A Turbulent Heart

God’s Thoughts to Me

My soul followeth hard after Thee; Thy right Hand upholdeth me (Psalm 63:8 KJV).

She has heard about Jesus, so she came up behind Him through the crowd and touched His robe (Mark 5:27, NLT).

Behind The Veil

The late Brennan Manning said in his book, The Lion And The Lamb,” You will trust God only as much as you love Him. You will love Him not because you have studied Him. You will love Him only because you have touched Him – in response to His touch”.

Divine wisdom wrapped in Truth. Jesus warned the Pharisees that they were searching the Scriptures daily thinking that in them they had eternal Life.

But they were oblivious to the Living Word, blind to the Eternal Life standing right in front of them and they were doomed.

I recall a time in my own life when I was stumbling through a severe winter season. My physiology and psychology were naked and lost in sinister, dark, lifeless forest of religiosity.

The giant branches of the ancient trees of traditions gnarled its fingers around my turbulent heart, trying to steal the last shreds which were panting for streams of the Living Quiet Waters of freedom.

They locked me up with the chains of religious high-sounding words in the cruel grip of laws and rules and regulations at a time when my body was immobilized by pain and exhaustion.

But like the Pharisees, my spirit was the prisoner of the lifeless idol of Bibliolatry. Silent pitiful cries and despondent tears enveloped me with an unbearable longing to touch the Robe of the Beloved.

For many years I was an avid student of Theology and had the fundamentals of the faith at my fingertips. I could almost quote the Bible, chapter and verse.

I fell in love with the idea of God’s grace and love, but this love affair was only a figment of my imagination.

It was a poor substitute for that almost magical reality of a spirit becoming one in union with the sweet Spirit of God; that intimate closeness that seemed so utterly unobtainable.

It was not for lack of trying; just the opposite. I was the master striver, striving earnestly to build beautifully crafted altars, begging God to consume my hand crafted offers with the fire of His Love.

I was from the old school who prided themselves in their strong work ethic and was perplexed by the absence of Holy Fire.

No … it was because of my lack of touching Him as a response to His touch. My heart was bound with the cords of doctrines and creeds. I was experiencing the death of the letter of the law.

My lips were singing Hallelujahs, but my heart was far from my first Love, yearning for that mysterious something many saints seemed to smile so secretly about all through the ages.

At the same time, I was suffocated by an unhealthy fear of God. I was terrified of that relentless monster of self-condemnation and shame.

This master of deceit taunted me day and night with sneering, damnable lies that my hand was already spoken for by the dark, evil one.

When I stumbled upon these words of Mr Manning, a new day dawned in my inmost heart. A passionate, burning flame pierced my soul and my eyes were opened to see beyond the veil of my mind.

I was swept off my feet, overwhelmed with a love that was at the same time beautifully disturbing and devastatingly delightful. I was in awe of the prevenient grace of our King.

Thoughts of another woman from another time; the woman with the issue of blood stirred my mind. We were both at a very lonely and needy place; both at the crossroads of our lives; bankrupt and seeking the ancient paths of eternity.

With shame I confess that I hoped that our Pappa would to transform Himself into a genie in a bottle, where my wishes were His commands.

But this Genie surely seemed as deaf as a doorknob and as blind as a bat, very unappreciative of all my clever selfish maneuvers. Yet, He patiently and gently kept on drawing me into His Loving Embrace.

When I finally came to the end of my tether, I had no other choice but to crawl on my spiritual knees, like the woman with the issue of blood, until my heart finally touched the hem of my Beloved’s heart.

He took the tatters of my brokenness and started to heal me from the inside out. Although my illness is still very much part of my life, He has brought me to a place of sweet acceptance.

A place where I can eagerly look forward to the day when I will leave this old coat behind to be clothed in a new glorious spiritual body.

I will not dare to trivialize the suffering of a chronic illness, but I do want to dare all to follow hard after our God, assured of His right hand upholding us.

Crawl if necessary until you are near enough to touch our Lord Jesus again and again and again … and then still again and again.

Much love and sweet blessings xx

Mia

I am linking-up with the ladies at my Tea Time and Link-Up page.

