Uncategorized – Wisdom From the Word

The Tree of Life Part 1

In the last couple of months, I have come across people asserting that in Eden, Adam and Eve regularly partook of the tree of life prior to eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One of the proponents is an individual who is very well known in charismatic circles. The view is simply not tenable, before getting into why, I will first look at the tree of life throughout scripture. I will then briefly show what it represents to us now. The scriptures.

⁸ The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:8–9 (NKJV)

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” – ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:22–24 (NKJV)

¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. Proverbs 3:18 (NKJV) NOTE this is a reference to the importance of wisdom

³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise. Proverbs 11:30 (NKJV)

¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 (NKJV)

⁴ A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4 (NKJV)

⁷ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7 (NKJV)

² In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:2 (NKJV)

¹⁴ Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14 (NKJV)

In the Old Testament (OT) references the word for life in the tree of life is chay in each case but it is also the word used when it says God breathed into Adam the breath of life. Thus, the life in the tree is not qualitatively different than the life Adam had already received at his creation. It is the Hebrew word that refers to life or living things. It is the word used to refer to all living things in general in Genesis 9:3 and we see it on David’s lips when he wanted to battle Goliath. In 1 Samuel 17:26 David described Yahweh as the ‘living God’ (chay Elohim). We can then see that the choice of what tree to eat from wasn’t about having life/chay as that was something that Adam and Eve already possessed.

In the OT life is life. What was in the tree was in the animals and in people. Yet the tree of life is seen as a source of something more. We see from Adam and Eve being barred access to it that it would have also imparted immortality and left them forever in a sinful state had they partaken of it (Genesis 3:22-24). To truly understand the importance of the tree of life we need to move forward to the New Testament (NT).

Paul makes an important distinction between different types of life in 1 Corinthians.

⁴⁵ And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45 (NKJV)

The distinction here is between soulish and spiritual life. To understand this, we need to briefly move back to Genesis 2:7. It is the breath of life (chay) that Yahweh releases into Adam and Adam is then referred to as a living (chay) being (Hebrew nephesh, soul). Paul’s point is that Adam became a soulish being at his creation but we become spiritual beings at the new birth.

This spiritual life is what the tree of life would have conferred to Adam and Eve had they partaken of the tree of life. Something would have been added to their essence that would have brought about an internal change. We can see that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil did bring about change, sin and destruction for all of creation. The loss of access to the tree of life after their sin, the spiritual versus the soulish life and the problem of living forever in a fallen state tells us that Adam and Eve only ate from one tree.

More to come.

With Thanksgiving

A note to start. I don’t write my posts in advance. I generally compose them during the week and do my final edits in the morning before I post them. However, I had been working on a post for awhile and set it aside and planned to complete it for this week. However, last Sunday I was reading the following passage and the phrase the Spirit impressed upon my heart was “with thanksgiving.” It never occurred to me at that time that I was writing and this post that I was preparing it for the time of our Canadian Thanksgiving. For me that means this Thanksgiving is significant to the Lord. Now back to scripture.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 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. Philippians 4:4–7 (NKJV)

For me personally not being anxious and praying are easy things to walk out. Where I need to grow is in thanksgiving. Verse 6 basically says that we are to let our needs be known to the Father, but in the process we are to include thanksgiving. The reason for that is what we will now look at.

There are a couple of things to reflect on. The first is that thanksgiving changes us not God. It brings our hearts to a place of rest in Him. In fact, that is Paul’s main point, when we bathe our prayer needs in thanksgiving His peace will guard our hearts and minds. Interestingly Paul says nothing about answers to our prayers, his focus is on the effect that pairing thanksgiving with our prayers makes. Now it is easy to say that but it is helpful to know how it works.

I remember lines from a childhood church song. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what God has done.” The whole refrain is below, published by Johnson Oatman Jr. in 1897.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

This is another part of pairing thanksgiving and prayer, a recounting of our blessings.

Practically here are some simple examples.

Father;

I thank You that You have given me life and breath,
I thank You for access to Your word and freedom to worship You in spirit and truth in this land where I live,
I thank You that You supply all my needs according to Your riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:10),
I thank You that you have placed X and Y in my life.

Obviously, you can generate your own list. I simply know from both scripture and experience that when thanksgiving is part of our prayer life our perspective shifts and hearts come to a place of rest in Him. We are then left confidently expecting Him to do what is best for our lives in our service of Him.

