The Seasons in the Life of a Christian- Brokenness - Purification & At the cross - Chapter I. (4,5)

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon. http://thelightseed.blogspot.com
(To read the preceding and following chapters, click on the left lateral bar on the numbered chapters under the title "The Seasons in the Life of a Christian" - Brokenness.) (Read next chapter)

4. Cleansing through the fire of affliction

However, salt before it can be used, has to go through the process of being made pure. As soon as salt gets in contact with humidity, its inherent absorbing quality, just like a sponge sucking in water, causes it to be polluted by whatever impurity is in the water.

Talking about salt again, but this time in the context of people causing believers to sin, Jesus clarifies the issue of purity when He says:
“For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. ” (Mark 9:49-50).

How is the Lord going to make the salt in us pure? 

Through the fire of affliction. Malachi 3:3 states:     

 

“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” 
Do we have peace with one another?
Peace in the body of Christ does not just happen. Paul in Ephesians exhorts us to make every effort to keep unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. We already have unity if we are in Christ, the hard part is to keep it. Isaiah 48:17-18 states:

“Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea”.
Our Lord Jesus gave us a new commandment, “That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). 

I believe that a great deal of what is hindering the work of God in our communities stems from the lack of the bond of peace in the Christians’ relationships, between spouses, parents and children, Christian brothers and sisters and churches of different or same denomination. (Here I am not talking ecumenical unity, but of the unity of the Spirit between true followers of Christ).

Is the water of our city brackish? Is the relationship among Christians in our city one of love, peace and unity or are we trying to cover up the lack of reality in our lives, the hurts, discord, bitterness and resentment with our Sunday smiles?
Following the example of the prophet Elisha, how could we make the city water that came from the spring (the inner spiritual flow) sweet and the land (our lives) productive again?

By letting the Lord cleanse us (the bowl or vessel), and purify the salt in us as we gladly accept the purifying fire of affliction and trials without bitterness. The quickest way for salt to penetrate hard, unproductive soil is to be diluted and poured out on it and that is just what we Christians can do with our tears. 

Father, according to your Word in Psalm 56:8 your servant David asked you to put his tears in a bottle. May we see your hand in our affliction and accept its purifying purpose for our lives. We, your church, ask you through the power of your Holy Spirit to create in us a pure heart, release our tears that you have collected in these broken vessels and pour them on the dry and hard hearts that they might be softened just as your rain falls on the just and the unjust to soften the earth and causes things to grow.

5. The level ground at the cross
Then, the farmer must level the surface of the ground (v.25), so the seeds willall start germinating at the same level to make sure that the final crop will be as even as possible. We all have to start at Ground Zero:

 “at the cross where we first saw the light

and the burden of our hearts rolled away

 it was there by faith

we received our sight…”

Our Lord Jesus was crucified between the two thieves. But actually the thief that turned to Jesus and cried out to Him for help was himself  in the center of the battleground between two attitudes and choices that were represented at Calvary. The first one of bitterness, cynicism, mockery, empty bravado from the thief who rejected the precious gift of life, and the other one of forgiveness, indomitable courage, total acceptance of His Father’s will from the Lord Jesus who is and has the gift of eternal life. The ground was most fertile at the foot of the cross where it had been plowed by the soldier’s shovels who dug the hole and was watered by the blood of the sacrificed pure Lamb of God and the water of His tears mixed with the salt contained in His body. The ground was the same, the tears, the blood, the gift equally available to each one of the thieves, but one chose life in forgiveness and the other one death in bitterness. For us, the choice is still the same today. 

“Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” John 19:34.

To be continued. Next Chapter: https://thelightseed.blogspot.com.br/2013/01/the-seasons-in-life-of-christian_1116.html

The Seasons in the Christian’s life (Brokenness) - Introduction

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon.

http://thelightseed.blogspot.com

(Read the next chapter)

I am posting this message in answer to a brother's question: "Jesus talked about 4 types of soil (heart conditions). If 3 of the 4 types are poor soil, how does one go about plowing?"
For a companion poem "The wounds of my friend Jesus", please click here: http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2011/06/wounds-of-my-friend-jesus.html

LESSONS FROM THE THRESHING FLOOR

O my threshed people and my afflicted (son) of the threshing floor!What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel,I make known to you. (Isaiah 21:10 NASV)

The Seasons in the Christian’s life

(Brokenness)

My intention in choosing the subject of this message was to provide from the Scriptures some understanding into the meaning and purpose of suffering in the Christian life.

