The Lord Takes Note

Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.

What incredible, precious blessing and comfort is promised to those who fear God and fellowship in His presence. It is amazing to think that The Lord takes note of the times we have delighted in recounting His testimonies and promises. He pays attention when we come together and encourage one another in His Word. Not only can we enjoy our hearts burning within us with joy as we fellowship but The Lord is actively listening and sharing in our joy! HALLELUJAH!!
They spoke often to each other! They delighted in reminding themselves and each other of the goodness and faithfulness of God. Their conversation was not about their own righteousness or the life of others. They did not give their words to criticism or complaint nor did they glorify a man. Their conversation was not earthly but heavenly, it was not fleshly but spiritual. They spoke together of The Lord and His testimonies, His victories and His provisions! It wasn’t something they only mentioned in church or when they were asked to teach, rather it was the joy of their heart and the outpouring of their personal meditation. They gloried in The Lord! They were looking unto Him, their creator, the author and finisher of their faith!
It is precious that we can share our burdens with one another and confess our sins to one another. Confession and transparency are important, hard conversations are absolutely necessary and vital to healthy fellowship. But let the conversation always come to Christ! May we always get to HIM and HIS great Salvation and the beauty of HIS Holiness! It is vitally important to share one another’s burdens… But we do so with hope! We do so with HIS JOY! We talk to one another of JESUS CHRIST! Our Saviour who has forgiven each one of us MUCH!! Hallelujah! Bless His name! Thank you Jesus!

Matthew 12
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Oh, may our hearts produce good fruit for our creator. May we pour out in conversation and conduct the good fruits of HIS Life, HIS Spirit and HIS Word! Let us encourage one another brothers and sisters! Share Jesus with each other. Enjoy HIM together! That is where He is most greatly glorified!
Oh may we learn to be careful with our tongues. May our conversation be always in God’s presence, with His listening ear in mind. May we speak with JOY and may we speak with reverence.
The Lord is listening and He is taking notes!

The Beauty of Holiness

Psalm 29
2 … worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The beauty of Holiness is Jesus Christ! He is the fulfilment of The Law! He the Altogether Lovely One. HIS Life fulfils The Law, HIS Life abhors sin, HIS Life loves, serves, obeys, surrenders and trusts The Father! It is HIS Life within the believers who are clothed with HIS righteousness that worships The Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 93:5
“…Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.”

Holiness adorns those with whom He dwells, those who are His living temples. People altogether set apart unto Him, circumcised of heart, abhorring evil and loving His Word, allowing HIS Life and HIS Love to flow through them. Holiness is utterly dependant and completely yielded to The Father, filled with His Holy Spirit and so naturally produces HIS fruit!
Holiness is rooted in Christ’s humility. It is a life of faith naturally producing works/fruits of faith. It is Christ within, living through, who is demonstrated in the way that the believer lives. Holiness is the fruit of His life, it can be mimicked by legalism but the beauty of holiness is Christ only and always!

Revelation 4
8 …and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

I cannot try to convey or explain the Holiness of God but it is amazing to meditate on. The word holy, at its root, means set apart. Truly our God is altogether set apart from creation! He is altogether above and beyond anything man can grasp or imagine! He is altogether Sovereign over all things, He is Light, He is Truth, He is without spot or blemish, He is The One True Living God!
This is holiness and we are to worship The Lord in the beauty of that holiness. Jesus only is the beauty of holiness! How absurd it is to think that we could produce any kind of beauty through self effort in the flesh! However, “through faith”, through faithful obedience God’s Word and faithfully abiding in Him, The Spirit of God through our flesh produces the fruit, the beauty of Christ’s Holiness, HIS Life, His Heart, His Testimony! Hallelujah!
Legalism tries to mimic holiness but is rooted in pride and the elevation of flesh. It works hard to maintain standards addressing the appearance of the outward man. It focuses on the letter and on the keeping of laws in self and corporately in others. It is strife, contention, prejudice and pride. There is a great temptation to teach the law, it often produces quick results, but it does not produce Life. It is flesh breeding flesh and will only produce death!
Legalism is pride in the flesh and pride, like bad body odour, can sometimes be hard to detect in ourselves but surely stinks to others! Here are some considerations to help identify/discern our hearts.