As a closing note, the theme of Philippians is rejoicing and thanksgiving, something Paul practiced and taught. Philippians is one of Paul’s prison letters and I am sure as he wrote from prison in Rome he reflected back on his prison experience in Philippi, where we see that after he and Silas had been beaten and put in stocks they were praying and worshipping in the prison (Acts 16:25). Let’s emulate his heart and as another song says, “Give thanks with a grateful heart.”

Seeds

In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8 Jesus says the harvest from the seeds depends on the condition of the soil. We see that in Jesus own ministry. He spent His earthly ministry sowing seeds and changing lives but the degree of change was commensurate with the commitment to Jesus’ message. What prepared the soil of Israel was John the Baptist’s forerunner ministry warning and exhorting people and calling the nation to repentance and baptism. Though we don’t have much recorded about it in the scripture we know that prayer also paved the way for Jesus’ ministry. One example is Anna.

³⁶ Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; ³⁷ and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. ³⁸ And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Luke 2:36–38 (NKJV)

This pattern of prayer and proclamation is evident in scripture and in every move of the Spirit I have studied in church history. We see it in the history of the Moravians and their 100-year prayer meeting that birthed modern missions. We see it in the life of Evan Roberts and others in the Welsh Revival, we see it in the intense travail of Frank Barlteman and others in the Azusa Street outpouring that birthed the worldwide Pentecostal Movement. I don’t know of a significant movement that arose without it

Now back to scripture regarding sowing. Like Jesus, Paul also addressed the issue of sowing. Below are a couple of examples, the first from 1 Corinthians.

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 1 Corinthians 3:5–8 (NKJV)

Paul’s primary point to the Corinthians was that they were not to elevate one leader over another and choose to follow one over another as God is the source of fruitfulness. His other point is that the sowing or planting is our job, God gives the increase or harvest.

We also see Paul addressing sowing and reaping in Galatians.

⁷ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. ⁸ For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:7–8 (NKJV)

Once more we see that the sowing is our responsibility and the fruit comes from the Spirit.

We see this principle of sowing and reaping on a broader scale in another place in scripture. Keep in mind Jesus’ seed sowing in His earthly ministry was His teaching along with the demonstration of the kingdom. Look at The Great Commission.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18–20 (NKJV)

This is Jesus’ command for us to sow and see a harvest from all nations. An important piece here is we can view this as a command to make disciples from all nations, which is reflected in Matthew 24:14, Jesus’ message about the gospel of the kingdom. We could also look at Matthew 25:31-34 where Jesus refers to sheep and goat nations. In that some see a call for the church to disciple nations. Lastly, we could see The Great Commission as a call to do both. You decide.

I share all of this to lead to a point. I believe when we teach, we can sow seeds of righteousness in the lives of individuals, cultures and nations. I am Canadian and I know seeds of righteousness were sown in the founding of our nation. We were originally known as the Dominion of Canada based on Psalm 72:8, which is inscribed on the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

⁸ He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Psalm 72:8 (KJV)

We can thus pray that this will be fulfilled and His dominion realized in our nation. This is but one example.

As I post this I have just returned from a vacation in Portugal. While there, as we traveled, I sought to discern what the Spirit wanted me to intercede for. I know that while historically there was a religious mixture in Portugal there were many seeds of the gospel and truth sown in the nation. At the beginning of our trip I was led to pray that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, elders and intercessors would be raised up from among the people. Later while traveling through the countryside on more than one occasion He led me to pray that the spiritual seeds sown in this land would sprout and a harvest would come forth.

If we look at the pattern the Spirit led me to in prayer the main focus was on raising up proclaimers and intercessors. The latter part was for these seeds to come to life. I only saw this pattern upon reflection as I was led to write this, not while I was engaged in it. There were other things He led me to do but this example is sufficient.

This now comes back to each of us. In our lives let’s seek to follow Him each day and look for what He is leading us to pray and proclaim so that we see the fruit Jesus desires in our lives, cities and communities.

At Hand

I last wrote about the kingdom of God being within us and our ability as believers to access it via our ‘state of mind.’ That is, how we think about it. Here I will look at a related idea, starting with the following verses.

