Unlocking Mysteries

God’s Thoughts to Me

And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16:19, NLT).

It is time we find the Resurrection Stone, and discover the “key” to these religious mysteries, to interpret the gospel as it was intended (Resurrection:  The key to understanding the gospel – James Fowler).

Priestly Prattle

The word “hieroglyphics” is a Greek word that means “sacred” or “priestly carving”. For more than a millennium, from the year 500 BC to 1822 Egyptian hieroglyphics were considered to be a secret code of priests and the key to unlock these mysterious writings was feared to be forever lost.

Until 1799 when some of Napoleon’s soldiers found the Rosetta Stone near the mouth of the River Nile. The same inscription appeared on this stone in three different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian demotic and Greek.

The Rosetta Stone

But it took the Frenchman, Francois Champollion, 23 years to discover the key to unlock these mysterious writings. In 1822 he translated the symbols and the mystery of hieroglyphics was something of the past.

From as early as I can remember, I was a member of some or other Christian Church, but I was still lost in darkness and didn’t really understand what the gospel was truly about. I was well into my thirties when I first heard about our need to be born again through the sweet Holy Spirit.

Not unlike most of my contemporaries, I knew an awful lot about the gospel. I paid lip service, celebrated and paid homage to the gospel instead of the God of the gospel without ever really knowing or understanding what it was all about.

To say that the Scriptures were a lot like prophetic-apostolic hieroglyphics to me, is nailing the truth right on the head. I used to read everything I could lay my hands on, trying to find the key to unlock the sweet mystery of the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

I was as blind as a bat and lent out my itching ears to a lot of priestly prattling of quite a few deceived teachers and blind guides.

But my ignorance proved to be no problem to our Pappa and in His usual gentle, patient way, He had to use nearly a full bucket of mud to open my spiritual eyes to the simple truth of Jesus. The simple truth we have made a monstrous complexity of!

Suffice to say that for a long time I was happily falling time and time again over the stumbling block, our dearest Lord Jesus, the Cornerstone of our salvation.

I valiantly got up again after every fall, nursing my wounded ego for a while, dusting off my behind and then tried again from scratch.

Until the Rock of All Ages reminded me. “Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on (Matthew 21:44)”.

When enough was enough, this Stone kindly fell on me, broke me into many pieces and took my legs from right under me through my illness. Gone were the days of my “self” being able to get up again and again.

This became extremely difficult and I had to hoist the white flag in surrender. I knew I needed to start building cautiously on the only Cornerstone through all the ages.

The Master Builder gathered all my broken pieces and glued them all together with His tender love and gentle discipline until I was just a fragile jar of clay with many cracks to allow His Light to shine through.

When one is blessed with a disabling disease, your time of dancing when the religious folk played wedding songs and crying when they played funeral songs, has passed.

I realized that I was not able to carry this burden of Fm/CFS on my own and I was soon knocking earnestly on Heaven’s Door.

True to His wonderful promise, He soon opened the Door to His Kingdom and gave me a wonderful key. This key unlocks the secret of our Resurrected Lord living His Resurrection Life in and through us.

Once we truly realize our need to decrease like John did and we fill up and straighten the roads of our hearts for our King of Glory to enter, we come to know the joy of denying ourselves daily to experience the life in our Pappa.

Through the above-mentioned article of James Fowler, I discovered the Resurrection key; the key to unlock the glorious gospel of Jesus.

Scales fell from my eyes and my heart soared like an eagle that has been released from years of captivity in the prison of religious jargon.

Many Bible verses that used to scare the living daylights out of me, became beautiful flowers in the garden of my heart. The Gardener, none other than the Holy Spirit cultivating flowers with the sweetest nectar to feed my thirsty heart.

The will of our God is one example of the secrets He revealed to my stubborn heart. I used to go on many a wild goose chase trying to determine the specific will of our Pappa for everything pertaining to my life; totally ignoring the sacred gift of common sense that doesn’t seem to be common anymore!

This glorious key unlocked many mysteries of our Pappa’s Kingdom and opened the doors of many prison cells where I was a captive for many, many years; a prisoner of the cruel jailer called Fear!

In my next post, I would love to invite you along a few of the roads to freedom our Pappa has led me and few mysteries He lovingly revealed to me.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

Broken Brides

God’s Thoughts to Me

Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man he felt compassion for him (Luke 10:33, NLT).