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

Linking-up with

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

Linking-up with

Itching Ears

God’s Thoughts to Me

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NLT).

The Sirens

The world is cloaked in a blanket of sorrow and darkness. The hearts of men are sailors sailing the oceans of destruction, listening intently while being mesmerized and lured away by the lewd songs of the Sirens.

They beckon them on a voyage to the deepest water abyss where the Prostitute rules (Rev 17:15).

The merchants of the world are strutting like peacocks , spewing lies, committing adultery with the whore of Babylon, getting drunk on the wine of her passionate immorality.

They are traders of gold, silver, jewels, cinnamon, incense, wine, religion and the souls of men.

They whisper delightful lies to the itching ears of man with false, deceptive promises of wealth, prosperity and glory.

Their fate is eternal damnation for this great city has fallen. She has become a home for demons and a hideout for every foul spirit.

The merchants will weep and mourn over their beloved.

They will seek another lover, crying in sackcloth and ashes while their wealth disappears in a puff of smoke.

But they are deaf to the gentle voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people” (Rev 18:3).

Much love xx

Mia

Linking-up with

Sly Deceptions

God’s Thoughts to Me

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1, NIV).

Test everything. Hold on to the good (1 Thessalonians 5:21, NIV).

The Noble Bereans

I used to be good friends with a lady who was a member of the Seventh-Day-Adventist Church. She had a very difficult childhood and subsequently grew up into a very insecure, vulnerable young woman.

The White Family

When she desperately needed love, she met a few Seventh-Day-Adventists and they welcomed her with open arms. As she didn’t grow up in a church and didn’t know our Lord, she accepted their teachings and married their young pastor.

The founders of the Seventh-Day-Adventist Church were Ellen G White, her husband, James White and Joseph Bates. The Adventists consider the teachings of Mrs White, which are based on visions she apparently received from God, to be just, if not more, reliable and true as the Bible.

These precious people are heavily bogged down under the yoke of legalism. Yet, they consider themselves to be the remnant spoken of in Revelation 12:17.

This belief can easily scare the living daylights out of a naive, gullible person, like my friend, and make them a life-long member of this church.

Their teachings are very dangerous and the fact that they celebrate their Sabbath on a Saturday, is only a small fish in the ocean of deception.

My friend tried her utmost to convert me to Seventh-Day-Adventism, but when she realized she was wasting her time, she sadly ended our friendship. I did a thorough study of their teachings and our Pappa protected me from believing lies.

I am amazed how educated, intelligent people use a single Scripture verse as the basis for a whole new doctrine and subsequently a new church!

Just to give you an idea how easily a Scripture verse can be taken out of context and manipulated to create a whole new doctrine, I want to mention their teaching about dietary laws.

According to them it is sinful to eat pork, but conveniently ignore Paul’s warning, “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink… (Colossians 2:16)”.

When Peter received the vision from heaven of the sheet containing all the “unclean” animals, according to the Old Testament laws, our Pappa told Peter to eat these unclean food. We know our Lord wanted to show Peter that, contrary to their belief, He didn’t consider the Gentiles to be unclean.

The Seventh-Day-Adventist believe He was referring only to people and not animals! Pigs are still happy and safe in Jerusalem and amongst these folks! The dietary laws of the Old Testament are still operative to them today.

Their teachings made me realize how easily one can base many false, deceptive doctrines on a few Scripture verses taken out of context and by implication deceive millions of people. The fear factor and the false security it offers keep many earnest seekers of God chained to these false doctrines.

The greatest danger lies in the fact that nearly every lie can be defended from Scripture and the adherents usually valiantly claim to be just as noble as the Bereans who eagerly listened to Paul and Silas and searched the Scriptures daily to if what they preached was in fact the truth.

When I came to realize that countless, terrible lies were being nobly taught straight from the Bible, I seriously looked at what the Bereans were really doing. I found the secret lying not in what they were doing, but in what Paul was preaching.

Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica before they came to Berea. There was a Jewish synagogue and for three Sabbaths in a row, Paul reasoned with these Jews.

He used the Torah to explain the prophecies about the Messiah who had to suffer and rise from the dead. He informed them that Jesus was this promised Messiah.