¹ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matthew 3:1–2 (NKJV)

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17 (NKJV)

¹⁴ Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14–15 (NKJV)

Here we have John the Baptist and Jesus delivering the same message. There are two parts, the need for repentance and ready access. They both require choices to be made on our part. Repentance is a change of mind and heart that produces a change in behaviour and the phrase ‘at hand’ is a single Greek word that refers to something coming near or being close at hand, again, the idea of access.

Their message was that if the hearers changed their thinking and heart attitudes, they could have access to the kingdom. What is important is recognizing what Jesus in particular meant by the kingdom. Which He nicely summed up for us in a portion of what we call The Lord’s prayer.

¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 (NKJV)

From Jesus perspective the kingdom being at hand was the authority of the kingdom being accessed and demonstrated.

While we can understand what Jesus meant looking back, neither John nor Jesus closest followers really understood what the kingdom being at hand meant.

We know from John’s interactions with Jesus, that like the prophets of old, he was being faithful in delivering the message Yahweh had entrusted to him, even though he didn’t fully understand it. In fact, even after he had publicly endorsed Jesus as “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) he still struggled. After he was imprisoned, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3).

There is no need to be critical of John, after all, he did understand that the kingdom was accessible and whether he knew it or not his prophetic voice was beckoning people to a new era of kingdom authority that Jesus was ushering in. Even after walking in the benefits of this access to the kingdom His closest friends who heard all of His teaching and parables didn’t understand what they were accessing. That is evident based on what they asked Jesus just prior to His ascension.

⁶ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. ⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:6–8 (NKJV)

What this means is that even though John and Jesus preached that the kingdom was accessible, at hand via repentance, those hearing didn’t understand what they were looking for or seeking to access! I also contend that even today, many of us who have been delivered, “from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son…” (Colossians 1:13) don’t fully grasp what has taken place, I know I don’t. This is what we will briefly look at now.

¹ For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:1–3 (NKJV)

This passage is related to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17 for wisdom and revelation. Once we have repented and have been born again, we have access to the kingdom through the King living in us by the Spirit because we have changed domains and dominions (Colossians 1:13). Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, and by extension us, is that we could come to a full assurance and understanding of what it means to have Christ in us and access to Him to extend His kingdom. We have spiritual authority, we have access to the throne of grace, we carry eternity in our hearts. These things, and many others in scripture, are available and I invite you to search them out. Additionally, Paul presents a number of the benefits we have in the rest of Colossians 2, 3 and 4.

Now for a simple example of accessing the kingdom that is at hand. As I write this I am in another country. I am here on vacation but I have been walking around seeking to know His heart and pray. Not that I am interceding every waking moment, but I am seeking to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading.

After we arrived a prophetic friend sent me an assignment. He had an image/vision of me standing on a barren hill praying and declaring some things over the country. We have been traveling to different places along the coast and in one locale as we were walking through the old town to hike along the coast, I saw a barren hill in the distance that I knew was the correct one. In the afternoon after our hike, I went back, hiked up the hill, and prayed and proclaimed over the area. Here is an important part. I prayed about what to pray before I went up the hill, prayed and spoke as the Spirit led, then hiked back down. I felt nothing other than a sense that I had been obedient and that I had done as the Lord asked. I now leave the results in His hands and continue to pray off and on during the day as we vacation, in this way accessing and extending the kingdom. There have been other examples on this trip but I encourage you to seek His face, extend His kingdom and share the results with others!

A State of Mind

In May of 2023 Rick Joyner had a stroke. He said that while he was in the hospital, ‘giving thanks for all things’ and recovering, the Lord spoke to him and said, “You are not to lead people to a place, but to a state of mind. The kingdom of God is within you.” I have thought about this statement and the implications a good deal since I read it over a year ago. To go deeper we will look at more of the context.

²⁰ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20–21 (NKJV)

There is another related statement to look at before we drill down a bit on the above verses.

¹⁷ for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 (NKJV)

We can see that there are two important pieces in the Luke verses. Jesus said the kingdom of God “does not come with observation,” that is we don’t see it by looking around. The other point Jesus made was that “the kingdom of God is within you.” Paul said in Romans that the kingdom is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” In other words, a state of mind.

Now to look at what this means for us. The Pharisees were committed to the scriptures and looking for the Messiah. They were looking for signs or indicators. What they failed to do was open their hearts. A great example is in Luke 5.

