Spiritcode

Prayer and share of S M 

THREE CUPS There are three cups that God holds out for us to drink from. They are; The cup of Iniquity - The cup of the New Covenant – The cup of suffering. These are all cups of new beginnings. Each one of those three cups has a different setting but they all symbolise the continuing wrestle of The Holy Spirit within our hearts, a wrestle that challenges a state of mind and heart in us that resists the Holy Spirit. The heart of mankind wants to go its own way with its own desires and has from the very beginning. Nd the Holy Spirits work is to change that heart and mindset in order to make way for a new beginning, a new heart and a new mind of freedom because of a new spirit within us. That is the story of salvation. These Three Cups are cups of new beginnings. The cup of the New Covenant This is mentioned in 1Corinthians where Jesus takes the cup at the last supper and says, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This is also called The cup of blessing that we (1Corinthians 10:16) all give thanks for,

RESURRECTION In the in the last podcast I did called ‘From the cross to the grave’, Jesus had come to visit those prisoners of time in Paradise. So this account of the Resurrection could be called ‘From the grave to the sky’. The bible says that Jesus then preached to all those prisoners of time the message of the plan of Father (The Gospel) in sending him to cancel sin and to bring new life, and to lead captivity captive by setting prisoners free from the captivity of time - waiting as captives for heaven to come to them. Many listened and many heard. The Scriptures speak of this moment about Jesus. 1Peter 3:18 He died once for the sins of all us guilty sinners although he himself was innocent of any sin at any time, that he might bring us safely home to God. But though his body died, his spirit lived on, and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them-- spirits of those who, long before in the days of Noah, had refused to listen to God, though he waited patiently for the

FROM THE CROSS TO THE GRAVE Pontius Pilate asked the Centurion to command an escort of guards around Jesus to take him to Calvary, or Golgotha, which means The place of the Skull. One of the Centurion's men put the beam on Jesus' bleeding shoulder as they left the yard and went into the crowded street. The already large crowd continued to grow, some of them followers and friends, others bitter enemies, and yet others who were just confused and angry. Jesus staggered and buckled under the weight of the beam but he continued to drag it behind him. It was the custom to write a description of the crime committed on a clay plate and fix it to the top of the cross. Pontius Pilate had written an inscription that read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS” An angry voice called out above the crowd “Who wrote that stupid inscription?” One of the temple priests shouted back “It should say ‘He said he was king of the Jews’” Pilate stepped forward “I wrote that inscription and it stays as it is,”. A few paces further on Jesus staggere

HOLY WEEK PART 2 THE LAST SUPPER THE GARDEN AND THE TRIAL We are continuing in the Holy Week series with part two, after Jesus had had the incident with the money changers, and the ensuing debates and confrontations with the temple priests and leaders. We are now looking at the Last supper and the events leading up to Jesus’ arrest and trial. Rather than simply reading the Scriptures I will tell these events as a story. The story is being taken from the book, The Plan, which I wrote a few years ago, and which is now out of print and that is a very good thing as I am doing a complete re-edit, because I was not happy with the book for several reasons. I think I used just a bit too much dialogue for a start, and I had also used different names for many of the characters to depict their character roles, instead of just calling them by their Biblical names. For instance the disciple Peter was called ‘rock disciple’ and Judas was ‘Troubled disciple’ and Pontius Pilate was ‘Proconsul’. This confused everyone - so he

Holy Week , that week during which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey while crowds called out Hosanna, was also the week where he turned over the tables of the money changers, the week of the Last supper, the week where he was betrayed and where he agonised in the Garden of Gesthemane,. He was denied by Peter, put on trial, and crucified. That week was preceded by a build up of momentum over many weeks particularly as he began to appear more publicly in open conflict and debate with the Scribes and Pharisees, and where he was questioned by the many that followed him, wanting to know if he was indeed the Christ. But there was a certain particular activity that was significant to Jesus, and that was to do with the temple. In the last months of his ministry Jesus placed an intense focus on the Temple. He made three visits to the temple from the month of November through to March the next year. The first visit was to the feast of Tabernacles, the second to the feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), and the third

LIFE ON BOARD THE ARK This is really part two of last week’s Make yourself an Ark. We saw then that the ark had three levels, which we saw represented the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit. That means being in relationship with God in faith and and prayer through a time of global life changing crisis. I want to look at more of the detail of the structure and design of the Ark. Genesis 6:9 Make yourself an ark … The length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above (a hatch), and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. So the structure of the Ark has lower, second and upper decks and the dimensions of those levels, 300 cubits long, and 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. These dimensions speak to us of the divine nature of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their provision for us in these earth shattering times. But first let us look at modern research into the extraordinary natu