May our lives be marked by HIS holiness, by HIS love that fulfils the law, not the flesh which strives to keep it. May we be vessels for the outflowing of HIS LIFE and the fruit of HIS SPIRIT! May we tend to our own root and trust The Holy Spirit to produce HIS Fruit in us and others. It is HIS LIFE so serve The Lord in the beauty of submission to HIS Life!

Galatians 2
18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Asking For Trouble!

Song of Solomon 4
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.

Look at this request of the Shulamite bride. Why would she ask for the cold north wind to come with risk of frost, snow and death to plant life? Or why ask for the hot, dry wind from the south bring barrenness and thirst? Why would she ask for these? She is asking for discomfort, she is asking for lack of nutrients and hardship, she is asking to be disturbed, she is asking for the unpleasant…
What she is longing for is opportunity to share the fragrance of her garden for her beloved. It is the harsh and difficult conditions that stir up the fragrances. Just as love is not love until it is proved so the fragrance won’t flow until the winds blow.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life….

Do we consider this when trials come, when our Lord brings us into those ordained hard seasons? Do we consider the testimony of Jesus and take comfort and joy in His fragrance being experienced? Is it our primary focus to consider how the Gospel might be better proclaimed? Is it evident to the world that our chains are in Christ? (Philippians 1:12-13)
Oh how I long to be a sweet fragrance of Jesus to Our Father! Oh Lord may You be seen in Your people! May we be an aroma of Christ! Lord blow upon our lives with your north and south winds and cause your fragrance to flow out. No matter the storm, I WILL YET PRAISE YOU! HALLELUJAH! I will praise The name of The Lord my God and cast myself upon Your goodness and mercy!

1 Peter 4
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.
13 But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that when His glory is revealed, you may rejoice with great joy.
14 If you are insulted and reviled for [bearing] the name of Christ, you are blessed [happy, with life-joy and comfort in God’s salvation regardless of your circumstances], because the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you [and indwelling you].

We really can rejoice in suffering if we are in love with Jesus. He is forming us to be more like Him and causing His fragrance to be produced in us. From all that time spent in the secret place, reading His word, seeking Him in prayer… All that He has poured into these lives will start to flow out. HIS GLORY will be revealed in US!!
May we always be rejoicing in our beloved. No matter our circumstance, no matter the storm. May we seek to be as ravished with His love as He is with us! May we be joyful for opportunities to demonstrate and manifest His love in us to the world around us! May we have hearts that seek for the winds to come in order that His fragrance may flow out of our lives!

Poured In To Be Poured Out

John 2
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.

WATER: The pots were made for a purpose (water), but they were sitting unfilled and unused. Jesus commanded that the pots be filled. Looking at a spiritual lesson here we can submit that we are the pots and that we are required/commanded to be filled! Filled with the water that Jesus gives, filled with Jesus, filled with The Spirit, filled by faith, but too often, like these pots, we are sitting in the corner unfilled and unused. That is not Jesus’ desire or longing for us. He LONGS to see us filled and He LONGS to use us for His Glory! At Jesus command those pots were filled to the brim with pure, life-sustaining water. Within them was the single most valuable source of sustenance, refreshment and cleansing. This water represents Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit, His eternal and abundant Life!
TWO COMMANDS: But they were not commanded to only be filled, there was a command to be poured out! We are not to hide that source of Life and Light under a cover! Water can stagnate, grow mould and become poisonous if not poured out and replenished. In the same way a selfish heart for academic knowledge and selfish gain will poison that precious water of The Lord in our hearts. If we only focus on being filled we risk missing entirely the purpose of the filling!
⁠WINE: It truly is an incredible and wonderful miracle that as they poured out that water, as they poured out what had been poured in, it became something altogether more than water, it became a sweet, joyful drink of celebration and jubilation; something for ALL to delight in and rejoice about! It was something to celebrate! It is the work of God, it is the purpose of creation, time and Calvary! Oh praise The Lord it is THE GOSPEL! HALLELUJAH!
But most of all, more than any enjoyment of the guests, it became a precious testimony of Honour and Glory to the bridegroom! Oh how wonderful to consider this application! The Glory of God has been set on His people. His greatest work, His greatest testimony is His Salvation and Redemption of fallen man! But only when they pour out what He has poured in! That His life could be poured into and poured out of us is truly His GREATNESS! All of eternity will be spent singing WORTHY, WORTHY, WORTHY is The Lamb that was slain to take away the sin of THE WORLD! HALLELUJAH! So pour out His praises, Bless His name, pour out His living waters, pour out His Glory, honour, power and LIFE!!

