TURN and LIVE

To turn is to go round, to cause to move in a circle around a fixed point or line. To change the direction in which you are facing or moving. To cause to become, change into, or come to be something.

It's the word used by the LORD in Ezekiel in Chapter 18:30-32.  

Ezekiel 18:31,32 (NKJV)

 ³¹ Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?  

 ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”

To Turn results in Living. The Lord uses this analogy to say to His people that his desire is that none die. Therefore turn to Him and you will Live.  Turning requires a decision, action, energy and commitment. A change and a choice. Sin causes a controversy between God and man. It separates us, defiles us and results in death. It is our choice to live or die. The decision is ours and one the Father cannot make for us. He is constantly at work to encourage us to choose Him and influence our decision to choose life. It takes a choice, then an action to walk out the choice we make. 

Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live."

The heart of God expressed through Ezekiel 18 is that none would die. He has no pleasure in death. Wherever and whatever in our lives is leading to death, this is not his hand or outworking. He is a God of LIFE! For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal Life. To choose LIFE is to choose HIM. To Choose LIFE is to choose JESUS. If we turn to HIM and make HIM the fixed point on which we move; if we allow Him to change us to be more like Jesus then this reflection will bring life. This choice will bring hope to live life as He intends.  

Deuteronomy 30:6 (NKJV) ⁶ And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Turning requires a circumcision, a cutting off of what is not necessary for us to live in the fullness of His purposes and plans. "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies", says the Lord. He has no pleasure in the death of desires, plans, hopes and dreams. His nature is life giving and His desire is to breathe life to everything in us; that we should live and not die.

To  LIVE we must TURN. However....

To TURN we must die to something.

This is a death that brings us life. It's a death that leads us to life because in it we let go of what is stopping His life flowing in us and through us. He has no pleasure in the one who dies. He does however, have  great pleasure in the one who turns from the things that bring death; that so easily entangle us, hinder us and prevent us from living in the fullness of all He has for us.

To TURN and LIVE will bring death to something. This death will brings life just as the Heavenly Father called His son to die so that we might live, To Turn requires putting things to death, so that we can live and not die.

He has no pleasure in the death of one who dies, therefore TURN and LIVE.

NO Temptation to overcome ME!!

Today in my Word reading Psalm 37, I only got to verse one and the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see something relating to understanding of the "gates" that He's been revealing.

Psalm 37:1     Do not fret because of evildoers,
                       Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

The word fret a verb or doing word caught my attention. I followed this word in several other places in the Word. 

Psalm 73:3     For I was envious of the boastful,
                      When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Zechariah 8:2     “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

                                       ‘I am zealous for Zion with great zeal;
                                        With great fervor I am zealous for her.’

The three words highlighted in red all come from the same Hebrew word - qanah #7065 (reference from Strongs concordance). This word occurs about 90 times in the OT and often refers to the Lord being provoked to jealousy by his people as they flirt with other God's. So it's a word that has good connotations when used in a way that promotes God's will and ways. 

Isaiah 9:7    Of the increase of His government and peace
                   There will be no end,
                   Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
                   To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
                   From that time forward, even forever.
                   The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The zeal of the Lord will bring about the eternal reign of the Messiah.  How exciting is that kind of zeal!! God has his plans for Jerusalem and his people, which will override all human plans and the enemies intent for God's people. Woo Hoo!!  

How is this connected to Gates you ask?? Going back to Psalm 37:1 I now read it with an understanding of the meaning of the word "fret". 

The Word says don't fret when you SEE the prosperity of the wicked. The gate -the eye- looks around and sees those who are not walking with God or even just out-rightly wicked and they appear to be flourishing. A response occurs within as we LOOK (a body gate) at what they are doing and how they might be benefiting by their actions and choices. 

The temptation to fret or be anxious leads us to THINK (we have moved into the Soul-gate now), they are happy people, I want to be like them DESIRE (another soul-gate is opened). This then leads us to open up gates in the spirit man that believe lies or doubt in the spirit man. 

For instance: 

Can I trust God? (FAITH- GATE) 

Will my life ever be fruitful? (HOPE-GATE)

Have I got what these people have got, am I missing out? (WORSHIP-GATE)

This started with us responding to an emotion/feeling; anxiety, fretting etc. Then we focus our body gates-eyes, ears, nose, mouth and feelings on the immediate. What is right in front of us. We are tempted to fret about this and our attention and focus has been taken off the things of the spirit and onto the the things of the flesh. This is the only place the enemy can get a victory over our soul-gate and next our spirit-gate. The body is the conduit for the enemy to move into the soul and hijack our spirit-man. 

