Look To The Source of Radiance

Psalm 34:5
Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

You can tell a lot about people by the expressions on their faces.  You can tell if they are going through a tough time, having a bad day, having a good day or just generally happy.  God set it up that way.  Our faces tell so much about how we are feeling.

Now God has also set up a way for you to always release His Presence no matter what your circumstances are.  You see, most people's emotions are based on their circumstances.  The immediate situation they are in affects their moods, and thus the very expressions on their faces.

God wants you to remain at peace no matter what you are going through.  This can be very difficult, I know.  But learning to control our emotions as Christians is key to impacting the world around us.  Now, when I say control our emotions, I am not talking with our own willpower.  I am talking about handing your circumstances over to Jesus, and drawing your peace from Him.

And this is exactly what this verse is saying.  When we look to God, who is so Good, Beautiful, Glorious and full of Love for us, something in us begins to change.  And this change even affects our expression.  When we look to Him, our faces begin to radiate.  And this is more than just a big smile, the Glory of God radiates from our faces.  Our happy faces carry more than a smile, they carry their very Glory of God!

I want to encourage you today friends...  No matter what you are going through, no matter what you face, look up to your Saviour.  Lift your head and look to your Father.  Worship Him.  See His Glory.  Ask Him to show you His Glory.  Whenever you get the chance.  And when you do, your face will begin to radiate with His Glory.  People will see with their own eyes the difference about you.  And they will want it.

You Have Been Qualified To Do Great Things!

Colossians 1:10 - 12
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His Glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light.

Many people today are afraid to step out in faith for God to move because they subconsciously feel like that just aren't good enough.  They aren't at "that level" yet.  But the Scripture tells us something otherwise, and we must remember the Truth revealed in Scripture is a far higher authority than our experience.

My friend, you are qualified.  Already.  Past tense.  God qualified you to share in the inheritance of all the saints of the Kingdom!!  What is that inheritance?  Well, technically, it is the Earth.  On a number of occasions in Scripture, God promises that is the saints that will inherit the Earth.

Now, I am not going to get technical and go into what that exactly entails or how that works out.  But if we are to inherit the Earth, we have to start somewhere.  And as I so often mention, that means pushing the forces of darkness back with the invading Power of the Kingdom of Light.

So many times we have heard before that our commission is to bring Heaven to Earth.  That's because it is true.  We have the Kingdom of God inside us, and we have been qualified to release it.

You don't need to wait until you are more holy, have more power, or know how to operate in power before you actually do those things!  You have already been qualified to administer the Kingdom of Heaven!

Stop waiting, stop delaying, take your chances!  Make the most of every opportunity!  And declare the Kingdom of Heaven in every situation you are privileged to have the opportunity to do so.

Practically, if someone tells you that they aren't feeling so great or they're going through a rough time after you've asked them how they're doing; then instead of saying "shame"...  simply put your hand on their shoulder and declare the Kingdom of Heaven over them.  Release Heaven into their situation.  Release health, bind sickness.  Release provision, bind the enemy's robbery.  Release supernaturally open doors of opportunity.  Release joy, bind depression.  These are the "good works" and the "fruit" and "pleasing the Lord" that these verses above are talking about.

It's as easy as that!  You are a child of Heaven!  Decree on behalf of the King!  Because you have been qualified.

You Change The Atmosphere!

Luke 11:20
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.

By saying this, Jesus was highlighting what the work of God was about and why He came.  The Earth for too long has been riddled with demonic influence causing depression, hatred and poverty.  And He came to push that demonic influence right back, and begin the establishment of a New Order.  His Order, the Order of the Kingdom.

When Jesus rose from the dead, His disciples were convinced that He was going to restore the Earth back to its former glory and establish God's Kingdom once and for all.  After all, He was the very Son of God!  The Messiah!  Surely He had accomplished what was now required?  But Jesus had other plans...

He left them.

He said to the disciples that they were now to carry on the Work He started and extend the Kingdom of God wherever they went, and He would send them the Holy Spirit to empower and help them in this supernatural task.

You see friends, many Christians today have similar mindsets to the disciples before His ascension (Acts 1:6).  They expect and hope that when Jesus returns He will sort everything out, thereby absolving any responsibility.  But what they don't realise is that He came to redeem mankind back to their position of authority on the planet so that they could continue His work of establishing His Kingdom.

Friends, you have been commissioned and empowered to change the atmosphere around you!  You have the Kingdom of God inside you (Luke 17:21), and that is a very different kingdom to the kingdom of this world that is still suffering from the influence of satan.  Your objective is to change the atmosphere around you, and be part of God's priesthood that establishes His Kingdom here on Earth.

