Helen

I believe that God guards us from falling by His Holy Spirit given to us to be our counsellor. He can lead us into all Truth. This is amazing to me. I did forget about God for many years. Then, one day, in the middle of meditation, (yes, new age) I began to think "If I'm going to meditate, I'll meditate on God, and walking in the Garden of Eden without any vine leaf. If God wants to say something, I'm going to hear it." His Holy Spirit was still active in me, despite those years. I began to pick up speed and soon was running toward Jesus again! This is what we are depending on when we pray for backsliders - that God's Spirit of Truth is still ministering to them, no matter where they have gone. I love Him for this constant watchfulness and love. Now I "religiously" keep my daily appointment with Jesus. I can draw closer to Him through the ministrations of this same Holy Spirit of Truth. We are God's masterpiece of creation in which He delighted. But this all came apart when Adam fell. God triumphed when Jesus defeated satan on the cross and made a way for us to become the children of God. He fathers us in the full sense of creation - with His love. Thus, as each sinner returns and begins to grow (be sanctified) He is excited by us, with us, and for us! Such is the humility of our great and mighty God! The more we prosper and become all that He created us to become (individually, as we each are unique), the more excited He is. God's exultant joy doesn't need explaining. It just is! God provided for me to be presented blameless through the cross of Jesus. His love called me through His glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:3). The blood of His Son blood cover(ed)s me. Through His Holy Spirit (as described above) He keeps me, and gives me a garment of righteousness to wear at the wedding feast of the Lamb. He manages the whole thing. All I have to do is be loved, (not reject it) and follow Him. This all works because God is Love. He created us and will love us to the very finish. Oh how I thank you Father! I have a little puppy dog who does all the wrong things, as do all puppy dogs. This does not at all reduce my love for him, my caring for him, my delight in him because I can see the future for us. However I do train him for my household, so that He can be an active and beloved participant. If it turned out that he was untrainable (fortunately this is not so with dogs) I'd have to let him go somewhere else. But seeing he co-operates with me, all is well and we will enjoy each other for many years to come. It is much the same with me (man) and God. Sometimes however man is untrainable and has to be removed. That is not the way God wants it, but that's how it is. God sticks by that, because He gave Adam dominion (authority to decide) and will not interfere with that unless asked to do so. But we can choose to ask God into our lives, and He does come, and He does provide everything we need to overcome and win our race. We have no excuse. We have an earthly and a Heavenly destiny. How wonderful is that!

Keeping myself in God's love is a magnificent program! To me it implicates the whole of ! Corinthians 13, which describes God's love toward us. I am the righteousness of God on earth, so I must reflect that perfect love of God - forgiveness, service, protection etc. wherever I am. (There are certainly flaws in the mirror, but not in the original!) To build the love relationship I'm constantly correcting myself, and trying to build godly relationships with many others around me. Those relationships require many different aspects of me. Jesus said "If you don't love your brother whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen?" Me loving my brother is the way to go. I'm teaching several people to fear no man, and I'm trying very hard to learn that lesson myself. When I fear only God, that's when love has it's perfect expression.

I believe that God, understanding very well the creative gifts that He has put in us, wants us to operate in them. We are made in His image, imbued with creative gifts. To a major degree we create our own lives. What we sow is what we reap. When He gives us a gift He doesn't redeem it He will not take our choices back. He wants our choice to be Him on an ongoing basis, not a five minute wonder! If we did not build our own lives we'd be nothing but robots. I'm spending time each day in prayer and in scripture, with the idea of changing my life to align it with God's word. I'm at several church meetings per week and involved in education and Christian counselling. I'm also working with some local children on an informal basis. I'm constantly marvelling God's glory, (what He is doing in our midst) My prayer life always needs to be improved until I am unceasingly talking with God.

The Lamb deliberately set aside His glory, laid down His life, and allowed His blood to be poured out for the sins of the people from every nation - to bring God's people home from every part of the earth, to create a bride.

Jesus descended from King David as was promised to David, (Matthew 1)who was of the tribe of Judah, as was Jesus. Thus He is called the root of David. He is described as the lion who knows no predator, has no fear, and is called king of the beasts.

