Psalm 119:30 (The Message)

^25-32 I'm feeling terrible—I couldn't feel worse!
      Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
   When I told my story, you responded;
      train me well in your deep wisdom.
   Help me understand these things inside and out
      so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
   My sad life's dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
      build me up again by your Word.
   Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
      grace me with your clear revelation.
   I choose the true road to Somewhere,
      I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
   I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
      God, don't let me down!
   I'll run the course you lay out for me
      if you'll just show me how.

His POWER available and in us! Maximum MERCY!

Everything God is, is expressed in CHRIST... and expressed in us when we are in CHRiST!


Colossians 2:9-10 (Amplified Bible)
⁹ For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature]. 
¹⁰ And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].

Colossians 2:9-10 (Message Bible)
Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

Isaiah 61 (Amplified Bible)

¹ THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound,^{(A)    
2} To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor]^[a]and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,^(B)
3 To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion--to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit--that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
⁴ And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
⁵ Aliens shall stand [ready] and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
⁶ But you shall be called the priests of the Lord; people will speak of you as the ministers of our God. You shall eat the wealth of the nations, and the glory [once that of your captors] shall be yours.^(C)
7 Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs.
⁸ For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong with violence or a burnt offering. And I will faithfully give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with them.
 ⁹ And their offspring shall be known among the nations and their descendants among the peoples. All who see them [in their prosperity] will recognize and acknowledge that they are the people whom the Lord has blessed.
¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as [surely as] the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring forth, so [surely] the Lord God will cause rightness and justice and praise to spring forth before all the nations [through the self-fulfilling power of His word].

Hillsong Conference Sydney 2010...

Rocked, Smashed, Ripped-away, Torn-up, Crushed, Shattered, Squashed and Crunched! All so that MY Saviour can regenerate, revivify, rejuvenate and reanimate me into a part of his body. 

Come just as you are, I have... broken, bashed, bruised and battered; I left the ring as a washed out warrior. I re-enter the ring as fire-breathing, life creating, love radiating warrior... REMODELED daily as a part of the church (the bride of christ, the affection of Christ's love, the object of God's GRACE)!

For GOD it is all about people!

The Nature of God... called to the impossible!

DEEP, Divine Inheritance

Retrospect of the last two weeks...

The past two weeks have involved a subtlety intense confrontation of someone, I can say with strong affirmation, that I am not particularly fond of... in-fact I abhor.  Strong terms I know. For some introspection of the soul to the point of truth, is seldom easy. I have had to pensively take stock of the last few years' meager and scanty harvest. JOH! Infernal!!

Most of my confrontations and discoveries were made well mulching through the heaps of decaying waste that have filtered through my superior mind, and it's sub-standard thinking process.

Much of what I have discovered, is re-discovery; knowledge I had previously put into practice. Unfortunately this abundance of knowledge evaporates if your mind does gulp down it's eternal supply. My reflections are the following:

• "You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are." - Norman Vincent Peale
•  Romans 12:2 (Amplified Bible)

² Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

• "...our brain is an enchanted loom ready to weave a rich creative tapestry." - Sir Charles Sherrington, Neurologist. The word 'ready' is instructive that none of us operate at an optimal capacity.
• We were designed, created to create. We have been made in His image and thus imitating our father comes naturally to us. - Philip Baker
• Brains execute, perform, bring about, behave, act, accomplish... what has been downloaded (this is with reference to EVERYTHING that we download)!
• "One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, NEVER regains it's original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
• According to Romans, life change comes in three stages:

1. Repent and follow CHRIST (follow is the VERB). This is a reconciliation and rebirth; with a new heart. A gift is given, and by our act of trust (FAITH) and submission, received. Note that GRACE is first given, 'Neither do I condemn you'. Then only do we begin to understand 'Go and sin no more' in John 8:11.
2. Renewing of the mind. Primary focus of Romans chapters 12 to 15.
3. Living the Life (the FRUIT). Christianity is a way of living. It is faith and works; theology (literally meaning GOD STUDY) and ethics; creed and conduct; heart and hands. It is breathed inward and upward in prayer, worship and trust; breathed inward by contemplation, self-analysis and renewal; breathed outward in loving neighbours, sharing faith and acting in our day-to-day lives with compassion justice and generosity. Its base is not in the doing, but the results in the doing. We are blessed in order to be a blessing. Forgiven so that we too can forgive. Loved because He first loved us. - Philip Baker

There is only one correct formula...

