Daniel דּנאל

Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Know your place ...

It is always good to know where you are ...

No, seriously!

Not knowing where you stand may cause you to behave and react in totally strange and irrational ways. It may even make you do things that you ought not to. And for many perverse reasons ...

When church is not church

When Church is Not Church

A strange thing happened this week. I was having a quiet time with the Holy Spirit, pondering the meaning of "church," when I received a question about the names of the churches in the book of Revelation. By the time I received the question, I had already coined the title of this post: "When Church is Not Church."

Amazingly, my quiet time turned into more of a revelation than I expected.

Let's start with the word "church."

Exceeding glorious ministry of righteousness

This post is not my own.

I admit that I copied it all from the Apostle of Grace.

And I'm not even commenting.

Every thing said is just perfect.

So, sit back and drink deep, very deep.

Then, ponder and let it sink in ...

Repeat as often as you need.

Shaken by end-time prophecy

Many times we are troubled and shaken by so-called end-time-prophecies.

Many times a sense of fear is provoked amongst believers. All based on obedience and own works ... Do! Get Busy! Serve! Obey!

And the institutional church has become an expert in this.

Purposed freedom against a defeated foe

I love reading the old covenant Bible scriptures and seeing how it all points to Jesus.

I love reading and seeing ALL the law, all the prophecies, all the proverbs, history and sayings all come together, fulfilled in Jesus. Perfectly

I love looking at scripture and realizing IT IS DONE.

Covered

Sometimes we all feel like failures ... and the institutional church plays no insignificant part in this.

But ask yourself. Who exactly is it that specializes in making the beloved of God feel like failures, unworthy, unjust, unfulfilled, sinners ..?

Who is that?

You guessed it right!

Whole Armor of God

Among charismatics Ephesians 6:14-18 have always been a very prominent scripture. On the other end if the scale traditional churches have not paid much attention to these verses.

Again, it has to do with to-do or not- to-do ... to some to be active or to be passive.

Foolishness - don't be a moron!

How to be a fool in one easy step ...

To be foolish is a serious thing!

Nobody wants to be foolish!

No one wants to be a fool!

But is it possible. And what exactly does it mean?

The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms who a fool is:To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psa 14:1

And the wise Solomon says He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. Pro 11:29

David should know

After all, he encountered such a person by the name of Nâbâl (Fool). Nâbâl was a rich, religious Celebite with a beautiful wife that he neglected and constantly ignored. He also scorned and insulted David (Beloved) and his men by refusing them shelter and food when they fled from king Saul in the wilderness.

David decided to execute Nâbâl.

so, Nâbâl's beautiful wife, Abigail (My-Father-is-silly) then took David and his men some provisions and pleaded for the life of her rude and uncanny husband. As soon as she told Nâbâl what she did, he killed over and died from a heart attack.

Strange story. But it is true.

The moral of the story?

This is the story of the fool disregarding the Beloved.

If you do not have Jesus, you are a fool!

What did Paul say about mōria?

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Foolishness.

In the Greek foolishness is the word mōria.

It occurs only five times in the New Testament. All five times are in Paul's first book to the Corinthians.

The meaning of the word reaches deep down to the very foundation of what a fool is.

The word mōria means silliness or absurdity, foolishness. It comes from the base word mōros where we get the word moron from. Directly translated it means impious, godless, dull, stupid, fool...

Wow!

And then there is muō

The word mōria is further derived from Greek word μύω or muō, which is even more explanatory. Muō means to be dum struck or to be shut in the mouth. From this word comes the idea of a secret or mystery founded on silence, imposed by an initiation into religious rites (Strongs concordance).

Wow, religion really can render you speechless and powerless!

Why is Paul writing about foolishness?

In fact, Paul's letter is a letter of encouragement to the believers in Corinth for them to continue in the Spirit and not to let the works of the flesh (self-righteousness) get the better of them. He is drawing a comparison between earthly wisdom (foolishness) and spiritual wisdom.

Paul is saying that the wisdom of this word is superficial. James said the same thing: This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Jas 3:15

In contrast, the wisdom revealed by the Spirit is so deep, intimate, intense and liberating, rendering exuberant and saturated with the very thoughts and mind-set of Christ Himself!

Paul keeps explaining

But as it is written,
Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Which things also we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;
comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things,
yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1Co 2:9-16

... want to read it again?

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Born blind but receive sight

More precious than pure gold

One of the most precious words the Holy Spirit taught me when I came to Grace some years ago, is the word "receive" or lambanō.

It can be one of the hardest things to receive something you have not worked for or earned and you feel it is undeserved and there must be something that you can do to deserve it.

But ...