The Rag Doll Queen

On a lonely trash heap in a damaged, orphaned world, the remnants of a little woman-girl were carelessly scattered around like the broken limbs of an unwanted, discarded rag doll.

With a diseased body wracked with pain, this fragile ethereal dolly queen softly whimpered like a trampled rose. Silent tears were creating muddy trails down her sunken cheeks.

An important looking gentleman dressed in his black Sunday-best coattails and top hat passed the woman and heard her pitiful cries for help. She hopefully cried out for mercy, love and compassion from this man of God.

With disgust he saved her a small little peek down his sensitive nose and his eyes were filled with repulsion. His body shuddered with contempt.

The stench of her brokenness overwhelmed this lord’s delicate system and he fluttered a snow white handkerchief from his breast pocket.

He hurriedly fled in disgust … on his way to a prayer meeting at a church across the road to intercede for the lost and broken of this world. He had to hurry for he was already a tad late.

On his heels followed his congregants singing songs of worship and praise to their God whom they claimed, was Love. Amongst them were a pastor or two, a reverend, a bishop and a priest.

Their joyful singing drowned the pitiful mewl emanating from the rubbish heap until only a broken whimpering remained.

They were making a joyful noise unto their Lord, but quickly averted their eyes from such filth in dire need when they passed this foul-smelling broken scrap of a rag doll queen. They frivolously left many hallelujahs in their wake.

The King of Heaven looked down on His creation. His eye caught  this beautiful trampled rose and He winced in unspeakable agony and torment.

The delicious delicate odor of her love for Him, anointed Him with great joy, but also sorrow. A lonely tear of love escaped His heart as He scooped Her into His Loving Embrace.

His tears of anguish soothed the broken petals of the rag doll’s heart like a fragrant ointment while the angels rejoiced in wonder as their King kissed his beloved with His kisses of delight.

His eternal love transformed her brokenness into His glory … into a woman of valor  … into His spotless, beautiful, radiant bride.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

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The Feisty Philistines

God’s Thoughts to Me

He did this to teach warfare to the generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers)… (Judges 3:3a, NLT).

All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
Just another blunder
Just another lousy call (Pink Floyd, The Wall)

A Brick in The Wall

In 1979 the rock band, Pink Floyd, released a rock opera, The Wall. It was a huge success and made the top of the charts worldwide.

The opera was written by the group’s bassist, Roger Waters, and was a protest against rigid schooling in general and the boarding school system in the United Kingdom in particular.

The Apartheid Regime in South Africa banned the whole album in 1980 and no radio station was allowed to play the song, Another Brick In The Wall. Supporters of a nationwide school boycott adopted this song in their protest against racial inequalities in education.

But this didn’t stop us young, teenage South Africans from the late seventies to listen to this album and to come to our own conclusions about the message of the song and the inequality in the education system.

The problems this album was addressing were actually much wider and much more serious than we would like to admit, for the whole world is lost in darkness and chaos and is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19).

I have often been overwhelmed by my finite smallness in comparison with a big, wide world. The only solution Satan offers for lost humanity, is to deceive us into thinking we can decide for ourselves what good and evil are.

As a result, we came up with “human rights” which have been a total failure world-wide, for man is totally addicted to power.

Too often the rights of a single individual is denied for the greater good of a group. No wonder the “unimportant, forgotten ones” feel like nothing more than bricks in the wall the rich and powerful are building on a very shaky foundation of human rights.

We have fallen prey to an enemy we do not even recognize, but who nevertheless has been with humanity since the beginning of time and with the Israelites in particular after they entered the Promised Land … the Philistines.

But man has not been created to have rights; we have been created with the need to be loved by our Creator, to love Him in return and also love one another.

Any right we think we have apart from the love of our Pappa will only result in another form of power struggle and puts the emphasis on the idol called “self”.

The name, Philistine, means, “wallowing in self” and according to Wordweb, “wallow” means, “to indulge in to an immoderate degree or to give oneself over to”.

The Philistines were an aggresive tribal group living in the south-east of Canaan and were Israel’s most formidable, feisty enemy and they battled against them even in the time of King David.