"Futile is the labour of those who fatigue themselves with calculations to square the circle." 
Michael Stifel

He is in the bigger Picture... HOPE and GLORY!

"The one thing, on which we can all agree, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums and in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives; God is with us when we are with them.'' 
Bono

Internal Evolution...

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." 
Nelson Mandela

Retrospect of the last week..

• A Moses encounter: "I AM" responds with answers (not always immediately cognitively comprehended), logic (GOD logic functions totally different to our subjective logic) and encouragement (courage to start the journey, and in FAiTH is all the courage you should need). "I AM" is knowable, delights in conversation (GOD has many forms of communication), and desires (DOES NOT NEED... but DESIRES!! JOH!!!) our friendship.
• GOD's right-way-up knowledge in OUR WORLD, very often seems like an upside down starting point for us.
• Society works from the outside in, GOD works the opposite way.
• Daniel 11:32 (Amplified Bible)

³² And such as violate the covenant he shall pervert and seduce with flatteries, but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].

• Adonai Avinu... The LORD OUR FATHER (HELLO! concept).
• Adonai El Elyon... The LORD MOST High GOD (a universe plus sized notion in itself). 
• GOD is NOT a question, any or a conclusion, or a definition... HE is by definition undefinable!
• Bushes burning in deserts are like babies in managers - Philip Baker.
• Adonai Yir'eh... The LORD who sees, who provides (always aware, never a blind eye).
• Hebrews 11:16 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁶But the truth is that they were yearning for and aspiring to a better and more desirable country, that is, a heavenly [one]. For that reason God is not ashamed to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob], for He has prepared a city for them.^(A)

• Adonai Mekaddishkhem... The LORD OUR Sanctifier (he blesses, absolves sin, purify's corrupt hearts and minds, anoints us with his Holy Spirit because of the Blood of the Lamb...).
• Adonai Nissi... The LORD my Miracle.
• YHWH... Yod, He, Vav, He (literally YHWH, intentionally unpronounceable).
• Hebrews 12:28-29 (Amplified Bible)

²⁸Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;
²⁹For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.^(A)

• Adonai Osenu... The LORD our maker (he KNOWS every intricate detail of who we are; while we are still trying to figure ourselves out, HE KNOWS US ENTIRELY!)
• Adonai Tsidkeinu... The LORD our righteousness.
• Faith in GOD is not calculated by the quantity of knowledge or theology we have, but FAITH IS ABOUT connecting with the Holy Spirit and expressing our hearts to our FATHER ( our honest and uncensored feelings).
• The truth of an old Arabic saying: The Soul travels at the pace of a camel.
• We are designed to live our lives with the SHEPHERD (we are ACTUALLY his FLOCK); if you go it alone you are headed for disaster.
• The character of the Shepherd is to LEAD!
• In times of great anguish, there is always a meal (Jesus celebrated Passover as he descended into the anguish of Gethsemane and the Cross). - Philip Baker
• GOD is interested in people who willingly make themselves, their hearts and their spirits available.
• Yahweh IS NOT limited by human frailty or fallibility. - Philip Baker
• John 14:19 (The Message)

^18-20"I will not leave you orphaned. I'm coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you're going to see me because I am alive and you're about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I'm in my Father, and you're in me, and I'm in you."

"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" ... Psalm 22

Psalm 22 (Amplified Bible)

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar [the hind of the morning dawn]. A Psalm of David.

    ^1[a]MY GOD, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?^(A)    

    ²O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You answer not; and by night I am not silent or find no rest.