¹⁷ Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Luke 5:17 (NKJV)

Jesus was there and His power was present to heal, including the Pharisees and teachers of the law, yet while others were healed, they weren’t. They observed the external signs, the healings and miracles yet even though the kingdom was being manifest right in front of them they failed to see it. They were observing but not seeing! Jesus was trying to lead them to a state of mind and draw them into ‘righteousness, peace and joy.’ He wanted to heal their hard hearts, but because they refused to open their hearts to Him, they never received what Jesus had to offer and they retained their hard hearts.

For us, Jesus the king is present, thus His kingdom is present. So, when our hearts are attuned to His presence, we come to a state of mind where we experience His ‘righteousness, peace and joy’ and can worship in spirit and truth. While we have the opportunity let’s open our hearts to His presence so we can embrace the kingdom afresh!

Holiness

Depending on our church background and experience you may have different views or understandings of what constitutes holiness. Thus, it seems we should begin with defining the term holiness before relating it to prayer.

In my experience holiness was generally presented as related to behaviour, a list of do’s and don’ts. While there are do’s and don’ts in scripture, our behaviour is to flow from our heart attitudes. Jesus put it this way.

⁴⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 (NKJV)

What we carry in our heart is reflected in our words and actions that flow from our heart.

²³ Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV)

When we see that holiness is more about our heart attitude, we can begin to make sense of a phrase in Psalm 96:9, “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!” This was highlighted for me over thirty years ago through a song. I attended a church where one of the pastors, Gordon Dyck, wrote a song about holiness based on part of Psalm 96 (I don’t know if others contributed to the writing). I do remember the words.

I will worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness

Unto His throne room I now come

With my voice lifted up, hands raised on high

I will render the praise due unto His name

Worship the Lord!

Over my years of involvement in the church I haven’t regularly heard holiness linked to beauty, but there it is in scripture, “The beauty of holiness.” The concept of holiness is a reference to something set aside for a sacred purpose. This setting aside is a separation from darkness to reflect light. The word ‘beauty’ in Hebrew refers to an adornment, glory or attire. In essence the beauty of holiness is to be adorned with or attired in holiness! Holiness is the garment we are to wear as we worship!

While holiness in Psalm 96 is connected to wearing something. When we come over to prayer it is also connected to fragrance. The majority of people in the worldwide prayer movement are familiar with the harp and bowl model, the connection between worship and prayer.

⁸ Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5:8 (NKJV)

Incense has a fragrance. The point hear is that our prayers have a fragrance.

If we reflect back on the tabernacle and temple the priest offering the incense had to wear specific garments and a label on the turban on his forehead that said, Holiness unto the LORD.

³⁶ “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD ³⁷ And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. ³⁸ So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. Exodus 28:36–38 (NKJV)

Now if you are still with me, we need to put all of the pieces together. The high priest carried a fragrance (the incense), wore special garments and had holiness engraved on His forehead. His calling was to walk in a heart of holiness. Jesus was the ultimate representation of all of these symbols. Thus, Jesus could walk into dark places and not be tainted by them, He brought light to darkness because He was adorned with the beauty of holiness and carried the fragrance of heaven.

The more our hearts fully walk in and with Him the more fully we have the same effect on the environment around us and the more effective our prayer life. We are called to both be with Him and like Him. Let’s carry that awareness into the prayer closet and our daily interactions and live in the ‘beauty of holiness.’

Resilience

I took this picture on a recent hike. If you look in the bottom left corner of the picture you will see mature trees growing together far below. This one grew in a very inhospitable place and to me it represents overcoming adversity and difficulty.

This little tree, standing alone, is about 2,300 metres above sea level and surviving. It is here because a seed landed in this inhospitable spot, found a bit of soil, germinated and began to grow. I don’t know how old it is. In a regular setting in a town or city it may be three or four years old. At this elevation it may be ten or fifteen years old. It is much harder to survive and grow at this elevation with almost no soil. Yet, if it survives the snow and rain storms that will come its way, the long periods in hot sun and the lack of soil, something remarkable will take place. It will grow, produce cones and seeds, those seeds will fall on the rock and look for a place to germinate and eventually a community will grow up around this resilient little tree.

When we look at our lives Jesus encourages us to be like this tree. Well, not in so many words but through illustration.

⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 (NKJV)

The context is Jesus calling people to follow him but then excusing themselves because they have some other matters to attend to before they follow Him.

