Teaching by Francois Du Toit. For those facing tough times! What helps me when I face difficult times is to know on a deeper level than what my senses are often aware of that my difficulties do not define me, and therefore I know that they cannot separate me from God or the life of my design. Many people everywhere have similar and perhaps worst situations to face than what you are facing right now! All of us face contradictions and are often tempted to give the contradiction a stronger voice than what they deserve! What God spoke to humanity in Christ is absolutely true for every single human life, whether we believe it or not; the truth of the full implication of Gods love declared and demonstrated in Christ often remains veiled to us because our own circumstances seem to be more real. God is not nearer to some than what he is to others; he is equally Emmanuel to every person on the planet! See Acts 17:27,28 It is really about two different dimensions we live in; the one is our sight, meaning our senses and what they perceive as our reality and the other is the realm of faith, and what God declares to be our truth that sets us free from the claim and dictate of the senses. When God calls things which are not as though they were it is because they are! They are more real and permanent that anything we perceive with the senses! 2 Cor 4:18...because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. The Mirror reads: 2 Cor 4:18 We are not keeping any score of what seems so obvious to the senses in the natural realm, it is fleeting and irrelevant; it is the unseen eternal realm within us that has our full attention and captivates our gaze! See 2 Cor 5:7, We walk by faith and not by sight... this is not a luxury option for some, this is the life of our design! The Mirror Transation reads; 2 Cor 5:2 Facing pressure times the way we often do, makes us sigh with longing to exchange the skin-suit with the permanent splendor of the heavenly-suit. 2 Cor 5:3 In the meantime, whatever challenges we are facing in the meat-box, we know that we shall never be found naked; since we are already fully clothed with our heavenly identity in Christ in our inner person! 2 Cor 5:4 We are not complaining about our bodies, even though we are often aware of its frailties; instead we yearn to be overwhelmed with life. We know that every evidence of death even in our bodies, will dissolve into life! 2 Cor 5:5 God wired us this way; his Spirit already confirms within us the present evidence of eternity. We are eternal beings by design. 2 Cor 5:6 We are cheerfully courageous; knowing that our immediate address in our earthly bodies cannot distance us from the Lord, since we originate from him. 2 Cor 5:7 Faith is to our spirit what our senses are to our bodies; while the one engages with the fading and the fragile, the other celebrates perfection! 2 Cor 5:8 Our confidence stems from knowing that even though it might feel at times that we are merely reduced to flesh; our greater reality is that we are entwined in the Lord. He is our permanent abode! (The word, tharreo, means confident courage; eudokeo, means well done opinion; mallon, means prefer or rather; and ekdemeo, from ek, is a preposition that always denotes origin or source and demeo from deo, to bind, to wind, to tie, to knit; originating out of the body (we were knitted together in our mother’s womb). In severe affliction one feels at times reduced to mere physical identity; but our persuasion is anchored in a greater opinion; the reality of our genesis in God and our union in him. The word, endemeo, means entwined, knitted together, tied in oneness. Yet at times it almost feels strange to be trapped in this body especially when we are exposed to such abuse and suffering; one longs to then do the exchange and relocate to our permanent address, where our hearts already are; in the immediate embrace of the Lord.) 2 Cor 5:9 We are totally engaged in the loveliness of that which is of exceedingly great value; whether we are in a physical union with our bodies or a spiritual union with our source; it makes no difference to God’s esteem of us! We are highly favored by the Lord. (The word, philotimeomai, comes from phileo, meaning dear, fondness; timay, meaning value, esteem; and einai from eimi, I am. The word, endemeo, means in union with, entwined; and ekdemeo means tied to our source.) Here Paul powerfully communicates his own encounter with the thorn in the flesh: 2 Cor 12:7 In sharp contrast to these spiritual revelations, the physical pain that I suffered and my severe discomfort momentarily distracted me. It was as if the old mindset of accusation (Satan) determined to persuade me that this affliction was actually God’s way of keeping me humble. (Maybe God was allowing it to remind me of my previous life of persecuting the church! Haha! Note that it was not a messenger from God, but from Satan! The word, satanos means accuser! By these revelations of extreme proportions and consequence Paul understood that we are indeed co-seated together with Christ in heavenly places. In his resurrection he already elevated us beyond any claim of accusation. See Hosea 6:2 and Ephesians 2:5,6. We cannot get any more elevated into the bliss of our redeemed innocence than discovering our joint-seatedness with Christ in the throne room! Colossians 3:1-3) 12:8 I almost believed this lie and even implored the Lord three times to remove the thorn from my flesh. 12:9 Finally it dawned on me that grace is God’s language, he doesn’t speak “thorn-language”! He said to me, “My grace elevates you, to be fully content.” And now, instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of my own weakness, he overwhelms me with an awareness of his strength! Oh what bliss to rejoice in the fact that in the midst of my frailties I encounter the dynamic of the grace of God to be my habitation! (The word arkeo, content is from the word airo which means to elevate. The word hedista from hedeos, means pleasure. The word episkenoo has two components: epi, continual influence upon and skenoo, to encamp, to reside in a tent; the noun, skenos reminds of the English word skin! Paul suggests that God’s grace fits you like a skin! One feels most at home in the consciousness of his grace!) 12:10 I now enjoy a delightfully different frame of mind when I encounter things that would normally make me feel frail, whether it be from insults or when I am in situations where I’m forced to do things with my arms twisted behind my back; whether I am persecuted or feel squeezed into claustrophobic spaces. Because of Christ, every time that I encounter weakness I escape into the strength of my I am-ness! (The word, eudokeo is a compound word from, eu, well done, beautiful, and dokeo, to form an opinion. The word anagkē to bend the arm like when your arm is locked behind your back, where your own efforts to clear or save yourself are completely neutralized. The word stenochōria, means a narrowness of place. The word eimi, is the verb, I am.) Winter – The womb of new beginnings. I will endeavor to learn from the seasons; That is to allow winter to run its course in my life with dignity, Not regretting the loss of leaves. Rather embracing the chance to gather secret strength from my roots: A well of life that remains an invincible testimony to an inevitable turn in season. Together with the early and the latter rain we will again celebrate the song of spring. In your presence even the night is light. I welcome the wilderness. The winter finds me sheltered in your joy. 2 Cor 4:8 We often feel completely hemmed in on every side but our inner space remains unrestricted; when there seems to be no way out, we escape within! Draw from your source! He is within you and closer to you than your next breath! True worship is simply living from the awareness of our unbroken oneness. God touched the height of his Being when he made me! “Even the darkness is not dark to Thee; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with Thee. For Thou didst form my inward parts, Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise Thee for I am awesome and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Thy works! Thou knowest me so well. My frame was not hidden from Thee when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance. In Thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are Thy thoughts O God! How vast is the sum total of them! If I would count them they are more than the sand; my years would have to equal yours. When I awake, I am still with Thee. Ps 139:12-18. I have awoken in Your likeness, Morning star.... Your brightness declares my horizon and future!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 22:29:03 +0000
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