Truth and Transparency!!

Charismatics are sometimes rather infamous for excitedly exaggerating the truth about miracles, signs and wonders. We are also rather infamous for prophesying and then forgetting to say when they don't come true. I don't think it's out of a malicious desire to lie. I think it is more because we are so desperate for God's manifest Presence to break through that we sometimes see things when they do not exist or maybe are not quite as obvious as we first thought. Maybe it does destroy the credibility of charismatics especially in the eyes of those "open but cautious" and it certainly gives fuel to the hyper-anti charismatics such as John MacArthur, Peter Masters and co.

I wanted to write a post to correct something I said. And it's rather painful. But I hope that by correcting it, I can show that we don't all pretend to forget. But I hope also it makes a statement that my belief and faith in the goodness of God hasn't changed. I STILL believe!

I wrote a post last month called "My Miracle!" - I got a surprise amount of money that I rejoiced over and I really thought it was a tax rebate. Or a gift from heaven! Unfortunately I recieved a letter this week stating that it was in fact an overpayment in error from the Children's Hospital and I will indeed have to re-pay it. On top of the overpayment from my previous job in Bristol. It seems quite a few finance departments are making costly mistakes at the moment! I know I gave a lot of that money away because I wanted to bless others with what I thought was God's gifts and I don't regret that a bit. I just see it as a loan that I'll have to repay but boy am I glad people got blessed from a finance department error!

It's been a pretty awful week for me to be honest. The saga at Acorns is dragging on and looks set to drag on for the next 6 to 12 months. I had an extremely unpleasant confrontation with a client in my current job that lead to me not being able to go back to work there. I went to see my G.P yesterday in a bit of a mess and he did my blood pressure - 160/110 - oops! Rob Rufus's sermon on "Stress-Free Living" couldn't have come at a better time!

But I was watching the video I posted on the blog post; "My Miracle!". It still stands. He is still the King! He is still worthy of all my worship and adoration! He is still for me 100% and He doesn't judge me! Despite all the accusations and gossip circulating about me at the moment, there is just ONE opinion that matters. His. And His opinion is this;

"You are righteous - today, now and forever - because I am more than satisfied with the sacrifice of My Son. You are accepted and beloved on high".

So here's the video again! It's hard to worship when my heart's breaking - but the message of grace makes it so possible and I STILL believe in the blessing of Abraham! You lose devil! I am not going to get bitter! My God is awesome, abundant, lavish, loving and just awesome and worthy of eternity's praises!

Ern Baxter on Romans and Abraham!!

Here is the second video clip I've discovered of Ern addressing the key figure of Abraham. I never really appreciated the role that Abraham played in redemptive history until I saw him through revelation through Rob's ministry earlier in the year. Since then everything just seems to make "sense"! Words like "righteousness" and "faith" have stopped carrying condemning connotations and now carry excitement and vision and hope!

I have been reading "Five Views on Law and Gospel" and found it an interesting read in comparing the different ways that theology views the place of the law. But I found it disappointing to see that one theologian wrote of Abraham;

"Even though he (Abraham) did not receive the Decalogue, he kept the law of God ... It is important to note that the "father of faith" was a law keeper".

It seems to me that the Bible is pretty clear that Abraham walked with God apart from law - hence why he truly is the "father of faith" - (Romans 4:13, 4:16, Galatians 3:17 (law came 430 years after Abraham!), 3:18 and so on)

I love the way Ern deals with Abraham and brings his encounter with God to life - again his preaching style and humour so reminds me of Rob and vice versa!

My MIRACLE!!!

I was going to wait before posting this - but I can't keep it in any LONGER!!

My MIRACLE!!

I had an absolute miracle happen to me two days ago. I was driving home blearily from work and Scott rang up - which I thought was rather unusual. Fearing it was an emergency I answered and he told me he had been on the internet bank borrowing some money from me. And a rather large payment of money had gone into my account from the Children's Hospital - and he thought he ought to warn me! I wasn't expecting one as I haven't been able to work for them for almost four months due to my community nursing commitments. I initally feared that it was another error of overpayment which I would have to pay back.

But then my payslip arrived and it turns out it was a tax rebate! I've never had a rebate before and certainly never one so large. The funny thing is that I've had some quite large outgoings in the last few months and I have been worrying about it. This payment more than covers all my outgoings and then some!! I've had the whole area of finances on my mind - especially with Rob Rufus's transforming teaching - but now it is actually coming true! A gift from my glorious, wonderful heavenly Father!!

And the most exciting thing is that I've been planning with Him how to invest it in His Kingdom and asking His thoughts on where He wants it going. He gave it and it's all His anyway!! I've always feared that I have the potential to be selfish which is why I suspected that God's never allowed me to have money! But when it's actually there - wow the thrill of investing into His Kingdom and His mission! Where on earth is the fun of spending it on myself when that gift can go to China or to London?!