MAKE YOURSELF AN ARK There are some remarkable similarities between the event of Noahs ark in the time of the flood to this time of the novel (brand new) corona virus and the global pandemic that has us all shut in. novel new like the flood – never been seen before Genesis 6:14…Make yourself an ark…18… and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. And you shall take for yourself all kinds of food, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Noah did according to all that God commanded him. Noah’s ark is a story of people being saved from worldwide disaster, a flood that lasted for many months (5) and finished off the life and culture of that world at the time, in order to bring a new world into being, a new kind of life and culture. It was the end to former things and a beginning of new

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD PSALM 46 I’m speaking today of the great need for all of us in this current crisis of the global coronavirus pandemic to know what to do... What do I do next what do I not do OR What is happening – God is happening AND God is telling us what he wants us to do – he is saying Be still etc. He is telling us what the big question is that we should ask him – WHO ARE YOU LORD? God’s purpose is for people to KNOW HIM. When we say ‘Who are you Lord?’ he wants to tell us Who He is. Many people are more concerned with ‘What is going to happen to me’. I believe that MANY THAT ARE HEARING THIS understand and many have accepted this challenge of being still before God as a way of life. When we say we have sought to do this faithfully as a way of life in the day to day happenings of our yesterday life we can live in the hope of living this way as the absolute priority in the new TODAY of the current crisis in the Earth. We are living out an enforced Sabbath rest of FAITH! The Sabbath of the

Isaiah 30:15 For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says: Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved; in quietness and confidence is your strength; but you would have none of this. No, you say. We will get our help from Egypt (the world). They will give us swift horses for riding to battle. But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you! One of them will chase a thousand of you! Five of them will scatter you until not two of you are left together. You will be like lonely trees on the distant mountaintops. Yet the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for him to help them. Quietness – Be still and know. The ‘me’ self that lives the ‘never enough’ life with a sense of being unfulfilled, separate from what life is meant to be, is not at rest and is chronically anxious. The notion that God is absent is the fundamental illusion of humanity, but Go

The upside down theology of Christianity- down is up and up is down – We lose ourselves in order to find ourselves; admit we are wrong so we can be declared right; are strongest when we’re weakest;. this one is We rejoice in suffering instead of learning to just get over it or learning to put up with it. There’s a secret here, a mystery, a hidden treasure as usual which declares the reality of a life lived with God. It’s the story of the gospel again in one of its 10,000 reasons. Suffering produces endurance Romans 5:2 but we rejoice (buoyant) in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance (seeing the potential - pain/gain Hebrews 12:2), and endurance produces character (‘dokime’ trustworthy, genuine, tried and true - sine-cere - without wax), and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame (make us feel worthless and helpless), because God's love has been poured into our hearts (a cloudburst after the drought Joel 2:28) through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (The hea

  Now our world is just a mere ‘Global Village’. A somewhat fragmented world is becoming...through media technologies like the internet enabling such things as transnational commerce on a level never before achieved ...through the migration and interconnection of nationalities and the sharing of the thoughts and ideas of multiple cultures...through the vision for the future to see a single globalized marketplace.....these are the hallmarks of a global village.....Though it is seen as something quite new and modern....I think the world has had something similar to this is the past...but without the technology The Tower of Babel. After the flood God had commanded Noah and his family to fill the earth. Eventually the inhabitants of the earth venture out together....all speaking the same language.....found a nice spot to live and said...."Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the w

1Corinthians 2:13 We are not using the words that human wisdom teaches but those which the Holy Spirit teaches, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. Intelligence is a knowing of a particular kind. Do you have any intelligence concerning the cause of a certain matter? We have ways of measuring wisdom for different areas of our lives. One is called our IQ or Intelligence Quotient, which measures our intellectual intelligence - how competent we are to associate different things together, shapes, numbers, words, concepts, problem solving. There is also much emphasis today in measuring our emotional intelligence, our EQ - how effectively do we respond emotionally to life – calm responses or frustrated reactions? AND we also have an SQ, a spiritual intelligence - how we respond spiritually to life and resonate and flow with the gift of God’s Spirit living within us through Jesus (spiritual things with spiritual). I can have a high strategic intelligence and not have an emotional intelligence awar

Hebrews 2:6. Someone wrote in Scripture the words, ‘What is man that you pay so much attention to him, or the son of man, that you would come and be with him?’ (the name Jesus used for himself 81 times) 7. You created him of a lower spiritual order than angels, and yet now you have given him a crown of glory and honor and placed him in authority over everything that is yours. 8. He is in command of everything. There is nothing that exists outside the scope of his dominion (Psalm 8:4-6). But when we look at the apparent disorder of things it does not seem that everything is conforming to this rule (under His dominion) 9. But we are able to see Jesus*, created of a lower spiritual order than angels, so that he could suffer and die as a man - and through the grace of God, to digest the poison of fearful death for all of humanity and then receive his crown of glory and honor. * We can only see Jesus now by faith. 10. It was the most noble* and upright thing for him to do, the one to whom everything belongs, and

