Differences between YHWH and Allah

I have a friend (call him Jeremy) who was a youth minister and is now a senior pastor, who was explaining to me how he had witnessed to a teen-aged Muslim boy, telling him that he did not need to leave his Muslim faith, but only to “add Jesus” as the son of Allah. This post is written for people like Jeremy, who mean well, but lack knowledge.

For the purposes of this post, I will be contrasting Allah of the Quran with YHWH of the Bible–both Old and New Testaments, which amounts to YHWH of the Christians, as the Jews don’t acknowledge the New Testament. I believe
Allah to be a far different person from YHWH of the Jews, too, but we won’t get into that here.

First, Jeremy’s suggestion to his young Muslim friend (we’ll call him Abdul) that Allah had a son, and His name is Jesus was highly confusing to Abdul. The Quran is adamant that Allah would not be a father, that he would not have a son, and that such an idea is ridiculous and an abominable suggestion. So there-in is our first contrast. The God of the Christians has a Son, Jesus, and that Son is divine and co-equal with the Father. Allah has no son, nor would he.

Second, the God of the Christians is a triune God. Here is a picture that the Holy Spirit gave me a couple of days ago of the Trinity:

• Think of the sun. It is a great fire–a nuclear reaction of incredible power. We cannot approach it–we cannot even truly see it. We see only the light that comes to the earth from it. The sun itself is like God the Father.
• The light and heat that comes from the sun to the earth are like Jesus, the Son of God. This is the way that the sun manifests itself to us–through the light and energy that goes out from it. Jesus is continually going out from the Father. He says that He never does anything except what He sees the Father doing first. The light from the sun takes some time to reach us. By the time we see it, we are looking at things that have already happened in the near past. What we see Jesus doing is a picture of what the Father has already done. Jesus is the expression of the Father, and whoever looks on Jesus has seen the Father.
• The sun sends out rays of light, but we don’t see these rays of light as they travel. The “going forth,” the path of the light and other rays and their traversing of space and time is done by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who speaks to the hearts of men, revealing Christ to us. Mysterious and unquantifiable, but very much vital, very much there. The Holy Spirit never points to Himself–only and always to Jesus, who is the visible manifestation of the invisible God.

My Christian readers may or may not feel that this is a good representation of the concept of the Trinity, but my Muslim readers will be in agreement that Allah is strictly ONE and only ONE. Muslims see Christians as polytheists. Christians often feel puzzled by this. We see this as a gross misconception of our beliefs. We believe in one God who manifests Himself in three individual and distinct persons. Some Muslims I have read seem to believe that Christians worship the Father, the Mother (Mary), and the Son. This is not accurate. Christians worship God, manifested in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, Allah is one and only one.

YHWH commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel (the good news of Jesus). He is not willing that any should perish, but wishes that all should come to repentance. God loved us while we were yet sinners–His enemies. God is pleased with the righteous, but He is angry with (note–He does not hate) sinners. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ came into the world to save sinners.

Allah leads some men to the truth and others he leads astray, as he wills. Allah is a deceiver. He commands all men to repent, but then he prevents some men from obeying his command by causing them to believe a lie. Allah is a liar, and hates certain of the persons he has allegedly created.

These are three differences only (and there are many, many, many more, also vital differences), but they are sufficient to show us that YHWH and Allah are not the same person. If you were trying to introduce a speaker and you said first that he had a prominent son, and second that he was one of three partners, and third, that he was a man who loved his enemies, and the speaker contradicted you on all these points, you might reasonably conclude that someone had given you the biography notes for an entirely different man. The points I’ve listed prove that YHWH and Allah are not the same. I can back them up with quotations both from the bible and the Quran, but this post is long enough already. If you are a Muslim and have studied your Quran, you will know that I am not misrepresenting it, and if you are a Christian and familiar with your bible, you will likewise know the same.

Either the Muslims and the Quran are right, or the Christians and the bible are right. We cannot both be right, for we contradict one another. Choose this day Whom you will serve, but choose wisely. Allah is the god of Muhammad, the brilliant military conqueror and ofttimes merciless torturer and executioner. Muhammad is Allah’s spokesman–his prophet. YHWH is the God who took on Himself the penalty for our sins, nailing them to the cross in Himself, that we might have eternal life. Jesus is the Son of YHWH–the risen and triumphant Son who offers you life and forgiveness; a future and a hope. Therefore, as YHWH commands all men everywhere: Choose life that you may live; both you and your children.

Blessings and Peace, Cindy

 

Isaiah 32: A New Word from an Ancient Prophecy

Hi, Guys

At the beginning of this month, I was sitting out by the pond, and God whispered to my heart to read Isaiah 32. Yeah–pretty obscure. I didn’t know what it said. I looked it up, and it still didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I went back later and looked over it a little bit closer, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and I began to understand why God had put this particular reference in my mind.

First, you really will have to read along with me in the bible. If you use the link above, you’ll have the same translation I’m using, but pretty much any other translation you like will work as well.