We all know the story of Samson and Delilah and how he eventually, after being their prisoner for a long time, killed many of them at a feast in their temple. Who can ever forget how valiantly David as a shepherd boy killed their giant, Goliath.

Please allow me to suggest that the five lords that were ruling these formidable enemies, represent five aspects of the self-life!

We get General Self-Pity with a whole bunch of troops below him like Privates Self-Loathing, Shame, Rejection, Despair, etc., etc.

Another high official in the Philistine army, is Colonel Self-Depreciation with his own bunch of underlings called Captain Self-Condemnation and Corporal Worthlessness.

Not to mention Major Self-Importance with his subordinates, Sergeants Boastful, Braggart and Windbag. Last, but not the least, we get Sergeant Major Self-Indulgence and the millitary attaché, Captain Self-Pleasure

We all have our own bunch of stinking Philistines in our hearts in all their different, delicious forms and flavors. They were not only a great formidable foe in the time of the Israelites in Canaan, but are still today.

It has never been easy to defeat them and they have the nasty habit to pop up again and again. I know I have to be on the look-out for especially those nasty critters, Rejection, Shame, Self-pity and their whole enchilada.

Someone else  may not have a problem with my enemies, but may have another bunch of Philistines to battle e.g.  that sly fox called Arrogance and his sister, Pride.

Only last week I was in a fierce battle against the Philistine army of Discouragement, Hopelessness and Self-pity when my illness almost overwhelmed me and I felt locked up  in the dark dungeon of despair.

I knew I was totally helpless, but for a day of two, I still valiantly tried to overcome the enemy with what I thought the grace of my Pappa. But without any success. My enemy was ready for serious combat and I was so weak.

I battled until I remembered that I was trusting my own skill, albeit empowered by grace. Only as I felt the hyena sinking his mighty teeth into my flesh, did I remember to turn around and run to our Lord Jesus.

When we have to battle this enemy in our hearts, let us not be foolish and think that we can defeat them on our own, for we simply cannot.

Let us submit to our Commander-in-Chief and resist this mangy pack of hyenas. These spiritual enemies can only be defeated by the sweet Holy Spirit.

Let us remember His words, “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). Let us run to Jesus and Him alone, for He is our Conqueror.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia.

The Shulamite and the Foxes

God’s Thoughts to me

Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming! (Song of Songs 2:15, NLT).

Fox Hunting

Through the years I have been walking with God, I have often been harassed by the little foxes from the Song of Songs. They have been so persistent with their gnawing and pestering of my thoughts.

I realised the time was ripe for me to chase and catch these little rascals. Little did I realise how cunning these creatures could be! I started to plan my battle strategies on how to fight and conquer these hard-to-destroy-grapevine-loving cute little pests by doing some research.

My expert advisors, the Bible scholars, seemed to agree on one thing, at least. These, not so little foxes, represent all the false preachers, prophets and teachers of a different gospel.

Our Lord Jesus warned us, ” On judgement day many will say to me,’ Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply,’I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.” (Matthew 7:22-23, NLT).

My advisors nearly convinced me through the letter Paul wrote to Timothy, ” Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2, NLT).

But I knew, although these gentlemen were spot-on with their analysis, this battle, for me, had to be fought on a much deeper level; on the only battleground my enemies were able to destroy; my heart and soul.

So, I fired my clever, highly esteemed advisors and asked our Lord Jesus to be the Commander-in-Chief of my whole life; a position He gladly wanted to fill since forever, and to show me the best plan of action against these potential soul destroyers.

At the time King Solomon wrote this beautiful song, vineyards had protective walls built around them against all the unwelcome visitors. The foxes would dig holes in the vineyard, spoiling the roots of the vines, gnawing and breaking the tender, little branches and leaves.

These gluttonous, little creatures were not interested in the flowers, they wanted the juicy grapes, especially when they were young and tender. Then my ever-so-romantic mind’s eye caught sight of the Shulamite and her King! To be specific, the love relationship between the two.

It is a relationship of love; not a doctrine, teaching, a charismatic speaker nor all the things we associate with the modus operandi of the modern church scene. The foxes are those great and little enemies and adverse circumstances that threaten to gnaw and destroy their blooming, tender love!

