Isaiah called his people to exercise unshaken faith in God and in His deliverance, of which there seemed no likelihood. This profound truth runs all through God’s Word.
It is not faith when you trust in what you see; faith is trusting in what you don’t see, hanging in to the God whose character you know though meantime there is no evidence that He is at work on your behalf.
[from ‘Studies In Isaiah’]

But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.
And a traveller came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
[2 Samuel 12:3-4 NKJV]

This story was told to David by Nathan the Prophet to show David how he had not only been cruel and conniving by putting Uriah into a position of certain death in order to take Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba; but he had sinned against The Lord.
So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!
And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!” [2 Samuel 12:5-7a NKJV]

The picture we see in the natural world is something most of us have seen or read about. Those who have, can become miserly about their wealth and possessions and are often ready to take everything from someone with very little. It shows how the rich can become rich in the first place, and also a way of maintaining power over others; it is about control.

A Bible principle is “first the natural, then the spiritual”, meaning that what we see before our eyes gives understanding in what is happening in the realm of the Spirit. David was ‘playing God’ and using his authority and power to selfishly steal from another who was in a weaker position. It is an abuse of an authority that God has conferred. More than that, it is assuming a power that only God may use — the power of life and death.

God was merciful with David and allowed Him to live, but took the life of his son instead. There is always a price to be paid for our actions — God’s immutable law of sowing and reaping.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. [Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV]

The one little ewe lamb represents the one thing precious to the poor man — his faith; his life in the spirit. The rich man has no thought or care of such things; because he has an abundance and the poor man’s possession is not precious to him other than for a show of his wealth. In his arrogance he only wishes to impress the traveller with his power and riches, but why give what he has, when he can give what belongs to someone else?

We must be careful and prayerful in our relationships; not trampling on what is important to those with whom we come together. Nor should we take something we covet in another, be it a work, talent, ability or thought and present it as our own. Such a thing has eternal consequences. "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!”

Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do. When you pray, remember that it is Jesus Christ who carries out the answer; God hands over this marvellous power to Him.
By His Ascension our Lord becomes omniscient, all-wise; have we ever had a glimpse of what that means? The wisdom which He exercised in a limited sphere and in complete dependence upon His Father while on earth, He can now exercise in an unlimited sphere.
Get on to the supernatural line, remember that Jesus Christ is omniscient, and He says, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
[from ‘Bringing Sons Into Glory’]

‘Lamb of God’ - Twila Paris

The title of this meditation came to me after Gill and I returned from my Aunt Maureen’s funeral. I understand why I had those words — it was a climate change hot day and it was bittersweet in a way unanticipated. Meeting family again was uplifting and affirming — just as when we gathering in His name and His presence is palpable.

Where are we to go from this point, Lord? A funeral service, of necessity, concentrates on love and loss — love for the departed; but also the grievous sense of personal loss, as a result of that love. The emotional contradictions inherent in such times are indeed bittersweet, but magnified, as when the sun shines through a lens.

All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth: when he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it; and when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.
For so the LORD said to me, "I will take My rest, and I will look from My dwelling place like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
[Isaiah 18:3-4 NKJV]

Heat in sunshine
In these verses, Isaiah talks of heat in sunshine, but also of the heat of harvest. The heat of sunshine — and yes, we all want rest then — but Our Lord says that He looks from His dwelling place like that. Baffling, surely? It becomes even more puzzling when we discover that the word for ‘heat’ is identical to the word translated as ‘sunshine’ What is the ‘clear heat in heat’?
I venture to suggest that Isaiah means ‘very hot’, or ‘hotter than hot’. The Lord’s gaze is piercingly hot — enough to burn through any nonsense on our part and see right through to the heart. It is the heat of ‘the refiner’s fire’.

Heat of Harvest
The word used here for ‘harvest’ is translated in a number of ways and can mean the harvester, the time of harvest, as well as what is being harvested. It can mean bough or branch, which can be considered as the place of the harvest. The dew is a type of the Holy Spirit word, which settles upon us when we are at rest. Job says, ‘My root is spread out to the waters, and the dew lies all night on my branch.
My glory is fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.' [Job 29:19-20 NKJV]. It is the Lord’s strengthening, often during the night hours, when we are refreshed and renewed, all the while unaware.

