Grace Seeds # 2

2 Corinthians 1:20

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go by George Matheson

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in thy sunshine's blaze, its day

May brighter, fuller be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbows through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain

That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee;

I lay in dust life's glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red,

Life that shall endless be.

by George Matheson

Grace Seeds # 1

Psalm 72:18

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.

From A Park Bench - The Spiritual Mirror.

It was my Auntie Doris, who with the best intentions in a passing remark once said to me, “You look just like your Dad; I can see Billy living on through you.” My Aunt of course, meant it as a compliment, a word of reassurance but it made me think, where my identity is, is it foremost in the physical and genetic atoms inherited from my parents. Unfortunately, when I look in the mirror as I grow older the more I look like my dad.

In the same way as I grow older with Christ living inside me, the more I resemble God my father. Jesus was the perfect representation of the father and I am united with the fullness of Christ living inside.

I have an exchanged life in Christ not a changed life. All that there is for me is to live in the reality of who I am, I can see who I am in the spirit by looking into the spiritual mirror. The Bible is Gods spiritual mirror, it is his love letter to me, it shows me everything God has provided for me by His grace, it shows me how my Father is and the love that has been deposited inside me.

As I renew my mind by the words of God through grace, my new exchanged life permeates through my mind and starts to eradicate all the bad, corrosive residue of my old, dead sinful flesh. 

When my soul and body agree with my Christ centered spirit, then the supernatural flow of Christ’s life flows out of me into the physical world around me. I release the life of God by living and receiving the grace of God. 

My Premiership Predictions

It seems like yesterday that I was sitting here writing my football season predictions.

And how did I do?

My Premiership top 5 was:

Manchester United

Chelsea

Manchester City

Arsenal

Liverpool

And it finished up:

Manchester United

Manchester City

Chelsea

Arsenal

Spurs

And My Relegation fodder was:

West Brom

Reading

Norwich

And it finished up:

Wigan

Reading

Q.P.R.

My team Everton I predicted a 7th place and they finished 6^th.

And the FA Cup team was Arsenal but it went to Wigan

League Cup team was Newcastle and that went to Swansea.

So there we are, the 2012-13 season finally over for the Premiership. I didn't do too badly, I predicted the Champions and got all the top 4 in the top 4. Spurs surprised me, Everton thrilled me and Liverpool were a disappointment.

When it came to the cup’s I got it way, way wrong, but I am glad as Wigan and Swansea both deserve their trophies, I admire the way both clubs play.

I am looking forward to next season with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all with new managers; it should be more interesting than ever.

The two managers that have really shone this season are Sir Alex and way down the league at AFC Bournemouth, Eddie Howe, what an incredible achievement to gain promotion from the position he took over. Eddie Howe is a talented manager and Bournemouth are a great club. 

Until next season!

Fix Your Eyes On The Cross

Fix your eyes upon the cross

Clearly

Stay close to him who saves

Lovingly

Dwell with him in your spirit

Alive

Drink in the wine of his grace

Revive

Give him the keys to your heart

Surrender

Open the door of your secrets

Answer

Pour out your desires and delights

Share

Give with him all your cares inside

Prayer

Rest in all he has provided

Deeper

Sit with him in fleeting moments

Ponder

From A Park Bench - Jesus Our Shepherd.

One of the most endearing images of my childhood, is a really old fashioned painting my grandparents had adorning their living room wall. This painting wasn't particularly good and to be quite honest I found it a bit unnerving, but also fascinating. It was of a perfect looking Christ, cuddling a small, insecure lamb in his arms.  It was almost too perfect to be true. Too Victorian in its essence. But although it was very religious it contained amazing truth. That Jesus Christ is our shepherd and we are his sheep and just as sheep respond to the voice of the Shepherd, we can hear and recognize the voice of Christ.

We are safe and secure held tight in the embrace of God, because Christ lives and dwells inside of us. He is not distant, he is not far away, and he is ever present with us every minute of every day.

His voice is a voice of love, a whisper of reassurance, a whisper of hope, a confirmation that we are righteous in God. Not the voice of an angry headmaster, because he has nothing to be angry about. All his anger and wrath was poured out on to Christ, who died on our place. His voice is the sound of many waters, the fragrance of heaven, the voice of a lover rushing to meet his bride. With words of adoration, words of love, words of passion, words of desire, words of adventure, words of hope.