I knew it was time for me to take stock to discover how many of these little foxes I allowed to freely roam and destroy the vineyard of my heart. I knew I had no means to fight against these formidable foes.

But I remembered that only our Pappa God is mighty to save, I recalled His words, “Listen all you people … ‘Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (2 Chronicles 20:15, NLT).

My heart jumped with joy when I realised our Lord Jesus was my Knight in shining armour and together we made a mean team, just like Lancelot and Lady Guinevere. He was more than able and prepared to destroy this foe that was preventing my heart from producing the delicious fruit of love and trust, He so greatly desired.

Together we first had to identify and destroy this big army of little foxes’ commander-in-chief, Brigadier-General Work-To-Earn-God’s-Love. What a despicable liar this one was! We overcame this fellow easily, once I allowed our Lord Jesus to counteract his lies with truth.

Once he was slain, his whole army of well-trained soldiers started to crumble. Lieutenant Good Works and Sergeant Shame put up a good fight, but quickly raised the white flag when they saw my Commander-in-Chief! Their whole platoon of privates soon followed suit; private Guilt, private Condemnation, private Rejection, Anger, etc., etc.

Of their once mighty army, only a few mercenaries remained, but I knew that as long as I didn’t willingly hire their services, they would leave me well alone. They know the battle belongs to the Lord and that makes them tremble with fear.

Our King of kings destroyed all their shelters of wood, hay and stubble. Now, if I just spy one of them on the horizon, I run to my Strong Tower and Place of Refuge, into our Lord’s loving embrace.

We daily encounter many of these nasty little foxes and foes who want to lock us in shackles of despair. We have to fight many battles and it can be downright horrible, but as we allow the sweet Holy Spirit to teach us how to abide in our Lord Jesus, we only need to submit to our Pappa and resist the evil ones!

As we live in His Love, moment-by-moment, we can confidently say with Paul, “Neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” (Romans 8:35).

Living life is a fine balancing act in a world lost in chaos and darkness, filled with many foxy foes. Let us therefore fix our eyes on our only Commander-in-Chief, our dearest Lord Jesus.

Hugs and sweet blessings

Mia

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Please check my Tea Time and Link-Ups page for the blogs where I link during the week.

This is an edited repost from the archives.

Playing With Stars

God’s Thoughts to Me

I will climb to the highest heaven and be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14, NLT).

The Place Where We Belong

Once upon a moment in eternity, before the creation of time, the rambunctious murmuring amongst the angels in heaven, erupted into total anarchy.

A third of the legion of angels rebelled along with the morning star and revolted against His Majesty, King Jesus.

Lucifer, the maestro of heaven’s glorious music, proudly declared in his heart that his beauty belonged above the brightest stars; above the throne of God.

Like lighting, the son of dawn was thrown from heaven along with all those magnificent creatures who fondled and caressed devilish pride in their hearts.

Like hungry lions they are now roaming the desolate plains of the world, roaring their damnable lies like venomous, fiery arrows of hate and rejection.

They are determined to steal, kill and destroy the last fragments of hope in the broken, desolate hearts of humanity.

The crown of creation who were formed with tender love to behold the glory of God … the glory of their Farther to whom they once belonged.

But on a hill called Golgotha, the Bright Morning Star once and for all defeated, disarmed and shamed all the evil spiritual rulers and authorities.

He paid the ransom for His bride … He brought her back to the place where she belonged since the beginning of time … a place where she plays with stars.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

I broke all the rules today due to bad Fibrofog!!

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The Giants Of Canaan

God’s Thoughts to Me

We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country – a land filled with milk and honey. Here is the fruit it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw the giants there, the descendants of Anak (Numbers 13:27-29, NLT)”.

The Land of Milk and Honey

In 2010 Muse Entertainment released a television miniseries of 8 episodes, Pillars Of The Earth. It is based on one of my all time favorite books by Ken Follet.

The story is set in England in the 12th century during the reign of King Stephen and his anarchy. Tom Builder was a master builder and the whole story centers around the cathedral he built in the small village of King’s Bridge.

But there is one character that makes one’s hair stand on end; the fearsome and powerful Bishop Waleran Bigod. He was a corrupt cleric who committed great atrocities in his greed for power and lust to become the Archbishop of Canterbury.