Maybe it is at home, where there are hurts, disappointments, anger?  Maybe it is in the work place, where there is jealousy, corruption and pride?  Maybe it is at school.  Even at a restaurant!  Maybe one of your friends are sick?  Declare with your mouth (Proverbs 18:21) the Life of God into those situations.  Release the anointing of God's Presence over them, and command the darkness to leave and submit to the Light and Kingdom of God.  You will be surprised what you will begin to see happen in and around your life.

We need to live this life with the awareness of who we are and what we have been commissioned with, and when our mindsets change to such an outlook, the Kingdom will grow at an exponential rate!

Try it, it's much easier than you think!  You have been qualified!  (Colossians 1:12)

The Word Became Flesh To Reveal the Father

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His Glory, the Glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of Grace and Truth.

This season of Christmas is often called the silly season.  Society takes on a whole new cultural look.  People are tense, stressed, short-tempered and not many are very jolly.  Offices close down and those that just want to get on with work find themselves frustrated.  It can be a strange time.

But amidst the marketing geniuses' cries to buy more and the hustle and bustle of last minute organising, we must never forget that this time is marked to celebrate one of the greatest moments in history.  We hear it from so many corners so often: "don't forget the reason for the season!"  And most of us don't.  And I don't mean to come across cliched in this post, but I do want to remind us all to celebrate this time.

Take some time to pray with the family, during the worship service on Sunday, wherever you can, celebrate in your heart the greatness that Christmas stands for.  (It may not be the exact historical date of Christ's birth, but it is the date we set aside to celebrate it!  And I am sure He doesn't mind!)

And Christmas stands for is something hugely significant.  For so many reasons.  But one in particular I want to look at today is this:  At the birth of Christ, the invisible God became visible.

Jesus came to reveal the Father and what God was like.  This is significant in so many ways!  No longer was God a mystery!  No longer was His Nature and what He was thinking an encrypted mystery to be unlocked by the great thinkers of history.  It has been revealed in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is the exact representation of the Nature and Being of God.  (Hebrews 1:3)  Jesus said if you have seen Him you have seen the Father.  (John 14:9)  Jesus revealed to mankind what God was like.  And to our surprise, He is much more kinder, loving, gracious and good than we thought!  And surprisingly less angry!

How many sick people did Jesus turn away?  None!  How many sinners did Jesus turn away?  None!  How many sinners did Jesus dine with?  Many!  How many religious dictators did Jesus get angry with for holding back the Love of God from His people?  Many!

Friends!  God will never turn you away.  No matter who you are or what you have done.  No matter what your cry.  God hears you.  He Loves you as His very own!  Don't be discouraged by the enemy's lies.  The Truth of the life of Jesus has revealed what God is like once and for all.  And He is a good and loving Father beyond what we could ever imagine!

Rest in His Love today.  Celebrate His Love this Christmas.  Receive His Love this Christmas.  And thank Him that He has been eternally revealed ever since becoming a man on Christmas.

May you know His Love and the blessings It brings this Christmas.

Sorrow Is Temporary, Joy Is Eternal

Psalm 30:4 - 5
Sing to the Lord, you saints of His;
praise His Holy Name.
For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favour lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Many of us know this verse, especially the last part.  But it is a pity that "familiarity breeds contempt".  We become so accustomed to a saying or verse, that it can lose its power.  As Christians, we need to be so careful of this unfortunate reality.  Take John 3:16 for example, it is one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture, yet because we know it so well, the power in its truth seems to have less of an impact on us.  We need fresh revelation to regain the power in these verses.  I believe this is what the Grace Revolution is all about.  But that's for another day and another article.

The point is, don't let the power of this verse here be watered down by familiarity.  It is a powerful truth!  Let's have a look at it...

God's anger only lasts for a moment, but His Favour lasts for a lifetime!  Isn't that stunning?  Now, put this into the context of God's plan, and we see that this is a clear picture of the Cross.  God's anger is not as infinite and eternal as His Love, Grace or Favour.  God is by very Nature Loving, Good and Kind.

Now, that is not to water down the danger or severity of sin.  But we need to recognise that God's anger and punishment was dealt with because He Himself absorbed all sin and death into the body of His own Son Jesus.  (In fact, He absorbed it Himself because He was in Christ at the time of the Crucifixion! 2 Cor. 5:19)   Friends, God's anger toward sin has been appeased!  He took it upon Himself and dealt with it!  Now what remains are eternal days of Favour!

