Spiritcode

WITH THE HEART MAN BELIEVES There is a lot of speculation these days about what faith really is, especially among Evangelical Bible believing Christians - What to pray and how to pray, what to hope for and what to expect. Many things are being claimed by faith and do not come to pass and many get disappointed, and some think that God has forgotten them or didn’t hear their prayers. Is there something that maybe needs to change in our thinking about our faith?  What in fact IS OUR faith? What do we believe and how do we believe? The Bible says that with the heart man believes’ (Romans 10:10) so I would like to discuss today the matter of believing with the heart. I will start by saying that I personally have a very simple and straightforward approach to believing with my heart. There is an ongoing dialogue with God on a schedule of prayer concerns that sit in my heart and are being placed before him. I also believe that the Father knows what the cry of my heart is in any personal situations of my own and that

HEART AND SOUL  I am following on from the previous talk called ‘Saviour of all mankind’ regarding the spiritual exercise of the soul in moving from its expression of our natural spirit to our ‘God with us’ Spirit. I want to discuss a further aspect of the salvation of our soul today by considering the place where this soul and spirit activity takes place. That place is the heart. Guard your heart with all diligence; for It is the outflowing of your life. (Proverbs 4:23) Let us do a brief recap of the function of the soul; Our soul – our mind and our emotions and our will, process the inner senses of the spirit as well as the five outer senses of the body. The soul is the loudspeaker of what both our inner spiritual reality and our outer world reality is going through. It does all the oohs and ahs and groans and moans and hurrahs and hallelujahs. It laughs and cries and sulks and sighs. It is the public broadcast of our being – the person we think we are, (that could become much better as far as God’s idea of

SAVIOUR OF ALL MANKIND We are continuing the discussion of the goal of our faith – the saving of our souls. The saving of our souls is a collaborative work between us and the Saviour of our souls. 1Timothy 4:7 train yourself for godliness; for if physical training has some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. For to this end we struggle and make an effort because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all Mankind, especially of those who believe.  Saviour - g4990. ????? s??t??r; from 4982 sozo; saviour, rescuer, healer, protector. I want to note especially that this saving work of the soul was achieved by Jesus for all of Mankind – everybody - That is the heart’s desire of a loving God for his creation, but it only becomes a present reality to those who have faith in that work of God through Jesus Christ. Paul compares the effort for spiritual fitness to training ourselves for physical fitness, and physical fi

SALVATION OF THE SOUL   We will be looking at the meaning of these two words today – Soul and Salvation. The Bible tells us that as human beings we have a body and a soul and a spirit. 1Thessalonians 5:23 may your spirit and soul and body be kept strong and blameless …   Our soul sits between our spirit and our body. It receives information from our spirit through our conscience and intuition which informs our soul about what is happening in our inner world. The soul also receives information from our body’s five senses which informs it about what is happening in our outer world.   The soul processes each of these areas of information through its three modes of activity, which are the mind, the emotions and the will. The mind receives information and orders it according to what it ranks as being of value to our life. The emotions/feelings react or respond to information as to whether it is helpful or harmful The will finally decides how to act upon the information when it has evaluated what the mind has cons

How do the next six commandments from Commandment Five to Commandment Ten differ in nature from the first four commandments? These next six commandments differ from the first four because there is a new framework of relationships. The first four commandments dealt with our relationship to God and the next six deal with our relationships to one another. The relational scope of the Ten Commandments is for us to live in harmony with God AND at peace with other people. The Fifth commandment tells children to obey their parents. This only seems to be written to children – or is there another way to apply this to us all as adults?  The fifth commandment ALSO teaches us how to understand and respect the nature of authority itself, as it brings order into our lives at many levels. God ordains authority to be instrumental as the ordering of our relational reality. In thus Commandment we see how life now becomes a series of lessons divinely designed starting with this commandment and through the following commandments

GIDEON GETTING FAITH Hebrews 11:32 And what more do I need to say? It would take a long time for me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, ruled the people well, obtained promises, kept from harm in dens of lions, and in a furnace of fire, escaped death by the sword, and out of weakness were made strong ‘Out of weakness and being made strong’ was how Gideon learned how to respond to God in faith. He thought ‘I’m not worthy so God would not bother with me’. He had to learn and to understand the partnership arrangement that God desired to have with him. This message of Gideon getting faith is also God’s message to each one of us, where life and power can be released into any situation through our faith partnership with Jesus, which is simply trusting that God is at work for good in the situation.  We learn to focus upon the fact that God invites us into that partnership with him.  Gideon’s response to God’s invitation.