What can I say? Every time I think about what a complete God-send it is, what an extravagant gift of love from my wonderful Saviour - my tears start flowing (call me a wuss - I don't care!) and I am just lost for words. This wonderful beautiful song from Grapevine (an awesome Bible Week in the United Kingdom) sums it up ... perfectly;

THANK YOU FATHER!! I LOVE YOU!!

Expecting the Blessing of Abraham!!

This blog has been a while in coming because to be honest I've struggled believing it! It really does seem too good to be true! That's because it IS too good! Here's the New Testament principle:

Galatians 3:6 (NIV):

"Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness"

Galatians 3:7, 9 (NASB):

"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham ... So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham".

So Paul lays out quite concisely what Abraham simply did to receive this blessing. "He believed God". Just as concisely we are told what we do to receive the same blessing AS Abraham - we simply also believe God. What then is the blessing that Abraham received? It is a seven-fold blessing and it's found in Genesis 12:2-3;

1. And I will make you a great nation
2. And I will bless you,
3. And make your name great;
4. And so you shall be a blessing;
5. And I will bless those who bless you,
6. And the one who curses you I will curse
7. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

THAT is the blessing that fell upon Abraham and if we are to believe the Word of God - THAT is the blessing coming our way if we have faith! Now I must admit that my religious background hasn't been very pre-disposed to the idea of God actually being passionate about "blessing me abundantly". My initial upbringing was very much instruction on how sinful we were and then my time in Bristol was far too dominated by my now-hated phrase; "Better than I deserve". So you can see I struggle with this. Yes I believe God is ABLE to bless (but as Rob Rufus points out - that isn't faith at all. Even demons believe God is ABLE). Faith is believing God is WILLING to bless!

Even the recent "Preaching the Cross" edited by Dever, Duncan, Mohler et al spoke out against this saying;

"We further deny that any teaching that offers health and wealth as God's assured promises in this life can be considered a true gospel".

Well I understand they may be reacting against health and wealth and the prosperity gospel which teaches that health and wealth is a reward for your faith. But this is different. This is faith in an abundantly generous God who pours out health and wealth among other blessings as a display of His sovereign affection and love for His people. But now I have started to process this awesome revelation - I've started to see it everywhere! For instance Ern Baxter was speaking on "The King, the Kingdom and the Holy Spirit" while I was driving back from London and he said;

"God makes us millionaires to prosper the kingdom of heaven!".

I can hear the evangelical "winces" even as I typed this! But we need to get away from the discomfort with money. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 10:19: "Money answers everything". It's the LOVE of money that is the root of evil! If we start to realise that we are simply stewards of God's blessing and that He has given it to us for the blessing of the nations then it is a whole new perspective, just as if we realise that He empowers us to do signs and wonders and healings for others and not to promote ourselves.

Rob Rufus had such an amazingly helpful perspective on prosperity in his sermon "Established in the Gift of Righteousness - Part 2". It's helpful because I think traditionally the perception was that health and wealth teachers received this "blessing" and ended up with private jets and Rolls-Royces. If you see that God has given you this prosperity as a free and undeserved blessing then how can you squander it in such a way while thousands die in Africa? You can't and you won't surely! Rob said;

"We need to develop in 2009 a receptive attitude - an attitude of receptivity to the goodness and blessings of God. Let's get out of this thing - well I've got enough now! My job pays for my rent, food and travel. That is like living in slavery! The land of "just enough"! God is El-Shaddi - the God who is "more than enough"! Blessing after blessing after blessing! God wants to bless us so that the nations will fear Him!

God wants to release millions of dollars into this church so we will invade the nations and so we will bless! Money says to land; "I can buy you!". Money says to buildings; "I can buy you!". Money says to missionaries; "I can pay you". Money says to the poor; "I can feed you". Money says to the wealthy that God is not against money - He is against the love of money. I don't love money - I love Jesus! I tell you people in this hour who are not greedy are going to be entrusted with the stewardship of great wealth because we will not consume it upon ourselves but release finances to feed the poor and help as the economic downturn gets worse - we are just going to get better!

God will bless your job and bless you with FAR MORE than just to pay your rent! We are not going to finance the gospel in these last days just by salary! Salary will not be enough! It's got to be more! You will find money just coming in - all your richest uncles and aunties are going to die!

Having a receptive attitude means to be living with a confident expectation of good coming into your life. Every day I have got to discipline my mind to stop the negativity, the foreboding, the sense of dread, the sense of this could happen or that could happen, or that loved one could die, or this may happen. This could happen to my church or that could happen to me. I have got to live with a spirit of receptivity - a confident expectation of God that I have come into fulness of grace and from that fulness of grace I am receiving one blessing after another!".

And finally I was interested to see that C Peter Wagner even addressed this in a book of his that I have read recently called "Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World";

"One of the most effective devices Satan has used to keep the Church from being ready to receive a great transfer of wealth is the pernicious influence of the spirit of poverty. The church in general has been seriously deluded with the widespread notion that piety is closely related to poverty ... (poverty) and many other disasters are termed "curses" (in Deuteronomy 28)".