Since my adolescence, I have reflected on the origin, the meaning and purpose of suffering in my life and that of my fellow men.
Perhaps, each one of us has pondered the same thing in the midst of unexpected adverse circumstances. This search for answers is valid, but could lead to a horrible frustration reaching a deep state of desperation if we do not find an answer that makes sense. As our pastor told us in last week’s sermon the correct question must not be: “Lord, why do we suffer, but what for? I believe that if we can find the answer to the latter, we will be able to accept all circumstances in our lives with a new positive perspective, knowing that we can trust in our God who loves us, who has a plan for our life and who gives us everything we need to grow in Him.

King David in Psalm 25: 4,5, asked the LORD:
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. 5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Further on, the same Psalm declares in verse 14: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
Through much study of the Word of God and through personal experience, I have found satisfactory answers to my quest and have concluded that suffering is a normal part of the Christian life and that it is essential for our growth. This theme is highly present and visible throughout the Bible both in Old and New Testament. This is what I would like to share with you today.

BACKGROUND
In the Bible one of the most important places is Mount Moriah. According to Genesis 22:1-2:
“God did prove (or test) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”.
On the same Mount Moriah stood the city of Jebus, the Jebusite stronghold renamed Jerusalem by King David who conquered it. It is the same site on which King David offered a sacrifice to avert a plague that God sent upon the Israelites because of David’s disobedience when he ordered his captains to take a military census. The Bible relates the event in 2 Samuel 24: 16-25: 
And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel”.

Years later, according to 2 Chronicles 3:1, 2:
“Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where Jehovah appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan (or Araunah) the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign”.

Finally, we come to the supreme sacrifice which occurred in the very same place, in Jerusalem, where the unblemished lamb of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus-Christ offered himself to be crucified on the cross as atonement to wash away our sins, obtain forgiveness, salvation and eternal life for those who repent and believe in Him. 

INTRODUCTION
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2).
Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
²⁴ Does the ^[a]farmer plow ^[b]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually ^[c]turn and harrow the ground?
²⁵ Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter cummin
And ^[d]plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its ^[e]area?
²⁶ For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel ^[f]driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
²⁸ Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ^[g]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.(Isaiah 28:23-29). NASB

To be continued. Next Chapter: https://thelightseed.blogspot.com.br/2013/01/the-seasons-in-life-of-christian_23.html

Let your Light Shine Before Men - The Way of Intercession. Revised and expanded.

 Note from the Author: There is another story to that story. But first, read the first one and then reading the added second part of what happened 20 years later is really a testimony of our Lord´s faithfulness and and tender-loving care towards his children.

  

  Written and published by Jean-Louis.

 

Lift up your heads O gates
And be lifted up, O ancient doors
That the King of Glory may come in
Who is the King of Glory?
The LORD strong and mighty
The LORD mighty in battle.
The LORD of hosts
He is the King of glory. Psalm 24:7,8.

Christ Jesus our Lord is the light of the world.

In His ministry that He has given us to one another and to the world, He has chosen, called and gifted some in the body of believers (Pastors, Elders, Deacons) to be strong, high, stationary light houses and harbor lights at the entrance and in the harbor, (green and red traffic warning lights) visible to all who come into the range of their beams of light. They scatter the light in broad patterns so that when we come in and go out we may see the goal, direction, relative positions of our boats and what is directly in our path.

He has also gifted others to be more focused, flexible, pin pointed beams of light such as the fiber optic endoscope equipped with light that a surgeon uses to examine the inside of the human body.

The purpose of this instrument is to diagnose the nature, the condition, and the position of the weak or sick part that needs attention in order for the whole body to be strong and to function as He intended it to function.

In contrast to the highly visible ministry of the lighthouses and the harbor lights, the ministry of the intensely focused beams of light is hidden, although important and necessary. 