WHY GOD AND HOW LONG LORD? (Questions from Habakkuk to God) Whether we are discussing events in the Old Testament or in the early New Testament church there were two certain questions for which it was hard for people to get an answer to from God, and it is the same in our present-day situation. Those two questions - WHY has God done something (or not done something) and asking God WHEN he is going to do something. The answer we usually get from God is WAIT – AND YOU WILL SEE!  In due course God will let us know why the timing was the way it was and why you had to wait, and why he allowed things to happen. But there is one thing that you can know for certain – and that is that God IS at work in the situation and that we must never give up trusting him to bring about his will for us.  No matter what the situation happens to be, God is telling us to live by faith, trusting him totally. We can’t trust God totally and be anxious at the same time. He wants us to bring our anxieties and doubts to him but at some poi

JESUS OUR FRIEND IN FAITH  In Psalm 22 as Jesus was suffering and dying for us on the cross he cried out to his Father and said; Psalm 22:22 I will praise you to all my brothers and sisters; I will stand up before the assembly (the gathering of my friends) and testify of the wonderful things you have done… Let all Israel sing his praises, for he has not despised my cries of deep despair; he has not turned and walked away. When I cried to him, he heard and came." in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews he quotes these words of Jesus to encourage them to not give up because they are going though times of affliction.   Heb.2: 12 [Jesus is saying] ‘I'll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you; I'll join them in worship and praise to you. Again, he puts himself in the same family circle when he says, Even I live by placing my trust in God’. And he goes on to say, I'm here with the children God gave me’.  14. Since we, God's children, are human beings--made of flesh and blood--he became flesh an

THE HIDDEN SEED OF LOGOS  1Peter 1:23 since you have been born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, through the living and abiding (logos) of God;  Our New Creation lives are the expression of the logos seed of life implanted within us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the logos Word of God. God is always ‘bringing us into being’ of that New Creation life and our faith causes us to always be ‘coming into being’ of that life. We attend to that hidden seed of spiritual life within. LOGOS THE BIG IDEA The Logos was the Word that spoke creation into being, and that designed and ordered everything in the Universe. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him.  As a Pharisee, Paul used to have what he thought was the best and biggest idea for his life living under God’s Law, but then he was walloped by the greatest idea that had ever existed – the Logos, in the form of Jesus, The Word. Before Paul re

Some Christians DO observe the 7th Day as their Sabbath, but Most Christians don’t keep this one.  So who is right and who is wrong? For this Commandment the question of right and wrong involves the problem of us judging one another, as we do about many other things. It was a contentious issue between the Pharisees and Jesus in the Gospels and between Christians in the early church in the epistles. And we still judge each other today.   Romans 14:1-6. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things...One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.  What is the Scriptural reason for most Christians to not observe the 7th day? New Testament scripture reveals that this commandment refers not to a ritual observance of one day in each week, but to the every-day life of faith, which is the re

THE HIDDEN COMMANDMENT  There is a commandment that does not get a mention in the Ten Commandments but that is being indicated right throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, especially in the Prophets and in many Psalms (Isaiah 12:6, Psalm 31:14  John 14:27).  It the New Testament the commandment is stated as ‘Be anxious for nothing’.  Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It is about trusting God and having the ‘peace of God’ instead of the ‘peace of the world’, which is what Jesus stated to his disciples that he wanted us to have (John 14:27). This is a fervent commitment that God wants us to make for our own sakes, but also for him, so that we can develop a loving and trusting relationship with him, which is what he desires above all else. We are living in a time when there is a

You will be as God? Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image (selem – a representation, resemblance), after our own likeness (mut – as us, like us). There are significant differences in the two words, however this statement ‘You will be as God’, or ‘like God’ was declared from the beginning by both Lucifer and God. The first we hear this statement is from out of the mouth of the serpent in the garden of Eden.  Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said, Death will not certainly come to you: For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as God, having knowledge of good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.  Those tempting words from the place of darkness provoked a hidden longing in the heart of humanity to be like God. The very same hidden longing to ‘be as God’ had already been consummated within the heart of pr

THE HIDDEN TREE OF LIFE In the story of creation, the Bible says there were two trees in the midst of the garden of Eden. They were the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. Genesis 2:9 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. ‘In the midst’ does not mean ‘in the middle’. The word midst (taewk) is mostly translated as ‘midst’ and rarely translated a middle (209 vs 7) If I told someone that I saw them in the midst of the crowd it would not mean that they were in the very centre surrounded by everyone else. So we are not talking about two trees standing side by side, on grand display in the centre of the garden. However, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the tree that was featured and even showcased in the story.  It was the tree that God told Adam not to eat from and it was the tree that became their literal do

