my abiding place in Christ, recognizing He is Lord of the harvest.  Come Lord Jesus Come....Maranatha...and not just at the Second Coming Lord but today, come into your Tabernacle and manifest yourself in me and in my brothers and sisters. Teach us your ways Lord!!

Ah,and yet another thing,which is so closely connected to that Isaiah prophecy.   I have been teaching a bible class on the Kingdom of Heaven/God and keep coming across this term that seems to have been taken so far out of context of the scriptures, and that word is the GOSPEL.   I am beginning to be aware that THE GOSPEL, refers in scripture over and over to the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and at times just The Gospel.     

Romans 1:16 iis a scripture that I have heard preached a lot lately.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God/Heaven.   It is this Gospel of the Kingdom that is to be preached to all the nations and then the end will come.(Matthew 24:14)

The anointing comes to preach the gospel/good news of the Kingdom to the people.  The King has come!  He dwells among men today by His Spirit.  We who are His, dwell in Christ who is seated at the Right Hand of the Father and I am in Christ and Christ is in me even as He is in the Father and the Father is in me. And this is the welcome that comes to both Jew and Gentile. You have been reconciled and in you God desires to do His will on earth as it is in heaven.

Ok, so what?

Please bear with me brothers and sisters. I am hungering for what God has provided for us IN CHRIST JESUS,every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. I am  longing to see the Will of God as it is in Heaven be made manifest upon the earth, so as to "bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ."  Everywhere Jesus went preaching the "GOSPEL"  people were healed, delivered and raised from the dead.   In the Epistles, it says that as Paul and Barnabas continued to speak freely and boldly    in the Lord  Who continued to bear testimony to the Word of His Grace granting signs and wonders to be performed by their hands." (Acts 14:3)  So the Gospel is not separated from the signs and wonders granted by the Lord as a result of preaching the Gospel.

So if this is the message of the Kingdom, that the King has come who heals the sick and raises the dead and casts out demons,  why then do we yet hear people asking God to heal them?  Recently I heard the testimony of a lady who had waited 21 days for the Lord to heal her. But she is no longer suffering and is "healed."  It was told how hundreds maybe thousands have been praying for her healing and deliverance.   Yet something in my spirit said, Error...?????


Recently I heard a  pastor talked about how we can't engineer the timing of the Holy Spirit, that we must draw near to Him and in His time He will come and heal and deliver. Then the congregation went through the song service which was all about "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus"...Over in the glory land, and other songs about when we get to Heaven.   My heart was crying out, "Lord, Lord, your Word says that you want to manifest what is in Heaven into the earth NOW.  I know Lord it won't be the time for the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of our God and King.But your word says your anointing is present to set the captives free, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead NOW.  I don't see that happening here and don't believe your Word says we are to wait for it in the Millennial or sometime in the future."

So I asked of the Lord:
"What Lord of this situation?  I thank you Lord for healing the lady with the kidney stone and I thank you that you do "hear our prayers." But is this the plan and purpose you have for this day?"

And I was deeply blessed and contrite as a result of what I understood the Lord to say:  And it was something like, These are my children and they have asked me according to their faith. I am their Father and I hear their prayers. But I would that you grow up in Me and begin to walk in My Kingdom ways and preach forth the Good News of  My Kingdom!!  

Yes Lord!! 

When the service was over, God poured out a blessing. Between Sunday School and church I made my usual trip to the Ladies Room and as I turned to go into the hallway a sweet lady was coming out and I about ran into her. She seemed to be barely moving and told me that it was all she could do to negotiate the bathroom and wasn't sure how she'd make it to the platform to play the piano.  I asked her if I could pray for her.  And I spoke strength  in Jesus Name into her body and breath into her lungs that she might have abundance to go to the piano.  And off she went and I went on my journey to the Ladies Room. 

After the service was over, that sweet pianist stopped by the pew where I was still standing, talking of course. And she told the ladies that she had so much strength to play and that she was even able to sing and that she hasn't been able to sing in a service for months. She often has her oxygen by the piano...but if she did today she didn't need it.  She thanked me for praying for her. But it was God manifesting His Word in the NOW!!

