Discipleship Network Forum

We are both praying for the Mordecai anointing. Here's a brief summary of what Mordecai's anointing is all about. Esther chapter 4 - Taking a stand (a life and death stand) in sackcloth and ashes. His prayer and conviction was so intense it moved Queen Esther into prayer and fasting as well as action (ready to die for the cause). Even more, Mordecai's (cry) prayer and conviction was so intense it woke up a heathen king (or made the king lose his sleep). Time to have the Lord move in our situation(s). This is what our generation / church needs more Mordecai's. Too many Esther's (in the palace) are comfortable in their position (unfortunately the current state of church), however, Mordecai's anointing reminds Esther that she is placed there for such a time as this. Too many people looking and sitting pretty but it time to cry out to God to reverse the decree of the enemy on our nation (culture/society). America (and our current culture/society) has been moving in a totally different direction, however, the flow will shift (if it is up to Mordecai). The word God gave me was OVERTURN - everything the enemy planned was overturned. Haman (amalekite) vs. Mordecai (Benjamite - great grandson of Kish). Same foe / enemity from the past but in a new generation. Everyone else bowed down to Haman except for Mordecai - he did not go with the flow. Didn't care about being politically correct. Who will take / make a stand? We won't let America (our society) go down like this. All it took was one Mordecai who was placed at the gate. We are also gatekeepers (that's a message in itself) :-)

Be blessed and be a blessing. Have a safe, fun and wonderful Christmas and very happy New Year.

In Him,

Bliss and Betsy

I've just finished reading this book, 'Radical' by David Platt, a pastor in Birmingham Alabama. It is the most disturbing, but true commentary of how the 'American Dream' has permeated our lives and churches . It's not that it's a bad thing, but many of the implications are in stark contrast to Jesus' words. It is definitely a wake up call for all of us to consider Jesus' radical words, and what that means to us personally and our current culture. I challenge everyone who is in the faith, to read it - it is extremely powerful and worth your time.

Monday, December 6, 2010

That was the title of the Advent Silent Retreat I went to in December of 2005. It was lovely. Imagine forty women not talking to each other through five meals? I loved it. No obligation to make small talk. All the time in the world to focus 100% on communion with the Beloved. Making room at Christmas for Him. It is what I strive to do.

I used to be so intent on not being too busy with the whole holiday thing that I would even wrap all my presents in August. During one heatwave in Oregon in a house without air conditioning, sweating, I realized that was also SO wrong. There needed to be a balance. I think I have found it.

I just don't get stressed during this time. Our focus is time around the Advent Wreath and pinning ornaments on the Jesse Tree and reading Scripture and spending time as a family and with many friends. I love to soak in Handel's Messiah because it is mostly Scripture. I love to drink deeply of the life that we have been given through the Son, born to give us second birth, Jesus our Immanuel!

When we say so and so is a mature Christian- what does it mean? If a person can quote scriptures, does it make him/her a mature christian? If person is gifted in some area of Ministry-does it make him/ her a mature christian? If a person is an Elder, Deacon does it mean one is a mature christian?

when a person gets saved and comes to church, mostly, we have Bible classes where we teach them what we think the Bible says and mostly it is what our Denomination teaches or believes in - is that the right way of discipling a new believer? Giving them head knowledge, is it good enough?

I have come to the conclusion that a mature christian is one who has closed the "gap" between what s/he knows is the teaching of the Scriptures and his/her practicall life.

I've been involved in so many discussions about the commercialism and paganism of the Christmas celebration that it almost turned me off from Celebrating Christmas at all. But then I flew to my daughter's home where I only get to visit once or twice a year. She has a 9 year old and a 13 year old. Even they understand and loathe the commercialism. But they are still young enough to find delight in the simple celebration of family and special traditions to remind us of the birth of our Savior.

I just wrapped a secret gift with my 9 year old grand-daughter. What joy and elation! Giggling and shushing, tying the perfect bow, and placing the gift under the tree was such a pleasure for her that I found myself getting caught up in the merriment! And it's a good thing!