John 7
37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 He who believes in Me as the Scripture has said, from his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.
39 But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honour).

Are we thirsty for more of Him? Do we have faith to believe that He will quench that thirst? It is the thirsty that will go to Him to drink, not the self labelled “christian”. The drinking of Christ’s water is not something we receive by church attendance or religious traditions. Only those who thirst will humble themselves to come, to seek, to ask… to drink!
⁠Out of HIS innermost being! Out of the believer! Within God’s Born Again believers there is the very source of life! The Holy Spirit! A source of life-giving, thirst-quenching spiritual water for pouring out to others! It is HIS life that is poured into them and it is HIS life that will flow out of them! This is only possible for those who are thirsty enough to go to Him and drink!

Isaiah 44
3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;
Notice the order set out here. First The Lord will pour water on the individual who is thirsty. The principle is repeated again with the specification of thirst! Not the church goer, not the one who says their prayers, not the good living individual… But upon him who is THIRSTY! Do you have a thirst to be filled with God?! Do you thirst to be filled with His Spirit so that you may pour out His life to those around you?
⁠After the individuals have been poured into THEN, from the rivers and springs of living water poured out of the filled body of Christ, the floods will come to the dry grounds!
⁠May we be those who are thirsty. May hunger and thirst after righteousness. May we ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking! For we SHALL be filled! And oh how great the testimony unto The Lord as we pour out all that He has poured in! May we be channels for our Lord and Saviour!

Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all Thy wondrous power,
Flowing through us, Thou canst use us,
Every day and every hour.

Two Kingdoms, Two Natures, Two Lives

John 3
3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
…
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Hebrews 11
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Faith is a substance, a tangible reality of something that otherwise cannot be seen or experienced. Faith recognises The New and the old and acknowledges two opposing realities! The Heavenly Kingdom and the earthly kingdom, flesh and faith/Spirit. Paul talks plainly about realising these two natures or laws at war within his body.

Romans 7
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

⁠Understanding these two kingdoms/realities is a vital foundation for the Born Again believer. Faith sees and enters The Kingdom of God, a Kingdom which is eternal, everlasting and unchanging just as God is faithful. The flesh life however is brief, full of uncertainty and fear and constantly striving to find satisfaction and power.
The flesh is unstable, broken, uncertain and bound by fear but faith lives in The Secret Place of The Most High, safe and secure from all alarms with a Spirit of power and of love and a sound mind! Faith STAYS there!! Faith LIVES from there!

James 2
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror]!
20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?
…
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. ⁠

James is not trying to enforce church attendance, religious obedience or a bigger offering. He is making it very clear that The Life that is in the believer is God’s Life! And HIS life LIVES!! By faith His Life lives and produces fruit! Fruit that will be tangible evidence of that faith!!
Grace does not act!! Grace does not give a response. Grace alone is a gift unreceived! Grace makes the giving of a gift possible but ONLY BY FAITH can it be received! Only faith will believe The Word of God and lay hold of His promises. Grace can promise you eternal life and the indwelling of The Spirit but only faith will believe, receive and walk in that promise.

Galatians 2
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We see here again that divide between flesh and faith. Paul lives in his fleshly body but he lives that life by faith!
In the flesh we are fleeting, empty lives but by faith we live an eternal, abundant life, more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! By faith Jesus has given me every victory, by faith I enjoy that The Lord has given me ALL things that pertain unto Life and Godliness! ALL THINGS! He has given them!!! But without faith I will never receive or enjoy those things!!
If we truly have faith to believe these things then we should walk different!! We will NOT walk in defeat! Consider the life that truly believes these things and walks in the goodness/fullness of them!

Hebrews 4
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

Knowledge of His Word is not enough. His word must be mixed with faith. It must be received by faith and practiced by faith! There is so much that is available to us, that has been given and promised to us, if we will only believe! If His word, His promises, His testimonies are mixed with faith in US!
Let us stir up our faith and very simply choose to believe His word! Bring a sacrifice of praise where faith is lacking and let The Lord encourage us to believe on Him step by step, word by word, promise by promise.