When somehow, the devil has wanted to sift you and you have gone through trials and tribulations, and temporary failings of your faith under the weight of relentless spiritual attacks, then you understand the heavy burden of being an intercessor for lost people and other believers in the family of Christ. 

In Psalm 51:7-13. King David declares: 

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right^b spirit within me. 11Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

 

Lord Jesus teaching His disciples:“…and you are those who have stood by Me in my trials
…Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers". Luke 22:28-33.

One of the reasons He has raised us as a lighthouse to show the way of Salvation to people drowning in the ocean without a chance of surviving the storms, and also as a house of prayer,  individually and corporately is that:

as we lift up to the Father the affected areas that the Holy Spirit reveals to us, He will cleanse us “by the washing of the water with His Word”. He will remove them (spiritual surgery) and heal them to allow His light to shine more brightly and more intensely in us and cause His glory to be manifested through us.

Let us pray fervently that His light may increase in brilliance in our Pastors, other leaders, and in every believer so that their sphere of influence may reach farther into the areas of darkness that the enemy has in our communities, and "in such a way that men may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven". Matthew 5:16.

Jean-Louis. I995.

Read more: http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2007/12/let-your-light-shine-before-men.html#ixzz5esUIxv35

 

Addendum to a memorable incident that turned into a bigger blessing!

It´s amazing how the Lord works sometimes triggering the brain to remember a previous memory buried deep inside when the time is propicious.

In 1995, I retold the story of the Lord showing me a lighthouse while I was praying for guidance and direction at a crucial time of my life.

As I was reading the Scriptures, suddenly a lighthouse appeared in my my field of vision as described in the post together with an explanation and an answer to my questions.

This happened in 2 parts as described. When this happens – very rarely – I usually ask what it means and one or 2 confirmations from some unknow, unrelated sources, persons, encounter or some other stimulus. Both visual imageries one external, the other internal seem to relate to some spiritual message that made good sense biblically and seemed to be fitting to the grim reality of the state of the world and what seemed to be a message of warning to anybody aware of what is really going on all around the world.

The confirmation didn´t take any time to come in a way that could not be easly refuted. Later in the vening as I turned on the TV, a program on the lighthouses of the East Coast of the US was showing for the rest of the week. So as I marveled at the goodness and timeliness of God, who wanted to make sure that I got the message clearly.

That took care ot the first part of the insight, but it took 20 years to get the fulfilement of the second part in details that I could not have dreamed about.

After a good vacation in Europe, back in Brazil, I was taken to the hospital one morning with chest pains.

The heart surgeon was not programmed for an operation that day, but accepted to look at tmy condition anyway.

He discovered some blocages that required immediate attention and surgery. He left it very clear that I would not make it one more night if I did not make the decision rightaway to be operated on. Since he was available and willing, I felt it was a sign from the Lord for me to go ahead and do it. No time to get a second opinion, no time to waste thinking about it. I prayed and felt that it was the thing to do

This emergency type of situation had happened to me before só I did not panic or wasted time. The doctor was young, but I felt confident that I could trust in the Lord to have provided his expertise at the propitious time. Later on he told me that he had felt a certain affinity with me on a spiritual level and assurance that everything would be fine if we proceeded.

One hour later I was on the operating table, with an assistant and a computer linked to a monitor showing the inside of my heart.

I was taken back to the day I saw the second part of the message about the small lights probing inside the body to carefully examine the damage tissues or organs without further damaging any part.

I noticed that as the doctor was guiding very carefully the endoscope with the probing very bright light along the arteries, the scene was witnessed only by him and the assistant in the quasi dimmed external light for contrast. Later on, I pondered about the meaning of the scene and the reduced number of people present during the operation and the silence punctuated only by the exchange of very few words between the doctors and myself.

The main actors in that instant were the Lord and maybe angels that were using and directing the hands and minds of the surgeons that knew precisely what to do. No big crowd of curious onlookers witnessing a spectacle. No dramatic music, no slight of hand, just a quiet and peaceful reassurance that we were witnessing something marvellous.