Every year when December rolls around we pull out Christmas decorations, untangle the lights and start singing Christmas carols and hymns. There's a familiarity and the warmth of memories those traditions bring. But it's so easy when we turn to read the Christmas story, to click off the brain, thinking, "I know the story. I've heard it so many times before."

I know I thought I had it down pretty good. But then last year the Lord laid it on my heart to take time each day during December to read the Christmas story and dialogue with Him about it - I was absolutely blown away by all I learned!

Guess I'd forgotten this portion of the Word of God is living and active! (Hebrews 4:12)

So this year I asked God what He wanted me to do to prepare my heart to celebrate Jesus and he led me to start reading the Christmas story in John 1:1-18. I will never look at the Nativity in the same way!

I discovered there are two words used repeatedly in these 18 verses. I never noticed them in English but if you look in Greek and highlight each time they occur, you end up with color all over the page! They are the Greek words "en" and "egeneto."

Now "en" means "to be" it has the idea of rest. You aren't moving towards something or coming out of something. You are.

So in John 1:1-2 when it says "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." When you see the English word "in," that's translated from the Greek word "en." When it's used in reference to the existence of the Logos, the preincarnate Christ, it indicates He always was and never ceased to be what He was, even in the incarnation. (The Complete Word Study Dictionary, p.370, Spiros Zodhiates, ed.)

So when did the Christmas story begin?

Way before Jesus ever appeared in the manger! If you look back at Genesis 1 we find God speaking everything into being. Now God could've snapped his fingers to make things appear, but he didn't. He spoke and it happened - that was The Word in action!

Note John 1:3 "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Wherever that word "made" appears it's the Greek word egeneto. It means the "coming into existence of a particular person or thing within time and space at an undefined yet definite time." (ibid, p.370)

So in John 1:1-2 we see Jesus has always been, contrasted in John 1:3 with everything in the world coming into existence... through Him!

But wait till you see John 1:4! "In Him was life and the life was the light of men." Again the English word "in" is the Greek word "En." Life here is not acquired, it is inherent. It had always been with the Word. (ibid, p. 370) Life isn't just something Jesus gives, it's what He is. This is why becoming a Christian isn't just getting a ticket into heaven. You have to come to Him for it.

Check out John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." And John 5:40 where Jesus says, "You diligently study the scriptures because you think by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."

To have life we have to come to Jesus, because He is life! (John 14:6) He came that we might have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10) We experience life to the extent we are with Him.

John then goes on to contrast John the Baptist "There was a man" (that's the greek word egeneto there! John was brought into being), with Jesus who has always been. And then in verse 10 he emphasizes how Jesus was in ("en") the world. And in verse 11 it says, "to His own things he came." The Greek word used for "come" is elthe which signifies Jesus had always been in the world but within a particular time and space he came into it in a different form from that in which He had always been. (ibid, p. 370)

Now think for a moment - what could you do if you weren't restricted by time? Can you imagine?! I know at Christmas I often feel the crunch, especially getting ready for Christmas parties! …and buying last minute gifts!

Now can you imagine going from being outside of time, to submitting to the limits of it?!

Remember Genesis 1? The Word created everything! Can you conceive of the power that took?! And Jesus was already in the world, omnipresent - everywhere at once! Can you imagine what it was like for him to enter into time and space - to limit himself like that?!

I remember reading Richard Wurmbrand's book "Tortured for Christ" and one torture described was putting people into a tight box where they couldn't more - and many went crazy! They couldn't handle such a drastic change in space restriction. Can you imagine what it was like to go from being limitless to submitting to the limits of time and space as a fetus?! That had to be a huge sacrifice!

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Oh friends! Take a moment to let the wonder of that truth sink in.

See that English word "became"? That's the greek word egeneto! Which here signifies Jesus began to exist in a new way - The almighty creator of everything, present all over the earth at once, began existence within the limits of time and space.

