Saved...

I am not a Bible scholar but I do love the Word of God. I didn't always but one day God gave me new glasses and everything changed. The glasses He gave me were glasses of Grace; He removed the glasses of Law I had been wearing and put on new glasses of Grace. Everything changed!

Saved.

The scholars tell me that the word translated 'saved' is the Greek word, sozo.

'...that is you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (sozo)...Romans 10: 9

'And He [Jesus] said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well (sozo)...Mark 5: 34

'Those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well (sozo), Luke 8: 36 

I have been on holidays lately and I have had a lot of thinking, meditating, contemplation (call it what you want) time.
I wrote another post a few days ago entitled Salvation (http://graeme-lifeofpurpose.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/salvation.html), you might like to take a look.
Basically I shared some thoughts I had on the subject of 'salvation.'
Salvation, I believe, is more than our traditional view and teaching on the subject and I feel that our lives could be transformed if we embraced all the meaning and wonder encapsulated in our salvation.

Traditionally salvation, being saved, is considered to be that moment when we decide we can't reach God on our own and we avail ourselves of the 'bridge' of Jesus (He is our Way, John 14: 6) and we believe and are saved. We are, in that moment, saved from sin, saved from hell...we are saved and there is nothing anyone, or anything, can do about it ( Romans 8: 38, 39). Hallelujah!

But as we can see from the few verses I quoted at the beginning being saved means more...it is sozo which means not just being saved from hell but also to heal, preserve and make whole.
Also the word rendered 'salvation' in English is the Greek word soteria which certainly means the gift of eternal life but also means deliverance from enemies, diseases, depression, fear, all evil, and preservation safety and salvation. What a wonderful thing!

As I have contemplated all this since the Lord has shown me a verse, again, that I have read many times, and I feel to share it with you this morning.

'I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.'

Now the purists might say that this was written in Hebrew and not Greek but too bad. I sit on this side of the cross so salvation to me is the salvation of Romans 10: 9.
There is much I could say about this verse from Isaiah but please note with me the perfection of scripture for it says 'garments (plural) of salvation' and a 'robe (singular) of righteousness' and I think great truth is held in this simple perfection.

Our righteousness is based in Jesus. He is our righteousness. We have no input into our righteousness. It is not based in any works that we have done or will do, it is totally based in Him and His finished work, His shed blood being accepted by God as propitiation for our sins (1 John 4: 10). Our righteousness is singularly based in Jesus Christ, our Righteousness and we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)

But salvation is plural because our salvation is so much more than just that blessed moment in your life when you made the choice to believe in Jesus and received the gift of eternal life. In fact that decision was just the beginning of our 'salvation.' Ephesians 6 encourages us to armour up with the helmet of salvation. This is because the enemy likes to attack in this area. He would like nothing better than to steal the full wonder and magnitude of your salvation from you (please see John 10: 10) but, beloved, Jesus hung on a cross to give you the full magnitude of His salvation, His soteria. Luke 4: 19 describes it as the 'favourable year of the Lord' or 'the year of the Lord's favour.'

So how do we receive this soteria? This morning I open a devotion and this is what it says...

'My friend, if you want God's promises to be sure in your life, you cannot depend on yourself. If you depend on yourself - your obedience, goodness, service and even faith - you will not be able to receive God's promises. But when you depend on God's grace - His unmerited, unearned, undeserved favour toward you - that is when His promises become sure in your life.' (Joseph Prince)

 Hallelujah! You know whenever I read stuff like that I physically feel the truth of Matthew 11: 30 when Jesus said, "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." What a burden releasing truth!
My soteria is not dependent on me, it rests solely and totally in Him, in His Grace, in Jesus Christ, in His finished work.

We are waiting on God for His breakthrough in our ministry (WTL).
We receive the promises of God but we receive the provision of God, Jesus Christ, He is our Saviour, our Healer, our Deliverer, our Provider, for it is 'by grace you have been saved [please note, have been, past, meaning it is already done, we are already saved in the cross of Jesus, His finished work 2000 years ago] through faith; and that not of yourselves [no input from us], it is the gift of God [who is, what is, this gift of God? Jesus Christ, of course, He is THE GIFT and in Him we have our salvation, our soteria].

See His Grace today and He will see your faith [in that order, not the other way around] and you will receive your breakthrough.

We give thanks to the Lord for He is Good.

Hallelujah!

