Words to live by....

Once the log in one's eye is taken away, one will see that the speck in the other's is just that.... a speck... selah.....

Words to live by....

A rich life like a musical score, is a symphony composed...... not about the melody, but about the message..... A few notes do not an anthem make.....

Words to live by....

A friend made is a good thing..... A friend kept is better still.....A friend loved.....the best of all.......

KEEP OFF THE GRASS !!!

Many of us have undoubtedly seen this sign somewhere or the other and gone right ahead and walked on the grass (myself included), without any regard for the carefully posted signs, or the labor and service that had gone into the maintenance of the lawn… shame on me for doing this in the past…
My article today centers round an important part of our daily interaction that is slowly dying and that I fear will not be able to be resuscitated unless we apply ourselves to keeping it alive…
We all know that as Christians who have been ‘born again’ we have been translated into God’s Kingdom and have become citizens of ‘The Commonwealth of Israel'. We are well aware of the rights and promises that become ours by virtue of this adoption but sometimes we do not measure up when it comes to the responsibilities that come with ‘Citizenship’. Now what does this have to do with ‘keeping off the grass’ Ahhh… here comes illumination…..
It has to do with this quaint French inspired word called ETIQUETTE, please read on….

ETIQUETTE:

The word ‘etiquette’ originally meant, "Keep off the grass". Louis XIV’s gardener noticed that the aristocrats were walking through his gardens on their way to court and he therefore put up signs, or étiquets, to ward them off. The dukes and duchesses however walked right past these signs! Due to this blatant disregard, the King of Versailles decreed that no individual was to go beyond the bounds of the étiquets. The meaning of etiquette would later include the ticket to court functions that LISTED THE INSTRUCTIONS ON WHERE A PERSON WOULD STAND AND WHAT WAS TO BE DONE, and had to be adhered to, or the person that breached these codes of conduct would be in danger of being excluded from polite society. Etiquette, like language, has evolved, but it still means literally "keep off the grass".

Until the 1960’s, the importance of good manners were taught without question, but with the liberated 70’s came a decline in the popularity of teaching proper etiquette. Recently, a new emphasis has been placed on returning to traditional values that once were, and made society the more ordered and civilized milieu that it once was.

(Excerpted and modified from an article written by Dorothea Johnson, Protocol School of Washington)

Keeping off the grass….. Over the last few years I have noted this same decline in polite behavior in Christendom and I have heard various ‘pitiful platitudes’ excusing this unacceptable behavior e.g. Oh that’s how we are in. …(Whatever the culprit nationality is….), Oh I am stressed…. Well she/he had it coming to him/her…. etc BUT THESE ARE NOT A LICENSE FOR UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR…. I am sure some us have started replaying certain scenes in our minds and are right now saying: mm hmm…mm hmm…. But before we start ‘mm hmming’ let’s pay attention not to the speck, but the moat…. Like is said by Christian preachers ….. “Some of y’all didn’t get that“ ….. I am saying if this article does not point you inward it, would have failed in it’s intent as there needs to be a new standard set and I am getting ready to call that standard ‘KINGDOM ETIQUETTE’ i.e. the standard MINIMUM of acceptable behavior in God’s Kingdom and amongst God’s people that will set us apart as being unique and of a different breed…. This is not something that has not been laid out and exemplified in the Bible; It has been repeatedly lived out by God’s people… His Royal Dukes and Duchesses, from Genesis to Revelation….. Stay with me as we go to the book of Romans 12: 9-11….

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; (NKJV)

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. (The Message)

THIS is the standard set by God himself and knowing our God, He does not set us standards that we will be able to keep…. Except wait! …. By his Spirit …..so I admit freely to you that it’s not easy to walk this walk, BUT as we desire to ‘Keep off the grass’ God has promised that He will help us…


I found some humorous (at least to me) and deeply insightful scenarios of this in the bible as outlined below:

God; Being open and sincere: Gen 18:17 (He does practice double standards)

…. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ?


Abraham; Being polite with God: Gen 18: 27,28

And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.


Abraham; Knowing the boundaries of polite conversation: Gen 18: 32,33

And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I WILL SPEAK YET BUT THIS ONCE: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and ABRAHAM RETURNED UNTO HIS PLACE.


JESUS; Preferring his disciples and serving those whom He had Lordship over John 13:5

After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.


What awesome examples of ‘Kingdom Etiquette’! Let’s contrast this with one of our dear friends who might very well have been me….

Peter; Zealous violence: (e.g. The usher with a mission…. lol I’m truly sorry…. Not) John 18:10

Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus…. (Like I said that could be me… but I’m learning…)

… And we see how Jesus sets the standard beautifully: Luke 22:51

And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

Demonstrating what He came to do …. To serve and not be served, To be Lord but not to Lord over, To be spit on and speak not a word…. Pretty high standard huh.… but with God ALL things are possible…. As we go about our day and are tempted to walk across the lawn or cut someone’s ear off, Let’s remember to ask for grace and the help of the Spirit to..... KEEP OFF THE GRASS!


Shalom

Let's say 'Grace'....