The text starts out talking about how righteous leaders become a shelter from wind and sun, and allow careless minds to learn, stammering tongues to speak fluently, and keep fools and scoundrels from gaining the applause they so often garner in our world. I asked God how I could possibly become such a leader. (Please realize that in context of house churches, a leader isn’t a preacher or a manager, but merely a facilitator and a servant.) Here is what He spoke to my heart:

“Roll yourself up in Me, child. You are to walk in Me, speak in Me, do in Me. By this thing alone, you are sheltered from every wind of doctrine (diverse and sometimes false teachings), which would seek to trap you. By refusing to be buffeted by these winds, you become a shelter to others as well.”

The next few verses tell what fools and scoundrels do. According to these definitions, a fool is not just someone who is easy to use and abuse, as we so often define the term. The attributes of a fool are listed here. The last two, depriving the hungry and thirsty of food and drink, probably should be taken metaphorically as well as literally. Food and drink often symbolize relationship with God through Jesus Christ, His Son. Fools don’t want a relationship with Jesus themselves, and they don’t want anyone else to have one, either.

Scoundrels are worse, as they actively seek to use and abuse those less powerful than they.

Noble people are also described as *planning noble things and *standing up for noble causes.

Following this, Isaiah begins addressing his target audience, whom he calls, “complacent women.” Dictionary.com defines complacent as: pleased, especially with oneself, one’s merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied. Isaiah is using the symbolic “complacent women” to reference the people of Jerusalem. However, scripture can have many applications, and I sense God speaking to me through this scripture, and warning me not to be one of these “complacent women,” who, in this application to our times, symbolize the complacent among modern church-goers.

Isaiah adjures the complacent women to “stand up” for noble causes (hence displaying nobility.) They are not currently doing this, but are going about their own little lives, focused principally on themselves. They are not fools or scoundrels, but neither are they noble.

He advises them to strip themselves bare (my interpretation: put off the man-made trappings of modern church life which tend to stifle the power and lordship of Jesus in their lives), cover themselves with sackcloth and beat their breasts in mourning (ancient mourning practices) for the delightful fields, vineyards, joyous houses, palace, busy city, and watch tower, which will all be abandoned. My interpretation is that these will be abandoned by both God and by those who are actively following Him.

I asked God: Lord, do you want to illuminate this further for me? Are my guesses right? (My guesses are in parentheses above.) This is what I heard in my heart:

“Complacent women are chiefly concerned with themselves and how they look to others. The religious structure that has grown up around My glory has concealed who I truly am, so that no one can easily find Me. Beautiful buildings and Papal palaces are not My home. For a time I supplied them, but the wine (Holy Spirit) and the bread (Jesus) have now gone. The little they have left will trickle out until all who are truly Mine will finally abandon them. My Spirit has left and is leaving the traditional church. I will dwell in the desert and will cause it to bloom. I will raise up the waste places and make them fruitful.”

I want to make clear that I have no personal anger toward traditional churches. I have found them disappointing, but I’ve not endured anything I would call abuse or misuse from this institution. I honestly don’t have a prejudice against them that I’m aware of. This is simply what I heard in my spirit regarding this portion of Isaiah 32. Really, I wish I could say nicer things, as I’ve seen traditional churches doing a lot of good things, but God moves where He moves, and it’s up to us to follow. Please don’t just automatically assume I have to be wrong about this. I may be, but ask God before you make a decision. There’s a lot more of this sort of thing coming up. Truly, I’d rather say consoling things, but I would be lying if I did.

So, on to verse 15 and the rest of the chapter: The above state of affairs lasts “until the Spirit from Heaven is poured out on us. Then, the desert will become an orchard and unfruitful places will become blessed and lavishly fruitful.

If I were going solely by my intellect, I would say this refers to the spread of the gospel to non-Jewish people while it was rejected by Israel, and it probably does refer to this, but that was a long time ago, and that’s not what God led me to this prophecy for. Prophecies have layers, and they’re often re-usable. God does this all the time. So, for today, here’s what He said to me about this:

“Our love is like an orchard. wherever you gather to seek after Me because of your extreme desire for me shall become an orchard, be it ever so barren before. Seek after Me truly and I will meet you there and the streams of water (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) will flow abundantly, flooding the land with My mercy and grace. No one can be fruitful alone. The apple tree needs other apple trees to bear fruit–more trees equal better and more fruit on each individual tree. The complacent women think principally of themselves. The trees of My orchard are never self-pollinating. All require one another for fruitfulness and health. None stand alone. I am the Orchardist who plants the trees and nurtures them to good health. I prune out the unhealthy and diseased and evil branches to make room for the good branches to flourish and bear fruit.

“Many will be astonished that I have not chosen the fertile plains of the traditional church to grow my fruit gardens, but I can no longer bear the clumsy interference of inept and well-meaning, but bossy men. The vapid exterior and famine-ravaged interior of the complacent women grates on Me.”

(At this point, I thought: But I’ve met lots of people in the traditional church who had impressive knowledge of the things of God, good doctrine, study diligently, etc. God responded to my thought  . . . )

“Knowledge is not enough! I WILL HAVE PASSION! Don’t speak to Me of the surprising knowledge of these servants. They do not have passion. They do not need Me.