Jewish Children Learning The Torah

The Bereans were more open-minded than the Thessalonians and eagerly listened to what Paul was preaching. Yet, they didn’t just gobble-up everything Paul said, but searched their copy of the Torah daily to make sure of the truth of their words. Paul commended them for this (Act 17:11).

Paul warned the Thessalonians to test everything and only hold on to what is good and true. In the same manner we find John warning the believers not to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether they were from God. Even then many false prophets were claiming to preach the truth of Christ.

Today were are in the midst of a great apostasy and we have greatly stifled the Holy Spirit’s gift of discernment. We believe left, right and centre everything that is taught in the name of our Lord Jesus without testing anything.

I know that if people are like me, we often cry this great battle cry of  “Sola Scriptura”. Yet, we are clueless about the battle we are so valiantly fighting for! No wonder the Roman Catholic papacy, at the time of Martin Luther, used to say that the Protestants only exchanged their idol of the Pope for another, the Scriptures!

I invite you to accompany me as I investigate, like the Bereans, for another few posts and test a few of the subtle false spirits doing the rounds today and which are difficult to discern as falsehood.

I want to delve deep into the Gospel Paul was preaching and hold onto our Lord Jesus who is the only Way … the only Truth … and the only Life.

Blessings and love.

Mia

Linking-up with

The Scabbanger Club

God’s Thoughts to Me

But His mother told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 5:2, NLT).

It is to divide between what is us in fallen nature, and what is Christ, and to get rid of the one to give full place to the other! (T Austin-Sparks).

Water, Wine and Merriment

Onwaba, the Day of Her Baptism

I have a little 5 year old friend. We have been blessed to have Onwaba and her grannie staying with us the last few years.

Onwaba has a great sense of humor. When she does something funny, she is a funny bunny.

But when she is just plain stupid she calls herself a scabbanger. She is quite chaffed with herself for creating this big word.

Onwaba’s sense of humor is just a chip off our Lord’s dear heart. I can just see Him grinning as he looks down at the human race, all honorary members of the Scabbanger Club.

When Jesus and His disciples attended the wedding at Cana, He must have been a bit amused, as well as filled with compassion, for the predicament of the poor bridegroom.

To run out of wine at your wedding was a major faux pas that would cause them to be the latest scabbangers in town until someone else messed up worse than them.

We all know this parable where our Lord Jesus helped the poor groom out of his scabbangerish predicament. But He did much more than merely turning water into wine.

Our Lord never allowed an opportunity to pass without confronting and exposing the uselessness of the Jewish religion; actually, any religion for that matter. It only has the ability to bind us in chains.

He did so in this parable by using the empty clay pots that were used for the ceremonial, legalistic cleansing, instead of the empty wine jars.

After the servants filled the pots to the brim with water, the master of ceremonies gave some to the groom. They were all amazed at the superb quality of this “bubbly” wine and that, only being served near the end of the wedding feast.

The new wine symbolizes the new covenant wine of Jesus’ own life; ever active, dynamic, full of joy and spiritual blessings, replacing the old dirty water of the purification vats of the law.

Jesus’ command to the servants to fill the jars to the brim, shows us the abundance of His provision. There is no short supply in heaven. Unlike the water of religious cleansing, the new wine of His life never runs dry. As we allow Him to restore sight to our spiritual eyes, we become aware of the empty futility of filling the jars of our hearts with religious water of self-effort to clean our consciences and to find favor with our Pappa.

This new delicious wine is only served in abundance when we come to Him and learn how to abide in Him. It is way above and superior to the wine which we drank before.

Some modern-day Pharisees, in defense of abstinence, try to explain this new wine to be diluted grape juice, while others are calling Him a drunkard and a glutton, finding fault with His social life! Preposterous!! Mary told the servants at the wedding to do just as Jesus told them to do. They had the common sense to do just that. Something I used to be in short supply of.

I have been a scabbanger without an iota of common sense for a time. I labored so hard, trying to wash my dirty feet, hands and face with my own brand of religious soap and water.

Yet, with such patience and wisdom our Pappa allowed me to be refined in the refiner’s fire of suffering. He didn’t burn away only the stuff He considered bad and left and refined the good. Not at all!

