Believe Right!

Believers, see our Saviour Jesus Christ and His love for us in the Old Testament story of David (a picture of God the Father) who cut a covenant with his beloved Jonathan (a picture of Christ) and because of this covenant, showed grace to Jonathan's son Mephibosheth (you and I in Christ.) Mephibosheth got to eat at the Lord's table all the days of his life ONLY because of the covenant that David had with Jonathan! That's our life in Christ today! Mephibosheth was lame in both feet but do you know how he became lame? When his grandfather Saul's house heard that Saul was dead, they feared for their lives. Was this not David that their father Saul tried to kill several times? They thought David was coming to exterminate them (a picture of the world and even believers today thinking that God is still angry with them and wants to punish them for their sins and those of their fathers.) So they fled (a picture of doing things to escape God's judgment). Jonathan...

Believers, did you know that The name "Rachel" (Rahel in Hebrew) means "Lamb" in English? It is the same word used to describe our Saviour Jesus in Isaiah 53:7, "Like a sheep (rahel) that is silent before its shearers, so did He not open His mouth". Did you know that Rachel (Lamb) died from giving birth to Benjamin? This is a picture of Christ the Lamb of God who gave His life to give birth to all who are in Him aka the Benjamin Generation: cherished by our Saviour Jesus Christ, given life through His death and blessed beyond measure through no effort of ours but through His undeserved, unmerited favour (Grace.) The Old Testament is filled with faith pictures like this one; By God's grace, see our Saviour Jesus Christ and our salvation in Him in these pictures. Remember the two despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24? They were sad because they felt that their hope of redemption was lost since Christ had died. Here's what He ...

Many times we look at people that we deem to be "core sinners" and wonder why they just won't stop sinning. Beloved of God, this is akin to the French Queen Marie Antoinette (supposedly) saying "Then let them eat cake" upon being alerted that the people were suffering due to widespread bread shortages! How could starving people who have no bread possibly afford to buy expensive cake to quell their hunger? I believe that most people who commit sins, including Christians, are victims of "time and chance," looking for a way out like fish trapped in a net, and not a way to continue wallowing in sin. Remember the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9:11-18- "11 I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. 12 Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caugh...

Believers, don't let any one deceive you into thinking that "all sinners are equal but some are more equal than others." Paul said in Romans 7:18-  "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find." The flesh refers to human effort that is channeled at attaining any of God's freely-given blessings in Christ (righteousness, living a morally upright life, freedom from oppression, financial stability, whatever we lack.) The flesh that is in a prostitute is the same flesh that is in a pastor and the same flesh that was in Paul the apostle of Christ- there is no good in it. It is what caused Peter to deny Christ three times. Remember "the arm of flesh will fail."  (Wow. just noticed that Prostitute, Pastor, Paul and Peter above all start with the letter P!) The non-manifestation of evil works and acts of sin in the lives of many is akin to how ...

When you have faith in the ability of a particular seat to bear your full weight towards giving you rest from your struggles and the heavy loads that you are carrying, you'll sit with confidence, without first trying to lose some weight and plop all of your luggage on it too, especially if your life depended on your doing so. But when you're not quite sure that the seat can bear your weight and that of your luggage, you try to divest yourself of some weight and reduce your luggage so that you can be the "right" weight before you sit down to rest in this seat that your life depends on. How do these analogies relate to Christians? Believers, our Abba Father has provided a place of rest from all of our labours and heavy loads in our Saviour Jesus Christ, the real Mercy Seat. In Old Testament, the greek word for “mercy-seat” is hilasterion, the same word for “propitiation.” In the New Testament Christ is described as our “propitiation” in Romans 3:24-25- ...

Believers, it's no coincidence that the author of the most popular Psalms 23, David, was a shepherd before he became king. The relationship that a sheep has with its shepherd is one of ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE on the shepherd and David expresses this in this wonderful Psalm for us to see the everlasting love of our Saviour Jesus Christ the good Shepherd. Did you know that sheep are hopelessly helpless and lost without a shepherd? Worse, a sheep that has fallen over on its back (cast sheep) will remain in this "cast down" position until someone with experience comes to right it. If no one does, after some time in the cast position, gas begins to collect in its stomach and it hardens; blood circulation to extremities and air supply is cut off, and the sheep will eventually die. Before it dies, wild animals and scavengers that notice its distress start to devour it while it's still alive! All of these things are typologies of what happens to a person who does not have Ch...

Believers, in the account of the life of Joseph (a picture of Christ in the Old Testament,) we see a story parallel to that of the Twelve Spies: the two who believed the Lord's report (Joshua and Caleb) and the Ten who did not believe.  Both stories point to the love of Christ for us and how our salvation (from death, hell, sickness, lack, the curse, whatever) is not earned by works or human effort but purchased with the blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ and freely given to all who believe. Jacob had twelve sons. Ten sons were borne through Leah and the servant girls (Law.) Two sons were borne through Rachel whom Jacob loved. Micah 7:18 says of our Father in heaven-  "...He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy." The root word for "mercy" here in Hebrew is "hesed" which means Grace. Our Abba Father delights in Grace and wants us all to be under Grace where sin will not have dominion over us and not under Law wher...