"Called by God" is the phrase that is exciting me at the moment. This speaks to me of God the Creator, from whom all things flow, who, when we got lost in sin, made a mighty plan for our salvation, (instead of wiping us out as in the days of Noah, or simply leaving us to our own devices - horrid thought!) He is the one who "so loved the world that He gave His ony begotten son, that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". To be called by this mighty creator is an astounding event. Nothing else matters - nothing at all.

Each of these verses refer to a time when we will eat and drink with our Lord Jesus in Heaven. He is waiting for us there, in anticipation of His wedding - the wedding feast of the Lamb. There will be no tears there, for we will be whole, and in love with Him completely. However it will be a passover as there will only be those present who are covered in the Blood of the Lamb.

There must be a hundred reasons at least why these words about the covenant in blood should fill us with sorrow and joy. Sorrow comes from our need for repentance and to be forgiven, the state of our carnal nature having lost its righteous clothing (Adam and Eve worried about their nakedness), the distance we have come from God, the blindness of people who will not see who He is, the horrendous price of our redemption, the fact that we could do nothing of ourselves to reconcile with God, the separation of man from God, the suffering of Jesus. Joy comes from such things as the greatness of our redemption, the wonder of a God who loves us so much that He could give His only Son to die in our place for our sins, (for we indeed deserved death), the miracles of healing, the great joy of knowing God again (after the fall), the astonishment of His statement "these and greater things will you do...), the miracle of representing God on this earth, the miracles of going into all the world and seeing Him bring His people home, the miracle of changed lives, lives with hope in place of despair, expectation instead of grief. There is no end to the reasons we have for joy.

Considering the evidence that we are in the last days - (it is even mooted that identity chips in the hand and forehead are imminent), the effect of belief in Christ's return/judgement should be to galvanise us into action, to be entirely holy, to give ourselves no excuse, and to evangelise whoever comes across our path. Under-emphasis on Christ's return will cause complacency. This cannot be allowed

Our culture is post-Christian-pagan. In other words there was a rebellion against the Christian precepts of our parents of the fifties. The flower generation rebelled and did not teach their children what they had been taught about God on the grounds that it may inhibit them. They are now experimenting with all sorts of religions - including atheism - in order to satisfy the needs of theirs souls for some sort of answers. We have developed the "if it feels good do it" culture. Religion basically rationalises what we want to do, and are going to do anyway! Anything which includes concepts of self-control are anathema in our culture. The ideas of sin and repentance are not nice and definitely not embraced. Absolutes are said not to exist and each man is his own authority (little tin god) for how he wants to live. John the Baptist proclaimed the highway for Jesus, which is the highway of repentance. There is no other way to God, because we all have sinned and need to be forgiven and come under the Blood of Jesus. Repentance is always difficult for me when habits need to change. New habits don't come easily. They involve a time of disciplined action over a period of time until they are properly installed. By nature we tend to avoid such things. Yet learning and developing is an ongoing process until the day I go to be with my Father. Changing into the likeness of Jesus Christ is the door to the world of revival and miracles, joy and fruitfulness. We can never give up on it.

The coming of Christ is delayed because God is longsuffering and wants everyone to have the opportunity of repentance and salvation. This tells us that God has a great longing for all His children to be with Him, and that none should perish or be lost.

It is important for us to understand "to perish" because that is exactly what is going to happen. As Jesus fulfilled something like 135 scriptures prophesying His coming, so He will fulfil those scriptures prophesying His second coming, and the annihilation of the earth by fire. Our lives are in the context of this prophecy, and as Noah preached about the flood for something like 100 years until it happened, so we must preach about the second coming of Christ until it happens. Our society is so cynical that it seems difficult to demonstrate to them the truth of this prophecy. We usually major on things they can connect with - healing, and then maybe redemption from sin and being born again. This seems to remove the urgency of the gospel, and makes us less desperate to get it out to the world. This is a great question about judgement. I think we attend to the older generations when they come along with their questions, and pay particular attention to the young people. These are third generation (pagan) since the sixties rebellion, and mostly have not been pre-conditioned about "religion". We can tell them the whole truth in the context of the question they always ask - "why doesn't God prevent all the misery in the world". We can tell them that God gave dominion to man, and will not take it back because He has set that into being and will not undo His word which He sets above himself. He will only intervene in the affairs of men if asked to do so. However, Man will certainly have to answer for what they have done with the power God put in their hands. Many young people will understand this and know they are answerable for their sins. We can give them the right context for their lives and The Faith. We can teach on the stories of Dives and Lazarus and others that refer to eternity. They will see this as fair and just, and respond to it. They will bring their parents in where we can't. Young people have a great sense of justice. They like to see fair play in the general sense. They are more open to Truth than their "ancestors". They deserve to hear the whole gospel.