But you may not be living in days of Favour.  Well, this is why the next verse is so important; "sorrow lasts for a night, but joy comes in the morning."  Friends, sorrow is temporal!  We must understand that we will go through trials in this life.  It won't be easy.  There will be times when life is tough.  But the good news is that there will be breakthrough!  Joy will come!  No matter what we are facing, we can be confident that eternal days of Joy and Favour will come to us!  Whether it is in this life or the next, either way, we will enjoy eternal days of Joy!  This is what Heaven is all about; JOY!

Friends, with such a hope, it is so much easier to face this life.  No matter what we are going through we can face it with an expectant hope that God promises us days of Favour and Joy.  This brings such hope to any situation.

I know that many of us face trials over this Christmas holiday period.  But be encouraged that God cares for you more than you know.  And He wants you to know that any stress or difficulty you may be facing is only temporal, and there is a joy that you can even tap into right now that lasts for eternity!

The Power of Knowing Your True Identity

1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

As you can see by the red text, I would like to draw your attention to the final phrase in this verse...  "even as I am fully known."  This gives us a great indication as to what Paul was referring to when he said "now I know in part, then I shall know fully."  He was talking about his very own identity.  Not who God is, not what God is like (which we will eternally see more and more) but Paul was referring to his very own identity, who HE is.

God knows exactly who you are.  But not in the way you think.  God sees you as who you truly are, in the spirit.  He sees your true value.  Remember, He paid the highest possible price for you (1 Cor. 6:20), He gave up everything He had to buy you back (Matt 13:44), that's how valuable you are.  You are more valuable than you could ever imagine.  You may not yet know it, but God knows exactly how valuable you are.  You are more precious and valuable than all of the world's minerals and resources combined!

Paul is saying that even he hasn't clearly seen his true identity.  He has an idea of it, he sees a reflection, but he hasn't seen it in its entirety.  And there will come a day when he, like us, will see who we truly are.  After all, it has been said so often that we are like Jesus even in this world!  (1 John 4:17)  (Now, let me say, it doesn't necessarily say that we will only experience this revelation after this life - something to ponder!)

Friends, the more we come to understand (by revelation) how valuable we are in the eyes of the Creator of the Universe and the more we come to understand who we truly are and who He created us to be, we will live remarkable lives!  We will live lives of unconditional Love toward one another, we will live with a strange positivity as we are unaffected by the negative circumstances that surround us, we will live powerfully and with authority.

I pray that today, we would come into a further revelation of our true value, our true identity, and so be further transformed outwardly into the likeness of the Image of Jesus, our Big Brother.  (2 Cor. 3:18)

It is All About God's Love

Romans 8:37 - 39 (The Message)
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

For this week's encouragement I am using the Message translation, as it gives us a fresh perspective on one of the most powerful Truths in the Universe; that God Loves us unconditionally, and nothing is going to get in the way of that Love!

Friends, this is the central Message of Scripture, the pivot around which the entire Gospel hinges!  That God Loves you unconditionally.  Now, you may have heard that on a number of different occasions, and it may not seem personal to you anymore.  This is why Paul prays for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:19 that we might know this Love.  Because like this verse says, nothing will faze us when we live in the revelation that God Loves us.

I once heard a preacher named Jason Westerfield say that him and his wife have raised their son in a way that he would know how much he is loved.  Because of this, he thinks everyone loves him.  And this affects how he lives and deals with people.  And if people don't love him, it doesn't faze him, because everyone else loves him.

This is how we should live, knowing that we are deeply Loved by the Creator of the Universe, and therefore not letting anything affect us!

What is incredible in this passage in Romans is that Paul emphasises that nothing can separate us from God's Love for us.  And do you know what brought about that revelation?  The Cross.  "The way Jesus embraced us" is referring to what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.  2 Corinthians 5:19 says that God was in Christ reconciling the world (that's you!) to Himself!

Friends, Jesus sweated blood in the garden of Gethsemane because of what He was about to face at the Cross.  And He endured it because He saw a glorious day on the other side of it all where you could be one with Him!  That is the depth of His Love for us!

The more revelation we receive of the Cross, the more we will become convinced that nothing can separate us from God's Love for us!  My friend, know this today, that nothing can separate you from God's Love!  Absolutely nothing!  You are deeply and passionately Loved by your Heavenly Father, and He went to the very furthest He possibly could to ensure that nothing can stand between you and His Love!  Receive it today, and know, that no matter what you have done and where you have been, He Loves you with a Love that can barely be conceived by the natural mind.

I pray each and every one of us would receive a fresh and deeper revelation of the Work of the Cross, and God's Unconditional and Unending Love for us personally.

AMEN!

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For some good sermons regarding God's Love, here are two links worth downloading...

Right-click the link and then click "Save Target As" and save it anywhere on your computer:

- God's Love is Above All Things

- The Love Revolution