Yesterday was Sunday and on Sunday I go to church..... :-)........Service was wonderful as it always is and during worship, we sang a song that spoke of the grace of God finding us just as we are..... My mind naturally drifted to the word 'grace' and what it means to me, and of course what I'd heard over the years - grace is the unmerited favor of God, the prayer said over our meals, the blanket that protects us from God's wrath, etc..... was what came to mind.... and just like the Holy Spirit always does he kind of gently prodded me into thinking about this word a bit more, and so I decided to research that word a little and came up with a few other definitions... Despite this prayer being probably one of the most said prayers (apart from The Lord's prayer) it has been said by myself and I daresay countless other people without actually letting the meaning register, sink in and impact our lives...I looked for definitions of grace and was pleasantly surprised by the other definitions I found.... I then expanded this little prayer that we so often say sometimes by rote, sometimes absentmindedly, sometimes religiously and sometimes as the benediction in a church service.... by inserting these definitions and this is what I came up with...

“May the freely given favor or good-will, effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, and proportion, the divine assistance and power given to man, of the Lord Jesus Christ, AND the love of God, AND the friendship; comradeship, and habitual companionship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”

This blessing not only speaks of a covering, but also the divine empowerment 'to be' and 'to do', freely given to us by God through the Lord Jesus Christ, but also of the constancy of that supply given by the Holy Spirit who lives in us, dwells in us and is our habitual companion …… always

Truly the Word says that the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in our souls and we are complete in him. So the next time you say ‘Grace’, remember that you are invoking the fullness of the Godhead’s covering, provision and power to bear in your life and your circumstance…. And with that in mind, let’s say ‘ The Grace’…

IN THE LAST DAYS......

Joel 2:28,29

"And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams;
Your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days”.


Joel the prophet spoke these words about the last days…. The days that many Christians believe we are living out RIGHT NOW, a day when the people of God who have declared their allegiance to the Lord and aligned themselves with Him in spirit and in truth will stand out as the chosen of the Lord…
I had always looked at these verses in the spiritual sense with the thought that the words referred solely to spiritual signs and wonders, but the Lord also caused me to see another dimension that I hope will bless and energize you to pursue LIFE like never before… It has oft been preached in the church that the wealth of the gentiles is laid up for the righteous and many of us are sadly and I dare say in futility hoping that these riches will ‘drop’ in our laps as long as we believe. This is however not borne out by scripture… I believe that the verses above may give a blueprint as to how this wealth transfer will occur, always remembering that this transfer is for the building of God’s (not man’s) kingdom, here on earth and anyone who is not ‘Kingdom’ oriented should not have any hope in partaking of this outpouring.

Let us examine some of the key words above and then look at the verses again in this light:

1. Spirit:
• The vital principle or animating force within living beings
• Incorporeal consciousness
• The Holy Spirit
• The part of a human associated with the mind, will, and feelings
• The essential nature of a person or group
• A person as characterized by a stated quality
• An inclination or tendency of a specified kind
• A causative, activating, or essential principle
• Strong loyalty or dedication
• The predominant mood of an occasion or a period
• The actual though unstated sense or significance of something
• To impart courage, animation, or determination to; inspirit

2. Prophesy:
• To reveal by divine inspiration
• To predict with certainty as if by divine inspiration
• To foretell - To tell of or indicate beforehand; predict
• To prefigure; foreshow
• To reveal the will or message of God
• To predict the future as if by divine inspiration


3. Dreams:
• A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep
• Wild fancy or hope
• A condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration: a dream of ownership
• Idea that is exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful
• To have a deep aspiration
• To regard something as feasible or practical
• To conceive of; imagine.


4.Visions:
• The faculty of inner sight
• Something that is or has been seen
• Unusual competence in discernment or perception
• Intelligent foresight: a leader of vision.
• The manner in which one sees or conceives of something as yet unseen
• A mental image produced by the imagination
• The mystical experience of seeing as if with the eyes, the supernatural or a supernatural being
• To see in or as if in a vision; envision


So these verses could actually read thus…

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit: The Holy Spirit - The vital principle or animating force within living beings on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy: predict the future with certainty as if by divine inspiration, prefigure; foreshow events to come.

Your old men will dream dreams: Have a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep, ideas that are exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful.

Your young men will see visions: Have the faculty of inner sight, unusual competence in discernment or perception, have mental images produced by the imagination to see or conceive something great”.


So in essence what I believe the Lord is saying is that not only will we see an outpouring of His spirit in the spiritual arena but also in the creative, financial, entrepreneurial, sociological, environmental, technological etc.. you name it arenas that will result in a catapulting of God’s people to unprecedented and lofty successes almost overnight…. (Joseph started his day as a prisoner and ended it in the palace as second-in-command only to Pharaoh with God-given dreams/revelations as his springboard to greatness) Not by power nor by might but by His Spirit, and only for the building of His great and mighty army and to bless His people – The spiritual Commonwealth of Israel amongst whom we are named…. We see this phenomenon at work in the lives of Jacob, Daniel, Hezekiah to name a few… who by reason of divinely imparted dreams, knowledge, insight, wisdom and entrepreneurial skills had meteoric rises to the top of governmental, financial and national responsibility and success in their times – THIS IS POSSIBLE IN OUR DISPENSATION ALSO…. Let us not limit ourselves… let’s dream big and let us allow God to inspire us to greatness and to fulfilling our God-given destinies

So now that we’ve stated the goal, in the weeks to come I’ll be trusting God to help me share what he has taught me about the ‘how’ of this process, but remember begin to ‘dream’ big and ask God by His Spirit to help you ‘see’, and also begin to declare boldly that which he has placed in your heart because we are of the stock of Him who declares those things which be not as though they were and THEY ARE…


FEAR NOT…DREAM BIG, SEE DEEP, DECLARE BOLDLY AND IT SHALL BE SO…..