“Many have quietly left the traditional church because of hunger and thirst. These I will gather. I will water them with abundant waters and feed them with Myself. Wine shall flow from their lips when they speak in Me, and healing and great power shall be in their fingertips because I have sustained them with Myself.”

–Lord, I love You. Please empower me to love You more. Please–I want to be lost in You. I want to lose myself completely in You–

“It is these lost places to which I go, Dearest. Find Me where the wild roses bloom in flagrant disregard to usefulness. Their extravagant beauty has no purpose but joy. Come away with Me, My Love, to the hidden places–to the forgotten wastelands where I shall bring up wild and wanton beauty for beauty’s sake alone. Not vapid and empty beauty such as you have often desired in yourself, My Love, but beauty such as delights My soul, and you shall learn to delight in it as I do. There you will see the fruit of My passion–the (spiritual) children you long for, the community of love. There, in the hidden and barren places I have sought My love and have drawn her to Me.”

(One of the metaphors in the bible often used to describe the church is that of the bride of Jesus, and it is to this metaphor that the passage above speaks.)

“The beautiful buildings shall be empty when the remnant of My people has gone out to come to Me. I will leave the abomination barren. No longer will I inhabit out of mercy for the youth, who know nothing else, for the elderly, who have sought Me there all their days (and found Me), for the careless, but well-meaning daughters. Come out, children. You will find there nothing but barrenness of soul.”

–But Lord . . . there are still lots of good traditional churches doing good things. Obviously You are still there. And what about the mega churches that are hybrids? (They have large “services” as well as active small groups.)–

“A hybrid is an abomination to Me. Please do all My will. Don’t mingle My church with the practices of the world. I have begun to leave. At the right time, I pulled you out. Others have gone and still others will go.The trickle has become a roar. Soon it will go back to being a trickle until at last the lake has given all its overflowing abundance and very little remains. Nothing fresh, nothing moving, will remain. The great lake will become a stagnant puddle and at last the sun will dry it up completely and the mud at the bottom will crack. Thorns will grow there, and poisonous plants. I will gather My sweet fragrant water in a thousand sparkling pools to feed the hungry and satisfy the thirsty and water the whole land. The waste places will bloom and the thriving cities and the showy gardens will sink and be seen no more.

“The donkeys and oxen (beasts of burden–symbolic of those who carry the weight for the traditional church–teachers, hosts/hostesses, cleaners, support people, etc.) will delight in the land freely. Blessed is the pastor who unties his donkey and his ox and opens his hand to let them go with his blessings. Him I will bless with peace and he shall find a pleasant place in My new, yet ancient idyll. No one will take it from him, and I will cause him to rejoice and to rest.”

Next day, I was reading over all the above, and God placed a picture in my mind. It was the inside of a concrete cistern (A cistern is a holding tank for rain water–like a big, usually rectangular, man-made pool.) The last little bits of water were flowing out through a hole in the bottom. The rim of the cistern was grassy and broken down so that it looked more like a squarish pond than a man-made structure, but of course, without the water, you could clearly see what it really was. The sky was a fierce, hot, cloudless blue.

I asked, What does this mean, Lord?

“You see this? You thought it was a pond, didn’t you? Everyone did. (The cistern symbolizes the traditional church, which we all believed was designed by God, but in fact, was fashioned by human history and ideas.) I love you, so I went ahead and filled it for you. But now the water is draining away. I will no longer keep it filled. The managers of the cistern don’t really want My interference with their “pond,” so I have left it to their management. It will be difficult to pass off an empty cistern for a full pond. I have other places for My water to flow. Places where it will not be constrained to a man-made shape, or confined by concrete walls. Places where it will better give life without the interference of self-appointed managers.

“My waters are free, and they flow where I send them. My pure and living waters have the power to cleanse the seas (symbolic of the masses of people of the world). Everything they touch is reborn. Beauty follows My waters and life springs up everywhere they touch. My waters soak into the ground and cause the seeds (God’s word) planted long ago to spring to life. Rejoicing is in the sound of many waters flowing and sparkling in the Son of My love.

“My waters are fragrant and transparent. They bubble and laugh. No man shall tame them with bridges and dams and spillways. They shall flood at My will and hold back at My will. He who crosses them must do so on foot, and none who so cross can remain unaffected.

“The water is alive! The water is joy. The water will enter your being and make you one with it. Drink and never thirst again. The water is quick and pure. Drink! Drink joy. Drink pure joy into your spirit and become one with your Lord–your Bethrothed.”

Be blessed!

Cindy

 

How to Love God

I’m working on the post I promised regarding the differences between Allah and YHWH, but I feel I must interject with this bit of insight that YHWH has put into my heart recently.

I grew up in a Christian home, and, with the exception of a period of doubt and wandering in my adult life, I have always been a believer in Jesus. I was, however, envious of the church at Ephesus when I read this verse:

Rev 2:4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love Me or each other as you did at first!