We speak of magnifying the Lord; of praising and glorifying Him, but the truth is that His Holy Spirit proclaims His presence in an amazing way. We see His banner, we hear His trumpet. He rises to the occasion. He is magnified. He is glorified. He is the cloud of dew in the heat of the Harvest for us.

The only one who prays in the Holy Ghost is the child, the child-spirit in us, the spirit of utter confidence in God.
[from ‘If Ye Shall Ask’]

“Oh Magnify The Lord” (medley) — Trinity Choir

At our Fellowship meeting on Tuesday - our return to meeting now that a lot of the Pandemic restrictions have been lifted in Scotland - Gill shared a story of our grand-daughter Ella, who had visited the day before. Ella is keenly aware of Jesus in her life, and at the lunch table, her conversation had turned to having Jesus at the 'party'. Gill had tried to explain that He is everywhere around and in us. Ella's five (and a half) year old mind would have none of it. "No, Grandy! Jesus is there... ," she said, pointing to the empty chair opposite her.

Ella is trying to get her youthful, precocious mind focussed on who Jesus is for her, and where better to start than at the table. Jesus says to us 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and He with me' [Revelation 3:20 NKJV]. The notion of dining with Jesus is a powerful one. In a sense it combines the external life and the internal sustaining in one everyday essential occurrence. We need to eat to stay alive physically; we need Jesus to stay alive spiritually.

It seems particularly relevant when we read of a story from Jesus' childhood - revealing His coming of age at feast-time; the Feast of the Passover.

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.
When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it;
[Luke 2:41-43 NKJV]

That Joseph and Mary were unaware of where young Jesus had got to, was not due to lack of parental care, but to Jesus' determination to follow His heavenly purpose. This is revealed in Luke 2:46-49.

Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.
So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”
And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?”

Jesus knew - and showed us the deeper meaning of the Feast; '... I must be about My Father's business?' Ella would say, "Did you never know?"

Intellect and prayer are united in the saint in the consciousness of Christ which we share, consequently the consciousness of self-realisation is a perversion and a snare.
[from ‘Christian Discipline Volume 2’]

'We Will Feast In The House Of Zion' ~ Keith and Kristyn Getty + Sandra McCracken

We often say — and with conviction — that the gathering is important, and it undoubtedly is essential in our faith and walk with God. Why? I believe that it is important for Him as well as for us. He created us as social creatures; we fade and shrink without company. We need look no further now than the great rise in mental illness following the isolation strictures of the Pandemic.

“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
[Matthew 18:19-20 NKJV]

The message in this Scripture reading says clearly that when we gather together ‘in His name’ — in like mind with Him (in His nature) — by sensing His presence in the midst of the gathering and rising in that same spirit to meet with Him in the air, we truly become His church; the body of Christ, of which He is the head.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
[1 Thessalonians 4:17-18]

The Bible stresses again and again through the Heavenly picture it portrays, that God works in individuals to reveal His corporate plan for all of His people; thus it is important, nay imperative, that we gather together — sharing His word and spirit together, with Jesus in the midst.

This gathering builds into us all those qualities of His personality — best described in Galatians 5:22-23 ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.’

Therefore, brothers, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Beware of imagining that intercession means bringing our personal sympathies into the presence of God and demanding that we do what we ask. Our approach to God is due entirely to the vicarious identification of our Lord with sin.
[from ‘My Utmost For His Highest’]

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.
And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.
[Matthew 27:27-31 NKJV]

The word used with the crown of thorns here and in other verses is ‘twisted’. It is normally used in two ways — one meaning to force out of its normal shape and the other (referring to the mind) to warp or be unhealthily abnormal. However you read it in reference to Jesus, this was meant as an attack on His mind, mocking Him in an attempt to send a message to all who followed Him that their belief was no more than sheer foolishness. We can say that with clarity. Here was Man mocking God, and as we understand, God will not be mocked. ('Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap' [Galatians 6:7 NKJV])

For each of us, we see that our daily struggle is in our mindset, our thoughts. Satan (that is the spirit of this world that rests within our nature) seeks to bring us down or lure us away from Christ by the thoughts that spring — as it seems newly-formed — into our consciousness; and we consider ourselves clever. But this crown the Accuser bestows becomes one of pain and confusion -- a crown of thorns indeed.