Usually when I think of Jesus' sacrifice I think of him dying on the cross. But a huge sacrifice occurred when he was born on earth!

Can you imagine... He was still fully God. In a moment he could end the discomfort, frustration, pain of living under such limitations in a broken world. Every single day He had the opportunity to do so, but he chose not to. He chose to remain under this trial - to "hupomone" as it says in James 1:12.

Small wonder when Jesus is tempted by the devil, what's the first thing the devil encourages him to do? For years I wondered, "What's the big deal about changing stones to bread?" But do you see what satan is doing? He's trying to get Jesus to use His power to escape the pain of living in this world. And if you use your power to escape in small things, why not just check out of the whole thing?!

Jesus had to live a perfect, sinless life, to be able to die in our place, shedding his blood to cleanse us from our sins and be raised again so that we could have the right to become Children of God. See what it says in John 1:17, "For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The English word "came" is egeneto - Jesus brought grace and truth into existence! Without Jesus there would be no grace! Can you imagine a world with no grace?

And without Jesus there would be no truth! Once Adam and Eve turned their backs on God and went their own way, they became slaves of the evil one, the deceiver. He certainly wasn't going to tell them truth.

And if it wasn't for Jesus, anticipating what He was going to do, God would have nothing to do with them (or us) either. What fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Cor 6:14)

So the next time you walk by a nativity - don't just see a baby in that manger. You are looking at a sacrificial miracle! The all powerful, everywhere present Son of God allowed himself to be restricted to a human form and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross... so we, the people walking in darkness, could see the light and have life in Him, with Him, for Him, for ever.

He is Immanuel. God with us! And it cost Him dearly to do this... All praise His glorious name!

“I AM the Root and Offspring of David and the bright Morning Star” – YESHUA

- Revelation 22:16

This Christmas season let’s ask ourselves, “Who is YESHUA?” To me, it’s not so much what I think, but what does the Scriptures say? Like the Magi, I would rather investigate and search the heavens and examine the ancient writings of the prophets because I believe they point us in the right direction. My mind is so limited, it cannot possibly fathom the mysteries of GOD, but one thing I know, GOD has given us the HOLY SPIRIT to guide us along the way. Like the Magi, my search had been long but when it was GOD who sought me, I was found and He revealed Himself to me and I could never have enough of Him.

Yes, YESHUA is the Root and Offspring of David, the promised Messiah. This is the One I have been longing for. YESHUA is the promise of GOD to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the Prophet foretold by Moses. He is the Lion of Judah and the Priest in the order of Melchizedek. He is the Messiah who changed the course of history from sure damnation to hope for all who believe. YESHUA is the exact representation of the FATHER and all the fullness of deity dwells in Him. He is Wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy belongs to Him.

I have read the words of many philosophers and wise men but I have never heard words like the words YESHUA spoke. His words became alive in my heart and radically changed my old world mind-sets. They challenged everything I believed in and left the words of men lying in the dust. Indeed, I was living in darkness and I have seen a great light. I was living in the shadow of death but His word was like light that has dawned on my rotten soul and made it alive. His words became life energy to me and my whole being depends on it. YESHUA is the bright and Morning Star; and when your life is full of Him, it will be like the light of dawn, shining ever brighter until full daylight!

When GOD found me, I worshipped Him. Unlike the Magi, I could never leave Him…why would I? How could I? YESHUA said, “Let not your hearts be troubled…believe in Me! I would never leave you nor forsake you!”

מלאך

We all can get caught up in the tradition of running around and gift buying, however this year I am more aware of how trivial all of the trappings of the holiday season (especially Christmas) is.

When I think of all the people who do not know the saving grace of Jesus Christ, Christmas takes on an important meaning for me. Oh don't get me wrong, I am still shopping for family and friends, but I am also praying for those who don't know Christ as their personal Saviour.