This moves us from trusting God to tempting him to work in our ways, in our timing and within our paradigms.  How clever is the enemy he knows us very well, better than we know ourselves. I pray for greater understanding in my own life as to how these gates provide an access way for him to tempt, trick and lead me astray. It only takes one fleeting look at others, one fleeting thought about them and thier lives and the hijacking takes place and we are taken on a  tangent. It's a split second moment where we have a choice and can decide NO to the enemies temptations.

We know what to do.     

Psalm 37:3-6

                                                              

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
   Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord,
  And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord,
  Trust also in Him,
  And He shall bring it to pass.
⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
  And your justice as the noonday.

Putting on the armour, worship, prayer etc are all part of the daily journey. A new challenge for me to embark on daily is a cleansing of these gates, body-soul-spirit so I don't get hijacked by a fleeting look, or smell, or touch, or sound, or taste.  Which then leads to my soul being compromised and finally by spirit-man being depleted and living out of the flesh or a weakened spirit-man. 

Like Jesus I want to be able to say, 'No temptation common to man overcame Him.' I want to live from my innermost spirit-man over flowing and  flooding my soul and revealing His glory in my body to the world around.

 

Working through Gates

The picture below comes from Ian Clayton's book, Realms of the Kingdom. It is available on ibooks. His teaching and insight into this subject has greatly blessed me. The concentric circles represent the layers of our being; the outer one being the body, the next the soul, the third our spirit man, then a fourth being the inner most place where the glory of God resides.  

The flow of these parts is from the glory of God to the outer man  Something Marina taught me was that the body is the last "part" to be worked on. This is indicated here too that the body is the last part to reflect the glory of God within. As the Glory of God works it's way out, it passes through these gateways. When the Lord is our first love our spirit man grows in prayer, reverence, faith, hope, worship, revelation, intuition and the fear of God. These are the areas of our spirit man that need to grow so the flow of the Glory of God can be increased and released more fully. When there is a blockage of this I have been taking each of these to the Holy Spirit and asking which one/or more do I need to work on with Him to release the flow again. 

If these pipes are clear then I look into my soul with the help of the Holy Spirit!! I check my conscious, my reason, imagination, mind, emotions, choices, and will. This checking comes through waiting and resting on Him to reveal what is causing a blockage of the flow of the Glory of God. When I can't get clarity I get on the phone and ask for help!! Thank you dear friends for your willingness to journey and support me in this.

Finally as these blockages clear, the evidence will flow into my body; the eye-gate, the nose-gate; the ear-gate, the mouth-gate and the feel/touch-gate. If my mouth is not speaking in a way that reflects the glory of God then I need to go against the flow and backtrack to identify which gateway is causing a blockage for the flow of the Glory of God. 

An example of a recent personal experience is that I was able to ignore the calling of the Heavenly Father in the night to get up and meet with Him. This happened for some nights in a row. I wondered why I could ignore HIM and not feel wrong about that. I recognized that if it had been my mother calling me as a child I wouldn't have dared ignored her. Processing this matter through the gates resulted in me identifying that I had an issue with the fear of God. I didn't fear him like I feared my mother!! I was able to pray into this and get understanding of this blockage. Then my will was changed and my body responded willingly to the call. As a result I met with angels from the first night I obeyed and was blown away with the presence and love of my God and the glory flowed freely as a result.

Let's face the truth and be honest; we get blocked up sometimes!! The enemy is constantly looking for ways and gates that are not completely closed to him and we must stay watchful and alert to his strategies. 

I hope you will find this useful to get clarity on areas that will need attention from time to time. I have found this to be a practical guide to identifying and targeting issues that otherwise might not be recognized as blockages to the flow of the glory of God.

Psalm 118:19  Open to me the gates of righteousness;
                        I will go through them,
                        And I will praise the Lord.

Psalm 24:9      Lift up your heads, O you gates!
                        Lift up, you everlasting doors!
                        And the King of glory shall come in.

Isaiah 62:10   Go through, Go through the gates!
                       Prepare the way for the people;
                       Build up, Build up the highway!
                       Take out the stones,
                       Lift up a banner for the peoples!

It is time to bring forth the Glory of God to be a banner that reflects HIM. Let's not waste any time in doing what is necessary for His glory to shine and come in us, through us and from deep within us. 