Paul informs us that there is none who is truly good; not even one who seeks the Lord  (Romans 3). If it was not for His prevenient grace, none of us will ever be able to even think one right and true thought about our Pappa. Only He and He alone is good.

He burned away everything pertaining to my scabbangerish self and replaced it with only Him and His new Life. This didn’t happen without a lot of complaining from my side.

But, He enabled me to realize that giving Him free reigns of my life, was the greatest gift of love I could give myself. He dared me to be brave enough to truly love myself by allowing Him to burn away all the dross of the flesh.

I am immensely grateful that He opened my mind and understanding to the uselessness of the legalistic purification methods of washing with religious soap and water. He gently showed me another way … a better way. Oh, the joy when I was able to hear, listen and heed His still small voice asking my hand in marriage … asking permission to fill my heart with the new bubbly wine of Himself.

Much love XX

Mia

Linking-up with

A House of Cards

God’s Thoughts to Me

A promise from God is not a challenge to man to assist God in bringing the promise to pass, despite the abominable religious cliches that say, “God helps those who help themselves; “Do your best and God will do the rest (James Fowler, The Galatians Series).

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and DO NOT let yourself be burdened again in a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1, NIV).

The Spirit of Freedom

I used to be a master in the art of persuasion. In fact, I did the daughters of Eve proud! The saying goes that practice makes perfect.

So, through practice and practice and some more practice, I perfected my skill in trying to convince my husband to do things my way, or why he needed to buy me another necessary trinket I did not need.

Using my womanly wiles was, after all, an integral part of my spirited womanhood. My husband though, called it manipulation and nagging.

Why do men always get it wrong? I nearly caused my dear husband to become an attic dweller.

I used to be just as bad as the Judaizers who caused the poor Paul premature grey hair when they manipulated the foolish Galatians by perverting the sweet gospel of grace.

They were shearing the sheep for their own gain, dampening the beautiful Spirit of freedom the Galatian Christians enjoyed in our Lord Jesus.

They came like a thief in the night after Paul left, convincing them that Paul’s gospel was true and right, but they also needed to keep the old Judaic religious laws. These Mosaic law-abiding Jews drooled over circumcision.

Paul was not friendly in his attack on these guys and suggested they rather go and castrate themselves, if they were so obsessed with a foreskin, and leave the Galatian Christians alone.

He didn’t mince words when he showed them the futility of reverting back to the spirit of law by building a religious house of cards.

In his letter he once and for all demolished the misconception that grace and law were bedfellows.

He made it crystal clear that their fence-sitting caused them to be cut off from Christ, cut of from grace. They had to choose!

Studying the letter to the Galatians , I was surprised by a very interesting point. I was taught that the Arab nations, especially the Muslims, were the descendants of Ishmael and the Jews were the descendants of Isaac.

i have found this to be untrue! Paul told the Galatians that holding on to their Judaic religion,  and all religion through the ages, caused them to be children, descendants, of Hagar the bondswoman.

On the other hand; all the people who trust our Pappa God alone to save them through His grace, are the children, descendants, of Sarah, the free woman, the woman who never went into labour. Allow me to explain.

Looking at the human race, we see that even Abraham had the tendency to help our Pappa fulfilling His promises.

When the infertile Sarah nagged him to have a child by her Egyptian maid, Hagar, the poor man capitulated! I suppose Bedouin tents did not have attics!

It was quite an acceptable and moral practise in their culture. Ishmael was born as a result and we found Abraham pleading with his Father to accept Ishmael as his promised heir. All, of course, to no avail.

When we look at the two women and their sons, we see that they represent the two covenants. Hagar and Ishmael represent the covenant of Law, mans effort to fulfill God’s promises.

Sarah and Isaac stand for the covenant of grace, God doing what He does well, fulfilling His promises without human interference.

Paul explained that the Covenant of the Mosaic Law, “… came from Mount Sinai, bearing children who are slaves; she is Hagar (Galatians 4:24)”.

Yet, the Judaizers were convinced they were the descendants of Sarah. Actually they boasted in their heritage of being descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through their genealogical heritage and law-observance.