Just stop and enjoy the voice of Him who died so that you could live in the fullness of God’s grace.

The Descent from the Cross by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Is this the Face that thrills with awe

     Seraphs who veil their face above?

Is this the Face without a flaw,

     The Face that is the Face of Love?

Yea, this defaced, a lifeless clod,

     Hath all creation's love sufficed,

Hath satisfied the love of God,

     This Face the Face of Jesus Christ.

by Christina Georgina Rossetti

10 Truths from Rob Rufus

Even when you feel surprised, God isn't surprised. God is inside of you, God loves you and God is working your life out to a prefixed victory that He decided before time began

You merit all the blessing that Jesus merits because you are a joint equal heir with Christ and an heir of God and you are 100% righteous all the time and you will be in 10 years time and 5 seconds time and in a billion, trillion years time - you will ALWAYS be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

The MOMENT you are made His righteousness by a free gift, the blessings come automatically from heaven but according to the degree your heart is established in the understanding of the gift of righteousness.

The benevolent, peaceful government of God - it's not food or drink but righteousness. Whose righteousness? The gift of righteousness

Every promise God has made is yes and amen in Christ! So every promise - it's His absolute will for you to live in the benefits and fullness of New Covenant promises

When Jesus went to that Cross He surrendered to the sickness we deserve, the wrath we deserve, the curses - He surrendered to all of that willingly! For the joy set before Him - He endured the Cross knowing the joy we will experience when we believe this and are established in righteousness.

Jesus was crushed so that God would never crush you.

A people who have ALL condemnation lifted off them are empowered to have greater victory over sin.

Some Christians should go on a 5-year diet while that concrete is setting - stay on grace

The Father would take an oath never to rebuke us or withdraw His love - never to withdraw His peace but to always speak to us and relate to us with absolute recognition that we are righteous.

From A Park Bench - Say What You See.

Back in the 1980’s on a Sunday night Roy Walker’s  “Catchphrase” was essential viewing, trying to work out the “Catchphrase” before the contestants, consisted of shouting at the TV with what I might think was the right answer, invariably it was. Roy’s own catch phrase was, “Say what you see!” and this was the best advice he could have given anyone, but unfortunately some contestants saw different things. I am sure some even saw things that we not there! It was great entertainment.

Christ’s death on the cross changed everything, the Old Covenant laws and regulations were made obsolete and Christ through his death opened a new and living way to God. No longer was it all about looking forward to a day, now the day had arrived and God was fully united with man.

The Old Covenant had placed great value on faith in God. It laid the burden on man to put his faith in God.  Before the cross the flow of faith was us to God, but after the cross the flow of faith is God to us.

The New Covenant is all about God having faith in me. Christ is my mediator, my great high priest and he has perfect and great faith on my behalf. I do not have to examine myself to see if I have faith, as I look and focus on Christ, I live in his faith and he is the author and perfector of my faith.

My focus is on Christ and in Him I was crucified. The life I now live is by the faith of the son of God.

I have the faith of Christ living inside of me, I have His faith and that faith is a free gift by grace.

Christ believes in me, I am holy, I am righteous, I am sanctified, I am redeemed. God sees me as “In Christ”, perfect , secure and rooted in the power of the kingdom of God. I now “Say what I see” I see Christ living and united in me, I see Christ working through me, I see Christ’s faith in me.

Mystery

A life full of riches

A future full of glory

For the glorious heart of love

For the wonderful secret

Mystery hidden for ages

And now revealed

For the expectation of glory

Radiating his presence

And Christ living on the inside

The mystery made known

Perfect communion

Harmony in pleasure

Revealed in unmerited grace.

The Mystery Revealed

One of the great things about watching an Agatha Christie drama for the very first time is playing the detective yourself.  Great entertainment can be found trying to work out who done it! Solving the labyrinth of clues, joining up the hidden connections and working the mystery out. Let us be honest, there is nothing quite as satisfying as getting it right. Most clues are clouded in mystery and some are not revealed to the viewer, so sometimes it is just impossible to work out and it becomes a matter of guesswork and luck.