I attribute this to really living my faith intentionally. I am trying to focus more on others than me and mine and it has paid off spiritually in a big way. I look for God more than He looks for me! Not sure that will make sense to people, but for me this Christmas is more personal and more real than ever. Scripture tells us that we are to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us to all who inquire. Well for me that hope comes from the Christ child's birthday. It is in that birth that we have hope for our future!

With so many without jobs, homeless, and without hope, I aksed God to let me be an instrument of His peace this year and I believe He has granted that wish becasue of His grace and mercy. And it was in that Grace that God came to earth in human form to save His creation!

So it is with the joy of Jesus that I wish all a glorious Christmas Season.

Yours in Love

Rev. Robin W. Barrow

YESHUA looked at the man and said, “How hard it is for people with wealth to enter the Kingdom of GOD! It is easier for a camel to pass through the needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of GOD!” (Lk 18:24,25)

The Scriptures discussed a lot about money and finances and giving and YESHUA especially mentioned it many times in relation to our relationship with GOD. It is not that GOD does not want to prosper his people because the Scriptures is replete with examples of GOD directly blessing His people such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, etc. In fact, they prospered while the people around them were suffering and GOD used them to deliver the people from bondage. A good example would be Isaac who planted during a famine in the land of Gerar and reaped a hundred times more than he had sowed. He grew very rich in flocks, menservants and maidservants because ADONAI blessed him (Gen 26:12-14). The LORD Himself reminded Israel that He is the One who gives them the ability to acquire wealth lest they begin to get enamored at their own power to acquire so much possessions (Deut 8:17,18). For life does not consist of one’s possessions.

The warning is given to people who focus their mind, soul and spirit on the acquisition of material wealth. Everything will be tested with fire, and if it burns, then it is lost forever. So the question is, with what foundation are you building? What are you building? If you are building your kingdom, then your kingdom will perish with you. Everything on earth is finite and has an expiration date. Abraham prospered because no matter how much GOD blessed him, he never grew any roots on earth. In fact, the Scriptures tell us that Abraham was looking for a city with permanent foundations whose builder and architect was El SHADDAI (Gen 11:10).

The fact is, when you are taking care of GOD’s business on earth, GOD will take care of your business. When men live by trust in the LORD YESHUA, GOD will prosper them and they are able to enter the Kingdom of GOD. To men, entering the Kingdom of GOD by whatever earthly means possible is impossible. How can a time-bound, earth-bound person achieve lift off? If he can’t see the invisible, then it’s all foolishness to him. But when a person turns to GOD and trust Him alone, he immediately gets access to GOD’s presence in eternity!

To build with human hands what you want to achieve spiritually is to build in vain. But to lift up empty hands to the LORD YESHUA in complete surrender is to achieve Paradise with GOD!

Build with the right tools…learn from the master Carpenter.

מלאך

400 years of silence. All the promises from God throughout the struggles and upheavals of history now gone cold. Prayers falling on deaf ears. So many generations of lives lived, wars fought, exiles endured, within this immensity of waiting, with no word or sign.

How can we who do not wait, have no capacity of endurance, even fathom living our lives within such waiting? And there was nothing. No word, no glimmer of possibility, simply a wall of silence. Even Abraham, that paragon of patience, had new words of promise as doubt began to invade. And he did not wait well. Not really. Otherwise there would not have been an Ishmael.

Yet, despite how well or poorly people wait, the time is not any longer of shorter. 400 years is 400 years for faithful Jews living thier lives as best they can, for rebels and would be messiahs ending their lives on wooden crosses, for all the rest of the world, groaning in expectation.

When the waiting ended, a babe, born in a humble place to lowly parents, heralded by angels and stars, but who of any import saw those? Not what anyone expected. So, many still wait, having missed the point of it all, their expectations still unmet.

If I have the promised Messiah that all of history revolves around living within my heart, why am I still struggling against the waiting, still expecting so much more than I already have in full. Could I have missed the point somehow?