His office as bishop granted him the trust of many illiterate common folk. He ruthlessly traded their trust, killed many innocent people to satisfy that insatiable power-hungry leech in his heart.

This guy traded in religion for his own monstrous gain as did the Canaanites at the time when the Israelites entered the Promised Land; just like so many still do today in the name of our sweet Lord Jesus.

The Canaanites were a group of people who lived in Canaan long  before Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The name Canaanite means “merchant” or “trafficker” and speaks of the enemies we still encounter daily in our walk with Jesus.

As long as there were good trading opportunities and good profit, the Canaanites lived happily in the Promised Land and they were not eradicated in one day. Oh no, they were an enemy to be reckoned with!

When I look at current Christianity all over the world, it saddens me to see a lot of Canaanites still in our midst. The world is filled with religious merchants and traffickers trading in the souls of men (Revelation 18:13).

As long as there are souls for sale these merchants will grow rich from the commodity called religion. They are peddlers of promises of the Land of Milk and Honey and great relationships where broken hearts will instantly be healed.

Their lies spin deceptive, deadly webs that consume the ignorant like deadly, man-eating spiders and they treat our Heavenly Father much like a genie in a bottle or even a fairy godmother with a magic wand.

I am not innocent for I gladly used to rub shoulders with blab-it-and-grab-it-prophets. I proudly moved in the self-centered Prayer of Jabez circles, convinced that if this prayer worked for Jabez, it had to work for me too. These examples are but the tip of the iceberg, but enough to get my point across.

The only problem was that no amount of repetitive prayer like a mantra or naming-and-claiming Bible promises could move our Pappa’s hand to bless me with health and a restored relationship.I didn’t know then that I was involved in a great battle against the greedy Canaanites.

I have to admit that I was losing my long battle with the cunning Canaanites in my own heart. I was first and foremost concerned with the profit I could gain from being a Christian, especially healing from my debilitating chronic disease.

What I considered to be our Pappa’s hand of anger upon me, was actually His patient love bringing me to the point where I had nothing to hold onto or live for in this life. It was there, sitting in the ashes like Job, where I experienced great anguish about my life.

But it was also there at the end of myself , that I was able to hear that still, small voice beckoning and asking me all those difficult questions of life. All those questions that no amount of earthly, demonic wisdom could answer.

It was there that I had to cry out like Job, “You asked, ‘Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorance? It is I – and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful to me’ (Job 41:3)”.

It was there in the proverbial pit, utterly defeated, that I gladly handed the reigns of my life over to our Lord Jesus. It was there that I asked Him to go before me and rid my heart of the  Canaanites.

It was there that I realized that I only heard about God before, but now “saw”  Him with my own eyes.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

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The King’s Present

God’s Thoughts to Me

The Spirit and the bride say,”Come!” And let him who hears say,”Come!” (Revelation 22:17, NIV).

Wedding Bells

The Kingdom of Heaven is ablaze with light for today is the day of the Royal Wedding. The Bride, the Lady Ecclesia, was once a Shulamite, living in the Tents of Kedar.

She was burned dark by the monstrous sun in the Kingdom of Evil when she was laboring like a slave in the vineyards of her brothers.

Her own vineyard was ruined and neglected when the Prince of Heaven paid the ransom price for her freedom and offered her His kisses of delight in the cup of the Ketubah.

He brought her to His Palace where His Father prepared her for this joyous day as He washed her clean of the black soot of unrighteousness and burned her tattered garments in the refiner’s fire of suffering.

She is dressed in a brilliant white wedding gown of the finest snow-white silk of her Beloved’s righteousness. Her bouquet is of fragile, fairy flowers in brilliant shades of joy. Each one was formed from a single tear and crafted to perfection by the love of her Beloved.

They were all tears of sorrow and longing the King collected when she was crying in anguish whilst being a slave in the fetters of sin in that Kingdom of Evil. He cherished each one in His heart like a precious pearl.

The citizens of the country are lining the streets of gold to bring honor to this fragile Beauty and to be blessed by the sunshine of her brilliant smile as the King’s carriage is taking her to her Beloved.

The carriage is made from the Cedars of Lebanon, the posts of silver, the base of gold, the interior inlaid with purple and the horses were six valiant centaurs.