But Paul turned their whole theory upside down and with a little huffing and puffing, blew their religious house of cards away.

Paul also dropped a bomb in my religious belief system, for I was convinced that trying to do my best in assisting my Pappa to redeem me from my captivity to the kingdom of darkness, made me the proud owner of the honorary title “Descendant of Abraham”.

Not so! All my trying, striving and coniving helping our Pappa to save His world and myself, only resulted in me being captured by the spirit of bondage.

I was a slave, a descendant of Hagar and Ishmael, wallowing in the mud of self.

Only by entering through the narrow gate, our Lord Jesus, into the freedom of His resurrected life, do we become heirs of the promises our heavenly Father made to Abraham and His descendant, our Lord Jesus, who lives in us through His Spirit (Galatians 3:16).

Dear Ones, let us search our hearts, asking our Pappa to eradicate any traces of the spirit of Hagar and Ishmael still lurking in the recesses of our minds and the murky corners of our hearts!

Let us ask Him to lead us out of the bondage to law-observance and self-effort into the freedom of His grace.. His forgiveness … His love … His mercy. Come, let us allow Him to usher us into His Kingdom of Light … into the joy of His Loving Embrace.

Much love XX

Mia

Linking-up with

Cupboard Love

God’s Thoughts to Me

Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety (Proverbs 29:25, NLT).

Deceitful Love

Wreaking my mind for ideas about the cupboard, took me straight to Pappa’s throne of grace, hat in hand, admitting that all my striving resulted in zilch, nada, nothing!

The Fibrofrogs were having a great time stealing all my noble, important ideas and I could feel my flesh rising in sheer frustration. I was blessed with two words, “cupboard love”!

I was totally ignorant of this saying and thought it to be a quaint English phrase. But I was soon about to find out what it truly meant.

According to Wikipedia, “cupboard love” is a phrase referring to love and affection shown to gain a reward. In other words; love inspired by some selfish motive.

It is derived from the way a cat will give a cupboard containing its food superficial love and can be described as a milder form of conditional love. Children are quite masters of this art!

Actually, this is the kind of love that almost all humans are experts in giving … sort of a common chronic illness amongst the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.

And … I knew I was guilty as charged. I used to be very skilled cupboard lover!

For a long time I listened to teachings that tickled my ears and taught me I could “love” my Lord and King with the same kind of cupboardy, selfish love (2 Timothy 4:3).

Tithing would, for instance, oblige Pappa to open the storehouse of heaven, showering me with all my heart’s desires.

Praying our Lord’s words from Scripture would compel Him to send His angels from heaven to be at my beck and call. For our Lord’s words would never return empty or void (Isaiah 55:1).

Speaking positive words would ensure that Pappa would never allow any harm to come to me or my loved ones, for there was power in my words (Deuteronomy 30:1).

Oh, I was well trained in showering our Pappa with cupboard love and throwing tantrums when I didn’t get my way!

The prodigal son and I were much alike in that he only thought of his Pappa when he was wallowing in the mud with the pigs. His main concern was more his empty stomach than his father.

But, looking at the Scriptures that were used to birth these monstrous teachings made me even more aware of the deceitfulness of the human heart.

The famous book of Malachi, was our Lord’s reproach to the careless, corrupt priests who were divorcing their wives, oppressing the orphans and widows and not paying decent wages to the laborers. They were also guilty of tax evasion for the upkeep of the theocracy.

The first century Christians were mostly illiterate and there were not any Bibles around, in any case! I am sure the priests were also not lending the Torah to them to pray the words, trying to get God to transform His angels into a few Santa Clauses!

They knew of only one Gospel. To them Christianity was the living, resurrected Lord Jesus living in them and they in Him in a wonderful, intimate relationship of love.

I came to realize that my own feeble words, didn’t carry one bit of power to create anything. Only the words of our Lord Jesus have that honor!

True to Himself our gentle Lord did not condemn me. Instead, He saved me from myself.It was not an easy escape from all the lies I believed!

It was more like the 1963 American film, The Great Escape, where the Allied Prisoners of War escaped from a German POW camp through a tunnel they dug underground.