His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever, for me, for my family and for WTL.

Amen.

Grace...it's personal

Habbakuk 3: 3 says the splendour of the Lord 'covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise.'

I have personally experienced the truth of those words on a recent family camping holiday at the beach, staying at a beautiful place near Narooma, on the the south coat of NSW.

I have already shared in a recent post how the ceaseless, rolling waves impacted me with the truth of the relentless love of God toward me. I give thanks to the Lord for He is Good; His Love endures forever. Hallelujah!

For the last few days of our stay I rose early and spent first light sitting on the beach enjoying the peace of the rolling waves of the love of God. As I walked I was so impacted by what I saw and I feel to share it with you.
Take a look at this photo...

The photo was taken in the early morning first light so it is a little hard to see as I saw as I took this photo but the thing that impacted me was the fact that the beach was unmarked. By the end of each day the beach would be covered with the footprints of the many people who came to enjoy the beach but first thing there was not a mark on the beach as if it had been swept clean overnight.

The earth is indeed 'full of His praise.' Even the pristine beach in the early morning speaks of Him and His unending grace toward us.

This particular morning as I looked at the smooth, clean beach I was touched by the truth expressed in Lamentations 3 : 22 - 24...

'The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul. "Therefore I have hope in Him."

What a beautiful truth.
Every morning the Lord's never ceasing lovingkindness and His compassions are NEW!
Why?
Because of my doing?
Because I am faithful?
No.
Simply because 'Great is Your faithfulness!"
His lovingkindness and compassion, His Grace, His unmerited favour toward me is founded on the rock of Jesus Christ, the faithful One, the One in whom is my Hope, for 'He is my portion, therefore I have hope in Him.'

Beloved, His Grace is personal to you...His Grace has a name and His name is Jesus Christ. In Him you are favoured beyond what you can even imagine. As I looked at that pristine beach I considered His word that says,

And He [that is, the Lord] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.' 2 Corinthians 12: 8

His Grace is sufficient, it is enough; whatever your situation, whatever your lack, whatever your illness, whatever your need His Grace is sufficient. Paul, the writer in these verses, goes on to say that he would rather boast in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in him. What is he saying? A life handed to the Grace of God believing that He is able is one in which the power of God is fully manifest. Law says you must do it, Grace declares it is already done in the finished work of Jesus Christ...and it is NEW every morning. You can be reminded of this by taking a walk along the beach at first light any morning.

'...the earth is full of His praise.'

Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good. 

Hallelujah! 

His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever, for me, for my family and for WTL. 

Amen. 

Love...it's personal

Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good; His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever.

Handerchief Beach, Narooma, NSW

For the last week my wife, daughter and myself have been camping at the beach.
Just beautiful!
Yesterday, as we went down to the beach (a few minutes walk from our campsite) I just found myself spontaneously praising the Lord for His love, His great love for me.

As I praised the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit and the waves, relentlessly rolling in to the beach, just became new and wonderful to me. They never stop, they just keep rolling in, they are relentless and they encompass everything in their path.

My spirit just leapt up to thank God for His revealed love, Jesus Christ.
I love the verses at the beginning of Hebrews where the writer describes Jesus, The Son of God, as the 'exact representation of His nature'. Listen to the words, allow them to truly penetrate the veil, Jesus Christ exactly represents the nature of God and as John 3: 16 so beautifully declares Jesus was given because God so loved.
Oh beautiful words...

God SO loves; not just a little love but a SO LOVE, He so loves us, He so loves me, He so loves you. 

What a beautiful Love, Jesus Christ, the Love of God revealed. Hallelujah!

You know sometimes the waves are fierce and passionate, sometimes soothing and gentle, but always they roll in, and roll in and roll in. They never, ever stop, they just keep coming and coming. Oh I can reject them and turn away but they will keep coming; or I can immerse myself in them completely and they keep coming and coming.

This is a beautiful picture to me of the love of God in Jesus Christ for me.
Sometimes passionate, sometimes gentle but always relentless.

Beloved, God loves you.
He showed the immensity of His love in the giving of His Son.
His only request of you is that you believe it and receive it.
Allow it to wash over you today.
Receive His Love.

His Love is Jesus and Jesus is EVERYTHING.

The waves roll in - Handkerchief Beach, Narooma, NSW

God bless your day with His great love.

Loved...

