“Rise Up!”
This is what the LORD says to you:
“‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’
‘You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem.’
‘Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’
‘Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.’”
2 Chronicles 20:15,17,20
“Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures for ever.”
2 Chronicles 20:21
Throw Off ALL That Hinders
You’ve seen what Christ left. Won’t you leave something as well? Why don’t you start with your bad moments? Your selfish moods and white lies? Give them to God. Your binges and bigotries? God wants them all, every flop, every failure. He wants every single one. Why? Because He knows we can’t live with them.
Fix Our Eyes On Jesus
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Free Indeed
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36
Sin, Righteousness and Judgment
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Free Indeed
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36
Sin, Righteousness and Judgment
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:7-11
Personal Moral Failure
In scripture we who are saved are reminded that we ourselves are God’s Temple and that God’s Spirit lives in us. Scripture goes on to say that God’s Temple is sacred, so we are sacred to Him and sin is a violation of relationship with Him. God is Holy and it is what He is like, and is possibly the most important attribute of God. He is totally separate from sin and evil and cannot look on evil. As God is Holy, He calls us to be holy. He calls us to separate ourselves from the sin of this world. He calls us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Although God cannot look on evil He has great mercy and is full of grace. He has sent His Holy Spirit and dwells in us. His Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. Of sin that we may know forgiveness and that God’s heart is always open and ready to forgive. Of righteousness and that we can enter the Father’s forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, shed for us. That Jesus died for all our sins and He intercedes on our behalf to the Father, and of judgment that God is Love but He is also a consuming fire and all sin shall be destroyed. The Spirit always leads us to Jesus who through Him we can go to our Father who is unchanging and is always ready to relate to those who repent and are ready to change, a God filled with love and compassion for His children.
Temporary Loss of Faith
When we suffer loss of faith it is to remember that our God that does no wrong is faithful and always keeps His promises even when we are faithless. He knows all and He never lets go and never changes in His relationship with us. We can be thankful that the Spirit of truth dwells within us and that He is ready to teach and remind us of all that has been said to us. God knows before we ask in prayer what we feel, we think and what we need. He longs as a God of personal and intimate relationship for ourselves to come before Him even in weakness and allow Him to pour out His Love and Goodness to us.
Acute Disappointment
Those chosen by the Son is known by the Father, which means that not only are we sharers in the cross and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we also share all that the Father has for us in His good and perfect will. In our disappointment we can blame God and forget that all things work for the better of those who love Him, and that if God is with us, who can stand against us. Nothing is impossible to God and what He has planned and purposed will not change. We need to forgive God, not that He needs forgiving for He does nothing wrong, but give to God our disappointment calling upon His forgiveness to us for accusing Him wrongly. We can blame the circumstances when we need to forgive those who we believe have disappointed us knowing that although we can fail each other, God never fails and our trust should be in Him, not man. Our dependence should not be on our circumstances but upon our Father who depends on no-one and nothing for all things are dependent upon God and we are dependent upon Him for all things. We should not look to our own understanding but in our relationship with the Holy Spirit seek out the Father’s will for the Spirit knows the thoughts of the Father.
A Broken Relationship
Our God is a God of relationship, and He relates to people who change towards Him. He will never break His relationship with us. His love never changes. If He is distant it is not that He has moved from us, but that we have moved from Him. God is Love and He calls us to love as He loves. It is through our broken relationships that we not only find ourselves separated or drifting from others but from God as well. We stop giving God in our relationships and can fill it with unforgiveness and resentment. As God has forgiven us we too need to forgive each other for unforgiveness is a barrier between not only others but even more so God and prevents His working in relationships. As He accepts us for who we are, we too need to accept each other. As He looks and sees the good in us we also need to see the good in each other.
Severe Illness
God is the creator of all things; His greatness is too vast to fathom. He has the ground of existence in Himself. All was made by Him and for Him. He has full sovereignty. He is sovereign which means everything comes under His power, He has absolute authority. All are sinful people in the sight of God but through His great love, grace and mercy, He sent His Son. He chose to fill the gap, to break through, not to be a distant God but a close God through the blood of Jesus, which cleanses all things. The power of death no longer holds those who love God. On earth we have been given authority over sickness and in the Name of Jesus we can be set free and by His stripes we are healed. Even at death of our physical bodies we go to a place free from sin and sickness to a glorious place in the presence of our Father in Heaven.