The Old Testament contained a mystery, a secret hidden in prophecies, pictures, images, words and actions. Something that was so radical, so good, so scandalous, so unbelievable that the Old Testament saints could only look forward to it, and put their faith in it, their hope in the coming Messiah, the promise of salvation. God’s grace and mercy was freely given to these saints, as they trusted a God who would one day reconcile himself to them. And just like an Agatha Christie drama all the clues were there for everyone to find and understand to uncover the final result.

And what was this mystery that runs through the bible, it is a crimson strand of God’s grace, it is that God now lives and dwells inside every believer, it is “Christ in us – the hope of glory”.

Christ gives us his riches, Christ gives us his glory, Christ gives us his righteousness, Christ gives us his life, Christ gives us eternal life, and Christ dwells in our hearts with the same power that raised him from the dead. He is totally and utterly united with in us.

Christ is God’s gift to me given to me on God’s initiative, before I even existed. 

The good news is that I can be connected and interwoven into God, through Christ by His Spirit. The trinity now lives inside me; I have become God’s dwelling place, a holy, walking, talking, living temple.

Grace Notes - Joel 3 v 21

“I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: For the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” Joel 3:21.

When we believe in the reality of God’s grace, His favor that flows from the finished work of Christ on the cross, we position ourselves to receive the power of Christ flowing through and out of us.

Through Christ we are united into the fullness of God filling our bodies. We can carry the radiance of God’s presence on our lives each and every day.

We are His temple, we carry His presence here on Earth, God has come to His people and He is inside each and every believer. When we touch, breathe, lay hands on people we are imparting the power and presence of God into people’s lives.

God believes in you. He sees His promises inside of you. He believes that you can be everything He ever dreamed you could be. It is simply about living a life that believes in the power and the presence of God, believe that your sins are forgiven, believe that your debts have been relieved, believe that you have been healed, and believe that God in Christ by His Spirit has come to live inside you.

John G. Lake in his sermon on “The Tangibility of the Spirit,” explains that Christ blood applied to the believer cleanses spirit, soul and body.

“The Christian stands out as the revelation of divine power of Jesus Christ to come into the spirit of man, and change it and make it sweet and lovely like God Himself. To come into the mind of man, and take possession of all its faculties.  To come into the nature of man and change it by the power of God until his thoughts are pure, holy, and lovely. To come into his old diseased body until God’s action revolutionizes every cell of the blood. 

I believe that when the Blood of Jesus Christ is applied to a man’s nature, spirit, soul and body, that when his sin is forgiven, the effects of that sin should be eliminated from his life. This may not be true in all Christian lives because we have not been educated in our Christian faith to believe with the same force and power for physical cleansing, as we have for the cleansing of our soul. But the word of God says, “I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: For the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” Joel 3:21.”

Well Done Wigan

It was that special Saturday yesterday, the F.A. Cup Final.

It wasn’t as special for me, not as special as it was when I was growing up, then it was watching the build up three hours before, follow the teams and get really involved in the build up. Yesterday it was a quick rush home from my teenage boys work placement at a local stable and then switch on the TV ten minutes before kick-off.

Fifteen minutes into the game my daughter decided to knock over a glass of Coke and I spent 10 mintues clearing and mopping up from the floor, thankfully I missed nothing.

In fact I missed very little for 90 minutes, Wigan Athletic played some excellent passing football, their pressing and movement was superb, but they were toothless in breaking down an efficient Manchester City defence. In fact, there were times that I had to pinch myself to realize that Manchester City had actually turned up, their excellent Captain Kompany seemed to be the only player who wanted to win.

The game turned on the sending off, (no argument there) Wigan scored from a near post corner where the departed player should have been defending. An excellent goal and a just reward for an unnecessary sending off.

Wigan deserved their prize, the better team who actually wanted to win and played  the opposition off the park.

The smiles on the faces of the supporters and the Chairman said it all.

I worked in Wigan for eight years and I loved the town and the people. Warm hearted, honest and down to earth. I found Wiganers always friendly and warmingly suspicious of a South Coast lad from Eastbourne. Most of them looked at me in bemusement when that knew I came north from a holiday resort to work in a town like Wigan.

No town or team deserves it more than Wigan and it makes my heart glad that this great town has won this great trophy.

In the Cross of Christ I Glory by John Bowering

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o'ertake me,
Hopes deceive and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me:
Lo! It glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more lustre to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

by John Bowering