Gates 

This is a drawing made from the scriptures listed above in Ezekiel and Revelation. The background to this was a scripture that my eyes glanced on that said, "This is what will happen in the last days." I was reading in Jeremiah. The cross reference took me to Genesis 49, then Revelation 21 and 22. When I went back to find the Jeremiah scripture it couldn't be found and seems doesn't exist. This is still a mystery to me as the scripture I thought I'd read led me onto this journey of gates and it has been very exciting to get some insight into this concept.

Revelation describes the gates and how they are positioned, each with an angel over it and each one named after one of the sons of Israel. 

In prayer with Katie a week or so before this revelation came, she saw a series of doors representing different parts of my life. The doors were in a straight line but she sensed they should be in a circle or at least in a way that they could be interconnected and not fragmented or separated from each other. also that the doors were to allow freedom of movement in and out and round about without restricting flow and movement. All I could so was ponder this at he time.

Until this word came. I researched the names of the son's of Israel to see whether there was some relevance in the meanings.

1st -  Reuben - meaning behold a son

2nd - Simeon - He who hears 

3rd - Levi - joined

4th - Judah - let God be praised (Granted the blessing of the firstborn and ruled over the nations and Israel)

5th - Dan - judge

6th - Naphtali - wrestlings (means to twist, be crafty, cunning)

7th - Gad - favour, good fortune. (He was an invader)

8th - Asher - happiness (the happy one)

9th - Issachar - man of hire 

10th - Zebulun glorious dwelling place

11th - Joseph - increase (repeater, doubler)

12th - Benjamin - son of the right hand, son of strngth, son of the south

To this point I have been accessing the gates of favour (Gad) and sending the angel on assignment as needed in my circumstances. It's been working. I don't understand it but I like it!!

Then I accessed the gate of Dan (judge) and saw a quick result. It's all a bit new to me but I've learned that sometimes I obey first and understanding comes later.

Trinette has been given scriptures and doing a similar thing unbeknowns to me and we have shared in the last couple of days to find out that we are on to something very exciting. There is something that the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us concerning the gates. 

It is very exciting that "The Lord is There." He is in the centre of this. His glory is going to be manifested and we are going to be given free access to come and go and get the victory. 

Stay tuned because this is just the beginning!! Please post any comments and further revelation  given. Blessings. 

 

 

 

You are the House of God

2 Samuel 7:1-11

  Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around, ² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.”

³ Then Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
⁴ But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. ⁷ Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’ ⁸ Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel. ⁹ And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰ Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, ¹¹ since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house.
  

The Father speaks to David in this passage and rebukes him for even suggesting He be constrained to "A House". Instead he tells David He will make him a house!! 

House #1004 - bayit (hebrew) - means household, clan, temple, a dwelling, a family. 

The Father never wanted a temple that has geological restraints. He wants a temple that He can make His place of dwelling where he isn't  contained because He is a spirit and a spirit is free of all physical and geological constraints. The Father was telling David don't make me  house I'm going to make you a house, My place of dwelling. This Holy God wants a house that He can make His habitation.

I want to be a house fit for my God to indwell. A place for His holy habitation.

Holy - #40 - haios (hebrew) -  sacred, pure, blameless, consecrated, separated, properly revered, God-likeness, nothing polluted, purity.

Did David see this as a geological or physical thing? It seems so. God's response to David is to help him understand that this an inheritance thing made available to those who let His kingdom rule and reign within. 

I want to be house fit for my God. A holy God calls for a Holy people. That can never be achieved in our own strength or eyes - only in Jesus. The more we know Jesus and His Spirit the more He can indwell us and we can be known by Him. 

Let's let Him make us a house fit for His holy habitation, His place of dwelling. He does not want to be contained He wants to be free to move in and through us, no restraints, no limitations. How exciting that we can be made into His house. I want to be a place fit for His holy habitation.

Slightly or completely refined? We get to choose!!

Jeremiah 6:14

¹⁴ They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.

Jeremiah is told to prophecy to the people concerning the spiritual leaders of the day. They were telling the people all was okay when in fact from God's perspective it was not! The truth was compromised and it was disturbing the Father's heart and in His time he responds to bring correction. Through Jeremiah He states that the hurts of His people had been healed "slightly". 

Slightly (qalal, hebrew #7043) is used 82 times in the scriptures and means to curse or to make light of someone.  Websters define it as; in a superficial or light manner, easy, trifling having very little weight.