I'm not sure whether my thoughts are of blessing to you but I do pray and hope that they are. I don't write for any reason other than to express the things God shows me so in a way I write this for myself, but I do hope that what I share might bless you also.

Every morning I spend a little time in the Word.

Contemplate with me these words from Ephesians 1: 6. It says this,

'...to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.' 

Another version puts it like this,

'to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.'

The point is we are, today, now, at this very moment 'in the Beloved.'

We are loved, immeasurably, uncontainably, unconditionally, eternally loved not because of what we have done but because of what He, our Lord Jesus Christ, has done.
We are loved because we are in 'the Beloved.'

I contemplated this truth and I thought of John, the apostle. He wrote John's gospel and there he describes himself as 'one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.' Some thinks that this is suggesting that Jesus had some level of special relationship with John. This is nonsense! The point of John's statement is that John knew Jesus loved him; He had a revelation of the love of Jesus for him, personally. It had been revealed to John, by the Holy Spirit, the length, the breadth, the height and the depth of the love of Jesus for him, personally.

You know one thing the enemy does not want you to know is that you are loved. He didn't want Jesus to know He was loved by the Father. Remember when Jesus was baptised by John (the Baptiser) in the Jordan River? As John baptised Jesus the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven declared, "YOU ARE MY BELOVED SON, IN YOU I AM WELL_PLEASED" (Luke 3: 22). Immediately following this magnificent anointing we find Jesus in the wilderness experiencing the temptation and the enemy comes to Him and says, " If You are the Son of God..." Do you notice the enemy forgot to add 'Beloved' Son? God Himself had just declared Jesus as Beloved but the enemy chose to leave out this truth, because the enemy is a liar and has been from the beginning, and Beloved he is doing the same to you when he tries to convince you that you are not loved.

You know there is another thing to consider about the baptism of Jesus? God declares of Jesus that He is well-pleased. How is this possible because Jesus hadn't done anything yet? No water had been turned into wine, no blind man set free from his blindness, no woman bleeding for twelve years had been made well, no woman bent double had been stood up straight from eighteen years of looking at, being consumed with her only view of life, the dust and dirt and rubbish of life without Jesus.
You see this shows us that the love of the Father is not determined by what we do; it wasn't determined by what Jesus did. It is not determined by our works. It is not determined by our faithfulness. The love of the Father for You is solely and only determined by the TRUTH that GOD IS LOVE! It is His Grace, Jesus Christ Himself, that lavishes love upon us. Grace is His unmerited favour, expressed in the person of Jesus that loves us, nothing else. The expression of LOVE is seen in the cross and that cross is a finished work and in its completeness we are COMPLETE; completely loved, completely blessed, completely glorified, completely honoured, completely faithful, complete, complete, complete (how many times need I say it before we believe it?)...not in us, in Him, He is EVERYTHING!

Remember the woman bent double? I love this picture. This woman for eighteen long years could only see the dirt, dust and rubbish. It is a picture to us of our lives without Jesus; all we can 'see' is the dirt, dust and rubbish of our life; we have nothing else. If we are sick all we can see is the sickness, if we are poor all we can see is the poverty, if we have a crisis in our lives all we can see is the crisis. Oh blessed day! One day into the woman's view came two feet, the feet of Jesus. He told her she was 'set free' and He put His hand on her and she stood up. What did she see? His wonderful, beautiful face! The dirt, dust and rubbish was replaced with His glorious face! I don't believe she ever lost sight of that face.

You know not long after those two feet, and those hands that touched in healing love were pierced through with the nail of our sin expressed in the brutality of the crucifixion. As Jesus bore our sin God, His Father, turned His back on His Son and the anguish of His cry, 'My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?' As He hung there our sins were laid on Him, all our sickness, poverty, crisis, all our need was nailed to Him, and when it was done He gave up His life. The soldier pierced His side with a spear and blood flowed down and that blood flows today cleansing us. Beloved, there is power in the blood of Jesus, not only for salvation but for restoration, righteousness, supply, blessing, grace upon grace upon grace upon grace. Please believe it, and receive it!

Beloved, I call you that for that is what you are, the Apostle Paul prayed that enormous prayer in Ephesians chapter 3...

'that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.'