Our God is Awesome...she didn't have to wait and wait for strength to accomplish God's will that day.He made it available through what I will call" the gospel of the Kingdom."  The King is here. Our sins are covered by the blood, He is desirous to have a relationship with us and will show us so with the greatness of his love poured out in healing, deliverance, etc.

How many times in another congregation the Presence of the Lord was what I call "heavy" in the place and the pastor called folks to the altar who had needs. Then he prayed as if the Spirit of the Lord wasn't there to meet those needs and prayed "TO HEAVEN" instead of allowing Heaven to manifest the healing and deliverance that was available by the Spirit of the Lord!

Am I walking in all that yet? NOPE...I am just learning to "walk in Him" and when I am abiding in Him by faith, there is an increased confidence that He will back His word when i speak it forth.  I heard an apostolic minister commission someone recently and he said to them, "I trust the Lord's work in your life and I will back every word that you say. "

My Father will back every word I say when that Word comes from the Throne and is what He is saying and doing in the heavenly.   For MY FATHER, who is in Heaven, is one with Christ and I am one with Christ, so if I speak forth what HE is saying He will do what He says!! That means I have to know HIM more than intellectual assent but be able to see and hear what He is doing and saying.

It seems to me that we have entered into a new season in the Body of Christ. Many of those whom I call "mentors" have begun to speak forth and speak into lives. One of my dear so called mentors refers to it as "praying on" or praying into  people versus praying for!     They who preach this Gospel are told  in the scriptures that they are  to "live by this gospel."   And seeing what my "mentors" are going through and what I myself have been facing this year so far, it means more than earning our living by the fruit of our ministry, if it means that at all!. It means we shall live and move and have our being IN CHRIST just as we preach the gospel of the Kingdom to others that He is here, to be all that He, the I AM is. It means we will learn to speak the Word into our own bodies even as we learn to speak the Word into other people's bodies.  And many apostolic and prophetic people are learning to trust His Word even when they don't see immediate manifestation and yet, they are seeing an increase in the anointing for that very type of healing when they pray for others!  I  prayed on another lady in service yesterday and have no idea what was manifested in her life. We pray his Will and trust Him to confirm it with signs and wonders. They are to follow the good news we preach and pray into lives!

Does God hear the prayers of those who still ask him for this and ask him for that, ask him to heal them, when the Spirit of God is poured out waiting to perform His Word in their lives?  Of course, because he is our Heavenly Father; he knows we are but children, though he clearly wants to grow some of us up i Christ Jesus. I saw this over and over, people being healed when congregations prayed for their healing just as Maybelle was after 21 days.  It, however, reminds me not to compare or judge others, but to be obedient to the Word of the Lord as it stirs in me and as my heart goes out to the poor, the sick, the lame, the captives.   Help me Lord, I am trusting you to make the way that allows You to confirm your Word in my life and in the lives of the brethren!

I do welcome discussion and comments on this article. There are many sides to this issue and most of my life I have been hearing about the various points of view. But with each point of view, there seems to be a lack of "manifestation" of God granting the signs and wonders through the hands of those preaching the Gospel.   Recently a pastor told how early in his preaching years he preached a sermon on the 10 (maybe 14) things necessary for healing, or the things that keep people from being healed.  He said that one time the Lord asked him why he was binding up His people?  Then the Lord said,  My blood covers all of those 14 things, once and for all. There is NO qualification for healing, etc, except to receive freely what I gave freely.

Today a lady told me that there are so many aspects to the "healing thing."  I understand her point of view as they prayed for healing for their daughter who had major medical issues and they didn't see it and it challenged their walk with God.  I suffered an injury recently when I fell off a slimy step and landed with my back on the corner of a concrete block and not sure what my shin hit.  I am walking in the healer. I am in Him, and am walking out His life on a daily basis and I have confidence that healing is flowing through my body.  What the process of getting what is "mine" in Christ, into this house of flesh down through the heavenlies, isn't well known to me but I know it IS, because HE IS THE I AM and I AM IN HIM. Seeing it or not seeing it isn't pertinent. What is pertinent and true is WHO HE IS and WHAT HE SAID, and walking BY FAITH in what is TRUE in the heavenly realm.   It isn't saying what is in the earthly realm isn't but confessing that what is True and Life is what is true in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus and believing Holy Spirit IS delivering it because of all that was done at Calvary and the Resurrection Life that I partake of now, seated with Him in heavenly places.