This all makes so much sense to me. The majority of my frustration with not having enough finances is because there is so much I want to "do" with it. I long to pay for a much needed loft-conversion for Pete and his family, I long to give to help Scott's family out, I long to pour thousands into China to see City Church International's much longed for hospices raised up and precious and dying children cured. I don't want a new car particularly - my little Ford Ka (called "Abi" after it's previous owner - my friend!) gets me from A to B quite speedily!

I love Rob's perspective - and by the way let me say that this hasn't been released on my life ... yet! But this is something I am now in the position of believing and seeing. The true Gospel of grace means that God is FOR us and is abundantly passionate about us!

"Money says to land; "I can buy you!". Money says to buildings; "I can buy you!". Money says to missionaries; "I can pay you". Money says to the poor; "I can feed you". Money says to the wealthy that God is not against money - He is against the love of money".

Let's get considering Abraham!

It's Starting to Sink In!!!

I drove home this morning after a fantastic night shift - having spent a few glorious hours transcribing just 20 minutes of Rob's second sermon in the series "Established in the Gift of Righteousness". (The entire transcript of Part 1 is here). And do you know?! I think it's starting to sink in! It was just such an exhilarating, glorious feeling! In his small book; "The Cross-Centred Life" C J Mahaney was fond of saying; "Preach the gospel to yourself daily". I always interpreted that to mean recount the agonies that Jesus went through on my behalf, the horror of my sin that drove Him there and so on. I must confess I didn't find the experience hugely enjoyable or helpful. It just made me feel bad about myself.

Today I tried "preaching the gospel to myself" but slightly differently. Bearing in mind Rob's glorious comment about "living with a truly receptive mind means not dreading every day" - I tried to imagine what it would be like if this Saturday was the first day that I had won the jackpot on the National Lottery! That all my debts were paid off and I didn't have to worry another day about each pay-day paying another endless payment of debt to a faceless company that didn't appreciate the hard work I put into earning that money. That the Lottery win meant I could buy outright my beautiful flat and pay the mortgage off straight away! And that I could work because I WANTED to not because I NEEDED to.

I know some Pharisees may be "tutting" at my National Lottery mention - shame on you. Would YOU turn down 14 million pounds if it was offered you!?

But then I thought about the approaching dreaded day for singles - St Valentines Day. And rather than being single and heading home to my empty bed, I thought about having a wife in it - the most beautiful, kind, caring wife in the world who I could dote on and love with all my heart. And I suddenly thought that if money were no object then I knew what I would do for her! I would fly her (first-class) to New York for the most romantic weekend of her life! I would watch the sun set up the Empire State Building and cuddle her until the lights of the city came on. I must confess imagining the ideas that I would put into practice for a loved one gave me an even bigger thrill than the National Lottery!

But as I was thinking about that, I heard the inward, audible voice of God whisper; "If you being evil know how to give good gifts ... how much MORE ... ?" and I suddenly got a glimpse of what I think Rob Rufus is trying to get across in his sermons. That right NOW up in heaven, God Himself is getting a kick out of thinking about ways to bless and thrill ME simply because He loves me!! Wow!! That if I get a pleasure from thinking even about an imaginary loved one and what I could do to demonstrate my love to them - how much MORE is our wonderful, abundant Daddy thinking of ways to bless us?

See - I have always been taught traditionally that it's all about "faith" and that faith means "we don't see" and because we "don't see" the Father's love but take it by "faith" then we are blessed - somehow. I can see now that is complete and utter heresy. What kind of SICK relationship would it be if a partner - a husband - a wife expected their loved one to simply "know" that they are loved without demonstrations of that love? Now I know - the ultimate demonstration of love was at Calvary. Ohhhh wow .... I absolutely know that. But is God going to stop there? No!

I am still getting my head round Romans 4:13 that;

"For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith".

Why was Abraham's faith counted as righteousness? Because God came to a heathen and told him; "I am going to bless you". And Abraham simply accepted it because he didn't have the law in his life telling him that "he needed to earn such blessing". He just accepted it! And God was thrilled with such faith - and that was credited to him as righteousness. Just so with us! Just so with me!

I am not going to limit God today! I am not expecting financial blessing or anything in particular! What excites me is wondering how God will demonstrate His love to me today - not because I deserve it. But because He loves me! And because He gave His Son freely for me that I might be called the righteousness of God and be accepted and be made a co-heir of royalty! Speaking of "heirs" - it's interesting that Romans 4:14 mentions them as well but in a different context;

"For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation".

I am no biblical scholar but that simple verse says to me that if there is one percent of law in my life and in my belief - then faith is simply NOT required and the promises of New Covenant blessing won't work. Why? Because the blessing comes by faith that God loves me! But even worse than that - the Law brings wrath! So why on earth would we EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER want to mix law and grace?! Because where there is NO law, there is NO violation! Or as another translation puts it;

" ... but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law".

Looking forward to a thrilling day - being so loved!