 John knew that Jesus loved him, he knew the breadth of The Love who removed our sin as far as east is from west; he knew the length of The Love that determined that Jesus set His face as a flint and went all the way to Calvary on our account; he knew the height of The Love who went in to the highest place, the Holiest of Holies, the very presence of God, with His own blood and was accepted and we are accepted in Him; he knew the depth of The Love who having gone into very depths of hell on our account so that we might be set free from having to experience the consequences of our inherited sin.
Oh what love!
Truly, truly, truly we can say with John the Apostle in 1 John 4: 10,

'In this (please read verse 9 for the 'this') is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propritiation for our sins.' 

Oh we are so loved!
Beloved receive His love!
Do nothing today but receive His love for you.
Put aside the thought that you are blessed because of your faithfulness to Him but receive the absolute truth, the freedom of the truth because truth sets us free, of the fact that you are blessed today because He loves you, HE JUST LOVES YOU!
God, Almighty God, today, right now, looks at you, even with your mustard seed size faith, and sees you bathed in the glory and purity and righteousness of His own Son, Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah!
Rejoice and declare with me...
We give thanks to the Lord for He is Good. Hallelujah! His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever; for me, for my family and for WTL. Amen and amen!

Praise...

David had been anointed to be king over all Israel. He had been brought in from the field where he was looking after his father's sheep and before his father and brothers was anointed by the prophet.
This made him a marked man and Saul, the king, tried his best to 'mark' him.
I wonder what David was thinking as he ran for his life?
It must have been a time of great trial because we find David in Gath.
You can read the story in 1 Samuel 21.
Gath was the hometown of Goliath, the giant, who David took down in the name of the Lord and removed his head with the giant's own sword, and here was David seeking refuge in Gath! To make matters worse the Gathonians (is that a word?) knew who he was, they even knew the song the Israelites sang about David, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands' (1 Samuel 21: 11). The consequences could have been dire for David and he was afraid and so in an effort to preserve his life David feigns madness and starts scratching on the doorpost and dribbling on his beard.
What a comedown for the anointed of the Lord!
The king in Gath demanded that the madman be thrown out of town and so David escaped and next we find him hiding in a cave called Adullam.

This had to be one of the lowest points of David's life!
I'm pretty certain that you have experienced times like David's, I know I have. And it would be very easy to wallow in self-pity, berating everybody, especially God. And I know that David would have felt justified to look upon his 'anointing' with a large measure of incredulity! Anointing? Bah! If this is the anointing of God then I'm not sure I'm up for it! I've definitely been there!
Now at this point the natural man, the man of flesh, usually wants to give a long and detailed account of the low point and the reasons for it but I'm more interested her in David's response.
He's in the cave.
To add to David's situation a whole bunch of desperados have crawled in there with him!
Four hundred of them!
These dudes were desperados because desperado starts with 'D' as these blokes are described as being 'in distress, in debt and discontented'. What a charming bunch!
David is in the cave in despair, and distress, debt and discontent crawl in there with him!
That would be enough to cause David to embrace despair with a capital 'D'.
But what was David's response?
I think it is worth recording it in full and I pray you will be blessed by it.

'I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you to fear the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.' Psalm 34 

There is so much I could say about this.
Remember to read this Psalm with Grace glasses on, not law glasses.
For 'fear' read worship and praise.
Remember we are righteous not because of what we do but because of what He has done; We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
See, believe and receive the truth that those who fear [worship] the Lord 'shall not want in any good thing'; please don't limit the finished work of our Lord.
And isn't it interesting how the attitude of David to praise, even in despair, rubbed off on the 400 distressed, debt-ridden discontents as he 'encouraged' them to 'exalt His name together' for 'they looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.' You see these 400 malcontents went on from here to be David's mighty men of valour!

So much to see in this Psalm!
The point is even in despair praise is a key!
As I meditated on this overnight my mind went to a favourite verse.

'Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.' Mark 11: 23

We all have mountains in our lives; David certainly did, Goliath, Saul, despair, a cave experience. As I contemplated this verse for my own life and situation (I face a mountain right at this moment in my life and ministry) the Lord spoke to me and asked me,
"What does it mean to 'believe that what he says is going to happen'?"
I didn't really know so He said to me,
"'Believing that what he says is going to happen' is acting as if it has already happened; what would you do if the mountain in your life was cast into the sea?"
My answer? If my mountain was cast into the sea I would be praising You of course!
Aaah!
That is the key then...living in Mark 11: 23 is praising our God for the great and magnificent provision provided in full 2000 years ago at the cross when Jesus finished the work to RESTORE us, where He became our Provision, our Healer, our Meeting Place, our Bread, our Righteousness, our Life, our Way, our Truth, our Hope, our EVERYTHING...even before we actually see it in the temporal.
We live in the eternal with our minds set 'on the things above, not on things that are on earth' (Colossians 3: 2) for 'we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Corinthians 4: 18).