 

Meri Ford

Sunday Musings 9/15/2013

The other day a friend said to me, I gotta do such and such.   My response to her was, Why do you gotta?
About that time we were interrupted and I didn't get to pontificate about the "gottas". So you, dear folks, get my pontification on this subject.

I am learning more and more about the "ministry of death" as it differs from "Life in Christ Jesus" as I grow in the freedom and liberty that the Holy Spirit gives as we come to know Jesus more personally. 

To clarify some words to start with..."gotta" or "got to" "have to" "need to" in this article do not refer to those words used in terms of necessities such as I have to turn the faucet on if I want to get water. I gotta turn the key on if I want to start the care.  These are valid uses of the terms.
The other uses of these terms are "pressure" words that stand to bring forth guilt and shame.

OK, Meri, you've rattled on about this before. So what is new?

As I learn the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus, the guilt and shame that comes from the  failure to do anything we are "supposed to do" is eliminated.  Supposed to do....is always up against some standard that we are required to follow to gain the approval of someone or something. It can be simply put as "law."   The ministry of death works through all sense of law. Does it make the law bad? No, the law is Holy and violation of the law....brings guilt and shame which cover us in death! 

OK..so what?  Jesus Christ frees us from the law of condemnation, our failures, the guilt and the shame which bring forth death and destruction. Oh, we all know that but......what's that got to do with saying "I have to do...or I gotta"....

When we use those words, we are often unaware that we have opened the doorway to the ministry of death...the law of sin and death where guilt and shame reign.   So if we "don't do" what we think we ought to....what comes??? Guilt and shame.

I have heard several friends lately who have been dealing with various medical issues and family issues tell me that they racked their brains to make sure there wasn't any "unconfessed sin" in their lives, thinking those things kept them from enjoying the blessings of God in those areas! WAKE UP FRIENDS!  All that is ours in Christ Jesus is by GRACE not because we deserve it, not because we have "repented of everything we ever did" but because everything we ever did is "UNDER THE BLOOD" and new life is ours in Christ Jesus.  If I have to go hunting for "unconfessed sin", where is my faith that all my sin, past present and future, is under the blood, and my life redeemed from destruction by that blood, and resurrection life in Christ Jesus has been made available to me??

This past week my middle daughter came down on the train from Seattle to visit and I picked her up. After we visited her older sister in Centralia we came to my place in Winlock and then she took my car and went and spent the afternoon with her dad (Chuck).
After the visit with the two girls, much stuff went through my mind and I am soooo thankful that I know the message that I am writing about here, at least in part!  There is NOTHING that can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus...nothing I have done, am doing or will do because it is all paid for....the price was paid ONCE and for ALL!!  It is easy when grown children are around to look at the things in the past and figure out how one could have or should have done things differently!!    Useless endeavour!!  It is today, the present. Now is the day of salvation and I have been saved from the consequences of sin, from the ministry of death, from guilt and shame, all that I  did to "take care of Meri"  to "please other people", to stay safe!   It doesn't make any difference if it was right or wrong. We aren't under the law, no longer  seeing life from the fruit of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil". But today we see life through Life in Christ Jesus....seated with Him in heavenly places at the right hand of the Father and Jesus holds me by His right hand.

I saw that there is freedom NOW to be "in Christ", to "abide in Him" in the NOW by faith and that frees me from the law of sin and death, it frees me from the ministry of death.  Oh what joy, what freedom to rejoice!!

In the past when  I got around the Body of Christ, one of the issues I would struggle with are my failures in relationships and marriages because there are always a 1000 things I "could have done" or "should have done", most of which I didn't know to do but still they stand to "judge" me.  But today, I recognize that condemnation  as the ministry of death, the law of sin and death!  I HAVE A CHOICE today....believe who I am in Christ and who Christ is in me, or look at all the past and present and future circumstances through the ministry of death(tree of the knowledge of good and evil), what should I have done, how could I have done it differently...etc.