From the beginning of time she has always been her Father’s present of love and blessing to His Son.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

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The Sinai Encounter

God’s Thoughts to Me

Either you will find yourself opening up more and more to the Lord – and you will know it – or else you will find yourself constricting and tightening, in which case the atmosphere will become intolerable (Terry Fullam, Miracle in Darien).

Parable of A Father’s Love

In 1979 Terry Fullam, an Episcopalian priest, was trekking in the footsteps of the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt.

At Mount Sinai he had an encounter with God and was directed to the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. They needed a minister and had called Mr Fullam a few weeks prior to the Sinai encounter.

The day he preached his debut sermon, the congregants were looking at him with great expectancy when he delivered  the words above.

Yet, they were stunned into silence when he remarked that some of them might even find it necessary to leave the congregation.

For three successive Sundays he preached about nothing else but the great, scandalous love of our Pappa for each one of His children individually.

When the elders tentatively enquired when he was going to start preaching about something else, he replied that only when all of them really and truly believed this vital truth.

I had the honor of reading the book, The Miracle in Darien, a few years ago and was impressed by how our Pappa whispered His life into the heart of a congregation that was not much more than a heap of dead, dry bones.

I  was also deeply convicted of my unbelief and knew that I did not really have the saving kind of faith … the kind that knew my Pappa’s love … the twinkle-in-the-eye-song-in-the-heart kind of childlike faith.

Valiantly and with an unhealthy dose of fear and trembling, I tried my utmost to get my head faith to somehow find the road less traveled to my heart for I had often heard sermons on our need to do this!. Oh, I failed miserably and completely!

Eventually I realized that only as I admit my total lack of not only not understanding faith and grace, but also my inability to supernaturally conjure up some magical fairy faith, could Pappa bless me with abundant faith and mercy!

Unbeknownst to me, I was actually at a very good place for I had to admit my failure to my Pappa. I told Him that if He doesn’t give me faith as a free gift of His grace, I will forever be a heathen.

I reminded Him that even Jesus told us that with us nothing is possible, even the simple act of believing. This He did with gladness.

The angels were rejoicing in heaven over this stubborn child who at least had the common sense to go home when she was at her wit’s end. He led me to another little book, He Loves Me, by Wayne Jacobsen.

Through this book, our Pappa opened my eyes to another central focus of the parable of the Prodigal Son: the love of the Father.

This Father acted shockingly when His good-for-nothing son claimed his inheritance while his Father was still alive; He gave it to him. Have you ever heard of such audacity!

To add injury to insult the son squandered all his riches on wine, women and song while his Pappa was waiting with longing on the farm.

When he ended up destitute, his Pappa didn’t rush to rescue His child, neither did He nag or prodded his son to get his life in order.

No, He allowed him to hit rock bottom, hoping that he would remember his Pappa’s unconditional love and come home willingly. When he was still a far way off, His Father, who was waiting with longing since the day he had left, saw him.

He hiked up His robes and ran down the road to meet His wayward son whose famished stomach made him prepare a good repentance speech.

The Father didn’t hear a word of His child’s apology, but smothered him with hugs and kisses of delight. There was not even a hint of anger or retribution.

No, instead of receiving punishment, this child received a feast fit for a prince to celebrate his homecoming. He told His servants to dress His child in royal robes and to put His signet ring on his finger.

Our Pappa showed me how He is totally the opposite of an earthly parent. Here on earth we make such a big issue of obedience and respect.

But this is not what my Pappa wanted. He desires nothing else but my whole heart, my love and my life from the moment He formed me in the seclusion of my mother’s womb.

He is not interested in our sacrifice and service to Him and reminds us that He is not served with human hands (Acts 17:25). No, not at all!

He wants each and every one of us to truly know how much He loves us. He desires an intimate relationship with all His children, as if that one was His one and only, hoping that we would willingly love Him in return.

Oh, what joy when the Heavenly Light of Love flooded my heart with the sunshine of understanding.

He took my hand and invited me to stand on His big Father feet while He taught me how to dance to the rhythm of the heartbeat of His love.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

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A Gate Called Beautiful

God’s Thoughts to Me

Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, … “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk” (Acts 3:2-6, NLT).

Beggars at The Narrow Gate

Once upon a time, in the year 1 AD, in the city of Jerusalem, a beggar, lame from birth, was lying beside the double gate in the wall of the Temple Mount. As was his custom, he was begging for alms.