Living in belief in the breakthrough of God is praising Him even when the temporal doesn't support it.

So, what is my response? For me I say, we at WTL say...

WE GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD. 
HALLELUJAH!
HIS LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE ENDURE FOREVER AND EVER; FOR ME, FOR MY FAMILY AND FOR WTL.
AMEN.

Be blessed today. 

Thank you for reading. 

These are just my thoughts which I write because I like to; I do pray that you might also be blessed by them.

Salvation...

'...the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved."' Romans 10: 8 - 13 

Over the past weeks while preaching in Cambodia I have watched in wonder as Jesus the Saviour worked. People by the hundreds have been 'saved'.
At the same time my meditation has been on the scripture I have quoted above and in particular the truth of salvation.
Saved? What exactly does it mean to be saved?
I want to share some thoughts I have with you about salvation.

To be saved the Biblical process is preaching, confession, belief.
Confessing His Lordship and believing He is alive.
That's Romans 10: 9.
Romans 10: 10 then tells us that believing results in righteousness and confession results in salvation.
Please note that from verse 9 to verse 10 the order is reversed.
Simply belief in his resurrection means receiving His righteousness.
This is the basis of everything we have in Christ when we believe.
The foundation stone of the New Covenant of Grace is the FACT that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, that He remembers our sin no more, that He has removed our iniquity as far as east is from west. We are righteous in His finished work alone which was finished when He bore our sin, shed His blood, died the death we deserved and completed the rout of the enemy when He defeated death and rose again. He then went into the presence of God with His own blood and was accepted and we are accepted in Him. This is the most important truth because everything hinges on this.What I believe is that without receiving His righteousness we will be unable to receive all that He died to restore to us. Oh yes we are still covered by the blood but it is possible for us to live in constant doubt as to our value and worth to receive the restoration of His bounty and blessing.
As I thought of this my mind went to the children of Israel waiting on God for deliverance from Egypt.
Consider two Israeli houses, both having taken the lamb and applied the blood on the lintel and the doorpost and as the angel comes through town they can hear the anguished cry of the Egyptians as their firstborn are slain. One house rejoices in the great deliverance of their God, the other cowers under their beds fearful of the possibility they aren't righteous enough to receive His favour of salvation. Which house is saved? Both, because both have eaten all the lamb and applied the blood but one is free and rejoicing, the other fearful and bound.
How, then, is this possible when both are 'saved'?

Think then on this; next we see in the passage we quoted above that confession results in salvation. The only conclusion that one can reach is that salvation must be more than just believing because the two sit together in the same verse and there is no error in the word of God. I believe then that we see in this the true wonder of salvation and in this we see the true restoration ministry of Jesus. Adam gave away his place of blessing. Jesus came to restore us our rightful, God-given place plus more.

To illustrate 'salvation' we can then look again at the children of Israel as they are released from bondage in Egypt. You can read all about it in Exodus from chapter 12 onwards. There is quite a bit to read here but there is a Psalm, Psalm 105, that beautifully summarises this shadow of salvation. I won't say a lot but rather give a bullet point summary so you can clearly see God's salvation.