I came out with two stents in the arteries on the left side of the heart and I have been fine since then. I spent the next 2 days in the recovery room well attended by Christians who took really good care of me. I was só grateful for the manner I was treated by everybody and the way in wich our Heavenly Father loves us and cares for us. I miss you and our conversations. So much is happening and I stay busy learning more languages. I also started teaching again as well as translating. Take good care of yourself and be blessed always.

Let The Lower Lights Be Burning video

 

DISTANCE -- Words on a Clothesline Dancing in the Breeze

Scientists Discover Something Biblical!

The Deception of The Nations

Middle East Current Events Update, May 16, 2018

Special Update on US Embassy Move to Jerusalem

We Got You Covered -- A Light Seed Reflection on Security - Revised

Today is my wife´s B´day. I feel light-headed and warm-hearted so does my serious Christian humor. So I hope that this will be good medicine for your heart. Today everyone in high places talks about peace and security... We got the peace that passes all understanding, but are we sure we´ve got the best security? Good day!

We got you covered. Reflection on Security. Original posted 10/2012. Written and published by: Jean-Louis, in response to a post on church covering/shepherding/spiritual abuse found in charismatic authoritarian movements  

Minimum Security

• Comes in all colors, sizes and prices.
  For older antique models, guaranteed status recognition! Guaranteed to fade, rust and attract moths. 
  • Optional 3D rose colored glasses for optimum happiness perspective enhancement.
  • Built-in obsolescence guaranteed due to the law of diminishing returns.
  Warning! Can be torn, lost, stolen, or misplaced causing sudden panic attacks.

Maximum Security

 

Found on  http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/10/australias-growth-straight-jacket/ 

(Disclaimer: No other intention than to provide illustration for humor)

• Very expensive. We are the best in the protection garment market. Time tested. All instructions come in our best seller books and videos.

• Inner and outer warm fuzzies specially patented treatment  guaranteed to go down to your toes and let you enjoy free jumping exhilaration.

• Pogo stick optional ( interpretation: We stick it to you with an x-treme fee, I mean donation, to justify the X-treme worship feeling and for higher elevation level. Your kid will love it - See Mama, no hands.
  

Let us wrap you with our latest protective garment.

• Unisex. One size fits all. Waterproof. Fireproof, Beyond proof and/or reproof.Just open your arms, close your eyes and feel the divine presence enveloping you. Our highly trained coaches will gently slide the comforting, healing jacket in an embrace of love.    
• Guaranteed to provide total freedom  as you finally experience wholeness in our restoration conferences therapy groups.  Let us handle all your cares and needs. Trust us, You have our word for it.

Eternal Security

• Free Garment. A gift from you Heavenly Father, whose price has been paid for your sins by His son Jesus Christ on the cross. Isaiah 61:10
  

• Guaranteed to last forever by the promise found in the Word of God: Isaiah 61:10; Ephesians 1:11-14. Ephesians 4:30; II Corinthians 5:5.

• Cannot be bought, lost, borrowed, stolen, given away, torn.

• Protective armor of  light. Romans 13:12. Guaranteed darkness repellent.

Lord Jesus´ Glorious Light

Jean-Louis.

Amir Tsafati April 12 2018 — REPORT FROM MIDDLE EAST — Amir Tsarfati Pro...

The Promise - Revised and Updated

To my brother in Christ, Alex Tinson
Written, published and revised by Jean-Louis http://thelightseed.blogspot.com

For us today, God´s promise still stands
He will act in power through our hands
Come rain, come snow, fire or even hail
The gates of hell will not prevail
He said it to Abraham and to His church again

He is our Head, His body is not the tail
Let His Spirit fill your sail
The call today is still the same
To go and catch fish in His name

Do not worry if you have the skill
The Master himself will teach you
Be obedient, faithful, and trust him
Your net with a good catch He will fill  
Raise up today the standard of love
Rest in Jesus´finished work

Walk circumspect, watch and pray
Right in the middle of the fray
Now is the time to stand up and fight
In the awesome power of His might
Shielded by your faith and His light

Hear today, Oh Christian under his blood
You will not perish in the flood
Our goal is close, I hear his voice
Calling his own: "my bride, late is the hour
Come up hither, my kingdom enter
Receive the fruit of your labour."