Bereavement
In bereavement the greatest thing for those left is the loneliness of separation from a loved one, knowing that in this life you will never see them again. God the Father knew what it was like to be separated from His Son, condemned to die for the sins of this world. Jesus knew what it was like to be separated from the Father and His Holy Spirit even though He knew the outcome, as did the Father, He was alone. Because He understands the Spirit of God, the Counsellor, the Comforter comes and gives strength to those who mourn and courage to go on knowing that Jesus has prepared a table for those who love Him in a place where there is no more separation, death and tears.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
Psalm 34:17
Let the Walls Come Down!
Personal Moral Failure
In scripture we who are saved are reminded that we ourselves are God’s Temple and that God’s Spirit lives in us. Scripture goes on to say that God’s Temple is sacred, so we are sacred to Him and sin is a violation of relationship with Him. God is Holy and it is what He is like, and is possibly the most important attribute of God. He is totally separate from sin and evil and cannot look on evil. As God is Holy, He calls us to be holy. He calls us to separate ourselves from the sin of this world. He calls us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Although God cannot look on evil He has great mercy and is full of grace. He has sent His Holy Spirit and dwells in us. His Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. Of sin that we may know forgiveness and that God’s heart is always open and ready to forgive. Of righteousness and that we can enter the Father’s forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, shed for us. That Jesus died for all our sins and He intercedes on our behalf to the Father, and of judgment that God is Love but He is also a consuming fire and all sin shall be destroyed. The Spirit always leads us to Jesus who through Him we can go to our Father who is unchanging and is always ready to relate to those who repent and are ready to change, a God filled with love and compassion for His children.
Temporary Loss of Faith
When we suffer loss of faith it is to remember that our God that does no wrong is faithful and always keeps His promises even when we are faithless. He knows all and He never lets go and never changes in His relationship with us. We can be thankful that the Spirit of truth dwells within us and that He is ready to teach and remind us of all that has been said to us. God knows before we ask in prayer what we feel, we think and what we need. He longs as a God of personal and intimate relationship for ourselves to come before Him even in weakness and allow Him to pour out His Love and Goodness to us.
Acute Disappointment
Those chosen by the Son is known by the Father, which means that not only are we sharers in the cross and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we also share all that the Father has for us in His good and perfect will. In our disappointment we can blame God and forget that all things work for the better of those who love Him, and that if God is with us, who can stand against us. Nothing is impossible to God and what He has planned and purposed will not change. We need to forgive God, not that He needs forgiving for He does nothing wrong, but give to God our disappointment calling upon His forgiveness to us for accusing Him wrongly. We can blame the circumstances when we need to forgive those who we believe have disappointed us knowing that although we can fail each other, God never fails and our trust should be in Him, not man. Our dependence should not be on our circumstances but upon our Father who depends on no-one and nothing for all things are dependent upon God and we are dependent upon Him for all things. We should not look to our own understanding but in our relationship with the Holy Spirit seek out the Father’s will for the Spirit knows the thoughts of the Father.
A Broken Relationship
Our God is a God of relationship, and He relates to people who change towards Him. He will never break His relationship with us. His love never changes. If He is distant it is not that He has moved from us, but that we have moved from Him. God is Love and He calls us to love as He loves. It is through our broken relationships that we not only find ourselves separated or drifting from others but from God as well. We stop giving God in our relationships and can fill it with unforgiveness and resentment. As God has forgiven us we too need to forgive each other for unforgiveness is a barrier between not only others but even more so God and prevents His working in relationships. As He accepts us for who we are, we too need to accept each other. As He looks and sees the good in us we also need to see the good in each other.
Severe Illness
God is the creator of all things; His greatness is too vast to fathom. He has the ground of existence in Himself. All was made by Him and for Him. He has full sovereignty. He is sovereign which means everything comes under His power, He has absolute authority. All are sinful people in the sight of God but through His great love, grace and mercy, He sent His Son. He chose to fill the gap, to break through, not to be a distant God but a close God through the blood of Jesus, which cleanses all things. The power of death no longer holds those who love God. On earth we have been given authority over sickness and in the Name of Jesus we can be set free and by His stripes we are healed. Even at death of our physical bodies we go to a place free from sin and sickness to a glorious place in the presence of our Father in Heaven.
