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Archive for June 2011

Jun/11

27

Never Ashamed Pt 2

The Great Cover Up

Gen 3:7

Both of them knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.  (NKJV)

In our last Blog we saw how shame entered into the human race. The word ‘ashamed’ means to be embarrassed, worthless, disgraced, guilty; and shame is a feeling, an emotion. Hence , when Adam and Eve knew they had committed sin by eating of the forbidden fruit, they felt ashamed of their actions and covered up themselves with fig leaves.

Shame will always cause people to cover up. That’s why mankind wear clothes, to cover up the shame of the naked body. Unfortunately covering up was man’s way of making himself presentable before God and became self righteousness.

There’s a difference between ‘covering over’ and ‘covering up’. Covering over speaks of protection, shielding and guarding. Whereas, covering up speaks of hiding, avoiding detection, deception, manipulation and lies.

When we seek to cover up shame, we get into all sorts of dysfunctional behaviour to prevent ourselves from being exposed, uncovered, vulnerable and insecure.

When Adam and Eve covered up their shame by covering their bodies with fig leaves, nakedness throughout the scriptures became synonymous with shame. When a country was invaded and conquered, the victors would force their captives to strip naked and tied chains around their necks and feet before selling them into slavery. The nakedness was a sign of their shame: they were a defeated conquered people, stripped of all dignity and respect.

In our next Blog we shall look at how Jesus took our shame on the cross at Calvary and has covered us again by His glory.

Meditation Point: What areas of my life do I feel ashamed about or to put it another way, what areas of my life do I hide or cover up from God and others.



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Jun/11

20

Never Ashamed Pt 1

Clothed in Glory

Ps 104:1-2
Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment.

When Adam & Eve were in the garden of Eden, the scripture says, ‘they were naked and not ashamed’ (Gen 2:25). Why was this?

The answer: ‘THEY HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG’

Shame comes from doing wrong. But let’s start from the beginning and follow shame through from the Old Testament to the New Testament and show how Jesus delivers us from shame.

Scripture tells us that God is clothed with glory, honour and light! Ps 104:1-2 Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with glory and majesty (or honor);  you wear light like a robe. (NCV); And when God created mankind, He  clothed them also with glory and honour Ps 8:1,5. What is man that You are mindful of him. You have crowned him with glory and honor.  (AMP)

Adam & Eve now had face to face relationship, fellowship and friendship with God. Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence (face) of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (KJV) In Hebrew the word ‘presence’ can also be translated ‘face’.

Hence man knew complete love, acceptance and standing with God. They were not ashamed, they were innocent, that is, unaware of any negative emotions such as, fear, shame, guilt and rejection.

God had given them only one command: They could eat the fruit from all the trees of the garden except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and  evil. The punishment for breaking this command, was death! (Gen 2:16,17.)

But that fateful day came when they disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Disobedience is sin, and immediately they sinned, their covering of glory was broken off them. Rom 3:23  Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows.  (AMP)

Now they experienced shame because they knew they had lost their glory for doing wrong; and because they did wrong, for the first time they experienced shame and guilt. This was followed by fear because they knew their punishment for breaking God’s command was death! And to top it off,God later expelled them from the garden, triggering the negative emotion of rejection.

In our next Blog we will look at the devastating effects of shame and it’s consequences for the human race.

Meditation Point: Am I carrying shame because I or someone close to me has done wrong.




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Jun/11

14

God Our Provider Pt 5

Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

In this account Jesus says that the nations chase after riches and wealth but the disciples are not to do this but are  to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and He will  add to them what they need.

Many have taken this scripture and applied law to it’s outworking. It goes like this: I must make sure my speech and actions are holy and righteous; I must eliminate any hidden sin from my lifestyle otherwise it will block the channels of God’s provision; and I must spend prolonged periods of time in prayer seeking God’s purpose for me in His Kingdom.

This approach puts the emphasis for God’s provision upon us and what we have to do and if things don’t work out we must have made a mistake, missed God’s intentions for our life.

But when we pass this scripture through the cross we see that it is fulfilled ‘In Christ’:

1) When we became born again, God gave us the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17). We did not have to earn it or work for it, we simply received it when we invited Christ into our lives. We are now the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5:21)

2) When we became born again we were born into the Kingdom of God (Jn 3:3,5) Everything in the Kingdom is righteous (Rom 14:17) which is why God gave us His righteousness; without it we couldn’t get in.

We sought first God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness and now we have them both. Therefore, when we need God’s provision, we ask Him for what we need and then stand in His righteousness and trust Him to meet that need. This puts the emphasis on God to meet our need. Hence when He does, He receives the honour and glory.

Meditation Point: Father, teach me how to stand in your righteousness and trust you to provide for me.


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Jun/11

6

Kim Hill: In You Alone

This song by Kim Hill is pure grace.

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Jun/11

6

God Our Provider Pt 4

Phil 4:6 Don’t fret or worry. (TMB)

In Mt 6 (Pt 1) Jesus is teaching His disciples to trust Him to provide for their livelihoods and highlights the biggest threat to trust: ‘WORRY’.  In fact Jesus exhorts them 5 times against worrying. So let’s unpack worry.

In the Greek language the word worry means: To be anxious, to be distracted, to care about, to take thought for, to be troubled about. And the reason Jesus exhorts against worry is because at it’s root, worry is a work of the flesh, it’s dead works and is self righteousness.

Why is this? Because worry is us taking our eyes off Jesus and trying to work things out by ourselves, eg: What if this happens and what if that happens and how can God possibly meet this need etc; such thinking is trying to project into the future by working out what will happen, thus it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. Which is why the last time Jesus warns against worry in v 34, He says, ‘Do not worry about tomorrow‘. (NIV)

When we worry about tomorrow our minds become distracted, filled with vain imaginations and our thoughts lead us into unreality; satan rides on the back of such thinking and kicks us from pillar to post, draining us emotionally, mentally and spiritually. So how can we stop worrying?

The key is to trust God using His Word so that we replace our thoughts with the thoughts of God’s Word; Eg Let’s apply Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

This Word tells us not to worry but to pray about our problems, commit them to God and thank Him for resolving them. The burden of our problems has now been transferred from us to God. The battle now begins to leave our problems with God or to take them back in our minds and worry about them again.

This is where every time we are tempted to take them back, we confess God’s Word over ourselves, ” No! I will not take my problems back. I leave them with you God. You have said not to be worried or anxious or distracted and have promised to resolve my problems for me”. In so doing we are replacing our thoughts with the thoughts of God’s Word.

This is a battle we must win and can win if we are determined enough. Why do we have to confess God’s Word over ourselves; it’s because confessing God’s Word releases the faith and power that’s locked up inside that Word, enabling us to overcome. The result being that our hearts and minds remain at peace which is the daily birthright for every Christian.

Meditation Point: By confessing God’s Word over myself, I can win the battle of the mind and be at peace.



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