It's very important to remember and to go over the basic teachings, because people will come who put their own interpretation on scripture, and lead people off the true path of righteousness into some delusion of theirs. We have always to test everything by the scriptures to know it is correct. We remind others in home groups where we discuss life's events in the light of scripture, and in daily conversation, by including Jesus and Scripture in the conversation, always encouraging people to be obedient to the Lord and to His word.

Praise God, some churches are beginning to talk about Heaven and hell, eternity, and the consequences of sin, the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ which redeems us, and the need for constant spiritual development again. Some get offended and go away, and others get saved. Hallelujah! I think When churches are not very active in bringing new people into the Kingdom, and are preaching mostly to the converted, things get too comfortable. They are afraid to lose people (and money). In effect they are running on fear. But when churches are active in reaching out, they are constantly preaching the message of salvation from sin and degradation into Life eternal

When we flagrantly disobey (a commandment, a parent, a teacher) we are desensitising ourselves to whatever it is they (the Holy Spirit, parent , teacher) are trying to communicate to us. Then, having lost that sensitivity, we are driven by our own carnal desires until there is no way out. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is the gift that Jesus paid so dearly for us to regain. That was the whole point of the Pentecost gift of the Spirit. We dare not lose that because in so doing we can die again as Adam did, and there is then no way back! The path back is repentance which means turning from the sin to the Lord. Sometimes deliverance is needed. We love the sinner by letting him know the dangerous path he is on (though not nagging about it) and refusing to validate him on this path (for instance the daughters and sons who want to bring their "partner" home to share a bed under our roof, drive them to the abortion clinic etc) but encouraging him to turn again to the Lord. We pray for him/her. We steer clear of the judgemental attitude by continuing to love them in as many ways as possible, even though they remain in sin. It is finally the Holy Spirit who can convict them. We must pray for this and leave it to Him.

The Bible is clear thath those who persist in sexual sin of any kind will not see Heaven. We are being made holy (sanctified). This cannot possibly include sexual sin. When Jesus forgives sexual sin He says, "Go and sin no more." Our culture has become rebellious and inured to the Holy Spirit which convicts of sin. Many churches are afraid to lose people and so make their message acceptable to those in sin. They are men pleasers. Our culture has deteriorated slowly but systematically over the last forty years of mass media messages and churches have not had the gatekeepers keeping watch on the Truth, or if they have, the media and peer groups have had a louder voice. The generation gaps have widened creating disunity. Family life has given way to public image and the young have not the respect for elders that is healthy and gains them wise advice. Christian girls have not got the message that fashion marketing uses the strong pull of sexuality, and wear suggestive clothing. Even if they are virginal, they make it difficult for the young fellows. But praise the Lord the current young generation do not know a lot about what the sixties generation rebelled about, and are wide open to hear the Gospel. Let's go get 'em!"

We are to so identify with the sacrifice of Jesus, that we too will do whatever it takes to be faithful to the high call of God, (like Jesus, we are now His sons and daughters) though it cost us our flesh and blood. In other words, we have a blood covenant with Almighty God which has priority over everything else. The first response was to the literal eating of human flesh and drinking of blood (anathema to any Jew). That idea was totally unpalatable. They simply could not understand what Jesus meant, and could not get around the literal interpretation. It should indeed be a radical idea to us. Our culture doesn't understand blood covenants, so first off we need to know what this relationship means. It is understood in most societies other than western. We take it too lightly, but there is much involved, eg if we have a quarrel with a brother (or any unforgiveness in our hearts), we are to set that right before we take communion on pain of bringing a curse on ourselves.

Christians do not engage in many facets of the passover feast, the specific courses of food (including lamb), the passover narrative, the singing of the hallel psalms, four cups of wine (we use only one), and the blessing of the festival day. The Jews celebrate once per year, where we celebrate often weekly. We are not so much concerned with having bread without yeast, and it is not made in the Jewish triple layers. Our celebration is not a meal as such any more, but is geared for a service which specifically remembers the body and blood of Christ. In deference to those with alcohol problems we often drink non-alcoholic grape juice. where they drank real wine. The Passover was a family meal, where we are more likely to take it as a church body. The similarities include the use of bread and "wine", the focus on blood, the words spoken concerning the meaning of the celebration, the concept of salvation from slavery into Life dependent on God.