• Psalm 105: 1 - 5 -All praise to Him, 'Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad...'
• Psalm 105: 7 - 24 - remember the covenant of grace God made with Abraham and how He has honoured His covenant. The covenant of grace made with Abraham is restored in the New Covenant made by God with man, the Man, Christ Jesus on our behalf and under which we sit if we have believed and received Him.
• Psalm 105: 25 - 37 - God brings release, so much more than our traditional 'view' of salvation, which is being set free from the penalty of our sin
• Exodus 12: 1 - 13 - They take the lamb and apply the blood on the lintel and doorposts of their houses, so much a picture and shadow of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
• They eat the whole lamb; this I think is especially significant. We need to eat the whole truth of Jesus Christ, He is EVERYTHING.
• As the firstborn of Egyptians perish the people take their first step to freedom - salvation.
• As they leave please see how the true immensity of their salvation:
• Exodus 12: 32 - With their flocks and herds,
• Exodus 12: 33 - With their bread unleavened and with their kneading bowls,
• Exodus 12: 35, Psalm 105: 37 - With articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing,
• Exodus 12: 36 - Favoured, by even the Egyptians to the point that the word says they 'plundered' the Egyptians,
• Exodus 12: 38 - With flocks, herds, 'a very large number of livestock',
• Psalm 105: 37 - Even though they had suffered 400 years of slavery and deprivation having eaten the lamb they went out without sickness or infirmity, 'among His tribes there was not one who stumbled', the Amplified Bible puts it this way, 'there was not one feeble person among their tribes.' Please also see Exodus 15: 26.
• Psalm 13: 21, Psalm 105: 39 - The Lord led them with a cloud by day and a fire by night; as Psalm 105: 39 (Amplified) says 'the Lord spread a cloud for covering [by day], and a fire to give light in the night.' We enjoy His leading day and night, and the covering of His 'cloud' by day and the warmth of His 'fire' by night.
• Exodus 14 - They experienced the might of the salvation of the Lord as He says to them, 'Stand still, be silent and see the salvation of the Lord' as He rolls back the sea and delivers them by His mighty, outstretched hand. It is interesting to me that Moses lifted up the 'rod' and the people were delivered; the rod is a shadow of Jesus, by which we are 'saved'.
• All needs are supplied by the Lord:
• Exodus 15: 22 - 25, Psalm 105: 41 - water. It is interesting that the bitterness of the water was made sweet by the tree; our bitterness is made sweet by the 'tree' of the cross of Jesus Christ.
• Exodus 16: 13, 14, Psalm 105: 40 - meat and heavenly bread. In the evening quail and in the morning the dew would fall and when it evaporated would be bread, manna from heaven. Dew is a shadow of grace; grace covers everything like dew covers everything on a dewy morning and in it is the manna, grace and sustenance in Jesus Christ.
• Exodus 15: 27 - 'Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms - 12 speaks of God's government and 70 speaks of human delegation.

I trust you see shadowed in the story of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt (a type of the world, and bondage) TRUE SALVATION; set free by the blood of the Lamb; we are to eat it all, the Lord supplies all, not only salvation from sin but salvation to provision, healing, sight, leading, mighty deliverance, daily Bread of Life, Living Water, God's governance and leadership, and our delegation to His salvation.

We declare His mighty salvation as the children of Israel did in Exodus 15: 1 - 18 and the Psalmist did in Psalm 105.

This is salvation, more than just salvation from sin but salvation to the wonder of all the Jesus won for us in His finished work at Calvary.

Receive His salvation, receive Jesus in His fullness; He is the fullness of God and we are complete in Him (Colossians 2: 9, 10).

Blessings.

Foundation...

A principle of construction states that the integrity of a structure is determined by the integrity of its foundation.

Today as the new year gets underway I want to lay a foundation for you which is unassailable.

Let me begin by reminding you of what the devil said to tempt the first man and woman to fall and disobey the simple request of God. He 'suggested' that God was lying to them. Check it out in Genesis 3: 1 - 4.
Today the tactic of the devil remains the same as he has never created anything and cannot conceive an original thought. Today we put an end to his pathetic scheme.

Firstly I need to tell you that what I am about to share with you comes from God as a promise and is confirmed with an oath sworn by Himself. Hear these words...

'...Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more convincingly and beyond doubt to those who were to inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath. This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us]. [Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it - a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil, where Jesus has entered in for us [in advance], a Forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek...' Hebrews 6: 17 - 20 (Amplified) 

So, it is impossible for God to lie and His purpose toward you is established on the foundation stone of the absolute certainty of His promise and His oath.

Right now I want to lay your foundation stone.
If you have received Christ by simply believing [nothing more required, just believe] you HAVE this foundation.
This is the foundation stone of the Covenant, the New Covenant, under which you sit established on your behalf by Jesus Christ, established and ratified between God and Man, the Man, Christ Jesus.
Here it is!
Are you ready and listening carefully?

'AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.'

God Almighty speaking...Hebrews 10: 17.

Please contemplate these words for a few moments and remember God cannot lie.