Today the question is, Lord what are you doing, and teach me Your ways!! That comes from the ministry of reconciliation.  In Christ there is no condemnation. In Christ there is freedom, in Christ there is newness of Life, health, strength, Wisdom Himself made known unto us in righteousness, sanctification and redemption.   He has "redeemed" the past from the ministry of death, for He shows how everything in my past accomplished His plan and His purpose for my life!!! Each "failure" was orchestrated to bring forth His plan and His purpose. WOW!!  That is what His blood did on Calvary. That is why we take the bread, the broken bread at Communion as we declare His body was broken by the force of sin in place of mine! And now I live by the Life He made available to me in the Resurrection/Coming of Holy Spirit.

With the grown children here and bringing awareness of the relationships of the past,  I have had the wonderful freedom to see how God has worked out His plan and purpose in my life and am believing Him to be continuing to work out that plan and purpose in the lives of other family members, like the kids' fathers.  And I can rejoice and pray into that plan and purpose because I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him!   I have called those things from my past as part of His plan and purpose in Christ Jesus knowing they are under the blood and His Spirit is hovering over those loved ones even as he hovers over me working out His plan and purpose on the earth as it is in Heaven!!

I like to ask someone when they say, I gotta do.....  Why do you gotta?   Today we who are called by His Name, have choices. We can choose to, we are free to follow after what HE is doing.   I astounded someone recently when I told them that after I "introduced someone to Jesus Christ"  sometime earlier this year, the Lord asked me whether or not I was doing what He was doing or if I was doing what I was "supposed to do?"  And I admitted to Him I was "doing what I was supposed to do" and had not listened to see what He was doing. And He clearly told me that the fruit wasn't ready to be picked as it wasn't fully ripened.  Had I looked for openings? Yes, had I been thoughtful about only sharing if I had an opening and was the person "open"?  Yes, but was that what God was doing, what Holy Spirit was doing? NOPE.....No guilt, no condemnation...but an impartation of His Wisdom and insight....and I was "willing to turn" to Him and not resist that turning and was willing to let "my way" "my ought to"  "the right thing"  lay down and follow after Himself!

Walking in the Kingdom lifestyle is so very different from much of what I have learned in the past. It is about seeing what He is doing and walking it out here on the earth as it is in Heaven. And I am so glad that all my feeble effort to perform His will on earth apart from abiding in Him in the heavenly places....is covered under the blood and cannot separate me from that safe place in the Rock, that dwelling place, that mansion He's made for me in Himself to tabernacle in for all eternity!

Praise be the name of Jesus!

Meri

Heavenly Invitation Part 2 or Kingdom and Culture Part 2

 Heavenly Invitation Part 2 or Kingdom and Culture Part 2

By  Meri Ford 

In recent weeks I’ve been reading about various world views and how we Christians can relate to those who hold world views very different from ours. At the end of this I will list some of the resources other than the Bible that I have drawn this article from as the Spirit of the Living God has stirred me up in His Most Holy Faith.

As we face an increasing Islamic presence in the world, one of the areas where the body of Christ is being challenged is to incorporate our “religion into our culture.”

Islam does not separate “religion and culture”. It doesn’t separate what they believe about God (Allah in Arabic for Christian and Muslim alike) from their family relationships, eating habits, dress, etc. One of the biggest accusations against the West and what\ Muslims call “Christianity” is the lack of integration of moral value into the daily life and practices of the West. For the Muslim, their belief in Allah and the Qur’an is inseparable from daily life and practice. They see the decadence and immorality of the “West” as the failure or result of the lack of truth in “Christianity.”

What has happened in our lives that what was once identified as “Christianity” now is more about prosperity, greed, immorality, hate and anger?

In reading this last month, the Lord has been showing me how we who call ourselves “Christians” aren’t following Him as He has called us.  Where did Jesus go and what did Jesus do? Jesus penetrated every dimension of the society he lived in and reached and affected everyone with whom He associated with the Father’s love. 