Jeremiah was referring to the way the spiritual leaders superficially tended to the deep wounds of the people. Sadly this same thing is happening today. People are being told what they want to hear rather than the truth. Mathew Henry says in his commentary on this passage, "The more we focus on the "fun", "pleasures" of life the more we make ourselves unfit to face the troubles of life. A day is coming when those careless and secure in sinful ways will be visited."

The strength of this word "slightly" is such that we curse someone when we make light of them or their life by relating superficially and overlooking the truth. Seeing the reality of the depth of an issue and ignoring it in ourselves or others brings a curse. By repentance and reformation we can prevent things coming to an extremity as it did in Jeremiah's time for those who had not been honest with themselves,  the people or with God. If the people had repented the Lord would not have needed to go to the extremes he did to bring restoration.

For fear of offense, rejection and losing relationship we hold back from going to the depths where the real hurt and pain reside and settle for a superficial healing which in the long run brings a curse. Jesus death was not for a superficial healing it was complete. Nothing more needs to be done so we can walk in the freedom he has purchased for us on the cross. It was complete and I want to be part of a process that sees it completed in my own life and every life I touch. What Jesus has done for me isn't lacking, it's my willingness to embrace the fullness of it.  

Jeremiah 6:30

"May we not be called rejected silver because the Lord has rejected me." 

Silver is rejected when it hasn't gone through the necessary process to make it pure. May we say with Isaiah 48:10, "See I have refined you as silver in the furnace of affliction." A completed work! There's a price to pay for this deep work and for wounds to healed more than "slightly". There's a price to pay to be a healer that is willing to go to the deep wounds. May our lives be straight arrows of truth. Uncompromised and willing to pay the price as Jesus has for us.

Confidence in the temple is in vain

Jeremiah 7:12
But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

Shiloh was the place the tabernacle was first set up. It was the center of Israel's worship. Shiloh was destroyed after Eli and his son's corrupted the worship of God. They used what was to be sacrificed to God as food for themselves, demanding it be given to them. Though for a time the established traditional place of worship had brought comfort and connection with God, He allowed it to be destroyed because it had become a place of defilement. 

The implications of Jeremiah 7 is huge to us as believers.  Where we have made idols or corrupted the things of God such as, worship, sacrifice and living our own interpretation of the Word, we are setting ourselves up to live in the consequences of disobedience. Eli feared his son's more than God and paid a high price for their disobedience. He did not constrain them with his love he allowed then to be unrestrained and wilful.

The love of Christ constrains us. (2 Cor 5:14)  

Constrain means to restrict, limit, to use pressure, to force.  

When we are in love with Christ, truly in love because He is our first love, the constraints that His word and obedience to it place on us we will be seen for what they truly represent. His love and goodness to us.  Love without constraints lets us do what we want. True love always comes with constraints which brings freedom, rather than freedom for the sake of feeling loved.

Deutronomy 30:11-20.
¹¹ “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
¹⁵ “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰ that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
These consequences are often not outworked immediately but over time as the blessing and favour dries up and we keep doing what we have been because it worked or had the blessing and favour initially on our efforts, we sometimes don't notice the dryness and the struggle , the lack of fruit and blessing over our work.


I saw a vision of the church (the establishment) being whitewashed by a dark hand. An arm with black clothing on and a black glove up to the elbow was painting the white wash over the establishment. The Father said, "The church has been white washed."  

White washed- to gloss over; cover up vices;  embracing other cultures as well as your own; concealing flaws or failures.

Taking a rain-check on where we are at and what fruit is growing in our lives might help us to see if there is some truth we need to face where our obedience has become routine and ritualistic and not a fresh daily intimate walk with The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

The Father has chosen to reveal himself through us and put His name in us. If sin through disobedience resides in us then we have polluted the temple of God, his habitation. If we think our living in the dispensation of grace gives room for The Father to accommodate disobedience then we lessen the sacrifice Jesus made by believing that obedience is not obligatory but optional because of grace. 

Jeremiah 7:21-28. 
²¹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. ²² For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. ²³ But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ ²⁴ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. ²⁶ Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
²⁷ “Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

Judgment on Obscene Religion

²⁸ “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

To think that God can be anything but displeased with disobedience and that we can interpret the word to suit ourselves is only hurting ourselves because the consequences of sin will outwork themselves in our lives. Jeremiah 7:28-34.

 Our confidence must be in Him, His word. The temple, people, things, ideas we construct around how we feel are never going to bring the blessing and fruit we are promised in the Word of God as we walk in obedience to Him. He has set before us life and death, blessings and curses, therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live and that you love the Lord your God, obey His voice and cling to Him. He is your life and the length of your days.