    ³But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].

    ⁴Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted (leaned on, relied on You, and were confident) and You delivered them.

    ⁵They cried to You and were delivered; they trusted in, leaned on, and confidently relied on You, and were not ashamed or confounded or disappointed.

    ⁶But I am a worm, and no man; I am the scorn of men, and despised by the people.^(B)

    ⁷All who see me laugh at me and mock me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,^(C)

    ⁸He trusted and rolled himself on the Lord, that He would deliver him. Let Him deliver him, seeing that He delights in him!^(D)

    ⁹Yet You are He Who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother's breasts.

    ¹⁰I was cast upon You from my very birth; from my mother's womb You have been my God.

    ¹¹Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help.

    ¹²Many [foes like] bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have hedged me in.^(E)

    ¹³Against me they opened their mouths wide, like a ravening and roaring lion.

    ¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is softened [with anguish] and melted down within me.

    ¹⁵My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; [with thirst] my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have brought me into the dust of death.^(F)

    ¹⁶For [like a pack of] dogs they have encompassed me; a company of evildoers has encircled me, they pierced my hands and my feet.^(G)

    ¹⁷I can count all my bones; [the evildoers] gaze at me.^(H)

    ¹⁸They part my clothing among them and cast lots for my raiment (a long, shirtlike garment, a seamless undertunic).^(I))

    ¹⁹But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me!

    ²⁰Deliver my life from the sword, my dear life [my only one] from the power of the dog [the agent of execution].

    ²¹Save me from the lion's mouth; for You have answered me [kindly] from the horns of the wild oxen.

    ²²I will declare Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise You.^(J)

    ²³You who fear (revere and worship) the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him. Fear (revere and worship) Him, all you offspring of Israel.

    ²⁴For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.

    ²⁵My praise shall be of You in the great congregation. I will pay to Him my vows [made in the time of trouble] before them who fear (revere and worship) Him.

    ²⁶The poor and afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord--they who [diligently] seek for, inquire of and for Him, and require Him [as their greatest need]. May your hearts be quickened now and forever!

    ²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow down and worship before You,

    ²⁸For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord's, and He is the ruler over the nations.

    ²⁹All the mighty ones upon earth shall eat [in thanksgiving] and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive.

    ³⁰Posterity shall serve Him; they shall tell of the Lord to the next generation.

    ³¹They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born--that He has done it [that it is finished]!^(K)

   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 22:1 "This is beyond all others 'The Psalm of the Cross.' It may have been actually repeated by our Lord when hanging on the tree; it would be too bold to say so, but even a casual reader may see that it might have been. It begins with, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' and ends [with the thought], 'It is finished.' For plaintive expressions uprising from unutterable depths of woe, we may say of this psalm, 'There is none like it'" (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Treasury of David). Quoted in the Gospels (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34; and alluded to in Matt. 27:35, 39, 43 and John 19:23-24, 28) as being fulfilled at Christ's crucifixion

"The Yahweh MOMENT(s)..."

"Evolution, constant flow and spiritual orientation of our life's journey is of FAR greater importance than our current life location."

Carl Pistorius

My (EVERYONE's) primary purpose, defining breathes, serve for ONE cardinal reason - to use this life (an atom of time in the light of a universe of eternity) to establish a true, deep and meaningful relationship with YHWH!

Daniel 11:32 (Amplified Bible)
³² ... but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].


Ezekiel 11:19 (Amplified Bible)
¹⁹ And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God],^(A)

2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified Bible)
¹⁸ And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly (evolution) being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing (constant flow) splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from (spiritual orientation) the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.


Are we, our lives' reflections and refractions, not meant to introduce HiM? We are the medium of the message, the fifth gospel, the body of CHRiST!

Ehyeh asher Ehyeh ( I AM THAT I AM)

Exodus 3:14 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!

John 8:58 (Amplified Bible)

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I AM.^(A)

Philippians 3:20 (Amplified Bible)

²⁰ But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we ^[a]earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] Savior.