Now we all sin...sad but true. And when we do the devil uses his same old strategy and comes and 'suggests' to you that God lied and you should now feel condemned for what you have done (please read Romans 8: 1). Sometimes he will even 'teach' that God has impossibly high standards and 'encourage' you to throw in the towel. Sometimes he even uses our churches to encourage you to be conscious of your sin by leading you to 'take a minute and consider your sin and confess your sin.' Often this is done just before we take the Lord's Communion; another drastic misinterpretation of scripture but that is a post for another day!

Question? Has God gone soft on sin? NO! God's standards never change!
How then is it possible that God can forget my sin? Great question!
Here is the answer, it is a simple answer...God remembered all your sin, it is so true, but the TRUTH is that He remembered it IN FULL 2000 years ago when He laid it on the body of His Son, Jesus Christ, so today, now, right here in 2014 you can cease to be conscious of your sin and instead be conscious of your sure and certain foundation that Jesus bore your sin and God remembers it no more. HALLELUJAH!
Please know that as you are conscious of GRACE, sin disappears and your life takes a completely different turn...I needed to say that because often we are 'taught' that we need a bit of law to stop us from straying to sin...with your life full of Christ sin cannot stay.

When I preach that gospel I like to say it like this...if God came and stood right here all the sin and the symptons of sin (sickness, pain, brokenness, bondage, hurt, you can add your pain here) would RUN AWAY, it could not stand here with God...well, I have great news for you, GOD IS HERE, Jesus is in YOU, God has come, you simply believed and God has come and so the more you 'SEE' Him where is the place for sin? The first man turned his back on God and rejected God [Sin]; Jesus came, the second Man who never turned His back on God, and as He hung in our place bearing our sin, God turned His back on Him. Oh what GRACE! Oh what LOVE! Oh what MERCY! As a result God's face is turned towards you today.

Listen to these words...

'Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.' John 19: 30 (NASB)

Oh what Love...He received the 'sour wine' of our sin and He finished the work.

The work He finished established the FOUNDATION on which you can declare today...'I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS', 2 Corinthians 5: 21.

Beloved stand on that, claim it, own it, speak it out this year and your life will never be the same.

This is your sure and certain foundation...

'Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God...For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.' Hebrews 10: 12, 14 (Amplified)

Stand on YOUR FOUNDATION today and everyday...God says to you, 'Your sins and your lawless deeds I remember no more.'

God bless you this year 2014 and forever in Jesus Name.

'We give thanks to the Lord for He is Good, His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever.'

Success...

New Years Day, 2014.
At this time of the year we are often asked if we have any resolutions for the new year and often people give a list of things they are determined to do in the coming year. As I listened to a number of these conversations today it made me consider the subject of 'success'.

Success for the world is something that has always alluded me but what does the Bible say about it?
Today, I would like us all to consider a young man, loved by his father and robed in a special coat, envied by his brothers, taken and thrown in a pit, taken out and sold and found in Genesis 39 standing in an Egyptian market place, stripped, humiliated and alone.
There is much I could say of Joseph but, today, as another year begins and as we all in our separate lives and situations consider what is before us I want to encourage you with this...

'And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah, the captain and chief executioner of the [royal] guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man...' Genesis 39: 1 - 2

Joseph, a slave, stripped, lost, alone, empty, forsaken, poor...he was a SUCCESSFUL and PROSPEROUS man? How could this be?
The answer is obvious...THE LORD WAS WITH HIM.

Friends, today, if you have received Jesus Christ, the revelation of God, the Lord is with you. Sadly, however, it is possible to live our lives and not receive Him. We can even be 'Christians' having believed but never receiving.
Today receive this truth. The Lord is with you not because of your value, or the value of your works and striving but because of His value, because of His finished work. Consider today the image of the New Covenant meal, what we often call 'Lord's Communion' or 'Holy Communion', or the 'Lord's Supper.' Consider that feast that we consign to almost an afterthought in our churches today and see His striped and beaten body for our healing (Isaiah 53: 5) and His poured out blood for our righteousness  (2 Corinthians 5: 21) and receive His words...

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the favourable year of the Lord.' Luke 4: 18 - 19

Dear friend, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing' for the truth is for you TODAY He is your favour, He is your provision, He, alone, is your Success.

Receive Him alone today and this year and success is yours.

For me, and my house, we declare this...

We, give thanks to the Lord for He is Good. Hallelujah! His Love, Mercy and Grace endure forever and ever, for me, for my family and for WTL. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.