Maranatha, come Lord Jesus

Resurrection Day´s Update - The Eternal Spring of Joy, Peace and Hope from the Heart of God

Update from the yearly Christmas message :
Have you ever started singing Christmas carols during the Passover season culminating in our Lord Jesus glorious resurrection that we Christians will also experience when our bodies are transformed at His coming to take us home?

I always do every year not even intentionally. It is the hope that faith renews in my soul after a long winter of  germinating reflective thoughts on the wonderful birth of the Holy seed of God made flesh and dwelling with us. The soul as well has its own calendar and cycles and if one is feeding the soul and spirit on the Word of God, we cannot help but being wonderfully affected by the inner life that is growing inside of us that manifests itself in joyous and glorious spiritual songs of remembrance punctuating our walk through the seasons of life toward our ultimate destination.

I added to the Christmas reflection paragraphs on the symbolism of the almond tree in the Bible with links as good reading resources.
Have a wonderful resurrection day. Our Lord Jesus is risen! Halleluyah! 

 

Note from the author: This is a Christmas message that I repost every year because of its timelessness. I hope that it will bless you and that the seeds of love, truth, hope and joy planted in your heart by the Lord will flourish as Aaron´s almond rod of authority and service and nurture the hungry and thirsty around us.

A Light and Seed Christmas message

Written by Jean-Louis

Reposted and revised from the original post written in 2009. 

  As people celebrate Christmas with all its symbols, regardless of what they think the exact time and year of God's divine condescension among us  are, this is what this season represents to me as a spiritual reality.

As I was reflecting upon the incarnation of our Savior Christ Jesus as the supreme gift of our Heavenly Father to mankind, I could not help but think of the limited perspective that we sometimes have of the infinite measure of all of God’s attributes and works in the vast universe He created but also in each of our lives.

The first thing I consider when I ponder the miracle of the supernatural birth of Jesus-Christ is that God chose to manifest His presence in the flesh as a seed of the Holy Spirit in the chosen womb of Mary.

Imagine a little! The creator and sustainer of the endless universe becoming a frail human being Himself subject to the natural law of human birth and physical existence.

What is amazing is that as we follow the course of His birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and His coming back to take His own faithful ones to reign with Him, the same characteristic stages apply to us who have experienced the second spiritual birth and have passed from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light.

 As the mature tree is essentially contained in the seed just waiting to develop through the different stages of growth, so was the life of the Lord Jesus and so is every one of our lives.
 
An illustration from the sharing of presents on Christmas day comes to mind. Imagine one of the present being a huge box with someone’s name on it. The person feverishly tears off the paper hoping to discover a big present that will provide a level of satisfaction commensurate to his perceived size. But as the box reveals another smaller box hidden under the packing peanuts, he suspects someone is playing a joke on him as he realizes from the sheer weight of the box.

As he keeps on opening another box, then another one, he finally opens the last tiny box and no matter what the value of the present, it leaves him or her with a sense of unfulfilled expectation and diminished satisfaction. Here in brief is how the acquiring and enjoying of material things which are supposed to fulfill our lives from the cradle to the grave end up being a great disappointment and a snare in the end. Not so with the present from our God, the free gift of salvation available to anyone willing to accept and receive it. 

Conversely, imagine that you received the gift of God, salvation by grace in a small box. After receiving and opening the gift, once your life is changed by that spiritual tiny seed, you realize that as you grow, the gift keeps on growing as you learn and mature into eternal everlasting life, the box of our life, so to speak, getting bigger and bigger.

Now considering another angle to giving and sharing presents.
Jesus talking about greed said that life doesn’t consist in the abundance of things. Luke 12:15.And He told the people to not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21.

Jesus is not only talking about treasures, but incorruptible treasures! What is He talking about? He is talking about treasures that have their beginning as an intangible seed beginning here on the earth and continuing in Heaven and/or enjoying all the stages of the growth of the seed in two dimensions simultaneously, in the physical body while at the same time in the invisible realm of the spirit.