Why? This doesn’t strike one as a situation to be envied, but the thing that I felt jealous of was the fact that having lost a first love seemed to imply that there had been a first love to be lost. I have never lost my first love for Jesus or for my brothers and sisters in the Lord. For most of my life, I have longed in vain to ever experience a first love. One cannot lose what one has never possessed.

I used to hear about how people loved Jesus and couldn’t do without Him and how He was the most important and lovely and worthy and desired person in their lives. While I agreed that these were noble and good sentiments, I never was able to figure out how to relate to them. I didn’t grow up in a cold atmosphere by any means. We were involved with a wonderful church–well, at least the adults were. I think the children were just kind of there. It was a good thing to witness, a good thing to grow up with, but not a thing that we were personally invested in. We had fun and were loved and safe, but we were not really a part of the deeper things.

I’m not sure how I missed this central experience of Christianity–it’s no one’s fault but mine, undoubtedly, but I did miss out on the memo of how to love God. In the interest of saving you from the same frustration, let me share with you some things I’ve learned in my quest to come to know and love Him.

1. You do not have the ability to love God.
2. You cannot love someone you don’t know, and know well. You might develop a crush on a celebrity, but you aren’t in love with the person, but in love with your perception of him/her. Likewise, you can love God in this way without knowing Him, but it is not the true, deep, satisfying love He intends for you to participate in.
3. All love ultimately comes from God. He is the only source of love in or out of the world.
4. God wishes to be pursued. He wants you to desire Him. He is not interested in making you love Him. Like you, He is only interested in love that is freely given.
5. We have to ask God for love, since He is the only source of love.
6. We have to receive this love from God before we can return it to Him.
7. We have to wait patiently in His presence, humbly asking for His love. This is hard on our pride–to admit that we cannot conjure up some kind of love to give to Him first–perhaps so that we will feel worthy to receive His love? We have to come as petitioners, not something that comes easily to a “fiercely proud people” or people who come of “independent stock” or people who are proud of “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” No, we have to come as poor, helpless, needy children; children who have done wicked things and entertained wicked thoughts and who are utterly born in depravity and worthy of death, begging for God’s undeserved mercy and love. This should mean that we are willing to wait as long as it takes–our whole lives, if necessary–and not complain of being made to wait.
8. As we wait before Him, allowing Him to bestow His love upon us, eagerly looking at His face through the scriptures which tell of Him, we will begin to notice that a love which is not the poor, insipid thing we have created and called love, has begun to flow from us to Him. His light is shining into our hearts and being reflected back to Him.
9. The more we receive His love, the more it is reflected back to Him and to those around us. The more we open our hearts to Him, the more love they can contain, and the more love our hearts can hold, the more we can give back to Him. This is the wonderful and never-ending circle of life–not that we are born and die and our children carry on after us, but rather that the love and life of God circulates from Him to us and back again, and in the journey, flows over all those with whom we come into contact.
10. Naturally, nothing impure or unholy can be allowed to contaminate this stream of love–this holy force that powers the worlds. Nothing. It is not good enough that our “good deeds” outweigh our bad deeds. Nothing less than purity can be allowed in such a holy river of love. Sin is worthy of death, and what is death besides separation from the source of all good–God? The evil must be destroyed, and the evil is us. Yet God loved us even when we were still sinners and didn’t want to put us out of His presence.
11. I don’t intend to go into the whole mechanics of salvation in this post. Suffice it to say (and this is all you need to know in any case) that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. In Him, all we who believe have died to this present world, and our sin–all of it; past, present, and future–was nailed to the cross. In Him, the penalty of separation from God forever has been paid. Our sin has been separated from us, and we are made pure and able to abide (remain, live) in His presence. We cannot earn this blessed state by doing good works–indeed, we are incapable in ourselves of doing anything good–we can enter this river of love only by placing ourselves in His hands and utterly at His mercy. We must simply jump in and abandon ourselves to Him in utter and complete surrender.
12. So we come full circle. How do we love God? In ourselves we cannot, but when we come before Him as poor beggars, and place ourselves in His hands, and wait patiently before Him, YHWH graciously and gently pours His love into us until we become full and begin to overflow and reflect that love back to Him. And so the circle is completed.

 

Do Jews, Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?

We’ve heard President Bush say it. We’ve heard pundits say it. We’ve even heard Christian pastors say it . . . the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims is one and the same. But is this a true statement? Let’s look at a bit of the history.

The Jews have been around since Abraham, the Christians since the Year One, and the Muslims since around 600 AD. Do they, as a group, represent merely different ways of worshiping the one true God? Well . . . . not exactly.

Judaism has always looked forward to a messiah. They simply don’t recognize Jesus as Him. They worship YHWH (Yahweh), sometimes pronounced “Jehovah.”

Christians worship the God of the Jews. We also believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and the Messiah of the whole world. We believe that Jesus is the Son of YHWH and that He is both fully human and fully divine. We also believe in the Holy Spirit of God as the third person of the Godhead or trinity. We believe that God is One, expressed in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Muslims believe in Allah. Their holy book, the Koran (Quran), teaches that Allah has no son nor any offspring. The Koran does not mention the Holy Spirit (so far as I can recall.) Muslims are strict monotheists. To their minds, the Christian belief in God as three in one, or the trinity, constitutes polytheism, or belief in multiple gods.