Bereavement
In bereavement the greatest thing for those left is the loneliness of separation from a loved one, knowing that in this life you will never see them again. God the Father knew what it was like to be separated from His Son, condemned to die for the sins of this world. Jesus knew what it was like to be separated from the Father and His Holy Spirit even though He knew the outcome, as did the Father, He was alone. Because He understands the Spirit of God, the Counsellor, the Comforter comes and gives strength to those who mourn and courage to go on knowing that Jesus has prepared a table for those who love Him in a place where there is no more separation, death and tears.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
Psalm 34:17
Let the Walls Come Down!
Grace is the power of God resting on you at a point of weakness.Grace is getting what you don’t deserve and not getting what you deserve.The Law is there as a notice of sin.Because of this notice we know of sin and gives us a consciousness of sin.Jesus came to fulfil the law, not to do away.Through Jesus we have redemption of sin.By the Spirit of God we have the conviction of sin.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Romans 16:20
Move Into God’s Garden
God Amongst His People:
Beloved
My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.
Awake, north wind, and come south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad. Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.
My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my lover’s and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies.
Song of Songs 2:16, 4:16, 6:2-3
Come into My garden. Come in and allow Me to plant you deep in the ground. That ground being of My Love, Truth and Word. I delight Myself in My garden as I walk between the lilies and watch as you grow into beautiful flowers, pure and white tendered by My Loving hands, watered by the Living Water of My Spirit. Like a blanket of snow in winter, white and gleaming in the sun light so will those who blossom in My garden, ever shining ever giving a fragrance worthy for My Glory.
Stand firm in the ground I have planted you for there are those who look on and would want to pull you out. Be careful of those who would form their own gardens. The ground in which they grow is an unstable ground, a ground of self and pride. Watch also that you do not pull yourselves out of My garden, but in all situations and circumstances remain in the ground of My Love, Truth and Word, giving all to Me.
As a butterfly flies between the flowers, receiving nourishment from the flower, others shall come to you to receive nourishment from you. The fragrance of My Love, the light of My Truth and the nourishment of My Word will draw them.
Come into My garden, remain in My Love, Truth and Word where there is Peace evermore.
Cocoon to Butterfly:
A man sitting in his garden observed a butterfly in the process of emerging from its cocoon. After two hours of struggle, the butterfly was only halfway out.The man noted a narrow place, that was restricting the butterfly.
Fascinated by the ongoing struggle, he took his penknife and cut open the narrow place that was restricting the butterfly to help the butterfly. To his sad surprise, the last third of the butter fly’s body, was still like a worm with just stubs for the hind legs!
It is possible to push a person too quickly, too early and you can find that person not ready. God’s timing is important and perfect.
Butterfly Emerges:
The cocoon gently opens and what was once a caterpillar has become a beautiful butterfly. The old self walks into God’s garden, on receiving Jesus as Lord of our lives, God makes us new creations. The new creation needing nourishment feeds off and receives from those deep in the ground of God’s Love, Truth and Word.
Butterfly Free to Go:
The butterfly flying among the lilies receiving nourishment does not remain in the garden. It takes what it wants and then leaves the garden, free to go else where, even into other gardens. Like the butterfly we can go in and out of God’s Love, Truth and Word when we choose. When its easy and good we are prepared to stay there, but the moment things get tough it’s easier to leave and even look somewhere else instead of standing firm. For the sake of peace it’s easier to run away, which becomes a false peace.
The Choice:
It takes a lot of courage and strength to stand firm in the ground of God’s Love, Truth and Word as a lily of the valley giving out Light to others, holding to God’s Promises. It’s easier to be a butterfly, free to come and go as we choose. We have a choice to be a butterfly or to be a lily of the valley as which we always remain in the ground of God’s Love, Truth and Word.
Life or Death:
If we block out the warmth and light of the sun and if we remove the source of food it needs for strength a butterfly dies. Like the butterfly if we stop giving the warmth and fragrance of God’s Love and the Light of His Truth and if we remove the nourishment in God’s Word to a child of Christ they will fall away and die.
Maturity:
Many butterflies trying to feed off a few flowers in a garden. Some, maybe all will die due to lack of nourishment and the flowers will dry up unable to meet the demands upon them. The more flowers there are the more resource of nourishment there is being given, spreading the demand and widening the intake of more butterflies coming into the garden.
Ambassadors of Love:
Let our motivation be in God. In love and honesty of heart. In obedience to His Word with a desire to follow and to do God’s Will. In our hunger for God let it be for our relationship with Him with Faith and Hope for the future. Let our humbleness be seen as we hold consideration and encouragement of others as an example to be shared. Most of all let our love for our Lord shine out to the world in darkness so that they may know and glorify Him who called us and redeemed us.
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