This morning I read the story of Jephthah from Judges. Jephthah is know mostly for his rash vow. Before he attacked the Ammonites, who were raiding Israel's towns, he vowed before the LORD that he would sacrifice as a burnt offering whatever came out of his house first when he returned from battle. He succeeded and upon his return who should come out first but his only daughter, dancing and playing the tambourine in celebration of his success! He was in a quandary. He was obligated to fulfill his vow, but this was his daughter, his only child. It's not entirely clear what happened to the girl. She seems more concerned about the prospect of never marrying than about the prospect of being sacrificed as a burnt offering. It's possible that her father was able to redeem her life by offering a bull or other animal, but she would have to remain devoted to the LORD and could never marry. I'd like to think that was what happened, but the times were brutal, and human sacrifice was occasionally practiced among the people living in Canaan at that time. In any case, Jephthah regarded his vow as binding, even though it had such unexpected consequences.

I can't help wondering how David might have responded in a similar situation. I imagine he would have fasted and prayed, grieved and mourned, and insisted on bearing the penalty for breaking his vow rather than sacrificing his child.

Perhaps Jesus had this story in mind when he told his followers not to make vows. So much of life is beyond our control that it is better not to make vows. Indeed, Jesus seems to be thinking of the kind of cavalier swearing that people use to confirm the truth of what they say or attest to their firmness of purpose. Some believers have taken Jesus' words to mean that his followers should avoid ever swearing to anything. So they refuse to swear in a court of law "to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." For the most part, vows have been supplanted in the modern world by contracts and agreements, where rights and responsibilities are delineated in precise, legal terms and hedged by a nearly impenetrable thicket of jargon, intelligible only to lawyers and judges.

One notable exception is weddings. Not everyone still makes vows at a wedding. Here, too , the legal profession has intruded with prenuptial agreements and marriage contracts. Nevertheless, most people still marry with the expectation of making a lasting commitment to one another. And in Christian wedding ceremonies, they still make vows to love and honor one another until parted by death. The vow serves to signify to seriousness of purpose, but I think it is also intended to compel the vowers to make every effort for the rest of their lives to fulfill their vows.

The other day a friend sent me an email with a link to a YouTube video clip of a flash mob performance. If you've never seen one they are pretty amazing. The link for this one is posted below.

These types of surprise gatherings involve large groups of people who mingle into an open public space to carry out an unexpected performance. This one takes place in a common food court of a mall. One of the best parts of the video is how it catches the faces of onlookers full of surprise and awe.

I've seen some of these flash mob performances before but this one uses the Hallelujah Chorus done in dramatic fashion. It left me with a sense of the divine breaking through into the ordinary. Isn't that the essence of celebrating Christmas? God breaking through into the ordinary?!

Reread the Christmas story in Luke 2. You'll notice words like terrified... amazed... rejoicing... We see the same kind of thing recorded in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit breaks into the ordinary to birth the church ...

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ~ Acts 2:42-43

Since God is everywhere, always... isn't every moment an opportunity for the divine to break through into the ordinary?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!"

In my mind's eye I saw the cross over-shadowing the manger scene. May we be challenged anew to have the same mind of Christ!

As we celebrate God entering our human condition, let the cross of Jesus overshadow us!

Nuke

They'll know we are Christians by our love,
by our love.
They will know we are Christians by our love.

I used to sing those words with my friends back in the seventies when I was a senior in high school, and the Jesus Movement was still in full swing. We really believed that love was the hallmark of a Christian, despite what the culture around us might say. Jesus, of course, said the same thing: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).

When I was a kid—a Christian kid—I knew quite clearly what the prevailing culture thought of us. Christians were known for what they were against: no movies, no gambling, no drinking. No fun. I knew this caricature to be untrue because I had loads of fun. I enjoyed singing hymns, studying the bible, praying, and listening to sermons. I didn't know why my friends didn't enjoy these activities too. Christians were widely regarded as backwards but otherwise harmless killjoys.

Christians are still known for what we are against. Only now the list is more serious. Christians are anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-sex, and anti-science. And we are still anti-fun.