Let’s think this through. In Jesus day you plowed alone. There was an animal in front pulling the plow. Your job was threefold, guide the animal, guide the plow and make a proper furrow deep enough for whatever seeds you were planting. Growing up with a large garden under my grandfather’s work and oversight I learned different seeds required different spacing and depth to grow properly.

Now back to Jesus’ illustration and warning about looking back. A literal rendering of the Greek would be ‘look/looking in the behind.’ In this case not in the ‘behind’ of the donkey or ox but back behind yourself. Similar to the story of Lot’s wife. She looked back because she longed to remain in Sodom and she died with the rest of the people of Sodom because in her heart she was still there.

In plowing, if you were looking back the animal may keep going but the plow would not be making a straight furrow, not maintain the proper depth and would not be fit for sowing. If you were planting for your family, they would have no harvest as you wouldn’t have even properly completed the first step, preparing the soil for planting.

Jesus’ point is that to step into a new life you need to make a decision and stand alone, firm in your decision, not looking back and longing for your former life. It is well said that ‘God has no grandchildren.’ We are not saved by the faith of our parents, friends or a local church leader. We are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light when we alone make that firm decision (Colossians 1:13).

Now, unlike the tree, we are immediately part of a family and have support around us. At the same time, we need to avail ourselves of this support, and like the little tree need to stand in spite of circumstances. Jesus promises us a fruitful life if we faithfully follow Him (John 15:5), He never promises an easy life.

In scripture we see Joseph betrayed by his brothers, as a slave betrayed by his owner’s wife and needing to resiliently stand, trusting Yahweh. We see Elijah standing against the prophets of Baal and the king and queen. We see Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and many others swimming against the tide of popular opinion. There are more in the great hall of faith in Hebrews 11. In difficult circumstances they all stood.

What they all had in common was a reliance on Yahweh and others they could lean on for support. Elijah had the school of the prophets and later Elisha. Daniel had his three friends, and others sought out other supports. They all found someone. The little tree is standing in difficult circumstances but it would do better with the support of added soil and regular watering. Thus, while it is a picture of resilience and we are called to be resolute in our decision to follow Jesus, our success is much more likely if we look to our fellow believers for support in our journey.

I close with something Billy Graham said decades ago. When asked the secret to success he responded, “Find a group of people and grow old together.” If you don’t have those people, seek them out.

What a Waste

What a waste! How many times have you heard the expression? Usually uttered to highlight how an individual has misused their life, talents, finances or similar. It carries the connotation of bad decisions, which I am confident we have all made at some point in our lives. I know when I was coaching sports I would at times have a gifted athlete without a commensurate work ethic. It brought this expression to mind. Yet, in the broader context I wonder if ‘waste’ depends on our perspective.

Let me share some examples. We begin with Eric Liddell. From a cultural perspective he wasted his life. One hundred years ago at the Paris Olympics ago he refused to run the 100 M, his best race, because the heats took place on Sunday and he wasn’t going to compete on the Lord’s Day. He instead ran the 400 M and won Olympic gold. The beginning of a storied athletic career? No. In 1925 he returned to China where he had been born to missionary parents. Eric went as a missionary; he died there in 1945 in a Japanese internment camp. Popular culture may have viewed his life as wasted; heaven keeps a different accounting.

The 1981 movie Chariots of Fire chronicles the events surrounding the Olympics. I saw the film around the time it came out. I wasn’t walking the Lord at the time but a line from the film was deeply impressed upon me. In the movie his sister was critical of his running and asked if he should be running or devoting his life to God. Eric responded with the now famous quote, “God made me for a purpose. God made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure.” In researching it there is debate about whether the line from the movie is an actual quote from Liddell but he certainly embodied it. The scene is not true as his sister was a child on the mission field in China with their parents and when Eric won at the Olympics they didn’t know for months until they received a letter. What is known of Liddell is that he did say a less famous quote, “God made me for China.”

Now to a couple of scriptural examples, Mary and Judas, beginning with Judas, one of the twelve.

¹ And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Matthew 10:1 (NKJV)

Judas was given the same power as the rest, the word here is actually exousia, generally translated as authority, which is how the ESV translates it. Nothing in scriptures suggests that Judas failed to walk in these same demonstrations of power and authority as the rest of the twelve. Even so, he didn’t end well. Judas betrayed Jesus (Matthew 26) and was so embittered that the doorway to his heart was open and Satan entered him.

³ Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. ⁴ So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. Luke 22:3–4 (NKJV)

Judas eventually took his own life (Matthew 27:5). What a waste.

As an addition there are two other things about Judas that speak not to Judas but to Jesus’ character. We see them in the verses below.

⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. John 6:64 (NKJV)

¹² While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. John 17:12 (NKJV)

Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would betray Him and would be revealed as the ‘son of perdition’ yet still invested in Judas. A waste from the perspective of some, to others a revelation of Jesus heart to invest and give expecting nothing in return.

Now to Mary. I have written before how I am convinced that Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are the same person (see the link below to a previous blog post). I am not the first one to draw this conclusion from a study of the scriptures as I have researched it in the past and others have come to the same conclusion at various times in church history.

Given that Mary was an immoral woman and tormented by seven demons (Luke 7:36-8:2) the early part of her life was wasted, in a worldly way. The latter part of her life was very different. The story of her love for Jesus and willing to waste all on Him is well known (John 12:1-8). The question before us is best summarized by something I heard Jack Deere say in a sermon many years ago, he spoke about Mary and said something like, “We will all waste our lives on something. Why not Jesus?” http://wisdomfromtheword.ca/intimacy-opportunities-part-2/

Where are You Staying? Part 3

Today’s post is a bit late. We are in the mountains in Invermere. We had a huge storm last night that blew down numerous trees, pulled out patio umbrella out of the stand and deposited it on the roof and left boats and other items all over the lake with no drivers in them. I was driving home from a prayer meeting with debris and branches blowing by me on the highway! Yes, I was calm. We also had the power out for 8 hours. Heroic work by the power company to restore power in the midst of a storm, applicable to today’s post.

I concluded the last part of this series encouraging us to live from heaven toward earth, or as Paul put it, ‘set your mind on things above.’ Here I want to look at the fruit of this in Jesus’ life. A great example was Jesus exercising authority over a storm on the sea of Galilee. The incident follows.

³⁵ On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” ³⁶ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. ³⁸ But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” ⁴¹ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” Mark 4:35–41 (NKJV)

To set the scene a bit, they were on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Capernaum area. Jesus had told His followers that they were going to the other side (the Gadarenes). He was in a boat with an accompanying group of boats and a storm came up that opposed them. Jesus was sleeping in the storm; everyone else appeared to be afraid of the storm and they woke Jesus up and asked if He cared that they were perishing.

At this point I think the storm was spiritual in origin, opposition to Jesus, for a couple of reasons. One Jesus rebuked the storm, He spoke to it. The word ‘ceased’ refers to growing weary. The opposition became weary. The other reason is that Jesus was on his way to set the Gadarene demoniac free from a legion of demons. They knew He was coming and what He could do. I am sure word had gotten around in the spiritual realm!

Now back to the key element, Jesus was sleeping in the midst of a storm. We can speculate that He was simply very weary but that doesn’t seem like enough to account for His behaviour. Our text tells us that the boat ‘was filling.’ Many of those with him were seasoned fishermen who knew how tempestuous the sea of Galilee could be and the were deeply concerned yet Jesus in the midst of the storm needed to be awoken by them even though water was coming into the boat.

I believe Jesus could sleep because His heart was at rest in His Father and He could calm the storm and release peace because that was what He carried. In the spirit realm He simply externalized what He was carrying internally. We may protest that Jesus was God and that is why He could do what He did. I won’t go into all of it here, but though He was fully God and fully man in His earthly ministry, Jesus did what He did as a man under the anointing of the Spirit (I wrote about this in 2015, see the link below).

Now back to what Jesus rebuking a storm means for us. We have this verse in scripture, which I personally find a bit uncomfortable, as I realize how short I fall.

¹² “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12 (NKJV)

I can’t say that I have done greater works than Jesus. At the same time, I accept the responsibility to release peace into the storms of life around me. I think we can all do that! When we set our minds on Him we experience peace no matter our circumstances and we can be a source of peace and stability to those around us. We do this by our words, our actions and our spiritual awareness. After all, if He has assigned us to do something our hearts can rest in the Father just as Jesus did and we can release what we carry.