This gate was called Beautiful and was at the end of a monumental stairway from the lower plaza. It was used by pilgrims from all over Israel to enter the temple to worship the King of Heaven.

Suddenly the beggar was walking, dancing and leaping into the Inner Court of the Temple, accompanied by two men who used to follow the Man from Nazareth, the One who was crucified on Golgotha.

His voice was ringing like heavenly bells as his song of thanksgiving was rising up to heaven where angels were rejoicing for another prodigal who found his way back Home

Rumors were that Death was unable to keep this Man, this King who’s Kingdom was not of this world, captured in its claws. The Spirit of Life descended from Heaven and raised Him from the portals of Hades.

The beggar’s joyful noise was like sweet-smelling frankincense, praising and thanking the Prince of Glory for the wonder of being cured of his lameness. He was suddenly filled with unspeakable joy.

A still small voice whispered softly in his inmost heart ,”I am the Gate called Beautiful … the Narrow Gate made of a single Pearl of great price. I am the Entrance into the Kingdom of my Father,  the stairway into the Castle of His heart.”

“All who comes to me, I will in no ways cast out. I will gather them with the feathers of my love. I will cover them with my mercy and hold then forever, safe in My Loving Embrace.”

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

P.S. Sorry , I went a bit over five minutes!

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The Sons of Terror

God’s Thoughts to Me

These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan … These people were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses (Judges 3:1-4, NLT).

The Fearsome Hittites

Earlier this year Metro Goldwyn Mayer, in co-operation with History Channel screened a new television drama about early medieval Scandinavia. It is the story of a famous Norse hero, Ragnar Lodbrok.

This Viking farmer, his brother, Rollo, his wife, the shield maiden, Logertha, and a few other warriors loyal to Ragnar, were the first Norsemen who sailed west to England.

They raided the English of tons of gold and silver ornaments, precious gemstones and jewelry. They even took a few Englishmen back to Norway as slaves. These warriors were formidable, fierce and powerful and filled many a brave soul with terror just on hearing their names.

As I was reading an article on the book of Judges, I met another tribe of people who were just as fearsome and powerful as these Norsemen: the Hittites. They were the third major nation our Lord left in Canaan.

God did not allow Joshua to conquer all Israel’s enemies for He knew their hearts. The new generation was already turning away from their Lord and prostituting themselves by worshipping other gods (Judges 2:17).

Our Pappa wanted to teach them how to war against these formidable foes who each represented a fleshly, worldly or satanic principle that have been with man since the day Adam decided to live life on his own.

The Hittites were a formidable nation and were spread out over an immense area. Their name comes from the name “Heth”, meaning “Sons of Terror”. These fierce warriors were big, strong and fearless opponents.

They may have long come and gone, but their gremlins of fear, that spirit of terror certainly has not. This spirit holds the whole world in its iron grip of hatred, violence, corruption, terrorism and wars.

When we look at our Lord Jesus’ words, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world”, why is it that so many of our Pappa’s children are still held captive and controlled by the Hittite enemy? (John 16:33).

Can it be that the Hittites have masqueraded themselves in religious garb or Angel of Light attire? It might just be. Way too many Christian lives are held captive and controlled by the Hittite enemy.

It should come as no surprise. Paul warned us, “I know that false teachers , like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock … distort the truth in order to draw a following” (Acts 20:29-30).

One thing the world has no shortage of, is preachers and teachers doing their own thing in Jesus’ name, each having their own set of followers. They fleece their flock for their own gain, leaving their sheep shivering and starving in the winter cold.

I used to be one of these naked, poor sheep. I have seen my fair share of hirelings running away as fast as they could when wolves were attacking and scattering the flocks.

Our Lord told us the reason, “The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep” (John 10:13).

But I have also experienced the love, the mercy, the grace and goodness of the good Shepherd who sacrificed His life for me and reconciled me to my Pappa. I have experienced perfect Love that casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).

I have the privilege of drinking daily, deeply from the Fountain of Life … of experiencing life in His Loving Embrace. I have the joy of having a Pappa who picks me up when the wolves come … a Father who comforts me with the beat of His heart.

Much love and sweet blessings.

Mia

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