He means treasures like the Christian virtues, generosity of spirit, goodness, mercy, humility, faith, wisdom, spiritual knowledge, love, patience, fruits of the Spirit, all intangible, but whose effects are felt when translated into good works and service to our brothers, sisters and fellow man. And of course, included are all the material gifts that he has blessed us with in superabundance to share with those less fortunate than us and to provide the means to advance the Kingdom of God, through preaching of the Gospel through gifts to missions throughout the world. Everything that will become the stones building the foundation of our sphere of influence in the coming Kingdom.

In I Timothy 6: 18, Paul tells Timothy to "Command those who are rich in this present world... to put their hope in God who richly provide us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up for themselves a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life". It is obvious that one can build a house or a building only as tall and as large as the dimensions of the foundation supporting it, otherwise the building collapses.

In the Bible we can find several mentions of this manifestation of life as encapsulated in the title of Our Lord who is the Alpha, the beginning and Omega, the end and of course everything in between.

We can find the image of the seed in I Peter 1:23. “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is through the living and abiding Word of God.” Isaiah 9:6-7 promise of the coming Messiah follows this development: "for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest upon His shoulders … there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace."

To give another perspective to our modern misguided interpretation of authority, let’s look at the test of authority as it applies to governing a people. To resolve the problem of questioning of Aaron the high priest's leadership by the other leaders of Israel, God caused Aaron’s rod, sign of his delegated authority to instantly sprout, put forth buds and bear ripe almonds, Numbers 17:8. And the best of it is that it started from a piece of dead wood, the wood of an almond tree.  Here in a nut shell, we have a transformation (resurrection), new birth and growth, a flowering branch and a mature nut ready for nourishment. Now real and good delegated authority consists in extracting the nut out the shell without crushing the nut. Why would God choose an almond branch out of all the possibilities? 

 To have a more thorough understanding of the use of the Almond Tree in the Bible, click Here,

As an aside, it is a good lesson in the discipline of children. If we want almond paste mixed with hard bits and pieces of shell mixed together, then we can crush the entire almond with brute force. If we want to raise emotionally and spiritually healthy children we need to apply discipline with the wise and loving, but firm instruction provided by God, breaking the strong will, but not crushing the spirit. Thus the seed will grow into maturity and produce a good fruit or a good nut in this case!

Salvation, knowledge and wisdom are part of the incorruptible treasures that Christ talks about in Matthew. Talking about Christ, Isaiah 33:6 declares: “He will be a sure foundation for our times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge: The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”
 
This salvation which starts as a spiritual seed planted by the Holy Spirit Himself in the hearts of men who have received Him on His terms is ever expanding and revealing the loving heart of our Heavenly Father at this time of the year and all year long. "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us". Romans 5:5

Paul prays for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:14-17 that: "He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and 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." This is also my prayer for all of us today and for the coming year.

Contrary to the philosophy of this passing and dying world, the present of eternal life in Christ Jesus started as a tiny seed, first the human seed inherited from our natural father and then the Holy Spirit seed  that contained all that is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which our Father and Creator put us on this earth. See I Corinthians 15.  ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. (NIV)


So this Christmas season until the beginning of 2018 and beyond, I invite you to remember with grateful and humble hearts, that the tiniest and most humble manifestation of life, a human seed, a tiny baby in his or her mother's womb is infinitely precious and worthy of protection and nurturing because it was made in God’s image. Psalm 139.


I invite you also to let your hearts and minds expand onto other amazing dimensions of life and consider all the stages of the life of the Savior in His birth, His death, His resurrection, His going back into the glory of Heaven and His coming back to give us glorified bodies, for we have already been resurrected (spiritually)  if we have been born again, starting as a tiny seed wrapped up in a small and fragile package that we all are, as pilgrims on this earth. 

This season Jesus offers us hope, joy and peace in a world sadly lacking theses blessings.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

Lord God, our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for the gift of life present and eternal in Our Lord Jesus-Christ.

Jan Markell - Globalism -- Hidden Plain View: The New Word Order

2018 01 28 John Haller's Prophecy Update "You Need to Know This: When De...