Together, my Lord and I dug a tunnel beneath enemy territory, fully aware of their sharp shooters who were masters of deception and waiting for the slightest chance to hinder my escape with their bullets of lies.

But my Commander-in-Chief, our Lord Jesus, brought me through to truth and freedom … the freedom for which He has set us free (Galatians 5:1).

Yes, the Truth has set me free indeed; free to live in Him … in His love … in His Loving Embrace!

Much love xx

Mia

Linking-up with

A Man Called God

God’s Thoughts to Me

The People who walk in darkness will see a great Light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine (Isaiah 9:2, NLT).

And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, his government and its peace will never end (Isaiah 9:6, NLT).

For you have said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars” (Isaiah 14:13, NLT).

Light of The World

During my earthly wanderings in the deep, deep darkness, the chaos and the ways (especially the religious ways) of the world, I met a man.

Actually, this man is a King; a King not of this world, but from another Kingdom … a Kingdom of Light and Love … a spiritual Kingdom.

This incredible god-man is called Jesus. This man is the Light of the world, the Light of my life … my Beloved.

He stole my heart completely and ever since I have been happily lost, yet securely found, in Him.

He loves me with an everlasting love and I am learning to respond to His loving overtures for He has never been anything but good to me … my Knight in shining amour.

What is so remarkable about my Prince of Peace, is His unmeasurable love for … well … everyone His Pappa has ever created.

And that is the entire human race through all ages and time. Everyone since Adam and Eve opted out of this relationship of love with Him through the deception by my King’s archenemy, Satan.

This enemy was once called Lucifer and he was an archangel in the courts of my King. But he became proud and wanted to usurp the place of my humble Prince of Peace.

But thousands of years ago he was defeated and thrown out of the palace courts of heaven. Actually he was thrown out of my Prince’s Kingdom altogether.

For the time being, he is still roaming the earth like a roaring lion, trying to devour any gullible soul he can find to take them captive on his journey to the lake of fire our Pappa has prepared for him in advance.

He knows his sand-glass of time is running out and he is ferociously using his mightiest weapon, lies, to steal, to kill and to destroy. He is not called the father of all lies for nothing.

Of him, my King says,”How you have fallen from heaven, oh shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars (Isaiah 14:12-13).”

Only our Lord Jesus have the honor and can be rightfully called the Bright Morning Star, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father.

The government of my life rests on His shoulders for He rules with fairness and justice … with love and peace … patience and mercy, gentleness and kindness.

He has many more honorary titles of which I want to mention just a few more. He is the Light of the World, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

He is the gate through which we enter into His Kingdom of matchless beauty … a Kingdom where there is no sorrow or tears … there where the lion feeds with the lamb.

His love is not dependent on anything we can offer Him. Even if we don’t love Him, He still loves us for He is love and He never changes.

He cannot become a better version of Himself for He is already the best there can ever be. He does not upgrade Himself for then He would not have been God in the first place. He has been the Perfect One from all eternity.

He cannot become a lesser copy of Himself, for the simple reason that He cannot change. He is the Great “I AM” who forever was and is and always will be … the same!

Any goodness our finite minds can perceive, is only a tiny fraction, a gracious gift from His abundant supply. Any love we can feel towards Him and one another is also just a tiny morsel from the storehouses of heaven, a gift from His Heart of Love.

He has a burning desire that everyone would hear His still, small voice beckoning us all into His Kingdom. He wants to betroth us and is preparing a feast at His Father’s table for His bride … the Lady Ekklesia.

I know that there are many travelers on this road called Life who are still seeking for His Kingdom … for His love and His redemption.

This year I want to expose the many boulders of lies I have encountered on my journey to His Kingdom. If it is the will of my Pappa, I want to bring Him glory by being His girl to clear the way for the King’s coming to many a heart.

For His name is Emmanuel … God with us … Christ in me, my Hope of Glory!

For those who are still seeking Him like the Shulamite, “Tell me, my love, where are you leading your flock today? Where will you rest your sheep at noon?”, I want to show a better way than the world’s … a way that leads to rest … into the shadows of His Loving Embrace.

Much love XX

Mia

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