Commandment Three – Taking God’s name in vain Does this Commandment mean more than just people using God’s name in swearing? How do Christians use God’s name in vain? What does God’s name mean? What does it mean for God to ‘not hold people guiltless’ for taking his name in vain? Does this Commandment operate for people who do not believe in God? All the commandments deal with relationships, and this commandment focuses on a very real aspect of a relationship, and a very important aspect, which is the name of the Person with whom we have a relationship. It is bad enough to have one's name forgotten, but even worse, to have it abused or exploited. Don’t rob God’s name of its meaning and power by using it to promote your own futile campaign. God does not count such harmful schemes as innocent (not hold him guiltless). Seeking of endorsement for our own name is really the seeking of endorsement for the self -images that we have been building, according to the fault addressed in the previous commandment which was

ASCENSION AFTER FORTY DAYS From 'The Plan'  Paul O'Sullivan - Sydney, Australia.   pauloss@me.com   Jesus had brought millions of souls from the grave to the sky and his time in heaven for the celebration of this victorious journey was momentary, as he had left the tomb just before dawn and had to return to earth that same day. He would now spend forty days on earth as a witness to his resurrection, to seal The Plan of his Father and see it implemented for the rest of time. At the end of those forty days he would return to Heaven, to begin his new mission upon the planet. After that he would wait for ten more days before sending Holy Spirit to begin the new mission of the ‘Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ Holy Spirit had accompanied Jesus every moment of his life on earth. He had joined himself to the human spirit of Jesus and had felt every feeling that Jesus had felt. He had known every one of his thoughts, and he had communicated every thought from Father God to him. Those thoughts became words in Jesus mou

When Jesus gave up his Spirit to his Father he then descended in his Spirit on a mission of great purpose. Below him was a place called Paradise, and next to Paradise was a place called Hades. Jesus had spoken about these places when he told the story of The rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. The rich man who lived sumptuously in arrogant self indulgence all of his life ended up in Hades and Lazarus who lived the life of a humble beggar ended up in Paradise, with Abraham (Luke 16:19)  Jesus had now descended to these places. Paradise was where there were millions of souls who had been waiting for him from the beginning of time. These had lived their lives on earth in hope, many of them guided by the Commandments through Moses, but many simply by a good conscience. They were locked away from eternity till eternity would now come to get them. He would also visit Hades, the grave, the prison of lost hope. The bible says that Jesus then preached to all those prisoners of time the message of the plan of Father, the

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 staggered again but this time f

Paul’s mission in life started as a religious mission for the Jewish religion and ended up becoming a spiritual mission for the whole of humanity. As Saul the Jewish Pharisee his mission was one of persecuting Christians wherever he could find them.  We see the record of the transformation of the religious mission of Saul into the spiritual mission of Paul in the Book of Acts. It is the account of him going to Damascus one day to get Christians and to haul them back to Jerusalem for imprisonment and punishment and death, when he gets struck down by a blinding flash of light out of the sky. Act 9: 4 When Saul fell to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And Paul said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (to cause suffering and even death). 6. Astonished and shaken up by what had happened to him he said ‘Lord what do you want me to do?’ The Lord said ‘Get up and go into the city and I will tell you what you have to do.’ 7. The m

About 2000 years before Jesus was born God took Abraham and Sarah and chose them to be the parents of a Nation and a culture that he would set aside to reveal himself to, and for about 1500 of those 2000 years that Nation would be trained up in the Jewish religion. God invested his love and wisdom and truth and power and discipline into them. It was as if a nation were kidnapped and put in custody for 2000 years as a test case for humanity under the caring government of a true and just God. They represented, in their good and bad responses and reactions to God’s investment in them, how the rest of humanity in its entirety would respond and react to a God who would claim them all in due time by joining his life to ours in the person of Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah. He wants to reveal himself to all of us and invest his love and wisdom and truth and power and Fatherly discipline in all of us. Humanity in total has always been the object of God’s passionate love, and when the Jewish Christ/Messiah was born

POLITICS AND GOD’S GOVERNMENT  The Book of Isaiah is a story is of a people who are meant to live in hope, turning to God, waiting for God, and being surprised by God’s goodness to them.  After Solomon, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were divided. There were 20 kings of Israel in the north and not one of them did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and of the 20 kings of Judah in the south, only eight attempted to do what was right, and King Uzziah was in the top five of these. The Bible says of him; “Uzziah set himself to seek God … and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.” (2Chronicles 26:5) Isaiah begins to speak a message of warning and encouragement after King Uzziah dies (in Isaiah chapter 5), because when the King died God’s people turned away from trusting in God. Isaiah’s constant message of turning back to having hope in God all comes to a focus in Isaiah’s words of warning for their presumptuous attitude and desire for political power and control. Isaiah 30:9 a people who lie,