So the answer I would give is that yes, Christians do worship the God of the Jews, YHWH, and also believe that the promised Messiah has come in the person of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus, when He was raised from the dead, imparted the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him.

However, though Mohammad insisted that Allah was the same as the God worshiped by Jews and Christians, he also insisted that Allah had no son. (He did briefly attribute three daughters to Allah, however–pagan deities who had been recognized as the daughters of an idol that was named Allah. He later decided that this was not true and rescinded this statement from the record of his revelations. It is one of the “Satanic Verses” of which you may have heard.)

Since Muhammad’s god is so different in nature and personality from the God of the Jews and of the Christians, and since Muhammad’s god is above having a son, he is obviously not the same as the God worshiped by Jews and Christians. The Jews are looking for the Son, and the Christians have found Him. The Muslims say their god cannot and would not have a son. Allah is not the same as YHWH.

If the god of the Muslims has not, and does not intend to send His Son as Messiah, then he is not YHWH, who has promised to do this very thing and, in the eyes of Christians, has already done it.

This alone is sufficient to prove that YHWH and Allah are not one and the same person. There are many more differences between them, however, and in my next post I will talk about some of these differences.

Grace and Peace, Cindy

 

Another Blessed Sunday

As it happens, our house church meets on Sundays. It just works out for us better that day. I so love getting together with everyone. The ladies see one another through the week from time to time, but it’s so great to see everyone and all the kids all at once. Such a blessed, glorious, noisy, messy, joyous celebration of life and love in Jesus!

We started out with communion, and many of us shared; we sang together, particularly kid songs. It was funny–all the adults doing the silly motions and the kids too dignified to join in. We had some new friends this evening, which is always a blessing. Our gatherings aren’t everything we want them to be yet, but we’re learning to hear from the Holy Spirit, and learning to trust and confide in one another. I think God had fun–we did. Meanwhile, the kids were outside with a couple of the parents, jumping up and down outside one of the windows. Not a bit distracting.

I wonder whether the shared meal isn’t the best time of all, but I’m definitely going to have to get my husband out to the shop to help me build a bigger table. Soon we’ll need to birth a new church. This doesn’t see quite as scary a notion to me now as it did a week ago. In fact, I can see us birthing a couple of new churches in the next month or so. There’s another family that would like to meet if only we could meet on Saturdays–only quite a few of us can’t make it on Saturdays, so I think we’ll have to start a new fellowship around them. And other things . . . lots of them–engineered by God, not us. He’s so good. And only six months ago I was fretting about finding someone to meet with when once we had decided that institutional church just wasn’t working for us any longer. Now I have more house church than I know what to do with, and the Holy Spirit to guide us. I am so excited and happy and pleased and, most of all, grateful.

Thanks, Lord–we adore You!

Cindy

 

A Message from God in Rich Text

In the passage quoted below, Paul exhorts the church of Colossi concerning their gatherings–what to do, what sort of things to talk about, etc.

Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:16-17)

Richly . . . let the message dwell richly.

“Rich text” incorporates many options for expression not available in plain ol’ text . . . formatting choices, fonts, smiley faces maybe? I confess I don’t know what all is available through rich text on a computer, and I don’t know everything God makes available to us when His message dwells richly among us. That’s because there is no end to the riches or the richness of God.

Some of the ways God’s message can dwell richly among us listed here are:

teaching

admonishing one another in all wisdom (admonish: to reprove gently and earnestly)

singing (psalms, hymns, spiritual songs) with gratitude in our hearts to the Lord

other things (”whatever you do”)

Some other things we might see in a simple or organic church gathering could include:

prophecy

tongues with interpretation

praying for the sick

sharing prophetic art

giving

serving one another

more

The clincher is that all the things we do, we need to do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. In the New Testament culture, the name represents the person and his nature. The things done must be the sort of things that CAN be done in the name of Jesus without contradicting all that His name means.

We also need to do these things with a grateful heart toward God, not in the interest of showing everyone else how knowledgable or spiritual or wise or insightful we are, nor how well we sing or plan an instrument, how beautifully we can paint or sculpt, or how adeptly we deliver a prophetic word. All things must be done with gratitude to God, who gave us the ability to do those things.

Here is what He said to me concerning the passage above:

There is more. This also applies to your life outside the body, though you are never truly “outside” the body, you are not always assembled together. On those days when you find yourself physically alone or feeling isolated, remember Me. Do everything in Me and you will do well. My name cannot be wrapped around falsehood, deceit, petty irritation, wrath, malice, self-centeredness, unkindness, or mindful disregard for the needs of others.

At this point, God placed a picture into my mind of a dove with multi-colored wings.

The expression of My Spirit is variety, gaity, joyfulness–hence the many colors. Yet all fit into a perfect pattern–the expression of My love through My church here on the earth. I adore My bride and I will lift her up to heights she has never even dreamed of. But first she must learn of the infinite variety of expression available to her.  This abundance is a fraction only of what I have to show you. Experience Me richly–love Me purely and fully–bathe in My life-giving, living waters and see yourselves go from death to life; from gray to bright and dancing colors. From dull to delightful.”