Of course, we have all kinds of caveats and explanations for anyone who will listen about why we are not anti- this or that, but the fact is the culture regards Christians as narrow-minded, irrational bigots. We are not known for our love. Quite the opposite. We are known for our hatred.

How has this come to pass? Back in the seventies, I expected a revolution. The Jesus Movement was going to transform the church and unite it. That didn't happen. Instead, the Jesus People were seduced by consumerism, transmuting it into a prosperity gospel. Your assets attested to God's blessing; the greater your net worth, the holier you were. The excesses from that era brought down Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and reinforced a cultural stereotype that the only thing churches want is your money. Love lost out again.

Now it seems that Christians are a Republican political action committee. Christians are mobilized to protect their rights, driven by fears that preaching the gospel will come to be regarded as hate speech, that rampant immorality will destroy our country, and that science—particularly evolution—will make the bible unbelievable. Fear is a great motivator. It brings in money for conservative lobbyists. It prompts people to write or call their Senators and Representatives. It moves people to defend themselves. But fear isn't the hallmark of a Christian; love is.

I don't advocate political passivity, nor do I think that Christians can transform the culture just by being sweet, harmless folks who never put up a fight about anything. But we need to recover love as the defining characteristic of those who follow Christ. Jesus' love was not wishy-washy; it was bold and decisive. He proclaimed forgiveness to sinners and upended conventional religious notions about who was righteous and who was not. Jesus was known not for what he was against but for what he was for. He was for the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the outcast, the hopeless. He was for sinners while remaining implacably against sin. He was even for the Pharisees and hypocrites, could they have seen it, because he told them the truth about themselves, and you don't let people you love go on believing a harmful lie. Above all, Jesus' love prompted him to respect the rights of those he loved to make wrong decisions.

We need to recover that kind of love.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Corinthians 13:4–7)

What if Christians became known for their patience, kindness, and humility? What if they became known for the respect they show others and the way they make others look good even when they themselves don't look so good? What if they became known as peacemakers, forgiving those who have wronged them and not even allowing those wrongs to be mentioned? What if Christians were the ones who always protect, always trust, always hope without ever quitting or giving up? What if they engaged in thoughtful debate without rancor or gave more money than anyone else to relieve suffering around the world? What if they worked tirelessly to end sex trafficking, eradicate hunger, cure diseases, help the poor help themselves, build schools and hospitals, and pursue justice for society's outcasts? What if Christians became known for their love?

This past weekend was the weekend of not-so-proud moments.

It started out with a plan, lots on the schedule but it was going to be manageable. A lot of things, but all good things. A piano recital, a baseball tourney, two basketball practices, decorating the tree and church.

But I blew it on more than one occasion.

I had my first experience of losing self-control in the stands as a parent. After the game, I had to ask forgiveness from the moms for my inappropriate behavior and had to repent to Coach-Husband for my attitude in the stands. This was after he sent an email to all the parents (including me) about maintaining a positive attitude.

The kids seemed to manage the packed in day of Saturday really well... until Sunday morning. Then we had the kind of morning where I actually thought about calling in and saying I couldn't come to church. My heart was not in the right place. I was the parent who didn't handle things well in the morning and felt hypocritical going to church and worshiping God and offering to minister to others.

Yet we went along and as I prayed for Jesus to help me, I remembered something very important I had just read.

I am loved unconditionally and welcomed fully by Him.

By His grace, it is in these moments when I am at my ugliest, I can return to Him for joy, fullness of hope and restoration. Because He forgives me, I can look my boys in the eye and tell them I'm sorry. Because I know I am deeply loved at my worst, I can go back and worship.

Approaching Christmas, I'm reminded at how amazing it is that Jesus came to save the lost. To reach out and raise up the wretched, most messed up people, just like me.

Thanks be to God.

Remember what the gospel says about us: we are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe but we are also more loved and welcomed than we ever dared hope. ~ Elyse Fitzpatrick, Counsel from the Cross