Our Lord knows this. He says, ‘expect it’. Expect the mocking; the stripping away of all you know and love; to have your old clothes — your old ways — thrown back at you, accusing and denigrating until the life is taken from you. Our Lord knows for it was His to bear also.

We all at times wear a crown of thorns; the twisted reasoning thrust onto and piercing into our minds -- the deed done by others or at our own hand. Our only recourse is to turn towards Jesus; He has already been to and through the Cross. As the Angel which appeared at the tomb said to the two Mary's at the tomb, 'He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold I have told you' [Matthew 28:7b NKJV]. Galilee, as we have already discovered in our study of John's Gospel, represents trust and faith in God. We still have to reap the consequences of the twisted or distorted sowing, but we have been told, 'you will see Him'.

The highest Christian love is not devotion to a work or to a cause, but to Jesus Christ.
[from ‘The Place of Help’]

Here is a link to the BBC Radio series ‘The History of The World in 100 Objects’ by Neil McGregor, based on objects held in the British Museum. The episode linked here is the ‘Holy Thorn Reliquary’, which you may find of interest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00swmrh

Love for God does not spring naturally out of the human heart; but it is open to us to choose whether we will have the love of God imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. “…, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5; see also Luke 11:13).
We are emphasising just now the need of voluntary choice. It is of no use to pray, “O Lord, for more love! Give me love like Thine; I do want to love Thee better,” if we have not begun at the first place, and that is to choose to receive the Holy Spirit Who will shed abroad the love of God in our hearts.
[from ‘Biblical Psychology’]

This meditation comes from Ellel Ministries
’Seeds of the Kindom’
Copyright © 2021 Ellel UK Online Store, All rights reserved.

Many a man has awakened love before the time, and has reaped hell into the bargain. Love is awakened before the time whenever a man or woman ignores the worship of God and becomes a mere creature of impulsive passions.
[from ‘Our Portrait In Genesis’]

YOU TUBE VIDEO
“There Is Power In The Blood”
presented by Acapeldridge

We were introduced a few years ago to a wonderful song, written by an English songwriter, Michael Frye. The words (see note 1 below) share the personal experience of making Jesus the centre of our lives.

The word ‘centre’ appears 6 times in the New King James Version of the Bible — once in the Book of Judges; 4 times in Ezekiel 48, and once in John 19, making that the only mention in the New Testament.

Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.
And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the centre.

“Jesus, be the centre.” That is the message. He has to be the centre of our lives if we are to find ourselves in the right place. What did He say on the Cross?

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
[Luke 23:39-43 NKJV]

It is not John (who was there) who reports this, but Luke. John, as an eyewitness says that Jesus seeks that John look after Mary, Jesus’ mother. Luke reports that Jesus ministers to the thieves on either side of Him, condemned also. In both circumstances, Jesus is the centre of events. That, assuredly, is the case elsewhere and everywhere.

Matthew writes “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” [Matthew 18:20 NKJV], and it matters not what our sin has been, if we acknowledge Him as the centre, He will be with us, and we shall be with Him, today — now — in Paradise.

Let Jesus be your centre.

The marvellous, uncrushable characteristic of a saint is that he does discern God. You may put a saint in tribulation, amid an onslaught of principalities and powers, in peril, pestilence or under the sword, you may put a saint anywhere you like, and he is ‘more than conqueror’ every time. Why? Because his heart being filled with the love of God, he has the power to perceive and understand that behind all these things is God making them ‘work together for good’.
[from ‘Biblical Psychology’]