Praise God. Go out and experience Him in the love of a fellow believer and in sharing that love not only with His followers, but with the world.

Grace and Peace, Cindy

 

Bread–Not a Stone

I asked God yesterday morning for a word I could share with the members of my ecclesia (gathering/house church/simple church/organic church–not sure what to call our little group for maximum communication value.) This is what He gave me, and it was so cool I wanted to share it with you as well.

I am with you, in your midst. Don’t be afraid to give your portion of good news to your brothers and sisters. I didn’t create you, and woo you to Myself in order to deceive you. Did I say to you to be full of trepidation and afraid lest you give a false word? Unless you set out from a wrong foundation–a foundation of self-will, I will truly speak to you and through you. My servants who sincerely seek Me will never be given a stick or a stone, let alone a serpent.

When you do set out selfishly, I will chasten you, but gently and for love–not from vengeance. Don’t be so afraid of falling that you never walk. Babies fall, but parents don’t chide them for that. Self-will, yes–that must be dealt with, and consistently, but sincere and immature children do not trouble Me nearly so much as lethargic babies who do not even try to take nourishment given–let alone seek food on their own initiative.

You should be seeking food not only for yourselves, but to feed others as well. No one who seeks bread from My hand goes away empty. Seek and you will be filled. Doors will open to you and you will go in and out and find pasture for yourselves and for all who hunger for love and hope and truth.

No more will you say, “They don’t want Jesus,” for I will lead you to the hungry ones and I will arouse a terrible hunger and thirst in those to whom I lead you–a hunger that I alone can fill.
Cast down strongholds and they will fall. Mighty is the Name of your Lord. Go forth in strength and not in fear.

This seems pretty straightforward to me, but that may be because God gave it to me, and He knows how to speak to me so that I will understand Him. Because I’m not sure how it will sound to others, let me give a bit of a translation:

Jesus assures us in the bible that wherever two or more of His followers gather together, He will be there, too. Our “portion of good news” refers to things the Spirit has revealed to our spirits, whether at an earlier time or in the present moment as we meet. Brothers and sisters are our fellow believers. Jesus assures us that He didn’t create us and draw us to Himself just to lie to us. He didn’t tell us to be terrified of giving a “word from Him” that might really be from ourselves. If we truly want to hear from Him, and don’t have our own agendas, we will. Jesus said in the bible that people who asked for the Holy Spirit would not receive a stone (a worthless or lifeless thing) or a serpent (a harmful or demonic thing), but would receive what they asked for–the Holy Spirit. The stick is new, and I would say that it refers to something that was once alive, but is now dead (many present-day churches?)

Jesus warns that when we do have our own agenda in first place, we will be chastened (scolded or disciplined), but that this will be done gently and for the purpose of teaching us, not because God is angry and wishes to punish us. He warns us not to be so afraid of doing things wrong that we never try to do them at all. Self-will must be corrected, but He will not be angry with us for making mistakes when we are sincerely trying to do right. He is more concerned about lethargic Christians who do not even take in the spiritual food offered by others, let alone try to find spiritual food for themselves (by seeking Him out in prayer).

We should be seeking spiritual food for ourselves, and also for others. If we come to Him, He will give us spiritual food (this food is Himself–the bread of life).

Doors will be opened to you means that opportunities to serve others and to share His love will come. Finding pasture, again refers to finding spiritual food. Jesus said that He was the door, so all our going in and out must be through Him. The food we find is for ourselves, and for people (believers and non-believers) who are hungry for it. He assures us that there are people who do hunger for Him, and that He will lead us to them and make them even more hungry so that He can satisfy their hunger with Himself. If you have ever “hungered” for a loved one, you will understand this metaphor.

“Casting down strongholds” is a reference to praying for people and against demonic forces that would like to keep the people in bondage. The bible teaches us that we cast down these strongholds by prayer. God is mightier than the devil and by His Name, the forces of spiritual evil will fall. We are not to fight a physical battle, but a prayer battle against spiritual opponents.

Wow! The explanation is a lot longer than the original message. God speaks a lot more succinctly than I do. I hope this will encourage some of you to seek that true bread that the Heavenly Father gives us: Jesus Christ His Son.

Grace and Peace, Cindy

 

1 Thessalonians 2:5-6

It’s been a while–sorry. Well, not really. Not that I don’t want to share, but I’m grateful to God that my life has gotten so busy. Good busy. Our little fellowship has been getting to know one another and how to function together as the body of Christ.  It’s wonderful–something I’ve been wanting for so many years–and time consuming. But again, that’s exactly what I wanted. Sharing life together.

Well, on to my meditation on this particular verse, which is actually dated 02/01/09, though God’s word is always fresh. I may skip some of this study from time to time, as quite a lot of the things God has said to me recently were specific to me or to our group, besides, if I don’t do that, I’ll never get caught up.