He told us in the Gospel of John that he wants us to be in Him as He is in the Father that the world may know how much the Father loves them.

I listened to a tape on Pat King’s web site on “Whatever you do, do in faith.”  The minister said something like believers “will carry heaven with them.”  If I believe I am in Christ as Christ is in the Father, then as I go forth I carry that love and power into every circumstance of my life and I will believe that it affects everyone I touch. The presence of it will be as manifest as will the absence according to where my faith is placed.

When my faith is in the Lord, that  faith manifests in wisdom and revelation by the spirit of God as I believe.  That manifestation then equips me and empowers me to endure and live abundantly “to the end” of whatever the Lord has chosen for me.

In Islam the first place they expect and practice their religions system to work is in the home and then the workplace. Islam penetrates every dimension of a society where people believe they must please Allah and must do whatever Allah says to gain access to heaven. They believe this to the point of dying to kill the enemies of Allah whereby they are rewarded for “cleansing” society of the infidel or the enemy of God.

How much more we who know the Living God are freed to bring heaven into our daily lives and into the daily lives of the people around us, even those who might seek to kill us? 

How much more we who are live and have all spiritual blessings as we sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus are freed to pour such blessing out upon everyone we meet with the spirit of praise and thanksgiving?

Will we take that love and heavenly provision to work, to the gas station, to the grocery store? Will it manifest in loving communion with my spouse and children and the nosey neighbors next door?  Will my faith in God’s love be revealed in faith filled times of prayer exceeding that of the Muslim who by law prays 5 times a day and is proud of his “mark” of religious duty that forms on his forehead when his forehead touches the ground in such obeisance?

Will we display the power of heaven as we take “heaven” in prayer over our President and the Congress or will we find ourselves criticizing those who know not the heavenly love and wisdom and power we have in Christ Jesus? Will we pray revelation upon them and into them or will we judge them and see them unfit to receive God’s love and provision?

Will we bring heaven down when a car cuts us off on the freeway in praise and thanksgiving or will we lift up anger and resentment as if we were still under the law, judging what is “right or wrong” according to our set of standards?

Today I received an invitation to send Christmas Cards to the ACLU addressing the issues of Christmas tree rather than Holiday tree. The email suggested such massive send of Christmas cards would foul up their mail system and make it difficult for them to access their donations.  Is this bringing Heaven to the ACLU?  How can we pray Heaven and the love of God into the ACLU instead of trying to “mess them up”? What would Jesus do? Are we following Him and bringing the love of God into every aspect of our lives or are we still judging under the law, maybe not so different from those who live under “different kind of law” and different world views?

It does appear that until we see ourselves hopeless and helpless apart from all Christ is and in total need of His Excellency being carried in these earthen vessels, and seeing ourselves no different from our Muslim brothers or Hindu sisters, or Buddhist priests in our need for the love of God, we will not yet have entered into the Kingdom of God.

Resources:

Death of a Guru: A Remarkable True Story of one Man's Search for Truth by Rabi R. Maharaj and Dave Hunt (Paperback - Jun 1, 1984) Harvest House Publishers ISBN-13: 978-0890814345

Secret Believers by Brother Andrew and AL Janssen, Revell 2007  ISBN 978-0-8007-3264-6

I Dared to Call Him Father: The Miraculous Story of a Muslim Woman's Encounter with God by Richard Schneider and Bilquis Sheikh (Paperback - April 1, 2003) – Chosen ISBN-13: 978-0800793241

The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross by Dr. Nabeel T. Jabbour NavPress, 2008 ISBN 978-1-60006-195-0

Ishmael My Brother, A Christian Introduction to Islam by Anne Cooper and Elsie Maxwell, Monarch Books 2003 ISBN 13: 978-0890814345

Creating Powerful People by Eric Johnson, audio  11-13-2009  http://www.ibethel.org

Whatever You Do, Do in Faith  audio  Love Gospel Church Online at http://www.xpmedia.com

                                            

November 19, 2009