Shakings bring forth the eternal that can’t be shaken. Courage comes and the chapter closes and a new chapter awaits. What is next? Comfort and renewed strength now happen and the course is set for a new way forward. Elijah was a man that experienced the same human emotions as us. He felt the frailty of his limited humanity after the shakings of the battle with the prophets of Baal. Elijah has just brought a nation to repentance, defeated prophets of Baal and God sent rain. Even though he had won the battle he was left shaken in his soul and body. He has a panic attack because he hears that Ahab and Jezebel are after him so he runs away and wants to die – under a tree. He had shown courage and now he needed comfort. He is supernaturally fed by an angel before he journeys to the top of Mt. Sinai, a trek oåf forty days and nights where he hears God. He keeps hearing God but all God does is ask him the same question ‘What are you doing here Elijah?’ 1 Kings 19:7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touche

Paul was encouraging and warning the Hebrew Christians who had been undergoing great affliction and persecution not to give up on trusting in God to show himself strong on their behalf. Courage (heart) is putting your heart into the truth that you believe in. 1. Hebrews 2:1-4 – In one ear and out the other (flow by - drift away) 2. Hebrews 3:7–4:13 – hardening of heart and not entering the rest 3. Hebrews 5:11–6:20 – not hearing deeply enough – milk and not meat. 4. Hebrews10: 33 – Casting away your confidence. 5. Hebrews12:15-29 – falling short of grace and despising their inheritance like Esau. Hebrews 10:33. Some of you were on center stage (theatrizo) with insults and threats being hurled at you, and some of you stood firmly with others who were getting that kind of treatment. 34. You certainly felt for me when I was chained up and treated like that. You didn’t seem to care how you were treated or what was taken from you. You knew you had greater and abiding heavenly treasures. 35. So don’t lose that c

2 Chronicles 16:9  For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect (salem – to complete, reciprocate, be at peace and at one with) toward Him. The mind goes where the eye goes. We look back at God with a renewed mind (Isaiah 26:3) 2Corinthians 4:18 ... we look at (skopeo) the things not seen that are eternal… This is the ‘eyes of faith’ (Hebrews 1:1,2…Now faith is the reality of things (pragma – plan, deed) hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. David knew that God was thinking purposefully of him constantly Psalm 139:16-18 Your eyes saw my unformed being and formed my days for me before they began. How precious also are Your thoughts (intentions) to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; upon awakening , I continue to be with You. David would let himself down and nosedive, going through times of isolation and depression and almost despair…until he

Answered prayer comes from praying in the will and purpose of God (aligned prayer). God is in command of his purpose. Jesus modelled this relational partnership. God is love and love is his relationship with us, desiring his ultimate good for us. Will his love stop acting if we ask him for something that is not his best for us? No, he will help us to know how to hear. The Holy Spirit aligned the will of Jesus with the Father’s will 1John 5:6 And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three agree as one. Father heard a prayer from Jesus concerning the resurrection of Lazarus; Jesus aligned with the Father. John 11:45 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me (heard what? See below). And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I sa

1John 3:20 If your heart condemns you God is greater than your hearts and knows all things Problem – Our heart condemns us. We have a sin consciousness that makes us miss the mark about our life and its meaning. That makes us judge ourselves on how good or bad we are, and condemnation emphasizes the negative. Thanksgiving disappears and makes us block God out in our minds. That kills our relationship with God but not God’s relationship with us. (Depart from me…Luke 5:8) God lives for that relationship and is greater than our reckoning of things and he has the solution for this self-disqualification of ours. Directive in Old Covenant For about 1500 years (Abraham 2000) God said kill an animal every day to remind yourselves that your sin has separated you from me and killed the relationship for You! (Isaiah 59). The sign in Old Covenant When you sacrifice that animal I will resurrect the relationship you have killed, because you will experience forgiveness for your sin and the relationship will come alive. JE

PRAYER IN CRISIS The bushfire situation is a time of crisis for our Nation. My prayer is for us to see God at work in this crisis. We experience crises of one degree or another constantly in our lives and God uses these crises to bring us to a point of decision concerning our response to that crisis - do we come closer to God is the main point in the searching out of what is in our hearts. (2020 Crisis in USA/Iran/) Chinese Wéij? – Danger and opportunity AND The word for judgment in the NT is krisis. It does not have the same meaning As the word for judgment in the OT. OT (SEPET) was for here and now punishment for past sins. SEPET Heb 2:2… the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment… NT Judgment (KRISIS) is redemptive – bringing us into a place of the searching of our hearts that we might draw closer to God and live out of the life, his life, that he has placed within us. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:13 John 3:17… Come not t