“For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives–God is our witness–and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others.” 1 Thessalonians 2:5-6

Before I get into the important part (what God said to me about this passage), I want to mention how different Paul’s ministry seems from some so-called ministries we see today, in which the “ministers” are indeed using flattering speech, seeking financial gain, and seeking the praise and adulation of men. Never think that, just because you see miracles–even if you’re certain these miracles are genuine–that this is an endorsement by God of a minister who does not display the true fruits of the Spirit, which are not miraculous signs, but rather the living of a self-denying and Godly life. There is such a thing as lying wonders. Don’t be deceived.

So, on to the important bit–the things God shared with me about this passage (and beyond).

You are My reward, My daughters and sons, and I am yours. You are the reward of the suffering I endured. You are the family I seek and have sought and for whom I created the worlds. Together we’ll travel through endless delights and I’ll show you the things I have made. The thing you truly seek, though you may not realize it, is to know Me for who I am. I wish to be known in the world I have made. This is your task to fulfill: that you know Me and show Me to all who are willing to see, that all who are willing may come to Me.

I am painting a picture in you of My Son. I have been painting in each of you separately, and I have been painting in your relationships and in your love for one another. I will be painting always, and every day that you walk with Me, you will look more like Him. Always, there will be new things, new colors to add, yet there will be a time when a recognizable image has begun to emerge from your midst. (That is, from the gathering of believers.) In that hour, My masterpiece, though ever unfinished, will shine out to the world.  (At this point, the words I received became a poem.)

Like a beacon of warning and hope in despair
My daughter, My Son’s bride shall be.
Like the dawning of light in an inky black night
when a candle is lit in a room.
Shen enlightens the path so that others may find
how to come to the light of My Son.
So together she’ll walk to the oncoming light
to welcome Him home when He comes.
In that day, I’ll greet her with a Father’s glad smile
and I’ll gather her up in My arms

Oh what times we shall have now that you’re safely home
and I have you all here by My side.
No more pain, no more sorrow,
though the trials made you Mine
in a way nothing else could have done.
You’ve been made and re-made in the image of Him
Who did love you: My glorious Son.
And henceforth you’ll be here forever with us.
My family at last shall be one.

In the New Testament, the church–that is those who have given themselves to Christ and to one another–is pictured as the bride of Christ and as the family/children of God. That’s what the poem is referring to, in case you found it a bit confusing. If you’re scratching your head over any of this, feel free to say so and I’ll do my best to clarify.

Grace and Peace, Cindy

 

The Onslaught of the Bright

The Danger Within

The true danger in the forest is not what you find around you, but what you find within yourself. You must therefore maintain a constant surveillance of your own heart. Any carnal (fleshly, worldly, self-satisfying) thing you allow entrance will consume you from within. You cannot afford sin. It is a deadly terror and an internal parasite; a flattering traitor. Keep your hand in Mine, our hearts entertwined, your spirit and Mine, mingled as one. Together we will best the forest within and the forest without.

The two figures are Jesus and His church (often symbolized in scripture as His bride). This means all who truly follow Him–not just those who claim to do so. They are glowing because the divine light and life of Christ lives inside His bride as well as Himself. Though they go into darkness, they will have the light of life to show them their way. The mountains they have crossed are unfruitful, and represent the recent years of decline and near-barrenness in the Western church.

The path ahead leads down, showing that humility and dependence on Christ, rather than self-confidence will be needed. The water crossing the path symbolizes baptism (itself symbolic of death and resurrection) and shows that the church must die to her own devices and live only to the plans of Christ. Our own efforts will not help us in the dark days ahead.

The dark forest is symbolic of those dark days, and though it is frightening, it is not sterile. Difficulties teach us that we need a helper and a savior. The bride is tasked with gently guiding seekers to her Lord. She also will learn to trust Him more as she depends solely on His light to get her through.
__________________________________________________________

When God gave me the picture above, He also gave me a poem, which follows:

The Onslaught of the Bright

Here we stand at the edge
of the end of all the ages.
This is the moment the world
has for aeons trembled for.
This is the final gathering in;
the restoring of the Kingdom.
A time for bards to sing of,
for legends shall be written
once again upon the pages
of the annals of the ages
as the sons of God arise.

Let Him take your hand in His,
you children of the Kingdom.
Fear not to tread the path ahead
though darkness broods around you.
Great deeds have been decreed for you,
so shrink not from them, warlike sons.
Within you burns the very heart
of Him Whose name you carry.
Walk then in love of fearsome mien.
Take courage from your God and King.
All eyes upon the Lord of Hosts,
Who’s come to fetch the captives home,
and bids you, “Go. Release their bonds.”

For now the time of dread has come,
is standing at the door.
The wrath of God against the ones
who have offended little ones;
the children of the Kingdom
He has chosen for His own.
And durst the dark one touch them?
His days are at an end.
Henceforth the light has conquered night
and he no longer can defend
against the onslaught of the bright,
the holy, burning sword of righteousness,
the Son of God.

Unless you’ve studied Christian prophecy, parts of this poem may seem puzzling to you, so I’ll give a few words of explanation. As I’ve noted before, God speaks to me in ways that I understand–it doesn’t necessarily follow that anyone else will understand in quite the same way. Of course, sometimes I think I understand, though I don’t, but that’s another subject.