The lambs were killed and their blood spread with hyssop on the door frames of the Israelite houses. When the death spirit saw this it passed by that house. The lambs were to be eaten in travelling clothes, ready to move on. The primary point of comparison is the blood, first of the lamb, and secondly of the Son of God. As by the blood of the lamb the Israelites were saved from death, so by the blood of Jesus we are saved from eternal death.

Slavery means that you do as is required. You have no choices. There is no point in having preferences, hopes or ambitions and dreams, because your life is mapped out for you by another, who has not your, but his, interests at heart. We have been bought out of such slavery into a place where all the choices are ours, but we have the light of Truth to see by, the word of God for wisdom in making the best possible choices, the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and counsellor, a new desire in our hearts and the mind of a child of Heaven. We have an eternal perspective that no unredeemed person can imagine. We have the exciting, living, thriving, exponentially expansive law of love, which is far greater than the old laws which only condemn us. And God the Father is passionate about communicating with us, and always tells us what He is doing! And that is just the beginning. We need the Holy Spirit as teacher and counsellor, because there is more Life available to us that we can ever visualise - but He can, and He gently guides us to fruition. He dresses us in the garments of righteousness which we need in order to be finally admitted to the wedding feast of the Lamb!

The newborn child is already the slave. He is enslaved to the Father of lies, to whom Adam gave his dominion. The ransom is offered by Jesus. The ransom is not paid to satan because he has no rights to it, and Father God will in no way submit to him. The slave-ransom analogy is not completely spelled out because the analogy does not go as far as the receiving of the ransom by the kidnapper. It is prepared so that we may avail ourselves of it ( the ransom price - the Blood) to present to Father God at the time of judgement. It is more like a ticket to the wedding feast of the Lamb. All the tickets are paid for! We need just to take a ticket and wear the wedding garment.

We were designed by God for affiliation. God is Truth and we can affiliate with Him through the Blood of Jesus. Alternatively we can not affiliate with Him, which means that our affiliation is with the father of lies. There is no halfway place. However we do get to choose our affiliation, and it is possible to transfer from the kingdom of lies into which we were born, into the Kingdom of Light and Truth through the Blood of Jesus. In so doing we enter a blood covenant, completely paid for by Jesus. Blood covenants mean that we live and die for each other, nothing stands in the way of this. It's like going from the pits to the palace and having it all paid for. But in the palace you have to live like a king, not like a thief, so the whole lifestyle changes. If you continue to live like a thief you can't stay in the palace - you lose the privilege. You must adopt the palace lifestyle and take your proper place therein. So you obey a new set of laws - the laws of Love.

Slaves were freed by ransom. Also pawned items are redeemed by payment of money. We are born into slavery unless we are born again. We are enslaved to sin and the power of the evil one. This is something we have no say over, as slaves have no say. We need a redeemer to get us out of there into sanctified air! Praise God we have one - Jesus Christ the son of God. It's just the currency that is different. God took flesh in Jesus, in order to overcome the evil one, to redo what Adam could not do, and to give us a Life alternative on earth. Where satan's aim is death, Jesus submitted Himself to death for us, and overcame it, also for us. We now have a purpose for our lives, a destiny in God, a place in Heaven. This key verse helps explain the two totally different states of man - born in sin, and bought out of sin. There is nothing in between, we are either one or the other, hell bound or Heaven bound, dead or Alive! The difference is the precious Blood of Jesus applied to a life.

Romans 3:24 - 26 is the New Testament scripture that probably most clearly reflects all that Isaiah wrote about the suffering servant. Paul mentions sacrifice (voluntary), atonement(satisfying the need for a consequence for sin) justification (being made righteous in Christ) redemption (returning us to reconciliation and peace).

I am a sinner and could in no way enter the Kingdom of Heaven in my own right, or by earning the privilege. If God wanted me there, something more had to be done. It was done by Jesus, who accepted the consequences for me (vicious death), so that the righteousness of God was satisfied. As in 1Corinthians 13 - "Love never fails", a truth established before the foundation of the earth, and proven in Christ Jesus" providing my justification. Love, which is God, did not fail me although I could not help myself.