On many occasions over the years people have commented on how calm I am, it happened again just recently. I appreciate that, but at the same time I recognize that the calmness I carry is the fruit of pursuing my relationship with Jesus. Something we can all do.

http://wisdomfromtheword.ca/the-man-christ-jesus-part-1/

Where are You Staying? Part 2

In my last writing I referenced the importance of recognizing where we are located and the importance of ‘staying’ there. This is explicit in the passage below.

¹ If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1–4 (NKJV)

What we now need to do is look at how we practically apply this spiritual reality because we are spiritually with Him, not there in physical substance. Doing this will of course address the saying, “You are so heavenly minded you are no earthly good” and establish that being heavenly minded is what enables us to truly be of earthly good. After all, as the tagline I came up with for my blog says, “An Eternal Perspective: Living in time, preparing for eternity.” It is what we do in time that determines both our eternal destiny and our role in eternity.

Now to the solution to our apparent problem. We find it in a verse in Isaiah that we will dig into.

³ You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

The words perfect and peace are shalom in Hebrew, it is translated as ‘perfect peace’ to convey the importance via repetition but in Hebrew it is shalom shalom. Isaiah is telling us up front that this perfect peace, a heart at rest, is the result of an activity. That activity is keeping our minds set on Him (This may be the verse Paul had in mind when he wrote Colossians 3:2). We also see in what Isaiah wrote that we can only keep our mind fixed on Yahweh if we trust Him.

To go a little deeper the Hebrew word translated as mind is yester and it refers to how something is framed or formed and includes the idea of intention. The word stayed is the Hebrew samak and refers to leaning, resting or laying. In a number of places in scripture it is used to refer to a priest laying (resting) their hands on an animal before it is sacrificed. We can then see that when our intention is resting in and on Him we experience His peace and rest.

That is the background and in terms of our daily practice it means constantly looking to Him. Let me give you an example, one of my cousins recently shared a sermon with me. Bob, who is one of the pastors at a church in St. Albert, was preaching in a smaller community outside of Edmonton that my cousin attends. In his message Bob frequently referenced being in situations where he would inquire as to what the Father wanted him to do in that situation. He shared one story which had quite an impact on my cousin, and subsequently on me. Bob, was converted as a teenager from a lifestyle of drugs and partying in a small town in Northern Alberta. Not long after he attended a party to share the gospel. There he felt the Father leading him to share with two young men in their late teens who subsequently both acknowledged they wanted to change their lives and give their hearts to the Lord, which they did. Within two weeks they both died in a car accident.

One of those young men was my cousin’s brother and I was one of the pall bearers at the funeral forty-four years ago. It was only recently that the family learned through this sermon that he had given His heart to Jesus prior to his death.

The significance of these events is tied into how Bob lives his life. He is constantly looking to the Father for direction. His life is a pattern of how we are to live. We really have two options. We can live from earth toward heaven, or from heaven toward earth. Which is what Isaiah and Paul both described. When we live from heaven toward earth our hearts are at rest and we have no anxiety because we are assured of the ultimate outcome of our faith.

An example from my life took place over twenty-four years ago. I followed what I believed was His leading in applying for a different role at work. Logically it made no sense to me as I had just moved offices to be closer to home, thought I was to be in this particular office, and the new job was way across the city far from my home. I went through about four weeks of internal wrestling and anxiety because I tried to follow what seemed to be His leading but the logical outcome appeared to contradict His leading. It seemed that the Spirit’s leading to change offices and the Spirit’s leading to apply for the new role were contradictory!

In this situation if I had kept my mind set on Him, I could have gone through that time period with no anxiety. However, my vacillation between living from heaven toward earth and then seeking to live from earth toward heaven created a great deal of stress in my life. In the end it was needless. The position I had applied for was to be the manager of an office and it was offered to me – in the office I had transferred to! The current manager was transferred to the office I had applied to manage and I remained in the office I thought I was supposed to be in and in the role I sensed He had led me apply for. It worked out.

In the examples above, Bob had learned to consistently live from heaven toward earth. I had vacillated. I still do at times but the majority of the time I am at rest because I trust Him and seek His perspective on a daily basis. The choice is before all of us. We can live in and out of rest in Him or we can trust in our own wisdom. I prefer the former, what about you?

An additional thought. One of the places I have been reading in scripture is through Numbers. Recently in my reading I came across what has to be the funniest group of people in the bible. Who knew it would be found in Numbers! If you are curious read Numbers 26:23 in a more literal version like the NKJV, ESV or NASB.