Judging from prophecies in scripture, many Christians (and Jews and Muslims and perhaps others) believe that we are living in the last years of the world as we and our ancestors have known it. Christian scriptures teach that the world is groaning under a curse which will only be lifted when the children of God come into their own–when God elevates them to the status of mature sons and daughters suitable to rule and reign with Christ. Hence, the world trembles in anticipation of the revelation of the sons and daughters of God.

Under His guidance and strength, His children will perform great feats of love and bring many to redemption and adoption by Him as sons and daughters themselves. Because of the darkness, His light will shine more brightly through us to the world around us. The troubled times ahead may be judgment, but they are also mercy because they will draw many to Him. Those of us who already belong to Him are commanded to “loose the bonds” of people who would like to be set free from the kingdom of this world. This certainly entails prayer and also sharing of our own stories with our friends and acquaintances so that they too may believe and be set free from sin.

The third stanza of the poem speaks of God’s anger towards evil men who have led others astray, and/or physically harmed the helpless (widows, orphans, the weak, the poor, the unborn, etc.) and failed to help them. God hears the cries of these who are harmed by people with more power than they, and at the right time, He will avenge these helpless ones. For all who love God and are called according to His purpose, the end of the world is actually a good thing–a time to be anticipated–though no doubt a difficult and challenging time. This is the time that God will restore His Kingdom on the earth. Satan will no longer rule, and we will have peace at last.

Great grace and peace to you,

Cindy

 

God’s Word to me on David Wilkerson’s Prophecy

First, let me encourage you to read David Wilkerson’s entire prophecy either at his own blog, or on my last blog post. After I read it, I spent some time praying and asking God what I and we should do about this.

Please keep in mind that much of this is metaphorical. God talks to me in ways that I understand, so when I speak of “combat,” please understand that this refers to spiritual combat, not the sort of combat that’s fought with guns and bombs. I can see how some folks could get the wrong idea from this, so I want to make it perfectly clear. Spiritual warfare involves a lot of prayer and a lot of obedience to God. It does not involve physical weapons or any kind of fighting in the material, physical world.

And when I speak of following the glory, this is a reference to the children of Israel following God when they were on their desert journey. God’s presence in the tabernacle was visible to them as a cloud, which would lift from the tabernacle and move on when it was time for them to break camp and move on. In the same way, we need to keep in close contact with God so we’ll know what He wants to do next, and what our part in it will be.

Finally, God may well have told David Wilkerson to lay in a month’s supply of food. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that–in fact, I think it’s only common sense to have enough extra food on hand to feed your family in the event of a natural disaster or whatever. But my thoughts immediately went to gathering more, and God addressed this in me as well.

That said, here’s what I heard:

“I will shake once again Heaven and Earth that you may know that it is by Me alone that you stand. Is your faith in your storehouse? That supply is not what you need. Seek Me and I will cause you to stand. I have never commanded My children to hoard bread against future need. My hand is sufficient to supply all your needs.

(My mind immediately started wandering toward things like raising chickens and building a greenhouse–great woman of faith that I am   ) God said: There is no time for these pursuits, and you have no anointing for them. Pursue rather that which I have appointed to you. Paint, make your pottery, bake bread, and create that which I have given you to do. Others can grow tomatoes in hot houses. What I have given you is enough to keep you busy.

You and your family (including church family) will soon have all that you can handle. Do you desire adventure? Combat? Soon you will be satisfied. (Again–this refers to spiritual combat, not physical.) See that you do not for one moment take your eyes from Mine, for I will guide you with My eyes. You don’t need to focus on your surroundings. You cannot afford to look away from Me.

This is a dangerous affair. I tell you yet once again. Watch Me carefully and do what you see Me doing. Whatever you see Me doing–that is your direction for today. It may change tomorrow. Whenever you see the glory descend, encamp there. When it moves, follow. Break camp, however comfortable you may have become, and follow the glory. Do not tarry. Do not look back or linger. We will be moving fast (again, this is metaphorical and does not necessarily refer to covering physical distances) and I will give you strength to keep pace, but bad things can happen if you lose focus and forget that we are an army on the move. Help your brothers and sisters to keep the goal in view. Encourage one another daily. Build one another up in faith and do not hesitate to show your affection for one another.

As one, we conquer, for victory is in unity (again, this is spiritual). Leave no one behind. Don’t try to show one another up, but rather to hold one another up, help one another up, and pull one another up. The battle is about to be joined, so hold on tight. It’s going to be a wild ride.”

Please remember that the spiritual world is truly more real than the physical world. I am not talking about something of no importance here. The consequences of our action or inaction as God’s daughters and sons will last not for a lifetime, but for eternity. The times ahead will no doubt be frightening, but they will also be a time of great opportunity for the Kingdom. People will be looking for answers. Unless we are well acquainted with the ultimate Answer, what will we have to give them? So seek your peace in the Prince of Peace, and you will have all that you need as well as having something of limitless value to offer to those who are in need.